Synthesis Wizard

Kasham, more like a towering, pitted pillar than a city, stretched almost 300 meters high. The imposing stone column was riddled with countless holes, resembling a giant anthill, with a network of intricate internal passages. Except for insects that communicated through pheromones, other species entering would easily get lost in the maze-like nest. Overall, it was a perfect battleground for the insectoids. Thanks to their home advantage, Kasham had remained undefeated for all these years.

“Ugo sure picked a good spot,”

Su Nan surveyed the stone pillar. Unfortunately, it was only suitable for insects and its current state made it difficult to modify. After capturing it, its use was limited and likely to remain abandoned. Unless, of course, he, like Ugo, cultivated a swarm of insects.

Putting his thoughts aside, Su Nan flew forward, entering the stone pillar. After Ugo’s demise, the remaining insect swarm, though freed from his control, instinctively returned to Kasham. Seeing an intruder, they roared and attacked.

The narrow tunnels were not suitable for magic puppet combat, so Su Nan released nearly a hundred double-blade spiders, dispersing them along the tunnels to clear out the remaining insects. He then went in search of Ugo’s lab. Such an important place would undoubtedly be located in the deepest part of Kasham.

It didn’t take long for Su Nan to find it. At the heart of the stone pillar, a massive cavern was transformed into a laboratory, a meditation room, and a magic practice room, among other areas. Su Nan meticulously searched every corner, finding few valuable items except for numerous wizard’s books in the study. Finally, he arrived at the laboratory. Out of all the areas, the laboratory was the largest. In the center stood several broad workbenches, one of which still bore remnants of broken shells and dried mucus. A mound of insect eggs piled in the corner. The fluorescent light filtering from the ceiling illuminated the pale white egg walls, allowing him to see a living creature pulsating faintly within.

Su Nan glanced at the eggs, then strode towards the workbench. He searched for a moment and found an experimental journal. He immediately opened it and began reading it carefully on the spot.

As expected, the journal primarily detailed the breeding and modification of various insect beasts. Su Nan skimmed over these entries until he reached the section on the Doom’s-Bell Striker. He slowed down and carefully read the information.

As time passed, a look of surprise gradually spread across Su Nan’s face. According to the journal, the ancient bloodline source of the Doom’s-Bell Striker was not only a powerful ancient alien beast but also a rare divine creature.

The first was for a god to personally split off a sliver of their divinity and infuse it into a living being, transforming it into a divine creature. Many divine creatures in the churches of gods were created this way.

The second was totem worship. In certain planes, primitive tribes would worship totems or objects like trees and rocks as spiritual symbols. Over countless years of worship and prayers, these objects would gradually acquire a wisp of divine energy within, awakening their sentience and transforming into self-aware divine creatures. In fact, many gods initially arose from these divine creatures.

The third was relatively more special. These were inherently divine creatures, born with a touch of divinity. This divinity would also be passed down through bloodline inheritance. If the bloodline concentration reached a certain level, it could awaken divinity. However, these creatures were extremely rare, and because they lacked worship and other means of increasing divinity, the strength of their divinity wouldn’t change much throughout their lives.

Even so, among all the ancient alien beasts, this type of divine creature was among the most powerful.

The Doom’s-Bell Striker’s bloodline source belonged to the third category, the inherently divine creatures.

“This guy was incredibly lucky to find such a rare descendant of an ancient bloodline,”

Su Nan exclaimed in admiration. But now, this treasure belonged to him.

After reading the journal, Su Nan finally understood why Ugo had controlled the insect swarm to hunt everywhere. The reason was related to the Doom’s-Bell Striker’s bloodline.

After fusing with the Doom’s-Bell Striker’s bloodline, Ugo’s lifespan had increased significantly, estimated to be at least 300 years. The only problem was that he needed to consume the essence of the Doom’s-Bell Striker’s flesh regularly. However, there was only one Doom’s-Bell Striker, not enough to meet his needs.

Thus, Ugo came up with a strategy to replace quality with quantity: extracting the Doom’s-Bell Striker’s bloodline and infusing it into other insects. After multiple rounds of genetic modification and selection, he created the Doom’s-Bell Beetle.

As the Doom’s-Bell Beetle originated from the Doom’s-Bell Striker, its flesh essence naturally held a certain similarity. After refining and concentrating, it could replace the essence of the Doom’s-Bell Striker’s flesh. With this method, Ugo had managed to survive until now. Of course, cultivating a large number of Doom’s-Bell Beetles required a lot of food. Therefore, Ugo would send out the insect swarm to hunt every few months, stopping only after they had accumulated enough food.

“Using bloodline fusion to increase lifespan always comes with various drawbacks,”

Su Nan recalled the Blood Soul Worm bloodline fusion of Aivigeni. He was killed by the Blood Soul Worm bloodline. While the drawback of the Doom’s-Bell Striker bloodline fusion was relatively minor, the increase in lifespan was also relatively small.

Generally, the more effective the bloodline was at increasing lifespan, the more severe its drawbacks. Of course, there were exceptions. But such bloodlines were incredibly rare.

Su Nan had no interest in fusing with the Doom’s-Bell Striker bloodline and skimmed over this part. Even if he wanted to fuse bloodlines, he would wait until he became a full-fledged wizard and found a suitable bloodline. Before then, recklessly fusing bloodlines would only make his future path narrower.

After reading the experimental journal, Su Nan let out a long sigh. During the war, the Magic Puppet Legion suffered heavy losses. One high-level Stone Magic Puppet and an elite Double-Blade Spider were completely destroyed, with the Magic Puppet Legion casualties nearing one-third. Ultimately, the estimated losses were nearly 180,000 gold coins. The mine profits from this year had practically gone down the drain. ꞦÀＮ𝙤₿ЁS̩

Fortunately, the gains were also significant. The Doom’s-Bell Striker alone was enough to make up for the losses. With the Doom’s-Bell Striker, research on the bloodline imprint could begin.

Additionally, he could try to extract divine energy from the Doom’s-Bell Striker’s bloodline. If successful, he would have a stable source of divine energy, his spiritual power growth would undoubtedly accelerate.

As long as he could speed up his spiritual power growth, spending more gold coins was worthwhile!

Putting away the experimental journal, Su Nan looked at the Doom’s-Bell Beetle eggs in the corner. He thought for a moment and then used flames to destroy them all.

Ugo could control the Doom’s-Bell Beetles because he had fused with the Doom’s-Bell Striker’s bloodline. Su Nan, however, had not, and these eggs were useless to him. He might as well burn them. The relevant information on the Doom’s-Bell Beetles was already in the experimental notebook. If needed, he could use the Doom’s-Bell Striker’s bloodline to recreate them at any time.

As he left the laboratory, the battle in Kasham had ended. The remaining insects were swept away by the Double-Blade Spiders. Su Nan left ten more Double-Blade Spiders to guard Kasham, preventing any clueless creatures from straying in, before returning to the Silent Lake City.

Since the war had taken place outside the city, Silent Lake City had suffered minimal damage. The city remained peaceful.

Returning to Base 2, Su Nan immediately headed to the Puppet Factory. The magic puppets had sustained varying degrees of damage during the war and needed repair. He could have left them to repair automatically in the earth vein node, but Su Nan was rushing to deal with Matu and Orson, so he decided to handle it himself. However, things did not go as planned.

On the third day after destroying Kasham, Carolaine knocked on the door of the Puppet Factory. After receiving permission from Su Nan, she entered with a strange expression.

“Master, Red Widow is seeking you outside the city.”

“She also brought the head of the Black Duke.”

Su Nan was slightly taken aback, then a playful smile spread across his face.

“Ask her to the reception room.”

Carolaine responded and left.

When Su Nan entered the reception room, Red Widow was already waiting. Upon seeing him, she immediately stood up and a charming smile appeared on her beautiful face.

“My lord, congratulations on defeating Kasham.”

Su Nan glanced at her and sat down opposite her with a composed air. He said, “Me defeating Kasham is not good news for you.”

“My lord, you’re joking. The insect plague of Kasham has always been a great headache for us. Now that you have completely solved the problem, we no longer have to face the threat. Everyone in Matu is grateful to you, they can’t thank you enough.”@@novelbin@@

Red Widow smiled, but seeing Su Nan’s smirk, her smile froze. She sighed internally, understanding that he had already guessed the truth. She stopped being coy and went straight to the point, opening the wooden box in her hand. Inside was the Black Duke’s head.

Only the black flames, resembling a crown above the head, and the soul fire in the eye sockets had disappeared. However, based on its aura, it was undoubtedly the Black Duke.

“My lord, after Kasham’s demise, the Black Duke still intended to harm Silent Lake City. So I took advantage of his unguarded moment and killed him. Orson has also been captured by me. I am willing to hand over Matu and Orson to you, I only ask for the opportunity to follow you.”

Sure enough.

Su Nan raised an eyebrow, showing no surprise. When he heard that Red Widow was coming with the Black Duke’s head, he guessed that she was going to pledge her allegiance to him. As for whether the Black Duke truly intended to continue opposing Silent Lake City and was killed by Red Widow in a sneak attack, that remained unknown.

Regardless of the truth, it showed that Red Widow was very decisive. She was a ruthless and bold woman!

Su Nan glanced at the skull, with no intention of taking it, and said calmly, “What can you offer me?”

“My lord, you are very busy, always managing affairs. You only have Carolaine, and she alone cannot manage three cities, I may not be particularly capable, but I believe I have some experience managing cities and can help you with your burden.”

Su Nan narrowed his eyes. He understood Red Widow’s implication. Having only Carolaine as his subordinate, he couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t betray him. But if he had another follower, he could have them oversee each other, benefiting him greatly.

It had to be said that Red Widow’s words hit a nerve.

Mutual oversight was one thing, but the key was that if he wanted to expand his territory in the underground world, he would inevitably have to recruit more local forces to assist in managing various cities and resource points.

After all, he couldn’t possibly be everywhere at once, and he couldn’t let various chores take up too much of his time. Red Widow was a suitable candidate. As for loyalty, that was what the soul contract was for.

“You have convinced me,”

Once he made a decision, Su Nan did not delay and immediately made his demands.

“I permit you to become my follower, but as a condition, you and all the legendary vampires in Matu must sign a soul contract.”

“As you command, my lord,”

Red Widow agreed without hesitation. Signing the soul contract was expected, she had already mentally prepared herself and convinced all her people. Although it was unbearable to have their lives in another’s hands, it was far more acceptable than death. Moreover, the wizard before her was incredibly powerful.

She had never encountered anyone as powerful as him in her long life. Becoming the follower of such a powerful being was not something she found difficult to accept.

Su Nan then took out a gemstone and signed the soul contract with Red Widow.

“You have three days to handle the aftermath, after which I will bring people to take over Matu and Orson and sign soul contracts with the rest.”

Su Nan waved his hand, signaling that she could leave.

As she left the reception room, Red Widow saw Carolaine standing nearby, staring at her expressionlessly. Red Widow gave her a charming smile.

Carolaine snorted and turned to leave.

Seeing Red Widow come out of the reception room unscathed, she knew that her master had accepted Red Widow’s allegiance. This was not good news for her. From now on, she had a competitor. And a very cunning one.

“A seductive bitch!” Carolaine cursed under her breath.

Meanwhile, Red Widow watched Carolaine’s retreating figure, the smile on her face gradually faded, replaced by a touch of disdain.

“A hypocritical slut!”