pertwk Page 317
Page 317
Jiang Kehan had mixed feelings, but the Starry Sky Claws' pace would not stop because of this.
They need to land in England's Farkell, the capital of the British Empire, and undergo official review before they can reach their ideal world.
Especially since Jiang Kehan is accompanied by a bunch of powerful witches, such vetting becomes even more necessary.
After all, in the late stages of the Society era, such a number of Great Witches would have been enough to start a local war.
As they drew closer to England and France, the entire Sky Land became increasingly clear.
Unlike Dahua Air Force, which focuses on air islands and transforms the ground into military production centers.
The entire city of the Sun Never Sets is a collection of countless cities piled together, gradually collapsing downwards like a receding tide. The dense, ferocious and magnificent dragon scales are enough to show the arrogance and domineering nature of the original rulers.
Falkland, England, is not the very center of the continent, but it is the highest point. The pure white and gold-plated ruins of the former royal palace on it seem as if one could reach out and touch the starry sky.
Jiang Kehan and the others landed not far from the palace and then waited for the auditors to arrive.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, madam.” A slightly raised voice, as if expressing one’s inner emotions, emerged.
Then, a witch, leaning on a cane and dressed in a suit, walked in with a smile. She was dignified and well-mannered, but she did not look like a noblewoman at all.
Ironically, she was indeed a true witch.
"Who are you?" Jiang Kehan tilted her head and asked thoughtfully.
"Haha, I am your auditor." The other person shrugged and laughed nonchalantly, as if he were winking.
"You can also call me Sula."
"But more important than that is..."
Sula looked around, her brows gradually furrowing, which made Jiang Kehan somewhat wary. But what she said next left the others dumbfounded.
"How could we not have tea to welcome everyone here? That would be so ungentlemanly."
Sula clapped her hands, and then a large group of gorgeously dressed dolls came up, instantly transforming the place into an exquisite afternoon tea party, much to the amazement of everyone else.
She sat down calmly, then hooked the teacup with her little finger and smiled at Jiang Kehan.
"To be honest, my orders were to let you pass. It seems the higher-ups trust you exceptionally, so..."
"Aside from the most basic checks, we won't do anything extra to your territory, so please rest assured."
Jiang Kehan and Ai Lier exchanged glances, communicating with each other, before slowly sitting down with the others.
They were still very curious about what the other party was up to, and their somewhat bureaucratic attitude left them at a loss.
"As far as I know, the Great Witch of the Never-Setting Sun doesn't seem to have any superiors?"
Jiang Kehan hesitated before speaking.
Since Angela Terry abdicated, the original aristocratic system has been fragmented. Although there are still distinctions of titles in the British Empire, it is only a matter of respect for family lineage, and the status is the same.
"Strictly speaking, your understanding of the British Empire is quite accurate."
"but……"
Sula chuckled softly, leaned back in her chair, and squinted her eyes beautifully as she spoke.
"Rules are just rules, but we are living witches."
"If, and I mean if, a great witch who is not good at managing her territory voluntarily joined another great witch's territory, how would her status change?"
"Parliament will not allow a territory to have two voices; that would lead to serious annexation."
"Therefore... these great witches, who are called affairs officers, have a so-called superior in terms of status."
Sula nodded to Jiang Kehan, but both of them knew that the so-called "not good at managing territory" actually had a lot of tricks up her sleeve.
The sheer variety of tricks that the entire bureaucrat system can pull off is enough to amaze other witches for a hundred years.
Jiang Kehan suddenly realized that she had not only underestimated Angelette, but also underestimated the Sun Never Sets itself.
The other party was definitely more cunning and cold-blooded than she had imagined.
Chapter 468 Dolls and Evolution
The so-called basic inspection was completed quickly, and the inspectors, who appeared extravagant and somewhat mysterious, gradually withdrew from Jiang Kehan's territory.
However, Jiang Kehan sipped her tea thoughtfully.
She noticed that the inspectors, wearing black veils and fluffy black ladylike dresses, were not actually human.
To be more precise, they are not living beings at all, but dolls.
Sura came alone from beginning to end, and the seemingly large group consisted of dolls of different styles, apart from her.
This left her somewhat puzzled and slightly wary.
A doll, short for a humanoid puppet, is a special magical creation. It has no soul, no will, and will only perfectly and absolutely obey the master's will.
Their birth actually stemmed from a project hailed as the Creator during the military and technological race of the Imperial era.
The core idea of this plan is to artificially create creatures that can rival witches in certain aspects.
The witch had always been curious whether there were any other races in the world whose potential could rival hers, especially during her period of rapid expansion.
Because if a similar race exists, it would be of great reference value to them.
The evolution of witches is utterly irrational, yet in some ways, it is quite restrictive.
Whether it's the instinctive acceleration of the evolutionary process under the pressure of death, or the fact that evolution is only aimed at the present danger, these are all invisible limitations.
Even if superior evolutionary selections are passed down through reproduction and remain in the genes of the next generation, thus continuously bringing iterations to the witch race, it cannot change the reality.
It's too slow, and this kind of evolutionary iteration only has value and significance for witches below the level of the Great Witch.
After all, what's truly important about the Great Witches is no longer their physical structure, but their unique will.
But who wouldn't want to be stronger and more perfect?
Aside from the Great Witch's infinite resurrection ability, their physical strength, without the aid of magic, is even inferior to that of high-ranking dragons, making them quite weak.
If a race with potential comparable to that of a witch could be found, preferably humanoid, then the witch could disregard all limitations and begin the transformation of the entire race.
If, by sheer coincidence, this race excels in physical combat and close-quarters fighting techniques, then the witch would be ecstatic.
From now on, anyone who can't tear apart a high-level dragon will be ridiculed by the other witches for a year.
But it wasn't until the end of the Imperial Age that the witches' need for expansion dwindled dramatically.
They had to admit that if the empires no longer intended to expand, the chances of finding such a creature were so slim that they would take hundreds of millions of years—it would be better to simply iterate over time.
Just when everyone was about to give up, a little genius suddenly slapped his forehead, his eyes shining with wisdom.
"Since we can't find one, can't we just make one ourselves by hand?"
Well, you know what, you really do know, although it sounds a bit ridiculous, but... without a doubt, with the Great Witch in the picture, this conjecture could very well become a reality.
After all, the Great Witch's power actually far exceeds the so-called racial limitations, making her a representative of extreme transformation of great power.
Besides, who said they were going to handcraft a race of mimicry creations that could rival witches in every way?
Do you even understand what personalized customization means, or what it means to manufacture different models in batches?!
By concentrating all the potential of creation in one aspect, a form temporarily superior to that of the witch is found. The witch then learns from this, discards the creation again, and begins producing a second, optimized version of the creation.
See, the child has put it on!
Moreover, based on purely theoretical analysis, if this idea could be turned into reality, the speed of witch iteration would be thousands of times faster than before.
Unfortunately, the major empires at the time were also competing, trying to prove that the order they had chosen was the best.
So if the entire population of the empire began to evolve at an extremely rapid pace, within a few years they would be able to create a significant gap between themselves and the witches of other empires. Who could possibly disagree?
Thus, a massive military and technological race began with the investment of countless resources and manpower.
The witch initially achieved results as expected, and even the fact that Shining Lilith, as the leader of the Great Ones, was able to far surpass the times was somewhat related to this.
Because her magical talent was precisely the most exciting clarion call of the imperial era—order and development.
But then, the witch's claws started to go numb.
The main problem is that the difficulty of creating nested dolls is increasing, and alchemy, runes, even magic elements, as well as truth, are gradually falling behind the needs of reality.
All existing substances have already been used; substances that exist in theory but require the joint advancement of other disciplines are too slow to produce.
As for expecting alchemy that is based on creating something from nothing?
Well, alchemy is indeed an exceptionally good tool, provided you don't aim to promote innovation on a large scale.
After all, the unpredictability of the unexpected is the norm for alchemical innovation; even with vast knowledge and a solid foundation, one still has to wait for the right opportunity.
So the matryoshka doll couldn't keep up with the natural iterations of the witch, and the plan was shelved.
What does that have to do with dolls?
Because of the Creator Project, creations that are exceptionally superior in some respects are at least the light of the witch's civilization, even though they generally don't live long.
However, having already accumulated some initial experience, the witch still has the ability to integrate their advantages using only technology to create a theoretically perfect final creation.
This is a doll.
In this regard, the one who is the most ruthless and adept is Angela, who possesses the most vast knowledge and the most extraordinary related talent.
First, the dolls do not need to eat or consume additional energy—they possess the ability to create something from nothing, although they can only produce a few specific elements.
But that's enough for them to become universal perpetual motion machines under power-limited conditions.
Secondly, their raw strength is extraordinary; at least among those of the same level, even witches are no match for them.
Dealing with a brand-new doll requires at least three to five witches of the same level to handle it easily, otherwise losses are likely to occur—especially in terms of equipment.
Finally, I don't know what kind of trouble Angelelli caused with the original template of the doll, but the doll actually has a spellcasting system that is similar to that of the witch, but with completely different logic.
Some dolls even possess a certain degree of self-iteration ability, primarily manifested in their magical abilities.
Simply perfect!
If we disregard the fact that their state of being cannot be changed from the moment of their birth.
The biggest drawback of dolls is that they have no potential whatsoever; they are simply "perfect."
Especially since only Angelatri could produce a limited number of dolls of the Great Witch level, they only appeared in large quantities in the British Isles.
In other empires, the only way to see large-scale dolls is through the military; indeed, they are absolutely perfect as weapons.
"That's why I say that other empires simply don't understand the beauty of dolls."