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Chapter 1304: Reconnaissance

Lin Yun considered the connection, and suddenly realized that the troublemaker might not be his business competitor at all. They were simply trying to cause trouble. If it was done by the rock mage or whoever was behind the rock mage, their only purpose had to be killing Lin Yun, or stopping him from rising in the Odin Kingdom.

When he thought of it that way, he realized that everything they did made sense. Because they were not the Gilded Rose’s competitor, they were only seeking destruction without wanting anything in return.

Lin Yun had a headache when he thought it through. He was more scared of such lunatics than he was of business competitors. To make things worse, he hadn’t found out who those people were exactly just yet.

Unable to figure out who they were, Lin Yun simply stopped thinking. He took out the 20 alchemy puppets that he had made in his Demiplane.

Most of those puppets weren’t in human shape. Some were giant insects, and some were beasts. Only a few looked like human beings because they were usually not as apt for fighting as beast- and insect-shaped puppets.

The insect-shaped puppets with a suitable energy system, in particular, could accommodate more weapon systems than human-shaped ones did, and were more powerful.

Lin Yun handed over the new puppets to Faleau.

“Those are all my experimental products. All of the puppets are level 40. Although their wisdom hasn’t awakened yet, their combat ability is as good as that of a level-1 Heaven Rank expert. Distribute the puppets, and ensure that the shipment of raw materials isn’t cut off.

“Due to the shortage of raw materials, transfer some of the materials from the Raging Flame Plane to the Odin Kingdom to ensure the Gilded Rose’s operation. I believe some of the herbs can be acquired from Andlusa too.

“That’s all for now. Let’s wait until we find the culprit.”

The convoys should be safe with those alchemy puppets. After all, even the most powerful organization only had a limited number of Heaven Rank experts, who couldn’t all be sent to deal with the Gilded Rose’s convoys.

Sending one or two of them to attack the convoys was already very costly. It was impossible for more to be deployed. With the protection of the alchemy puppets, the convoys would be safe.

This age was sort of the beginning of the Great Colonization. Noscent’s infinite planes were conquered starting from this age.

All the powerful organizations in this age were seeking Planar Paths to other planes. Very few experts were left in Noscent. However, colonization was not so easy. In particular, the mages had to complete the conquest with their own strength in this age. Their efficiency was extremely low.

It required at least decades to conquer a plane. It was not unusual to attack planes that had strong natives for hundreds of years to conquer them.

Also, even after those planes were conquered, they were mostly used as resource fields that had to be guarded. Moreover, the guards had to be replaced constantly.

After all, the mages in Noscent carried the life marks of Noscent, which were different from the marks of other planes. The stronger a mage was, the more closely they would be linked to Noscent. The Heaven Rank experts couldn’t stay in other planes forever. They could fight there, but couldn’t stay for a long time as garrison troops.

As a result, all organizations could never have enough Heaven Rank mages. Until the overall alchemy technology in Noscent had groundbreaking breakthroughs, this situation was unavoidable.

The idle Heaven Rank mages Lin Yun saw in the Merlin Family’s ancestral land had returned from other planes. After they stayed in another plane for a while, they had to return to Noscent.

It was impossible for any organization to send a dozen Heaven Rank mages to attack a convoy. If the enemy was so strong, they could’ve just attacked and crushed the Gilded Rose. It shouldn’t be a problem for them to kill everybody of the Gilded Rose, including Lin Yun, right in Neverwinter City.

The level-40 alchemy puppets were deployed. As expected, the attackers suffered major setbacks. The puppets ripped apart five mages who were at the peak of level 39, and killed more than 20 Archmages and Sword Saints…

The convoys were safe for now, but the attackers didn’t completely vanish. There was no telling what they were up to, but none of the Gilded Rose’s stores were attacked.

Faleau had been running the business well. He made friends with a lot of people and nobles of the Odin Kingdom. Even though their friendship was not very reliable, nobody really dared to blatantly attack the Gilded Rose’s branches inside the city. If they did, they would be labeled as invaders who were trying to take over the city. That was a blame that nobody dared to take.

After taking care of the incident, Lin Yun thought that it wasn’t the best choice to let outsiders provide materials. Last time, the Lodney Family messed with the Gilded Rose’s material supply too, except that they were rather dumb, and affected other people’s interests.

Some of the materials could be provided from the Andlusa Kingdom. The Raging Flame Plane yielded a lot of materials. There was a mountain next to the Four Seasons Plain that had all sorts of herbs. The Four Seasons Plain itself was suitable for the growth of herbs too.

However, those weren’t enough. Potions required too many kinds of materials. No alchemy store could guarantee that they had all the materials they needed.

The Andlusa Kingdom was generally colder than the Odin Kingdom, and had a longer winter. Most local herbs were accustomed to the climate. The Raging Flame Plane was hot, and had a broader category of herbs. But there were huge limitations too.

The two places included the frigid zone and the tropics. As for the herbs grown in the temperate zone, the Gilded Rose had been purchasing from the Odin Kingdom when they were in demand.

Of the three kingdoms in Noscent, the Odin Kingdom had the greatest productivity of herbs. It was very vast, and had temperate and tropical herbs. At least 70 percent of all types of kinds could be found in the Odin Kingdom.

The remaining 30 percent of herbs had to be imported from Andlusa or the Sten Kingdom.

Lin Yun wondered if he should seize the source of materials, and provide materials for himself. In such a way, materials wouldn’t be the Gilded Rose’s weakness anymore.

In order to control the materials, there was only one solution: to grow them in other planes. His Natural Demiplane had abundant mana, and was more suitable to grow plants than any other place. However, it was too small.

He couldn’t grow herbs and other plants everywhere in his Natural Demiplane, as it wouldn’t benefit the development of the Natural Demiplane.

In the future, Noscent would colonize countless planes. By then, an alchemist would build a lab using an entire plane. The planters would be too ashamed to call themselves that unless they had a couple of planes that were full of plantations.

The herb suppliers would plant herbs in the entire plane. They would grow whatever suited the plane.

It was nothing unusual for the same herb to occupy the entire plane. Also, thanks to the development of alchemical technology, not many laborers were needed. Several dozen alchemy puppets and Archmages could manage all the herbs.

Also, even bandits were unwilling to rob such planes, because nothing worthwhile could be found except the herbs, food, and plants that were large in stock.

Lin Yun considered that the Gilded Rose needed its own plane for material supply. He would rather not have a plane that was only suitable for one type of plant. He was looking for one that could provide temperate herbs. Also, it had to cover a wide spectrum of climates.

It wouldn’t be smart to build plantations in the plane, as too many laborers would be needed. It would be best if the plane was naturally resourceful. The yields of such a plane should be enough to support the Gilded Rose.

He remembered a lot of plane coordinates. Most of them were famous and readily usable in Noscent.

Unfortunately, he didn’t dare to open the Planar Path, and go to any of those famous planes.

It was because those coordinates marked and led to places that would have been constructed and developed for countless years in the future. They were almost all in the cities in those places. Anyone with those public coordinates would teleport and arrive at the cities.

However, Lin Yun didn’t know where the coordinates would lead to in the undiscovered planes at this moment. Since the cities were mostly established in the central and best parts of the plane, those places were likely still occupied by the most powerful locals of the planes as their nests at this moment…

If he opened a random Planar Path, and embarked on a trip, he would definitely die painfully. None of the planes with accurate coordinates was of a low level. It wouldn’t be very surprising even if one of the locals was an extraordinary creature above the Heaven Rank.

The low-level planes weren’t qualified to leave their coordinates recorded in history books at all. It wouldn’t be bad at all if their descriptions were mentioned.

In addition, it was impossible to modify the coordinates until one landed in the plane and recalculated. With the slightest modification, the Planar Path that he opened might lead to a dangerous place in the boundless void.

Lin Yun had never dared to open the Planar Path, even though he had coordinates. He wasn’t sure whether or not an extraordinary creature would come to him first through the Planar Path if he opened it…

However, at this moment, he could try his luck with the planes that were less dangerous and that the Gilded Rose needed.

He could give the coordinates to Xiusi, and let it investigate. He wouldn’t establish a Planar Path unless the plane could be developed and conquered.

Lin Yun stared at Xiusi, which was enjoying pastries. Immediately, its expression froze, and it swallowed the food in its mouth before it grinned, and flew to Lin Yun.

“Great Sir Merlin, do you have any instructions for Xiusi, your most loyal servant?”

Looking at Xiusi’s obsequious owl face, Lin Yun couldn’t help but wonder how it could put on so many expressions. Also, as it learned the language and picked up knowledge in Noscent, it seemed to be growing into a lackey…

“These are the coordinates of a plane. Go there and investigate.”

Lin Yun snapped out a rune from his fingers into Xiusi’s head. Instantly, Xiusi grinned.

“Alright, Sir Merlin. Just wait a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Xiusi flapped its wings and disappeared. In no more than one minute, Xiusi broke out of the location of the coordinates, and reappeared in the normal space.

However, the moment it appeared, it saw a one-eyed monster, which was a dozen meters tall and had hundreds of tentacles, turn around and glance at it.

The moment it saw the monster, Xiusi’s feathers were almost exploding. It vanished with the power of space without hesitation.

After Xiusi disappeared, the one-eyed monster had glittering light in its eye. It disappeared along with Xiusi…

In the cracks of space, Xiusi was about to catch its breath when it had a grim sense of foreboding. It turned back, only to see the monster following it.

Immediately, Xiusi’s eyes were filled with fear.

“Goddamn it, a Soul Swallower…”

That was a terrifying monster that was strong, and could simulate its target’s soul power. Also, it specifically devoured souls.

Usually, such monsters couldn’t possibly keep up with Xiusi. However, as it happened, Xiusi had emerged right in front of the Soul Swallower.

The Soul Swallower wouldn’t let go of the food that had delivered itself to it. The distance between them was short enough for it to simulate Xiusi’s soul abilities.

Running from the cracks of space to the shadows and then to the subspace, Xiusi was almost desperate. The level-48 Soul Swallower kept tailing it. At such a short distance, it could simulate whatever ability Xiusi might use.

The Soul Swallower didn’t stop at all after entering the subspace. Seeing the projection of an enormous planet a dozen meters tall, Xiusi gritted its teeth and screamed, running to it.

“Damn you, bastard, you want to kill the great Xiusi, and stop him from enjoying delicious pastries ever again? Not a chance! You will surely die if you dare to come close…” Xiusi shrieked, but the Soul Swallower didn’t care. It simply followed Xiusi and simulated Xiusi’s abilities, jumping into the projection of the planet in the same trajectory.

On the surface of a round, smooth silver planet, Xiusi appeared out of nowhere, and immediately fell to the ground.

Vague spatial waves surfaced. Xiusi stabilized its body, and resisted the enormous gravity. It consolidated itself in the space, and then gradually moved its body away one centimeter after another with mana.

A few seconds later, the Soul Swallower appeared too. However, its body was pressed to the silver ground immediately. Half of its tentacles collapsed. Its blood fell to the ground, and spread out before it sprang.

The Soul Swallower roared in panic, and hurriedly consolidated the space around itself by simulating Xiusi’s ability to keep itself steady.

However, after the space was consolidated, it couldn’t move anymore. It could only watch Xiusi move away bit by bit.

With satisfaction in its eyes, Xiusi sent out soul waves.

“Idiot, what can you do now? I have a body. I can move without using my soul ability. You want to eat me? Dumbass. Just wait to die here. I’m going back for my pastries…”

Xiusi was even happier about its body. It had been using its soul power during the escape, but it suddenly remembered that there was spatial power in its bloodline. Although it was negligible compared to the soul power, it became a lifesaver at this moment.

It was impossible for the Soul Swallower to simulate bloodline power.

The power pushed Xiusi away one centimeter after another. It moved for only two meters after half an hour, and was so exhausted that its eyes were almost shivering. It wasn’t sure that it was far enough from the Soul Swallower, so it kept pushing itself angrily.

“My level is too low anyway. I must improve my physical level after I go back. I have to raise it above level 40 for a start, or my body will be too weak. The bloodline power is truly great…”

After three hours, Xiusi finally pushed itself a dozen meters away, which was a remarkable achievement on this planet which had a horrifying gravity.

Looking back at the Soul Swallower, which seemed to have been frozen in ice, Xiusi grinned and burst into laughter.

“Idiot, come bite me! Come eat me! Why are you not moving? What can you do? I have bloodline power! Do you? Just keep copying me! We’re more than 10 meters away from each other. Can you copy me? Just rot in hell. I’m going back for my pastries…”

Xiusi cackled and then disappeared. A dozen meters behind, the Soul Swallower glared at it, and the glowing brilliance in its only eye had covered its pupil. However, it could only watch Xiusi go away without being able to do anything.