Chapter 325: The Ancient Bug Plague

Chapter 325: The Ancient Bug Plague

January 6th, 2025

"In the past two months, numerous factions have approached us with goodwill, both openly and discreetly."

"Not just wizarding factions, but also various non-wizard civilizations have been actively seeking contact with us."

"Thanks to this, the Star Alliance's business has been thriving recently."

"Whether it's selling or acquiring resources, everything has become much smoother than before."

In the study, Lizai's pleasant voice echoed, her face beaming with uncontrollable joy.

Ever since the news of the construction of the Floating City spread, the Star Alliance's situation had undergone a dramatic transformation.

Many factions, like hungry wolves catching a whiff of meat, gathered around, eager to establish connections with this young and promising force, vividly illustrating the concept of 'might makes right.'

Sunan smiled slightly, unsurprised by this outcome. After a moment's thought, he asked, "What about the Council of Wisdom?"

Lizai's smile deepened as she replied, "I just spoke with a messenger from the Council of Wisdom. From now on, they will offer us access to more exchangeable resources at lower prices, and there's a whole series of other cooperation opportunities."

"We can now say that we've completely distinguished ourselves from the Council's affiliate organizations. Rather than affiliates, we're more like strategic partners."

Sunan nodded slightly. "There are indeed wise individuals within the Council of Wisdom."

With the Star Alliance's current strength, they no longer needed the protection of the Council of Wisdom.

The resources offered to affiliate organizations by the Council of Wisdom were no longer as appealing to the Star Alliance.

After years of development and accumulation, the Star Alliance had established numerous other channels to acquire and trade resources.

If the Council of Wisdom continued to treat the Star Alliance as an affiliate, they would consider severing ties.

However, the Council proved to be far-sighted. They immediately extended their goodwill, elevating the Star Alliance to an equal partnership level.

This effectively formed an alliance between the two parties, a closer relationship than a typical alliance.

For both the Council of Wisdom and the Star Alliance, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

"The Council of Wisdom has also placed a large order for magic stones, amounting to about one-tenth of our annual production," Lizai added.

The Star Alliance's annual magic stone sales were already impressive, and even a tenth of their production would be a substantial deal.

Sunan didn't hesitate and promptly agreed, "Accept their order."

Selling magic stones to the Council would also help solidify their relationship.

In fact, as the Star Alliance continued to develop and control more planes, the number of secondary magic stone veins under their jurisdiction was increasing at an astonishing rate. After all, a significant portion of these planes only held value for establishing secondary magic stone veins.

Consequently, the Star Alliance's magic stone sales had been gradually rising each year.

If not for the fact that magic stone synthesis required Sunan's involvement and the concern that flooding the market with magic stones would decrease their value, the Star Alliance's annual magic stone production could have increased even further.

"The Star Alliance's strength has grown significantly, but we're still far from the level of major wizarding factions. For now, it's best not to increase magic stone production too much to avoid attracting the envy of those powerful wizarding factions."

Sunan pondered silently.

For the time being, the profits from magic stone trade were sufficient to support the Star Alliance's continued development, eliminating the need for hasty and reckless actions.

"Have there been any other noteworthy events recently?"

After discussing business, Sunan asked his customary question.

Lizai's response, however, made him pause.

"Nothing major, but there's something quite intriguing," Lizai said, as if suddenly remembering, a smile playing on her lips. "The Shadow Throne recently explored a plane and unexpectedly encountered a swarm of bugs, leading to the complete annihilation of their exploration team."

Lizai's tone carried a hint of schadenfreude.

After all, the Shadow Throne was an adversary of the Star Alliance, and their misfortune brought her joy.

Sunan's expression turned serious.

"Bugs? What kind of bugs?"

"I don't have all the details, but they're definitely not ordinary insects," Lizai shook her head. "According to my intelligence, the Shadow Throne's exploration team was quite formidable, led by three third-rank wizards, including a True Spirit descendant!"

"The fact that these bugs could annihilate such a capable team is astonishing. No known insect race possesses such formidable power. I'm curious about their origin."

"Sunan's heart skipped a beat as realization dawned on him.

The ones who attacked the exploration team from the Shadow Throne were most likely the Ancient Insect Tribe.

The Ancient Insect Tribe, originating from the Ancient Insect Plane Cluster, is an aggressive and destructive insect race, known for invading other planes and bringing death and ruin.

However, this race had previously only caused trouble in remote areas of the Multiverse, wreaking havoc on isolated planes. As a result, neither Wizards nor Deities had taken notice of them.

It wasn't until the Ancient Insect Tribe went on a rampage, attacking numerous planes, including those of Wizards and Deities, that the various powers of the Multiverse began to pay attention.

In Sunan's memory, the war initiated by the Ancient Insect Tribe spread across half of the Multiverse, and it later became known as the Ancient Insect Calamity.

As for the outcome of the war, he had no way of knowing.

Before his arrival, the Ancient Insect Calamity showed no signs of ending, and the war against the Ancient Insects continued to rage on.

Although the Ancient Insect Tribe was not well-known, the fact that they had both Wizards and Deities scrambling to respond indicated their formidable strength.

Unfortunately, Sunan only remembered the existence of the Ancient Insect Calamity but couldn't recall the specific time it occurred.

He never expected that there were already signs of it back then.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Sunan's sudden serious expression, Lizai couldn't help but feel puzzled.

Sunan spoke solemnly, "The insects that attacked the Shadow Throne exploration team are from a dangerous race called the Ancient Insect Tribe."

Lizai was taken aback, "You know those insects?"

Sunan didn't hide anything and proceeded to share the information he had on the Ancient Insect Tribe.

After listening, Lizai found it hard to believe.

An insect tribe that even Wizards and Deities struggled to oppose?

If such a race existed, why hadn't they noticed them before?

Sunan's words were truly hard to fathom.

If it weren't for Sunan's impressive track record, Lizai's first reaction would have been to dismiss his words as nonsense.

Sunan noticed Lizai's change in demeanor but didn't mind.

He understood her reaction.

Indeed, before the Ancient Insect Calamity fully erupted, no one could have predicted that these insects would bring such terrifying disaster.

Prior to this, Wizards and Deities had always been at the top of the Multiverse's food chain.

No one expected a group of insects to almost topple the mighty Wizards and Deities.

"The Ancient Insects attacking the Shadow Throne exploration team are just the vanguard. There's still some time before the main invasion of the Ancient Insect Tribe. Before that, we must prepare, stockpile sufficient war supplies, and strengthen our military might as much as possible."

Sunan spoke with a grave expression.

Upon hearing this, Lizai hesitated for a moment but then nodded in agreement.

From the beginning, Sunan's judgments had never been wrong, so even though she still had doubts, she chose to trust his instincts at this critical juncture.

Seeing her reaction, Sunan didn't offer further explanations, for the future would prove the truth of his words.

The Ancient Insect Calamity was a massive disaster, but it also presented opportunities.

With early preparations, the Star Alliance might be able to take advantage of this calamity to rise even higher.

Wars have always been the strongest driving force for the rapid development and expansion of factions.

After leaving the study, Sunan returned to the top floor of the Central Crystal Tower.

Since the completion of the Floating City, he had only taken a few days of rest before tirelessly resuming his efforts to fortify the city.

According to his plan, there were numerous core facilities within the Floating City that required enhancement.

These included the floating device, the Maze Defense System, the Mega Energy Protection Barrier, various cannons such as the Mana Crystal Superconducting Pulse Cannon, and the Mana Armored Construct.

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Completing the enhancement plan would require a significant amount of time.

Currently, Sunan was working on upgrading the Maze Defense System.

It wasn't that he didn't want to expand and upgrade the Floating City to a medium or even large size; the process of upgrading the city required an immense amount of resources and was extremely time-consuming.

Even Major Wizard Factions with deep roots, like the Deep Blue Alliance, the only faction in the entire Multiverse with a large Floating City, spent countless years on its construction.

The primary reason for this lengthy process was the need for vast quantities of rare resources for the core facility upgrades. The mere collection and accumulation of these materials was a long and arduous task.

According to Sunan's knowledge, among the current Major Wizard Factions, only the Deep Blue Alliance, with its ancient heritage, possessed a large Floating City, the only one in the entire Multiverse.

The other Wizard factions possess only medium and small-sized Floating Cities.

As for the mega-sized Floating Cities known as the Star Realm Fortresses, they only existed during the ancient era several epochs ago and have long since been destroyed.

To this day, no Wizard faction has been able to recreate the glory of that era by constructing a mega-sized Floating City.

Upgrading a Floating City requires a significant amount of time, so strengthening the existing ones is a more immediate way to enhance the Star Alliance's combat power in preparation for the impending Ancient Bug Plague.

"After the Floating City's upgrade and reinforcement, it's time to put the Demiplane plan into action."

The energy particle concentration in ordinary planes is far from sufficient for Sunan's needs.

Even the environment within the Floating City can only provide Sunan with a slight sense of comfort, falling short of the conditions in the Realm of Truth.

Therefore, many True Spirit Wizards establish a Demiplane with a high energy particle concentration as their personal sanctuary.

Additionally, Demiplanes are crucial for True Spirit Wizards to break through to higher realms.

The larger and more complete the Demiplane, the higher the chances of a future breakthrough.

Of course, Sunan is still far from reaching a higher realm, a concern only for Sixth-Rank True Spirit Wizards.

Establishing a Demiplane is no less challenging than building a Floating City, requiring astronomical resources.

With the Floating City's upgrade and reinforcement underway, the Star Alliance has no spare capacity to initiate the Demiplane project.

Realm of Truth.

As soon as Sunan entered Wizard Town, he received a message from Mai Ya, prompting him to head straight to the meeting point.

Mai Ya, Morik, and Ortis were already waiting there.

"Congratulations, Sunan!" Mai Ya offered her greetings with a smile.

Morik and Ortis followed suit, expressing their congratulations with a touch more warmth and respect than before.

Today, Sunan's status surpasses theirs, even that of Mai Ya, a renowned scholar of the Codex of Wisdom.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the four quickly got down to business.

"Recently, several Temporary Law Nodes have appeared in the Buffer Zone close to Wizard Town, further reducing the searchable area."

Mai Ya waved her hand, and a map of the Realm of Truth immediately appeared in the void, marking the potential areas for Temporary Law Nodes in the Buffer Zone with green.

The searchable area near Wizard Town had shrunk to about two-thirds of its original size.

"We can start searching this area first." Mai Ya pointed to the green-marked region on the map.

"If we don't find anything, we'll search towards the Deity-occupied region."

Sunan and the other two nodded in agreement.

In fact, this wasn't their first attempt.

They had previously ventured deeper into the Deity-occupied region but to no avail.

Nonetheless, searching in this manner increased the chances of finding Law Nodes.

However, it also heightened the risk of conflict with the Deities.

All four were mentally prepared for this.

"Then let's go. We depart now."

Without hesitation, the four immediately left Wizard Town and ventured into the Buffer Zone.

As they departed, four figures silently emerged from the shadows, following in their footsteps.

"When will we make our move?" one of them asked.

If anyone familiar with the Darkest City were present, they would be astonished to see four Crown Wizards of the Darkest City together.

Since the end of the Wizard Civil War, the Darkest City had never deployed four Crown Wizards simultaneously.

Anyone witnessing this scene would undoubtedly be shocked.

"No rush." Jude spoke expressionlessly, "Follow them for now. We'll strike when they're engaged in battle and have exhausted most of their strength."

Jude was confident in their ability to kill Sunan and the others.

However, the targets were four True Spirit Wizards, including Mai Ya, who had grasped the Law of Life, making her a formidable opponent.

A direct confrontation might lead to victory, but at a significant cost.

It was safer to follow them discreetly and strike when they were vulnerable.

The other three Crown Wizards exchanged a glance, tacitly agreeing with Jude's proposal.

"Alright, let's keep up with them. Be careful not to alert them."

They quickly followed in the direction Sunan and the others had taken.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end