Chapter 886: Star Destroyer Progress

In the subplane, Lei En floated in midair, observing.

Two years ago, he installed the Origin Crystal deep beneath the God of Magic statue, used the Iola Core to sustain its existence, and reengineered this subplane into a zero‑gravity environment that simulates space, beginning to carry out his grand plan.

This is a genuine Star Destroyer!

It is still unfinished, overall progress under 30%, and the ship's intricate interior can be seen directly. Hundreds of Thundercast Celestial Soldiers are busy on successive decks, fusing various metals, shaping them to the required dimensions, then joining them together.

Each Thundercast Celestial Soldier is a legendary Wizard, physically robust and tireless, with a copy of a Mutated Phone in their mind, the ship's schematics clear to them; they need no tools, measuring data precisely with just their eyes.

No engineer in the world surpasses a Thundercast Celestial Soldier.

Their efficiency rivals that of hundreds of engineers from a past life; crucially, they require no payment, each works the relentless 996 schedule, even the 007 overtime!

Moreover, they cooperate perfectly without communicating, as if they were one person.

In fact, they are the same individual.

Lei En monitors the Star Destroyer's progress at every moment; over the past two years, he has poured tens of millions of Gold Shields into its construction, nearly draining himself completely.

Yet the Star Destroyer is still far from completion.

It looks exactly as the one he saw in prophecy magic years ago: shaped like a massive triangular dagger, nearly six hundred meters long, the already‑built hull is silvery white, seamless, composed of seven concentric layers of armor made from different materials, each layer serving a distinct function.

The prototype "Empire‑class Star Destroyer" is 1,600 meters long; although this fantasy version is only one‑third that length, standing beneath it still makes one feel minuscule.

Lei En has considered building a larger Star Destroyer, but calculations show the difficulty is immense.

His Star Destroyer is essentially a Floating City.

The Iola Core serves as the primary power source; in the design, the Iola Core supplies energy for levitation, translocation, and teleportation, as well as the crucial defensive force field and various internal magical applications of the Floating City, but it does not partake in outward spell attacks.

The Star Destroyer's offense comes from the Titan Furnace!

Lei En's research on the Titan Furnace is extremely deep, far surpassing his understanding of the Iola Core; merging the two distinct energy systems is not easy.

This unprecedented massive project is so difficult that even with hundreds of Thundercast Celestial Soldiers assisting, he dares not claim it is guaranteed trouble‑free.

Because of prophecy magic, he knows he will ultimately succeed.

Yet because of prophecy magic, Lei En feels he should be cautious, first building a test vessel according to the prophetic information, reducing engineering difficulty and cost, while also shortening the schedule so the Star Destroyer can enter service and join combat promptly.

Once he fully masters shipbuilding technology, he will attempt to create an even larger, stronger, more advanced Star Destroyer.

Moreover, a six‑hundred‑meter Star Destroyer is already large enough.

The carrier from his past life was only a little over three hundred meters long, roughly half the length of his Star Destroyer.

Doubling the length multiplies volume and weight by about eight; a three‑hundred‑meter carrier carries four to six thousand crew, whereas a six‑hundred‑meter Star Destroyer can easily accommodate thirty thousand personnel.

Even all the Supernatural Legions under Lei En's command combined do not number that many.

In the Ai Lun E Si world where supernatural power is ubiquitous, combat modes differ completely from his past life; the future Star Destroyer will be a fully intelligent firepower output platform, not carrying that many crew. As long as its attack and defense are strong enough, it will have faster and higher mobility than a conventional Floating City, so it need not be built too large; enlarging it would increase cost and difficulty.

If the Star Destroyer were built exactly to the prototype, its weight would exceed one million tons!

Moreover, the overwhelming majority of it is metal structure.

Even if only a tiny fraction is magical alloy—less than 1%—the rest being ordinary steel, its cost is still unimaginably high.

Lei En calculated that the magical alloy alone is worth over 200 million Gold Shields, and the entire Star Destroyer's construction cost would exceed 300 million Gold Shields, which he cannot possibly bear.

Even if he had money, it wouldn't help, because many precious magical materials cannot be bought even with wealth.

In short: small has its merits, large has its merits.

However, for now, a six‑hundred‑meter length is optimal; this is the result of Lei En's repeated calculations, finding a balance among manufacturing difficulty, cost, and schedule.

At this moment, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers are like a swarm of worker ants, laboring day and night.

Lei En's arrival has no effect on them whatsoever.

His consciousness leapt into the Star Destroyer, appearing in a spacious compartment where several Thundercast Celestial Soldiers were calibrating the Titan Furnace. It looks identical to the Titan Furnace he saw in the Storm Temple, but it has been upgraded, controlled by a split‑brain crystal module, delivering finer and more powerful energy output than the original.

The compartment next to the Titan Furnace houses the Iola Core control room.

However, it is still empty now.

This is the Star Destroyer's biggest current problem: lacking an Iola Core. Without this energy core, the Star Destroyer is merely a metal lump that cannot move at all.

Lei En's original plan was to harness the surplus energy of the Iola Core within the God of Magic statue, using it during construction to calibrate and test the Star Destroyer's internal rune arrays, including defensive barriers, a massive anti‑gravity field, levitation, astral translocation, and interdimensional teleportation, among others.

He would calibrate while simultaneously fabricating a new Iola Core.

In emergencies, he could directly repurpose the Iola Core of the God of Magic statue.

But he did not expect the God of Magic to covet the surplus energy of the Iola Core; without consulting him, she altered the statue's rune array to respond to believers' prayers, granting Divine Technique.

This threw Lei En's plan into disarray.

Though he appeared calm at the unveiling ceremony, he was actually uneasy inside and temporarily does not want the God of Magic to discover the subplane and the Star Destroyer's existence.

Fortunately, the God of Magic did not notice.

Currently, Gotham City's population has not yet reached its limit; although it grows daily, there is still some surplus energy available for use.

Lei En can only reduce the testing frequency, trying not to affect the God of Magic statue's response to believers, which inevitably slows the Star Destroyer's construction progress. As Gotham City's population rises, testing opportunities for the Star Destroyer dwindle, until one day he dares not draw any energy at all.

The only solution is to fabricate a new Iola Core.

The cost to produce an Iola Core is about fifty million Gold Shields; Lei En has possessed one before, but lacks schematics and experience, and previously had no money.

Now the money issue is solved, but he still needs someone to help with fabrication and to learn the process.

Lei En immediately thought of his teacher.

The teacher has never actually fabricated an Iola Core—Weizelan inherited one—but having overseen the Floating City for over a thousand years, the teacher knows the Iola Core's structure inside out, so there will be no problem, and no one is more reliable.

"I can only trouble the teacher a bit."

Lei En swiftly decided that if the teacher finds it troublesome, he will pay a hardship fee of one million Gold Shields, which should be sufficient.

He poured out all the gold from the Nebula Ring, scattering it haphazardly on the ground.

Then he returned to the treasury inside Budiha Castle.

The Legendary Element Phase Walker enables Lei En to pinpoint distant spacetime coordinates accurately, and the "Interdimensional Teleportation" spell transports him directly to the target plane.

He also left a "phase coordinate" in the subplane, drastically shortening the casting time of Interdimensional Teleportation, allowing him to return to the subplane at any moment.

Repeatedly using interdimensional teleportation, Lei En shuttled between the treasury and the half‑plane.

After a dozen or so round trips, the entire royal treasure was emptied and piled on the ground of the half‑plane; there was no place safer and more concealed than here, and it didn't even require guards.

A moment later.

Lei En stepped out of the empty treasury, an invisible telekinetic hand pushing the metal doors shut, the magical gate reactivating and returning to its original state.

He passed through the random door back to the castle's main hall.

"Lord." Bu Diha hurried forward with a courteous greeting.

He saw Lei En with empty hands, surprise filling his eyes; he had thought that moving the treasure would take at least a day or two and require a large crew.

But looking at Lei En, it seemed as if it were already finished?

Lei En glanced at the future king of Guputa; his soul eye sensed that his emotions had calmed, shedding the excitement of a falling pie from the sky and the anxious hesitation, focusing solely on himself and clutching tightly to his own thigh.

"You've come to understand?" Lei En asked.

"Yes, my lord."

Bu Diha's expression was resolute as he shouted, "You have placed me on the throne; I have no way back. From now on, your Willpower is my Willpower. Whatever the Empire requires of the Guputa Kingdom, I will spare no effort to fulfill, and I will not dare to give any excuse."

He expressed unequivocally his willingness to serve as a puppet king.

Whether placed in a previous life or Ai Lun E Si, and regardless of the nation, Bu Diha's loyalty cannot escape the label of a 'traitor.'

Such opportunists are forever despised.

But Lei En didn't mind.

"Anyway, I'm not a Guputan, and Bu Diha isn't betraying my country; from my own standpoint, Bu Diha's treason can bring huge benefits."

"Bu Diha, you're a smart person, that's good," Lei En encouraged him with a few words.

That eased Bu Diha's mind.

Then Lei En asked, "How many transcendent beings can you still recruit in your domain? Is it enough to field a transcendent legion?"

"My lord, all my subordinates are dead, not a single one left," Bu Diha complained immediately, "My castle is also destroyed, my reputation will soon be ruined, and it will be hard to recruit transcendent beings in Guputa thereafter, plus I have no money…"

"Enough, enough," Lei En waved his hand, not wanting to hear more of his complaints.

Bu Diha's claim of having no men was true, but his claim of having no money was false.

Lei En didn't intend to expose him and said directly, "I will leave a few people to safeguard your safety until you become king. It will not exceed a month; the Empire's appointment for you will arrive within that time. During this month, you must also prepare yourself and consider what to do after becoming king."

"Thank you, my lord," Bu Diha said, looking overjoyed.

He thanked outwardly, but felt a little frightened inside.

The protection Lei En spoke of was actually surveillance over himself, yet he dared not harbor any thought of resistance, nor possessed any strength to resist.

"Duo Weite, you and a few brothers stay behind, thank you for your effort," Lei En casually assigned five Extreme Warriors and five Thundercast Celestial Soldiers.

"Got it, boss," the Extreme Warrior replied immediately.

Lei En did not linger in the castle; under Bu Diha's respectful gaze, he flew into the sky and soon vanished beyond the horizon. After leaving the castle, Reslin opened a teleportation gate to send everyone back to the outskirts of Banbei City, then used the Eight‑leaf Badge granted by Duke GreyEagle to teleport back to Flaniss Floating City.

Night had already fallen, and the looting in Banbei City had only just begun.

Lei En rested for a while on Eight‑leaf Square, then received Tim*Kenan's summons and returned to the tower's top‑floor hall.

This time, only three Holy Soul Wizards were present.

Ouroin Master and Howai Master had already returned to the Empire; Duke Silverstar and Storm Queen glanced at Lei En and left immediately.

They hurried to take their transcendent legion to Banbei City to make a fortune.

"The Supreme Council has already approved your proposal," Tim*Kenan said bluntly, "The Empire will, according to your idea, establish a trade company, fully responsible for managing trade between the Empire and the Secondary Continent, and will begin implementation when the new Consul takes office."

Lei En nodded, showing no surprise at all.

The proposal benefits the entire Empire; all factions can have a share, and even Duke Hong Shi would not balk at the money, so its passage is inevitable.

As for having the new Consul execute it, that is only natural.

The Consul's position is no longer in doubt; as the proposer, it is of course most fitting for me to carry it out.

"Lei En," Tim*Kenan called again.

"Master Kenan, please speak," Lei En said, looking at the Holy Soul Wizard's expression and guessing what he would say next. As one of the Empire's three great leaders, he clearly was uncomfortable with this behind‑the‑scenes deal, so he appeared a bit uneasy.

"Within the domain of Duke Longpis there are also some businesses, of considerable scale and doing well, but placed against the Empire's overall competitiveness they might be somewhat lacking," Tim*Kenan said, his wording very diplomatic.

Lei En instantly understood.

Sure enough, he coveted the huge profits of Secondary Continent trade, wanted exclusive rights to certain goods, but feared being outbid, so he spoke up first.

Holy Soul Wizards also need to earn a living, understandable.

Lei En chuckled inwardly, but said brightly, "Master Kenan, you may give me a list; any goods listed will grant the merchants of Longpis exclusive rights, but the number should not exceed ten items."

"Alright, I know how to balance it and won't make it difficult for you," Tim*Kenan smiled satisfactorily, "I will deliver this list to you within three days."

"By the way,"

Tim*Kenan suddenly recalled something, "What name are you preparing to give this company?"

Lei En seemed to have an answer already and replied immediately, "Empire Secondary Continent Trade Company."

(End of chapter)