Standing in the air far above the valley of mist, Kellor condensed a globule of water in his hands before swallowing it whole and smiling slightly.
Back when he had been taken in by his master after being noticed for his natural talent in influencing elementary particles, this was one of the first spells he had learned. As woodcutting had become the passion of his soul, his master had always encouraged him to continue the activity whenever he could. During those times, his master had personally taught him this spell so that he could drink water to refresh himself whenever needed.
As the memories of the mysterious man who had always seemed much more powerful than the level he was known to be at passed through his mind, Kellor automatically took out the snake shaped trinket which was the last link he had left.
Seeing that there was still no return message, he sighed before putting it back.
Noticing the position of the sun in the sky above him, he estimated the time before speaking into a trinket he had been holding in his hand.
"Continue."
After he spoke this word, a team of soldiers teleported to a location outside the Valley of Mist before placing a tube-shaped object on the ground.
Glancing at a piece of parchment to calibrate the angle, the soldiers ensured that everything was set up perfectly before placing a ball in the end of the tube pointed towards the Valley.
On the other end, a standard explosion trinket was placed after being ignited.
With a muffled sound, the ball was shot in the direction of the Valley before breaking apart in the air into a flurry of red-red-coloured balls.
Narrowing his eyes, Kellor made sure to follow each ball with his senses.
After a few moments, he made a notation on a parchment in his hands on seeing that none of the balls had met any strange deflections.
As an Exalted Human Level Mage, Kellor could easily view the trajectories of all the balls especially due to their vivid color.
This was the plan laid out by the King of Lanthanor to perform a preliminary mapping of the entire area.
With a large force of blacksmiths and enchanters at hand, it had been quite easy to make these simple trinkets.
As for the angles, with the intellect of an Exalted Human Mage and a bird's eye view, Kellor had managed to figure out the necessary details with a hit and miss method.
Seeing the effectiveness of a method that was so simple that it cost very little resources, Kellor couldn't help but marvel again at the mind of the King of Lanthanor.
How could someone be so creative? No matter how much he thought about it, there was no answer.
After all, although all these concepts were simple to execute after being explained by the King, Kellor could tell that they could only have been developed after substantial thought and testing. It was simply not possible that they could just be visualized and then realized easily.
With no other option, Kellor could only conclude that the mind of the King of Lanthanor was one of a kind.
Placing the parchment back in his pocket, he waited for a set time to pass before continuing the operation of mapping the Valley of Mist.
…..
Back in the Lanthanor Kingdom, Daneel coughed as if someone were thinking about him.
He was currently standing in the underground room where the surveillance web had been operating effectively for the past few days.
With his eyes on a panel through which he could see the red balls falling in the air, he felt like patting himself on his back for coming up with this idea.
One of the main problems with venturing into the Valley of Mist was that there was no clear information regarding the safe and dangerous zones in the area.
Along with this, he knew that the Withering Leaf Sect was located somewhere inside the Valley. As the headquarters of a large sect, their location would also definitely have some kind of defense mechanism that would mostly be hidden from outside eyes, but would activate if any foreign object tried to enter.
In any no-trespassing area, there were always pockets of safe and dangerous spots. In the safe spots, it was even said that treasures such as ancient trinkets and rare energy materials could be found.
Thus, the occupation of "Zone Mapper" was one of the most deadly and profitable jobs in all of Central Angaria. With great personal risk, each mapper used whatever means they could to identify the safe and dangerous zones before selling them for a high profit.
Alas, the Valley of Mist was one of the few which kept away even the most daring of Zone Mappers.
Thus, with no other option, Daneel had set out to find a way to get at least some preliminary information regarding the area.
As he was doing so, he had been reminded about one of the most devastating but simple war equipment which had taken tens of thousands of lives in the World Wars back on Earth:the mortar.
One of the common points with dangerous zones was that they always had some kind of phenomenon that hid what happened inside from those watching from outside.
Thus, the plan was to find out all the zones that made the red balls go awry in anyway.
So far, everything was going swimmingly. 18% of the border areas of the Valley of Mist had been mapped, of which 6% had been marked as danger zones.
Feeling satisfied, Daneel walked back to the Throne Room where a messenger stood waiting for him respectfully at the Throne.
As he took his seat, the man bowed respectfully before handing him a parchment.
Going through the list of names assembled, Daneel smiled before calling over the man who had been instrumental in making his first business a success.
It was time to begin his second one, and he hoped that the same would repeat.
...
The next day.
In the same clearing where Daneel had spoken to the Domination Corps.
Around 500 men and women stood talking to each other, wondering why they had suddenly been summoned by the King of Lanthanor.
Without exception, each and every one of them wore lavish clothes which were made from the best of materials. Clearly enchanted with multiple features such as auto-fitting, auto-deodorizing, and auto-cooling, the clothes were the first sign which showcased the opulence of those present.
Seeing the King of Lanthanor coming towards him with a retinue of soldiers and commanders, they all bowed before waiting to be addressed.
Looking at the clothes, jewelry and costly accessories of all those present in the crowd, Daneel smiled as he realized that his thinking had been correct.
Back when he had sat down to list ways to use knowledge and experience from Earth to earn money in Angaria, he had made sure to note down one of the most profitable businesses on the whole planet: the business of making people inebriated.
Indeed, governments all over the world made almost unfathomable sums of money by regulating those that dealt in business.
After all, no matter the world, the attraction of the joy that came from being able to escape from one's life for at least a little bit of time was something that would never disappear no matter which world it was.
In fact, Daneel had experienced this joy himself the other day when he had drowned himself in wine to get over the guilt of the spies who had died.
"Lanthanor will henceforth be implementing a new policy to regulate liquor sale in the Kingdom. First of all, those who earn from selling liquor will be charged a higher tax than others. Secondly, if you wish to engage in this business, you need to take permission from the government which will come at a price. Thirdly, this is not up for discussion. You can either agree to the terms or choose to leave the business."
The jaws of all those in the clearing collectively dropped as they heard the direct words of the King of Lanthanor.
For decades and even centuries, there had only been a single taxation system in the Kingdom: one simply had to pay a percentage of what they earned to the government.
Even if this percentage was constantly changed, it had at least remained the same for those from all walks of life.
Thus, hearing that they would have to pay extra, all the people in the clearing who each owned multiple bars or wine import companies couldn't help but rile up with anger and indignation.
As Daneel saw the eyes of those that were now smoldering with dissatisfaction, he smiled, wishing that more and more would choose to leave the Kingdom.
After all, if he wanted to enter the business, why not cut down the competition first?