Chapter 928: March into the Abyss

After conquering the Seain Plateau, Lei En did not immediately, as he had promised at the Supreme Council, annex the plateau into the Empire's territory.

He wasn't trying to renege, but was waiting for a better moment.

The purposes of unifying the plateau were several: first, the mining resources; second, to develop believers for Jiliiman and help His awakening. Those two goals were the most important; only after that would he announce the territorial expansion to the Empire's populace to boost his own achievements.

If he only made an announcement without delivering tangible benefits to the Empire, the boost to his prestige would be limited.

Therefore he must wait until his rule over the plateau is solidified, roughly securing those mining resources, and then see whether the plateau can drive development of the Empire's western border provinces.

This requires time and planning; it cannot be done instantly.

Lei En is not in a hurry.

He left a portion of the legion to Malius to handle the Mataqi tribe's affairs: rebuilding tribal order, suppressing resistance, taking over all Mataqi lands, establishing a temple to Jiliiman, and gradually reshaping their faith, among other tasks.

Those steps have been carried out many times with other tribes, and Malius handles them deftly, unlikely to make mistakes.

The only concern is that behind the Mataqi tribe stands the Green Dragon King; to prevent the sudden lethal strike of Zhanqing, Lei En decided to leave the Star Destroyer behind as well.

The Star Destroyer hovered high above Bakhahalu, activating an Invisibility Field, making it undetectable to ordinary people.

The massive warship can also serve as a legion base.

Conveniently, the Star Destroyer has no home port yet; the half‑plane will construct a new ship soon, leaving nowhere to dock, so temporarily staying over the plateau still serves a purpose.

A few days later, news that the Consul's legion had unified the Seain Plateau spread through the Empire, sparking some discussion, but the imperial authorities made no formal announcement; the plateau is too far from the Empire's populace to cause a major stir, and it soon quieted down.

The battle of Bakhahalu City was deliberately censored by Lei En.

Thus, rumors about the Star Destroyer in the Empire consist only of uncertain snippets; aside from eyewitnesses, no one in the imperial upper echelons knows.

That is exactly the result Lei En wanted.

Although many have seen the Star Destroyer and it cannot be hidden forever, the later its exposure, the better; as long as no one has seen it directly, mere rumors are insufficient to alert the enemy.

As time passed, the changes on the Seain Plateau were gradually forgotten.

Three months later, at the onset of winter.

Lei En once again covertly arrived at Kalanos's main keep to receive Malius's report.

This time, his younger brother Kalodi did not come to see him; he had already been promoted to Senior Holy Lance Knight and was recently reassigned back to Gotham City.

"Sir."

Facing him, Malius removed the helmet of his power armor, his face breaking into uncontrollable joy, and shouted, "We have fully subdued the Mataqi tribe; now in Bakhahalu City, public worship of the Mother of the Evil Dragon is no longer visible. About twenty percent of the Mataqi have returned to Jiliiman's embrace, willing to follow our lord and restore His glory."

Lei En gave a noncommittal smile.

The Mataqi have worshiped Tiayasis for centuries, their belief deeply rooted; converting them is extremely difficult. Under the high‑pressure rule of the Limit Brigade, the Mataqi outwardly abandoned the Dragon Mother faith, but privately it remains otherwise.

Those barbarians who claim to be willing to convert to Jiliiman are few in genuine sincerity, and the faith power they can provide Jiliiman will not be much.

This is not a matter of a single generation; it will take at least a generation to fully reverse.

"Has He sent down a divine oracle?" Lei En asked.

The "He" he referred to is, of course, Jiliiman; it's been almost two years, and Jiliiman's followers have surged by millions. Even if most are shallow believers, the cumulative effect should produce some results.

"Not yet, sir."

Malius shook his head, his expression shifting from joy to solemn; in truth, he too was waiting for Jiliiman to contact him.

Logically, with such an influx of faith power, Jiliiman's awakening should have accelerated and communications increased, but since that night when he decided to cooperate with you, He has not transmitted a single word.

This made Malius worry that something had happened to Jiliiman; he returned to the Astat Temple many times to investigate, but found nothing.

He wishes Lei En would go personally.

But without Jiliiman's permission, Malius dares not reveal the deity's true form on his own, so he keeps it bottled up.

"Then we shall wait a bit longer," Lei En pretended ignorance, while actually being fully aware of Malius's thoughts.

Whether Jiliiman awakens, or when, is irrelevant to him.

In fact, he hopes Jiliiman remains asleep forever.

At present, the most important matter is another thing—

Acquiring source crystals!

The Star Destroyer's teleportation, levitation, and flight power all derive from the Iola Core; as long as it does not fire, the source crystal consumption is minimal, almost negligible. During the past two or three months hovering over Bakhahalu and occasionally patrolling the plateau, it has used very little source crystal.

However, the power armor consumes source crystals daily, and its numbers have risen to 130 sets, with consumption steadily increasing.

Currently, the largest source of source crystals is the Augustus Principality's mithril mine; after years of extraction and cost‑free overproduction, it peaked the year before last, yielding nearly 8,000 pounds of source crystals, but since last year, mithril and source crystal output has begun to decline.

Within three years, that mithril mine will be exhausted.

The next source is purchases.

The source crystal mines produced by the Kangjiatuo Kingdom and the Empire have been almost entirely bought up, and source crystals, which previously had limited use, have become highly sought after in recent years.

Some saw a business opportunity, scavenging source crystal mines from various Old Continent nations and selling them to the Empire, reaping huge profits.

This drove the Prime Material Plane's source crystal market upward, with prices soaring severalfold, yet even the wealthy find it hard to purchase.

Lei En now has plenty of money and does not care about price.

Even if source crystal prices rose tenfold, he could easily buy as much as he wants, but the amount available to purchase is dwindling.

So money is not the issue; the real problem is the lack of mines.

Over ten thousand years ago, the Giant Empire mined across most of the Prime Material Plane and neighboring governed planes; after millennia of relentless source crystal extraction, the vast majority of mines have long been exhausted.

Lei En's stock still holds over 30,000 pounds of source crystals, possibly accounting for more than eighty percent of all extracted source crystals worldwide.

Yet these source crystals would sustain at most five years.

This calculation only covers power‑armor consumption; if the Star Destroyer joins a war with intensity comparable to the battle of Bakhahalu City, after perhaps four or five engagements the source crystal stock would be depleted.

The Titan Furnace's source crystal consumption is far higher than expected.

Moreover, the energy release of source crystals is an order of magnitude lower than anticipated, and compared to the nuclear reactors of the previous era, its output is two orders of magnitude lower.

Fortunately, the Titan Furnace's energy output is sufficient; the Star Cannon reaches Ten‑ring Spell power, and as long as the source crystal supply issue is solved, the Star Destroyer's design is successful, maintaining mobility and firepower superiority over the Fu Kong Cheng.

But how to solve it?

Since the Black Robe Duke, outside Bakhalu City, first spotted the Star Destroyer's greatest flaw, Lei En has been pondering the issue.

Recently I met with the teacher, and the teacher also asked about it with concern.

For this, Lei En went specially to the Storm Temple.

He consulted Titan Elder Sorim, obtained a map of the Giant Empire's territories from the Second Era, and the planes ruled by the giants.

After looking at the map and the plane catalog, Lei En felt helpless.

In its heyday the Giant Empire ruled almost the whole Prime Material Plane; the earth belonged to giants, the sky to dragons. To maintain rule, the giants mined all the source crystals in their domain clean, so now any source crystal found is merely residue leaking through the giants' fingers.

The regeneration period of source crystals is extremely long, over a hundred thousand years, making it almost impossible to find more source crystal veins in the Prime Material Plane or neighboring planes.

Thus, Lei En can only set his sights beyond the Prime Material Plane.

The first thing that came to mind was the bottomless Abyss!

He has a spacetime coordinate he bought years ago from the lord of Heistav in Thus: Thus: Thus: Shengangcheng, pointing to layer 404 of the Abyss; Heistav said that when passing this layer he discovered an open‑pit mine abundant in source crystals, with a huge reserve.

An open‑pit source crystal mine—just passing by you can tell the reserve is huge…

Such mines only existed in the Prime Material Plane before the Giant Empire rose, showing that Abyssal demons do not understand the value of source crystals.

Most importantly, the Giant Empire never set foot in the Abyss.

Besides the Abyss, there is also the Heaven Realm!

These two worlds, each a hundred times larger than the Prime Material Plane, must contain countless source crystal veins; even at the Giant Empire's peak they could not reach them.

The Heaven Realm is inhabited by deities and the Celestial race, countless strong ones, each Heaven Realm plane has its own master.

Likewise, the bottomless Abyss is filled with countless demons.

The ancient Abyssal Four Gods rule countless layers of the Abyss, more terrifying than the Heaven Realm; even without invasion, any creature daring to enter the Abyss, if careless, will have its mind polluted by ubiquitous evil energy and become an Abyssal monster.

Both places can yield large amounts of source crystals.

Titan Elder Sorim's words hinted at this, but the demigod Sorim dares not go.

As long as you avoid deities or Abyssal Lords, demigods face no danger. But mining source crystals is a long‑term task; one demigod is insufficient, you need mining equipment, miners, and a whole logistics chain—not something you can just start or stop at will.

The giants in the Storm Temple number only a few hundred, far too few to support a mining project.

Over time the noise will attract powerful enemies sooner or later.

Lei En can solve the problems of mining equipment, miners, and transport; anything Titan Elder cannot do is easy for him.

Yet he also worries about meeting strong foes.

Marious saw Lei En deep in thought, thought he was still considering Jili Man's matter, and softly said, "Lord, although my master did not pass down a divine decree, I know His condition has turned, so there should be no problem."

"What I'm thinking has nothing to do with Jili Man," Lei En shook his head and explained.

He glanced at the Extreme Corps Leader and asked, "Marious, between the Heaven Realm and the Abyss, if you had to pick one to attack, which would you choose?"

Attack the Heaven Realm or the Abyss!

Marious was so startled he almost jumped, thinking he had misheard.

"Lord, are you joking?"

"I'm speaking seriously."

Lei En's expression grew serious, "Both the Star Destroyer and the powered armor consume source crystals, but my supply is dwindling; only the Heaven Realm and the Abyss have them. We must choose one source: either ascend to the Heaven Realm or descend into the Abyss."

"This…" Marious's eyes widened to circles.

He certainly knows how vital source crystals are—both the Star Destroyer and the powered armor depend on them—but did not expect them to be so hard to obtain.

For a mortal legion, invading either the Heaven Realm or marching into the Abyss would be unprecedented.

It would be a glorious achievement worthy of the annals!

Thinking of this, Marious's heart trembled, an uncontrollable excitement surged.

He took a deep breath, tried to calm himself, thought a moment, and replied, "Lord, if we must choose, I choose the Abyss!"

Lei En laughed at once, unsurprised by the answer.

Yet he still asked, "Why?"

"The Abyss is the enemy!"

Marious said resolutely, "Slaying Abyssal demons will bring greater glory to the Extreme Warrior, a supreme radiant feat!"

He paused, then lowered his voice, "And the Heaven Realm races are mortal allies in name; invading them could anger the gods, bring unpredictable consequences, damage the Extreme Warrior's reputation, and if it spreads, affect your prestige in the Empire."

"Though the Abyss is more dangerous, I prefer to fight demons!"

Seeing Lei En's expression, Marious immediately exclaimed, "Lord, have you already chosen the target? Which layer of the Abyss shall we attack?"

"Layer 404, Sighing Wilderness," Lei En answered calmly.

That is the name he found for that Abyss layer; useful data are scarce, few have gone there, and it is obscure even in the bottomless Abyss. The Sighing Wilderness is not large, about three or four Empire provinces, a hellish plane of the Lord of Chaos, but never birthed an Abyssal Lord, likely ignored; the most common demon type there is the vampire.

No further information was available.

"Sighing Wilderness!"

Marious had never heard of this Abyss layer, yet he felt no fear, even eager, and asked, "Lord, when do we set out?"

Battle!

A blood‑pumping battle!

It is the instinct flowing in every Makurag's blood; if not for being clan chief bearing the duty of reviving Jili Man's glory, Marious would rather be a front‑line warrior than a high‑ranking ruler.

"It should be soon."

Lei En said seriously, "The Abyss campaign must be cautious; I have already sent scouts into the Abyss. Within half a month we should have results; tell the brothers to prepare for a long‑term fight."

"Yes, Lord!" Marious replied loudly.

He seemed to already picture Extreme Warriors slaying demons in the Abyss, his whole blood boiling.

Finally in the zone, huh…

You don't know how I got here these past two days; I was sleepless until after 5 a. m. last night, my mind was hazy. I'll continue writing Chapter Two…

(End of chapter)