They finished the salads, and Wolfe patted Tian on the head to calm her as she waited for dessert to arrive. The courses were delayed a bit to allow the group to talk, so she had a few more minutes to go.
Wolfe cleared his throat to forestall the questioning.
"For larger transactions, and for rchants, I have an alternate proposal. I will be making Bank Cubes. The idea ca to last night. The energy from the coins can be transferred, but they cannot be recharged by others. Also, for a plane load of goods, paying in coins would be a nightmare.
So, I will make a cube that will store a massive amount of energy, and distribute them empty. The first use will link them to their user, making them theft resistant, and you will be able to move energy from the coins to them, and between the cubes for rchant transactions.
Empty coins can be sent back to Forest Grove for recharging, the sa as you send mana crystals to be recharged now. It's a simple and effective thod." He explained.
"Wouldn't a fully charged cube of a wealthy Family beco a rather potent magical item?" The Coven Leader asked.
"That is a massive understatent. A cube of Rank Seven Mana Crystal, the size of a fist, would take ten hours to charge fully." Wolfe agreed.
"How much is that in Tian Units?" The little witch asked.
"Well, you can currently use about a quarter as much as a full-strength Rank One witch, so a Tian Unit is a quarter of a full unit. I can generate about a hundred thousand tis that much, so what I can do in a minute would take them seventy days of nonstop work, or half a year of working from sun up to sun down.
So one fully charged cube is about ten million Tian units, or three hundred years worth of constant casting for a Peak Rank One witch." Wolfe explained.
"That's a lot. How many units is an ice cream?"
The witches at the table chuckled at her question, but Wolfe was prepared. "One Tian Unit. If you used Nature Magic, it would take you about one minute to make a big bowl of ice cream, or about fifteen minutes to make a whole bucket."
The little girl's eyes turned greedy, and her mother sighed at the realization that she was definitely plotting a way to learn how to summon Ice Cream. Even worse, there were Fae Familiars in the house, and they knew how to do it.
"Wait, did I hear that wrong? You can generate a hundred thousand tis what a Rank One Witch can? Not a thousand?" One of the Coven mbers asked.
"That's right. Magi grow exponentially with every advancent because our Mana Cores gain density. If I channelled as hard as I can, I could suck every bit of available mana from the city." Wolfe explained.
The witches nodded in understanding. "And that's why you are providing the crystals empty of energy. It would take too much to fill them, and a single cube is capable of paying an entire Family's monthly expenses, including worker wages."
Wolfe nodded. "So, what do you think? Will that solution work for you? Basing the entire economy on the value of magic might not be as stable as I would have liked, since the power of the magic users in the world is increasing and that will devalue the mana to so degree, but it should be stable enough that we can work with it as a baseline."
At least they could now that the mana level of the world was beginning to stabilize, so the growth rate of the witches was becoming more predictable.
"When will you be able to start making the new monetary system available?" The Coven Leader asked.
"By the end of the month. I will be working on it as soon as I finish this leg of the highway system, and then it will take so ti to get enough coins prepared to start circulating them and the cubes. It will be a slower rollout, as they will be traded for goods at the start, in order to establish a value in the minds of the towns. They know that we're good for it, so they can trade us more than we send them, and take the partial paynt in coins.
If you wanted to swap out existing mana crystals for coins, I could work out a deal with you to switch the whole city over." Wolfe offered.
"We will need to have more of a discussion before we can make that decision. Using it for trade is a simple matter, but switching the whole city would be a drastic change." The Coven Leader countered.
"That is fine, you have over a week anyhow. When you decide, just let know, and I will return to convert your mana crystals to the new coins."
Everyone at the table noticed that he spoke it as if the decision were made, and they just needed to work out the details, but Wolfe had most of the power on the continent on his side already, and if he was spreading those coins all over the continent, it wouldn't be long until they beca the default currency.
But Wolfe had a greater ambition for them. He intended to trade the Fae and the Demons for their own coins as well, so that the value of his coins could be backed by their currencies. If you could trade Magi Coins for Demon Gold and Fae Silver on an equal basis, it would have an established value across three Realms.
The other two didn't have extractable mana, but the value was guaranteed with goods by the Royals. What really mattered was that everyone accepted that the coins had a certain value.
The dessert finally arrived, hot apple pie squares with a small scoop of ice cream, and the Witches prepared to finish the luncheon eting and hurry back to their Families to discuss the potential change of currency.
"We will notify you when we decide. How long will it take to finish the road?" The Coven Leader asked.
"It will take three days to finish the loop and get back to Forest Grove. Then it will be one week to make the base of the coins and cubes. After that, I will be ready to hear your decision, and the first paynts will begin to be made with the new currency."
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