Chapter 1087: Change
Lin Li returned to his own Sky Castle. Due to the fact that he had just seen the Sky Garden, Lin Li felt that the Sky Castle looked more and more awkward, and his desire to modify his Sky Castle grew more intense. However, Lin Li knew very well that he had to take his time to modify the Sky Castle while ensuring that it would maintain a certain level of combat power at all times.
Using the control crystal of the Sky Castle, Lin Li did not have to go through the process of observing and measuring, because both the interior and exterior of the entire Sky Castle, as well as the structure and details, were all clearly etched in his mind. That allowed him to save a lot of time on the preliminary work.
Lin Li knew that if he wanted to transform everything in the Sky Castle and turn it into something similar to the Sky Garden, it would be impossible to complete it in a short period of time. Hence, he merely formulated a plan to make modifications that were suited to his current needs.
The first urgent need that Lin Li had to solve was actually not about the problem of the transformation, but rather the comprehensive restoration of the Sky Castle. Although this Sky Castle was known as the most powerful of the seven Sky Castles of the High Elves, it had been lacking maintenance and had been through 1,000 years of wear and tear, after all.
Besides, for the past 1,000 years, the Sky Castle had been exposed to the erosion of the Nether Storm in the s.p.a.cetime rift at all times. Even if the Sky Castle had a powerful protective canopy to resist the Nether Storm, it was there for over a millennium, after all. Even G.o.ds would probably die there, let alone the Sky Castle that had an intricate structure.
When Lin Li explored the Sky Castle prior to this, there were several intense battles in the Sky Castle, especially the final battle with Highlord Osric, which resulted in significant damage to the Sky Castle. After all, a battle between Sanctuary powerhouses would probably result in the collapse of the world if it took place in Anril.
The Sky Castle could still fly, shuttle through s.p.a.ce, and even launch attacks that were far more powerful, but one couldn’t hide the fact that it was seriously damaged. In particular, after Lin Li launched a severe attack on the dragon corpse of the Dragon of Destruction with the full power of the Sky Castle this time, he was incredibly shocked by the state that the Sky Castle was in. He even thought that if the Sky Castle were to launch such an attack again, it would very likely cease to operate—if it didn’t collapse entirely.
Hence, regardless of whether it was suitable for human manipulation or not, repairing all the damage to the Sky Castle was the most important thing Lin Li had to do now. Of course, in the process of repair, Lin Li could also save some time and resources by adding some designs related to modification.
However, in the repairing of the Sky Castle, Lin Li also faced an issue which he still had to face during the repair in the future. The seven Sky Castles were the most outstanding achievement of the High Elves, who had spent all the wealth that they plundered and found in Anril to build them. Although Lin Li did not have to rebuild the Sky Castle, he needed a ma.s.sive amount of resources to repair the damages.
Under Lin Li’s management, the Tower of Dusk had indeed ama.s.sed a rather large amount of wealth in the brief duration of time. However, the size of their fortune was relative. Compared to the local forces of the Breezy Plains, it was definitely staggering, but if compared to the royal family of every kingdom, the wealth of the Tower of Dusk would seem insignificant, let alone compared to the High Elves.
However, Lin Li had made up his mind. Once the Sky Castle was restored to its prime, it would be able to provide great help to him and the Tower of Dusk. He didn’t want the Tower of Dusk, which he had worked hard to get all his life, to remain floating in the air for everyone to observe.
Hence, Lin Li began to pull things out from the Ring of Endless Storm. Apart from the items that Lin Li had plundered and obtained after arriving in Anril, the Ring of Endless Storm also contained many other items that he had brought over from the Endless World game.
The Ring of Endless Storm had almost infinite s.p.a.ce, so when he was in the Endless World, Lin Li put almost everything he could find in the Ring of Endless Storm. Apart from the corpse of the Dragon of Destruction, there were Divinity Metal and many other various precious materials that Lin Li stored to obtain Life Skills.
If Lin Li poured out all the stuff in the Ring of Endless Storm, it would probably be enough to flood and drown out an entire city. In the past, Lin Li had found it a shame that he could not put his huge collection of treasures to use, but now there was nothing other than the Sky Castle that would be worth his treasures.
However, this time, Lin Li was vexed because of the lack of materials. According to his estimation, he would still need a large amount of resources to repair and transform the Sky Castle even if he took out all the materials in the Ring of Endless Storm. After all, no matter how rich he was, his collection of treasures could not compare to that of the High Elves. Unless he robbed the treasure vaults of the few kingdoms, it would be really difficult to create his ideal Sky Castle.
Materials were only one aspect of the issue he had to face during the repair and modification of the Sky Castle. Another important aspect was manpower. Lin Li couldn’t possibly complete all the work alone. No matter how competent he might be, he was still an individual, after all.
Fortunately, the Tower of Dusk could help Lin Li resolve most of his issues and meet his current needs. The grooming of talents had always been of utmost importance to Lin Li. During the three years that Lin Li had left the Tower of Dusk for, the other members of the Tower of Dusk had never slacked off in nurturing talents.
Besides, the talents were not only mages, but also members of other professions such as forging, pharmacy, and inscription. In fact, they also nurtured talents in professions that other forces did not value.
Hence, at this juncture where Lin Li needed talents the most, the various talents of the Tower of Dusk could finally come into play. Under Lin Li’s orders, all kinds of talents in the Tower of Dusk gathered in the Sky Castle quickly. Lin Li formulated a detailed restoration plan in accordance with the needs of the Sky Castle, and a.s.signed it to his subordinates. That allowed him to temporarily heave a sigh of relief.
Of course, the tasks that Lin Li delegated to his subordinates were some jobs that didn’t require much skill. After all, no matter how competent those talents were, it was still their first time coming into contact with the Sky Castle. They could only continue learning further during the restoration process.
During such a huge project like the repair and transformation of the Sky Castle, more manual laborers were needed in addition to a variety of skilled personnel to carry out technical work. There wasn’t a single city that was built solely based on technical work. The same went for the Sky Castle.
Rumor had it that when the High Elves had built the Sky Castles, they had recruited countless powerhouses who were above level-15, some of who were even at the Legendary-level, to carry out manual labor. Although the Sky Castle was the product of the High Elves’ civilization, every inch of the land was permeated with the blood of the people from the races that had been subjected to their rule.
Although ordinary people were like insignificant ants in the eyes of the Sanctuary powerhouses, Lin Li would not compel others with cruel means like the High Elves had in order to use their lives to complete the transformation of the Sky Castle. Not only would it cause him to be condemned by others in this day and age, Lin Li was not at the level where he had forgotten who he was and perceived all other beings as insignificant n.o.bodies.
Why did the Supreme Council spend hundreds of years to modify the Sky Garden? In addition to the requirement for technical research, which was a greater part of the reason, it was mostly due to the modification process. They did not make their manpower overwork like the High Elves had done. After all, the Supreme Council knew very well the reason for the fall of the High Elves Dynasty, and naturally did not want to damage the reputation that Geresco had built for the Supreme Council.
However, Lin Li did not want to spend as much time as the Supreme Council to complete the transformation of the Sky Castle, but he also did not want to go all out like the High Elves. That seemed to be wanting the best of both worlds, but fortunately, the Immortal King had solved that problem for him.
The Immortal King had left a large team of alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses in the Sky Castle. Although some had been destroyed in the previous battles, the remaining number was still very impressive. When Lin Li first obtained the Sky Castle, he used that group of alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses to clean up the Sky Castle, which seemed to be in shambles after several ferocious battles.
The alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses had originally been created by the Immortal King for the sake of conducting daily maintenance on the Sky Castle. However, due to the fact that there was no one to control the Sky Castle after the Immortal King had left, the Sky Castle was not maintained well.
Although some High Elven souls had combined with alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses to form some kind of Alchemical Undead creatures, they were destroyed when Lin Li and the others searched the Sky Castle. However, the Alchemy Colossuses and alchemy puppets only occupied a small portion of what they had.
If such a large alchemical team was placed outside, it would probably be more than enough for overthrowing an entire kingdom. If the souls of the High Elves had controlled all the alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses, Lin Li and the others would definitely have suffered great casualties even if they had not failed.
Compared to regular manpower, those alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses were obviously better. In fact, during the High Elves’ dynasty, the Alchemy Colossuses and alchemy puppets helped them carry out manual labor in addition to helping them fight. After all, the tiny bodies of the goblins were too weak.
The alchemy puppets on the Sky Castle had all been created by the Immortal King, and were definitely the pinnacle of alchemy. They were not only more powerful than the alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses from the goblins’ era, they also did not have to be controlled by humans, and were intelligent like robots. In fact, it might be more appropriate to say that they were alchemical creatures, except that even if they had intelligence, they were still under the control of the master of the Sky Castle.
When they first heard that the president wanted to transform the Sky Castle in a large-scale project, Gavin and other senior executives of the Tower of Dusk were extremely conflicted about the issue regarding labor. They even thought about whether or not they should transfer the mercenary corps who had defected to the Tower of Dusk, for they were stronger than ordinary people at the end of the day. However, they were worried that if those who harbored evil intentions took this opportunity to blend in with the Tower of Dusk… it would be a disgusting thought even if it would not cause much damage to the Tower of Dusk.
However, when Gavin and other elites of the Tower of Dusk brought all the technical talents to the Sky Castle, they were completely stunned by the neatly arranged rows of alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses in the square. Although all of them had basically lived in the Sky Castle for a short period of time, they had never thought that there would be such a large alchemical army in the Sky Castle.
“President, who are these?” When Gavin walked through the s.p.a.ce in the middle of the Alchemy Colossuses, he even felt vaguely terrified. He couldn’t quite figure out what Lin Li wanted to do with so many battle weapons. Was he planning to nab some slaves?
Even Gavin behaved in this way, let alone others. The mages who had partic.i.p.ated in the exploration had never seen such a large alchemical army arranged neatly. Even the Rotterdam Kingdom, which was known for Alchemy Colossuses, would not be able to produce so many of them.
Hearing Gavin’s question, which hinted that he was worried, Lin Li smiled and took out some ring-like alchemical equipment. He handed it to Gavin, and said, “These are the control centers of the Alchemy Colossuses. Later, you have to distribute them according to the needs of the project. The Alchemy Colossuses and alchemy puppets would save us a lot of labor.”
The control devices, which Lin Li had found in the control center of the Sky Castle, were actually not too complicated in their design. Instead, they were more like a symbol that made the alchemy puppets and Alchemy Colossuses obey the person holding it.