The Cloud Ascending Ship, one of the Arcane Empire's war machines for conquering the multiverse.
If Floating Cities were cross-planar combat fortresses, then Cloud Ascending Ships were the space fortresses with which Great Arcane Masters maneuvered across the multiverse.
Every Cloud Ascending Ship represented the pinnacle of the Arcane Empire's wisdom.
The Arcane Empire also managed Cloud Ascending Ships very strictly. It was exceedingly rare for one to be lost outside.
Even in the present-day Pro World, the wreckage of a Cloud Ascending Ship would be claimed by powerful mages, who often studied the wisdom that might lie within those remnants with an attitude of worship.
Xu Nan did not know where this Cloud Ascending Ship had come from. He only knew that it was called Blazing Fire and that it was a White Dragon Class Cloud Ascending Ship.
The mechanical voice belonged to the Cloud Ascending Ship's Ship Spirit. It had traveled through the turbulent currents of time and space for far too many years. The spellcasters who had once piloted it had all abandoned it, leaving only Blazing Fire to wander the universe alone until, by a strange twist of fate, it reached the other shore.
Unfortunately, the Cloud Ascending Ship had been damaged too severely. Restoring it was almost impossible.
At first, everyone was thrilled and ran around the Cloud Ascending Ship sightseeing.
Xu Nan granted them ship access permissions, then headed off alone to study the control room.
Before long, the Ship Spirit Blazing Fire fell asleep.
Xu Nan stared at the complex runes and machinery in the control room, utterly clueless.
After all, it represented the pinnacle of the Arcane Empire's wisdom. If Lü Junyi were now an Industrial Magician above level 15, Xu Nan might truly have had the ambition to restore this Cloud Ascending Ship.
But not now.
He only wanted to make the fullest possible use of this unexpectedly arrived Cloud Ascending Ship and maximize its benefits.
"If I remember correctly, Blazing Fire said that Lost Paradise and the Arcane Empire were allies."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to obtain temporary control permissions. Wait..."
Xu Nan's eyes lit up as he suddenly opened the Lost Paradise Trading Center in the system!
He searched for information related to the Arcane Empire and Cloud Ascending Ships.
To his surprise, he actually found a book tucked away in some corner: Arcane Empire Cloud Ascending Ship Operation and Maintenance Manual (General Edition)!
The author was unknown. Judging by the style of Ron Sorcerers, it was not hard to guess that this was probably another counterfeit copy of an internal Arcane Empire manual produced by some unscrupulous sorcerer.
The book was not expensive. Its owner had probably thought that getting hold of a Cloud Ascending Ship these days was simply unimaginable.
Xu Nan immediately bought the book for 700 Constant Gold Coins.
The manual soon appeared in his Storage Bag. Calling it a manual was misleading—it was actually a thick, hefty book, and the explanations inside made Xu Nan's head ache.
Still, for the sake of profit, Xu Nan gritted his teeth and kept reading.
Unknowingly, time ticked away second by second.
By the time he had roughly finished the entire book, it was already the afternoon of the next day.
Things in the dungeon remained fairly peaceful. The initial chaos caused by the Cloud Ascending Ship had already been skillfully suppressed by Ah Tang.
The dwarf demons gathered curiously around the Cloud Ascending Ship.
Xu Nan had an idea.
He ran to the power room and removed the original energy source. It was an enormous discarded energy block.
Then he shoved the sealed Greater Demon Heart inside.
Green light immediately flickered within the Power Furnace. The Greater Demon Heart trembled several times, seemingly unwilling to become the Cloud Ascending Ship's energy source like this, but the powerful sealing spells and energy-guiding arrays in the power room eliminated any possibility of an accident.
"It really works."
"The manual said that Cloud Ascending Ships have two forms: ship form and base form. Under any circumstances, even if every system on the Cloud Ascending Ship has been destroyed, it can still transform into base form as long as it is supplied with a little energy."
"If that's true, couldn't it serve as the prototype for our dungeon?"
The more Xu Nan thought about it, the more excited he became. He darted back to the control room.
Perhaps because of the Greater Demon Heart, Blazing Fire slowly awakened. Several surveillance displays even appeared in the control room.
Xu Nan saw that in one of the rooms, Lü Junyi was clipping Shi Fanglin's nails.
After the clipping was done, the two stared wide-eyed at each other.
Shi Fanglin asked, "What does it feel like to be a professional?"
Lü Junyi shook his head. "I don't know... How about we wait a little longer? Don't you feel anything strange?"
Shi Fanglin was silent for a long while before a trace of determination appeared on his face.
"How about... we just remove your appendix?"
In another room, Qin Lele was sleeping soundly. Gu Xiaomeng, meanwhile, was kneeling in the room next door, seemingly praying silently for something. Beautiful divine radiance emanated from her body.
The Cloud Ascending Ship had many rooms, and its facilities had not suffered serious deterioration. It was a ready-made shelter.
"Good afternoon." Blazing Fire's voice sounded. "Thank you very much for replacing my energy source. As the holder of temporary permissions, you are qualified to command me to do anything before instructions with higher authority arrive."
Xu Nan nodded. "I want to transform into base form."
Blazing Fire fell silent for a moment. "Given Blazing Fire's current condition, once it transforms into base form, restoration will be nearly impossible. At the very least, it will require vast quantities of Titanium Mi Alloy and legendary-grade Industrial Magic repairs."
"Confirm transformation into base form?"
Xu Nan went out to notify the others, then chose to confirm.
The next second, the entire Cloud Ascending Ship's exterior melted apart like jelly.
The mysterious Titanium Mi Alloy turned semi-liquid and moved according to some pattern. While Blazing Fire scanned the underground space, it asked Xu Nan for instructions.
Xu Nan called over Third Sister. Under her relatively professional guidance, the Titanium Mi Alloy around the Cloud Ascending Ship transformed into towering walls, floors, and a dome!
The control room, Power Furnace, rest area, armory, library... and the other structures of the Cloud Ascending Ship were automatically transplanted into every corner of the base.
This entire transformation took less than twenty minutes.
Watching all this, the dwarf demons suddenly felt as though they were about to lose their jobs.
Even Ah Tang was stunned.
Now, a faint layer of silvery liquid metal flowed across the dungeon's sky and dome, while towering walls stood all around.
Even more amazingly, Blazing Fire intelligently avoided the Linxia River and chose one side of it as the site for the Cloud Ascending Ship base.
In base form, the Cloud Ascending Ship covered more than four square kilometers within its walls. Though it was not a standard square, its sides were roughly close to two thousand meters long. Many ready-made buildings stood inside, though unfortunately, most of them were disabled.
Even so, it was far better than the Gnoll Camp.
"This is Transformers!" Shi Fanglin grew excited upon seeing this.
He had originally come only for Lü Junyi, but he was suddenly fascinated by the Cloud Ascending Ship. Xu Nan generously tossed the manual directly to him.
In any case, only Xu Nan currently possessed administrator permissions for the Cloud Ascending Ship.
Everyone else merely had ordinary crew permissions.
With the new base, they no longer had to worry about the monster descent event that might happen tomorrow or the day after.
Those monsters sent over by the Pro Gods probably would not even be able to climb over the metal walls made of Titanium Mi Alloy!
"Xu Nan, Xu Nan, is this our dungeon now?!"
Qin Lele poked her head out from a second-floor room and cheered excitedly.
Xu Nan nodded with a grin.
"To celebrate the completion of the dungeon we created with our own hardworking hands..."
"I have decided to activate the only usable system in the entire base!"
"Second Sister, turn on the air conditioning!"
Xu Nan solemnly gave Blazing Fire the order.
Though Blazing Fire probably did not understand what Second Sister meant, it still activated the central air-conditioning system as commanded.
Very quickly, a gentle breeze began to flow through the base. The air in the previously stuffy underground space became lively as well.
Everyone was delighted. After all, they had never seen anything so rare. Blazing Fire, which seemed to be everywhere, patiently answered their questions without complaint.
Xu Nan, meanwhile, found Gu Xiaomeng.
"Don't chase me away. I won't leave."
Gu Xiaomeng stared at him with wide eyes. "I... I... she still hasn't returned my underwear."
Xu Nan pondered for a moment. "What exactly does the God of Love and Maidens want from me?"
Gu Xiaomeng shook her head to show that she did not know.
"I only act according to the Divine Decree. God would not mean you any harm. After all, all she wants to spread is love..."
"She may think you have potential in that regard."
Xu Nan could not help but complain inwardly: Potential to become a con artist?
"I don't eat much." Gu Xiaomeng looked at Xu Nan pitifully. "Can you let me stay first?"
"I'm a priest, after all, and I know a little medicine. Maybe Doctor Lü doesn't even know as much as I do!"
"I can be useful, one way or another."
"I asked those dwarf demons. Their food and lodging are covered... I only need food and lodging too!"
Fine.
The girl had already said so much. Xu Nan could hardly keep a cold face and drive her away.
He waved his hand. "Then food and lodging are covered for now. We'll observe you for a month."
Gu Xiaomeng patted her chest and let out a sigh of relief.
Watching her happily run off to choose a room, Xu Nan suddenly felt a little guilty.
Truthfully, he just thought having another healer in the base would be nice.
The Cloud Ascending Ship came with many buildings, most of which Xu Nan ordered Blazing Fire to temporarily seal off.
After all, with the wisdom of mortals, prying into the Arcane Empire's high-end equipment could easily lead to trouble. Xu Nan repeatedly reminded Blazing Fire of this, especially regarding an unruly troublemaker like Qin Lele.
He chose a castle-like building for his new City Lord's Hall. The building previously constructed by the dwarf demons had already been flattened. It could not be helped; that thing was far too ugly.
Xu Nan was no longer who he used to be. He could not afford that embarrassment.
He had just finished arranging a few things when Caesar's Gate suddenly spat out another message bottle!
Xu Nan calmly took out the message bottle.
These days, he exchanged insights with Prince Caesar every day. The two had become fairly close pen pals. Though neither of their motives was likely pure, they got along well enough in conversation.
Xu Nan had also learned much from Caesar that could not be obtained through bloodline knowledge.
Xu Nan learned that Caesar was a prince with a powerful and fertile territory!
Caesar, meanwhile, learned that Xu Nan was one of Earth's most fortunate spellcasters and had already established a massive dungeon!
The two made an alliance agreement through their correspondence and exchanged what they had. Caesar eagerly waited for Xu Nan to send over another batch of people. Xu Nan, meanwhile, discreetly wanted to get a map of the Pro World from him.
"I wonder what topic this pen pal wants to share with me today?"
Xu Nan happily opened the bottle.
Caesar's handwriting was extremely messy today!
It seemed to have been written in a rush.
"Esteemed City Lord Xu, urgent news has arrived from the World God Kingdom: the First Day has come early!"
The very first line made Xu Nan's heart shudder.
And at that moment, a gentle voice sounded beside everyone's ears across Earth:
"First Day."
...!
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