Chapter 183: Base Reform, Wizard Academy

Chapter 183: Base Reform, Wizard Academy

Silence filled the study, broken only by the gentle rustling of turning pages.

Carolena and the Red Widow stood quietly by the desk, not daring to make a sound for fear of disturbing Su Nan, who was engrossed in his reading.

Occasionally, the two women would steal glances at Su Nan, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

When Su Nan had announced his intention to investigate the Tower of the Many Stars, he had vanished for over two years.

Despite the arrangements Su Nan had made beforehand, which kept the Star Alliance running smoothly, the extended absence had still caused Carolena and the Red Widow considerable worry.

They were well aware that the prosperity of the Star Alliance rested solely on Su Nan's shoulders.

Without him, the entire alliance would crumble.

This was an outcome they could not accept.

Just as they were about to send out a search party to find Su Nan, he finally returned, bringing with him a shocking piece of news.

Their master had ascended to the rank of a full-fledged wizard!

This news had not come from Su Nan himself but had been circulating among the people for some time.

It was said that Su Nan had successfully ascended to wizard within the Tower of the Many Stars, emerging to slay fourteen third-level wizard apprentices of the Truth Council and claim the tower for himself.

At first, Carolena and the Red Widow had found it hard to believe.

But when they saw Su Nan in person and felt the profound, star-like aura emanating from him, their doubts vanished, replaced by overwhelming joy.

Over the years, they had come to understand the significance of a wizard in the Starlight Continent.

If a comparison were to be made, a wizard was akin to the sole deity of the Starlight Continent!

They could not imagine anything that could withstand the power of a wizard!

With a wizard leading the Star Alliance, unifying the underground world, no, unifying the entire Starlight Continent, was now an unstoppable force!

This was far greater and more thrilling than their previous ambition of becoming the dominant power in the underground world!

The thought of this made the two women's hearts tremble with excitement, their faces flushed with enthusiasm, and their gazes filled with even more reverence and admiration for their master.

Su Nan, however, paid no attention to their reactions, focusing instead on the reports from the past two years.

Due to the temporary halt in expansion, the territory of the Star Alliance had remained largely unchanged, with only a dozen new resource points developed.

As a result, the dark elves had not sent any more raids.

The Star Alliance had enjoyed a rare period of peace and tranquility.

However, while the territory remained unchanged, the military strength of the Star Alliance had grown significantly.

In terms of golems, the Star Alliance had accumulated a large number of stone golems and dual-blade spiders, enough to form two small golem legions.

Once Su Nan provided the higher-tier golems like steel golems, elite steel golems, and elite dual-blade spiders, the Star Alliance would gain two more small golem legions.

But what delighted Su Nan the most was the progress of the Rune Knight Order.

After over a decade of development, the number of Rune Knights had increased tenfold, approaching fifty thousand in total.

Unfortunately, the production of rune constructs had not kept pace with the growth of the order.

Currently, only about a third of the Rune Knights were equipped with rune constructs.

This was a problem the Star Alliance needed to address urgently.

Once the equipment issue was resolved, the fully developed Rune Knight Order would become the second most powerful military force in the Star Alliance, rivaling the golem legions in combat capability.

"First and second-tier rune constructs can be delegated to the apprentices for production, but third-tier and higher rune constructs will still need to be crafted by me."

Su Nan pondered this.

Thanks to the expansion of the Starlight Duchy, the number of apprentices in the base had grown rapidly over the past two years.

Currently, the total number of apprentices had surpassed five hundred, reaching 524.

Among them, over forty were second-tier wizard apprentices.

These apprentices could be tasked with producing the first and second-tier rune constructs.

Su Nan decided to adjust the rewards for tasks, incentivizing the apprentices to produce more rune constructs.

As for the third-tier rune constructs, if he didn't have the time to craft them himself, he could synthesize them from first and second-tier constructs, albeit at a higher cost.

Similarly, due to the shortage of rune constructs, the growth of the core unit of the Rune Knight Order—the Dragon Antelope Knights—had stagnated.

However, the ranch now houses over three hundred fully matured Dragon Antelopes, ready to be equipped and double the number of Dragon Antelope Knights.

After reviewing the report, Su Nan had a clear understanding of the Star Alliance's development over the past two years. Overall, while no major issues had arisen, the alliance's growth in various areas had slowed down, and its overall strength had stagnated. However, the time and resources lost were negligible compared to the gains he had made in the Tower of Many Stars. Moreover, with his return, the Star Alliance was poised for a significant leap in development.

Closing the report, Su Nan looked up at Carolina and Red Widow. The two women instinctively straightened their postures.

"Once the two new Golem Corps are fully established, we will resume our expansion efforts."

"Our primary target will be Spider City. Prioritize exploration and expansion in that direction."

Carolina and Red Widow respectfully acknowledged his orders.

"Send scouts to gather intelligence on Spider City."

With that, Su Nan waved them off. Once they left, he lowered his gaze to the base report on his desk, deep in thought.

It had been nearly twenty years since the base was established. The base had operated smoothly and provided him with significant support. However, as the alliance's influence expanded, some shortcomings of the base began to surface. The most critical issue was the severe lack of knowledge transmission to apprentices. Su Nan himself was extremely busy and could hardly spare time to teach them. Initially, when there were fewer apprentices, he could teach them through a limited exchange system. But as the number of apprentices grew, this system was removed to save time. Now, the apprentices in the base could only acquire knowledge by reading books, which was a slow process.

Considering the future expansion of the Star Duchy, the number of apprentices joining the Star Alliance would only increase, making it necessary to make changes to the base.

In fact, before his journey to the Tower of Many Stars, Su Nan had already considered this. For example, he had thought about separating the base's apprentice training program and establishing a specialized Wizard Academy. A Wizard Academy was an essential facility for any wizarding faction, serving as their primary channel for recruiting new talent. To give the Star Alliance more room for growth, a Wizard Academy was necessary.

The biggest challenge in establishing a Wizard Academy was securing qualified instructors. Initially, Su Nan had considered inviting members of the Cottage in the Thicket to join as instructors. However, due to issues of trust and loyalty, he had put that idea on hold. Now, with his increased power and status as a wizard, he could easily suppress people like Cane. Combined with the allure of potion resources, he was confident they would agree.

Once the issue of instructors was resolved, establishing the academy would be a smooth process. After a moment of contemplation, Su Nan made his decision. He flicked his wrist, and a small, intricately crafted wooden cottage appeared in his palm. It was the physical form of the Cottage in the Thicket, found in the spatial rings of Megison and others. Clearly, as he had suspected, Nightingale had been killed by the Council of Truth. The hunter with ties to Evans was likely also in grave danger. Including Su Nan, the Cottage in the Thicket now had only four members left, effectively making it defunct.

However, this made it easier for him to absorb the remaining members. Putting the Cottage in the Thicket away, Su Nan left his study.

In the Dragon Forest, Zone 3, above a vast plain.

Su Nan appeared out of nowhere, looking down at the Hidden Dragon racing across the plain, with Amy sitting on its back. A smile crossed his face. During his journey to the Tower of Many Stars, Su Nan had left the Hidden Dragon behind in the Dragon Forest. Over the past two years, the Hidden Dragon had not undergone blood refinement, so its blood concentration had grown slowly. However, its blood concentration was already over 90%, and after two years, it had now reached nearly 94%.

The only issue was that once its blood concentration exceeded 90%, the Hidden Dragon's sub-dragon bloodline had become the strongest in the Dragon Forest. Fusing other sub-dragon blood directly into it had little effect. It needed to undergo synthesis refinement to be effective.

Fortunately, the Dragon Forest had plenty of sub-dragons, so the Hidden Dragon's blood concentration had not slowed down much.

Su Nan estimated that it would take at most another two or three years for the Hidden Dragon’s bloodline to complete its evolution.

By then, he would have another formidable force comparable to a wizard at his disposal.

The thought brought a smile to Su Nan's face.

"Meow, Su Nan!"

A clear voice interrupted his musings. He felt a slight weight on his shoulder and turned to see Amy perched on him, her large sapphire eyes wide with curiosity as she bombarded him with questions.

"When did you get back, meow?"

"Did you find the Tower of Stardust, meow?"

"Why did you take so long, meow?"

Su Nan quickly cut her off, smiling. "I’ve been back for just a few days. I found the Tower of Stardust, but some issues delayed me."

Amy didn’t press further, content just to see Su Nan back.

But then, her little nose twitched, and she leaned in to sniff him, her eyes widening in shock.

"Meow! You’ve become a wizard!"

"Really? You could sense that?" Su Nan looked at her in surprise.

While Amy had the ability to detect energy particle fluctuations, he had deliberately suppressed his own, so she shouldn’t have been able to tell.

"My senses are very sharp, meow! The aura around you is exactly the same as the wizards I’ve seen before!"

Amy raised her head proudly, then gazed at Su Nan with admiration.

"Amazing, meow!"

"You became a wizard in just over twenty years, meow!"

"And in this harsh environment! You’re the most talented genius I’ve seen besides my master, meow!"

Amy danced around excitedly, as if she were the one who had advanced.

Curious, Su Nan asked, "How long did it take your master to become a wizard?"

Amy initially wanted to gesture with her paw, but seeing how chubby it was, she opted to say, "Sixteen years, meow."

"Sixteen years to become a wizard?"

Su Nan nodded, acknowledging that this was indeed a very fast pace.

"No, meow," Amy shook her head unexpectedly. "My master became a wizard at sixteen years old."

"Sixteen years old?" Su Nan was taken aback, then quickly realized, "Your master is a True Spirit descendant, right?"

"Exactly, meow!" Amy said with pride.

Su Nan was genuinely impressed.

True Spirit descendants were the children of True Spirit wizards. At the wizard level, their life essence far surpassed that of ordinary beings, and their offspring were born with superior physical and mental capabilities. They almost invariably had the potential to become wizard apprentices and were more likely to excel in the path of wizardry.

For example, the child of two first-tier wizards would, at minimum, become a third-tier wizard apprentice, with a much higher chance of advancing to full wizard. The child of two third-tier wizards, barring any accidents, would almost certainly become a full wizard. And the children of True Spirit wizards were even more remarkable, often achieving full wizard status by their mid-teens.

Such individuals were known as True Spirit descendants, and in the wizarding world, they were synonymous with genius.

Su Nan hadn’t expected Amy’s master to be a True Spirit descendant. No wonder he could raise such a unique magical pet like Amy.

The second generation of wizards, indeed, had a foundation that ordinary wizards couldn’t match.

However, like dragons, the more powerful the wizard, the harder it was to produce offspring. True Spirit descendants were exceedingly rare across the multiverse.

This made Su Nan increasingly curious about why Amy had been left on the Starlight Continent.

But seeing the proud little creature, he wisely kept his questions to himself and gently patted her head with a smile.

When the era of the wizards’ return arrived, Amy’s master would surely return to the Starlight Continent, and then the reason would be revealed.

"Roar!"

A roar came from below. Su Nan descended to the ground, and the Hidden Dragon immediately trotted over, rubbing affectionately against his body.

With the increase in bloodline concentration, the Hidden Dragon now measured over thirty meters long, nearly reaching forty meters.

The contrast between its massive size and its affectionate actions was quite amusing.

"Come on, let’s head to the lab. It’s been a while since I last refined your bloodline."

Su Nan patted the Hidden Dragon’s scales and smiled.

"In two years, you’ll become a true dragon."

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Thank you to the generous support of our patron, who has reached the rank of Grandmaster! I’ll be adding three more chapters soon!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end