Along with them, various modern technological products were also put on sale, among which lighting products such as electric lamps were the most popular.
The nobles of the Golden Dynasty possessed an unusual obsession and love for light.
They would even spend enormous electricity fees to keep their castles illuminated throughout the entire night.
These products, which originally required energy to operate, were now modified by Xiao into a coin-operated mode and could maintain energy consumption through the Cyber Aura in the air, only requiring runes to be inserted in order to remain lit for long periods of time.
In addition, many similar convenient household items had now become luxury goods sold to noble families everywhere, bringing immeasurable wealth to the Xiao Family.
As for where these runes came from?
It could only be said that the residents of every territory were the property of the local lord, and the greater the population, the more runes could be harvested each month.
Lords and tax officials had long since mastered the skill of calculating the rune-production limit of every serf.
Not only did they regularly harvest runes, but they also deeply understood the principle of not draining the pond to catch all the fish.
Their methods of extracting runes were extremely skillful, and they always reserved a safe threshold that maximized rune extraction while preventing serfs from repeatedly committing suicide and returning to the Erdtree due to excessive exploitation.
On the contrary, they even understood how to let serfs recuperate, accumulate karma with the Golden Order by consuming food, hunting living creatures, and collecting tree fruits, all so they could continue extracting even more runes later.
To the lords, runes were merely consumables that could be squandered at will, while the common people were cash cows capable of continuously producing runes.
Runes could only be used once, and compared to a stable population, a small amount of runes was insignificant.
Therefore, the idea of attracting commoners from other territories through better treatment was fundamentally impossible.
The movement of every commoner was considered a top-priority matter by the lords.
One must know that in order to extract more runes, the Golden nobles had even incorporated Demi-Humans and Beastmen into their system, let alone ordinary humans.
…
…
The Xiao Family's goods swept across the world like a storm, becoming highly sought after by nobles from every nation.
These products were not only unique in quality and craftsmanship, but were also highly respected because of the mysterious powers they contained.
Thus, the Xiao Family's reputation spread to every corner of the world and became a common topic of conversation among the nobility.
And all of this was inseparable from the Xiao Family's wisdom in cleverly exploiting the nobles' pursuit of luxurious living to push their business empire to its peak.
While the Xiao Family merchants traveled throughout The Lands Between, they also hunted Those Who Live in Death on Xiao's behalf and collected the power of the Law of Death from them.
Although Xiao had lost the Rune of Death, the foundation of his Law of Death still remained, allowing him to continue wielding its power.
Coupled with the fact that the Golden nobles had recently become obsessed with various luxury goods and indulged themselves in decadent living, it naturally gave the Xiao Family even more opportunities to fish in troubled waters.
However, even if the Xiao Family was seen exterminating Those Who Live in Death, nobody would say anything. After all, eliminating Those Who Live in Death was a task personally assigned by Starscourge General Radahn to the Serpent-Men and Dragon races.
The Xiao Family's worldwide hunt and extermination of Those Who Live in Death was simply regarded as faithfully carrying out orders, so long as nobody discovered that Xiao was secretly recovering the power of the Law of Death.
In truth, Those Who Live in Death were extremely troublesome existences. They were beings trapped between life and death.
They could neither fully integrate into the Erdtree nor obtain the chance for true rebirth.
If returning to the Erdtree and Golden Order Fundamentalism were like two branches of the same road—one leading to rebirth and the other to death—then Those Who Live in Death were the people stranded at the crossroads.
They could neither live nor die, forever trapped in eternal suffering.
No matter how many times they were defeated, they would always miraculously revive.
The root cause of this phenomenon was Godwyn's death.
Although his soul had vanished, half of his body still remained alive, and in a strange manner, it continuously corrupted the roots of the Erdtree, transforming them into Deathroot.
This corruption shattered the balance of Golden Order Fundamentalism. The blessings attached to Those Who Live in Death could no longer be reclaimed by the Erdtree, causing negative growth within the Golden Order itself.
In order to repair the flaws within the Golden Order, Radagon created the Law of Regression to correct the errors of Those Who Live in Death and allow them to return to the Erdtree.
However, the number of Those Who Live in Death hunted down by the Law of Regression was far lower than the number newly created, and the decline of the Golden Order could no longer be stopped.
With the complete shattering of the Elden Ring, the Golden Order's crisis only worsened further.
And it was from that moment onward that the Erdtree, like an old man who had foreseen his own death, released its seeds.
These seeds spread throughout every corner of The Lands Between and grew into Minor Erdtrees. Unlike the original Erdtree, they had not been corrupted by Godwyn, the Prince of Death, and could still fully execute the laws of the Golden Order.
Their roots connected together to form a brand-new Golden Order network, temporarily slowing the Golden Order's decline.
However, the Minor Erdtrees were still too young. Their root systems were shallow and could not spread throughout The Lands Between like the Erdtree itself, naturally making them incapable of reclaiming all souls and corpses.
As a result, some beings who had already been drained of all value could neither return to the Erdtree nor become Those Who Live in Death. Instead, they transformed into White Spirits trapped in place, unable to move.
Thus, the Jar Clan was born.
Although they were originally jars used to punish witches and sinners, over a long period of time, they gradually absorbed the combined powers of those witches and sinners. Coupled with the blessings of the Erdtree, the sinner jars evolved into a completely new form of life and developed unique abilities.
They could place the souls and corpses of the dead inside themselves, transforming them into their own power, while the absorbed souls would remain within the jars, dreaming beautiful dreams.
But the lives of the jars were also fragile. When their lifespan neared its end, they would journey to the Minor Erdtrees and quietly wait for death.
Once a jar truly died, the souls and power within it would leak out and become nourishment for the Erdtree.
The appearance of the Minor Erdtrees and the Jar Clan not only solved the problem of the Minor Erdtrees being unable to reclaim souls and corpses beyond the reach of their roots, but also brought new vitality and vigor to the Golden Order.
Their existence temporarily halted the gradual decline of the Golden Order.
And if the Tarnished did not interfere in the future, this new cycle system could continue operating until a new Erdtree fully matured and restored the glory of the Golden Order once more.
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