Lu Zhiyu’s first impression of Finnlit was that there were workshops everywhere, including military workshops, steelmaking workshops, metallurgical workshops and a large number of handicraft workshops. Among these workshops, workers had become the most important and the largest class in Finnlit.
“The best cotton garments, whether they are coats, hats, or women’s long dresses and underwear… Our shop has it all!” an apprentice shouted at the door of a garment store.
“Look at this hat. It’s so beautiful!” Several black-haired Tuten girls with thin noses and big eyes were gathered at the display window of the garment store, chattering and laughing.
“Do you want a new type of steam lamp? We also have various handcrafts and artistic ornaments, as well as vases and music boxes from the West!” another peddler proclaimed.
“The clocks of Hood’s Watch Workshop are the most famous in Finnlit!” a watch workshop staffer called out.
Seeing this shop, Lu Zhiyu suddenly recalled Lars Brown, the son of the watchmaker. With the changes brought about by the steam engines affecting the whole world, Lars’ reputation was growing. Even in the Sean City-State Alliance, where the Brown family had become notorious because of Jonathan Brown, people were starting to admire Lars more and more.
On the square of Akkad Alchemy College, besides the statue of Akkad, a statue of Lars had recently been erected. Just as Lars had looked up at the statue of Akkad, all of the students who entered Akkad Alchemy College now looked up to his face and were motivated by his story!
“Carol’s Grocery Store! Beer, bread, coffee and black tea from Tuten…” Lu Zhiyu had just passed a grocery store.
As machines had gradually replaced manual operations, a large number of new commodities had flooded the market. The biggest change was in clothing.
Most people could now afford to wear decent clothes, which was impossible hundreds of years ago, or even decades ago. Along with these changes, workshop owners gradually became the most powerful and wealthiest group of people besides the aristocracy!
Also, the pollution here was not as bad as Lu Zhiyu had imagined. This was because, after the city had been built, an underground drainage and sewage system had also been implemented, and many public toilets could be seen along the road.
However, because a lot of wastewater discharge had polluted the Pegasus River, the stench became a problem for all of the residents in the city. The black smoke from the chimneys of the workshops also filled the sky, making the clouds gray, which caused a lot of the people who came here for the first time to feel suffocated.
In addition, the large number of people now flowing into Finnlit had brought tremendous pressure on the wastage system of the city. As a result, some of the main streets were very cleaned, while others were piled high with garbage.
“Please give us something to eat. We haven’t had anything for several days!” Several children pulled Lu Zhiyu’s coat, while another child was waiting for the opportunity to steal some money from his pocket.
“I’ll give you a fair price for a night, sir!” Several women in suggestive clothing waved to Lu Zhiyu.
As Lu Zhiyu crossed this dirty road, he found the dark world under the light. The coming of the steam age had brought not only wealth and progress, but also poverty and exploitation.
Lu Zhiyu could see a large number of exploited workers and skinny children, as well as gangsters running wild. Many people, in order to make a living, even had to let their wives become streetwalkers. This area was clearly the dark side of Finnlit.
As Lu Zhiyu toured Finnlitt, he felt the changing atmosphere of the times and started thinking about the future of Maria’s World…
What kind of world will this world become?
After touring the city, Lu Zhiyu went directly to the city hall in the center of the city, through which was the congress castle, the political center of Sean City-State Alliance. The Prime Minister and the Parliament held important conferences here, and the Prime Minister and the Cabinet worked here.
The title of Prime Minister was originally the name of the archon when the Tuten Dynasty had a monarch. Now, even though there was no monarch, the role of Prime Minister had still been retained.
At the moment, there was a special meeting being conducted in the congress castle. This was actually one of the purposes for Lu Zhiyu’s coming here, as he journeyed here to not only see the steam trend in Sean City-State Alliance, but also to meet some familiar people.
As Lu Zhiyu passed through the lobby of the congress castle, the guards at the entrance and the inspecting alchemists turned a blind eye to him. The castle was five stories high and had a large number of officers, soldiers, and public officials, all of whom were gathering here to maintain the smooth operations of the whole Sean City-State Alliance.
In a conference room on the fourth floor, Lu Zhiyu pushed open the side door and entered, then immediately sat in the back. Within this room were many extraordinary people from all over the world, including wizards, alchemists, orc wizards and even some officials of Sean City-State Alliance. At the moment, everyone was focusing on the discussion that was unfolding at the central conference table…
“What is the future of our wizards? Do we even have a future? The critical moment for making changes has arrived, and the time to decide the future of the wizards has come. We must make a decision immediately. Otherwise, we will have no future. Wizards are likely to become a flash in the pan of history and gradually withdraw from the stage of history entirely. This is absolutely unacceptable to us!” At the table, Edward Kelermo was seriously speaking to everyone present about the future of the wizards, a topic that all the extraordinary people present took very seriously.
The other people at the table were the legendary alchemist Marina Bossey, the thousand-sided illusionary technique wizard Catherine, the orc wizard Felix Bliss, who was also dean of Colossus College, as well as four other level four wizards that Lu Zhiyu didn’t know very well.
Most importantly, the Prime Minister of Sean City-State Alliance was among them. The Sean City-State Alliance was the only area in the Alen Continent that had not been touched by the gods.
It was also the area that had embraced the wizards the most readily. This was the exact reason why Edward, Catherine, and Felix had chosen to hold this meeting here, as the attitude of Sean City-State Alliance was important to them.