Black Sail
Chapter 194: CXCIV. Ministry of Energy

Chapter 194: CXCIV. Ministry of Energy

Under the bolstering of the Magic Energy Industry, the Western Continent’s metal anti-counterfeiting techniques had reached a point that could be described as pathological.

Using pure gold as currency was clearly impractical.

Even without considering other complex reasons.

Without a coinage tax.

The National Bank would lose its greatest profit as well as all its capabilities including regulating the economy and preventing risks.

That would not make it a National Bank; it would just be a private account.

Just like under Aran, each Affiliated Country uses Golden Dragon for settlement, utterly exploited, the rulers all puppets supported by the Emperor, Lords waging war, chaotic and disorderly.

The Pedan Kingdom used a special crystal as currency, while Lostra used paper money.

Golden Dragon was not the most valuable currency, with one red crystal coin from Pedan Kingdom could be exchanged for two Golden Dragons and eighty Silver Mien.

But the influence of the Golden Dragon was undoubtedly the greatest, extremely stable.

Across the Western Continent and even the entire world, its pursuit had almost transformed it into a universal currency.

Because to buy Magic Energy Crystal Ore from Aran’s hands, if the party was a national government an equivalent settlement could be made directly, otherwise, in normal trade, it had to be exchanged into Golden Dragons.

It was not just about being overcharged when exchanged into Golden Dragons, national governments also faced overcharging, and if you did not import from here, it would be a big problem if you could not fill the domestic shortfall, as Aran was the largest exporter of Magic Ore, quantity being preferable of course, they wouldn’t charge exorbitant prices, they were centuries old players, not fond of crafty tactics.

They needed sustainable oil extraction.

The reason why Golden Dragons were valuable, when it came down to it, wasn’t anything complex.

It was simply because the Emperor had mines, and he could keep them.

Contributing to the present dominance of the Golden Dragon currency, one of the biggest contributors was the Energy Department.

Aran Royal Court could always find various excuses to "help" them, whether to protect them from invasive Beastmen or to prevent the resurrection of local Cult forces.

Maintaining troops locally was costly, taking some ore as "service fees" was quite normal.

But everything hinged on knowing where the mines were, requiring highly professional explorers and formidable characters to intimidate the local rulers.

This was the role of the Energy Department.

Their sole purpose was to protect the explorers, and after identifying the ore sources, to negotiate with the local rulers, if negotiations failed, they would disguise as "Beastmen" or "Cult", teach them a lesson, everyone could be the Hojo Bandits under a mask.

After the formal agreement was reached, everyone had face-saving, and only then were the troops allowed in, to clear all local resistance and even create jobs for the unemployed locals in mining.

They had to thank them for that.

While Joshua was certainly not an explorer, he was one of the intimidating characters.

Although now retired.

The number of people he had killed truly exceeded the meals he had consumed.

Accompanied by a sudden roar of thunder.

The heavy rain was torrential, and the skinny pillars of the Wind Erosion Rock Tower under the lightning cast unnaturally elongated, bizarrely twisted shadows, instantly covering the entire path.

The blood-red ghost overlapped with Liszt himself, his limbs and face distorting and tearing under the weird light, turning into a humanoid monster.

The blade of the Junlin Sword, excessively sharp with its Curse Blade, was so fast that raindrops hadn’t even landed on the blade and had already been sliced into halves.

The previous sword in the left hand lacked flexibility and strength, but now this problem had been resolved.

Liszt was best at blunt weapons, but with his boosted combat experience, his swordsmanship was by no means weak.

The crossed swords, about ten meters away from Joshua, Liszt paused his pace, swooping down with a spinning slash.

Black and red danced together, soaring out a crossing arc of light, instantly lethal, tearing through layers of the rain curtain, it rushed forward with the wind.

"Such a thing actually exists..."

Joshua rarely encountered, had also seen such a device in a Magician friend’s house, but it was used for collection with no place for combat, yet this man was able to wield it by hand.

Seeing that lethal sharpness heading straight for his face.

Shifting.

Not just Fen was capable.

But as an academic elite and an action-oriented enforcer, the difference was glaringly obvious.

His Evil Power Flame Column Whip lashed toward Liszt in an arc.

Liszt thought he had succeeded, the Junlin Sword cut through everything, impossible to exchange wounds, just when he thought he had instantaneously killed Joshua.

Joshua himself in a blink had moved from the tip to the end of the Flame Column Whip, essentially an instantaneous movement of ten meters, leveraging the trajectory of the whip’s lash, he flashed forward.

Cross Slash missed its target.

The attack, swift as a ghostly green shadow, rained down like bullets from a machine gun, fierce and relentless.

Evil Power Shaping.

The whip instantly condensed into an Evil Power long sword. Joshua still fought single-handedly, holding a briefcase in his left hand and wildly swinging the Evil Energy Flame Sword in his right.

A dark ghost shadow leaped from Liszt’s left arm, completely parrying the attack.

Although it was just Evil Power, its concentration was so high that it nearly became solid, ringing continuously.

Joshua had not anticipated that the parrying power had reached an unbelievable level, and his right hand was already in pre-alert. If the fight continued, his wrist bone would shatter.

"Fuck you..."

Under Blood Shadow, Liszt’s right hand moved with incredible speed and power, slashing furiously towards Joshua’s left arm and shoulder.

But with Joshua’s bizarre movements, it was completely useless. Again, with a lash of the Evil Flame Column Whip, he flashed sideways five meters.

Black Sail wasn’t fighting alone.

The onslaught of justice began.

Using the mysterious techniques from the Far East Islands, Shadi had already climbed up over ten meters high on the Wind Erosion Rock Tower pillar. Zahak’s taught swordsmanship turned into a bright red spinning slash in the air, coming down from the sky like a meteor in the rain.

Dozens of sharp spikes, as thick as fingers, made of green Evil Power, shot densely at Shadi. Shadi sliced his palm and poured blood over the blade, the sword wind burst the surrounding raindrops, shattering all the Evil Power spikes. He spun in mid-air and with unstoppable inertia, chopped down towards Joshua’s head.

However, Joshua had seen too many such characters beside the rulers of small countries.

"We have something in common."

Joshua was unimpressed. Shadi had learned Qigong in the Far East, circulating mysterious Qi throughout his body, whereas Joshua himself circulated Evil Power.

Clang!

Joshua caught the sword with his hand, gripping it tightly, only cutting a small slit in his palm, oozing blood that was hardly bothersome.

Shadi was flustered and immediately tried to escape.

A side kick came flying.

Shadi tried to block it with his left hand reflexively. In a flash, his flesh blurred, three fingers snapped off, blood burst out, and he was knocked back five or six meters, struggling to steady himself, his whole hand trembling, his forearm ulna fractured.

Swan silently ambushed from behind Joshua, almost decapitating him from behind with two short swords.

But Joshua’s Body Techniques were terrifying.

Scorpion Leg, a back kick that could shatter steel, instantly destroyed the short swords. Swan’s abdomen was hit, the kick so powerful that he flew back seven or eight meters, vomiting a pool of fresh blood.

Meredith used arcane magic to change the weight of the Riding Spear, executing the elegant posture of a Royal parade spear user, instantly thrusting out a dozen or so rapid stabs, becoming almost a phantom.

The force surged forward, the rain curtain in front of them violently pouring towards Joshua.

Joshua simply tossed his briefcase into the air. Both his fists and boots were shaped into armor by Evil Power.

A series of magnificent attacks — jabs, swing punches, high kicks, spinning kicks — flowed seamlessly, launching over a dozen strikes in a moment.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each fierce strike broke a segment of the Riding Spear, turning it into broken scrap metal. Finally, a Lower Kick shattered the entire spear.

A punch aimed at Meredith’s head, she blocked with her hand, but like Shadi’s, her wrist bone shattered. Another punch followed, unstoppable this time.

Gawain immediately came to aid Meredith, defending against the deadly strike. Two Great Curved Swords spun seven or eight circles of twisted light arcs attacking.

Joshua had anticipated this, bending over for a sweeping leg move, scraping a terrifying ravine in the gravel ground.

Crack!

The passing force was enough to break Gawain’s shin bone, forcing him to kneel on the ground momentarily.

Lu’s Elemental Magic wind blades swept passed, unbelievably... humanly impossible movements, like a revved cheetah’s charge but in reverse, leaning forward kicking back several meters, he reached back and steadily caught the briefcase he had thrown earlier.

All this happened within a few seconds.

But by then, four people were injured, their movements restricted.

"Not enough, huh? I forgot to tell you, seven years ago, in the middle of the year, September, I killed... a third-place winner at the Continent Martial Arts Competition."

Joshua’s limbs retrieved the Evil Power back into his hands, reshaping it into a Flame Column. This was the end.

Liszt twitched his eyelid, damn it, as if cursed again, Shadi and Swan were both master fighters, and these two twits he brought were Heroic Level adventurers.

Suddenly...

All were injured.