Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Clues of the Divine Creature and Completion of the Secret Puppet
In the brightly lit laboratory, Sunan examined the winged statue with a peculiar expression.
Having previously encountered divine remnants and artifacts from the Starfire Cult, he immediately sensed the presence of faith power within the statue.
Although it was extremely faint, not even one percent of the divine remnants he had seen before, it was indeed genuine faith power.
"This might be some kind of divine creature," Sunan mused.
In the current environment of the Starlight Continent, new deities couldn't emerge.
Ancient deities, existing for at least tens of thousands of years, were all known to him.
The entity represented by this statue didn't belong to any of them.
Thus, it could only be some kind of divine creature.
In the multiverse, new divine creatures are born every moment, most of which don't belong to any specific race; they are entirely new species. Hence, encountering an unfamiliar divine creature isn't unusual.
"I wonder if this divine creature is a native of the Starlight Continent or if it crossed over from another plane."
Sunan leaned towards the former.
After all, in the current environment of the Starlight Continent, no divine creature would be foolish enough to venture here.
Divine creatures capable of planar travel are far beyond the level of wizard apprentices. Entering the current Starlight Continent would be like humans entering an area with thin air—every moment spent would be more painful.
"Yet, why didn't the divine creature appear when its followers were wiped out?"
"Or perhaps it doesn't care about those beholder followers."
This wasn't impossible.
If it were a naturally born divine creature, faith power would be more harmful than beneficial, and followers wouldn't be necessary.
It's possible that the beholders of Giant Eye City worshipped the divine creature on their own accord.
Regardless, discovering clues of a divine creature near the Star Alliance couldn't be taken lightly. Finding its whereabouts was imperative.
The exploration team's tasks just increased.
Returning to his senses, Sunan took out the divine finger bone, attempting to draw the faith power from the statue into it, but failed.
The faith power wasn't compatible with the divine finger bone.
Helplessly, Sunan had to let the faith power slowly dissipate.
Faith power that couldn't be converted into divine energy was useless to him.
Fortunately, the faith power was so faint that if converted to divine energy, it would only increase his mental power by 0.02 to 0.03, so he wasn't too disappointed.
Stowing away the statue, Sunan headed to the study.
Karolaina and the Red Widow were already waiting for him there.
"Master," the two women greeted with a bow.
"You did well this time," Sunan praised the Red Widow as he sat at his desk.
"It was my duty, Master," the Red Widow smiled charmingly, casting a sidelong glance at Karolaina.
Karolaina frowned slightly, a silent huff escaping her.
Turning to Karolaina, Sunan asked, "In two months, the graduation assessments for the six knight academies will begin. How are the preparations?"
Karolaina promptly replied, "They're complete, Master."
Sunan nodded slightly. "After the graduation assessments, all graduates will join the knight guard and, along with the new second-level wizard apprentices, form a new exploration team. You handle the arrangements. The Star Alliance needs to accelerate its expansion."
Following Xieman and Korre, Artyl, Ethan, and several others had advanced to second-level wizard apprentices.
The total number of students at the base had now exceeded 300, reaching 303.
Among them, there were six second-level wizard apprentices.
This number would increase more rapidly in the future.
Sunan originally planned to form a third small golem army, but he had been too preoccupied with crafting magical constructs to spare time for golem creation.
Moreover, magical constructs were costly, and most of the Star Alliance's income was currently allocated to them, leaving no spare funds for a new golem army.
The only consolation was that the addition of 3,000 knights, equipped with magical constructs and enchanted weapons, provided military strength comparable to a small golem army, achieving the goal of expanding military power.
"After the graduation assessments, the knight guard will number 3,500. With annual additions, it won't be suitable to call it a knight guard anymore. Rename it the Magic Pattern Knight Corps," Sunan decisively stated.
From now on, the Magic Pattern Knight Corps would become one of the Star Alliance's most crucial armed forces.
In the year 1259 of the Starlight Calendar, during the month of Summer Long.
The six knight academies—Dragon Scale, Dragon Horn, Dragon Claw, Dragon Eye, Dragon Bone, and Dragon Blood—welcomed their first graduates.
On the third day of the month, 3,000 knight trainees gathered on the island of Lake U City, ready to face their graduation assessments.
"This year's scale is much larger than last year's!" Lug couldn't help but exclaim, looking at the sea of people on the island.
Solano chuckled, "After all, there are six knight academies this year."
Seeing the students' expressions, a mix of excitement and anxiety, Sean also wore a slight smile.
"After the assessments, our knight guard—well, now it's the Magic Pattern Knight Corps—will expand sixfold."
"Should we call you Corps Commander now?" Lug teased, "The larger the Magic Pattern Knight Corps, the higher Commander Sean's status in the Star Alliance, rivaling even wizard apprentices."
Sean shook his head with a laugh.
He didn't care much about power but felt a heavy sense of responsibility.
Lord Sunan had appointed him as the commander of the Magic Pattern Knight Corps, entrusting him with the management of thousands. He had to live up to this trust.
"Enough chit-chat. Let's get to work," Sean said seriously, taking a deep breath.
"From this year onward, the Magic Pattern Knight Corps will handle all graduation assessments. This is our first time hosting, so we can't afford any mistakes."
Lug and Solano nodded solemnly.
The entire month of Summer Long passed in bustling activity for the Star Alliance.
Time quickly moved into the month of Fiery Flow.
In the spell training room.
Sunan stood motionless in the center of a spacious area.
With a slight mental command, ten magic missiles appeared, quickly transforming into arm-length spears, scattering and slicing through the air in strange trajectories before converging to pierce a humanoid target a hundred meters away.
"Attack power has increased by about thirty to forty percent."
Sunan nodded in satisfaction.
After nearly two years, the training progress for spell structuring finally reached 100%.
This super magic skill, second only to composite casting and instant spellcasting, didn't disappoint in its power.
Though it seemed like only a 30-40% increase, in a battle, this cumulative damage boost was substantial, significantly enhancing combat capability.
The key was that spell structuring greatly increased spell flexibility.
For example, controlling the flight path of magic missiles.
Or altering the shape of shield spells from a limited-area tower shield to a 360-degree protective dome.
Wizards (and apprentices) who mastered spell structuring often surprised enemies with unexpected 'surprises' during combat.
"Which super magic skill should I train next?"
The remaining super magic skills Sunan hadn't mastered included spell extension for increasing spell duration, spell range extension for increasing casting distance, and spell expansion for widening the area of effect.
In fact, the practicality of these three skills was fairly similar, and choosing any would suffice.
Moreover, they were less challenging than previous skills.
With his current mental power, he estimated mastery within a year.
Thus, Sunan didn't hesitate long, decisively choosing spell extension.
[Completed a spell extension practice, 'Spell Extension' training progress +0.02%]
After a brief practice, Sunan left the spell training area.
He had important tasks today and couldn't expend mental power on practice.
After capturing Giant Eye City, Sunan immediately organized the development of the silver mine controlled by the city.
Recently, they'd harvested a significant amount of mithril, and with what he had accumulated and obtained from the beholders' warehouse, he finally had enough to craft the secret puppet.
It was finally time to craft the secret puppet.
Entering Dragon Forest, Sunan teleported straight to the workshop area, entering his exclusive large workshop.
With the elemental pool continuously providing energy, he installed three magic crystal forges in the workshop, greatly boosting efficiency.
Activating the magic crystal forges, Sunan approached the workbench, retrieving materials from his spatial ring. Taking a deep breath, he focused intently, beginning the crafting process.
Years of extensive golem crafting had endowed him with an exceptional wealth of experience.
His [Golem Crafting] skill had reached level 5.
In terms of golem crafting expertise, Sunan confidently believed he was on par with some formal wizards, far surpassing wizard apprentices.
No wizard apprentice, past or present, possessed such advanced golem crafting skills.
While crafting the secret puppet was challenging, for Sunan, it was merely a bit troublesome, not difficult.
Time flew by as he concentrated on crafting.
By evening, Sunan released his mage hand, exhaling deeply, his expression excited as he gazed at the result on the workbench.
It was a humanoid metal figure, life-sized, gleaming with a faint bluish-silver light under the lamp.
It resembled a robust warrior, muscles taut and eyes closed.
If not for the unusual body color, it looked almost lifelike.
With a mental command, the secret puppet's eyes snapped open, swiftly leaping from the workbench like a cannonball, executing a mid-air roll before landing steadily.
Simultaneously, a section protruded from its palm, rapidly forming a gleaming knight's longsword, thrusting it into the air with a piercing sonic boom.
"Not bad."
Sunan nodded in satisfaction.
One of the secret puppet's main materials was diamond, making its body much harder than an adamantine golem, with excellent strength and reaction speed, excelling in melee combat.
Of course, its most outstanding feature was its spellcasting ability.
Mithril, known for its excellent ductility and magic conductivity, combined with numerous advanced rune stones within, enabled it to manipulate energy particles.
Additionally, Sunan had embedded numerous zero-circle, first-circle, and second-circle spells within it, granting it pseudo-spellcasting abilities.
Remarkably, it cast spells like activating stored spell magic items, without incantations, with only imperceptible pauses, akin to mastering instant spellcasting.
Moreover, as long as its energy wasn't depleted, it could continuously cast spells.
In this regard, the secret puppet's spellcasting ability completely outclassed most third-level wizard apprentices.
The final crafted secret puppet, though not at a formal wizard's level, was far stronger than typical third-level wizard apprentices.
After testing it in the spell training area, Sunan was satisfied to confirm that the secret puppet possessed power comparable to a fourth-circle legendary.
Even he, without using the magic core and various magical items, wasn't a match for it.
To defeat the secret puppet, he'd have to employ high-level rune stones and the bloodline imprint, among other trump cards.
The secret puppet's power was evident!
"Against third-level wizard apprentices like Black Hand and Bloodmouth, the secret puppet should easily win."
Sunan gazed at the lifelike secret puppet before him, issuing another mental command.
Instantly, the puppet melted like butter in heat, transforming into a slender, silver-haired, beautiful girl with shoulder-length hair.
Its skin lost color, becoming milk-white and smooth.
The secret puppet had no concept of gender, nor a fixed form, able to freely change its shape and appearance, easily impersonating a living person.
Even third-level wizard apprentices would struggle to discern it without careful examination.
After reveling in success momentarily, Sunan calmed down, thoughtful once more.
Crafting the secret puppet cost significantly more than initially estimated.
To enhance its combat power, he embedded more spells and added various enchantments, causing costs to soar to 100,000 gold coins.
The cash flow accumulated in the months since completing the magical constructs was almost entirely consumed.
Had it not been for the significant amount of mithril already stockpiled, he wouldn't have had enough gold to craft the secret puppet.
"It took so long to gather 16 kilograms of mithril; it won't be quick to accumulate materials for a second secret puppet."
Nonetheless, Sunan wasn't concerned.
Successfully crafting the secret puppet proved his concept viable.
At worst, he'd gather materials over several more years.
"Next is to continue improving the secret puppet."
Sunan's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
Compared to ordinary golems, the secret puppet's human-like structure offered far greater growth potential.
Crafting the secret puppet was just the first step; many concepts awaited research and validation.
For instance, merging the magic core or bloodline imprint into the secret puppet.
If successful, the secret puppet's combat power would surge dramatically.
After crafting four or five secret puppets, combining them might produce a golem rivaling a formal wizard!
The thought left Sunan exhilarated.
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