Chapter 743 — The Intangible

"Yes," Amber nodded. "But it is plainly ill-intentioned. And this notion of 'exchange students'... anyone can tell at a glance they want to come and steal our knowledge."

"I actually think it is a good thing," Gaoyang said—words that left Amber profoundly surprised. "In fact, I have already decided to approve it."

Amber's eyes went wide at once, but before she could cry out or question him, she suddenly guessed what Gaoyang intended to do next.

No matter what one said, after two years in the top seat of the Military Intelligence Bureau, she had, after all, developed an extra sensitivity in certain domains.

"It seems you have thought of it too," Gaoyang said, nodding at Amber's reaction. "Since Typhon wishes to establish a more active and harmonious diplomatic relationship with us, a friendly and open Cecil has no reason to refuse. We can have some broader, deeper commercial activity—you see, since it is business, then it is hardly excessive for some Cecil folk to go into Typhon's territory and invest in opening a few new-style theaters, is it?"

Amber blinked. "Won't Luo Yan notice anything?"

"At first, he will not notice. Then, he will be unable to refuse," Gaoyang said slowly, his tone suddenly somewhat ethereal and profound. "After a time, he may not much like what we film—but what of it? The Typhon people will like it."

"...Mother of us."

After a small exclamation, Amber quickly turned her attention back to the matter of the exchange students: "But no matter what one says, a batch of Typhon folk will certainly be coming in as exchange students... ugh, my head aches just thinking about it."

Gaoyang merely looked at her with a half-smile. "As I said just now—it is a good thing."

The tip of Amber's ear twitched. "Oh?"

Gaoyang raised his gaze, and his eyes passed over the top of Amber's head, coming to rest upon the map that depicted the entire continent.

His tone was leisurely.

"Students from Typhon will come in, arriving in this flourishing, strange, heaven-and-earth-turned-upside-down Cecil. They come for knowledge and intelligence. They are hand-picked Typhonians loyal to Roselle Augustus, but by the time they return... how many of them will still be Typhonians is another matter entirely."

Having said this, Gaoyang paused, and looked at Amber with a half-smile: "Isn't that so?"

Amber sighed, her ears and shoulders drooping together: "Alas, that's exactly why I said just thinking about it makes my head ache."

The half-elf lady looked thoroughly dejected, as though a few words were carved into her eyes: I don't want to work overtime.

Gaoyang paid her no mind.

He leaned back in his chair, his gaze cast toward some distant place, and only after a long spell of pondering and silence did he speak softly, as though talking to himself: "Actually, if the Typhonians were only here to learn a few techniques... I really wouldn't mind all that much."

A map depicting the whole of the continent hung on the wall. The Typhon Empire and the Cecil Empire pressed close against each other, their winding borderlands interlocking like canine teeth, like flesh bound to bone.

Gaoyang did not mind employing any measure to stay wary of this neighbor that had already begun to hunger; he did not mind using any means to lay traps, conceal daggers, and pour poison, for that was another empire—and an empire far from friendly, one that had long since sharpened its fangs and claws.

Were it Roselle Augustus, he would certainly do the same—indeed, he was already doing the same things. The civil war in Anzu, the blood and fire of the Covenant Fortress still stood vivid before the eyes. Facts had proven that where national interests were concerned, that Emperor Roselle's methods were in no way gentler than Gaoyang's.

But neither did Gaoyang mind that Typhon's industry might develop somewhat, nor that more of Typhon's common folk might survive the trials of the era to come.

Because before the magic tide and the gods, everyone was but a mortal.

For every measure of power added to mortal hands, the odds of this age's civilization surviving rose that much higher.

Gaoyang let out a soft sigh.

This contradiction and sense of rupture would likely haunt him forever, driving him to make countless choices he had no choice but to make, until... the day the wall came down.

……

Holy Spirit Plain, eastern region, Thorin Fort.

The power of nature seemed to form a singular anomaly here: a mighty force of vitality blanketed this land. Though the entire north of the continent had already entered deep winter, vitality and warmth still lingered here.

As though spring had descended ahead of its time.

A magic-driven vehicle bearing the banner of the "Joint Reconstruction Corps" came to a stop at the boundary of Thorin Fort.

In the direction from which the vehicle had come, a few hundred meters away, lay ice and snow and biting cold wind.

Ahead of the vehicle, a crown of foliage vast as a small mountain rose in the distance. Teeming vitality spread outward from the great Thorin Tree; on the ground grasses and trees still bore a trace of green, flowers still bloomed, animals still frolicked.

A magic field of immense scale shrouded this place, producing effects akin to a breeze shield and nature's blessing. Inside the field and outside it were veritably two different worlds.

Norris sat in the magic-driven vehicle, gazing from afar toward the great Thorin Tree.