Chapter 522: Floating City (Part 2)

“Whenever you wish, you can use these portals to reach other Multiverses.”

At this point, Xi Nan turned to look at Pei Ze, his expression suddenly growing solemn.

“However, while invading other Multiverses offers great rewards, the risks are equally high. Once those Multiverses discover an invading foreign race, they will hunt them down relentlessly. Without sufficient strength, a rash invasion can easily cost you your life.”

“My advice is to wait until you have built your own Floating City. It won’t be too late to enter other Multiverses and wage war then.”

Pei Ze readily agreed.

He possessed the means to create Space Rule Origin Crystals and had enough capital to exchange for the resources he needed. It wouldn’t be long before he could build his own Floating City. Venturing into cosmic wars then would be much safer.

There was no need to place himself in a dangerous situation for the sake of a momentary thrill.

Leaving the square, Xi Nan then led Pei Ze to a sprawling building.

“This is the exchange. If you have anything you want to sell, you can put it up for consignment here. Of course, there’s plenty of good stuff inside, too. If you see something you like, you can buy it.”

The two of them walked through the main entrance, chatting as they went.

Behind the doors was an incredibly magnificent, massive hall.

Standing inside the massive hall, one couldn’t help but be completely awestruck by its immense width and height.

It was as if a person from a land of tiny people had, by some twist of fate, stumbled into a hall built by giants.

The entire hall was bathed in a soft, cyan light, creating an interesting contrast with the sunlight filtering in from the entrance.

Pei Ze looked up at the ceiling and saw a round object embedded in its center. It emitted a yellowish-cyan light, like an indoor sun, bathing the entire hall in countless rays of cyan light.

Hundreds of black stone walls were scattered throughout the hall, each with text that appeared and faded on its surface.

Pei Ze focused his gaze and realized the text on the walls described the details of various items for trade.

These included, but were not limited to: Plane Origins, Elemental Giant Spirit Elder Cores, mysterious substances from the Star Realm, sun essence gold… and even the design schematics for a Floating City, priced at three Elemental Rule Origin Crystals or two Upper-level Rule Origin Crystals.

Pei Ze was immediately tempted.

He was currently in need of information related to building a Floating City.

‘I wonder how many Space Rule Origin Crystals it would cost?’

Noticing Pei Ze’s gaze, Xi Nan said with a smile, “If you’re interested, Councillor Pei, you can leave a message on the wall to contact the other party and arrange a time and place to complete the transaction.”

Pei Ze nodded and was about to speak when he suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye, and his gaze froze.

The person quickly noticed Pei Ze as well. Her eyes lit up, and in a flash, she was standing before him.

“I knew you’d be promoted to Rule Wizard soon enough.”

Annie looked at Pei Ze with a beaming smile.

Since he was here, it meant he had successfully taken that step.

The second Space Rule Wizard in the Star Realm Alliance since the Lord of the Star Realm, and so young at that. The thought made Annie sigh with deep emotion.

“Lady Annie, long time no see.”

Xi Nan placed a hand on his chest and bowed to Annie, clearly recognizing the rather famous Vampire Wizard from the Travelers’ Association.

“Long time no see, Chairman Xi.” Annie smiled and nodded, then pointed at Pei Ze. “I’ll be borrowing Pei Ze for a bit.”

Xi Nan glanced at the smiling Pei Ze, took the hint, and bid his farewell.

After Xi Nan left, Annie said, “Remember our prior agreement?”

Pei Ze nodded.

He had previously agreed with Annie that once he was promoted to Rule Wizard, if he wanted to trade Space Rule Origin Crystals, he had to give her the right of first refusal.

“What do you want?” Annie asked.

Pei Ze had already thought it through. Without hesitation, he replied, “Floating City schematics and a Plane Origin.”

“That’s simple.” Annie took out a Memory Crystal Ball. “I happen to be preparing to build a Floating City myself. These are some top-quality schematics I collected earlier. I won’t take advantage of you—how about one Space Rule Origin Crystal?”

“Deal,” Pei Ze agreed crisply.

Seeing this, the smile on Annie’s face deepened, and she then took out a Plane Origin.

“Fifteen Space Rule Origin Crystals.”

Pei Ze had just seen the price for a Plane Origin on the stone walls.

It cost a full forty-five Elemental Rule Origin Crystals.

If paying with Upper-level Rule Origin Crystals, like those of Death, Shadow, or Decay, it only required thirty.

The Rule of Space was a supreme-level rule, so a price of fifteen crystals was quite reasonable.

Mu Yuan had also traded a Plane Origin with him at this price before.

Without hesitation, Pei Ze readily completed the trade with Annie.

“I have a few more Plane Origins on hand. If you want to trade again in the future, feel free to find me.”

With the deal concluded, Annie was clearly in a very pleasant mood. She said with a beaming smile,

“If you need materials to build your Floating City, you can also come to me. Even if I don’t have them on hand, I can find them through the Travelers’ Association’s channels.”

Pei Ze agreed with a smile.

With their business concluded, Annie didn’t say much more and quickly left.

Pei Ze glanced at the densely packed stone walls inside the hall, then turned and walked out the main entrance.

After finding a vacant stone house in the city, Pei Ze left an aura imprint and casually set up a Guardian Array. He then took out the Floating City schematics and began to study them carefully.

The strategic designation for a Floating City is “Super-Large Integrated Strategic and Defensive Star Realm Fortress.” In theory, it is comparable to a Divine Spirit’s Divine Kingdom.

The strategic value of a Floating City is equivalent to a massive Interstellar Fortress capable of supporting over 100,000 people, possessing a complete ecosystem, and able to drift through the cosmos for millennia.

Therefore, building a Floating City requires an innumerable amount of resources, an astronomical sum.

To say nothing of anything else, the sheer demand for the metal and stone that form the Floating City’s foundation is astonishing, let alone the various power systems, defensive facilities, and combat installations.

After browsing for a moment, a rough outline had already formed in Pei Ze’s mind.

Similar to a Wizard Tower, a Floating City can be broadly divided into three main parts: power supply, spatial planning, and combat systems.

First is the power supply, which can be broken down into the Elemental Melting Furnace, the Floating Device, and the energy transmission network.

The Elemental Melting Furnace and Floating Device are self-explanatory. The energy transmission network is actually equivalent to a Wizard Tower’s central crystal energy transmission system, only much more efficient, as it must support the energy transmission and operation of an entire city.

Second is spatial planning.

This aspect is not much different from a Wizard Tower.

A Stargazing Platform, Warehouse District, Experimental District, training grounds, Meditation District, botanical gardens, ecological parks, a Golem Factory, and so on.

The only difference is that their areas must be greatly expanded, and their numbers must also be increased.

In addition, residential areas, commercial districts, and a city hall must be planned out, just like in an ordinary city.

After all, to accommodate tens or even hundreds of thousands of living beings, a comprehensive urban plan and administrative system are essential.

Finally, the combat systems are the most critical part of a Floating City.

The combat systems are mainly divided into two parts: defense and offense.

Typically, a Floating City has three layers of defense.

The first layer is a super-large Protective Energy Force Field, strong enough to withstand the impact of a small meteor shower in the Star Realm. It can endure the energy pressure of special environments while also stabilizing the Floating City’s internal ecological balance.

The second defensive barrier is a Maze Lock.

This isn’t the Maze Locking Protective Energy Field of a Wizard Tower, but a much more advanced, top-tier construct that integrates strategy, offense, and defense.

Because its energy consumption is so immense, it is only activated during combat.

The final layer of defense is the strength of the Floating City itself.

The materials used to construct a Floating City are typically selected for their extreme durability.

However, the effectiveness of this defense can only be described as better than nothing.

After all, if an enemy can break through the first two layers of defense, the protection afforded by the Floating City’s structure alone will most likely not be enough to stop them.