Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Gaia, create 1,000 second-generation ant-people. Then, load the artificial intelligence and the smithing template!”
“Sub-brain, transmit the smithing template!”
“Received! Loading complete!”
“Received!”
Lu Zhiyu watched as the black steel ball started squirming and the valves creaked open, one by one, releasing the steam inside. Like a beehive, ant-people were continuously produced from within then stood in formation on the black peak of this unnamed mountain. The mountain was barren, completely treeless. As far as the eye could see, the mountain range was formed only by empty ridges.
The shape of the ant-people had changed. The second generation of ant-people appeared to be even stronger than before, and they were much shorter. Their glossy carapaces made them seem like black armored warriors, exhibiting a complete deviation from the usual appearances of ants and insects.
Their hands had also become deft and agile, with fingers capable of delicate manipulations, like human hands. They had also gained simple vocal cords, though this only gave them the ability to reply with stilted, pre-programmed responses. As such, any content outside of the character recognition template was beyond their abilities. But most importantly, their lifespans were extended.
The ant-people put good use to the large amount of tools that Lu Zhiyu had brought. Under Gaia’s control, 1,000 ant-people divided up the labor, then began working according to Lu Zhiyu’s designs—flattening the ground, excavating rocks, logging trees, and collecting materials.
Lu Zhiyu had placed Gaia in the black forest, on top of this unnamed peak, in order to create his own wizard tower. Using this location as a base, he wished to recruit apprentice wizards in Maria’s World, and then begin disseminating the art of witchcraft.
Since Lu Zhiyu had already expended so many resources in developing a magic network, of course, he wished to utilize it as soon as possible. According to Lu Zhiyu’s plans, he would build a wizard tower, just like those in fantasy novels. In the future, hordes of wizarding apprentices would come to this mountain, and they would walk out with the knowledge of how the magic network worked, as well as having their mind power awakened.
These wizard apprentices would then gradually expand the study of witchcraft and explore new ways to use mind power, thus paving Lu Zhiyu’s path towards evolution by collectively gathering knowledge and creating a great wizard civilization. This would be much faster than Lu Zhiyu carrying out research alone. To be honest, Lu Zhiyu had hit a wall at this point on his journey, and wasn’t sure how to proceed!
Lu Ziyu knew that it was far too difficult for him to understand the intricate workings of mind power on his own. What this required was a civilization and millions of people dedicated to pooling their wisdom to pave a path to knowledge!
After placing Gaia within the black forest, Lu Zhiyu returned to the dimensional castle. In order to construct the wizard tower, he compiled a list of all the people with strong mind powers with no limitations to age, barring those far too old. He also included the criteria of having strong learning abilities and vivid imaginations, unrestrained by rigid conventions.
Only this kind of person fit Lu Zhiyu’s definition of a wizard. For this first batch of students, Lu Zhiyu didn’t limit his list to the human race alone, but also included elves and orcs. As for the mermaid race, the numbers were very low at the moment and additionally, they were, by nature, spawn. However, Lu Zhiyu had other plans for them!
Lu Zhiyu found his ship, anchored in a cove on an island. Several decades had already passed, so the ship had long since become rusted and unusable. Lu Zhiyu had barely had the opportunity to use it, and yet it was already out of commision!
“No no, even if it wasn’t broken beyond repair, this still will not do. I must find another ship, this one is far too small!”
Lu Zhiyu wanted to take a ship and sail the seas between the Yala and Alen continents, recruiting apprentices along the way, then journeying to the black forest by sea, before heading straight to the wizard tower. He wanted to buy a ship, or to commission one from a human shipyard. After all, the construction of the wizard tower and its accompanying structures would take a few months.
“Currently, they have only constructed barges for seafaring. In the deep seas of Maria’s World, sailing in those boats is still relatively dangerous, especially with Saqun’s descendants roaming the oceans. Without me aboard, the ship is sure to sink under the attack of all those large sea monsters. And it would be impossible for me to go personally every time!”
Lu Zhiyu found this very problematic, but getting a ship from the real world would be even more troublesome. A round trip wouldn’t be a matter of decades, centuries would have passed by the time he returned.
“Wooden ship? if I can create magical beasts, why can’t I create a magical reinforced ship? I can create a ship which is a supernatural being by life alchemy. I can start off with a plant, with it cells deified, then give its life template the shape of a boat. It would be programmed with enhanced speed, and would even have the power of flight!”
As he thought of reinforcing beasts with magic, of course, he had also considered reinforcing plants with magic but he had not created any magical beasts yet. As for plants, there was even less to say there. He had never considered the incredible idea of creating a ship with deified cells through alchemy!
Sometimes, breakthroughs in human intelligence were the products of these flashes of inspiration. Lu Zhiyu believed that his idea was very practical, so he returned immediately to the dimensional castle to prepare for this project. As he did so, he pulled out the Scroll of the World to search for possible wizard apprentices throughout all of Maria’s World.
Lu Zhiyu combined the genes of the iron birch with the genes of the Tree of Life, creating the ideal seed for his ship. He then buried the seed within the black forest to form the embryo of his life alchemy ship.
Every day, Lu Zhiyu poured his mind power into forming the tree for the ship. Because the seed inherited the lifeforce and the development speed of the Tree of Life, the ship tree reached full maturity in a few months.
Due to Lu Zhiyu’s interference, the shape of the tree was extremely strange. It grew horizontally, with continually reinforcing cells, like cancer cells. Then the body of a gigantic ship grew from the trunk of the tree!
With a width of almost 40 meters and a height of 20 meters, the ship had a huge cavernous space inside. The outer skin of the tree was white, with a host of wild branches jutting out. Lu Zhiyu had never seen a tree with such a bizarre appearance before.
Lu Zhiyu brought a dozen ant-people with axes to the tree and commanded, “Go, cut it down for me!”
The ant-people began chopping at the trunk of the bizarre tree, removing all of the branches. Peng-peng-peng! Lu Zhiyu saw the embryo of the large seafaring ship wrapped within white bark begin to emerge. It was a completely natural process, with no manmade points of connection. From the outside, the silhouette of the ship looked like a bullet.
At this point, the tree had not died yet as the powerful life-force of the plant continued to sustain its life but the life alchemy ship’s embryo was already completed. Lu Zhiyu then began preparing for the second step of the process, the reinforcement of this life alchemy ship!
