467: Chapter 449 outlines the concept, policy, and specific implementation of establishing an air force.

Having been busy with the rescue operation for the life tree over the past few days, Zhang Mu had temporarily pushed the idea of creating an Air Force to the back of his mind.

At this moment, Frederica's mention of "wanting to pilot a fighter jet" prompted him to recall it.

The empires and kingdoms of the Saul Continent also possessed "Air Forces," but compared to the development level of Air Forces on Blue Star, the former was still in its infancy—or rather, just getting into a starting crouch at the starting line.

Zhang Mu had seen three "Air Forces" on the Saul Continent in total.

The first was the Griffin Legion accumulated by the former King of Lake. The entire legion rode griffins to march through the sky, and when encountering enemies, they usually attacked by diving rapidly and following up with magic.

The griffins served only as a "means of transportation," and their own combat power was nearly non-existent.

The second was the Thorn Legion under the Lagu Kingdom that had attacked Gur City.

If the Griffin Legion were compared to World War II fighter planes from Blue Star, then the Sky Magical Beasts ridden by the Thorn Legion were like World War II-era transport planes.

They were characterized by their massive size and a load capacity far exceeding that of a fighter jet, but they lacked means to counterattack and required fighter escorts during missions to prevent sudden raids by enemy aircraft.

However, if truly placed in the same space for comparison, Sky Magical Beasts as a whole were far inferior to transport planes.

Firstly, the former lacked reproducibility.

There is severe reproductive isolation between different species of high-tier Sky Magical Beasts; offspring cannot be born unless they are of the same species. If a country had only one Sky Magical Beast and could not find another of the opposite sex, then once that beast died in battle or reached its natural life limit, it would be lost forever.

Secondly, their upper limit was fixed.

Suppose an adult Sky Magical Beast with a maximum capacity of one ton of cargo gave birth to an offspring; that offspring's abilities in all aspects would basically be on par with its parent.

Even if individual differences made its abilities slightly superior, the gap would be very limited.

The transport planes nurtured by Blue Star's industrial civilization were different, with infinite possibilities for the future—perhaps Blue Star's technological system also had an end, but at least current humanity could not see it.

The third and most powerful one was the Wyvern Cavalry Regiment of the Ganno Empire.

This cavalry regiment could not only use dives and knights' magic to raid ground infantry legions, but the mounts themselves could also release a weakened version of Wyvern Fire, giving them the preliminary functions of a bomber.

However, they shared a drawback with Sky Magical Beasts: a fixed upper limit and a long breeding cycle. Compared to the aircraft production speed of powerful industrial nations on Blue Star, calling it "slow" would be a compliment.

In summary, if Zhang Mu were to create a systematic Air Force on the Saul Continent, every empire would bow before it.

Of course, empires could organize High-tier Professional squads to deal with it, but Zhang Mu's Special Squad would not stand idly by.

If an empire really sent out High-tier Professionals, Zhang Mu wouldn't mind using a bunch of mass-produced industrial goods as bait to set an ambush and trade them for their lives.

As Zhang Mu was lost in his imagination, Frederica mistakenly thought her proposal was inappropriate: "Lake, do you refuse to let other races join the army?"

"Ah?" He snapped out of it and shook his head with a smile. "How could that be? I just thought of some things... Since you want to fly a fighter jet, I happen to be planning to establish an Air Force. I don't have a candidate for the commander yet; are you interested?"

"Air Force? That's a very fitting name," Frederica muttered, then asked excitedly, "Is the commander the Legion Commander of the Air Force?"

"Yes."

"Can I... can I do it?"

"If I say you can, you can."

After answering decisively, Zhang Mu remembered something: "Oh, wait, I forgot. The Air Force Legion Commander can't go to the front lines often."

"Then... then I'd rather just be a pilot."

"Hmm... there's no rush to decide this. We'll discuss it after we get back. For now..." Zhang Mu turned his head to look toward the clan lands. "Do any of you Elves... want to go out for a change of pace?"

"Go out for a change of pace?" Frederica looked toward the clan lands following Zhang Mu's gaze, confused. "Doesn't coming to the Forest of Spirits count?"

...

The Council Chamber.

Having been personally taught by Zhang Mu, an Elf who had preliminary mastery of intelligence techniques like collection, statistics, analysis, and extraction was standing in the royal palace hall. Holding bark paper, they were reporting the results of the life tree rescue operation to the King seated on the throne.

The Great Elder, the head of the eighteen elders, stood beside the throne listening in.

It was the Elf's first time handling reporting work, so the process was inevitably a bit awkward. There were many flaws in the details, such as complex or vague phrasing and pausing to think of words while speaking, but the King didn't mind at all and kept a smile on his face.

"The ecological environment of the Forest of Spirits was restored yesterday—restored, uh, returned to its original state. The activities of magical beasts have become active again.

The yield of fruit trees in the plantation has also recovered, and is even higher than before.

In addition, many extinct plants have reappeared, and jela flowers once again cover the Forest of Spirits."

After finishing the difficult report, the Elf quietly wiped the cold sweat from their forehead, bowed, and backed out of the Council Chamber.

As the doors slowly closed, the Great Elder said joyfully, "King, our clan's crisis has been resolved."

The King was equally delighted: "We must thank Zhang Mu, otherwise our clan would surely have perished."

At the mention of Zhang Mu, the Great Elder's brow furrowed: "King, Mr. Zhang Mu will soon leave the clan lands to return to Lake. What if we encounter a similar disaster again in the future..."

"Although he gifted us enough fertilizer, it will eventually run out."

The smile on the King's face slowly faded: "That is indeed a problem."

"Could we ask Mr. Zhang Mu to teach us the extraction method for the fertilizer?" Seeing the King look at him, the Great Elder thought he might have misunderstood something and added, "Of course, not for free. We will pay a price."

"Great Elder, what kind of price do you think would be appropriate?"

"Uh..."

The Great Elder lowered his head in deep thought, and after a long time, reached a desperate conclusion—it was a price the Elf Clan could not afford to pay.

Moreover, before this, he hadn't even asked if Zhang Mu was willing to sell. What if he wasn't?

Was the Elf Clan going to seize it by force?

The Great Elder might be selfish, but he would not stoop to such a despicable act.

He looked at the King with worry: "King, what should we do?"

The King smiled: "I have thought of a way."

"Really?!"

"Great Elder, what are your thoughts on the airplane?"

Not understanding what the airplane had to do with the current topic, but since it was the King's question, the Great Elder had a duty to answer.

After thinking seriously for a moment, he bowed slightly and said, "A very terrifying weapon."

"A weapon?"

"Yes." The Great Elder straightened up and began to explain his view from the beginning, "Setting aside the exploding spears Mr. Zhang Mu fired that day, just the ability to fly in the sky provides a crushing advantage against any legion below the level of High-tier Professional.

The airplane doesn't even need to lower its altitude; simply by dropping torches onto the ground, it could burn down an enemy's city.

If the pilot is a Professional, such as an archer from our clan, then the attack power would be even stronger."

The King thought for a moment and asked again, "What if I dispatch High-tier Professionals into the sky to intercept it?"

"King." The Great Elder smiled, "I am not sure about Lake—no, it is Mr. Zhang Mu. I don't know what Mr. Zhang Mu relied on to repel the Allied Army's siege and eventually counterattack and annihilate them,

But he must be hiding some kind of powerful weapon capable of threatening the lives of High-tier Professionals or even Saint-ranks.

With such a weapon existing, the airplane can fully exert its power."

The King nodded and said, "Therefore, Zhang Mu will establish an airplane legion."

"Such a sharp tool could not possibly be left idle."

"Airplanes need pilots to control them."

"Yes, every airplane needs..." Halfway through his sentence, the Great Elder remembered a phrase Zhang Mu once said—'Elves are truly perfect, natural-born pilots'—and he suddenly understood.

"Mr. Zhang Mu... is he in urgent need of pilots?"

The King smiled: "I wouldn't say urgent, but he is certainly lacking them, and as for pilots, there are none more suitable than Elves."

"But King, our clan's population..."

"Yes, our clan's population is pitifully small compared to humans. But why is that?"

"The fruits produced by the plantation are limited; if there are too many clansmen, there won't be enough."

"The fruit production is limited because the life tree can only support that many fruit trees. With fertilizer, do we still need to worry about that?"

The Great Elder's brow smoothed out: "King, you are brilliant!"

Then he said excitedly, "With an inexhaustible supply of fertilizer, our clan might be able to..."

"He's here." The King suddenly interrupted him.

The Great Elder extended his Mental Energy outside the palace gates to sense the person.

With a creak, the palace doors were slowly pushed open, and Zhang Mu walked in side-by-side with Frederica.

When they reached the middle of the hall, Frederica bowed, while Zhang Mu waved his hand: "Good morning."

"It is already noon." The Elf King rose with a smile and walked down the high platform along the wooden stairs. "What brings you to see me, Mr. Zhang Mu?"

"I won't beat around the bush." Zhang Mu organized his words in his mind and got straight to the point, "After returning to Lake, I plan to build an Air Force.

For an Air Force, pilots are indispensable, and you Elves are very suitable to be trained as pilots.

So, I wanted to ask for your opinion."

The King and the Great Elder exchanged a subtle glance, both seeing the pleasant surprise in each other's eyes.

Just as they were thinking about how to bring this up, he had delivered himself to their door.

The King feigned contemplation and said after a moment, "Mr. Zhang Mu, we cannot ignore your kindness to the Elf Clan; I can promise you this.

However, our clan's population is sparse, so it's really..."

"Hey, I thought it was some kind of trouble." When Zhang Mu heard the word 'however,' he thought the Elf was going to refuse, but then he realized the concern was about the small population. "I've already asked Furei about this.

Your population is small because there aren't enough fruits, and there aren't enough fruits because the life tree can only support so many trees.

If we feed the life tree well, won't you be able to have as many babies as you want?"

The Elf King was stunned for a moment, wondering who "Furei" was, before quickly realizing it was the first two characters of his daughter's name. He was somewhat puzzled as to why Zhang Mu addressed Frederica that way.

He couldn't figure it out, but it wasn't important, so he set it aside.

He said, "In exchange for our clan providing pilots for Mr. Zhang Mu, we would like the production technology for the fertilizer. What do you think?"

"I can give you the production technology for the fertilizer, but the problem is..." Zhang Mu thought for a moment and phrased it differently, "You would have the ability to process it, but the output would be extremely low. Even after decades, it might not be enough for one round of application, and the cost would be very high.

I'll give you another option: I will provide a sufficient supply of fertilizer. Think about it."

Both options had their pros and cons, and the Elf King couldn't help but hesitate.

Seeing that it was difficult for him to decide in a short time, Zhang Mu said, "I'll be setting off for Lake in three days. Give me your answer then, okay?"

"That is feasible."

"Then I'll come back in three days."

Zhang Mu and Frederica walked out of the door together, and the Council Chamber fell silent.

The Elf King sat back on his throne, frowning in deep thought.

From a shallow analysis, Zhang Mu's proposal was undoubtedly more practical.

Without needing to collect raw materials or produce it themselves, they could obtain a continuous supply of fertilizer just by asking Zhang Mu. From a personal perspective, there was clearly no need for further weighing.

However, the Elf King was the king of a race, leading a whole clan; he could not look at the problem so superficially.

The plan Zhang Mu proposed had a fatal flaw: the production line was not in the hands of the Elf Clan.

If one day the Elf Clan had a conflict with Zhang Mu, would the other party still send them fertilizer?

There were currently no incentives for conflict between the two sides, but who could guarantee there wouldn't be in the future? At least the Elf King couldn't be certain.

From the Elf King's perspective, it seemed safer to trade for the production method.

But Zhang Mu said that even if the Elf Clan had the production technology, the output would be very low—so low that decades of accumulation wouldn't be enough for one round of application.

The Elf King couldn't help but worry about this. After all, if there was an insufficient reserve of fertilizer the next time they needed to replenish the nutrients in the soil of the Forest of Spirits, there would be trouble.

"Great Elder." The Elf King hesitated, unable to decide, and asked him with some distress, "Which one do you think is better?"

The Great Elder seemed to have already cleared his thoughts and spoke directly: "Choose the second option for now, and look for an opportunity to obtain the first one in the future."

Then, he explained the basis of his judgment: "King, our clan's greatest danger at present is the infertility of the soil in the Forest of Spirits, so we must solve that first before considering the acquisition of fertilizer production technology."

The King still had concerns and asked, "I remember humans have magic to accelerate the growth of wheat. Wheat is a plant too; can it be used to replace fertilizer?"

The Great Elder shook his head: "I asked the Fifth Elder. That kind of magic only increases the speed at which wheat absorbs nutrients; it cannot replenish the nutrients in the soil."

After a pause, he advised, "King, given our clan's habits, we will basically not stand in opposition to Mr. Zhang Mu. There is actually no need to worry about Mr. Zhang Mu cutting off the supply.

Hmm... the only thing to be mindful of is whether our clansmen joining Lake's legion will attract the attention of the God..."

The King looked up at the ceiling, his gaze seemingly passing through the ceiling and beyond the sky to see the God looking down upon the continent.

"God... before a bottom line is touched, God will not interfere in any affairs on the continent.

Unless..."

He shifted his gaze to the Elder: "Do you think Zhang Mu will one day shake the throne of the gods?"

The Great Elder was stunned for a few seconds, then laughed in spite of himself after recovering: "Are you overestimating Mr. Zhang Mu, or underestimating God too much?

In ancient times, our ancestors angered God, and in just a few hundred years—the span of a single generation—our ancestors were kicked off the throne of the continent's rulers by humans representing the gods.

Mr. Zhang Mu is indeed very mysterious, and the weapons he creates are very strong, but can they compare to our ancestors?

King, as you know, at our peak, our clan possessed three Legendaries at the same time."

The Elf King was silent for a moment: "You have a point."