Seeing Zayn's expression, Morax already knew what he was waiting for.
"Very good," Morax said calmly. "With this, the people of Liyue will no longer suffer hunger.
Compared to hunting and gathering, farming is far more stable."
Zayn grinned proudly. "Hahaha, of course!"
With food secured, Liyue's people no longer needed to worry about what they'd eat tomorrow.
Hunting and gathering could slowly be phased out.
In Zayn's opinion, hunting could even evolve into capturing and domesticating—
catching large herbivores, taming them, raising them.
That would solve the issue of livestock.
Stable food, occasional meat—
in this ancient age, life would be unimaginably wonderful.
Living in Liyue right now was practically max-level happiness.
Not far away, two neighbors—Li and Zhuang—were negotiating.
"Zhuang, could I trade some of my potatoes for your sweet potatoes?"
Li explained: he'd planted mostly potatoes, with very few sweet potatoes or wheat.
Zhuang had done the opposite.
Zhuang thought for a moment. It was true—he lacked potatoes. Trading was reasonable.
"All right. One potato for one sweet potato," Zhuang said. "But don't try to give me tiny ones."
He wasn't stupid. He wasn't about to trade a huge sweet potato for a small potato.
Li laughed. "Of course not. I'll pick out the best ones for you."
Their barter began.
This scene happened to be witnessed by Zayn and Morax as they passed by.
At that moment Zayn suddenly remembered—
In this ancient era, before the Archon War, currency had not yet been invented.
People still relied on primitive barter.
Should he… introduce money?
He slowly turned his gaze toward Morax.
Morax noticed. "What is it?"
"Did you see their exchange just now?"
"Naturally."
"…And don't you think it's troublesome?"
Morax paused. "It is somewhat troublesome. Do you have an idea?"
Of course barter had problems.
If someone did not want what the other offered, the trade simply failed.
Even if one desperately wanted a certain item,
if the owner didn't want anything in return—
then the trade was impossible.
Morax knew these flaws well.
But since Zayn was asking, he immediately suspected a new idea was coming.
After all, Zayn's "sudden inspirations" had become quite frequent.
Zayn smirked. "Hehe, I do have an idea."
"Imagine… a single kind of item that can replace all others during exchanges.
Instead of trading a potato directly for a sweet potato, you trade this item instead."
Morax's mind stirred.
He recalled that in distant inland territories, some demon gods' domains used special shells as currency.
But when someone discovered a large deposit of those shells, the system collapsed instantly.
Too easy to obtain → no value → barter returned.
"So you mean… a symbolic medium of exchange?" Morax said slowly.
"But ordinary materials cannot serve this role.
Too common, too easy to imitate—
the monetary system would collapse."
He thought for a moment.
"To solve it, we must create something that cannot be counterfeited,
and possesses inherent value.
Only then can it circulate safely."
As expected of the future creator of Mora—
Morax immediately grasped the core idea.
But he was still inexperienced.
In the distant future, Morax would mint Mora in massive quantities and hand them directly to the people—
which would cause severe inflation thousands of years later.
Fifty thousand Mora for one loaf of bread.
Zayn absolutely did not want that to happen.
He patted Morax's shoulder.
"Hehe, not bad. You're already on the right track."
"So tell me—if we want to create such a currency system for Liyue,
how should we do it?"
Morax pondered deeply, then replied with certainty:
"We are demon gods. Each of us possesses a unique divine authority.
If the currency were forged using the power of a god's authority,
it would be impossible for anyone else to counterfeit."
"This would ensure the stability of the currency.
We simply mint a fixed amount and distribute it among the people.
Over time, it will naturally begin circulating."
Zayn nodded—this matched what he expected.
But it still wasn't enough.
And so, he prepared to correct him.
Touching his chin, Zayn spoke:
"If we simply create money and distribute it,
the people won't understand its value."
"They won't know what a single coin can buy.
And to them, the coin itself is worthless."
"So why would anyone trade something valuable—
for something they believe has no value?"
"Yes, they will obey because it is a divine decree.
But they'll surely demand absurd prices."
"You might end up with…
one hundred Mora for a single potato."
Morax fell silent.
He suddenly realized—
Zayn was absolutely right.
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