At most, "Blood Fortress Blockade"—one of the few measures by the Holy Kingdom's puppet government that was useful against "Northern Fire"—merely exploited the weakness that the "Northern Fire" organization lacked heavy firepower.
These so-called "Blood Fortresses" were nothing more than sturdy walls surrounding a solid shooting tower.
Against enemies without heavy firepower, these "Blood Fortresses" were extremely effective.
But as long as "Northern Fire" could obtain weapons that threatened the blood fortresses, then the thousands of blood fortresses built at enormous cost by the puppet government would become a joke.
As the pinnacle of Elasia Empire's technology, the giant weapon called "Magic Crossbow"—which was driven not by magic but by [Qi]—could be called the blood fortress killer.
Looking at Catherine, whose face was somewhat flushed and who was practically wearing her embarrassment on her face, Elashia was about to speak when the system's voice rang out.
[System Task Issued]
[Task One: Package ten magic crossbows and give them to Catherine, then smile at her—"Don't be embarrassed, you've been coveting our magic crossbows for a long time too, haven't you ^_^" Task Reward: Seraph (Armor)]
[Task Two: Magic crossbows are national treasures and cannot be given away like this—demand that Catherine pay some "price." Task Reward: Mage level increased by five]
[Task Three: We don't have enough magic crossbows ourselves, can only give her one magic crossbow. Task Reward: Warrior level increased by one]
Looking at the three tasks, Elashia decisively eliminated Task Two first.
It felt like there was always an absurd task in every set, and with pretty high rewards too.
Looking at Tasks One and Three, Elashia was conflicted.
Objectively speaking, the Elasia Empire didn't have enough magic crossbows either.
The vast Elasia Imperial Guard only had a pitiful fifty magic crossbows.
The reason was simple—the cost of manufacturing a magic crossbow was simply too expensive.
Behind powerful combat effectiveness often lay terrifying costs.
The manufacturing cost of one magic crossbow reached a full thousand gold coins, and one gold coin was enough for an ordinary family of three to live relatively well for a year.
Elashia's enormous expenditure on building the Magic Academy was only enough to build one hundred magic crossbows.
The value of this one magic crossbow was as important to a modern nation as a large warship.
Moreover, Elasia would later face attacks from large beast tides, so every magic crossbow held extremely important value for Elasia.
This could be understood from the task rewards.
This "Seraph" was armor that could only be obtained in the mid-game. Wearing it, attacks below level twenty could hardly break through its defense. From this task reward alone, one could see that giving so many magic crossbows to the Northern Fire organization would pose considerable danger to Elasia.
Looking at Task Three.
It was indeed prudent.
But honestly, she didn't want to choose Task Three.
In the storyline, the most difficult place for humans in the early stages was the Holy Kingdom.
The Holy Court had become a puppet of the Blood Clans, and everyone could become a Blood Clan's lunch at any time.
The only organization capable of resisting the puppet government, "Northern Fire," was almost isolated and helpless, persevering like a flag in a storm under the Holy Princess's leadership.
Especially when she thought about how her favorite character from the game, Holy Princess Ileina, died in battle on this land in many storylines due to "Elashia's" schemes, Elashia felt genuinely distressed.
Although Elasia greatly needed these weapons, the Holy Kingdom needed them more.
Oh well! Forget it! Even if it means not being able to make ends meet, she had to provide aid. At worst, she could use the money from killing the Blood Cult Leader to build another batch later!
"System! I choose Task One!"
Elashia showed Catherine a somewhat awkward smile.
"Don't be embarrassed, you've been coveting our magic crossbows for a long time too, haven't you."