A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 235 War Blacksmith

"What, are you surprised? Unexpected?"

Jiang Shuzhou had a big smile on his face.

"you……"

"Alright, we'll talk about it later."

Jiang Shuzhou interrupted Jess directly, and then addressed the others in the office.

"All of you, step back. This is an old friend of mine. Let's talk alone."

"But……"

"Um?"

"Yes, esteemed pioneer."

Immediately afterwards, everyone in the office obediently left.

"Let's continue now."

Jiang Shuzhou looked quite content, smoking and drinking as he went. With his physical condition, these things were completely useless to him.

He's just having fun.

"Navis, when did you start calling yourself Victor?"

"I thought you'd ask something else?"

"When you're out in the world, you choose your own identity, you can call yourself whatever you want. Besides, what I've been doing isn't exactly a good thing, why would I use my real name? Just to get scolded?"

Jiang Shuzhou was very self-aware; what use was his real name when he was involved in the underworld?

Besides, this time we're here to conquer the world. If we fail, or make an enemy of some god, and you use your real name, people can easily find out who you are by searching, which would be terrible.

In this situation, it's best to use a pseudonym.

As the saying goes, "Do good deeds and leave your true name; do bad deeds and leave your false name."

Do you think what we're doing now is a good thing?

Jiang Shuzhou's counter-question left Jess completely bewildered.

"Forget it, I don't plan to change it anyway. My name is pretty common; there are at least seven or eight mages with the same name in the Alliance."

"as you like."

Jiang Shuzhou didn't care; it wasn't his business anyway. If this god got hold of the number of participants, names, and even the world of Pamela's year-end test, then nothing he did would matter.

"Let's talk about building the beacon."

Jiang Shuzhou said.

"Sure, but the situation here isn't very good. We'll need to build a beacon, which might take several decades."

Jess made a prediction based on the situation in this world.

"That would take too long. I don't want to waste that much time in a place like this."

"So what's your solution?"

Jiang Shuzhou smiled slightly in response to Jess's question.

"Of course I have a way. I can just rule the world. Anyway, this place is so small. Once I rule this area, I can build whatever I want."

Jess is dumbfounded. He brought you here secretly to build beacons and wait for the army to come and sweep through, not to let you rule the world.

"As far as I know, this world seems to have mid-level warriors, right in Upper City. How do you plan to deal with that?"

"How many gray beasts can he kill?"

As he spoke, Jiang Shuzhou extended his tentacles toward Jess.

Jess was taken aback, but then he understood what Jiang Shuzhou meant.

"How can you guarantee you can control the gray beast?"

"I don't need to drive them; hatred will drive them automatically."

"So what do you need now?"

"I need experimental equipment so that I can better study the relationship between Grayblood and Gray Beast."

"And you, my friend, will be the most important piece of the puzzle."

Jess was taken aback. Important? What do you mean?

"After all, you still need to handcraft these experimental instruments!"

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Shuzhou pulled up a large pile of steel ingots and a small hammer from under his desk.

"I've got the blacksmith shop all set up for you, we can get started right away."

Jess's lips twitched.

"What do you think this is? Forging weapons?"

"A single hammer isn't enough; I also need a lathe."

"At the same time, everything in the lab is made of alloys, although steel would be better for a simpler setup. But what about the sterile supplies? Are we just going to disinfect them with alcohol?"

Jiang Shuzhou nodded, indicating that it was correct; simply disinfecting with alcohol would suffice.

Jess was stunned. Would anyone conduct such a flesh experiment?

Little did he know that the most basic requirement for the flesh and blood experiments that Jiang Shuzhou was conducting was that the flesh and blood must be immune to common bacteria and viruses, otherwise it would be impossible for it to survive.

Except in special circumstances, Jiang Shuzhou never disinfects. In other words, the only thing that needs to be disinfected is the abyss pollution, which must be eliminated, otherwise accidents may easily occur.

"That...that will probably take three years."

Jess wasn't an expert in this area, and seeing Jiang Shuzhou's expression, he didn't raise any objections. Instead, he started making estimates.

"Three years? How am I supposed to get through these three years? Am I supposed to just wait every single day?"

"There's no other way. With just a broken hammer, we had to chip away at an industrial machine bit by bit, plus building all the experimental equipment. Three years was already considered a short time."

"You run a bar, so you don't seem short of money. Why don't you get an industrial machine tool? If not, a lathe will do. That way, you'll save at least a year."

Jess felt that Jiang Shuzhou was deliberately making things difficult for him. To hammer out an industrial machine with a hammer was just too boring.

"Unfortunately, no, these steel and hammers were smuggled out by me. The White Devils of Upper City in BYD don't want Lower City to have any industrial capabilities at all."

"The sewage is discharged smoothly every day, raw materials are transported in by truckload every day, and guns and ammunition are sold to the lower city by the box, but they don't want to give anything else to the lower city at all."

Jess frowned, sensing that something was amiss.

"What about electricity? Are there any electricity restrictions here?"

"Congratulations, you guessed right."

Jess was completely speechless now.

In this situation, if he wants to create an experimental device, he would need to complete a whole technology tree, which would take at least ten years.

The power supply problem needs to be solved; generators and power lines need to be installed. Other things, such as plastics, also need to be addressed.

"That would take about ten years."

Jiang Shuzhou frowned. Ten years? It felt like even developing a gang and breaking into the enemy ranks would take less than ten years.

After much deliberation, Jiang Shuzhou finally came up with a solution.

Stronger forces prevail over more diligent labor.

Why bother making it yourself? Why not just steal or rob it?

However, shipping the goods is another challenge.

Although Jiang Shuzhou can solve it himself, if he can solve it himself, then what is Jess doing here?

"Let's put this matter aside for now. We can go and rob or steal, but we need to plan our escape route afterward."

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Shuzhou unfolded a map, pointed to a certain place, and spoke to Jess.

"I have a facility that's only a little over a hundred meters from the upper city. It's perpendicular to the ground, of course. You need to figure out a way to modify it, to build an elevator or something that can transport small equipment."

"What about the people up there? What if they find out?"

"I'll handle those people; you take care of the design."

Jess considered it for a moment, and finally nodded.

"That's no problem, but do we have steel cables? We need steel cables to stabilize the structure at this height. If that's not possible, iron cables will do, or at the very least, sturdy hemp rope..."

"Unfortunately, none of them are available."

Despite Jess lowering the standards significantly, Jiang Shuzhou still didn't meet them.

"But it's not a big problem. We can just steal some, or if all else fails, we can rob someone."

As a lawless outlaw, Jiang Shuzhou's flexible moral bottom line always allows him to quickly come up with a solution.

"Isn't this a bit unethical?"

"Then go and forge a steel basket."

Jess was speechless at the thought of himself sweating profusely while forging iron in the blacksmith's shop. He really didn't want to forge iron, especially something that required zero tolerance.

That's too tiring; it's not something a human could do.

"Alright, we've finished with the business. Let's go outside and relax a bit, let the people here get to know you."

After Jiang Shuzhou finished speaking, he pushed Jess and walked out.

When Jess opened the door, he saw the burly man not far away; it was the one who had pinned him down.

"Pioneer."

The man bowed his head and greeted him.

"Good, make a note of this. This is my old friend, and also your second-in-command."

"Warsmith, Jess."

Jess picked up the conversation.

"I didn't expect you to be such a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur)."

"Same to you."

Jiang Shuzhou made a joke, and then went up to the bar's special stage with Jess.

"Gentlemen, big news! An old friend of mine has joined us, joined the Grey Sanctuary! Joined the great cause we are undertaking!"

"This old friend is none other than Jess, the Warsmith!"

Amid cheers, Jess officially joined Jiang Shuzhou's team.

"I hereby declare that, to celebrate the return of this old friend, all drinks tonight are on me!"

The cheers from below grew even louder.