Chapter 271 Divine Corpse

Under the cover of night, the dense forest cast eerie shadows.

Tall trees stretched their silhouettes across the ground, intertwining like sinister, clawed demons, filling the air with unease.

Borben had long grown accustomed to such sights. After departing the floating city, he flew non-stop towards his destination.

Before long, a massive wizard tower loomed into view.

Standing over five hundred meters tall, the tower's bone-white exterior glowed faintly under the moonlight, exuding a cold and haunting aura.

It was the Cursed Bone Wizard Tower, Borben's domain.

Upon his return, one of his subordinates quickly approached to report.

"Master Borben, Master Matic is waiting for you in the reception hall."

Borben nodded impassively, dismissing the subordinate with a wave before teleporting directly to the reception hall.

As he entered, he found Matic lounging on a sofa, sipping a glass of crimson liquid that gleamed like blood.

At Matic's feet lay a pale, lifeless woman whose bloodless skin confirmed her fate.

Borben frowned slightly. "If you want to drink blood, go find it elsewhere. Stop draining my servants."

Matic chuckled heartily. "Don't be so stingy. You know how sought-after Viroans are. I was just a bit late; the new batch at All Things City sold out before I got there. I had no choice but to treat myself to one of yours. Besides, the Viroans here taste noticeably better."

Though Borben didn't truly care about the fate of a lowly servant, he snorted in disdain, choosing to let the matter drop. Sitting across from Matic, he fixed him with an unyielding gaze.

"What brings you here?"

"I heard Lord Wood summoned you."

"That's correct."

"Was it about Usir?"

Usir's death had stirred quite a commotion within the Shadow Throne. No one had anticipated his failure.

Before the incident, conquering a plane that had been sealed for two millennia was seen as an easy task.

Matic himself had envied Usir's supposed good fortune.

But the unexpected outcome had changed everything.

Borben sneered contemptuously. "A useless fool who couldn't handle a simple task. Why waste time dwelling on him?"

"And the Star Alliance?"

"The Star Alliance is now affiliated with the Codex of Wisdom. Unless we're prepared for war against the Codex, we can't touch them for the time being," Borben said coldly.

"Let them enjoy their brief success. Eventually, there will be an opportunity to deal with them. For now, we have more pressing matters."

Matic perked up, sensing the shift in tone. "What matters?"

"Father has tasked us with entering this plane to retrieve something," Borben said, waving his hand through the air. A string of planar coordinates appeared, glowing faintly in the dim room.

Borben's father, Lord Wood, carried immense authority, and Matic's demeanor turned serious.

"What are we retrieving?"

After a moment's hesitation, Borben replied, "A divine corpse."

Sunan sat cross-legged beside the elemental pool, his eyes tightly shut.

Time passed in silence until a sudden, intense surge of energy radiated from his body, lingering for several moments before subsiding.

A minute later, Sunan opened his eyes, his face alight with satisfaction.

"Level Three Liquefaction achieved!"

It had taken nearly 270 years since his ascension to Level 3, but he had finally reached the Liquefaction stage.

Overall, his progress was in line with his expectations.

"At this rate, I'll reach Level Three Crystallization within 500 years," he thought with a nod.

This pace was exceptional by any measure.

While ordinary wizards could accelerate their progress by absorbing the divine energy from elemental crystals, few had the resources Sunan enjoyed.

Most would have to spend immense amounts of time hunting elemental spirits to acquire such crystals. Only wizards with significant backing—such as True Spirit scions—could hope for similar conditions.

"Unfortunately, my daily absorption of divine energy has reached its limit. Otherwise, my progress could be even faster."

With his capacity maxed out, Sunan had begun distributing surplus elemental crystals to other Star Alliance wizards via exchange lists.

Thanks to the Codex of Wisdom and All Things City trade channels, the Star Alliance could now procure vast quantities of elemental dust.

If not for time constraints, Sunan could theoretically produce enough elemental crystals for the entire alliance to use freely.

Given such resources, the Star Alliance could potentially nurture a large number of Level 2 and Level 3 wizards within a millennium or two.

Of course, this was merely a hypothetical scenario.

Sunan's time was limited. Beyond his cultivation, much of it was consumed by upgrading the Starlight Wizard Tower.

Fortunately, the upgrade was complete.

Sunan had invested resources worth over a million high-grade magic stones into the tower's upgrades.

Had the upgrades not been spread over 200 years, even with the alliance's low-cost magic stone production, such expenditures could have crippled the Star Alliance's finances.

Among the upgrades, the plasma and pulse cannons had consumed significant resources.

Yet the results were worth it.

In tests, the Mark II Plasma Cannons could easily annihilate ordinary Level 3 Liquefaction wizards, while the Mark II Pulse Cannon could instantly vaporize Level 3 Crystallization wizards.

Against the firepower of a large wizard tower, even high-tier Level 3 wizards would be forced to flee.

And with its enhanced firepower, the Starlight Wizard Tower surpassed ordinary large towers, capable of obliterating any wizard below the True Spirit level before they could escape.

Of course, no Level 3 wizard would be foolish enough to confront a large wizard tower head-on. Most owned towers themselves, differing only in scale.

"However, the enhanced firepower has significantly increased the tower's energy consumption," Sunan thought.

Though he had upgraded the elemental pool and protective energy field, the enhancements were limited by the tower's structural constraints.

He was now considering acquiring an elemental source crystal to construct a simplified elemental furnace.

As the primary energy source for floating cities, elemental furnaces far outclassed elemental pools in energy output. Even a simplified furnace would greatly surpass the current pool, potentially resolving the tower's energy issues entirely.

The challenge lay in obtaining an elemental source crystal, which could only be harvested from the corpses of Elder Elemental Spirits.

The only issue was that elemental source crystals were exceedingly rare.

These crystals could only be obtained from the remains of elder elemental spirits. When such beings perished, their bodies had a small chance of condensing into pure essence, resulting in an elemental source crystal.

The more powerful the elder elemental spirit, the higher the likelihood of a source crystal forming upon its death.

Even a newly ascended elder elemental spirit was equivalent in power to a Level 2 Crystallization wizard. In their home plane, these spirits could easily contend with Level 3 Liquefaction wizards and might even pose a threat to Crystallization wizards.

Elder elemental spirits that had existed for thousands of years were even more formidable, rivaling Level 3 Crystallization wizards or higher. In their own elemental planes, only True Spirit wizards could effectively confront and defeat them.

Complicating matters further, these beings typically resided in the deepest parts of elemental planes, surrounded by countless lesser elemental spirits and guardians. To defeat them, one would first need to deal with their formidable entourage.

In other planes, Sunan could rely on the Starlight Wizard Tower to obliterate such opponents effortlessly. But elemental planes were a different matter entirely.

The elemental planes were saturated with volatile energy. The presence of a massive energy source, such as a wizard tower, would trigger an intense energy backlash, causing the entire plane to reject the intruder.

For example, in a lightning elemental plane, a wizard tower's mere entry would incite relentless storms of lightning strikes. The tower would likely be consumed by the unending barrage of energy before even approaching the plane's core.

War constructs faced similar challenges. While their presence might provoke a slightly weaker reaction, their structural limitations would still lead to inevitable destruction.

This explained why elemental source crystals were so exceptionally rare and valuable.

"It's a pity that the resource list the Codex of Wisdom offers its affiliates doesn't include elemental source crystals. Otherwise, it would save a lot of trouble to simply purchase them with magic stones."

Shaking his head, Sunan dismissed his thoughts and reviewed the wizard tower's control logs. He discovered a message from Liz left five days ago, indicating that Tanner had sought an audience with him.

"Tanner, huh?"

Sunan's eyes gleamed thoughtfully.

Since their trip to All Things City, Tanner's demeanor toward him had grown noticeably more deferential. Tanner had also ceased hiding his affiliations, openly representing the All Things Association to establish trading relations with the Star Alliance. Occasionally, he even provided free intelligence, making the association's goodwill abundantly clear.

Sunan gladly accepted this goodwill. A relationship with the All Things Association benefited the Star Alliance's growth, and their strictly neutral stance ensured they posed no threat.

Leaving the tower's upper levels, Sunan sought out Liz.

Notably, Liz had successfully constructed her third talent crystal 20 years ago, becoming the Star Alliance's second Level 3 wizard after Sunan.

Unlike her previous ghostly form, Liz now needed to dedicate most of her time to cultivation, leaving little room for administrative tasks.

Following her physical restoration, Liz had begun cultivating assistants to delegate responsibilities. Now, she focused on major decisions while leaving routine matters to her capable aides.

"Where is Tanner?"

"In Everlake City," Liz replied. "I told him you were in seclusion with no known end date and suggested he return. But he insisted on waiting."

"Did he say what he needed?" Sunan asked.

Liz shook her head. "He said he'd wait to speak to you directly."

Acknowledging this, Sunan set off with Liz for Everlake City.

It didn't take long for the pair to meet Tanner.

"Greetings, Lord Sunan." Tanner greeted him warmly, his face beaming. "Since you've emerged from seclusion, I trust you've achieved another breakthrough."

Sunan didn't hide the truth and nodded. "Indeed."

Tanner, despite expecting this, couldn't suppress his amazement. Sunan's rapid advancement rivaled or even exceeded that of True Spirit scions.

"I have some information that might serve as a small congratulatory gift," Tanner offered with a smile.

Sunan nodded slightly. "I'm all ears."

Tanner's expression grew serious. "Lord Sunan, you're familiar with the Realm of Truth, aren't you?"

Sunan's calm expression didn't waver as he nodded.

The Realm of Truth, also known as the Plane of Laws, was a sacred ground for wizards seeking to comprehend the laws of the universe. It was where True Spirit wizards typically resided, dedicating their existence to studying these laws.

For this reason, the Realm of Truth was a rare battlefield where wizards and gods frequently clashed, vying for its invaluable resources.

In most cases, gods remained within their divine domains, rarely descending into the material world. Within their domains, gods were nearly invincible, making them exceedingly difficult to kill.

But the Realm of Truth was a notable exception. Neither wizard towers nor divine domains could enter the realm, significantly lowering the difficulty of killing a god.

As a result, the Realm of Truth was the site of more godly deaths than any other place in the multiverse.

"Recently, True Spirit wizards from the Deep Blue Alliance, the Codex of Wisdom, the Shadow Throne, and the Spirit of the Wilds joined forces to ambush a god in the Realm of Truth," Tanner explained gravely. "Their ambush was successful, but during its final moments, the god's resistance triggered a spatial rift, causing its divine corpse t

o be swept away."

"The corpse's location was only recently discovered," Tanner continued. "It ended up in a remote plane, where its presence has transformed all native life into monstrous abominations."