Chapter 116: Tear Down the Establishment and Find a New Master

Chapter 116: Tear Down the Establishment and Find a New Master

Xie Man's inspection report was quickly submitted to Su Nan.

After reviewing it, Su Nan was fairly satisfied.

Cultivating knights was not a task that could be accomplished overnight.

Although they had the Dragon Blood Fruit, most of it was allocated to the Flash Garrison's army and the students at the base. Only a portion was available for the Dragonheart Knight Academy, and it was impossible to turn hundreds of people into knights in just four short years.

Su Nan was prepared for a long-term battle.

After all, building a robust cultivation system required a significant amount of time.

Putting aside the Dragonheart Knight Academy for now, Su Nan turned his attention back to his cultivation and research.

However, just then, Koy suddenly found him.

"Something's not right," Koy said, placing a piece of intelligence on Su Nan's desk.

As Su Nan read it, his eyebrows raised slightly.

The intelligence mentioned that in the past three months, over a dozen nobles in the Starlight Duchy had died, either from illness or accidents.

Their common trait was that they had strongly resisted the Starlight Church's faith.

Moreover, their direct descendants had also died for various reasons.

As a result, when they died, their titles were either immediately inherited by the remaining heirs without any hindrance, or, if all heirs were dead, their territories and titles were reclaimed by higher-ranking nobles.

While such incidents had occurred before, given the notorious chaos in the noble circles, having over a dozen such cases in just half a year was highly unsettling.

There was no doubt that the Starlight Church was behind this!

They were using the same tactics as the Golden Rock Marquis, but with even more audacity and brazenness.

"Does the Starlight Church not fear a backlash from other nobles? They're not even trying to hide their actions," Su Nan's eyes flashed with surprise.

Koy shook his head. "The new nobles who have risen to power, as well as those who have annexed lower territories, have publicly accepted the Starlight Church's faith. With the support of the Duke, this might give the Starlight Church the confidence to take such bold and confrontational measures."

"Thinking about it now, perhaps you're right. The Starlight Church might have promised the Duke an extended lifespan. Otherwise, the Duke wouldn't allow the Church to do such things, which are essentially undermining the foundations of the duchy!"

The Starlight Church was not a group of benevolent saints!

Su Nan had long been aware of this.

The fact that the Starlight Church used violent means to spread their faith did not surprise him at all.

What surprised him was why the Starlight Church was in such a hurry.

They could have taken a more subtle and gentle approach, rather than one that could provoke the enmity of many nobles.

After a moment of thought, Su Nan shook his head and asked, "What do you plan to do?"

Koy clenched his teeth and said firmly, "I won't compromise with my father's killer, and I won't sit idly by. Since the Duke is determined to help the Starlight Church, I'll tear down the establishment and find a new master for the duchy!"

If anyone else had been there, they would likely have paled at Koy's words.

But Su Nan remained calm, as if he had expected Koy to say this.

In fact, he was well aware that the Flash Garrison's power had grown rapidly over the years.

As far as he knew, the Black Rock Cavalry had already surpassed a thousand members, reaching a staggering 1,300!

It was important to note that these were all knights, riding knight-level puppet steeds!

This single corps alone had the power to flatten any province!

Not to mention the Golem Corps.

While others might still be in the dark, the Flash Garrison's strength was already the greatest among the seven provinces of the Starlight Duchy.

It had the power to overthrow the duchy!

More importantly, there was Su Nan.

His presence was the greatest source of confidence for Koy in his resistance against the Starlight Duchy.

Koy was confident that with Su Nan by his side, the Flash Garrison was invincible.

Even if they couldn't topple the Starlight Duchy, they could easily establish a stronghold and dominate a region!

"What about the White Tower Marquis?" Su Nan asked.

"I've already spoken with him, and he supports my plan," Koy said seriously.

Su Nan nodded in understanding.

The White Tower Marquis had already formed an alliance with Koy through marriage, making them in-laws, so it was not surprising that they would join forces.

However, this relationship was not the primary reason.

To a person of the White Tower Marquis's stature, a single daughter was far less important than the interests of his family.

The military strength displayed by the Flash Garrison was the key factor that convinced the White Tower Marquis.

"Since that's the case, go ahead and do what you need to do."

With Su Nan's promise, Koy's face lit up, and he immediately felt a surge of energy.

"Your words put my mind at ease!"

Although he had made up his mind, Koy didn't rush into action immediately. Instead, he began making preparations in secret.

On the other side, Su Nan also started arranging guards for Koy.

Given the Starlight Church's current reckless behavior, it was uncertain when they might send assassins after Koy. Since Su Nan couldn't be by Koy's side all the time, the best solution was to provide him with sufficient protection.

With the continuous profit from the mine, Su Nan was in a position to be generous. He promptly synthesized two Legendary Black Rock Leopards to guard Koy constantly.

In addition, he arranged for three Steel Golems, twenty Dual-Blade Spiders, and over a hundred Stone Golems at the Lord's Mansion. Combined with the original guards, this formed a tightly knit defensive network, ensuring no gaps in security.

Such a formidable lineup would make it impossible for even a Third-Ring Legendary Knight to infiltrate silently.

Moreover, Koy himself was nearly at the Legendary Knight level, so there was little to worry about.

As for the base, there was even less to be concerned about.

It was already defended by over twenty Steel Golems and Elite Stone Golems. Even a Third-Level Wizard Apprentice like Hebe would be in for a rough time if they dared to attack.

The month of Thunder (April) arrived.

After six months of development, Dark Lake City seemed to have adapted to the rule of wizards.

Everything was running smoothly.

The human-faced lions who had signed soul contracts with Su Nan, including Carolina, were behaving well and hadn't attempted any underhanded moves.

The harsh environment of the underground world had created a brutal jungle where the strong preyed on the weak.

The intelligent beings living here generally followed the rule that strength was paramount, and might made right. As a result, they tended to respect and admire power.

After witnessing the puppet factory's daily production of various golems and recognizing Su Nan's strength, Carolina became increasingly respectful and gradually accepted her role wholeheartedly.

For someone like her, once she genuinely pledged her loyalty, her efficiency in carrying out tasks was exceptionally high.

She was determined to accomplish her master's orders by any means necessary.

By mid-Thunder, Carolina had already gathered all the materials needed to create the magical rune core.

"Good job."

Seeing the rare metals laid out on the workbench, Su Nan nodded in satisfaction and praised Carolina, something he rarely did.

Carolina's face lit up with joy. She suddenly remembered something and said, "Master, there have been signs of ghouls near Mine 3. They seem to be probing the mine. Additionally, there have been sightings of vampires near Mine 2."

"If they come again, don't hesitate—kill them."

Su Nan waved his hand dismissively.

The combined strength of the city-states of Mato and Osen was not much greater than that of Dark Lake City.

If Su Nan could conquer Dark Lake City before, he certainly could do so now, given his increased power.

The only reason he hadn't attacked those city-states yet was that the surrounding mines of Dark Lake City hadn't been fully developed, and Mato and Osen were too far away to launch a surprise attack.

Now that they were actively provoking him, Su Nan had no intention of holding back.

In the brutal world of the underground, a strong and decisive response to probing was essential; otherwise, the opponent would underestimate you.

"Yes, Master."

With a wave of his hand, Su Nan dismissed Carolina and turned his attention back to the materials on the workbench.

He reached out and swept his hand over the workbench. The metal materials instantly melted into a ball of molten metal, floating in front of Su Nan.

With his previous experience, Su Nan was more adept this time. It took him just a little over a day to successfully create a second magical rune core.

Su Nan then retrieved the first magical rune core from his body and placed both cores into the synthesis cube.

Soon, a new, improved magical rune core was ready.

"Let's call it a Level 2 Magical Rune Core."

The name on the synthesis interface was still "Magical Rune Core," but to differentiate it, Su Nan added a prefix.

The Level 2 Magical Rune Core didn't look much different.

After examining it for a while, Su Nan fused the core into his body and then went to the spell training room for testing.

The test subject was a Steel Golem.

First, he tested the attack power.

With a full effort, the metal spike storm generated by the magical rune core took only ten seconds to riddle the Steel Golem with holes.

If Su Nan hadn't stopped in time, the Steel Golem would have been destroyed.

"Excellent, the attack power has at least doubled."

"If I had this level of power when dealing with the Adamantine Golem, I could have destroyed it in just over half a minute."

Next was the defensive capability.

Converted into a defense rating, it was estimated to be between 3200 and 3500, far surpassing the protection offered by the Ring of Extreme Defense! Su Nan estimated that any opponent below the level of a full-fledged wizard would find it nearly impossible to break through such a robust defense—assuming his mental energy wasn't completely drained.

What delighted Su Nan was that the increase in mental energy consumption was negligible.

While it didn't decrease, the significant boost in attack and defense made it a substantial improvement.

Otherwise, if the mental energy consumption had doubled, the magical rune core would have become a one-time-use magical item like the Ring of Catastrophe, severely limiting its practicality.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn't happen.

After constructing the twelfth star ring, Su Nan's mental energy increased, and with a full charge, he could now use the magical rune core for three minutes.

Even in intense battles, two minutes would be more than sufficient.

With the enhanced power of the magical rune core, two minutes was enough for Su Nan to take down a Third-Ring Legendary Knight!

"This has strengthened my trump card even further."

Su Nan was elated.

With the synthesis cube, the magical rune core had the potential for infinite growth.

However, his physical and mental capabilities needed to keep up.

When fusing the Level 2 Magical Rune Core, Su Nan already felt a noticeable strain on his body and mind.

Clearly, he couldn't fuse a third core at the moment.

Fortunately, gathering the materials for the third core would take time, allowing him to continue strengthening his body and mind until he met the fusion requirements.

Su Nan then inventoried his spatial ring.

Currently, his trump cards included the magical rune core, magical items, and high-level rune gems.

In terms of magical items, with his increased resources, Su Nan had recently manufactured six more Rings of Catastrophe, all fully enhanced, bringing his total to ten.

This way, if he used up the four rings on his left hand during battle, he could immediately replace them with those stored in the spatial ring.

The idea was to overwhelm the opponent with sheer resources!

He had also accumulated ten Rings of Extreme Defense for use during battles, ensuring he had replacements when needed.

As for high-level rune gems, with the growth of his mental energy, he had synthesized twenty-six, each with increased power.

He currently had twenty high-level rune gems in his spatial ring.

Using them all, he could overwhelm a Third-Ring Legendary Knight.

Additionally, the synthesis cube always contained twenty Elite Stone Golems and a Dual-Blade Spider enhanced to the level of a Legendary Knight.

These could also be considered part of his trump cards.

Overall, Su Nan's overt strength, as a Third-Level Wizard Apprentice, placed him in the middle of the pack, with his standout ability being silent spellcasting.

But with his numerous trump cards, he could rank among the top.

Even against the most elite Third-Level Wizard Apprentices, he had a fighting chance.

"Unfortunately, synthesizing a Second-Ring Legendary puppet requires far too many resources. If I could synthesize one, it would be a genuine trump card."

Su Nan had tested it: synthesizing a Second-Ring Legendary Stone Golem required 456 Elite Stone Golems, nearly ten times the number needed for a First-Ring Legendary Stone Golem!

Clearly, at the Legendary level, each step up came with a geometric increase in the number of required components.

The final cost for a Second-Ring Legendary Stone Golem was nearly 20,000 gold coins!

Even using the entire annual revenue of the Flash Garrison, he could synthesize only a few.

However, at the Second-Ring Legendary level, value transcended monetary terms.

If given the choice between 20,000 gold coins and a diligent Second-Ring Legendary warrior, any noble, including Koy, would undoubtedly choose the latter.

In truth, if Su Nan decided to synthesize one, he could do it.

However, he had too many uses for the Stone Golems and couldn't spare so many at once.

Moreover, he preferred synthesizing the more agile Dual-Blade Spider over the cumbersome Stone Golem.

To synthesize a Second-Ring Legendary Dual-Blade Spider, he needed 118 Peak Knight-level Dual-Blade Spiders.

But Su Nan still needed to save up for a while.

"Let's take it slowly."

"The mines are far from depleted, so money isn't a concern. Given enough time, I'll eventually be able to synthesize a Second-Ring Legendary puppet."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end