Chapter 153: Chapter 153: A Massive Energy Deficit, the Abandoned Elemental Pool
After a thorough search without finding anything of value, Sunan proceeded to the next floor.
The third floor was divided into multiple halls, primarily recreational and entertainment areas.
"A leisure area, huh."
Such areas typically held little of value, so Sunan conducted a quick search before moving on to the next floor.
Starting from the third floor, he explored in sequence: the training area (including meditation and spell practice rooms), the workshop area (including magical item workshops and golem factories), the laboratory area, and the storage area.
In the workshop area, he found hundreds of clay and stone golems, though they appeared long dormant, likely due to the energy shortage.
The laboratory area was similarly empty, devoid of valuable items like experiment notes.
The storage area was no different.
"This place's layout is similar to my base. With some modifications, it could serve as Base 3."
Sunan nodded to himself, continuing his exploration upward.
It wasn't until he reached the twelfth floor that things changed.
The twelfth floor resembled an expansive laboratory, filled with numerous workbenches. A designated area housed dozens of large transparent glass tanks.
Each tank was filled with green or blue liquid, containing various bizarre creatures—sub-dragons and others alike. Sunan even spotted what appeared to be limbs and heads of pure-blooded dragons.
Delighted, he opened one of the tanks and retrieved a dragon head, only to be disappointed upon closer inspection.
Likely due to improper long-term preservation, the essence within the dragon head had dissipated, rendering it worthless.
Unwilling to give up, Sunan opened each tank to inspect them, but the results were the same.
"Well, it has been over a thousand years. No matter how advanced the preservation technology, it couldn't possibly maintain these biological organs for so long."
Sighing, Sunan collected his thoughts and proceeded to the next floor.
The thirteenth and fourteenth floors were similar, filled with workbenches and glass tanks.
Like the twelfth floor, these were modification zones.
The biological specimens and organs in the tanks had long since lost their efficacy.
"It seems the park's creator placed great emphasis on biological modification."
Sunan mused thoughtfully.
Previously, in Zone 1 of the park, he had seen many unfamiliar sub-dragons.
Initially, he thought it was his lack of knowledge—after all, sub-dragon species were numerous, and recognizing them all was impossible. Encountering unfamiliar ones was normal. But now it seemed otherwise.
Those unfamiliar sub-dragons likely weren't naturally occurring species but rather new types developed through modification within the park.
Having explored the first fourteen floors, only one remained.
With a hypothesis forming, Sunan took a deep breath and stepped into the teleportation array.
After a brief disorientation, he found himself on a vast platform.
The platform was constructed entirely of white stone, intricately carved with dense patterns, exuding an aura of mystery.
"Marble!" Sunan's eyes narrowed.
Marble, known for its pure white color and fine grain, is a hard rock ideal for construction and sculpture.
Many wizards choose marble as the main material when building wizard towers.
Surveying the platform's surroundings revealed a vast starry sky, dotted with countless stars, and a brilliant galaxy stretching across, instilling a sense of insignificance.
After a moment of appreciation, Sunan returned his gaze to the platform's far end.
There lay a square pool, ten meters by ten meters, constructed of white marble and coated with a layer of silver plating, densely inscribed with patterns forming a massive energy-gathering array.
"Elemental Pool!"
Sunan's eyes lit up, surprised to find an elemental pool in the park.
Though its size didn't qualify it as even a small elemental pool, barely a micro pool, it was still quite impressive.
After all, an elemental pool is a standard component of a wizard tower's energy system.
"It seems that aside from the park's energy cycle, the small amount of energy needed for operation comes from this elemental pool."
An elemental pool operates by opening a channel to an elemental plane, drawing elemental energy from it to provide an infinite, stable energy supply.
This high-level energy supply device is far more efficient than setting up magical energy transmission pipelines at leyline nodes.
Many large facilities use elemental pools as energy supplies, most commonly wizard towers.
A small elemental pool can sustain the basic needs of a wizard tower.
However, constructing an elemental pool requires vast amounts of gems, special metals, and various rare materials, at a high cost, and demands a certain level of skill in [Magical Item Creation].
Even among formal wizards, not everyone can afford to build an elemental pool.
A thousand years ago, when the energy particle density of the Starlight Continent declined, some wizards considered using elemental pool construction methods to open channels to elemental planes, introducing elemental energy to increase particle density. But they ultimately failed.
Too few channels meant the introduced elemental energy couldn't match the rate of energy loss.
Too many channels punched countless holes in the plane's barrier, severely reducing its isolation and defense, allowing many otherworldly creatures to invade, causing disasters.
Even elemental deities extended their influence into the Starlight Continent.
Ultimately, wizards abandoned this approach, deeming it more harmful than beneficial.
"Unfortunately, the elemental pool is abandoned."
After an inspection, Sunan concluded.
It made sense—if the pool were operational, the park wouldn't be in an energy crisis.
"If I can repair and activate the elemental pool, the park's energy supply issue will be resolved."
Sunan's face broke into a smile.
Although repairing the pool wouldn't be easy, it was simpler than building a new one from scratch, and he was somewhat confident.
Regaining focus, Sunan turned to the crystal ball beside the pool.
The crystal ball was perfectly spherical, purple-blue, with a radius of about half a meter, hovering sixty to seventy centimeters off the ground, emitting a faint glow.
Based on his experience, this crystal ball was likely the park's control hub.
Approaching the crystal ball, Sunan placed the key on its surface.
"Activation source detected, management system initiating."
"Scanning user status, standards met, proceed with login?"
"Login," Sunan replied without hesitation.
"Logged in."
"Administrator status currently vacant, elevating user privileges to maximum level."
"Welcome to Dragon Forest Ecological Park, Master. Steward No. 1 at your service."
A steward, huh.
Sunan's eyes flickered.
When he first heard the Dragon Bone Tower's voice, he suspected the park might have an intelligent auxiliary life form akin to a tower spirit. It seemed he was right.
However, its performance likely fell short of a true tower spirit, ranking slightly above golem life forms like adamantine golems.
A true tower spirit, even without a controller's command for a millennium, would have found optimal ways to operate the park, preventing its current state.
"Steward No. 1, assess the park's status," Sunan issued his first command.
"Commencing self-diagnostic!"
"Scanning."
"Constructing three-dimensional model."
"Scan complete."
Faint light emerged, countless rays from the crystal ball forming a 3D model above, a miniature of the entire park.
Accompanying it were extensive annotations.
[Ecological Park: Dragon Forest]
[Grade: Large (Damage: 69.34%)]
[Current Remaining Energy: 38.79%]
[Intelligent Auxiliary Life: Steward No. 1]
[Zones: Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3]
[Facility (Dragon Bone Tower): Residential Area, Warehouse Area, Laboratory Area, Training Area, Workshop Area, Modification Area Control Center, Elemental Pool (Micro)]
[Servants: Clay Golems ×182]
[Defense Device: Large Space Barrier (Damage: 3.48%)]
[Combat Device: Golem Legion (Stone Golems ×145)]
"Less than 39% energy remaining."
Sunan accessed each zone in turn.
[Zone 1: Operational, Minimum Energy Required: 24.28%, Optimal Energy: 35.12%]
[Zone 2: Suspended, Minimum Energy Required: 53.66%, Optimal Energy: 73.41%]
[Zone 3: Operational, Minimum Energy Required: 3.06%]
"Zone 2 alone requires over 50% energy!"
Sunan was taken aback, no wonder Zone 2 was abandoned.
Being a dragon breeding area, the energy consumption was indeed astronomical.
"First step is to restore energy to over 81%."
The combined minimum energy required for the three zones exceeded 81%.
Once the park's energy surpassed this threshold, Zone 2's ecosystem could gradually recover while maintaining Zone 1 and the Dragon Bone Tower.
Once Zone 2's ecosystem was restored, he could then consider rebuilding the dragon population.
"Open the energy slot," Sunan commanded.
With a click, the ground beside the crystal ball opened, revealing a hollow stone pillar.
Sunan emptied all the magic stones from his spatial ring into the pillar.
Moments later, the data beside the 3D model shifted, remaining energy increasing from 38.79% to 38.81%, a 0.02% rise.
"Two hundred thirty-five low-grade magic stones for a 0.02% increase!"
Sunan couldn't help but gasp.
At this rate, raising energy to 81% would require around fifty thousand low-grade magic stones!
The cost would be roughly 900,000 gold coins!
Even if he saved every coin from now on, it would take four to five years to accumulate that amount.
And that's considering his ability to produce magic stones at minimal cost.
For other wizard apprentices, restoring Zone 2's ecosystem with magic stones would be a lifelong impossibility.
The park's energy consumption was indeed staggering!
"81% energy requires this many magic stones; restoring to 100% would take even more. This method won't work; I need to repair the elemental pool."
After contemplating, Sunan devised a plan and issued a new command.
"Steward No. 1, how much energy is needed to repair the space barrier?"
First, he needed to seal the park's breach, preventing Zone 1's sub-dragons from escaping and attracting more wizards or other intelligent races.
"6.23% energy required."
Sunan quickly calculated that after repairing the barrier, enough energy would remain to meet the minimum requirements for Zones 1 and 3.
At worst, he could add more magic stones later to boost energy.
With this in mind, Sunan immediately ordered the repairs.
"Repairs initiated, estimated completion in 18 hours, 35 minutes, and 32 seconds."
Watching the 3D model fade, Sunan exhaled deeply, his heart filled with joy.
Though he hadn't found any treasures in the Dragon Bone Tower, the Dragon Forest itself was a tremendous gain.
With Dragon Forest as a foundation, he could establish a base with more comprehensive and secure facilities.
Moreover, the countless sub-dragons and rare magical plants within Dragon Forest were immense assets.
Once the elemental pool was repaired, it would become an inexhaustible materials repository.
Before advancing as a wizard to construct a tower, Dragon Forest could serve as his base, from which to expand his power.
"Once the elemental pool is repaired, I can relocate Base 1 here."
Dragon Forest, being a semi-dimensional space, lacked a fixed position in the material world. As its master, Sunan could open a portal to enter it from the material world.
Meanwhile, outside the Dragon Bone Tower.
The Traveler couldn't stop gazing at the tower, his eyes filled with undisguised envy.
As a wizard apprentice, he knew the immense benefits of acquiring a large ecological park.
It significantly boosted personal strength and power development.
But he also understood the park was beyond his reach.
Not only was he unable to defeat the Player, but even if he owned the park, he lacked the resources to supply it with sufficient energy.
The Player, however, was different.
According to Night Owl, the Player possessed resources far exceeding those of typical third-level apprentices. Perhaps he could solve the park's energy shortage.
"On the bright side, if Sunan solves the park's issues, I could buy dragon's blood from him in the future."
The Traveler mused.
Just then, the Dragon Bone Tower's gate opened with a rumble, and Sunan emerged.
The Traveler hesitated, but curiosity got the better of him. He approached and asked:
"How is it?"
"There are many issues," Sunan shrugged, "but the park's breach is being repaired. It won't be long before it's fully restored. What are your plans now?"
The Traveler paused, uncertain.
What else could he do?
The park was now Sunan's territory; he couldn't just loiter around shamelessly.
But to his surprise, Sunan extended an invitation.
"Interested in visiting my place?"
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