Chapter 273: The State is a Beast (23)

The emperor was invited to visit, and naturally the commotion was huge.

The Natural Empire directly sent a super-elite royal guard regiment of 2000 people to accompany him.

The schedule was to first send the guard regiment to Meidaxilin, then have the regiment build a place called an embassy on the surface in Radiant Capital, which is actually a good spot for a war fortress.

Then the emperor would fly over.

In short, it was a true mobilization of troops, and also extremely troublesome.

Luosen hated such trouble, so he pushed it all onto Emperor Luosen, this puppet.

He himself brought a Combat Luosen, secretly sneaked to Meidaxilin, and entered the embassy's underground chamber.

In the underground chamber, all kinds of combat supplies were in place.

Among the supplies were ten perfect endless crystal power arrays, ten perfect ghost resonance staffs, twenty consummate perfect soul-burning rings, and three perfect life-and-death rings.

Finally, there was a batch of specially functional 'transformation injections,' also all perfect-quality good stuff.

Why perfect? Because these gadgets were synthesized using his unique 'Life Tree,' achieving atomic-level flawlessness.

With this perfect quality, a single endless crystal's maximum storage rose to 24,000 mana tubes, focus intensity +8, and combined with Luosen Legend 12's base soul strength, mana strength already reached the mortal extreme.

Soul-burning ring.

Charging time is 4,000 tubes per second, filling an endless crystal in six seconds.

Ghost resonance staff.

Because the quality is perfect and the distance close, transmission loss is only fifty percent, so the maximum spell release is a scale of twelve thousand mana tubes.

Life-and-death ring.

This thing's death judgment probability increased to 59.8%, reaching the theoretical limit.

Because each legend level reduces death judgment probability by 4%, any strong one with soul strength below Legend 15 can be judged to die.

Finally, Combat Luosen.

This is the latest generation of puppet substitute, made from the Life Tree, born solely for combat.

It can not only perform zero-delay six-line ultimate combat operations, but its perception of various forces and its own concealment ability far exceed mortal limits.

It's practically a superhuman from another world.

Of course, even with such power, Luosen still does not forget caution.

Because the main body is still the only one.

Because he now has soul-transfer means, he dares not recklessly transfer, fearing to mess up Laifu.

He just stayed honestly in the embassy, remotely controlling Combat Luosen to wander around the Meidaxilin city area.

At this moment, Combat Luosen sat in a high-end lightning taxi, letting the driver pull him around the city to view the scenery.

The cost was certainly not cheap, but Luosen naturally lacked no money.

The driver was a 3-ring mage, very professional, initially very silent, but couldn't resist Luosen's teasing.

Soon, his chatterbox opened.

"Ah, I never expected a small baron to become emperor."

He looked at the welcome banners everywhere on both sides of the street, his expression very complex.

Luosen sat in the wide rear seat, legs crossed: "Yeah, who would have thought? But the Natural Empire's lightning car is really good, right?"

"It's good, just expensive. My car cost a full 2000 li to pull, and I've been in debt for five years because of it."

Luosen briefly calculated: "I think at most three years to break even?"

"About right."

The driver, looking at Luosen through the rearview mirror, smiled and said: "Especially lately, Meidaxilin is full of outsiders, business is very good, but sitting all day in the car hurts my waist."

Luosen also laughed: "Making money—what isn't hard? Being able to earn is already better than most people."

He paused, then asked: "What do you think of the Natural Empire?"

Seeing Luosen's local appearance, the driver didn't hold back, gave a cold snort, and wore a look of contempt.

"Just a nouveau riche, with some talent but pure luck—I think the good days definitely won't last."

While speaking, his tone turned a bit sour.

"Those northerners are shrewd and love to scheme; these past years, they've cheated us out of a lot of money."

"In my view, we should properly fight this bunch of nouveau riche and take back all the money they cheated us of."

Luosen listened quietly, clearly sensing the driver's big-nation citizen arrogance.

This is understandable.

After all, the Radiant Empire has risen for nearly thirty years; the newest generation, from birth, has seen the empire as the strongest mortal empire on the White Continent.

Now the northern neighbor, long looked down upon, has suddenly become strong; mentally they find it hard to accept, and psychologically it's naturally hard to balance.

He smiled: "War isn't fun; no matter win or lose, civilians' lives will be greatly affected."

"Just hang on; once we win, it'll all be good days."

"What if we lose?"

"How could we possibly lose?"

"Look at this time, we fought the elves—didn't we make them cry for their parents?"

The driver wore an expression of inevitable imperial victory.

Then, a security vehicle squad suddenly appeared on the street, laying across and completely blocking the road.

Thus pedestrians and vehicles on the road could only stop, waiting for the road to reopen.

The driver naturally could only stop and wait; his face showed both curiosity and impatience as he craned his neck: "This scene is really big, completely ignoring us ordinary folks' livelihood."

Luosen naturally knew what was going on; he smiled and said nothing.

The driver didn't need to answer anyway; since he couldn't drive, he simply opened the car door and stood by it to watch the excitement.

After a while, a fairly large convoy appeared on the road ahead.

Thirty dazzling crystal‑light carriages, shrouded in numerous rune glows, formed a luxurious lightning carriage convoy that slowly approached. In the middle of the convoy were three identical super‑luxurious lightning carriages, their bodies painted in gold, jade, and red lacquer, with the Natural Empire's star‑and‑moon red flag affixed to each side of the front, appearing both imposing and elegant.

Wherever the convoy passed, it immediately drew gasps of astonishment.

Even the driver clicked his tongue in amazement.

"By the Radiant Lord above, that is the Natural Emperor's convoy."

"Tsk tsk tsk~~ truly worthy of being the homeland of lightning carriages; each of these lightning carriages is practically a work of art!"

"If I could own one, I'd consider dying ten years early worth it!"

At the same time, inside the emperor's convoy.

Inside one of the super‑luxurious lightning carriages, Emperor Luosen sat in the rear seat, eyes closed, cultivating his spirit, with his assistant Alice seated beside him.

Alice was still a 19‑year‑old girl, still somewhat vain, and never imagined she would one day be able to show off her might in the capital of the Radiant Empire.

She leaned against the black crystal window, face alight with excitement, watching the crowd outside: "Your Majesty, the people of the Radiant Empire are really enthusiastic."

Emperor Luosen smiled: "Just surface enthusiasm; deep down they're thinking of robbing us."

Whenever something happens in the Natural Empire, the Radiant Empire is sure to be the first to come loot.

Zhuo Ya couldn't suppress it; she would be swept up by the tide of public opinion and declare war on the Natural Empire.

Because there is no stronger binding force above the state anymore.

An individual without restraint easily turns into a beast of the survival‑of‑the‑fittest.

A nation composed of countless individuals is almost a pure beast that lives by the law of the jungle.

Alice was no longer the naïve girl who had never seen anything; she chuckled: "Too bad, now it's us robbing their money."

Emperor Luosen laughed heartily: "Who says it isn't?"

As the Natural Empire's arcane‑industrial output kept exploding, it gradually began to crush the Radiant Empire's comparable industries.

Therefore, the Radiant Empire will keep growing poorer while the Natural Empire keeps growing richer.

Why can't the Radiant Empire compete?

Because the Radiant Empire's noble bloc still wields great power, and although Zhuo Ya is nominally emperor, her control over the empire is not strong.

State power is dispersed among the royal family and the various great ancient Radiant nobles.

Although this situation is much better than the old Natural Alliance, it still falls far short of today's autocratic Natural Empire under the emperor.

In terms of executive efficiency, no political system can match centralized autocracy.

If that central authority also possessed far‑sighted vision and outstanding ability, then the explosion of the empire's national strength would be almost inevitable.

Of course, if it takes the wrong path, collapse would come just as swiftly.

One could say it's a case of gains and losses.

His gaze returned to the combatant Luosen by the roadside.

While waiting for the emperor's convoy to pass, his mind suddenly twitched and he sensed a completely unfamiliar power fluctuation in the crowd.

This fluctuation was extremely weak, far beyond the perception limits of ordinary people, yet it could not escape Combat Luosen's detection.

He took out ten liras from his pocket, placed them in the rear seat, quietly left the lightning carriage, moved through the crowd, and quickly approached the target.

Not long after, he arrived near the target.

He was a young man, about twenty‑five or twenty‑six, wearing a black short robe and long trousers, with glass spectacles, the attire of an academy lecturer.

As the distance closed, Laifu, through Combat Luosen's probing, gathered more information.

"Basic soul strength Legendary 6.5, basic mana strength Legendary 14, mana scale 300 Luosen, power traits unknown."

"He's actually a demon‑god apostle."

Luosen was quite surprised.

This anomalous condition where basic soul strength is lower than basic mana strength occurs only in demon‑god apostles.

Because the apostle's mana comes from the demon‑god's grant, not from a Linking Magic Ring.

Normally, an apostle's soul strength is merely that of a mortal.

But this apostle before us has a basic soul strength of Legendary 6.5, indicating he should be a "holy follower" of some demon‑god.

A holy follower is an apostle who himself has reached the Legendary realm.

Normally such individuals are highly valued by the demon‑gods and usually serve as their top emissaries in the mortal realm.

They are comparable to the cardinals of the Earth's God‑church.

Having encountered him, we naturally ought to greet him and clarify his identity and purpose.

So he approached the man and sent a psychic whisper: "Buddy, are you a planar travel mage?"

The young man's face showed a hint of surprise; he clearly hadn't expected to be exposed.

He turned his head to look at Luosen, examined him carefully, then wore a look of confusion: "Who are you?"

"I am the guardian of Mei Da Xilin, serving the Empress, eliminating any destabilizing factors for her."

The young man's eyes lit up with realization: "I am Glenfil, apostle of the mighty god Naili."

Luosen's heart stirred slightly, and Laifu immediately retrieved Naili's data.

"'Lord of the Dream‑God Realm, nicknamed the Dream Lord, soul strength Legendary 14.'"

"Then what is your purpose?"

Glenfil gave a light smile: "My purpose is to turn comedy into tragedy."

As he spoke, Luosen saw the sky quickly darken, with clouds swiftly gathering into a vortex; as the vortex spun, thunder rolled and lightning flashed like snakes.

It was as if the world were ending.

Luosen's heart gave a slight jolt: "Is this the Dream Lord's dream domain? Interesting!"

The dream domain is the ultimate skill of a level‑14 Dream Lord.

(End of chapter)