Chapter 256: Military Expansion, Synthesis Spirit Pearl
In Su Nan's memories, after the year 2000, during the Gloomy Throne's large-scale invasion of the Starlight Continent, there were no instances of True Spirit Wizards or Large Wizard Towers.
Looking back now, perhaps it was as Maiisha said: Gloomy Throne had focused most of its energy on conquering the second Plane Cluster, leaving little attention to spare for a single Plane.
However, Su Nan vaguely remembered that Gloomy Throne had mobilized an entire Plane's worth of military strength back then, which eventually devolved into a Large Plane War.
Despite that, the situation was still relatively favorable.
At least the Star Alliance controlled an entire Plane, giving them the capability to fight back.
"How is the military expansion progressing?" Su Nan asked.
Lize, well-versed in the details, replied without hesitation, "The eighth Large Golem Legion unit is currently being formed and should be completed before the Plane blockade is lifted."
"The current official members of the Magic Knight Order have increased to fifty-eight thousand, and there are already over five hundred thousand reserve members without Magic Pattern Construct equipment."
"The core Wyvern Knight force has expanded to a total of eight thousand five hundred. A new batch of Sub-Dragons has just arrived from the ranch and has been distributed. They are currently in their adaptation period, and we expect the entire force to reach nine thousand by next year."
As the core armed forces of the Star Alliance, the Golem Legion and the Magic Knight Order were naturally top priorities for expansion.
One Large Golem Legion unit comprises one hundred twenty-five thousand units.
Eight units would total one million units.
In other words, by next year, the Star Alliance would have one million Golems.
If we include the local defense forces guarding various City States and resource points in the Underworld, the number of Golems could increase by another three to four hundred thousand.
One million to one million four hundred thousand Golems, although most of them are Stone Golems and Twin Blade Spiders, is still an impressive figure.
"That's because the past hundred years at Starlight Academy have nurtured a large number of Wizard Apprentices, providing ample manpower to refine Puppets. Otherwise, relying solely on Su Nan would have been exhausting, and it would have been impossible to create so many Golems.
As for the Magic Knight Order, the number of official members is relatively small.
However, don’t underestimate that count of fewer than sixty thousand; they are all elite fighters.
You must understand that the minimum requirement for an official member of the Magic Knight Order is to be a High Grand Knight. Equipped with a Magic Pattern Construct, their combat power surpasses the Legendary Knight level without exception.
In other words, that's fifty-eight thousand Legendary Knight-level combatants!
As the trump card of the Order, the Wyvern Knights represent the pinnacle of the Legendary Knight class, serving as an indestructible weapon on the battlefield.
In terms of combat strength alone, the combined forces of the three Large Golem Legions stand no chance against the Magic Knight Order!
Moreover, the Magic Knight Order also boasts over half a million probationary members.
Though probationary members do not have Magic Pattern Constructs, they are all Knights or Great Knights, making them more than capable as a conventional Legion, not significantly inferior to the Golem Legions.
"Increase the reward for manufacturing Magic Pattern Constructs. Our next goal is to produce as many as possible, striving to raise the number of official Magic Knight Order members to over sixty thousand by next year," Su Nan instructed. After Lize acknowledged his command, he shifted the topic.
"How is the fleet coming along?"
Lize replied, "Considering that the chances of naval warfare are low, we have currently established only five Navy Fleets. That should suffice as long as we avoid large-scale naval battles."
Su Nan nodded slightly. Naval engagements are rare in the Plane War, unless the targeted Plane is predominantly oceanic.
However, the likelihood of that is quite minimal.
Even if they do encounter such a situation, with the logistical strength of the Star Alliance, they can swiftly deploy several Navy Fleets.
While the Navy Fleet has not expanded, another kind of Magic Ship has become a focus for the Star Alliance.
This is the Flying Magic Ship!
This type of Magic Ship has a wide range of applications; it can be used in naval, land, and aerial battles, as well as for the rapid transportation of troops.
On the Starlight Continent, the Star Alliance can transport troops efficiently through the Transmission Network. However, once they engage in attacks on other Planes, this advantage disappears."
Considering this, Su Nan ordered the formation of the Flying Fleet.
There was an even more important reason: the Flying Fleet could contend with the Wizard Tower. Before the Starlight Wizard Tower was upgraded to a Large Wizard Tower, Su Nan had no plans to construct a second Wizard Tower. He intended to invest all surplus resources into the Starlight Wizard Tower. However, this meant that the Star Alliance's capabilities in large-scale warfare were relatively weak.
Previously, this wasn't a significant concern because the Plane Blockade prevented Gloomy Throne from deploying multiple Wizard Towers to invade the Starlight Continent simultaneously. Yet, once the Plane Blockade was lifted and Gloomy Throne launched a full-scale invasion, Su Nan was certain that more than one Wizard Tower would arrive.
Relying solely on the Starlight Wizard Tower would surely be insufficient, so he needed to find a way to bolster his forces. The Flying Fleet was the result of his careful deliberation. With its flight capabilities and long-range firepower, the Magic Ship was undoubtedly the best armed force available to counter the Wizard Tower at this stage.
Though its overall strength was far inferior to that of the Wizard Tower, it had the advantage of numbers, allowing for a sea-of-ships tactic. Furthermore, developing the Flying Magic Ship was not overly complicated; it simply required adding a modified version of the Levitation Ring—super-small—to the original Magic Ship and enhancing its long-range firepower.
Today, the Flying Fleet of the Star Alliance had already begun to take shape. Additionally, Su Nan planned to research a War Fortress that would bridge the Flying Magic Ship and the Wizard Tower, designed to serve as the standard for large-scale warfare for the Star Alliance in future Plane Wars. However, this remained only a concept; he did not have the bandwidth to pursue it in the short term and could only take action after overcoming the immediate crisis.
"Currently, twelve Flying Fleet formations have been established, each matching the scale of the Navy Fleet. Each fleet consists of five third-level Magic Ships, twenty-five second-level Magic Ships, and two hundred and fifty first-level Magic Ships."
"Additionally, the thirteenth and fourteenth fleets are also being formed, and if progress accelerates, they should be completed by next year."
Su Nan nodded to himself. Fourteen Flying Fleet formations would be barely enough.
"It's a pity that time was too short, and there were restrictions on resources. Otherwise, if he could assemble around a hundred Flying Fleet units, even if Gloomy Throne sent five or six Small Wizard Tower fortresses, he would have the confidence to push them back with heavy losses.
The Golem Legion, Magic Knight Order, and Magic Ship Fleet, alongside the Starlight Wizard Tower and the military might of the Prosperous Star Empire, although slightly weaker, could still be considered a formidable force.
Overall, the current strength of Starlight Continent has surpassed many sub-planes and individual planes!
This highlights the difference between a plane with a Wizard Faction supervising it and one without.
If the opponent were not Gloomy Throne but any other ordinary plane, the current strength of Star Alliance would be more than sufficient to crush them.
“Not bad; keep developing along this trend,” Su Nan said with a smile. “I'll leave the next tasks to you.”
“You really enjoy being a hands-off manager,” Lize said, rolling her eyes at him.
Despite her words, she understood that Su Nan was not truly idle.
Whether it was upgrading the Wizard Tower or completing the Talent Crystal Model, both required immense amounts of time and effort.
In truth, what Su Nan was working on was even more crucial than her responsibilities, so she had no grounds for complaints.
Leaving the Reception Hall, Su Nan returned to the Elemental Pool to continue his cultivation.
Whether they could withstand the first wave of attacks from Gloomy Throne after the plane blockade depended not only on the expansion of Star Alliance's military strength but more importantly, on the upgrade of the Starlight Wizard Tower and whether he could advance to a Level 3 Wizard.
Especially the latter.
It was evident that Gloomy Throne's attack a year from now would definitely involve Level 3 Wizards.
If they sent a Tier 3 Vaporization Wizard, that would be manageable. However, if it were a Level 3 Liquefaction or Level 3 Crystallization Wizard, his current strength would struggle to cope, so he needed to advance to Level 3 Wizard as swiftly as possible.
Although they had reached an agreement, it would still require significant effort for Maiisha to enter Starlight Continent due to the plane blockade.
A month later, she finally brought the promised fifty Spirit Pearls.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Su Nan said.
He then pulled out the five hundred Magic Crystals he had synthesized over the past few days.
These five hundred Magic Crystals had nearly depleted most of Star Alliance's Sub Magestone reserves."
“A pleasant collaboration.” Maiisha tucked away the Magic Crystal and gave Su Nan a deep look. “I wish you a swift advancement to Level 3 Wizard.”
“I appreciate your kind words.”
Both had decisive personalities, and once the transaction was complete, they parted ways. The Starlight Continent was soon to become a battlefield, and Maiisha didn't want Amy to stay here any longer. She prepared to take her back to the Wisdom Codex.
Although Amy was very reluctant, she could only leave with her master.
“Su Nan, you must defeat those bad guys and then come to the Wisdom Codex to see me, meow!” Amy said, full of longing.
“I will,” Su Nan replied with a smile.
Watching Maiisha and Amy leave, Su Nan returned to the Wizard Tower to begin absorbing the Spirit Pearl. He sat cross-legged on the ground, held a Spirit Pearl in his palm, and closed his eyes to start his cultivation.
As he absorbed the Spirit Pearl, he channeled his Spiritual Power into his Talent Crystal Model. Time passed slowly.
In less than half a day, Su Nan opened his eyes, his brow slightly furrowed.
“One Spirit Pearl only increased my progress by less than 0.4%?”
Su Nan sighed, feeling somewhat disappointed. While he wasn’t entirely surprised by the outcome, it still weighed on him.
When he was filling his first Talent Crystal Model, a single Spirit Pearl had contributed less than 2% of the necessary Spiritual Power. Now that he was working on the third Talent Crystal Model, which required even more Spiritual Power, it was only natural that his rate of progress had decreased so significantly.
The fact that he was constructing a Super Talent Crystal meant that the required Spiritual Power was much greater than that of a normal Talent Crystal. While Spirit Pearls had a significant effect on a typical Wizard, their impact on him was diminished.
However, that wasn’t entirely accurate. This rate was roughly equivalent to more than three years of cultivation, which wasn't actually so bad.
“Fifty Spirit Pearls will probably shorten my cultivation time by around one hundred and seventy or eighty years.”
He realized, “If this is all I have, I definitely won’t be able to advance to Level 3 Wizard before the Plane blockade is lifted.”
“Is there any other way to recover Spiritual Power faster?”
Su Nan sat in contemplation, his mind racing. Soon, a line of thought began to take shape in his mind. Compared to others, his greatest advantage was having the Synthesis Cube.
"To improve cultivation efficiency, one must certainly begin with this aspect.
Following this line of thought, the solution becomes clear: synthesize Spirit Pearls!
Although the Synthesis Cube includes the term "synthesize," its fundamental purpose is to strengthen objects.
By combining similar objects, their effects and power can be significantly enhanced. This principle also applies to Spirit Pearls.
It’s worth a try!
Su Nan's eyes lit up as he immediately opened the Synthesis Cube and placed a Spirit Pearl inside.
【Spirit Pearl, a crystal formed by the high condensation of Spiritual Power, can be used to restore Spiritual Power, containing 14,394 standard units of Spiritual Power.】
Next, Su Nan placed the remaining forty-eight Spirit Pearls into the Synthesis Cube one by one, checking their information.
Although the Spiritual Power content varied for each Spirit Pearl, they all ranged from 14,000 to 15,000 units, differing by only a few hundred.
Su Nan randomly selected two and placed them in the Synthesis Cube. The synthesis interface flickered, revealing new information.
【Spirit Pearl, a crystal formed by the high condensation of Spiritual Power, can be used to restore Spiritual Power, containing 38,285 standard units of Spiritual Power.】
"It really works!" Su Nan exclaimed, joy lighting up his face.
Just as he had anticipated, synthesizing Spirit Pearls significantly improved their effectiveness, yielding an increase of over twenty percent—almost thirty percent.
Encouraged, he added a third Spirit Pearl, which caused the synthesized product's Spiritual Power to soar to over 57,000 standard units—an increase of more than thirty percent.
Su Nan's spirit surged with excitement as he continued to synthesize more Spirit Pearls.
However, he remained cautious, testing the absorption capacity of each synthesized Spirit Pearl after adding another.
From past experience, he knew that synthesis had its limits. For instance, when using Elemental Crystal Dust to create an Elemental Crystal Core, once the core reached a certain intensity, it became impossible to absorb any further Divine energy from it.
If the Divine energy in the initial Elemental Crystal Core was like stone, he could manipulate Spiritual Power to grind it into powder and absorb the essence. However, with later Divine energy akin to solid iron, no matter how he tried to erode it, it would be nearly impossible to affect it.
It was highly likely that Spirit Pearls shared a similar limit.
This conjecture was quickly confirmed."
"When the number of combined items reached twenty-three, Su Nan felt a significant resistance while absorbing Spiritual Power from the Spirit Pearl.
Recognizing this, he wisely halted the synthesis.
At this point, the amount of Spiritual Power contained within the Spirit Pearl was already more than five times the total amount from the twenty-three Spirit Pearls!
Holding the Spirit Pearl in his hand, now even more crystal clear and dazzling, Su Nan couldn't help but break into a joyous smile.
Yet, there was also a trace of regret.
If he hadn't been so careless during his initial absorption of the Spirit Pearl and had thought of this method sooner, he could have saved at least two years.
Calming his mind, Su Nan set aside his distracting thoughts and focused on absorbing the Spirit Pearl.
He absorbed the two limit-synthesized Spirit Pearls before synthesizing and absorbing the last three Spirit Pearls.
By the time he had absorbed all the Spirit Pearls, the progress of his Talent Crystal Model had surged to 99.88%, leaving him just one step away from advancement.
“All that’s left is the slow grind!”
Su Nan took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and continued to immerse himself in cultivation.
Advancing to Level 3 Wizard was now just around the corner."
Comments