Chapter 239: Frostshadow Stones and the Shadow Realm

Chapter 239: Frostshadow Stones and the Shadow Realm

October 17, 2024

"Milady, here are the results of the exploration for secondary mana stones over the past six months."

In the study, Artur used Mage Hand to place the documents on the desk.

Lise hummed in acknowledgment, first finishing the documents she was working on before picking up the exploration report to review it carefully.

Artur stood by, waiting patiently.

The mana stone lamp on the wall cast a soft golden glow, giving her body an ethereal, translucent quality.

Artur considered herself quite lucky.

While she had failed to become a wizard, she had survived the extremely low-probability transformation into a specter, allowing her to continue living in this world in her new form.

Moreover, her teacher had promised to help her reconstruct her body in the future.

Once that happened, she could try again to become a wizard, with a real chance of success.

Artur knew that, under normal circumstances, the Star Alliance would not expend such resources on a mere wizard apprentice.

Her current treatment was all thanks to her teacher and Lord Starfall.

For this, she was deeply grateful and worked even harder to repay their kindness.

Soon, Lise finished reading the report and nodded in approval.

"Excellent. The cultivation progress is smooth. It looks like it will be ready for mining in another decade or so."

Lise looked up at Artur and instructed, "Begin preparations now. We need to have the mining equipment and clay golems ready in advance. As soon as the veins form, we'll put everything into operation."

The early stages of secondary mana technology have been a resounding success, far exceeding expectations.

Whether in civilian or military applications, mana-powered machinery and other secondary mana technologies have been overwhelmingly popular, receiving excellent feedback.

Now, the entire Starlight Continent is like a volcano on the verge of eruption. With enough secondary mana stones, it will immediately ignite, ushering in a surge in the development of secondary mana technology.

Within a century, secondary mana technology will sweep across the entire Starlight Continent, completely transforming its productivity.

After that, the development of the Starlight Continent will reach new heights, and the Star Alliance will have even more room to grow.

Artur noted down Lise's instructions, preparing to start arrangements as soon as she left the study.

Simultaneously mining over thirty large veins would require a significant amount of mining equipment and clay golems, so preparation was essential.

With the development of secondary mana technology at stake, no detail could be overlooked.

"There's one more thing," Lise suddenly changed the subject. "The Star Alliance is preparing to form a new puppet legion, which will require a vast amount of materials."

A new puppet legion?

Artur was puzzled.

The Star Alliance currently had two puppet legions.

One was the regular golem legion, consisting of three large and four medium golem legions. This number was expected to grow, with a fourth large golem legion planned within a decade.

The other was the internal golem legion of the Starlight Wizard Tower, which, though smaller in size, was more powerful than a large golem legion.

This legion usually remained within the wizard tower, rarely venturing out.

Frankly, the Star Alliance was unlikely to face large-scale conflicts, and the two existing puppet legions were more than enough. Artur didn't understand why they needed a new one.

When she saw the list of materials for the new puppet legion, she was even more surprised.

Three hundred Touchmaster puppets and fifty secret puppets!

That was an outrageous number!

Artur knew that both Touchmaster puppets and secret puppets had the combat power to challenge first-tier vaporization wizards!

Creating so many wizard-level puppets at once—what could be the reason?

Moreover, the cost of such a puppet legion would be astronomical.

Seeing Artur's confusion, Lise did not elaborate further.

When Su Nan proposed forming this puppet legion, she immediately understood his purpose.

This was preparation for dealing with the Dark Throne!

Only in facing the Dark Throne would such a number of wizard-level puppets be necessary.

"Milady, gathering so many materials will be difficult in a short time," Artur said, frowning.

Without even considering the other materials, just the fifty secret puppets alone would cost over twenty million gold coins.

The Touchmaster puppets were relatively cheaper, but three hundred of them would still cost over a hundred million gold coins.

If that were the only issue, it wouldn't be a problem. With the Star Alliance's current income, they could gather the funds in about twenty years by setting aside a quarter of their annual revenue.

The key issue lies in the materials required for crafting puppet masters and secret puppets, many of which are extremely rare and in high demand.

For example, mithril, a crucial material, would take no less than forty to fifty years to gather enough for just fifty secret puppets.

Lize naturally understood this and waved her hand, saying, "No problem, this is a long-term plan. We just need to complete it within three hundred years."

Attila immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

With that much time, there wouldn't be any issues. The timeline had suddenly become much more flexible.

"Is there anything else?" Lize asked.

Attila regained his composure and nodded hastily, saying, "In the high-level half-dragon population of Dragon Forest Zone 2, a magic tyrannosaurus with signs of evolution has been discovered. How should we handle it?"

Lize's eyebrows shot up, and a look of surprise flashed across her eyes.

She was familiar with the Star Alliance's plan to increase the bloodline concentration of half-dragons.

Honestly, she hadn't been optimistic about this plan at first.

The power of the dragon race was well-known throughout the multiverse.

Massively raising dragons was something even a third-tier wizard would never dare to think about.

The wizard who originally established Dragon Forest had the resources and connections of a true spirit descendant, which allowed him to create Dragon Forest.

For Su Nan, a second-tier wizard, to want to recreate the glory of Dragon Forest seemed a bit presumptuous.

Another reason Lize was skeptical was the difficulty in increasing the bloodline concentration of half-dragons.

Raising the bloodline concentration of a single half-dragon to evolve it into a dragon might be achievable with a lot of effort.

However, increasing the bloodline concentration of an entire half-dragon population was exponentially more difficult.

If it were easy, the large wizard factions would have already bred a horde of dragons.

The original dragon population in Dragon Forest was captured and bred from outside; they weren't cultivated on-site.

However, Lize's skepticism was quickly shattered.

She was astonished to discover that the bloodline concentration of the half-dragon population in Zone 2 was increasing at an incredibly fast rate. Upon further investigation, she learned that the Star Alliance was using dragon blood to enhance the bloodline concentration of the half-dragons!

This couldn't even be described as luxurious!

The critical issue was that no dragons could be found on the Starlight Continent. The remaining dragon blood mostly came from various wizard legacies, left behind by wizards from a thousand years ago, and was extremely limited. How did Su Nan manage to acquire so much dragon blood?

Lize was perplexed.

However, after learning this, her opinion of the half-dragon bloodline concentration plan changed.

Perhaps this plan really had a chance of success.

Attila's words certainly confirmed this.

In less than four hundred years, an individual on the brink of evolution had appeared in the half-dragon population. In another two to three hundred years, they might truly be able to cultivate a group of dragons.

After a moment of thought, Lize said, "Isolate the magic tyrannosaurus from its population and place it in a secluded area. Allocate 100 standard units of dragon blood from the storage room to enhance and accelerate its evolution."

She paused and added, "The modification experiments will be conducted by wizards and issued as a task."

"Yes," Attila immediately recorded it down.

Then, as if something occurred to her, she frowned and asked, "My lady, if the magic tyrannosaurus evolves into a dragon, won't it become difficult to control?"

Lize's expression turned contemplative.

Unlike half-dragons, dragons were naturally proud and haughty, with their arrogance ingrained in their bones. They were hard to tame and resistant to being tamed.

Once it evolved into a dragon, the magic tyrannosaurus would indeed be likely to resist the taming of Dragon Forest and rebel.

Although the Star Alliance had the power to suppress such a rebellion, doing so would only address the symptoms, not the root cause, and would not align with the plan's initial purpose.

The Star Alliance aimed to cultivate a group of dragons that could follow orders.

Lize had a few methods to control beasts, but they might not be effective on dragons.

She wondered how the founder of Dragon Forest had solved this problem.

"Let's put this issue on hold for now," Lize thought for a moment and said, "I'll discuss it with Su Nan once he emerges from seclusion."

"Is the teacher about to break through again?" Attila looked surprised.

From his experience, the teacher only secluded herself when nearing a breakthrough or conducting a long-term experiment.

"Yes," Lize's expression also carried a hint of admiration.

Even though she had seen it many times, the terrifying speed at which Su Nan improved his strength still left her bewildered.

It has only been a little over two hundred years since he ascended to the rank of a Second-Rank Wizard, and he is already on the verge of breaking through again.

It took her over one thousand five hundred years to advance from the Second-Rank Gaseous to the Second-Rank Liquid state, and that was already considered quite remarkable.

By Su Nan's estimation, he would need no more than three hundred years to reach the Second-Rank Liquid state.

In the harsh environment of the Starlight Continent, where resources are scarce, such rapid advancement can only be described as a miracle.

Exiting the study, Athel joined her secret puppet, who was holding a spellbook, and they teleported directly to the warehouse district.

The vessel she used to merge her soul, like Lord Starfall, was a spellbook.

It was crafted by her teacher, personally, and contained all the spells from zeroth to second circle, making it convenient for her to use.

Upon arriving at the warehouse district, Athel began to inventory the materials needed to craft high-tier puppets, preparing to compile a plan to submit to Lord Starfall.

In her ghostly form, she could not practice magic, which gave her ample time to handle these tasks.

After finishing her work in the warehouse district, Athel ran into Targana.

"Hey, Targana, what a coincidence."

"It's not a coincidence. I came here specifically to find you."

The dark elf girl's face lit up with a faint smile, her silver eyes sparkling like gemstones.

Targana had long since ascended to the rank of a wizard, the only non-human wizard in the Star Alliance.

Thanks to this, her reputation in the Star Alliance surpassed that of many other wizards.

"Here, I found this Frostshade Stone. I remember you saying it would be very useful to you, so I brought it to you."

Targana handed over a shallow gray stone, about the size of an egg.

"Frostshade Stone!" Athel was taken aback.

She had read about this material in books; it was a stone from the Frostshade River in the Shadow Plane, a highly valuable source of negative energy.

More importantly, it was a crucial material for reshaping the body.

"Athel, where did you find the Frostshade Stone?" Athel's eyes gleamed with excitement as she asked.

Seeing how important this was to Athel, Targana didn't keep her in suspense and answered honestly:

"I found it in a cave near Bank City in the Underworld. Afterward, I consulted Teacher Rose, who identified it as a Frostshade Stone."

Athel recalled that Bank City was located on the southeastern edge of the domain, not far from Spider City.

"Thank you for the information, Targana. You've done me a great favor."

Coming to her senses, Athel smiled and gave Targana a light hug.

"Anything to help a friend," Targana smiled and returned the hug.

After the incident with the sacrifice, the dark elf race was essentially decimated, and Targana had severed ties with her kin.

Though she later enrolled in the Starlight Academy, her status as a non-human made it difficult for her to truly fit in with her classmates.

In the entire Star Alliance, the only person she truly connected with and considered a friend was Athel.

For this reason, she cherished Athel as a friend even more.

After parting ways with Targana, Athel immediately returned to the study to report the matter to Liz.

"Frostshade Stone?"

Upon hearing Athel's report, Liz's expression turned serious.

Given its importance for reshaping the body, she also considered it a significant matter.

After a moment of thought, Liz made her decision.

"Send people to search the area around Bank City, focusing on the cave where the Frostshade Stone was found. Report any discoveries to me immediately."

Once Athel left to carry out her orders, Liz stared at the Frostshade Stone on her desk, deep in thought.

Did it come from a wizard's legacy, or from the Shadow Plane?

If it was the former, then Targana's discovery was merely a coincidence.

But if it was the latter, that would have a different significance.

Although the Starlight Continent is currently isolated, and the Shadow Plane is not a special plane like the Elemental Plane, it should not be connected to the Starlight Continent.

However, it's better to be safe than sorry. If this Frostshade Stone truly came from the Shadow Plane, it would mean that some entity brought it out from there.

If that were the case, it would indicate that other beings had already invaded the Starlight Continent.

This was a matter that needed to be taken seriously.

"If the Shadow Plane is indeed connected, perhaps we can use this opportunity to gather materials."

Liz's eyes flickered.

Over a third of the materials needed to reshape the body are negative energy materials.

It is well-known that the Shadow Plane is the richest source of negative energy resources, and many negative energy materials can be found there.

However, whether this is true or not will have to be confirmed through investigation.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end