Chapter 201: The Era of the Star Alliance

Chapter 201: The Era of the Star Alliance

"If all else fails, I'll have to use the Restricted Zone."

Su Nan regained his composure and continued forward.

Thunderstones are most commonly found in areas where lightning strikes are frequent. The outer regions of the lightning element space are unlikely to contain any, so he had to delve deeper.

However, he didn't have to go far before encountering a lightning elemental spirit.

A low-tier lightning elemental spirit appeared as a flickering mass of fine electrical arcs. Only as they grew stronger would their appearance gradually take on a more humanoid form. At the level of an elemental giant, they would have a human-like upper body with the lower half composed of swirling electrical arcs, or they might become entirely humanoid in shape.

The one before him was just a low-tier spirit, lacking even a vague human outline. Su Nan dispatched it with a simple magic missile, reducing it to ashes.

The lightning element plane had no issue with energy depletion. Here, the mental energy consumed by casting spells could be quickly restored. However, there was a more severe problem: the lightning element plane almost exclusively contained lightning energy particles, making it nearly impossible to cast spells that required other types of energy particles.

Given that lightning spells were almost ineffective against lightning elemental spirits, Su Nan's available combat methods were limited to non-elemental spells like magic missiles, the Ring of Catastrophe, enchanted gems, and liquid metal. As for Black Thunder, it was of little use in the lightning element plane.

After the spirit's demise, it left behind a small amount of crystalline powder. This was elemental dust, a material rich in elemental energy that could be used for enchanting or crafting magical items. Su Nan summoned it with a gesture and stored it in his spatial ring.

In the lightning-infused demiplane, Su Nan's distinct aura stood out like a sore thumb. From a distance, the lightning elemental spirits could sense his presence. Most of them crackled and surged toward him, eager to turn him into charred remains. Only a few ignored him, lazily floating in the air like clouds.

Su Nan didn't provoke these spirits, focusing instead on dealing with the aggressive ones. As he ventured deeper, the air grew visibly denser with lightning elements, forming tangible electrical arcs that flickered in the void. The elemental spirits he encountered also grew stronger.

Su Nan released two secret constructs. Ordinary puppets couldn't harm the incorporeal lightning elemental spirits, but high-tier puppets with enchanted and magically enhanced properties could.

With the secret constructs handling the elemental spirits, Su Nan finally had the chance to concentrate on finding thunderstones. It wasn't long before he made a discovery. With a gesture, a black stone rose from the ground and landed in his palm. Feeling the intense lightning energy within, he smiled.

Finally, some progress!

He then thoroughly searched the surrounding area and found several more thunderstones. With these finds, Su Nan's motivation only grew.

The lightning element plane had no day or night, and due to the numerous spaces, it was rare to encounter other beings. Time easily slipped by unnoticed. After an unknown duration, Su Nan stopped and found that his spatial ring now contained over two hundred thunderstones.

"Enough thunderstones to craft three Black Thunders."

Su Nan smiled and glanced at the two secret constructs by his side. Despite the continuous battles, they had sustained minimal damage. After all, their opponents were just elemental spirits.

With the number of spirits he had defeated, his spatial ring also accumulated a fair amount of elemental dust.

"Elemental dust is still less valuable than elemental cores."

Not long ago, Su Nan had spotted a lightning elemental giant from a distance. However, he had no intention of fighting such a powerful being in its home territory, so he avoided it.

"Speaking of which, elemental giants are a form of divine beings."

In the pure and abundant energy of the elemental planes, natural divinity often arises, making elemental spirits one of the races most likely to become divine beings. For example, elemental giants, elder elemental giants, and elemental lords were all divine beings. They wielded rules and powers tied to their elemental attributes.

In other words, divine energy could also be extracted from elemental giants. However, considering the difficulty of defeating a lightning elemental giant in the lightning element plane, Su Nan decided against it. In their home territory, the combat power of elemental giants would at least double, while his own strength would be limited by the environment. The risk was simply too high.

Perhaps once his strength improves, he can attempt it, but for now, such a task is akin to courting death.

Shaking his head, Su Nan opened a spatial passage and returned to the Dragon Skeleton Tower.

In the following months, Su Nan focused his efforts on manufacturing Black Thunder and improving the magic rune core.

The former took less than two months to complete, adding three more Black Thunders to his collection.

The latter, however, took nearly two years of intermittent research to succeed.

The improved magic rune core could now be activated through a magical array set within the automaton's body, requiring only a small injection of energy particles.

Although the modification came at the cost of reduced power, the synthesis cube easily compensated for this issue.

In the end, the modified magic rune core, when integrated into the automaton, had a potency roughly equivalent to a Level 6 magic rune core.

It wasn't that Su Nan didn't want to integrate a more advanced core, but this was the limit of the automaton's capacity.

After all, a Level 6 magic rune core required the mental strength of a formal wizard and a constitution surpassing that of a fourth-circle legendary, which Su Nan, even now, could barely achieve.

Despite this, the automaton's combat prowess soared after the integration of the magic rune core.

Even Su Nan, without using his wizard tools or engraved gems, could only barely match it in a fight.

This was after his mental concentration had significantly improved.

If it were during his early days of advancement, he would have been no match at all.

Now, the automaton maiden, when facing a half-spider deity, would at least have a fifty-fifty chance.

However, this surge in combat power came at a steep cost.

In addition to integrating the Level 6 magic rune core, the automaton's body structure had to be upgraded to support it, bringing the total cost to 480,000 gold coins.

For context, the cost of forming a small golem army was only around 400,000 gold coins.

In other words, the cost of a single automaton was equivalent to that of a small golem army.

"The cost of crafting high-tier puppets will only increase from here on out. After all, many materials can only be obtained through synthesis, which is far more expensive than traditional manufacturing," Su Nan reflected.

For example, if a Level 6 magic rune core were manufactured manually, its cost would be at least half that of a synthesized one.

Similarly, a steel golem, a first-circle legendary puppet, costs significantly less to manufacture than an elite stone golem of the same tier.

This was the price of using the synthesis cube.

Of course, compared to the cube's miraculous abilities, this cost was negligible.

After all, the cube's synthesis capabilities theoretically had no upper limit, and many items that couldn't be manufactured with any amount of gold could be easily synthesized by the cube.

In fact, for the current Su Nan, gold coins were no longer a problem; the real limitation was resources.

With control over the southeastern domain of the Underworld and the Starlight Empire as a market for goods, the Star Alliance generated millions of gold coins annually.

However, resources like mithril, which were essential for crafting automata, were limited to the mithril veins under Starlight Continent. The annual yield of mithril remained within a fixed range, and no amount of gold could increase it.

The same applied to other rare resources.

This issue would become even more pronounced once he controlled the entire Starlight Continent.

Without a third-party trading partner, Su Nan's resources would be limited to those available on Starlight Continent, rendering additional gold coins useless.

"Fortunately, Starlight Continent's resources are sufficient to build a wizard tower."

"Once the planar barriers are restored and Starlight Continent can trade with other planes, the resource issue will be resolved."

Shaking his head, Su Nan cleared his thoughts and returned to the refinement of the automaton.

He still had enough mithril to craft two more automatons.

In the Underworld, the northwestern domain.

Above the recently war-torn Mushroom Forest City, plumes of green smoke rose into the air, illuminated by the glow of phosphorescent stones casting light on the ruins below.

Clay golems moved through the rubble, carrying blood-soaked corpses to be incinerated outside the city.

Kore, dusty and weary, made his way through the ruins, his gray robe stained with blood, clearly having just emerged from a fierce battle.

Mushroom Forest City had gathered the last of the northwestern domain's elite forces, and the resistance was intense, forcing him, as the commander, to personally join the fray. It took more than half a day of intense fighting to finally capture this tough nut.

But he had good reason for doing so.

With Mushroom Forest City fallen, there was no longer any significant resistance in the northwestern domain. The few remaining stragglers could be easily dealt with.

The northwestern domain was, for all intents and purposes, under the control of the Star Alliance.

In no more than two months, the conflict here would be quelled.

Thinking about how many years it had been since he last visited the Dragon Forest, even the usually unemotional Kore couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia.

Rumors were spreading about the newly established Starlight Academy in Longlin. No one knew much about it yet.

While lost in thought, Cole arrived at the stone pillar in the center of Mushroom Forest City and strode inside. The wizard apprentices trailing behind him followed in single file.

The interior of the stone pillar was surprisingly spacious, with clay golems busily transporting supplies.

Cole quickly found the warehouse. Even before he entered, he saw Ethan emerge, a delighted smile on his face.

Seeing Ethan's expression, Cole knew they had a significant haul but still asked, "How did it go?"

"Very fruitful," Ethan said, his eyes shining with joy. "It seems the resources from the previous city-states' warehouses have all been concentrated here."

Cole's face also broke into a faint smile. The richer the spoils, the more contribution points he would earn.

After arranging for the resources to be inventoried and stored, Cole and Ethan walked side by side out of the stone pillar.

"Are we going to rest here for two days?"

"No, there's not much resistance left. We should press on and finish this while we have the momentum, to avoid any unforeseen complications."

"Agreed," Ethan nodded. Leading the army for nearly seven years had left him somewhat weary. He, too, wanted to end this war quickly and return to Longlin to focus on his training.

The contribution points he had accumulated over the years would last him a long time. He also missed Longlin after being away for so long.

The two made their way to the intact wall on the other side of Mushroom Forest City, gazing into the distant darkness. This was the last remaining piece of territory in the Northwest Domain that had yet to be incorporated into the Star Alliance. On the military map, it occupied less than one-fiftieth of the Northwest Domain, and in the grand scheme of the underground world, it was merely a small corner.

"When I took command, I never thought the Star Alliance would unify the underground world so quickly," Ethan said with a touch of nostalgia.

In just seven or eight years, the Star Alliance had first swept through the Southeast Domain, even conquering the Spider City, which was under divine protection. They then moved on to the Northwest Domain, unstoppable in their advance.

With the Star Alliance on the brink of unifying the underground world and himself as a participant in this historic journey, Ethan couldn't help but feel a sense of awe.

Cole, though outwardly calm, shared the same sentiments deep down. Just a few decades ago, the base was a small area near Flashing City. Who would have thought that in less than thirty years, it would grow into a behemoth poised to unify the entire underground world? To many, it was nothing short of a miracle.

"It's all because of the teacher," Cole said.

Over the years, Ethan had grown accustomed to Cole's fervent admiration for their teacher and simply smiled in response.

"I've heard that the empire is preparing to attack the Northwest Domain. Once they succeed, the entire Starlight Continent will be within the Star Alliance's grasp."

"That day will come soon," Cole nodded.

To them, even though the Starlight Empire would eventually unify the surface world, it would be no different from the Star Alliance taking direct action. The Starlight Empire was a vassal of the Star Alliance, its development entirely dependent on the alliance. In essence, it could be considered an affiliate of the Star Alliance.

This wasn't a matter of arrogance or self-importance. It was a widely accepted consensus among the wizard apprentices at the Starlight Academy and the nobility of the empire. Though the Starlight Empire and the Star Alliance appeared to be independent and equal forces, anyone with a shred of insight knew that equality only existed when both sides had equal power.

The Starlight Empire, while a formidable force on the surface, was far weaker than the Star Alliance in terms of true strength. The empire also heavily relied on the alliance for resources, a dependency that was not mutual.

Given these circumstances, the Starlight Empire had little leverage. Over time, it would naturally become a subsidiary of the Star Alliance. From the emperor down to the nobles, this arrangement was not only accepted but welcomed.

"The future belongs to the Star Alliance," Ethan smiled, then suddenly wondered aloud, "What do you think the Star Alliance's next target will be after conquering the Starlight Continent?"

Cole paused, thinking for a moment before responding, "I've heard that ancient wizards enjoyed conquering other planes of existence. Perhaps our teacher has similar ambitions."

Ethan's eyes lit up. That sounded like a worthy goal. He, too, was eager to see the wonders of other planes.

If the Star Alliance ever embarked on such a conquest, he would definitely want to join and explore other worlds!

But first, he needed to advance to the rank of Third-Class Wizard Apprentice. For the current Star Alliance, a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice was still too weak.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end