A gentle breeze swept over the corpses, carrying a bone-chilling cold that seemed out of place for the season.
Each face, whether filled with resentment, terror, or relief, was forever frozen in the moment of death.
No matter how invincible and powerful they were before, in the end they can only return to dust.
Later generations recorded only a few words about them.
[In the 18th year of the Golden Kingdom's calendar, hunter families rebelled, but their uprising was swiftly crushed beneath the royal city. All hunter families involved in the rebellion were exterminated, and millions were implicated.]
The third step, absolute centralization, was a promising start thanks to the swift and decisive actions of the mechanical clones.
That's right, wiping out the Hunter Family Group was just the beginning of the Mechanical Clone Project.
After eliminating the largest resistance force, the mechanical clone, with Adelia and Jarvan as its puppets, promulgated a series of reform measures.
--
The central government's power structure was rebuilt, with the addition of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Works. A cabinet was established under the King, with the position of Prime Minister.
Strengthen the binding force of laws and rectify the lazy and arbitrary practices in the country;
The military organization was adjusted, largely referencing the Crimson Alliance, with the largest tactical unit being the army group, comprising 2-4 corps...;
Establish a military merit system, clearly defining the rewards that military merit can be exchanged for, including titles and Transcendent resources, to motivate soldiers' fighting spirit and will;
Adjusting administrative divisions allows the central government's power to extend to the township level, thereby strengthening its control over the country.
In each town, a hunter's school was established. Children of the appropriate age were required to enroll, with tuition fees covered by the state. The curriculum, including relevant textbooks, was drafted by the Ministry of Education and approved by the Golden King before it could be implemented, ensuring that the people were instilled with the ideology of royal power from a young age.
The Hunter's Tavern will be incorporated into the government's structure, and an improved Energy-Gathering Obelisk will be placed in every tavern. Hunters can enter the Energy-Gathering Obelisk by paying military merits, increasing their chances of promotion and reducing the risk to their lives.
Hunters of Epic or higher, upon accumulating sufficient merit and with the King's approval, may obtain a life-extending potion, extending their lifespan to three hundred years.
Establish a potion production line to mass-produce hunter potions, but only supply them to hunter schools. At the same time, gather all the kingdom's potion makers in the royal city for unified training.
To encourage childbirth and reward families with more children, the government provides nutritional subsidies to children under the age of fifteen to improve their physical fitness.
Without exception, all of these reform measures were based on the premise that the central government possessed absolute military power.
For this reason, the mechanical clone first wiped out the Hunter family, eliminating this biggest obstacle to reform from the Golden Kingdom's power structure.
The remaining hunter group was still powerful, but it was disorganized and couldn't cause much trouble under his series of attacks and counterattacks.
Once all the above reform measures are implemented, it won't be long before the Golden Kingdom's national strength increases exponentially.
At that time, we will be able to carry out large-scale territorial expansion until the entire Golden Star is brought under the kingdom's rule.
While the hunter reforms on the mechanical clone side were progressing vigorously, the Nirvana Tower in the center of the demiplane was also reaching its most crucial moment of transformation.
Thanks to Lancelot, Logo was able to glimpse the mysteries of the "Pact of Guardianship," gaining much knowledge from it and putting it into practice.
The process was difficult, but the fruit was very sweet.
Logo's original plan was to merge the Eye of Insight with the Nirvana Tower, thus taking a shortcut to achieve the requirements of [Power of Miracle].
The appearance of the Pact of Guardianship gave him some confidence that, without fusing with the Eye of Insight, he could transform the Nirvana Tower into a Miracle alchemy tower.
Countless resources were invested, and the main consciousness worked almost non-stop. Every second, the inspiration that flashed through the mind was enormous, enough to overwhelm an ordinary person's brain.
And so, on this day, the Nirvana Tower finally achieved "Miracle Quality".
Boom!!
In the instant that the "Miracle" was accomplished, the Nirvana Tower, already a thousand meters tall, released a stream of flames like the sun's corona. A massive amount of fire elemental factors gathered from all over the demiplane, forming a pair of magnificent wings that blotted out the sky, obscuring the tower that seemed to have been built by only the work of a god.
At the same time, the quality section of the Nirvana Tower on the information panel also changed to the word "Miracle".
Seeing this, Logo was completely relieved.
The next second, a flood of information rushed into my mind.
"I never expected the Nirvana Tower's Miracle Trait to be called 'Freedom.' I thought the ascension phenomenon was mainly fire-based, and the Miracle Trait would also lean towards the fire attribute. I didn't expect it to be space-based, but this is exactly what I wanted..." Logo muttered to himself as he studied the information in his mind and began to familiarize himself with the newly appeared Miracle Trait "Freedom."
A few minutes later, Logo's main consciousness, hidden in the central location of the Nirvana Tower, was overjoyed and seemed extremely happy.
The reason is simple: the characteristic of "freedom" is just what Logo wants.
The most obvious effect of this Miracle Trait is that it has made the Nirvana Tower a true darling of space.
Logo, who had become one with the Nirvana Tower and regarded it as his body, felt this most deeply.
At first it wasn't obvious, but now he clearly feels that as long as he has a thought, he can merge into the space and travel tens of thousands of miles away, and the energy consumption is negligible, because the space in all directions is continuously injecting some kind of energy into the energy engine of the Nirvana Tower.
Logo was very familiar with this energy.
It's called [Void Energy], one of the most important and common energy sources in the Astral Realm.
The "freedom" characteristic grants the Nirvana Tower the ability to traverse Endless dimensions and directly absorb energy from the Void at an extremely fast speed. This is because the entire Nirvana Tower possesses unparalleled spatial affinity, making it almost instinctive to merge with space, and Teleportation is merely a thought away.
If that were all, given Logo's composure, he wouldn't have lost his composure like that.
The truly powerful aspect of the "freedom" characteristic lies in granting Nirvana Tower an almost abnormal "breaking of restrictions" ability, or rather, the ability to be unrestrained in any way.
In short, with the "freedom" property, Nirvana Tower can teleport freely within areas where space is confined, unaffected by external forces.
Moreover, no restrictions, confinements, barriers, or obstacles can stop the Nirvana Tower now.
True freedom means removing shackles, doing whatever you want, and being unhindered!
Immune to all control, nothing can stop the wings of freedom.
This is the Nirvana Tower as it is today.
"Terrifying indeed..." Logo not only clicked his tongue in amazement, but he was even reminded of a certain powerful figure who was famous Astral Realm because of this "freedom" characteristic.
One of the most famous True Dragon, the progenitor of pterosaurs, nicknamed Laximiya Wings of Heaven.
"Legend has it that Lami Xiya could instantly leap to the Mount Heaven of the Divine Realm from anywhere he flapped his wings. He was the darling of space, the Controller of wind and sound, and nothing could bind him. Now, do I possess a similar ability? How exhilarating..."
After the initial excitement, Logo instinctively calmed himself down. "I can't be careless. While the 'Freedom' trait is powerful, the Nirvana Tower is only a four-star item. It might be able to move freely in the Elven Plane, but that's not necessarily true in the Astral Realm. I must have reverence, I absolutely cannot underestimate any power... That Wings of Heaven, wasn't he also caught and turned into a mount because of his arrogance, daring to provoke the [Eternity Sun God]... He's a cautionary tale; I absolutely cannot make that mistake!!"
A bucket of cold water was poured over him, Logo instantly sobered up.
Why was that pterosaur progenitor nicknamed "Wings of Heaven"? It was because he was forcibly captured and given a different name.
This man was once known as the Wings of Freedom!
Wings of Heaven was the price he paid for his arrogance!
Besides the Miracle Trait "Freedom," Logo also maximized the effects of all equipment in Nirvana Tower.
Today, the Nirvana Tower, when viewed from a distance, appears as a kilometer-tall pyramid-shaped spire.
The tower is entirely black and gold, covered with silver alchemical Demon Pattern symbolizing spatial attributes, and its edges are adorned with flowing energy lines resembling Fenghuang wings, giving it an overall imposing and grand style.
At the bottom of the Nirvana Tower is a huge circular cavity through which one can see a vortex of black air currents. This is the main entrance and exit of the Nirvana Tower, as well as the channel for deploying troops. At the same time, the air current vortex can expand to release a powerful force field to bind enemies.
After repeated expansions, the entire Nirvana Tower had dozens of stories.
It includes material storage layers, alchemical biological storage layers, troop production layers, manufacturing plants, rest areas, laboratories, energy core layers, weapon module layers, enhancement layers, power engine layers, protective armor layers, rune enchantment layers, transportation space layers, plant cultivation layers, environmental simulation layers, and so on.
Furthermore, Logo also built the most suitable laboratory for each branch of alchemy.
For example, a pharmaceutical laboratory is filled with various nutrients suitable for plant growth, such as sunlight and lunar dew, and can freely adjust temperature, humidity, and even control the concentration of natural elements.
The mechanical engineering lab features a cold and rigid style with sharp angles and energy interfaces everywhere on the walls and floors. The entire lab can also freely transform and has multiple functions.
Other branches of alchemy also have their own characteristics.
In short, money talks!
The resources Logo spent on just one Nirvana Tower exceeded one hundred billion Ta Pound.
Originally, there weren't so many. It's just that the Golden Kingdom gained too many benefits, and Logo invested all of these rare resources into the construction of the Nirvana Tower without hesitation. Otherwise, it would have taken at least two or three years to upgrade it to the quality of Miracle, and it might not even be able to form the "Freedom" Miracle Trait, which is considered top-notch.
"Money is just an external thing. The Nirvana Tower is now my body. Let alone a hundred billion Ta Pound, even if it costs ten or a hundred times more, as long as it can achieve Miracle quality, it is completely worth it!" Logo muttered to himself.
Resources are only resources if you use them; otherwise, they're just garbage!
Just as money sitting idle is worthless, you need to get cash flowing and use resources to improve yourself; you can't accomplish great things if you're petty.
Opening the information panel, Logo's gaze was fixed on a newly appeared talent.
[Power of Miracle], progress 1.12%.
Once the progress reaches 100%, Logo will be guaranteed to craft equipment of Miracle quality.
The problem is, whether that day will ever come is hard to say.
To date, it seems no one in the Astral Realm has been heard of who has achieved over 95% progress in [Power of Miracle], let alone 100%.
It seems that there are rules in the universe that limit the development of this heaven-defying secondary talent.
His consciousness churned, Logo temporarily set aside this distant thought. The [Power of Miracle] progress bar finally appeared, meaning that as long as his alchemy level in a certain branch reached level 41, he could break through to the Epic without restraint.
Thinking of this, Logo glanced at his alchemy panel.
Yes, it's very balanced, progressing side by side.
Mechanics, Pharmacology, Bloodline Science, Runic Literature, Spatial Science, Soul Science, Materials Engineering...
They're all level 33.
Logo studied too much and too diverse a subject, so much so that despite the help of [Truth Analysis], his progress was not fast.
Of course, to other alchemists, this speed was practically cheating.
It's just a matter of having different standards for oneself!
"Now that the Nirvana Tower is complete, we can set off for the Astral Realm. However, before that, some preparations need to be made..."
What preparations are needed?
First, save your life!
Second, strength!
In terms of survival, Logo mainly targets the [Soul Informatization] talent.
To be precise, it is the third effect of [Soul Informatization].
[You can copy and store your own physical information. If your physical body Destruction, you can reshape it using substances of the same nature.]
Simply put, this effect means that physical data is backed up and uploaded to the cloud, so that if the body perishes, it can be downloaded again.
Where is the cloud?
The answer is, [Higher-Dimensional Information Space], which is the database of the Aslant Civilization.
There, the number of ways in the entire Astral Realm that could harm Logo is extremely limited, making it his most important place of refuge for a long time to come.
With his Eye of Insight, Logo quickly completed the analysis of the Nirvana Tower's physical body and uploaded the relevant data to the [Higher-Dimensional Information Space].
From then on, as long as his main consciousness did not perish and the Higher-Dimensional Information Space was not breached, even if the Nirvana Tower was reduced to dust, it could be rebuilt as long as the corresponding materials were available.
As for the material issue...
Logo's main purpose in traveling to the Astral Realm was to find a material that could be considered a panacea— the Philosopher's Stone.