Chapter 496: 484: Return, and the New Wilderness
Chapter 496: Chapter 484: Return, and the New Wilderness
Great Library Plane, Deep Blue Residence E-071.
Beyond the terrace lay the eternally unchanging azure sea.
The sea breeze fluttered his black mage robe. Leaning against the railing with a steaming cup of tea in hand, Allen calmly gazed at the colossal shadows that occasionally churned beneath the distant ocean surface.
More than a month had passed since he left the Aiselan Plane.
There were no longer any experiments requiring his constant attention, nor the invisible gaze of that Moonlight Level Wizard hanging over his head. Freed from worrying about the fate of tens of millions of people, his twenty-seven-year career as a “Kingdom Guardian” had finally come to an end.
Now, he was merely one of the tens of thousands of wizards in the Great Library Plane. It was a long-lost tranquility that belonged solely to the individual “Allen Wesren”—an indescribable sense of relief, yet an equally indescribable sense of emptiness.
He wasn’t in a hurry to return to Hub City to inspect his increasingly massive enterprises; instead, he lived like an ordinary White Wizard.
His daily schedule was highly rigid: meditating in the early morning, attending academic reports by wizards of other schools at the Astronomical Observatory or the Sanctuary of Truth in the morning, returning to the Deep Blue Residence to organize data in the afternoon, and standing on the terrace to watch the sea at dusk.
He had listened to the Witchcraft School’s debates on the “decay of transcendent flame particles” and watched the Bloodline School demonstrate their new bone-splicing techniques. A lecture titled *On the Co-evolution of Life Forms and Planar Environments*, delivered by a Contract School wizard, had left a profound impression on him.
Sitting in the back row without uttering a single word, he quietly absorbed this cutting-edge knowledge of the Great Library Plane.
Allen withdrew his gaze and turned to head back to the Meditation Room on the second floor. The Golden Throne had been dismantled and sealed away in the Cybertron Workshop, leaving only a simple meditation chair here. He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
[“Humanity Algorithm 2.0” operational status: Stable.]
[Current Humanity Value: 75%.]
DSeek reported in a timely manner.
Ever since etching the “Humanity Algorithm” into his brain, he could finally appreciate the scenery, taste food, and even zone out occasionally like a normal person. He was no longer a cold, calculating machine that only weighed profits—at least not on the surface.
He spent most of his time exploring the knowledge of the Morning Star Wizard stage. In his mind, the conversation from the Floating Flesh Island resurfaced.
“Advancing to a Morning Star means a fundamental transition from borrowing Magic Power to understanding Laws…
“Every Morning Star Wizard can only attest to a maximum of three Laws…
“These three Laws will form your ’Authority,’ determining whether you have the qualifications to peek into the Moonlight realm…”
A glimmer of contemplation flashed deep within Allen’s eyes. The first stage was touching the Law. The second stage was applying the Law. The third stage was rewriting the Law.
He had already decided to prioritize the Metal Law. As for the other two, he would wait until he became a Morning Star Wizard before making a choice.
He called up the Association’s knowledge base.
Under Level 2 authority, most of the materials related to Morning Stars were grayed out and locked. The occasional theoretical knowledge available was priced at thousands of Credit Points.
Looking at the mere dozens of Credit Points left in his account, Allen’s mouth twitched.
Ordinary Second-level Wizards seeking to cross the threshold into the Morning Star stage faced an agonizingly despair-inducing barrier. His mentor, Mercer, had long told him that the path beyond Level 2 was one’s own untamed wilderness.
The reason the Second-level Wizard stage was a bottleneck fundamentally lay in the blockade of knowledge and the high cost of trial and error. Subsequent Core Witchcraft had to be deduced on one’s own.
But how?
A brand-new Core Witchcraft—from conceptualization to theoretical deduction, then to building the magic model, and finally conducting experiments—every single step was a bottomless pit that devoured time and money. A single misstep leading to an experimental failure would cause a backlash; a light consequence would be severe injuries, while a heavy one meant perishing on the spot.
For most Second-level Wizards, spending centuries and exhausting their family fortunes just to deduce one Core Witchcraft was considered the norm. Not to mention the difficulty of finding suitable experimental grounds and massive amounts of experimental materials. In the Wizarding World, every inch of valuable territory had an owner, and most high-tier general knowledge was strictly monopolized.
If ordinary wizards wanted to progress, their only option was to take on dangerous pioneering missions, risking their lives to earn the privilege to purchase knowledge from their organizations, and then spending centuries deducing a witchcraft that could still end in failure.
But Allen was different.
Using Augustus’s bloodline experimental ground, he had managed to pull off the ultimate “free ride.” In the span of a single long-term mission, he brazenly used a kingdom with a population of fifty-three million as his personal laboratory, successfully completing two major witchcrafts: the “Allen Network” and “Consciousness Upload.”
This saved him far more than just a century of time and an astronomical amount of Magic Stones. The risk had certainly been substantial, but fortunately, that big shot was the top boss of his own organization, allowing him to retreat in one piece.
A subtle smirk curved Allen’s lips.
Moving forward, the path was clear. First, he would use the massive amount of soul data brought back from Aiselan to thoroughly analyze and perfect the “Consciousness Upload” technology, turning it into his third Core Witchcraft. Next, he would push the *Machines Resonance Meditation Method* to the absolute peak of Level 2, complete the construction of the eighth Core Matrix, and engrave it.
By then, he would be able to touch the door leading to the Morning Star stage.
He thought, *Only a Morning Star Wizard can lead planar pioneering and truly qualify to flip the table in this boundless universe.*
Flames of ambition flickered in Allen’s eyes. When that time came, he would finally carve out a territory that truly belonged to him.
Right then, a faint mental fluctuation echoed in his consciousness. It was a communication request transmitted through the physically isolated “Beacon” network from the Wesren Heavy Industries Headquarters in Hub City.
A light screen popped up, and Colin’s projection appeared before him.
“Boss,” Colin said, getting straight to the point. “If you don’t come back soon, our new headquarters building is going to hold its own inauguration ceremony.”
Allen raised an eyebrow. “New headquarters?”
“Yes, new headquarters.” Colin took a deep breath. “It covers an area of 3,700 acres, with a main building standing 75 meters tall. The supporting facilities include five large-scale workshops, three independent research and development centers, a staff living area capable of accommodating over a thousand people, and a… Transfer Star Gate.
“The cost: 450 million Low-Level Magic Stones.
“Vera calls it a ’strategic investment,’ Lina calls it ’brand upgrading,’ and as for me…” Colin rubbed his temples. “I only know that a number capable of giving me a heart attack has suddenly appeared on the financial statements.”
Allen remained silent for three seconds. “Four hundred and fifty million?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you get that kind of money?”
Colin smiled bitterly. “Boss, how long has it been since you last returned to Hub City?”
“Five years.”
“Then do you know what Wesren Heavy Industry’s current annual revenue is?”
Allen shook his head.
Colin held up one finger. “1.2 billion Low-Level Magic Stones.”
Allen’s pupils contracted slightly.
“The Educational Materials Division has surpassed 80,000 registered students, generating an annual revenue of 320 million.
“The Environmental Protection Division has taken on 60 percent of Hub City’s waste disposal business and secured contracts with seven wizarding cities, with an annual revenue of 410 million.
“As for the Golem Division…” Colin paused.
“Our monthly order schedule is already booked until the second half of next year. Even with fifteen production lines running at full capacity, there are still countless clients waiting in line.”
Colin’s speaking pace quickened. “Vera suggested expanding production, and I agreed. So we built another twenty production lines and recruited nearly a hundred new employees.
“Right now, the Golem Division’s annual revenue stands at 470 million.
“And that’s just for the golems themselves. If we factor in the supplementary ammunition, maintenance, and upgrade services…
“The total revenue is 1.2 billion, with a net profit of over 400 million…”
The air fell quiet for a moment.
“So you spent over 400 million building an… industrial base?” Allen said slowly.
“It’s the new headquarters,” Colin corrected him. “And Vera said this is only Phase One of the project.”
“…Phase One?”
“Yes. Phase Two plans include building an independent golem testing ground, and Phase Three is…”
Colin waved his hand. “Forget it, you should just come back and see it for yourself.
“The boss can’t attend the inauguration ceremony merely as a projection. That would indeed be… far too unseemly.”