Mythology: Ragnarok

Chapter 305 The Connection Between Business and Technology

Slot chuckled and said, "Progress? Good heavens, the fact that you can say that shows you don't even know how technology was born. But I really appreciate you thinking of us as so important, but unfortunately, the reality is completely different from what you imagine."

The core value of commerce lies in enabling civilization to prosper rapidly and reach its final stage as quickly as possible through the rational allocation and sharing of resources. Or, can you guess where the first stage of commerce ends?

This question slightly surprised Xuan Yuan Muze, who then hesitated for a moment before replying uncertainly, "To make technology highly advanced?"

Slot shook his head helplessly, his eyes full of disappointment, and said, "You're still stuck in your old ways of thinking. Let me reiterate, technology and business have absolutely no connection. Doesn't your compulsory education even teach this?"

Let me tell you, the ultimate goal of the first stage of commerce is to 'liberate labor,' to free more people from basic labor, and to allow people to 'be idle.' This is the fundamental purpose of a nation's commercial and even national policies.

Xuan Yuan Muze, unaware of the situation, asked, "Liberate the labor force? Why liberate it? What will the idle civilians do then?"

Slot patiently explained, "This brings us back to the birth of technology. How did technology come about, my friend? To put it simply, it began when the hunter-gatherer society transitioned to agriculture, when some people stopped worrying about food and clothing. So who were these idle people who didn't need to do basic labor? Obviously, they were 'idle people.' You might think that such a existence is unreasonable or even a social disaster, but in fact, quite the opposite is true. Civilization and technology were built by these very people."

Don't rush to refute me. Let's think about it from a different perspective. Imagine a society where everyone is busy, struggling to make ends meet, would you have time to develop technology? Would you envision the future, or even the future of the world? Would you have extra time to think, to create, to pick up a paintbrush to depict the surging world within your heart, or to pick up a musical instrument to compose moving melodies?

The answer is absolutely no. I am surprised that you still haven't figured it out. Everything, including art, culture, thought, and even technology, only comes into existence with 'leisure' as a prerequisite. The surplus of labor allows us to finally free up our energy to think about things other than food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. From that time on, technology, art, and culture truly entered the lives of our community.

If you think back carefully and use your limited historical knowledge to consider it, you will find that most of the technological theories, art and culture that change the future were created by those "useless people" who did not participate in labor and only knew how to write and draw in books. Their fates were mostly poor, and in the early days, most of the artists and scientists could only be supported by the aristocratic class.

Why? Because poor families can't afford to support 'idle people'!

Xuanyuan Muze retorted, "Not all idle people become scientists and artists, nor are all idle people valuable."

Slot slapped his forehead and cried out in despair, "Dragon God, what kind of ignorant race could possibly allow a smart person whose soul can withstand time travel to fall into such a narrow-minded perspective?"

My friend, this is like an investment. When a society's infrastructure is fully developed, even if only one scientist emerges from a thousand idle people—no, even from ten thousand idle people—it's a sure-fire way to make money, my friend. Magic and technology are the strength and foundation of a race's society, which is why class systems are tilted towards magic, technology, and military.

I'm a businessman, and I can't go into too much detail with you. I think it would be better if you spoke with His Majesty the Emperor; he can certainly explain the pros and cons to you in detail. Let's get back to business now, after all, that's our main topic, isn't it?"

Xuanyuan Muze could only nod helplessly and say, "Then let's get back to business. Could you give me a detailed explanation of the business model of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races?"

"Of course, come with me, my friend. I'll show you around and explain everything in detail."

So, in the following time, Slot took Xuanyuan Muze to experience firsthand the commercial system of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races.

The commerce of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races is divided into three main categories: 'Daily Life', 'Necessities', and 'Advanced Industrial Zone'.

Among them, the daily life category consists of shops and restaurants that sell food and daily necessities. These places are mostly built near residential areas, and there is basically a huge supermarket for daily necessities within a one-kilometer radius. The people responsible for selling these items are mostly low-level undead who follow orders. These undead are like artificial intelligence, only following commands, but they are very reliable and rarely make mistakes. However, just in case, each supermarket usually has a low-level government reserve official assigned to it as manager.

As for daily necessities, they are mainly concentrated in the commercial street that Slot had taken Xuanyuan Muze to visit earlier. If ordinary people have needs for luxury goods, high-quality furniture, high-tech equipment, etc., they will go directly to that street through the space gate to compare prices and make a purchase. Slot and other merchants' main businesses are also basically located here.

As for the advanced industrial zone, only top-tier merchants like Slot are qualified to venture into it. It contains purely private industrial institutions built by these merchants with huge sums of money, creating their own commercial chains and developing their own exclusive products. In contrast, lower-level merchants can only purchase or customize their own products by placing orders with state factories and then resell them. Therefore, in terms of function, lower-level merchants are more like intermediaries.

Slot's private industrial organization mainly focuses on the application and development of service robots and nanorobot technology. In addition, he also has small factories in various fields such as furniture, wood, alloys, chips, and medical care. However, "small" here means that the scale is not large enough to dominate the market. Please do not misunderstand. After all, the economic power controlled by Slot has reached an exaggerated level that can easily crush the entire Earth.

After witnessing Slote's formidable strength during his visit, Xuan Yuan Muze couldn't help but ask, "You merchants clearly have such a powerful industrial base, so why do you still endure the cruel punishments of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races? You could easily rebel against them."