Noel looked at the entire project and couldn't help but ask, "How is the fund situation?"
"Far from enough for such an ambitious plan. But this is the only way to cut the biggest cost. If we wait until the city is completed, the cost will skyrocket." Douglas explained.
"How much is the cost compared to our current fund? And how much will it increase if we wait?"
"The current fund? It's about two times... This is the first, so maybe higher than that. And Balott told me that there are also other projects."
Noel fell into deep thought. Getting the necessary funds was easier said than done. If he was not careful, he would lose all the funds without building anything.
Noel turned to Roel. "You should have heard a bit of my plans regarding the rune technology."
"Yes. I've heard from Lady Anna." Roel nodded.
"We have to sell something. It might be the water system." Noel pinched the bridge of his nose.
"If we sell two new weapons, it's going to cover the cost, I believe." Roel explained. Instead of an important water system, he believed this was a better solution.
However, Noel shook his head, rejecting the idea. "We'll keep the weapons to ourselves for now. We're fighting a very dangerous foe, so we can't allow the blueprints of our weapons to be found by the enemies and let them study those weapons. It's going to be troublesome for us."
"If that's the case, how are you going to handle it?" Roel asked.
"Anna."
Anna was confused at first, but it seemed that she understood what Noel wanted. "Since I'm going to meet Damian, I will tell him that you don't mind selling the design for the water system. But shouldn't you ask Livia instead?"
"No. If I go to Livia, it's going to show that I'm desperate, allowing them to take advantage of it to lower the price. But if you go with Damian, the other party won't be able to handle the negotiation, which allows us to demand a certain price. And they will confirm with Livia about the effect. It'll ultimately give us the best advantage in the negotiation."
"I see." Anna nodded before turning to Douglas and Roel. "Are both of you fine? Noel gave you the idea, but you were the first one to ever construct it."
Roel and Douglas exchanged looks. They had been arguing a lot, but surprisingly, they agreed on one thing. Both of them said the same thing. "Sacrifice one to fund ten more."
They wanted to use the water system to fund their research on other things. In fact, by selling this water system, they could get enough funds for the freezer, the power system that would light up the city, and even other things that would be related to those projects.
It was a necessary price to pay.
"Alright. I'll do that."
"Also, since we're the ones selling this, add a condition where they have to acknowledge the inventors and creators. Bring Balott with you to handle the negotiation."
"Got it." Anna nodded. "Still, it's quite an ambitious project. If the entire city can be powered by rune, it will become fundamentally different. After all, if we have a giant power source, we can use that to power more projects in the future."
"Yeah. That's why this project is important." Roel agreed with Anna. "In fact, we could link this power source to the weapons powered by runes. In other words, the walls don't need to be filled up with a lot of Demon Crystals to be fully recharged again and again. We only have to link them to this power source and we can use it forever."
"Combined with the design of this fortress, I believe that our city will become an impenetrable fortress." Douglas smiled, getting fired up.
Noel asked, "Still, we haven't solved the biggest problem. Can the demon crystal actually get restored?"
"That's…" Anna recalled the memory from her past life. In fact, she didn't think that Noel had created something like this in the past. "I am not sure. Will the Energy Gathering Rune work? If not, do we have to use the Energy Concentration Rune?"
"I am not sure." Noel turned to Roel. "Do you have one to test?"
"I do have one, but let me bring it from my workshop first." Roel rushed out, getting excited about this project. This was the first time he had a challenge this big.
After dealing with Roel, Noel's focus returned to Douglas. "So… we were talking about a giant freezer, weren't we?"
"Yes, Sir. If we build the backup water facility together with the giant freezer, people will just think that we're building another freezer. "Besides, there is also another reason why I want to build a giant freezer."
"Another reason?"
"Yes. It's to cool the building. Just like what we discussed earlier, if you could preserve the cold, we could actually use that temperature to cool down the house during the summer."
Noel remembered how hot the summer could become. Although it was the best season for farming, it was hard to work during the summer. If he could cool his room through this method, he could become more focused.
Besides, the inns or any establishments must want something like this so that they can entertain their customers even better, which would lead to their business blooming. He could make money in one way or another.
While it would take a long time to break even, it was still a good idea.
The only question was whether he had the rune or not.
"This is quite problematic. Rune doesn't have elements and can't be fused with elements." Noel murmured while recalling the ice jade he found in the Atracaeca Kingdom. It would be able to create the freezer, but in the end, only one freezer would be built.
If it was stolen, everything would be for naught. So, they needed to find a method to make it so that normal people could create it for a long lasting effect.
Anna suddenly thought of something. "Why don't we use Conductor Rune?"
"Conductor Rune?" Noel looked at Anna's weapon. If he remembered correctly, Anna's weapon had been enhanced by five runes: Extension, Harden, Conductor, Burst, and Blood.
He had mastered the Extension and Hardening Runes long ago. The Blood Rune was extracting the essence in the user's blood to improve the amount of power that could be released, while the Burst Rune was the Advanced Version of the Blast Rune.
However, the Conductor Rune was actually the main rune among those five runes. It made the sword able to conduct Spiritual Energy much more than it was capable of. In other words, whether it was the Blast Rune, the Blood Rune, or even the Harden and Extension Rune, all that Spiritual Energy could be stored within the sword by using the Conductor Rune.
On the one hand, it looked useful for Roel's project instead of this one. On the other hand, Noel thought of a different thing.
"Conductor Rune is an Advanced Level Rune. Even I haven't mastered it yet. It derives from the Energy Gathering Rune and the Energy Concentration Rune. However, its concept is slightly different. Instead of drawing the energy toward them, they devour it and keep it within the rune. So, it will only work for Roel's project." After listening to Noel's explanation, Anna looked a bit sad since her suggestion was a mistake. Noel suddenly added, "However…"
Anna's eyelids couldn't help but rise as though Noel had just found an answer.
Noel thought of something. "If there is a Conductor Rune, there is an Insulator Rune. Basically, the Conductor Rune turns things into a conductor for Spiritual Energy, while the Insulator Rune is the other way around.
"But both runes derive from other runes. The Insulator Rune comes from the Spiritual Energy Rune. It is repelling the energy from the runes.
"The only problem is that… if we repel the Spiritual Energy, will we be able to repel the air as well? What I know is that the Spiritual Energy is like gas, but I don't know whether the energy is actually fused with the gas or a different type of gas filling the air."
"That's…" Anna couldn't give an answer. The only people who knew this answer would probably be the Tower Association.
"If that's the case…" Noel looked at Douglas. "For now, just use the insulation materials. I'm going to send some people to the Tower Association to find any magicians researching things like this."
"Understood."
"Do you have a connection there?"
"Ah, I once went to El-Alanca Academy with Rose in the past. We happened to meet a few Spirit Magicians, so I think it's time to use them to find the necessary magicians to provide us some insight."
"El-Alanca? That famous academy that is supposed to research all weird technologies related to Spiritual Energy?"
"Yes. With the help of the runes, we can do much more if we recruit some magicians from there. And I'm a lord now, so enticing them is easier." Noel smirked.
"If that's the case—" Before Anna finished her words, Roel had slammed the door open while shouting, "My lord!"
"O-oh?!" Noel's heart skipped a beat, but Roel looked so much worse. He was panting and covered in sweat.
"Ha… ha… While running, I tried infusing my energy, but I couldn't do it." Roel shook his head.
"Of course, you can't. If you can, then the Spirit Grandmasters would just restore this crystal again and again so that the people weaker than them could increase their strength. I'm talking about using rune to do it." Noel sighed.
"A-ah?!" Roel panicked earlier, but he realized he was just overthinking.
As soon as Roel put the crystal down on the table, Noel formed the Energy Concentration Rune on the crystal. Even if it was just a little, he wanted to know whether it was possible or not. In fact, they might be able to create a recharge station for Demon Crystals through the use of Spiritual Energy in the air.
Unfortunately, it was too good to be true. Noel ended up getting disappointed when the crystal showed no reaction to the rune even after several minutes.
"It seems that we can't produce something like this. But when I see how the Spiritual Energy behaves… this Demon Crystal is actually a good insulator," explained Anna while examining the flow of energy.
"What do you mean?" Noel asked.
"Do you remember that this thing is always inside the demon? Once we take them out and grab them, the spirit is the one extracting themtheir, right? And we can actually store these crystals for so long without them deteriorating, both in the amount of essence and its quality.
"If that's the case, how about creating a small tube to let the Spiritual Energy flow inside? You said the Spiritual Energy behaves like gas, so it's going to fill the room, right?" Anna asked.
Roel dropped his jaw to the ground. "If we grind this and molt it into a tube, the energy will fill the room. And at the end, that energy will be used to power up our stuff, which creates empty space. It will be filled up again. The process will continue this way."
Noel's eyes brightened. "Is that possible, Roel?"
"Yes, my lord. It's possible to create it. But we also need the reactor that produces all that energy. A facility that extracts energy from the Demon Crystals."
"Well, we can add the energy from the air, though, it won't be as much as the ones with Demon Crystals."
"We have to think about the output as well and might even need another energy storage. Either way, the concept might actually work. There will be some trials and errors, but I can definitely say that this is going to work." Roel nodded furiously.
"In that case, I will allow you to work on this project. Give me the concrete idea and design later."
"Understood." Roel accepted the assignment happily. If he could do all these projects, he might become the first Grandmaster Blacksmith. The title of Master Blacksmith was already too low for someone like him.
"As for Douglas, continue with the current project. I will try to get us as much funding as possible. I'm not sure about the freezer, so we'll have to wait for the magicians."
"Yes, my lord." Douglas politely nodded. Both of them seemed to be quite happy. This city would be like none other… the first ever rune city.
