The Great Worm Lich

Zhang Lisheng’s utility and efficacy of not asking the process but only asking for the results made Tumulu, who was firing statements with eloquence, stunned for a short while.

After lowering his head and calculating for some time, the craftsmen chief finally replied, “Great Conqueror, the key to making iron ships is to rebuild the dock. I’ve calculated it, and the first iron ship should be able to enter the water after 40 days. With experience, the speed of shipbuilding will become faster in the future. By the time winter arrives, you’ll be able to get at least 40 iron boats that can transport 5,000 Hellfire tribesmen on the sea. It should be enough for an expedition to happen.”

“So fast?” Zhang Lisheng, who thought it would take at least two to three years based on his calculation of the shipyard’s shipbuilding speed on Earth, asked in a dumbstruck manner.

“Conqueror, there are 97 factories that forge ironwares like this one here in the Red Mountain Furnace.” Tumulu had a proud look on his face while he pointed at the wooden frame that was several dozens of meters long beside him. He then said decisively, “With several thousands of craftsmen with their partners and hundreds of thousands of Wizard Li tribesmen working in the furnace and dock for an entire day, we will certainly be able to build enough iron ships for you by the time winter hits.”

“Tumulu, I believe you can do it!” Zhang Lisheng nodded with an admiring smile on his face. After pondering about it for a while, he suddenly added, “Oh yeah, I have another interesting thing to show you. It should give you inspiration on building ships faster.”

While the young man was speaking, he walked towards the side of the stone mold that was piled up as high as a mountain and casually picked up a rag that was used to wipe the mold from the ground. He pulled out over ten tough silk threads from the rough corners of the rag and kneaded them together, turning the rag into the shape of a crumpled irregular parachute.

Then, the young man walked to the edge of the sea of ​​fire and transformed his palms into claws, before taking out a handful of hot magma from the boiling lava with his bare hands and put it on the threads.

The magma adhered to the kneaded silk threads that were resistant to high temperatures and continued to burn the air. Not long after, the entire rag began to swell, and at once, Zhang Lisheng released his hands gently, allowing the rag to rise slowly up the air.

The young man was merely demonstrating a simple hot-air balloon experiment, but in the eyes of the Wizard Li’s craftsmen, they found it to be remarkably amazing. In particular, when Tumulu saw this scene, his eyes widened right away. As though he had forgotten that the tribal overlord was just by his side, he stared at the flying, mottled, dirty cloth and murmured, “I-It’s flying… I-It’s flying…”

“That’s right, it flies.” Zhang Lisheng shrugged and walked back to Tumulu. “After you finish imitating the iron ship, you can study how to make this flying rag tens of millions times bigger, so it can transport people and goods.”

“Great Conqueror! This is easy! Just build a wooden cabin-like house below the cloth and use a steam propeller from the iron ship to propel it. It will be able to run, no, fly quick…” Tumulu looked up at the dirty rag that was beginning to fall after the magma had burned out. From this single clue, he was able to recognize the key concepts with just one glance, thus prompting him to reply.

“Looks like I don’t have to give you any more hints then, Tumulu. This flying rag is called an airship. You can try to make it in the future.”

“Airship… Airship…” Tumulu murmured. “This is really an amazing thing. Great Conqueror, thank you for unveiling a brand-new curtain for me,” While the Wizard Li’s chief craftsman was speaking, he bowed deeply at the Conqueror.

“I merely unveiled this one cloth that was blinding your sight. The real amazing world is still out there waiting for you to discover yourself.” Zhang Lisheng chuckled. “Alright, I won’t bother you any longer. Go continue with your marvelous ideas, Tumulu.”‘

After saying so, the Wizard Li’s overlord turned around to leave, but he suddenly heard the hesitant voice of the tribal chief craftsmen, “Great Conqueror, I-I have something t-to ask of you…”

“You may tell me anything, Tumulu.” Zhang Lisheng stopped and turned his head to look at the Wizard Li’s chief craftsman.

“It’s like this, Great Conqueror. After the enlightening moment you gave me with your wisdom, I realized that sometimes, a good craftsman’s brain is even more effective than a hundred strong Hellfire laborers who work non-stop day and night. Even though Wizard Li has many craftsmen now, it’s still fewer than what I need…”

“You want to pick more craftsmen from among the tribesmen? No problem,” Zhang Lisheng smiled and interrupted.

“B-But an ordinary Hellfire tribesman doesn’t know how to read. Over 80% of them are still using bark rope to keep a record of events, so they cannot become a craftsman at all.”

“In that case, as a craftsman, all of you would have to work harder and choose some clever ones to teach them to read…” Zhang Lisheng casually answered and suddenly noticed the bright strange gleam sparkling in Tumulu’s eyes. His heart gave a jolt right away. “Tumulu, y-you want to teach every Wizard Li tribesmen how to read?”

“Yes, Great Conqueror!” Tumulu kneeled on the ground right away without giving a damn to the scorching ground and said while crouching down, “The tribal craftsmen are busy, but there are many chief warriors who are literate. I hope you can order them to teach the tribesmen how to read and write after a day of work.”

A written language was the bearing of civilizations while the development of civilization came from an accumulation of tiny little things.

Just take Earth’s civilization as an example. For thousands of years before and after the AD calendar, human beings had lived a constant life of battle using swords and knives for the sake of lands. The days of farming livestock and grazing for food had gone on with no essential change.

However, when the depth of the civilization had accumulated to a certain extent one day, a group of pioneering science masters suddenly appeared in the world. Within a short span of a few decades, they had pushed the height of civilization to an unprecedented peak.

As for the Wizard Li tribe, the key reason why this native tribe, that was still in the primitive civilization stage, could miraculously carry out industrialized, mechanical production, lied in the most basic and essential scientific knowledge that Zhang Lisheng had stolen from the Earth civilization. With Tumulu, a genius that only appeared once every few thousands of years, as their leader, they could produce a dazzling spark when it collided with the craftsmanship experience of the Hellfire craftsmen that had been passed down from one generation to another.

This unexpectedly perfect result had long blown Zhang Lisheng away, and he vaguely knew that this kind of coincidental luck, that was similar to winning a lottery, was very much like building a castle on the sand. Any forcible improvement of the production capacity might result in it collapsing without warning overnight.

If he wanted to avoid this disastrous result and strengthen the castle, the only choice he had was to consolidate the foundation. The best way to do so was none other than turning the poor infertile sand of civilization into a flat land rich with knowledge.

Now that Tumulu’s words had inadvertently awakened Zhang Lisheng, he said thoughtfully, “Tumulu, you have a great idea! However, it’s not quite a good idea to rely on the warriors to spread out civilization. It’s better for the craftsmen to take on this job… Okay, how about this? Put aside all craftsmen who are over 55 years old, and it doesn’t matter even if it affects the iron ship’s imitation efficiency. Let your father lead them so they could spread knowledge to all Wizard Li’s tribesmen, except for the warriors, and teach them how to read and write after they have finished working. From now on, in the last ten days of the end of each year, we will allow the ordinary tribesmen to pitch themselves to the craftsmen to demonstrate their craftsmanship and brains to become the craftsmen’s apprentices. Limit the number to 0.5% of the total tribal population. Eliminate 50% of these apprentices a year later and 40% more the year after. The rest of the apprentices will become official craftsmen, and we will gift them with a partner; this will become a permanent practice in the Wizard Li tribe.”

“Great Conqueror, you’re so wise that I dare not even mention the word ‘wisdom!’” Tumulu’s entire body was emanating with a sour and sweaty stench. Excited, his voice trembled as he said, “Don’t you worry! I’ll never delay the casting of the iron ship imitation even if I have to sacrifice my life! I will let your wisdom spread on other islands in the early spring of next year.”

“There’s no need to sacrifice your life, Tumulu. You’re much more valuable than one or two small islands to me. You may rise now. Remember to drink more water while working in this hot volcano. I’ll take my leave first!” After saying so, Zhang Lisheng walked away with brisk footsteps.

Staring at his slowly disappearing back under the distorted firelight, a frenzied worshipping gaze that opposed his wisdom appeared in the eyes of the chief craftsman of the Wizard Li tribe. Standing up swayingly while disregarding the burning mark on his chest and legs, he shouted in a hoarse voice, “Tuhahan, Doruki! All of you have heard what the Conqueror has said! From now on, the chief craftsmen in the Wizard Li tribe will no longer be less important than the chief warriors! Hurry! We must make this big machine fast! We need to build the iron ship in the shortest time possible and show the Conqueror just how wise his decision is…”

“Yes, Chief!” Several dozens of the craftsmen beside the lava replied in excitement. After drinking a few gulps of fresh water, they drove the Lohlos to start their hard work again. At this time, Zhang Lisheng had already walked out of the volcano and deeply breathed in the fresh air of the island.

In the next few days, the Wizard Li’s overlord would stay by the beach while enjoying the sea breeze and spent time cultivating his secret cultivation method that was making up the wizard gus in his body while hunting wild beasts. Unwittingly, it was time for him to leave the island.

In the early morning, with clouds hovering above his head while looking as though a thunderstorm would break out soon, Zhang Lisheng walked out of the treehouse enshrining the tribal book of history and looked at the totem pole near him while suppressing the impulse to obtain the Hellfire tribesmen’s power of faith.

He muttered to himself, “It has only been less than ten days since the last harvest, so I guess I’m better off waiting, lest I’d be disappointed again…” Green scales grew on his entire body as clouds began to gather below his feet. Just as he was about to rise to the air, he suddenly saw a dispatch warrior riding a giant millispider rushing towards him, before tumbling and kneeling on the ground. “Great Conqueror, the strong, ferocious beast that you want has appeared!”

“Strong, ferocious beast?” Zhang Lisheng grinned. “It’s not a carnivorous animal like the Bucktooth Bear or the Millileopard, right?”

A wizard beast that could produce a soul that a wizard could absorb was even rarer than a wizard gu. The young man had undergone several disappointments in this short span of a few days, so he did not have high hopes this time.

“Conqueror, a ten-person hunting team has not returned to the tribe the entire night last night and only one seriously wounded warrior managed to flee back to the tribe this morning. They’ve encountered the Armored Dragon!”