Chapter 162: The Reward Worth Chasing

Chapter 162: The Reward Worth Chasing

The briefing hall remained noisy long after Major Rowan finished explaining the Imperial Development Inventory.

Candidates leaned toward one another while scrolling through thousands of entries, and the conversations around Noah shifted rapidly between rare resources, advanced weapons, biological species, and planetary artifacts whose prices were high enough to make several students stop and stare.

Noah ignored most of the discussion and remained on the inventory screen. The mission board was already available through another section of the terminal, but he saw little reason to examine assignments before deciding what he actually wanted from the points they awarded.

Earning Mission Points without a purpose would make it too easy to judge missions only by their rewards. Noah preferred to determine what Eldrath needed first and then decide later what level of risk was justified to obtain it.

He began by considering what the Dominion had already become. Eldrath possessed a unified government, hundreds of millions of goblins, expanding industrial regions, universities connected through a planetary research network, and armed forces increasingly operating beneath the Eldrath Planetary Defense Command.

The technological gap that once separated the goblins from the Draeven had narrowed considerably. Eldrathi factories produced rifles, machine guns, artillery, radios, trucks, crude armored vehicles, and increasingly capable aircraft without depending on captured examples for every important component.

That progress did not mean Eldrath had reached technological maturity. Much of its modern development still followed possibilities first revealed by Draeven machines, even when goblin engineers modified those designs according to their own needs.

The Draeven invasion had shown them what could exist, and goblin researchers had spent centuries learning how those machines worked.

They had also built the manufacturing systems required to reproduce them in useful numbers rather than treating every captured device as an irreplaceable treasure.

Noah wanted the next stage to be different from the development that had followed the invasion.

He did not want Eldrath to spend another thousand years merely following a technological path another civilization had already demonstrated.

The Dominion needed knowledge that could either accelerate its foundations dramatically or open a field the goblins had never been capable of entering. That requirement immediately eliminated a large portion of the Imperial Development Inventory.

Noah passed over crates of finished weapons, rare ammunition, specialized military vehicles, and temporary stockpiles of strategic materials.

Some of them were dramatically superior to Eldrath’s current equipment, but a few hundred advanced weapons would eventually break while a shipment of valuable material would eventually be consumed.

His first major purchase needed to remain useful long after the mission that paid for it had been forgotten. With that requirement in mind, Noah filtered the inventory until only rewards with permanent planetary or civilizational effects remained.

He spent nearly half an hour narrowing the list further. Eventually, five entries remained saved on the side of his terminal, each representing a different path Eldrath could pursue.

The first was labeled Advanced Industrial Foundation Package. Noah opened it and began reading through the contents again.

The package covered precision manufacturing, improved machine tools, advanced metallurgy, industrial chemistry, electrical engineering, power generation, combustion engines, radio systems, aviation principles, and industrial quality control.

It did not simply contain finished blueprints because the package also included theoretical foundations, educational materials, laboratory methods, manufacturing standards, and explanations of the supporting technologies required before more advanced systems could function reliably.

Noah could immediately imagine the effect on Eldrath. A problem that currently required decades of experimentation might be solved within years, while technologies developed separately across former Varkesh, Skargrim, Viridian, and Luminous institutions could be reorganized around a more complete industrial framework.

The package was practical, broad, and almost impossible to misuse. Eldrath already possessed most of the industries necessary to begin applying the knowledge immediately, which meant the benefits could appear quickly.

That was also why Noah hesitated. The package would make Eldrath much better at what it was already doing, but it would not necessarily change the direction of that development.

Noah saved it again and opened the second option. The title Arcane-Industrial Integration Package immediately stood apart from the conventional technological rewards surrounding it.

The description was longer than the first package, and Noah quickly noticed that the introductory section assumed very little magical capability from the receiving civilization.

It began with methods for detecting mana, measuring magical energy, identifying magical reactions, and building instruments capable of observing phenomena that ordinary senses could not reliably distinguish.

That caught Noah’s attention immediately.

The goblins possessed magical crystals, but they did not know how to use magic.

They had mined the crystals for generations, traded them, stored them, studied their physical properties, and recognized that the material contained unusual energy. None of that had given Eldrathi researchers the ability to manipulate mana directly, cast spells, or build a true magical discipline.

The crystals were valuable because the world itself recognized them as magical resources. To the goblins, however, much of what made them magical remained inaccessible.

The package appeared designed to bridge that gap scientifically.

Its earliest sections dealt with mana-detection instruments, controlled crystal testing, magical energy measurement, safe containment procedures, and experimental methods for determining how mana responded to different materials and environments.

Only later sections introduced mana conductors, magical energy storage, crystal-powered machinery, reinforced materials, and mechanical systems assisted by controlled magical effects.

Noah slowed his reading.

The package did not promise that goblins would suddenly become mages. It offered something more compatible with the civilization Eldrath had already become.

The goblins could approach magic as engineers.

A researcher who could not cast a spell might still build an instrument capable of detecting changes in ambient mana. A laboratory could measure how much energy a crystal released under controlled conditions even if nobody inside the room could manipulate that energy by instinct.

Once something could be measured, it could be compared. Once it could be reproduced, engineers could begin treating it as another phenomenon to understand rather than an unknowable force reserved for naturally gifted beings.

That possibility interested Noah far more than an ordinary magical inheritance would have.

Eldrath’s goblins had never been dependent on individual supernatural strength. Their greatest advances came from tools, institutions, factories, and knowledge that could be reproduced across entire populations.

If the Arcane-Industrial package allowed them to approach magic through the same method, then the lack of natural spellcasting might become less important over time.

Noah marked the package again but forced himself to continue. Choosing the most unfamiliar reward merely because it sounded exciting would be no better than selecting a mission because its point total was large.

The third option was a Strategic Alloy Mineral Vein. Unlike the first two rewards, it did not provide knowledge but instead created a permanent geological resource once successfully integrated into a compatible planet.

Its deposits contained rare metals useful in advanced engines, precision machinery, electrical equipment, aircraft, high-temperature industrial components, specialized tools, and improved armor. The projected reserves were large enough that properly managed mines could operate for generations.

Noah understood its importance immediately. Knowing how to build an advanced machine was useless if the required materials did not exist on the planet, and future technological development would eventually demand resources Eldrath might not naturally possess in sufficient quantities.

Still, Eldrath had not yet reached that bottleneck. Its mines supplied the current industrial economy adequately, while the more serious limitations remained knowledge, precision, and the scientific ability to use increasingly sophisticated materials correctly.

The fourth reward was the Planetary Agricultural Advancement Package. It lacked the spectacle of magical energy or advanced machinery, but Noah had spent too much time studying logistics to dismiss it.

The package contained high-yield crops, disease-resistant plants, improved soil-management methods, fertilizers, food-preservation techniques, agricultural machinery principles, useful microorganisms, improved livestock systems, and large-scale irrigation knowledge. Its effects could strengthen almost every stage of food production from the field to long-term storage.

Noah knew that future expansion would require more than weapons and factories. Larger cities, larger armies, and long campaigns all depended on agricultural surpluses produced years before any military operation began.

The package would improve Eldrath for generations, but the Dominion was not currently facing a major food shortage. Noah therefore placed it behind options that addressed limitations more directly connected to the next stage of civilizational development.

The fifth reward was the Advanced Scientific Research Archive. It initially seemed less dramatic than the other choices, but Noah quickly realized it might be the hardest one to judge properly.

There were no promised engines, magical devices, mineral resources, or crops attached to the archive. Instead, it focused on improving the civilization’s ability to conduct science itself.

The archive contained advanced mathematics, scientific methodology, physics, chemistry, experimental design, laboratory procedures, measurement standards, engineering principles, research documentation systems, and educational frameworks.

Noah studied the educational portion longer because its effects could spread through generations of researchers rather than one particular industry.

A single technological package could improve one generation of factories. A better scientific education system could produce stronger researchers for centuries and influence fields that did not yet exist.

Improved mathematics would affect engineering, navigation, physics, economics, and countless areas Noah could not predict.

Better experimental standards would reduce wasted research, while stronger documentation systems could prevent valuable discoveries from disappearing when individual researchers died or institutions failed.

The archive offered few immediate miracles, but its value would compound over time. Noah leaned back slightly and looked at the five saved entries as he considered how differently each could shape Eldrath.

The Advanced Industrial Foundation Package offered rapid conventional technological growth. The Strategic Alloy Mineral Vein strengthened the physical resource base beneath future industry, while the Agricultural Advancement Package supported population growth and long-term logistical security.

The Scientific Research Archive would strengthen the civilization’s ability to discover knowledge independently. The Arcane-Industrial Integration Package offered something none of the other rewards could provide: access to an entire field Eldrath currently could not properly study.

Noah returned to the second option and reviewed its information again. The Draeven had provided the shock that accelerated Eldrath’s industrial age, but their influence still remained visible throughout the Dominion’s technological development.

Their rifles had forced improvements in metallurgy, while their artillery encouraged better chemistry and manufacturing.

Their radios pushed electrical research, and their vehicles and aircraft created engineering disciplines that had barely existed before the invasion.

The goblins had taken those lessons and made them their own, but the original direction had still come from an outside civilization. Magical energy offered a different opportunity because Eldrath already possessed the resource without understanding the principles behind it.

Noah brought up the planetary records concerning the magical crystal vein beside the package description. The crystals had existed for thousands of years, yet the goblins had never crossed from recognizing their unusual properties into actually controlling the mana contained within them.

The package could provide the first structured path across that divide.

Varkesh’s traditions in standardization could eventually help create common measurements for magical components. Viridian’s production methods could determine whether mana-sensitive instruments could be manufactured cheaply enough for ordinary laboratories rather than remaining rare experimental devices.

Skargrim engineers could test whether arcane-industrial machinery remained functional under harsh conditions and poor maintenance. Luminous precision workshops could produce the delicate measuring equipment required to detect increasingly subtle magical effects.

None of those possibilities required the goblins to suddenly know how to cast spells.

They required them to learn how to observe magic.

Then measure it.

Then reproduce controlled effects.

Only after those foundations existed would true arcane industry become possible.

A voice from Noah’s right pulled his attention away from the terminal. Daniel had turned halfway in his seat and was looking toward Noah’s screen without being close enough to read the details.

"You still haven’t opened the mission board?"

"No."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Everyone else is already arguing about which missions pay the most."

Claire glanced over from her own terminal. "Which is probably a good reason not to copy everyone else."

Daniel ignored the remark and looked back at Noah. "What are you doing instead?"

"Deciding about what rewards I want.."

That answer made Ethan look away from his own screen. He considered Noah’s reasoning for a moment before nodding.

"Then the reward determines whether the mission cost is acceptable," Ethan said.

"That’s the idea."

Daniel leaned back in his chair. "So you already found something?"

"I narrowed it down."

"How many?"

"Five."

Claire closed one of the windows on her terminal. "Choosing the reward first makes the mission board easier. Otherwise, every large point value starts looking useful."

Noah agreed without adding anything else and returned his attention to the five entries. Their prices differed enough that his eventual choice would affect how aggressively he needed to pursue Mission Points.

He opened the Arcane-Industrial Integration Package again and focused on the number beside it.

COST: 3,600 MISSION POINTS

Noah compared that figure with the reward classifications Rowan had explained earlier. A successful High-Level Mission carried a standard base reward of approximately 1,200 Mission Points, although performance and additional objectives could alter the final total.

Three successful High-Level Missions could therefore purchase the package outright if Noah earned the full base reward each time.

Easier assignments could eventually reach the same amount, but accumulating 3,600 points through low-level work would take far longer.

The number gave Noah a concrete scale for the second year. He did not need to chase the most dangerous assignment available, but he now understood exactly what three strong mission results could accomplish for Eldrath.

He reopened the Advanced Industrial Foundation Package one final time. It remained the safest choice because the benefits would appear quickly and predictably.

Then he checked the Scientific Research Archive again. Its potential might be broader over the distant future, but Eldrath already possessed universities and researchers capable of strengthening those foundations through continued development.

The mineral vein and agricultural package were easier to place behind the other choices as first purchases.

Both could become important later, particularly if Eldrath’s population or industries grew beyond what the planet’s current systems could comfortably support.

That left the second option.

Noah opened the Arcane-Industrial Integration Package again and reread the introductory sections concerning mana detection, controlled crystal experiments, magical energy measurement, and the instruments required to observe mana scientifically.

Those early sections mattered more to Eldrath than the advanced diagrams farther below.

Without them, the goblins could possess magical crystals for another thousand years without learning how to turn magical energy into something their civilization could systematically understand.

Noah did not want the Empire to hand Eldrath finished magical machines that its engineers could only imitate. He wanted to give them the foundations necessary to discover how magic worked for themselves.

He selected the second option and waited for the interface to respond. The terminal asked whether he wanted to mark the Arcane-Industrial Integration Package as a priority reward, and Noah confirmed the choice.

The other four entries remained saved for future reference. The second package moved into a separate section of the terminal and became the first formal objective attached to Noah’s new Mission Point account.

TARGET REWARD: ARCANE-INDUSTRIAL INTEGRATION PACKAGE

COST: 3,600 MISSION POINTS

CURRENT BALANCE: 0 MISSION POINTS

Noah looked at the three lines for several seconds before closing the comparison list. The distance between zero and 3,600 points now had a clear shape because three successful High-Level Missions could be enough to cross it.

Eldrath had spent centuries learning how to reproduce the machines that nearly destroyed it. Noah wanted its next technological age to begin by teaching the goblins how to scientifically approach a force that had existed around them for generations without ever truly becoming theirs.

The goblins still did not know how to use magic. If Noah earned the package, Eldrath would finally gain the foundations needed to begin understanding it.