Synthesis Wizard

Chapter 114: New Territory, Base 2 Completed

After the battle, Su Nan took stock of the Magic Puppets.

Due to the exceptionally smooth raid, the Magic Puppet legion didn’t suffer heavy losses.

Totally destroyed and unrepairable were one Steel Magic Puppet, three Elite Stone Magic Puppets, three hundred and twenty-five Stone Magic Puppets, and four Double-Bladed Spiders.

The rest of the Magic Puppets and Double-Bladed Spiders sustained varying degrees of damage. However, those with minor injuries self-repaired, while those with severe injuries would be fine after being sent back to base for repair. It was nothing to worry about.

In fact, had the Human-Faced Lion not actively led its troops out of the city to assemble, under normal raid circumstances, the losses of Magic Puppets would have at least doubled.

The current situation was considered good.

Su Nan collected the Magic Puppets needing repair into the Magic Cube, leaving the rest on the island for defense. Then he took Karolina and headed towards the city.

The war had ended, and the next step was to inspect his territory.

Compared to the last time he had to sneak in secretly, this time he walked openly through the city gate, leisurely observing the buildings.

However, the buildings in the lower part of the city were mostly low and simple, nothing spectacular.

It wasn’t until he entered the upper city that the buildings on both sides of the street started to become organized and began to carry a bit of artistic style – a common sight in the Underworld, where practicality was more important than aesthetics.

As they walked, the city residents saw Karolina respectfully following a human, and all of them were astonished, their eyes wide with disbelief.

No one dared to ask any questions.

Su Nan glanced at Karolina, it seemed that the Human-Faced Lion’s nobility held great prestige here.

Ignoring them, he walked directly towards the central stone pillar.

Upon entering the stone pillar, Su Nan discovered that the environment here was far more luxurious than outside, with an exaggerated number of rooms.

There were living rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, public rest areas, and conference rooms, all of which were complete.

Such a large place, but only three nobles and their slaves lived there.

It had to be said that the Human-Faced Lion’s nobility lived far more luxuriously than most human nobles.

“These rooms can be converted into laboratories and potion rooms.”

Su Nan thought to himself.

The space inside the stone pillar was very spacious, completely capable of being transformed into another base.

In the future, he would definitely have to stay in the Underworld frequently. Having a place for him to study and practice would be much more convenient.

It would be best to build another Magic Plant Garden, workshop, and Puppet Factory here.

After a tour, Su Nan already had a rough plan in mind. He turned around without looking back and asked, “Where is the treasury?”

“In the basement.” Karolina replied.

“Lead the way.”

Under Karolina’s guidance, Su Nan quickly arrived at a warehouse.

Stacked inside was a mountain of gold coins, chests full of gems, and a variety of metals.

“Master, here is the treasury inventory.”

Karolina handed over a list.

In the short time since entering the city, this Human-Faced Lion noble had quickly adjusted her mindset, accepting her slave status, and actively started to curry favor with Su Nan.

Taking a deep look at Karolina, Su Nan took the inventory and carefully browsed through it.

From Karolina’s mouth, he already knew that this city was called Silent Lake.

Because of the presence of many Dwarves, Silent Lake’s mining and smelting skills were high.

They mined from the surrounding veins year-round, trading food and various necessities with other cities.

They were also able to smelt their own metals and mint gold coins.

The gold coins in the treasury were minted by Silent Lake itself. The front featured the image of a half-human, half-snake Human-Faced Lion noble, while the back depicted two crossed curved swords, very much in the Human-Faced Lion’s style.

Because of its high gold content, Silent Lake’s gold coins were quite popular in surrounding cities.

However, to use them on the surface, these coins would have to be completely remelted.

Su Nan picked up a gold coin and weighed it, and immediately felt assured.

These gold coins, converted to surface coins, were worth about fifty thousand coins.

This was undoubtedly a considerable sum.

In addition, there were two hundred and thirty-six mid-to-low grade gems, five high-grade gems, and hundreds of rare metals.

To Su Nan’s delight, there were rare metals such as Abyssal Black Copper, Rainbow Iron, and Sun Flame Gold Sand.

Su Nan estimated the quantity, and adding it to what he already had, it would be enough to make special nutrients to allow eight Gem Bugs to split once.

“Indeed, the Underworld is easier to collect all sorts of rare metals.”

Su Nan secretly sighed.

Besides this, the inventory listed twelve miniature Soul Crystals.

This was unexpected.

From memory, the Human-Faced Lion didn’t seem to be a race adept at extracting souls to make crystals.

“Where did these Soul Crystals come from?” Su Nan asked.

Karolina replied, “They were traded with Oshen. The Black Duke and his men are very good at making Soul Crystals.”

“Black Duke?” Su Nan raised an eyebrow, “Tell me more about him.”

Karolina immediately began to explain.

As she spoke, Su Nan finally got a general understanding of the surrounding situation of the Silent Lake area.

There were three city-states surrounding Silent Lake, namely Oshen, Matu, and Kashm.

The ruler of Oshen was a group of ghouls. The city lord was called the Black Duke, a Frost Ghoul.

The ruler of Matu was a group of vampires, and the city lord was called the Red Widow.

As for Kashm, it was more of a hive than a city-state.

There were nothing but insects there, no other races. Any other races existed only as a food reserve.

Overall, Silent Lake, Oshen, and Matu had trade exchanges, occasionally erupting in conflict due to resource allocation issues. Only when facing Kashm would they stand united.

This was because the insects of Kashm were keen on external aggression and expansion, attacking other city-states every now and then. They would then be jointly defeated by the three major city-states and retreat to lick their wounds. Once they recovered, they would initiate another invasion. This cycle would continue indefinitely.

Such events had happened countless times over the years.

“Haven’t you ever considered completely eliminating this Kashm threat?”

Karolina sighed and said, “We have tried, but Kashm has been dug up by the insects, making it very complex. It’s fine to deal with them outside. But once you enter Kashm, it’s easy to get lost, and the army can’t maneuver. We always end up retreating. As time went by, no one was willing to attack Kashm anymore.”

It seemed that these insects were quite troublesome.

Su Nan thought for a moment and asked, “How long until Kashm attacks again?”

Karolina hesitated for a moment, then said, “Based on past experience, it should be two to three years.”

Su Nan nodded, that was fine, he had enough time to prepare.

After considering it, Su Nan finally decided to leave the gold coins. They could be used for future trading with other city-states.

However, any gold mined from now on would have to be transported to Base 1 on the surface.

As for the remaining gems and rare metals, Su Nan took them all without hesitation.

“You have five days to handle the aftermath of the war. I want to see a stable Silent Lake City.”

Before leaving, Su Nan left these words.

Karolina quickly said, “Yes, Master.”

Watching Su Nan’s figure disappear, Karolina went to the window, staring blankly at the scene below, her expression shifting, finally turning into a deep sigh.

At this point, she could only accept it.

The only consolation might be that becoming the slave of a powerful wizard wasn’t too bad.

Back in Shining Light City, Su Nan first met Kei, telling him about conquering Silent Lake City.

Upon hearing that the Human-Faced Lion threat had been resolved, Kei was overjoyed and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s one problem solved.”

Su Nan raised an eyebrow and said, “The way you talk, there are other problems?”

Kei shook his head and sighed, “I don’t know what kind of soup the Starfire Sect fed the Grand Duke, but a few days ago, he issued a decree stating that all nobles must believe in the Starfire Sect. This has caused a lot of controversy, and many nobles are resisting this decree.”

“There’s something like this?” Su Nan was genuinely surprised.

This was even more controversial than the previous requirement for all provinces to allow the free spread of the Starfire Sect’s faith.

What kind of benefits did the Starfire Sect give the Starfall Grand Duke to make him issue such a crazy decree?

After a moment’s thought, Su Nan knew the answer.

With the Grand Duke’s position, what wasn’t he already enjoying?

The only thing that could make him go this far was likely longevity.

The Starfire Sect possessed Divine Blood and could do things like extending lifespan, which wasn’t surprising.

But as far as Su Nan knew, the methods used by the Divine Spirits to extend lifespan often came with mental and spiritual erosion.

While gaining a longer lifespan, they often meant losing part of themselves, becoming devout followers of the Divine Spirits.

If the Starfire Sect really used such methods, then before long, the Starfall Grand Duke would become a puppet controlled by them.

By then, the Starfall Dukedom would probably face a major upheaval.

Su Nan shared his guess with Kei.

After hearing this, Kei’s expression shifted back and forth, he didn’t know what he was thinking.

Su Nan didn’t say much, patted him on the shoulder, and turned to leave.

After that, Su Nan returned to the base, and immediately used Abyssal Black Copper and other rare metals to prepare the corresponding nutrients and feed them to the Gem Bugs.

“It will take about three days for the Gem Bugs to split and increase to six.”

“There are five more batches of nutrients left. I’ll give them to the Gem Bugs to eat after a while. That way, the swarm will grow to eleven.”

Su Nan was overjoyed.

The harvest from this war could be described as incredibly bountiful.

The current gains alone were enough to make up for the cost of making the Magic Puppets and Double-Bladed Spiders before the war – the key was that the Magic Puppets and Double-Bladed Spiders didn’t suffer much loss, the rest was pure profit.

Moreover, there were follow-up profits, and the seven mines surrounding Silent Lake City were waiting for him to develop.

“To develop seven mines simultaneously, a large number of Clay Magic Puppets and mining equipment would be needed.”

“Clay Magic Puppets can be issued as a task, let the students in the base forge them.”

“Mining equipment can be prepared with my brother’s help.”

“These are easy to solve. The key is the garrison troops.”

There were many monsters in the Underworld, and it was unknown which tunnel or cave housed monsters. Therefore, all mines must be assigned troops to guard.

Moreover, there were Oshen and Matu.

According to Karolina, these two city-states had often robbed Silent Lake’s resources (although Silent Lake had also done the same). So, more troops would have to be deployed to guard the mines closer to these two cities.

It was estimated that at least five hundred Stone Magic Puppets would be needed for guarding and escorting the seven mines.

To be on the safe side, it would be best to add some Double-Bladed Spiders.

Adding to this the garrison forces at Silent Lake, the number of Magic Puppets needed was not insignificant.

“I’m going to have to work overtime again.”

Su Nan sighed.

He couldn’t escape this hard work.

It couldn’t be helped, it was all for acquiring more resources.

He had to develop those mines as much as possible before the insects of Kashm invaded, and accumulate enough resources for a massive army.

In the days that followed, Su Nan was once again in a busy state, never touching the ground.

After Karolina pacified the residents of the city, Su Nan began to work, transforming the palace where the Human-Faced Lion nobles resided (the stone pillar) into a base, dividing it into laboratories, potion rooms, meditation rooms, and spell practice rooms, and so on.

He then built a workshop next to the palace and moved the Puppet Factory from Base 1 over to the workshop.

In addition, Su Nan built a new Magic Plant Garden in the city, named Magic Plant Garden 3.

Due to the Underworld’s unique environment – mainly the lack of sun and constant low temperature and humidity – Magic Plant Garden 3 could only cultivate some special magic plants, such as Mandrake, Tranquility Flower, and so on.

At this point, a small base was complete.

Su Nan named it Base 2.

Base 2 didn’t have as complete facilities and functions as Base 1, but it was enough as a temporary residence in the Underworld.

Not long after Base 2 was built, a large batch of Clay Magic Stones arrived at Silent Lake City. The development of the surrounding mines was officially put on the agenda.

Considering that the troops were still insufficient, Su Nan didn’t develop all seven mines at once. Instead, he chose the four closest to Silent Lake City, as the first to be mined.

These included one large iron mine, one medium iron mine, one large copper mine, and one small gold mine.

These four mines alone required a total of three Elite Stone Magic Puppets, three hundred and fifty Stone Magic Puppets, and fifty Double-Bladed Spiders for guarding and escorting.

The Elite Stone Magic Puppets were mainly used to guard the large iron mine, the large copper mine, and the small gold mine.

Due to their flexible maneuverability, the Double-Bladed Spiders were mainly used to escort the ore.

By the time of the Sleeping Month, the operation of Silent Lake City had basically been put on track.

The four mines were producing a steady stream of hefty profits every day. The increasing income made Su Nan feel happier day by day.

With the substantial profits provided by the mines, many experiments and research projects could be put on the agenda.

Moreover, this was only the initial stage. As the other three mines were gradually developed, and as more mines were discovered in the future, the funds provided to him by Silent Lake City would only increase.

With such a massive gold mine, he wouldn’t have to worry about money for a long time.

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(End of Chapter)

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