Chapter 159: The Blue Gold Empire's Stirrings and Resolving the Distance Issue

Chapter 159: The Blue Gold Empire's Stirrings and Resolving the Distance Issue

As the Autumn Veil Moon approached, the air grew increasingly crisp and cool.

The plains surrounding Flash City took on a light golden hue.

Su Nan entered the palace without any hindrance and made his way to the central hall.

While passing through the courtyard, he noticed three children, as delicate as carved jade, playing amidst a group of over a dozen maids.

The oldest of the boys, spotting Su Nan, called out "Uncle!" and ran over, hugging Su Nan's leg with a joyful grin.

The other two, a boy and a girl younger than him, followed closely behind, their eyes wide with curiosity as they examined Su Nan.

"Sir!"

The maids who had been watching the children hurried over and bowed respectfully.

Su Nan waved them off, crouching down slightly and smiling as he patted Yabei's head.

"Where's your father?"

"Father is in the council chamber," Yabei replied brightly.

Su Nan smiled and turned to the two younger children.

"You must be Wesley and Adela, right?"

Wesley, the second son of Koy, tilted his head in confusion. "How do you know our names?"

Adela, still too young to speak much, simply stared at Su Nan with her big, dark eyes, her finger in her mouth.

"Because I'm your uncle."

"What's an uncle?"

Su Nan chuckled, not bothering to explain, and patted the little boy's head before turning to the maids.

"Take good care of them."

With that, he turned and left.

Once he was out of sight, Yabei reluctantly looked away and turned to his brother, tapping him on the head.

"Dummy, an uncle is Father's younger brother. Everyone says uncles are very powerful people."

Wesley, still not fully understanding, was soon distracted by a butterfly fluttering by and ran off to chase it.

Su Nan arrived at the council chamber, where Koy was in the midst of a meeting with his ministers.

From the initial Blackstone City to the current Starlight Duchy, Koy's forces had grown significantly.

There were many new faces Su Nan didn't recognize among the attendees.

The dozen or so people seated in the council chamber were all high-ranking nobles of the duchy.

However, Su Nan only knew a few, like Brad, Jordon, and Stally.

Compared to a decade ago, Brad and the others looked much older and more weathered, with more silver threads in their hair.

Even the power of a Great Knight couldn't resist the ravages of time.

Still, years of living in luxury had kept their complexions rosy and their spirits vibrant.

Among the group of men in their forties and fifties, Koy appeared quite young.

At just thirty, he was in the prime of his life.

With his Legendary-level strength, he was far from showing any signs of aging.

"Sir Su Nan!"

Seeing Su Nan enter, everyone stood and bowed.

Koy's face broke into a smile, and he waved them down.

"That's all for today. We'll discuss the rest tomorrow. You may leave now."

Brad and the others nodded and left the room tactfully.

The hall quickly emptied, leaving only Koy and Su Nan.

Once the servants had brought in the tea and left, Koy smiled and said, "It's been months since you last visited. Have you been busy with the new base?"

Su Nan had mentioned the base relocation to Koy, who, though a bit disappointed, respected Su Nan's decision.

Besides, Base 1 wouldn't be completely abandoned; it would continue to serve as a transit point.

As long as it remained, the people of Flash City would feel a bit more secure.

"It's almost done."

Su Nan took a sip of his tea and then set it down, changing the subject.

"I read the gazette. The Blue Gold Empire seems to be stirring lately?"

Despite spending most of his time in the underground world, Su Nan never lost sight of the surface world's affairs.

The Starlight Duchy compiled important intelligence monthly and sent it to the major nobles, including Su Nan's study.

According to the gazette, the Blue Gold Empire had been conducting frequent military drills in the border cities adjacent to the Starlight Duchy over the past two months. The royal advisors suspected these drills were a cover for some military movements.

"The existence of the duchy has already threatened the Blue Gold Empire's rule in the southeastern domain. It's not surprising that the emperor would move against us," Koy said calmly.

For any other ruler, learning that their country was under the Blue Gold Empire's scrutiny would be a daunting and distressing situation.

But Koy was different.

With Su Nan in the Starlight Principality, things were different.

Others might not be aware, but Kui knew just how powerful the Star Alliance Su Nan had established in the Underworld truly was.

To be honest, the Star Alliance’s military might even surpassed that of the Starlight Principality.

With such a reliable ally, Kui had no reason to worry.

However, this was also the primary reason the Azure Gold Empire had its eyes on the Starlight Principality.

With Su Nan around, the Starlight Principality was like a young lion with immense potential.

As long as the Azure Gold Empire wasn’t foolish, they wouldn’t sit idly by and watch the Starlight Principality grow and eventually challenge them for dominance in the Southeast Realm.

In fact, Kui was well aware that if not for Su Nan, the Azure Gold Empire would likely have invaded the Starlight Principality long ago.

“What do you plan to do?” Su Nan asked.

“Although I’m not fully prepared, if the Azure Gold Empire wants to wage war, I’m ready to face them.”

Kui chuckled, his tone brimming with confidence.

“The only issue is the wizard from the Azure Gold Royal Family, the one called Wand, right? He’s part of the same wizard organization as you, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Su Nan nodded calmly. “I’ll find an opportunity to talk to him.”

If Wand truly intended to support the Azure Gold Empire in their war, there would be nothing to discuss. They would have to settle it on the battlefield.

Even though they were part of the same organization, the Forest Hut, Su Nan wouldn’t hold back.

Time flew by, and soon it was the month of Frostfall.

The first snow finally arrived.

White snowflakes blanketed the entire land, and the cold wind howled.

However, inside the Dragon Grove, the climate remained as warm and pleasant as ever.

On the thirteenth floor of the Dragon Skeleton Tower, in the 3rd Cultivation Room.

Though called a cultivation room, this place utilized spatial folding technology, making its actual area about one square kilometer. It was one of the three large cultivation rooms in the Dragon Skeleton Tower.

The entire cultivation room had been transformed into a dark and gloomy cavern environment.

Su Nan was currently floating beside an inverted stalactite, watching the young dragon antelopes run joyfully in the vast cavern.

After deciding to establish a dragon antelope ranch, Su Nan immediately began the process.

However, setting up the ranch wasn’t as simple as capturing a group of dragon antelopes.

Adult dragon antelopes were already set in their ways and extremely difficult to tame. Therefore, Su Nan planned to start with the young ones.

He captured a batch of newborn dragon antelopes from the wild and placed them in the cultivation room, personally raising and taming them. His plan was to release them into the ranch once they grew up.

After a few months, the results were quite satisfactory.

The young dragon antelopes, though still somewhat wild, were no longer as resistant to human contact and handling.

If they were adult dragon antelopes, this level of taming would have been impossible in such a short time.

"Training them for a couple of years should help eliminate their wild nature. Then, they can be released into the ranch outside."

Leaving the cultivation room, Su Nan teleported to the workshop.

After this period of cultivation, his mental power had finally met the standard for fusing a Level 4 Magic Core.

His physical strength had also been enhanced to 55 points through the consumption of Dragon Blood Fruits, meeting the required standard.

Immediately after, Su Nan synthesized the Level 4 Magic Core and fused it into his body.

As expected, the upgraded Level 4 Magic Core significantly increased his power.

When he unleashed his full strength, the storm of metal spikes generated by the Magic Core took less than half a minute to devastate the Adamantine Golem.

This was an enhanced Adamantine Golem, a genuine Third Circle Legendary Puppet, not the original version he had encountered at the entrance of the Avigny Laboratory.

"A Second Circle Legendary Puppet would probably be destroyed in one encounter."

In terms of defense, the Magic Core’s protection was roughly equivalent to 6500 to 7000 defense points, similar to the combined protection of six to seven Extreme Protection Rings.

Such a high defense level would require a significant effort even from a certified wizard to breach.

Below the certified wizard level, unless their mental power was completely drained, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to break through.

Regarding the mental power consumption, it had barely increased.

"With my current mental power, I can sustain it for about four minutes."

"In a high-intensity battle, sustaining it for about three minutes shouldn’t be a problem."

It's worth noting that Su Nan had also successfully researched the final two alternative metals required for synthesizing the Magic Core.

In other words, he had essentially achieved Magic Core freedom.

If he wanted to, he could mass-produce Magic Cores at any time.

Now, the only constraints were the cost and his own mental and physical strength.

The fusion requirements for a Level 5 Magic Core were mental power of 58.65 and physical strength of 71.24.

As for the Level 6 Magic Pattern Core, Su Nan estimated that he wouldn’t be able to integrate it until he advanced to the rank of a full wizard.

However, this was still good news for Su Nan.

The Magic Pattern Core wasn’t just one of his current trump cards; it was also a key to his future advancement as a wizard.

This was why, despite knowing the synthesis level of the Magic Pattern Core had an upper limit, he was still determined to research alternative metals.

After spending half a day in the workshop manufacturing a batch of Magic Pattern Constructs, Su Nan returned to his study.

He hadn’t been seated for long when Carolina approached.

"Master."

Carolina, with her seductive posture, bowed gracefully.

Since joining Su Nan’s ranks, the noble sphinx had consumed a considerable amount of Dragon Blood Fruits and various enhancement potions. Her power had long since broken through to the Legendary Second Circle, making her at least as strong as the previous Lady of the Dark Lake City, Ursula.

"What is it?" Su Nan asked without looking up, his eyes fixed on the book in his hands.

Carolina respectfully replied, "Master, the location for setting up the spatial gateway has been chosen."

Su Nan finally looked up and, after a moment’s thought, stood and walked out of the study.

"Lead the way."

"Yes, Master."

Inspired by the Dragon Forest’s teleportation array, Su Nan planned to establish spatial gateways between the Dark Lake, Matu, and Osen city-states. This would allow for easier travel without the need to traverse hundreds of kilometers each time.

The reason he didn’t set up teleportation arrays was that he lacked the necessary technology.

Moreover, teleportation technology was typically within the domain of wizards. As a mere wizard apprentice, even if he had the required technology, he wouldn’t have the means to construct a teleportation array.

So, Su Nan came up with a clever workaround.

Similar to the connection between Base 1 and Base 2, he would set up a spatial gateway in each city-state, all connecting to a designated area in the Dragon Forest, which would serve as a transit point.

This way, while real-time teleportation wasn’t possible, it would still achieve a half-teleportation array effect, significantly reducing travel time.

After several trips, Su Nan quickly set up a spatial gateway in each of the three city-states.

The other side of each gateway connected to a separate area in the Dragon Forest’s Zone 3, used solely as a transit point and not allowing access to other areas of the Dragon Forest.

"With these three spatial gateways, we won’t have to endure the long journeys anymore."

After testing the gateways with stone golems and confirming they all worked properly, Su Nan nodded in satisfaction.

The underground world was vast and sparsely populated, with far fewer city-states than the surface world. Each city-state was also extremely far apart.

The complex terrain also limited the use of vehicles like carriages, forcing most travel to be done on foot or by riding beasts.

This was why the underground world rarely saw the emergence of nation-level powers.

Apart from the numerous races, the lack of efficient transportation and communication systems restricted the exchange of information and resources between city-states, making it difficult to form a unified entity.

Now, with the spatial gateways, distance was no longer an issue for the Star Alliance.

Besides solving the problem of long-distance travel, these gateways could also provide timely support during wartime.

In less than half an hour, a small army of golems could travel through the spatial gateway from one city-state to another.

It could even go further, with a mobile golem army stationed at the transit point.

If war broke out in any city-state, the spatial gateway could be immediately opened to send reinforcements, cutting down the response time even more.

No matter how meticulously the enemy planned, they would never expect an additional army to appear in a city-state.

After all, on the current Starlight Continent, no wizard apprentice would construct a teleportation array.

Apart from Su Nan, who controlled the Dragon Forest, no other force could provide such rapid support!

Carolina, of course, understood these implications.

From the moment Su Nan proposed the idea of setting up spatial gateways, she realized the immense benefits it would bring to the Star Alliance.

With the spatial gateways, the biggest obstacle to the Star Alliance’s expansion had been overcome!

Watching Su Nan’s back, Carolina’s eyes couldn’t help but flash with reverence.

In the entire Star Alliance, her position was one of the closest to Su Nan.

Even so, she had never truly seen through him.

The more she interacted with him, the more she realized how unfathomable he was, always doing things that seemed impossible, making him hard to predict.

If she had any lingering resentment or frustration about serving under someone else, those feelings had long since vanished, replaced by a deep sense of relief.

Following this man, she might witness the day the Star Alliance conquers the entire underground world.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end