Chapter 366: Chapter 265: Resource Crisis
The Engraving Technique is a spell that forcefully instills knowledge into a person’s brain. Moreover, the most amazing part is that it isn’t a mental type spell.
Long Yi had been subjected to the Engraving Technique once before, applied by a spy from the Black Dragon Empire at the Magic Research Institute, Yavenny erased it later, saying that it was bad for the brain.
If it’s not a mental-type spell, would it also work on these Crystal Cores?
The four heavenly kings of the Magic Research Institute looked at each other.
Apparently, the research on Engraving Technique has reached a practical stage. They have always been conducting experiments on humans or animals as hypothetical targets. They had never thought whether the technique could be applied to these lava Crystal Cores?
"Let’s try it!" Ding Ge jumped up excitedly, but then fell to the ground seeing black in front of his eyes.
"You guys should hydrate yourselves first, replenish some water and salts, and preferably have some sugar. Your health is important."
The three didn’t hesitate, they dragged Ding Ge away. Half an hour later, all four returned, looking refreshed and energetic.
"Did you take some sort of potion? You’re so spirited?" Long Yi joked.
"Absolutely! We each drank half a bottle of Energy Potion! Damn it, we’re not going to sleep tonight!"
At dawn, when the first ray of sunlight hit the entrance of the lab. The door opened from inside, first appeared Little Zi, then Long Yi, stretching lazly behind her.
"These people, they’re really committed." Little Zi sighed.
"Yes, they are." Long Yi agreed, looking at his burnt clothes, and laughing.
Everything went smoothly as planned last night, especially Long Yi’s proposal of Engraving Technique achieved great success. After receiving new instructions, the movements of the Molten Beasts became more flexible, and they really began to follow orders.
Over the course of the night, Long Yi carried out a series of evaluations on these Molten Beasts. The main focuses were durability, resistance to damage, and their lethality. In the state of Lava Crystal Cores, the Molten Beasts hardly depleted any energy. In the state of the Molten Beast, they could standby for up to ten hours, and they could sustain around three hours under full-load attack conditions. This was already quite good data. When the Molten Beasts had about twenty minutes of energy left, they would automatically retreat from the battlefield and seek the nearest commander to revert back to their Crystal Core state.
Of course, the issue of lethality was handled by Long Yi himself. At the cost of his burnt clothes, Long Yi confirmed that the lethality of these Molten Beasts was high enough.
As lava creatures, there was another important indicator, which was their water resistance. The test results were obviously not up to the mark, but with Long Yi’s help, a decent level of water resistance was achieved by temporarily condensing the outer shell into a loose, hollow structure.
After several revisions, the final set of instructions written in the Lava Crystal Core were confirmed.
"Let’s mass-produce it."
Long Yi finally said.
Dragon Knight fights Dragon Knight.
Armored Warrior confronts the enemy’s army.
And the Molten Beasts are created to deal with the enemy’s Undead army.
This is the best outcome Long Yi could think of.
The ’Four Heavenly Kings’ of the Magic Research Institute were completely exhausted. After receiving affirmation from both Long Yi and Little Zi, they finally decide to sleep.
However, before falling asleep, Ding Ge told Long Yi that the Crystal Core supplies of the White Dragon Empire didn’t seem to be that abundant.
Really? Wasn’t a hunting mission just completed?
No one answered Long Yi’s question because all four had fallen asleep. So Long Yi went to find Ma Deburg directly.
Upon hearing Long Yi’s doubt, Dean Ma Deburg also couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
It turns out that before, the technology of Crystal Core was not up to the standard, so no one thought it was a good thing. But now that the technology of Crystal Cores has made a huge breakthrough, the demand for Crystal Cores has surged. Crystal Cores are needed to make the Power Cores of Battle Armor, as well as the Lava Crystal Cores for the Molten Beasts. Not just any Core will do.
The creation of a Battle Armour power core requires a sixth rank Crystal Core as the primary power source and thirty-six first rank cores as auxiliary power. Meanwhile, the creation of a Molten Beast requires a minimum of a sixth-rank Crystal Core. Although a lot of Crystal Cores were obtained from the last hunting mission, there were far fewer sixth-rank and above Cores than expected.
"How much longer can it be sustained?" Long Yi asked.
"At a simple estimate, about enough for five hundred sets of armor and five hundred Molten Beasts."
Five hundred sets? The dwarves once said that they could produce ten sets of armor per day, which means...fifty days!?
This is ridiculous!
"This is a problem." Long Yi furrowed his brow.
"Yes, I’ve reported this to the Emperor as well. His Majesty plans to issue another order, this time a nationwide collection of beast Crystal Cores. At the same time, he wants to mobilize the merchants to buy Crystal Cores from all over the world." Dean Ma Deburg said.
"Once that happens, the Black Dragon Empire will definitely know what we’re up to." Long Yi said.
"There’s nothing we can do about it though." Dean Ma Deburg seemed helpless.
In the past, it was frustrating that they couldn’t figure out how to use the Crystal Cores, and now that they’ve figured it out, they’re frustrated because there aren’t enough materials. This is simply absurd!
"Let the Emperor figure it out first, and I’ll see if anyone can help." Long Yi said while scratching his head.
On his way back to the academy from the Imperial Research Institute, Long Yi was struggling, but he could not figure out a solid solution. Since the incident in the Gentle Wind Plain, the big monsters have been basically silent, and the common monsters are on the verge of extinction due to the intense hunting by the ravenous Dragon Knights.
Are we going to breed monsters ourselves?
Definitely no, the cost is too high.
With a stomach full of questions, Long Yi returned to the Dragon Knight Academy and then threw this problem to Ai Lin and the others.
"Come on, help me think of a solution." On the dining table of the school cafeteria, Long Yi looked worried.
In fact, there was really no good solution. After all, the monsters had been nearly exterminated. Monsters are the source of Crystal Cores. Without the source, no matter how hard everyone tries to find a solution, what can they do?
The source?
Long Yi seemed to suddenly see the light!
Why don’t I go to the Gentle Wind Plain and take a look? After all, the monsters emerged from a tear in the Plane’s space there. Even if the space crack is no longer there, there must be some traces left.
"I agree we should go and check. Any judgements should be made based on sufficient information. It’s definitely impossible to figure it out by just sitting here and thinking." Wesley said.
"Then let’s go!" Long Yi decided immediately.
"Hold on, Brother Long! I heard you have a good relationship with the Elves?" Wesley asked.
"I guess so." It was hard for Long Yi to determine whether his relationship with the Elves was "good" or "average". He had only interacted with these enigmatic Elves once.
"Then, why don’t you go ask the Elves for a solution? It is said that the history of the Elves dates back much longer than humans, they may have a different understanding of Crystal Cores." Wesley said.
"That makes sense!" Long Yi nodded. Indeed, the magical elves always have a completely different way of thinking compared to humans. This different thinking produces different habits.
They may have a habit of storing Crystal Cores...
This was Long Yi’s thought.
At this moment, a pair of graceful figures walked in from the door of the cafeteria.
They were Elves. Moreover, they were two people from the Shining Silver that Long Yi knew.
Elves are not rare in this world, but Elves that run around so freely are quite rare. All eyes in the cafeteria were on the two Elves. These two elf sisters walked straight to Long Yi and stared at his eyes.
"Mr. Long Yi, The Queen requests your presence."
This was really coincidental. Just as he was thinking about the Elves, they arrived.
"Where and when?" Long Yi hastily asked.
"Now, in the Elf Kingdom." The two Elves said.
"Okay, I also have some matters to discuss with the Queen. I will go and prepare myself to go to the Shining Silver." Long Yi said.
"No need, we can leave now."
"Okay then—" Before Long Yi could finish speaking, he felt an arm over each shoulder, while the two Elves were holding hands. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light.
When the light faded, the Elves, Long Yi, and even the stool he was sitting on disappeared.
Everyone was dumbfounded. Everyone knows that Elves are rather straightforward creatures. Many people think Elves and Dwarves are quite similar. However, Dwarves are more stubborn, while Elves don’t beat around the bush. Even the most stubborn Dwarf will choose the right words for his speech, but Elves won’t be bothered. They will tell you directly whatever they want to say.
For instance, earlier, had Long Yi declined to leave, the Elves would not have forced him. But since Long Yi expressed a willingness to go, the Elves naturally wouldn’t waste any more time.
If someone rarely interacts with Elves, they would feel extremely perplexed.
Such as the people around the table right now.
Ai Lin, having interacted closely with Elves through Long Yi, still finds it hard to accept the Elves’ personality. However, knowing that Elves and Long Yi have a deep relationship, she wasn’t too worried. The chef and the mosquito were a bit surprised, but with Wesley, the moving library’s, explanation, they were able to accept it. As for the other people in the vicinity, they had long lost their appetites and started guessing about the Elves’ sudden action of taking Long Yi away.
Of course, nobody knows the true reason.
Even Long Yi had no clue. However, instinct told him that it was certainly a good thing.
The place he was teleported to was the outskirts of the mysterious Elf Kingdom. Although he could see the Elven Kingdom from a distance, it was clearly farther than the last time he traveled through the tree hole. A Silver Dragon had been waiting nearby. Seeing Long Yi appear, the Silver Dragon cried happily, grabbed Long Yi and placed him on its own saddle, then soared into the sky.
As the name suggests, the Silver Dragon was naturally silver. The entire body appeared as a fluid whole, with no scales visible, like a lump of mercury. When Long Yi reached out and touched it, it was smooth and carried the coldness of metal.
Suddenly, the Silver Dragon cried out, and small patterns emerged on its wings. These patterns combined into a huge Magic Array, from which a gale emanated, and the speed of the Silver Dragon increased several times!
A dragon that can use magic?
Isn’t it said that dragons are absolutely incapable of using magic? Why is this Silver Dragon so strange, capable of using magic? (To Be Continued. If you like this work, please vote or subscribe on qidian.com. Your support will be my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
