Chapter 634 - 0634 – A Momentous Occasion – Part 1

The end of the year was fast approaching, but that didn’t mean activity around the Rockwell Kingdom was calming down; if anything, things were only getting busier.

Thanks to the introduction of mechanized agricultural equipment, excellent weather conditions, and lower agricultural taxes, there was more grain than ever before in the kingdom.

Of course, there were still a very limited number of seed drills, harvesters, and threshers as mass-production hadn’t exactly ramped up just yet, but even with only a few hundred of these machines being deployed to specific fields, it had allowed all the commoners across the kingdom more leeway when it came to feeding themselves this winter.

How was this possible, you might ask?

Simple, every harvester employed meant 10 to 20 fewer labourers were needed to harvest a large field, which allowed those extra hands to work on other farms that otherwise would have been searching for more helpers.

In this way, even a few agricultural machines improved farming efficiency by a noticeable degree and, in turn, freed up a lot of labour.

Less people needing to work on the farms in general led to people seeking out other jobs so they could afford a few more necessities, or even a luxury or two.

The wide-spread employment-seeking attitude was bolstered further by many low-skilled jobs being available and offering very high wages thanks to the Second Queen’s Economic Cultivation Initiative.

All these factors combined to create a rather unusual situation in the Rockwell Kingdom.

It was already the middle of December, but unlike in all previous years where most people holed up inside their houses and tried to ride out the winter, wherever the weather was warm enough, large-scale construction efforts were still underway.

Even in places where it had turned bitterly cold already, the abundance of cheap, high-quality grain allowed people to focus on indoor activities like spinning thread, mending clothes, carving wood, and so on and so forth, rather than desperately scrounging around for food.

As for those of significant privilege, who didn’t need to worry about food or clothing from the start, they too were keeping busy, especially in Misty City, and doubly so for Lucas.

This year, the young boy had taken on an enormous number of responsibilities and had started up dozens of different projects. Some of these projects were of extreme importance to the future of all humans across Servist, some were simply things that caught Lucas’ interest and may never have a commercial purpose.

Now, while several of his businesses, such as his soap and sugar factories, as well as his booming fashion line, had generated a fabulous amount of wealth for him and the Balfour Family, Lucas had yet to really funnel much of that money into useful pursuits.

That, hopefully, would change in the coming year, and he would soon be having a big year-end meeting with all of his managers to plan for that, but right now, Lucas had something much more pressing to attend to.

Of all the projects Lucas was spearheading, none was currently more critical than Project Ascension, and after a year of effort by him, his Master, and a select group of others, it seemed this project was about to bear its first real fruit.

Many, including Lucas himself, had already benefited from the results of Project Ascension, but it seemed fitting that the first to truly gain from the project would be Supreme Elder Elizabeth Carlson. She was, after all, the current chief researcher and had undoubtedly put in the most time and effort to make this dream a reality.

Starting from nearly 10 months ago, Elizabeth had spent practically every day working on Project Ascension, picking apart the Unarmed Foundations Art, analysing dozens of Cultivation Techniques, and examining the physical bodies and Internal Qi circulations of Mortals and Cultivators alike.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the old woman had learned more about herself and the true nature of cultivation in the past year than she had in the 100 years prior, something that she was actually quite ashamed of.

Up until now, Elizabeth had done what everyone else before her had done, follow the path of least resistance as she tried to further her cultivation. She may have given a bit of stray thought to the process, but really stopping and contemplating what she was doing was not something she had ever done before.

Now, however, everything was different, and with the new knowledge and techniques she had helped develop, Elizabeth was at least 75% confident the next big step in her research would be a success.

That wasn’t to say that Project Ascension had reached its end goal, of course; far from it.

What Supreme Elder Carlson would be attempting today was a breakthrough of her Martial Cultivation, and only her Martial Cultivation.

As for why that was, the answer was simple, it was the only cultivation system she could achieve a breakthrough in.

The Unarmed Foundations Art was very helpful in unlearning the circulation patterns of traditional or orthodox Cultivation Techniques, but trying to use it to further a Spirit Realm Cultivator’s Spirit or Soul Cultivation was still currently impossible.

Even using the Unarmed Foundations Art for a Spirit Realm Cultivator’s Martial Cultivation was far less beneficial compared to the gains a Mortal Realm Practitioner saw from following the same procedure. The difference, however, was that when it came to tempering the physical body, there were ways to enhance the effects with external equipment.

That external equipment was exactly what Lucas and his companions were arranging right now.

Inside a newly constructed building in The Lab, its walls and roof made entirely of World Qi insulating materials to create a pseudo-cultivation chamber, Lucas, Eris, Sasha, Farah, Edward, Amalia, and Louise were busy installing a set of Spirit Tools designed to drain World Qi from Spirit Crystals into a large pool of water.

Allina, unfortunately, was out of the city taking care of something, so she couldn’t be here to witness this event.

Braxton had been very confused when Lucas asked him to manufacture these Spirit Tools as even he wasn’t privy to the existence of Project Ascension yet, but seeing the Marquess’ seal stamped on the order, as well as the words ’Classification Level: Above Peak-Rank’, he knew better than to ask any questions.

Once the 50 Spirit Tools were properly arranged, Lucas ran one final check to ensure everything was functioning properly before nodding to his associates.

They were ready to begin.

All that was left was to bring in the ’test subject’.