Chapter 161: Clues of the Divine Being, Refining the Secret Puppet
Inside the brightly lit laboratory, Su Nan surveyed the winged statue before him, a curious look on his face.
Having previously encountered God Remains and the Holy Artifact of the Starfire Cult, he immediately sensed the faint traces of Faith Power contained within the statue. Though it was hardly a hundredth of what God Remains had possessed, it was genuine Faith Power nonetheless.
"This should be some kind of Divine Being," Su Nan mused thoughtfully.
In the current environment of the Starlight Continent, the emergence of a new God was impossible. All the ancient Gods had existed for at least tens of thousands of years, and he recognized them all. The statue before him did not resemble any of their true forms. Therefore, it could only be some kind of Divine Being.
New Divine Beings were born continuously in the Multiverse, and most did not belong to any specific race, each representing a completely new lineage. Thus, it was not unusual for him to encounter a Divine Being he did not recognize.
"I just don’t know if this Divine Being is a native creature born on the Starlight Continent or if it crossed over from another plane," Su Nan thought, leaning toward the former. After all, given the state of the Starlight Continent, no Divine Being would willingly come here.
A Divine Being capable of planar jumps existed at a life level far exceeding that of a Wizard Apprentice, and entering the Starlight Continent now would be akin to a human stepping into a low-oxygen environment—each passing moment would only bring more pain.
"But if all the believers were wiped out, why hasn’t that Divine Being appeared?" he wondered. "Or perhaps it simply doesn’t care about those Eye Demon believers."
That possibility couldn’t be ignored. If it were a naturally born Divine Being, then Faith Power would be harmful rather than beneficial, meaning it wouldn’t require believers. Perhaps the Eye Demon of Giant Eye City had merely deluded themselves into believing in that Divine Being.
Snapping back to reality, Su Nan took out the God Remains finger and attempted to extract the Faith Power from the statue to infuse it into the God Remains finger, but he was unsuccessful. After all, this was not the Faith Power specific to God Remains, so the two were simply incompatible.
Helpless, Su Nan could only allow the Faith Power to slowly dissipate. Lacking the ability to convert it into Divine Energy, it was ultimately useless to him. Fortunately, this bit of Faith Power was meager; even if it could have been converted into Divine Energy, it would probably have only increased his Spiritual Power by 0.02 to 0.03, so he felt little regret.
After putting away the statue, Su Nan headed to the study. Karolina and Red Widow were already waiting for him there.
"Master," the two women said in unison, bowing.
"You did well this time," Su Nan praised Red Widow as he took a seat behind his desk.
"It is what I should do, Master," Red Widow replied, smiling charmingly. Her beautiful eyes sparkled as she subtly glanced at Karolina beside her.
Karolina curled her lips, stifling a cold snort.
Su Nan turned to her and asked, "The graduation exam at the Six Knight Academy is in two months. How are the preparations going?"
Karolina immediately responded, "They are ready, Master."
Su Nan nodded slightly. "After the graduation exam, all the students will join the Knight Guard, forming new exploration teams with the new Second-Level Wizard Apprentices. I'll leave the arrangements to you. The expansion pace of the Star Alliance needs to be accelerated."
Following Xie Man and Cole, several others, including A'Tier and Ethan from Base, had also advanced to Second-Level Wizard Apprentices. Currently, the total number of students in Base exceeded 300, reaching 303, among whom there were six Second-Level Wizard Apprentices. The pace of this increase would only quicken in the future.
Initially, Su Nan had planned to establish a third Small Golem Legion, but he had recently been busy manufacturing Magic Pattern Constructs and could not spare the time to refine puppets. Moreover, the cost of Magic Pattern Constructs was significant, and most of the Star Alliance's income was currently being invested in them. Consequently, there was no extra cash flow available for establishing a new Golem Legion.
The only consolation was that the newly added three thousand Knights, after being equipped with Magic Pattern Constructs and Enchanted Weapons, possessed combat power no less than that of a Small Golem Legion, which could be seen as a success in expanding military strength.
After the Graduation Exam concludes, the Knight Guard will consist of three thousand five hundred members. In the future, this number will continue to grow each year. Calling it the Knight Guard is no longer appropriate; we shall rename it the Magic Knight Order."
Su Nan made the final decision. From this day forward, the Magic Knight Order will become one of the most important armed forces of the Star Alliance.
In the year 1259 of the Starlight Calendar, during the Xia Long Moon, the six Knight Academies—Dragon Scale, Dragon Horn, Dragon Claw, Dragon Eye, Dragon Bone, and Dragon Blood—welcomed their first graduating class. On the third day of the month, three thousand Knight students gathered on Youhu City Island, ready to face the Graduation Exam.
"This year's scale is much larger than last year's!" Lu Ge remarked as he surveyed the sea of eager faces on the island.
Suo La Nuo chuckled, "After all, we have a full six Knight Academies this year."
Xi En, observing the students' mix of excitement and apprehension, also smiled slightly. "Once the assessment is over, our Knight Guard—now the Magic Knight Order—will swell to six times its current size."
"And now we should start calling you Commander, right?" Lu Ge grinned. "With the expansion of the Magic Knight Order, Commander Xi En's standing within the Star Alliance will only rise, surely equal to that of others like the Wizard Apprentice."
Xi En shook his head with a wry smile. He was not particularly concerned about the growth of power; instead, he felt a heavy sense of responsibility. Lord Su Nan had appointed him as the commander of the Magic Knight Order, entrusting him with the management of thousands. He felt he must not let this trust go unfulfilled.
"Enough chatter; let’s get to work."
Xi En took a deep breath and spoke with a serious expression. "Starting this year, the Magic Knight Order will take charge of each Graduation Exam session. This Graduation Exam is our first time hosting, and we must not make any mistakes."
Lu Ge and Suo La Nuo stopped smiling and responded solemnly.
The entirety of Xia Long Moon was consumed in a flurry of activity as they prepared. Time swiftly moved on to Blazing Fire Month.
In the Spell Training Room, Su Nan stood in the center of the wide open space, keeping still.
With a slight thought, ten Magic Missiles materialized out of thin air and quickly transformed into arm-length sharp spears. They scattered and shot out with a whoosh, drawing strange trajectories in the void before converging on a single point, simultaneously piercing the humanoid target a hundred meters away.
"The attack power has increased by about thirty to forty percent."
Su Nan nodded in satisfaction.
After nearly two years, his training in Spell Construction had finally reached 100%.
This Metamagic Technique, second only in difficulty to Composite Casting and Instant Spell Casting, did not disappoint him with its power.
Do not underestimate the mere thirty to forty percent increase. Over the course of a battle, the accumulated damage output would skyrocket, significantly enhancing combat effectiveness.
The key was that Spell Construction could also greatly enhance the flexibility of spells.
For example, it allowed control over the flight path of Magic Missiles or the shape of the Shield Spell, transforming it from a Tower Shield with limited protection into a 360-degree, all-around shield.
Mastering the Spell Construction technique often brought unexpected 'surprises' to enemies during combat.
"Which Metamagic Technique should I train in next?"
The only Metamagic Techniques that Su Nan had yet to master were Spell Lengthening, which increased casting range; Spell Delay, which extended the duration of spells; and Spell Expansion, which increased the area of effect.
In fact, the practicality of these three Techniques was similar, and it wouldn't make much difference which one he chose.
Moreover, their difficulty was much lower than that of the previous techniques.
With his current Spiritual Power, he estimated he could master them in a year at most.
Thus, Su Nan did not hesitate for long and decisively chose Spell Delay.
[Completed one Spell Delay practice session; 'Spell Delay' training progress +0.02%]
After practicing for a while, Su Nan left the Magic Training Area.
He had important matters to attend to today and couldn't afford to waste his Spiritual Power on training.
After capturing Giant Eye City, Su Nan immediately arranged for people to begin developing the Silver Mine controlled by it.
During this time, he had gradually accumulated a significant amount of Mithril. Combined with what he had already stored and what he had obtained from the Eye Demon warehouse, he finally had enough Mithril to refine a Secret Puppet.
Finally, he could start refining the Secret Puppet.
He entered Long Lin, and Su Nan was immediately teleported to the Workshop Area, stepping into his exclusive Large Workshop.
With the Elemental Pool continuously providing energy, he installed three Magic Crystal Forging Furnaces in the workshop at once, significantly improving his work efficiency.
Activating the Magic Crystal Forging Furnace, Su Nan approached the workbench, took out the materials from his Space Ring, and placed them on the table. He took a deep breath; his expression instantly shifted to one of extreme focus as he immersed himself in the refining process.
Years of refining puppets in large quantities had given him exceptionally rich experience.
His Puppet Refining skill had also reached level 5.
When it came to the art of refining puppets, Su Nan was confident that he was no less skilled than any formal wizard and far superior to other wizard apprentices.
Whether now or in the past, no other wizard apprentice had ever possessed such exquisite skills in puppet refining.
Although refining the Secret Puppet was more challenging, for him, it was merely a bit more troublesome, not genuinely difficult.
As he concentrated on the refining process, time flew by.
It wasn't until evening that Su Nan deactivated Mage Hand, exhaled a long breath, and looked at the results on the workbench with an excited expression.
There were human-shaped metal bodies, the same size as real people, shining with a light blue silver sheen under the light.
They appeared as strong warriors, with bulging muscles and closed eyes.
If it weren't for the fact that the color of their bodies was obviously different from those of normal humans, they could easily be mistaken for real people.
Su Nan's mind stirred slightly, and the Secret Puppet suddenly opened its eyes, quickly and nimbly jumping off the workbench. Like a cannonball, it shot off into the distance, performing a somersault in mid-air before landing steadily.
At the same time, a section unexpectedly protruded from the palm of its hand, rapidly transforming into a cold, gleaming knight's longsword. It thrust into the void a few times, producing ear-piercing booming sounds.
"Not bad," Su Nan nodded in satisfaction.
One of the main components of the Secret Puppet was diamond. Its body's hardness was significantly tougher than that of Mithril Golems, and its strength and reaction speed were also exceptional. Its close combat capability was remarkably outstanding.
Of course, what stood out the most was its spellcasting ability.
Mithril was a material with excellent extensibility and magical conductivity. Furthermore, by incorporating a significant amount of High Rune Gem into the Secret Puppet's body, it gained the ability to manipulate Energy Particles.
Additionally, Su Nan had permanently inscribed numerous zero-circle, first-circle, and second-circle spells into the Secret Puppet's body, indirectly granting it spellcasting capabilities.
The key was that casting spells was akin to activating a storage-type magical item; it didn't require incantations, just a barely perceptible pause, almost equivalent to mastering instant spell casting.
As long as its energy wasn't depleted, it could continuously cast spells.
From this perspective, the Secret Puppet's spellcasting ability completely surpassed that of the majority of Level Three Wizard Apprentices.
Although the final Secret Puppet did not reach the level of a formal wizard, it was already much stronger than an ordinary Level Three Wizard Apprentice.
After testing it in the Magic Training Area, Su Nan was satisfied and confirmed that the Secret Puppet possessed power comparable to a Fourth Circle Legend.
Even he, without using the Magic Pattern Core and various magical items, could not compete with the Secret Puppet.
If he wanted to defeat the Secret Puppet, he would inevitably have to rely on many trump cards, such as the High Rune Gem and Bloodline Mark.
The strength of the Secret Puppet was evident from this!
"Against Level Three Wizard Apprentices like Magic Hand and Bloodmaw, the Secret Puppet should be able to win easily."
Su Nan looked at the Secret Puppet before him, its outline clear and lifelike, and another thought flickered in his mind.
In an instant, the Secret Puppet rapidly melted into a blob, resembling heated butter, and in the next moment, it transformed into a slender, delicate girl with silver hair cascading over her shoulders.
Her skin also lost its color, becoming as smooth and milky white as porcelain.
The Secret Puppet had no concept of gender, nor did it have a fixed form. Its appearance could change at will, allowing it to easily impersonate a living person.
Even a Level Three Wizard Apprentice would find it challenging to distinguish the Secret Puppet without careful examination.
After a moment of delight, Su Nan calmed down, and a thoughtful expression returned to his face.
The cost of refining the Secret Puppet was much higher than he had originally anticipated.
To boost the combat prowess of the Secret Puppet, he stabilized more spells and added numerous enchanted properties, causing the cost to skyrocket to one hundred thousand gold coins.
The past few months since the refinement of the Magic Pattern Construct had nearly depleted his accumulated cash flow.
If it weren't for the bulk of it being the Mithril he had amassed, he wouldn't have been able to produce enough gold coins to refine the Secret Puppet in such a short time.
"It took so long to accumulate sixteen kilograms of Mithril; there's no way I'll be able to gather enough materials to refine a second Secret Puppet quickly."
Despite these thoughts, Su Nan remained unfazed.
As long as he successfully refined the Secret Puppet, proving his hypothesis feasible would be sufficient.
At worst, he would just need to accumulate resources for a few more years; eventually, he would gather enough materials.
"Next, I must continue improving the Secret Puppet."
A glint shone in Su Nan's eyes.
Compared to an ordinary puppet, the structure of the Secret Puppet is closer to that of a human, and its growth potential is far broader than that of standard puppets.
Successfully refining the Secret Puppet was only the first step; there were still many hypotheses to research and verify.
For instance, integrating a Magic Pattern Core or Bloodline Mark into the Secret Puppet.
If successful, the Secret Puppet's combat power would undoubtedly increase by leaps and bounds.
Once he refined four or five Secret Puppets and then synthesized them, he might be able to create a powerful puppet comparable to a formal wizard!
Just thinking about this caused Su Nan's heart to surge with excitement.
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