A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 291 Positive Cycle

Verisco and Jiang Shuzhou exchange academic ideas with Alger.

"It's been a month, where is your army?"

Halfway through the conversation, Alger asked with a teasing look on his face.

"Don't rush, there's no war yet, let's train the troops first."

Jiang Shuzhou smiled mysteriously, completely unconcerned about Alger's teasing.

The scarlet infection is spreading across the merfolk territory, and the later it is discovered, the better.

After all, this kind of thing always relies on an information gap.

It's fine to use it once or twice, but if you use it too often, the other party will become wary, and it won't be as effective.

In just one month, the Crimson Infection had nearly 100 million infected people, although the vast majority of them were ordinary fishmen with weak strength.

But don't forget, the scarlet infection created by Jiang Shuzhou is not only infectious. Once the incubation period is over, these ordinary fishmen can instantly gain the combat capabilities of ordinary soldiers.

After a period of mutual devouring and evolution, they became an elite force among elites, with all members reaching the intermediate level.

However, it requires a large number of infected individuals or energy.

From a normal training perspective, it would be quite unwise to use such a large amount of energy to only obtain a mid-level transcendent being.

However, the emergence of infected individuals did not require Jiang Shuzhou to exert any effort; they were all other people's subjects, and Jiang Shuzhou suffered no loss.

Furthermore, if possible, Jiang Shuzhou could even melt these infected individuals into nutrient solution and then use it to train other types of soldiers.

"As long as you have the results, that's fine. The main thing is that everyone has their own achievements. If you can't produce any results, people might have some complaints."

"A bunch of people with no innovative spirit, who only have a few inventions in their whole lives, have the nerve to criticize me."

Jiang Shuzhou's tone was full of disdain.

"Ahem, we're talking about war, so stop bringing up these irrelevant things."

Looking at Alger's embarrassed expression, Jiang Shuzhou suddenly thought of something.

Could it be that this old guy doesn't have any inventions either?

For Jiang Shuzhou, inspiration is inexhaustible. There is no such thing as "cannot be created" as long as there is a need or not. No matter how bizarre the invention, Jiang Shuzhou can create it.

Ordinary alchemists are different. In their entire lives, they may only make a few useful inventions, or even some useless and bizarre ones.

After all, invention and creation require a great deal of knowledge.

Jiang Shuzhou has an extraordinary talent; he can grasp the knowledge of his predecessors at a glance and can easily put it into practice.

What followed was a frenzy of purchasing all sorts of experimental supplies. The laboratory then devoured wealth, produced inventions, and these inventions, in turn, created wealth for Jiang Shuzhou. Jiang Shuzhou then used this wealth to purchase knowledge and learn, while simultaneously starting experiments to produce more inventions, and so on, in an endless cycle.

This virtuous cycle meant that Jiang Shuzhou basically never had to worry about money. Except for the time right after his promotion when he needed to build the mage tower, Jiang Shuzhou was never short of money.

Of course, Jiang Shuzhou has always been in a state of financial scarcity, much like Schrödinger. He is indeed very rich, but he spends even more.

While others spend hundreds of magic stones a day on experiments, Jiang Shuzhou can easily spend thousands a day.

High investment leads to high output, but it also brings high returns and high risks.

However, it's not a big problem. Jiang Shuzhou has basically kept all the inventions in his hands. He can just release a batch when he really needs money.

For example, the production of hunting dogs and scarlet infection are things that can be released and will definitely sell well.

"Ahem, I do have a few inventions."

Alger looked at the silent Jiang Shuzhou and understood what the other was thinking, so he finally broke the silence.

"I can't compare to you. You're so young, yet you've invented so many great things."

Thinking of Jiang Shuzhou's dazzling resume, Alger couldn't help but feel a little ashamed. He was hundreds of years old, yet his achievements were not as great as Jiang Shuzhou's.

"It was all just luck, nothing more than good fortune."

Jiang Shuzhou waved his hand and started packing.

Alger rolled his eyes so hard they almost reached the sky. "Why do you keep talking about luck? Did you manage to hook up with Lady Luck just because you're handsome and have good modeling skills?"

Or should I change my appearance?

After all these years, Alger has always had this old man image. Although he looks very dignified, he is not very aesthetically pleasing.

"Alright, kid, let's not waste time on that. Let's get back to the conversation."

Alger put aside his useless thoughts and continued his discussion of pharmacology with Jiang Shuzhou.

"Adding some stargrass would make it even better."

"Wouldn't the cost be skyrocketing?"

"Why worry about costs? Just get it built first, and we can reduce costs later."

"You're right, but is it worth it?"

"It's worth it, after all..."

"..."

Jiang Shuzhou's conversation with Alger continued into the evening, until 11 p.m.

"To be honest, this bamboo smoke is pure garbage. Adding this stuff to the smoke-reducing agent is no better than adding some dust!"

"Without the smoke bamboo, who's going to give me the neutralizing agent I'm missing? Without the neutralizing agent, won't the potion just explode?"

"Who said that? Can't it be done through technique?"

"You rely on technique?"

Alger was dumbfounded. Who was this guy? Trying to fill the gaps in the neutralizing agent purely with his technique?

Do you know that if this thing were even slightly off, the potion would have exploded? You're amazing that you haven't been blown up after all these years.

"Otherwise, besides, adding this stuff would be purely negative and would actually worsen the effect."

"Knock knock knock".

A knock came at the door.

"Who?"

The office has a soundproof array, so apart from knocking, no other sound can get in, and internal sounds can't get out either.

The door opened, and there stood Mayor Harvey.

"What happened?"

Alger asked.

"Aren't we supposed to have a meeting? I've called you several times already."

Harvey was exhausted. He had to manage such a group of incredibly undisciplined mages every day; he was really unlucky.

There was nothing he could do; he had no savings and was young, so he could only work as mayor to earn some magic stones.

Unexpectedly, he was also unlucky and ran into the Storm Sea War, so he couldn't even resign.

In this situation, no one was willing to take his place, not even Jiang Shuzhou. He came here to participate in the war and get a share of the spoils, and he declined this kind of thankless administrative work.

"Ahem, really? I haven't read the Alchemy Book, nor have I seen the Mage's Mark."

Once the discussion turns to knowledge, the monks become completely absorbed, forgetting to eat or sleep, let alone read these trivial matters.

If it's not a matter of life and death, I don't care at all.

"By the way, what was the topic of this discussion again?"

"The meeting was about war, so it was a routine meeting, and also a welcome to new members."