Chapter 325: Chapter 325: Building the Reservoir

Nidhogg, the Dragon of Despair, muttered to himself, then let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Why am I overthinking this? Just do what the God of Technology asks—reform Dragon Bank and establish the two new exchanges. As long as I know it’s a good thing, that’s enough."

Dragons weren’t exactly a race known for deep thinking.

Otherwise, over their long lifespans, they would’ve already become a highly advanced civilization instead of just dominating a continent and living virtually the same day over and over again.

After fully digesting the requirements Ren had sent over, Nidhogg immediately called a meeting of the Council of Elders and forwarded the documents to all the other dragon elders.

Watching the shocked expressions on the faces of the various dragon elders, Nidhogg spoke up. "So what do you all think?"

As dragons, there were almost no things left in this world that could shock them anymore.

Maybe it was because of the endless years they’d lived through, or maybe it was because they’d seen too many storms come and go.

But the plan the God of Technology had provided was absolutely revolutionary—at least, that’s what Nidhogg thought.

If he was the only dragon who felt shocked while the others didn’t, he really wouldn’t know where to put his face.

But now, seeing that almost everyone present wore the same expression, the smile on his face grew even wider.

"First the God of Technology tells us to establish our own credibility, and I thought it was just so we could do better business. Turns out it was actually laying the groundwork for credit currency!"

"I never imagined that once we had a certain level of credibility, we could actually pull something like this off! But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense."

"In the past, there were probably eight thousand people on the continent with the right to mint coins, if not ten thousand. Even some minor lords could mint their own coins, which led to wildly inconsistent currency quality in the market. After our Dragon Bank appeared on the continent and the golden dragon coin became the most trustworthy currency, it seems like we really can make these moves."

"If I’m not mistaken, before long, most of the gold and silver coins on the entire continent might end up in our hands. Well, okay, that’s maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but most of them should be no problem. Compared to super heavy gold and silver coins, the paper currency mentioned in here would be way more convenient to carry around. Plus, if we pair it with the online banking on the Magic Net, it’d be absolutely perfect."

Pretty much all the dragons felt that the God of Technology’s plan was pure genius.

Using credit to back a new type of currency, making people believe that this new currency had the same purchasing power as precious metal coins—as long as the market didn’t experience massive fluctuations, the new currency would remain stable.

And they could use this new currency to collect massive amounts of precious metals from the market.

Nobody could resist a currency that was more convenient to carry and trade with.

Especially now, with magic-tech industry developing and more and more goods appearing on the market, people’s transactions were becoming increasingly frequent.

In the past, an ordinary craftsman might earn three silver coins a month. For convenience in transactions, he’d naturally exchange all of it for copper coins. If he was just carrying a few to buy food, that was fine, but what if he needed to buy a lot of things?

That was seriously heavy lifting!

For situations like this, you could say they could exchange for gold or silver coins, which would be much more convenient. But what about nobles who wanted to buy things worth hundreds or even thousands of gold coins?

Roster territory’s magic conductors, magic-powered vehicles—just thinking about it made your scalp tingle.

Carrying super heavy gold to some area to make a transaction—forget everything else, just the hauling alone might require several people.

Not to mention, along the way, it might attract the attention of bandits and highwaymen!

You couldn’t possibly make everyone gather at Dragon Bank to conduct their transactions, right? That was just way too inconvenient.

But what if there were paper bills with really large denominations?

What if you could transact directly using the Magic Net?

That would perfectly avoid so many problems.

As long as Dragon Bank let people know that the paper currency they issued really had the same value as gold, silver, and copper coins, then convenience and security would inevitably replace the old currency.

However, not all dragons thought the plan was sound. One blue dragon felt the approach was way too aggressive.

"Actually, I think the key point is that in the early stages, anyone holding our credit currency should be able to exchange it for equivalent gold and silver. Then, once most people get used to trading with our credit currency, we gradually detach from that... The God of Technology’s plan seems a bit too aggressive. We should take a more gradual approach."

"The God of Technology’s plan is definitely pretty aggressive, but don’t forget there are the stock exchange and bond exchange as buffers, which will make the impact much smaller!"

Nidhogg didn’t hold back. "Do you think once the stock exchange is established, what will the first batch of companies be? How much potential will they have? Under their influence, will the process really still be that aggressive?"

Without a doubt, once the stock exchange was established, the first company to go public would definitely be Dragon Delivery, followed by the Golden Merchant Guild, a whole series of new companies from Roster territory, Dawn Southern Development Company...

These behemoth companies, though only recently established, already had a massive impact on this world. The tens of millions with access to the Magic Net, and even more people without it, had all heard of them and knew their enormous potential.

Once these companies went public, what would happen wasn’t hard to imagine.

"I was being shortsighted." The blue dragon paused, then nodded slightly. "So we’ll proceed according to the plan laid out here?"

"Let’s start preparing, and then I’ll invite Viscount Roster and the others to discuss what comes next. For something this important, we still need the cooperation of the people from the Church of Technology."

Nidhogg and the other dragons weren’t clueless about this world anymore. They deeply understood the Church of Technology’s control over it.

Tulip Kingdom.

Sky Colosseum.

Lava General stood at the highest point of the colosseum, watching as a phantom figure shuttled through a rift in the sky. Then it quickly mimicked their battle clerics, transforming into someone wearing a War Soldier magic-powered exoskeleton. He couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

Earlier, the legendary figures of the Tulip Kingdom had already explained to him that these things they called Nightmare Hollows were so hard to deal with precisely because, the instant they left the rift, they’d switch to look like creatures nearby. Once they mixed into a crowd, they became nearly impossible to root out.

That was also why they didn’t dare let new allies in. In unfamiliar situations, once something got mimicked, they simply couldn’t tell the difference... Turns out there really was no exaggeration at all!