Chapter 153: Enormous Energy Deficit, the Wasted Elemental Pool

Chapter 153: Enormous Energy Deficit, the Wasted Elemental Pool

After a thorough search, Su Nan found nothing of value and headed straight to the next level.

The third level was divided into multiple halls, mainly for various recreational and entertainment purposes.

"A recreational area, huh."

These areas usually didn't yield much, so he did a quick search and moved on to the next level.

Starting from the third level, the subsequent floors were the training area (including meditation rooms and spell practice rooms), the workshop area (including magic item workshops and puppet factories), the experimental area, and the storage area. The workshop area housed hundreds of clay and stone golems, though they hadn't been activated in a long time due to the energy shortage.

The experimental area was also empty, with no valuable notes or records. The storage area was similarly barren.

"This place's layout is similar to my base. With a few modifications, it could serve as Base 3."

Su Nan nodded to himself and continued his exploration.

By the time he reached the twelfth level, things finally started to change.

The twelfth level appeared to be a vast laboratory, filled with numerous workbenches. A specific area was set aside, containing dozens of large transparent glass jars.

Each jar was filled with green or blue liquid, housing bizarre creatures, including dragonkin and other species. Su Nan even spotted what looked like the limbs and heads of pureblood dragons.

Excited, he opened one of the jars and took out a dragon head. However, upon closer inspection, he was disappointed. The essence of the dragon head had long since dissipated, turning it into worthless junk.

Reluctantly, Su Nan checked each jar one by one, but the results were the same.

"Of course. It's been over a thousand years. No matter how advanced the preservation technology was, it couldn't keep these biological organs intact for so long."

Sighing, Su Nan collected his thoughts and moved on to the next level.

The thirteenth and fourteenth levels were identical, with numerous workbenches and glass jars. Clearly, they were also transformation areas. The biological specimens and organs in the jars had all lost their potency.

"It seems the builders of this ecological garden placed great importance on biological transformation."

Su Nan mused. He had seen many unfamiliar dragonkin in Zone 1 of the ecological garden, initially thinking it was just his lack of knowledge. After all, there were countless types of dragonkin, and it was normal not to recognize some. However, it now seemed that these unfamiliar dragonkin were likely not original species but new breeds created within this ecological garden.

Having explored the first fourteen levels, only one remained.

Su Nan had a hunch and took a deep breath before stepping into the teleportation array.

In a flash, he found himself on a spacious platform.

The platform was constructed entirely of white stone, with intricate patterns carved into its surface, giving it a mysterious and beautiful appearance.

"White marble!" Su Nan's eyes narrowed.

White marble was a fine-grained white limestone, hard and durable, making it an excellent material for construction and sculpture. Many wizards chose white marble as the primary material for their towers.

Looking around, he saw an endless expanse of starry sky, dotted with countless stars and a brilliant Milky Way, making one feel incredibly small.

After a moment of appreciation, Su Nan refocused his attention on the deepest part of the platform.

There, a ten-meter-long and ten-meter-wide square pool was made of white marble, with a layer of silver coating on the surface. The coating was intricately patterned, forming a large energy-gathering array.

"An elemental pool!"

Su Nan's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected the ecological garden to have an elemental pool. Although it wasn't very large, barely qualifying as a mini-elemental pool, it was still a significant find.

After all, elemental pools were standard energy supply systems for wizard towers.

"It seems the small amount of energy needed to maintain the ecological garden's operation, beyond its energy cycle system, comes from this elemental pool."

The principle behind an elemental pool was to open a channel to the elemental plane and draw elemental energy, providing a continuous and stable supply of energy.

It was a high-tier energy supply device, far more efficient than setting up magic energy conduits at ley line nodes.

Many large facilities used elemental pools as their primary energy source, the most common being wizard towers.

A small elemental pool was sufficient to meet the basic needs of a wizard tower.

However, building an elemental pool requires a large amount of gems, special metals, and various rare materials, making it extremely costly. It also demands a high level of skill in crafting magical items.

Even official wizards can't all afford to build elemental pools.

A thousand years ago, when the density of energy particles in the Starlight Continent decreased, some wizards tried to emulate the construction of elemental pools by opening channels to the elemental planes to introduce elemental energy and increase the density of energy particles. However, they ultimately failed.

With too few channels, the elemental energy introduced from the elemental planes couldn't keep up with the rate of energy loss.

With too many channels, it was like drilling countless holes in the barrier of the Starlight Continent, significantly weakening its isolation and protective functions. This allowed large numbers of extraplanar creatures to cross the barrier and enter the Starlight Continent, causing numerous disasters.

Even some elemental deities took the opportunity to extend their influence into the Starlight Continent.

In the end, the wizards had to abandon this counterproductive and desperate idea.

"Unfortunately, the elemental pool has been abandoned."

After a thorough inspection, Su Nan concluded.

It made sense; if the elemental pool were still operational, the ecological garden wouldn't have fallen into such an energy crisis.

"If I can repair and activate this elemental pool, the ecological garden's energy supply will be secure."

Su Nan's face lit up with joy.

Although repairing the elemental pool wouldn't be easy, it was still simpler than building one from scratch, and he felt confident he could manage it.

Regaining his composure, Su Nan turned his attention to the crystal ball next to the elemental pool.

The crystal ball was perfectly round, a deep purple-blue, with a radius of about half a meter. It floated about two feet above the ground, emitting a gentle glow.

Based on his experience, this crystal ball was likely the control hub of the ecological garden.

Approaching the crystal ball, Su Nan thought for a moment and then placed the key on its surface.

"Startup source detected. Management system activated."

"Scanning user status. Standard met. Do you wish to log in?"

"Log in," Su Nan said without hesitation.

"Logged in."

"Currently, the administrator list is empty. The login user's permission level has been elevated to the highest."

"Welcome to Dragon Forest Ecological Garden, Master. Butler 1 at your service."

Butler, huh.

Su Nan's eyes flickered.

When he first heard the voice from the Dragon Skeleton Tower, he had suspected that the ecological garden might have an intelligent auxiliary life form similar to a tower spirit. Now it seemed his guess was correct.

However, this entity's capabilities were likely far inferior to a true tower spirit, perhaps only slightly more advanced than constructs like adamantine golems.

If it were a genuine tower spirit, it would have been able to maintain the ecological garden optimally for a thousand years without a controller's commands, and the garden wouldn't be in its current state.

"1, scan the ecological garden's status," Su Nan issued his first command.

"Self-diagnosis beginning!"

"Scanning."

"Generating 3D model."

"Scan complete."

A faint light emerged, and countless rays of light spilled from the crystal ball, intertwining to form a 3D model of the ecological garden, scaled down to a miniature size.

Various texts were also displayed beside the model.

Ecological Garden: Dragon Forest

Level: Large (69.34% damaged)



Remaining Energy: 38.79%

Intelligent Auxiliary Life: Butler 1

Zones: Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3

Facilities (Dragon Skeleton Tower): Residential Area, Storage Area, Experimental Area, Training Area, Workshop Area, Transformation Area, Control Hub, Elemental Pool (Miniature)



Servants: Clay Golems × 182

Defense System: Large Spatial Barrier (3.48% damaged)



Combat System: Golem Army (Stone Golems × 145)



"Only 39% of the energy remains."

Su Nan sequentially opened the information for the three zones.

Zone 1: Operational. Minimum Energy Required: 24.28%, Optimal Energy: 35.12%

Zone 2: Inactive. Minimum Energy Required: 53.66%, Optimal Energy: 73.41%

Zone 3: Operational. Minimum Energy Required: 3.06%

"Zone 2 alone requires over 50% of the energy!"

Su Nan was taken aback. No wonder Zone 2 had been abandoned and left to waste.

After all, it was the area for raising dragons, and the energy consumption was indeed staggering.

"It looks like the first step is to restore the energy to over 81%."

The combined minimum energy requirements for the three zones exceeded 81%.

Once the energy in the ecological garden is restored to this threshold, it will be possible to maintain the operation of Zone 1 and the Dragon Skeleton Tower while gradually restoring the ecosystem in Zone 2.

After Zone 2's ecosystem is restored, the next step will be to consider how to increase the dragon population.

"Open the energy slot," Su Nan commanded.

With a click, the ground beside the crystal ball slowly opened, and a hollow stone pillar extended out.

Su Nan took out all the magic stones from his spatial ring and dumped them into the stone pillar.

A moment later, the data beside the 3D model changed dramatically. The remaining energy increased from 38.79% to 38.81%, a rise of 0.02%.

"Two hundred and thirty-five low-grade magic stones only increased the energy by 0.02%!"

Su Nan couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.

At this rate, to boost the energy to 81%, he would need to invest roughly half a million low-grade magic stones!

The cost would be around ninety thousand gold coins!

Even if he started saving every gold coin from now on, it would take him four to five years to accumulate that much.

And that was only possible because he could manufacture magic stones at extremely low costs.

For other wizard apprentices, using magic stones to boost energy would be an impossible dream. They would never be able to restore Zone 2's ecosystem.

The energy consumption of the ecological garden was truly staggering!

"Restoring the energy to 81% requires this many magic stones. To reach 100%, who knows how many more I would need. This method isn't feasible. I have to find a way to repair the elemental pool."

After a moment of thought, Su Nan had a plan and issued a new command.

"1, how much energy is required to repair the spatial barrier?"

The most pressing issue was to seal the gap in the ecological garden to prevent the sub-dragons from escaping and attracting more wizard apprentices or other intelligent beings.

"6.23% energy required."

Su Nan quickly calculated that after repairing the spatial barrier, the remaining energy would still be sufficient to meet the minimum energy requirements for Zones 1 and 3.

He could always invest more magic stones later to boost the energy further.

With that in mind, Su Nan immediately issued the repair command.

"Repair initiated. Estimated time: 18 hours, 35 minutes, and 32 seconds."

Watching the 3D model slowly disappear, Su Nan let out a long breath, feeling a surge of joy.

Although he hadn't found any valuable treasures in the Dragon Skeleton Tower, the Dragon Forest itself was the greatest gain.

With the Dragon Forest as a foundation, he could establish a more complete and secure base.

Moreover, the tens of thousands of sub-dragons and countless rare magical plants within the Dragon Forest were a tremendous wealth.

Once the elemental pool was repaired, it would be like having an inexhaustible treasure trove of materials.

Before building his wizard tower, the Dragon Forest could serve as his core base, allowing him to grow and strengthen his influence.

"Once the elemental pool is repaired, I can move Base 1 here."

The Dragon Forest was a half-dimensional space without a fixed location in the material world. As its controller, Su Nan could enter it by opening a portal from the material world.

Meanwhile, outside the Dragon Skeleton Tower, the Traveler was eyeing the tower enviously.

As a wizard apprentice, he knew very well the immense benefits of acquiring a large ecological garden.

Whether for personal strength or the development of a faction, the benefits were significant.

However, he was also well aware that this ecological garden was not something he could covet.

On one hand, he couldn't match the player's strength, and on the other, even if he obtained the ecological garden, he wouldn't have the resources to provide it with sufficient energy.

But the player was different.

According to Nightingale, the player possessed far more resources than an ordinary third-level wizard apprentice. Perhaps he had a way to solve the energy shortage problem.

"Thinking positively, if Su Nan can really solve the ecological garden's issues, I could buy sub-dragon blood from him in the future."

The Traveler mused to himself.

At that moment, the door of the Dragon Skeleton Tower creaked open, and Su Nan walked out.

The Traveler hesitated for a moment but couldn't resist his curiosity and approached, asking, "How did it go?"

"Plenty of issues," Su Nan shrugged. "But the gap in the ecological garden is being repaired. It won't take long to be fully restored. What are your plans next?"

The Traveler was taken aback.

What else could he do?

The ecological garden was now Su Nan's territory. Could he really stay here indefinitely?

To his surprise, Su Nan extended an invitation.

"Interested in visiting my place?"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end