Chapter 349 – Chemistry
Once inside, he moved swiftly to the control panel. As his fingers danced across various embedded arrays, a soft hum resonated through the vessel. Panels across the interior lit up with intricate glowing runes, each performing a different function—stabilizing, scanning, shielding, and more.
With practiced ease, Dastan guided the vessel forward, steering it toward the deeper part of the lake before letting it descend smoothly into the water.
The Crown Abyss Diver moved so silently that it was as if it melded with the lake itself. Aside from the massive splash when Dastan first dropped it in, the vessel didn't disturb the water at all.
Inside the control room, multiple transparent viewing screens revealed the mystical underwater world around them. An endless, dusky expanse of aquatic plants, flickering schools of glowing fish, and curious shadows in the distance. It resembled the Crown War Tank's setup, but this one felt far more tranquil and immersive.
"Yo, Dastan, this submarine is amazing! I didn't know a ship could travel underwater like this," Leyvi praised as he stared out in awe.
"Daa hahaha!" Dastan beamed. "Most of this prince's vehicle spirit artifact collection was inspired by mortals' technology—including this Crown Abyss Diver. Although many mortals can't cultivate, we're still the most intelligent species. Mortal humans contribute tremendously through innovation. Never underestimate them!"
Tantan puffed out her chest, as if she too had contributed to the technological breakthrough just by riding it.
"Really? That's impressive. But why do mortals need this submarine thing anyway?" Leyvi tilted his head.
"For war," Dastan replied simply.
"War?"
Dastan nodded. "Yeah. In wars between kingdoms, they usually let mortals and low-level cultivators do the fighting. If stronger cultivators fought seriously, it would cause massive destruction—turn entire regions into wastelands for decades. That's obviously not ideal. So a long time ago, all the Dao Manifestation Realm experts agreed on a rule: let the little guys handle the battlefield."
"Hmm... what a strange way to do things," Leyvi mused. "Why can't there just be no war at all? Can't the Dao Manifestation experts just agree not to fight?"
"Heheh. Leyvi, Leyvi…" Dastan chuckled, shaking his head. "Let this prince enlighten you about human nature. This prince might not understand every little detail about humans, a lot in fact, but one thing is clear—humans love conflict."
Leyvi raised a brow, unconvinced. "Really?"
"Mankind's natural state is barbaric, selfish, and warlike; we are inherently self-centered and cruel. Only by organizing ourselves into civilizations and agreeing to the 'social contract' do we evolve beyond those impulses," Dastan recited with exaggerated scholarly flair, lifting a finger like a wise old master. "That's one of the quotes this prince remembered from royal education. Pretty deep, right?"
Leyvi blinked. "You actually remembered something from your studies?"
"What do you mean? You think this prince's Royal Education is a joke?" Dastan huffed. "This prince would get beaten by his grandfather if he were caught slacking. Where were we? Ah, yes. When this prince studied the long history of our kingdom, all this prince saw was a never-ending list of conflicts. Nobody could convince this prince that humans don't love conflict."
"I see," Leyvi replied. But he wasn't agreeing, far from it. He disagreed with Dastan's perspective, but he could understand why the crown prince thought that way.
After a brief moment of silence, Leyvi asked, "By the way, how strong are the weapons mortals use in war?" A hint of curiosity flickered in his eyes.
On the Cloud Continent, non-cultivators had limited access to advanced technology. Most powerful tools, spirit artifacts and array formations required either personal Qi or spirit stones as a power source. But normal people couldn't use Qi, and spirit stones were practically out of reach for them. Naturally, their tools and weapons were pretty basic.
Dastan grinned. "After so many years of mortal innovation, the strongest weapons they've made can kill a Core Formation Realm expert with a direct hit."
"What? That strong?" Leyvi's curiosity sharpened into genuine surprise. "Are they using spirit artifacts?"
"Daa hahaha! Of course not!" Dastan laughed proudly, as if the idea were absurd. "Mortals are strictly prohibited from using anything that involves spirit stones or spiritual energy. That includes spirit artifacts, formations, or any other resource we cultivators rely on."
Leyvi tilted his head. "Why's that?"
"To prevent resource chaos, obviously!" Dastan waved his hand. "Cultivators already struggle with limited resources. If mortals started using the same stuff, the continent would be thrown into turmoil."
"Hmm… fair point." Leyvi nodded slowly. He hadn't considered the resource angle, but it made sense. If mortals competed for the same spiritual resources, cultivators would either hoard even more or start wiping people out just to maintain their advantage. It would get ugly fast.
"I see. So does that mean they only use resources deemed useless by cultivators? What kind of resources can make mortals capable of killing cultivators?" Leyvi asked, somewhat unbelievably.
Dastan gave a knowing smile. "Let this prince give you an example. Do you know about black oil?"
"Black oil? Are you talking about the cursed oil, death sludge?"
"Yes, that one. We now call it crude oil after proper classification. It's one of the key resources mortals used to advance their technologies," Dastan confirmed.
"How is that possible? Isn't that stuff toxic? People die if they use it. Sure, it can burn, but it creates poisonous gas that kills people. Nobody dared to touch it. Are you saying they kill cultivators using poison from it? Hmm... no, no. That can't be. It's dangerous to normal humans, but the poison can be expelled easily by cultivators. So how?" Leyvi muttered, visibly confused.
"Heheh, crude oil is just the raw form. Over time, mortals figured out how to refine it into multiple products, each with its own function. One of those products is used in their weapons. There are many more resources that seemed useless at first, but they eventually found ways to turn them into assets."
"Why does that sound like alchemy? Can normal people there use alchemy?" Leyvi asked, curious now.
"Let this prince guess—your Cloud Continent doesn't have developed chemistry, does it?" Dastan smirked.
"Chemistry?" Leyvi repeated, unfamiliar with the term.
"Chemistry is quite similar to alchemy," Dastan explained. "The biggest difference between the two is the presence of spiritual energy. Mortals use chemistry. Cultivators use alchemy."
"Oh, I get it now." Leyvi nodded. "I don't think we have something like that, right, Brother Victor?"
Victor, who had been staring at the viewing screen, turned and said flatly, "Actually, alchemy came from chemistry. The process to make things used to be more detailed and complicated. Later, cultivation took over. Alchemy methods and techniques were developed one after another, allowing shortcuts in those processes."
Without waiting for a reply, Victor returned to minding his own business.
"Interesting. I didn't know that. Hahaha! As expected of Brother Victor. Only a true alchemist would know this!" Leyvi said, a few seconds later, realizing Victor wouldn't say anything more.
"From this alone, this prince can already confirm that your continent doesn't invest in mortals at all—only cultivators. They must live without many convenient tools unless they have cultivators in their family, right? This prince bets that your mortal cities and towns need cultivators assigned to protect them from demonic beasts," Dastan said with confidence.
Leyvi looked up thoughtfully, hand on his chin. "Hmm... Now that you mention it, that really is how things are. We don't pay much attention to normal people. Most of the development and progress focus on cultivators. Only mortals living in cultivator cities get to enjoy real protection and conveniences made by cultivators."
He recalled the many mortal towns and cities he had seen throughout his journey—most of them simple and unremarkable. They were constantly at risk of demonic beast attacks or being raided by rogue cultivators. To counter that, the Protectors commissioned the various sects to dispatch disciples to defend mortal settlements, usually as low-priority missions for contribution points.
"Daa hahaha! Let this prince tell you, Leyvi. On our continent, mortal cities no longer need cultivator protection to fend off outside dangers. Their technologies are sufficient for self-preservation now. After each war, the inventions developed during wartime usually improve daily life significantly. Great, right?"
Leyvi nodded. He understands that, but he wasn't sure if the wars were necessary. Can't all of these inventions be created without the influence of war? Then another question popped into his mind.
"Don't cultivators feel threatened by them? And why do you seem supportive of it? With your arrogant attitude, I thought you'd look down on normal people," Leyvi asked. After all, many cultivators carried a strong sense of superiority. If ordinary humans became too powerful, some might even try to sabotage them.
"Well, of course, that happens. But if they try to harm mortals, this prince will eliminate them." Dastan said matter-of-factly. "There are great inventors among cultivators, but it's not enough—not fast enough. This prince needs as many mortals as possible to accelerate our technologies."
"This prince wants more creations like this submarine so cultivators can be inspired by them, modify them for our use, and then become a part of this prince's collection! When this prince becomes king, this prince will merge both mortal and cultivator technologies and build an advanced society full of wonderful creations! Daa hahaha!"