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Chapter 1302: The Gemstone Dragon Lucia
Chapter 1302: The Gemstone Dragon Lucia
2024-02-24
"Gladden, is something wrong?"
"Lemor, don't you think this is Dalando's scheme?"
Gladden and Acting Speaker Lemor had a close personal relationship. In fact, the Gladden Plant Association and Lemor's Mercenary Group were subtly forming an alliance.
Among the top powers in the Vige Hub, Lemor's Mercenary Group and the Gladden Plant Association were closely aligned; the Central Bank and the Psychic Corporation were particularly intimate; and the Vige Guard operated independently.
The hub was gradually forming a tripartite balance of power.
"A scheme? Indeed, Dalando's move is quite bold!" Acting Speaker Lemor, now back in Sector 1, turned his head toward Sector 170, his gaze seeming to pierce through everything.
...
Lemor did not believe Su Yu's words.
First, Su Yu's strength was clearly fake, more so than ever.
He did not buy Su Yu's claim about a "special cultivation method." After all, he had been secretly observing Su Yu for over a year and a half.
Back then, Acting Speaker Lemor had personally visited the sector where Su Yu was located.
From his observations, Su Yu was just an ordinary Eighth-Rank cultivator, far from reaching the Planetary Rank, with no signs of a transformation or a leap in his life force.
If Su Yu's words were true, he should have seen signs of a life force transformation the last time, which would have made it seem like a "temporary drop to Eighth Rank."
Therefore, Su Yu's explanation was undoubtedly a lie.
Second, could a regular Planetary Rank cultivator continuously produce a Fourth-Rank Planetary Dragon corpse and a Level 4 AI?
The dragon corpse could be chalked up to good luck, but a Level 4 AI as well?
Adding to this, they had overheard a slip of the tongue from the Stone Man, Retodiz, which made the conclusion clear.
"Gladden, we've always had a theory—that Su Yu is one of Dalando's alts. Now it seems we can confirm it."
"Yes, I think the same," Gladden sighed. "I didn't expect Dalando to play such a big card at this time!"
"Then what do you think Dalando's goal is?"
"What else? He wants to use the Level 4 AI to establish his rule over the hub," Gladden said dismissively.
Then, he shifted his tone to a more serious one: "Let me lay out my thoughts, and tell me if they make sense:
First, Dalando created an alt, Su Yu, over a year and a half ago.
He gave this alt a background and orchestrated a bounty hunt to draw the hub's attention to him.
Next, he hyped up the alt with a Planetary Dragon corpse, ensuring everyone would recognize this alt."
"Go on," Acting Speaker Lemor grew increasingly interested as he listened.
Gladden continued, "Hyping up this alt was all to prepare for today.
Without the hype, if a random Planetary Rank cultivator suddenly appeared with a Level 4 AI, everyone would be on high alert.
But 'Su Yu,' a native who has contributed to the hub, is much more acceptable.
Now, he has also elevated his alt to the Planetary Rank.
Because of the Planetary Rank, we can't seize the AI under the council's authority, making it easier for him to use his alt to fully control the AI.
Finally, he will spread the AI throughout the hub, laying the foundation for his rule.
You have to admit, it's a brilliant move!"
"Indeed," Acting Speaker Lemor agreed. "Not only is it brilliant, but it's also hard for us to counter."
"After all, it’s a Level 4 AI. If I were in its shoes, I’d do the same thing."
"Ah, who could blame it?" Grandon and Lemor sighed in unison.
After a moment of lamenting, Gran Deng asked, "So, what do we do now?"
"What else can we do?" Acting Chairman Lemor replied slowly. "The balance of power has been shattered. We must seek an alliance."
"An alliance? You mean with Andrew and Luciana?"
"Exactly."
"Hmm… that’s not a bad idea. I’ll contact them right away."
...
Two minutes later, in the conference room of the Chairman’s office, three virtual projections appeared in front of Acting Chairman Lemor.
One of the projections was Granden, while the other two were Andrew Soren, the head of the Central Bank, and Luciana Glastaras, the CEO of the Psionic Development Corporation.
Luciana was the only female present, and she wasn’t a member of the Saint Silver race but rather from the Gem Dragon race.
The Gem Dragons are a branch of the dragon race, and a particularly unique one at that.
Billions of years ago, the Saint Silver Federation discovered that Gem Dragons had the highest affinity for psionic energy among all dragon subraces.
In the vast and diverse population of the Saint Silver Federation, the Gem Dragons had the strongest affinity for psionic energy.
This affinity was evident in their ability to extract, transport, and even produce psionic energy with minimal loss. Even the most advanced psionic extraction facilities had some degree of loss, but not the Gem Dragons. Their loss was so negligible it was almost zero!
This level of efficiency was something even the Saint Silver race couldn’t achieve.
Furthermore, while Gem Dragons consumed psionic energy during their training, they produced an additional amount of psionic energy each year after reaching adulthood!
Producing psionic energy!
Such a capability was incredibly rare among races.
If you consider the total output over a lifetime, a Gem Dragon would produce more psionic energy than it consumed, albeit by a small margin. But it was still a net positive.
This meant that you could raise a high-tier Gem Dragon to adulthood with minimal psionic energy expenditure. In the entire universe, this made the Gem Dragons a highly prized race!
Given their value, the Saint Silver Federation spared no effort in cultivating the Gem Dragons, even employing advanced technology to replicate them.
However, the reproductive capabilities of dragons were naturally low, and Gem Dragons were even less fertile.
Using methods similar to the "Eternal Spring" to mass-produce Gem Dragons would require a tremendous amount of energy, and the results were often unsatisfactory.
While it was possible to mass-produce Gem Dragons, the energy consumed during the process would outweigh the energy they produced over their lifetimes.
Therefore, the only way to increase their population was through natural reproduction.
However, due to favorable reproductive policies and generous subsidies from the Federation, the Gem Dragon population grew significantly over the next 30 million years. They became the most populous dragon subrace in the entire Federation.
Today, the Gem Dragon population exceeds a billion, which is about twice the number of the second most populous dragon subrace, the Common White Dragons.
However, this number is still relatively small compared to the human population.
Due to their unique "psionic affinity," adult Gem Dragons are often assigned to positions involving psionic energy extraction, storage, transportation, and distribution.
Almost all psionic energy extraction companies in the galaxy are managed by Gem Dragons.
Thus, it’s no surprise that Luciana, a female Gem Dragon, holds such a prominent position.
(End of Chapter)
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