"Yes, it feels very different, but I can't say exactly how it's different." The wild mage nodded slightly.
Viscount Roster smiled and said: "My Roster territory has undergone extensive reforms. There are many workshops belonging to the Roster family within the territory. Even during the Frigid Moon, freemen can go to workshops to produce handicrafts and earn a considerable income—at least, no one freezes to death."
"No one freezes to death?" The wild mage's eyes were full of surprise.
Most magicians would never have any contact with ordinary people, but the wild mage was different. All these years wandering outside, he'd seen all kinds of people.
He knew well that every year during the Frigid Moon, many people died—frozen, starved, or killed by others desperate from hunger. Even in the capital, this was very common.
But this Roster territory could actually prevent people from freezing to death?!
What puzzled him even more was that this Viscount Roster seemed proud of it!
Other nobles wouldn't care about these freemen's lives or deaths.
They weren't considered the nobles' assets...
The wild mage looked at his 'investor' with new eyes for the first time.
For the first time, he realized that this Viscount Roster, like himself, was a... pioneer not understood by the world.
"Mr. Wild Mage, I see you're also a heavy internet user. You should know about magic bombs, right? Honestly, the magic bomb workshop is currently our Roster territory's biggest investment. Your self-charging magic array will become our greatest asset, which is also the main reason I wanted to invite you to Roster territory."
Viscount Roster looked at the wild mage before him: "I want your definite answer—are you really willing to join our viscounty? Also, I'd like to know your real name."
"This is just the beginning. In the future, you'll continue following the God of Technology's path, manufacturing, developing, and selling more Magic Conductors, right?" The wild mage didn't give a direct answer, instead asking his own question.
"Of course."
Viscount Roster didn't hesitate.
"Good, I'll join." The wild mage nodded directly: "But I hope to join the R&D team. I'm very interested in magi... Magic Conductor technology! As for my name, honestly, after all these years wandering outside, I can't even remember it. Just call me Wild Mage."
The carriage moved swiftly.
Arriving at the castle, after receiving the wild mage with proper noble etiquette and enjoying a hearty meal, the two came to the magic bomb workshop together.
"Why are they all mage apprentices?" The wild mage couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Mage apprentices can't produce magic bombs, can they?"
"Usually not." Viscount Roster's lips curved slightly upward: "That's true elsewhere, but we're different here."
Under the wild mage's puzzled gaze, Viscount Roster revealed his biggest secret: "We're just a viscounty after all. Hiring lots of official mages isn't easy, but I discovered we don't actually need to hire official mages. Magic bombs, or rather Magic Conductors, differ most from other magical items in being—simple!"
"Really very simple, without any complex runes. This has something in common with your self-charging array, and I think that's one reason God appreciates you."
"But even if it's simple, mage apprentices couldn't possibly do it, right? I haven't seen magic bombs, but I know they can cast relatively strong low-level magic." The wild mage wasn't flattered by the praise, but hearing that he was appreciated by the God of Technology and had similarities with magic bombs, he couldn't help but smile.
This was the closest he felt he'd ever been to truth.
"They don't need to master everything. Each mage apprentice only needs to master one rune from the magic bomb—master it thoroughly. All the runes on a magic bomb can be completed by just dozens of mage apprentices, because each person only handles one rune. They're extremely familiar with it, even making them more refined and... standardized than some low-level mages!"
Viscount Roster looked ahead confidently: "You can go over there to see a finished product, then make one yourself for comparison."
"Bold thinking." The wild mage didn't move, just his eyes started getting intense: "I'm liking this place more and more."
He really hadn't thought it could be done this way—each apprentice mastering one rune, then a bunch of apprentices putting together a magic bomb.
Genius idea!
The wild mage found he was increasingly fond of this young viscount.
Over the following period, the wild mage began building large-scale self-charging development in Roster territory.
Partly because time was urgent with his life nearing its end, and partly to quickly give back to Viscount Roster and show him just how fast this assembly-line production mode could be with self-charging development, the wild mage worked almost non-stop.
In the Goddess of Magic's divine realm.
Ren watched all this and nodded with satisfaction.
"This young viscount seems to have grasped the true essence of Magic Conductors!" Betty beside him looked at everything with some surprise.
Even she had only realized this after Ray Gun 2.0 was created.
"Yeah, he actually figured out assembly lines on his own." Ren was very satisfied: "Compared to traditional magical tools, Magic Conductors' biggest features are universality and affordability, with effects like instant casting being secondary. His thinking of assembly lines proves he's grasped this point."
"I even suspect you've been secretly tutoring him behind my back." Betty stared at Ren, still somewhat incredulous: "Otherwise how could he figure everything out so quickly?"
"Didn't that wild mage also invent the self-charging array you thought was impossible?"
Ren chuckled, then turned his gaze to the brand new mortal realm map nearby: "How is it? With this, isn't it much more intuitive?"
This map was something he'd had Betty and the book create together.
At first she didn't understand, but when the book fully connected the Magic Net signal to this map, she instantly felt this thing was really good!
Every location where a Magic Net Ring activated would show up on this map as red dots.
The Kingdom of Dawn's capital, Gray Fort Empire's capital, border fortresses of both countries—the red dots were so dense they were almost overflowing.
As for major cities, while not matching these two capitals, they still had very substantial numbers.
And through these red dots, they could clearly see dense clusters spreading outward from these cities as centers.
Some small territories, towns, wilderness forests, mountains and hills were also gradually showing scattered red dots, "reproducing" at extremely fast rates.
"Look at you being all smug. Even without this map, I could just ask the book and know the general situation."
Betty said this, but her expression looking at the map had already betrayed her: "Looks like Magic Net Ring promotion is going very smoothly! Now there are already over a hundred thousand people activated, covering almost all areas of both major nations."
She couldn't help but admire—Ren was truly amazing.
Without Ren, how could they have been so successful?
How could they have collected so much faith?!
Now the divine realm's faith requirements were about 70% satisfied. They just needed to earn a bit more, and the divine realm barrier wouldn't need the Goddess of Magic's divine power support anymore, letting her return from beyond the domain... It seemed his faith power had accumulated about that much too?!
With this thought, Betty glanced at Ren again.
Almost ready to become a god!
"Yeah, promotion in both major nations has been very smooth, but the Elf Kingdom is much slower than expected. Even the Highland Kingdom, which is influenced by the Elf Kingdom, seems much slower too." Ren turned his gaze to the southern part of the map and couldn't help sighing.