Chapter 283 - 277: The Key to a Qualitative Change
Chapter 283: Chapter 277: The Key to a Qualitative Change
Allen answered. The light screen re-formed, and Victor’s face appeared.
The heir to the Tieyan Clan was not his usual self. His short, golden hair was somewhat disheveled, but his eyes were frighteningly bright, burning with a fanatical zeal.
His first words hit like a hammer.
"Allen, if you want to become a true powerhouse, that half-plane fragment—you have to buy it, no matter what!"
"What would I buy that for?" Allen was already numb after seeing so many exorbitantly priced materials. "Besides, I can’t even afford the smallest piece. Thirty million Magic Stones? Do you think my Golems just dig up finished High-Tier Magic Stones in the desert?"
Victor lunged toward the screen, his breathing heavy. "You don’t get it at all! This isn’t about money!"
He took a deep breath, as if forcibly suppressing the storm of emotions inside him.
"A half-plane fragment is the key material we Alchemy Wizards, especially Golem Wizards, need to inscribe our first Core Witchcraft after advancing to Second-level. Without it, even if your Spiritual Power meets the requirements and you’ve built a mountain of Golems, you’re just a ’glorified First-level Wizard’!"
Victor stared intently into Allen’s eyes. "Only by fusing with a half-plane fragment can we cast our lineage’s ultimate technique—Fortress Workshop Unfolding."
Allen’s gaze sharpened. ’Fortress Workshop Unfolding, huh.’
This was the first time he had learned the name of a Second-level Golem Wizard’s Core Witchcraft.
"Do you know the specific effects of this Witchcraft?" Allen got straight to the point.
"Of course. It’s their signature Witchcraft—a complete paradigm shift for a Golem Wizard’s abilities!"
Victor heavily stressed the term "paradigm shift." "With a half-plane fragment, you can fuse it with your workshop. When that happens, your workshop is no longer a static object fixed to the ground, but an entity that exists in a separate dimension!"
Victor grew more excited as he spoke, completely losing his aristocratic composure. "It goes from ’real estate’ to a ’mobile asset’! You no longer have to defend a fixed position. You won’t have to worry about your workshop being randomly destroyed by some burrowing beast or a stray spell from the heavens."
"Your body becomes the ’real-world interface’! At will, you can open a portal to your workshop-plane anywhere, at any time, and instantly deploy your entire Golem Legion onto the battlefield!"
A deathly silence fell over the control room.
Allen’s mind instantly flashed back to the battlefield report Master Mercer had just delivered.
On the southern front, in Zone 12 and Zone 13, workshops had been directly destroyed by a Morning Star Level Magical Beast, and the defending Wizards were all killed.
The workshop is an Alchemy Wizard’s lifeline—the source of their endless legions, but also their greatest vulnerability. If it gets taken out, it’s all over.
’If I could carry it with me...’
"And there’s more." Victor didn’t give Allen time to process. "You establish an energy conduit! You can directly tap into the workshop’s Energy Core. No matter where you are, as long as you can connect to your half-plane, your Magic Power recovery and output will increase a thousandfold! You’ll even be able to mass-recharge your entire Golem Legion, or unleash a devastating attack far exceeding the limits of your own Magic Power reserves!"
"Infinite firepower?" Allen muttered the two words under his breath.
"You could say that," Victor declared. "And I’m not done yet. There’s also ’Defense Synchronization.’"
He paused, then said, enunciating each word, "You can manifest the workshop’s defensive measures as your own personal defense. Any attack targeting you must first break through your workshop’s defenses to even touch you. This is the true turning point for a Golem Wizard! A fragile body? Not a problem anymore!"
’It’s that broken?!’
Allen fell completely silent.
A stream of data from Jarvis flooded his retinal display.
[Establishing tactical model for "Fortress Workshop Unfolding"...]
[Abilities: Security, Concealment, Instant Deployment Ability, Infinite Energy Supply, Bastion-Class Defense.]
[Projection Complete.]
[Conclusion: If workshop is planar-shifted, defensive pressure on core assets in Zone 18 will decrease by 90%. User survival rate will increase by 99.9%. Maximum sustainable defense period for territory will be extended from three months to... incalculable.]
’Incalculable.’
Because as long as Allen didn’t die and the workshop wasn’t destroyed, the Golem production would never cease.
This wasn’t an upgrade; it was an evolution into an entirely new species. It was the difference between being a craftsman tied to a production line and being a walking, mobile arsenal.
"This war is a rare opportunity."
Victor watched the silent Allen, his tone laced with complex emotions. "Normally, a strategic resource like a half-plane fragment would never hit the open market. They’re all monopolized by the powers that be and the top-tier factions. Even with all the Tieyan Clan’s wealth, getting just one for me would require us to grovel before those old fossils."
He gestured vaguely upward. "Do you realize what this means? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Once this is over, you could have hundreds of millions of Magic Stones and still have to wait in line!"
Allen lifted his gaze, looking at the excited Victor on the screen.
He keenly picked up on the subtext in Victor’s words.
"Your family already has one?" Allen asked.
The fanaticism on Victor’s face instantly froze.
A wry, helpless smile touched his lips, his aristocratic pride dimming slightly. "The family poured everything it had, even mortgaging two High-Tier mineral veins, just to buy a tiny fragment. But this time, Master Mercer’s exchange inventory has larger ones. I want a big one."
He raised his head again, his gaze turning sharp once more. "Those who lose or run from this war won’t get this chance. You have to understand that, Weisren. A Golem Wizard without a half-plane will always be second-rate. I have no desire to look down on you from a higher perch on our path to Level 2. You’re a worthy rival. Don’t disappoint me."
"Understood," Allen replied, his face impassive.
BEEP.
The connection cut, and the light screen winked out.
’That guy,’ Allen grumbled internally. ’If he wants to flaunt his wealth, he should just do it. No need to wrap it up in some drama about mutual respect between rivals. Still, that information was certainly valuable.’
The Meditation Room was quiet once more.
He pulled up the interface for the Rare Resource Exchange Inventory again.
The entry on the first line was still glaring.
[Half-Plane Fragment x10. Price Range: 30,000,000 to 150,000,000 Magic Stones.]
Someone had bought two pieces a moment ago, and now there were ten left.
’Thirty million is impossible to save up during a war.’
’A paradigm shift. Immense power. A portable workshop.’
The words were incredibly alluring.
But Allen’s gaze quickly turned cold again as his Mechanical Mind severed the unrealistic fantasy.
’No matter how promising the future, no matter how tempting the half-plane, those are concerns for a Second-level Wizard.’
He hadn’t even finished inscribing the thirty-six Runes of his fifth Core Matrix.
"The dream is grand, but reality is a harsh mistress," Allen sneered, standing up. "If I can’t even stay alive, what good is a half-plane?"
He turned and walked toward the receiving platform of the underground workshop’s Teleportation Array.
VMMMM—
The Teleportation Array lit up with a faint blue glow as space rippled. Two dull, golden lead boxes, their surfaces inscribed with sealing Runes, slowly materialized.
Allen walked over, broke the seal, and lifted the lids.
In the box on the left lay a small vial of liquid that shimmered with a hypnotic, starlit glow. A mere glance sent a soothing tremor through his Sea of Spirit.
In the box on the right was an ancient-looking Protective Talisman carved with an intricate mural of a wall, exuding an incredibly dense aura of order.
’The Astral Spring and the Wailing Wall Protective Talisman.’
Allen gripped the Protective Talisman. Feeling the sense of security that came from knowing it could ward off a fatal blow, the tension in his nerves finally eased a fraction.
This was his real ticket to survival.
Only by staying alive would he earn the right to even dream of that world he so desired.