Three years had passed since the European Union began selling its knowledge to the outside world regarding mana filtration and the effects it had on a person's future development. The reaction across the globe had been intense, but the spread of that knowledge had been deliberately slow. Before the first contracts had ever been signed, the Great Houses and the European Union had reached an agreement that every buyer would be forbidden from redistributing the information for at least six months. That exclusivity allowed them to sell the same knowledge repeatedly while ensuring that only those willing to pay the enormous price could obtain it.
Naturally, those contracts were incredibly expensive. The core information alone cost at least ten thousand silver coins, an amount that only major governments, powerful organizations, and wealthy factions could realistically afford. Smaller groups simply lacked the resources to purchase such valuable knowledge, forcing them to wait until it eventually spread through secondary channels. By the time that happened, however, the original buyers had already enjoyed months of exclusive access to one of humanity's greatest discoveries.
The arrangement proved immensely profitable for Europe. Silver poured into the treasuries of the European Union and the subordinate factions aligned with the Great Houses, allowing them to strengthen their economies at an astonishing pace. Every new contract filled their vaults a little further, while the waiting list of interested buyers continued to grow longer with each passing month. Few complained openly about the price because everyone understood that the information itself was worth far more than the silver being exchanged.
Although Europe became rich from selling the knowledge, the first truly revolutionary application of mana filtration and magic circles did not originate there. Instead, it came from China, whose officials viewed the information through an entirely different cultural lens. Their society emphasized collective prosperity far more than individual achievement, making large-scale infrastructure projects much easier to organize. In that regard, only trade families such as the Sonnenbergs resembled them, as those ancient families often consisted of entire villages that had worked together for centuries toward common goals.
Because of that difference in mentality, several city officials quickly realized that the newly acquired knowledge could be used to transform their entire urban planning strategy. They already possessed every piece of information necessary to test their theory, so rather than waiting for permission from higher authorities, they immediately began drafting ambitious reconstruction plans. Those officials understood that most modern construction materials would gradually deteriorate under prolonged exposure to mana, making large-scale rebuilding inevitable sooner or later. If they had to rebuild their cities anyway, they intended to do it properly from the very beginning.
Instead of simply replacing old buildings with identical ones, the officials rewrote the construction requirements for every new district under their jurisdiction. The book explained that the natural composition of mana varied from region to region and that understanding those differences allowed people to make far better use of magic circles. After carefully surveying the mana flowing through their cities, they divided the urban landscape into districts based upon elemental affinity. Every neighborhood would be optimized to match the natural mana surrounding it, greatly increasing efficiency for future generations.
Fortunately for the planners, most citizens possessed affinities toward the basic elemental attributes. Water, fire, and earth accounted for the overwhelming majority of the population, making the planning process relatively straightforward. Exotic affinities such as Nature were incredibly rare, with families like the Sonnenbergs representing exceptions rather than the rule. By concentrating similar elemental affinities within the same districts, the officials hoped to maximize both cultivation efficiency and the effectiveness of future magical infrastructure.
Naturally, implementing such an ambitious project was anything but easy. Surprisingly, however, the greatest resistance did not come from China's central government. On the contrary, the higher authorities enthusiastically supported the proposal because it served as a valuable nationwide experiment. If the project succeeded, everyone involved would receive enormous promotions and prestige, while a failure would provide equally valuable lessons for future development.
The local officials accepted those conditions without hesitation. Success promised rapid advancement through the political ranks, while failure would simply become another lesson recorded in the nation's archives. Opportunities of that magnitude rarely appeared during a person's career, and every official understood that taking calculated risks was often the fastest route to promotion. Compared to the potential rewards, the dangers seemed entirely acceptable.
Unfortunately, one obstacle immediately overshadowed every other concern. Rebuilding entire cities while simultaneously constructing massive magic circle arrays required unimaginable amounts of money. Even a nation as wealthy as China could not casually fund projects on that scale without seriously affecting its treasury. The cost estimates alone were enough to make experienced financial officials lose sleep.
Ordinarily, China possessed more than enough wealth to finance ambitious national projects. Since the arrival of the System, however, the world's economy had changed dramatically. Silver coins constantly disappeared from circulation because countless people spent them inside the System every single day, steadily draining the global money supply. Every purchase removed currency from the world economy, creating a financial pressure that no government had anticipated before Gaia's arrival.
The situation remained stable only because humanity had earned extraordinary fortunes from exploring the Secret Realms during the early months after the System's appearance. Those realms had produced enormous amounts of wealth that temporarily compensated for the coins disappearing into the System. Unfortunately, most of those easily accessible realms had already been thoroughly emptied, while the remaining ones were protected under strict national security regulations. As a result, the constant flow of new wealth had slowed dramatically, leaving governments to confront an economic challenge unlike anything they had ever experienced.
So where were they going to obtain the money necessary to finance such an enormous undertaking? Surprisingly, the answer turned out to be quite simple. China, becoming the first nation on Earth to do so, directly approached Gaia and requested financial assistance. Although many governments had subtly hinted that something needed to be done about the world's rapidly shrinking money supply, none of them had openly asked for help until China finally decided to take that step.
Gaia herself was genuinely surprised when the request reached her. Until that moment, she had paid very little attention to the global economy because, from her perspective, everything appeared to be functioning perfectly well. Humanity continued spending silver every single day, generating an ever-growing amount of cultural energy that she continuously refined into Void Energy. Since that process was proceeding without interruption, she had simply assumed that the economic system was healthy.
Most of Gaia's attention remained focused on tracking the corrupted humans and preventing their plans from advancing any further. Every other aspect of managing humanity had been delegated to the enormous subconscious processes constantly operating in the background of her mind. Those automated routines monitored countless variables simultaneously, but none of them had been designed to measure the total amount of currency remaining within the global economy. As a result, a problem had quietly developed without triggering any warning inside her consciousness.
The reason for that oversight was surprisingly simple. Gaia based many of her decisions upon humanity's historical development, drawing heavily from records dating back to the twentieth century. Throughout those memories, one lesson repeatedly appeared above all others: spend money, invest money, and allow economic activity to generate further growth. Since that strategy had consistently produced prosperity during the period she studied most closely, her subconscious naturally continued encouraging similar behavior without considering whether the total supply of currency itself was steadily shrinking.
She had intentionally ignored economic history before the twentieth century because she considered it far less relevant to the modern world. Markets from those earlier centuries operated under entirely different conditions, making them poor reference material for humanity's current civilization. Unfortunately, that decision also meant she lacked any mechanism for measuring the overall liquidity of the world's economy. Every other indicator appeared overwhelmingly positive, as people continued investing heavily in themselves, their businesses, and ambitious construction projects every single day.
Fortunately, Gaia adapted almost immediately after China explained the problem. Rather than attempting to solve the issue through direct intervention, she instead introduced a global lending system that allowed both individuals and governments to borrow silver directly from her. The interest rate was set at only one percent annually, not because she wished to compete with banks, but because making a profit held absolutely no value to her. Her only objective was ensuring humanity continued developing without being crippled by an unnecessary shortage of currency.
The repayment conditions were equally generous. Ordinary citizens could repay their loans over a period of fifty years, making even expensive investments manageable for average families. Governments received even longer repayment schedules because Gaia understood that national infrastructure projects often required decades before producing meaningful returns. In her eyes, ensuring humanity's continued growth was infinitely more important than quickly recovering the silver she had distributed.
To prevent her own processing capacity from being wasted on countless insignificant loan applications, Gaia also implemented another important policy. Rather than personally reviewing every request, she delegated that responsibility to each nation's central banking system. Governments and financial institutions would determine which projects deserved funding, while Gaia merely provided the necessary capital. It was an elegant solution that allowed the economy to recover without forcing her to oversee millions of trivial financial decisions.
With the financial bottleneck finally removed, the Chinese officials were at last free to begin implementing the ambitious reconstruction plans they had spent months preparing. The first phase focused on convincing ordinary citizens to participate willingly instead of forcing the project upon them. Rather than simply demolishing neighborhoods and rebuilding them through government funding alone, the officials proposed a partnership between the state and the public. If the citizens invested alongside the government, everyone would benefit from the improved infrastructure.
The proposal itself was remarkably straightforward. Every family would receive a newly constructed apartment built according to the latest mana engineering standards while simultaneously becoming part of a massive citywide Magic Circle Array. Those arrays would not only strengthen the buildings themselves but also improve the cultivation environment throughout the entire district. By combining modern engineering with carefully planned magical infrastructure, the officials hoped to create cities capable of supporting humanity for centuries to come.
Naturally, participation came with a substantial financial commitment. Each household was asked to invest ten silver coins toward the construction of their new apartment, an amount roughly equivalent to one hundred thousand euros by Old World standards. It was unquestionably expensive for the average family, and many citizens hesitated when they first heard the proposal. Even so, the investment remained within reach thanks to Gaia's newly established lending system.
Both the System and the national banks approved housing loans with remarkable speed. Unlike luxury purchases or speculative investments, these apartments represented long-term assets that dramatically improved a person's future prospects. Living inside a properly designed Magic Circle Array would accelerate cultivation, improve mana filtration efficiency, and provide countless advantages throughout a person's life. From the perspective of both the banks and the System, financing such homes was not a financial risk but one of the safest investments humanity could possibly make.