Chapter 933: Daybreak

Hearing Lei En's words, Ai Luotixiya was startled.

Her footprints span over a dozen Abyssal Planes; she sighs that the Sighing Wasteland is one of the smallest planes, with the fewest demons, yet even there, the number of vampires in the Black Thorn Forest reaches hundreds of thousands!

Eliminating so many vampires is not easy.

However, the succubus thinks of Lei En's great power and this Star Destroyer; although she hasn't seen its might firsthand, she can imagine it must be terrifying. What others cannot achieve may not be difficult for Lei En.

She is eager to witness the Star Destroyer's power, and as a Holy Sword Knight, she will not miss any chance to eradicate evil, so she asks, "Lei En, may I join?"

"No problem."

Lei En cheerfully agreed, "But I won't act immediately; I will wait until this mine's output stabilizes before moving."

Ai Luotixiya says she can wait, then asks curiously, "The mine is already well concealed, hard for vampires to detect; the previous vampires were cleared out and won't track here. Why do you want to eliminate them? Aren't you afraid of exposing the mine's existence?"

"Do humans need a reason to eliminate demons?" Lei En retorts earnestly.

"I understand."

Ai Luotixiya nods slightly, looking deeply convinced, her eyes full of admiration.

Lei En almost bursts into laughter.

He bears no grudge against vampires, and unlike a Holy Sword Knight, he does not see eradicating evil as his duty; the sole motive for clearing the Sighing Wasteland is to harvest souls.

In the Prime Material Plane, the vast majority of intelligent races have faith and cannot indiscriminately absorb.

If the number is small, stealthily taking a few souls is manageable, but once the count grows, it becomes hard to hide from the deities they worship. The souls of believers are nourishment for the gods; devouring them is absolutely taboo, and if exposed, even the God of Magic would not support him.

Since understanding the stakes, Lei En has rarely absorbed enemies' souls.

Currently, there are two main sources of energy: one is the frontline at Gotham City, slaying the frequently invading Undead Army and harvesting undead souls, though the amount is limited and unstable.

The second is monsters from the Remnant Sun Plane, scattered across the vast desert and hard to locate.

In short, these two sources are insufficient.

Long ago, Lei En realized the Abyss is the best energy source. The Abyss contains billions of demons, countless as the sands of the Ganges; even killing millions, tens of millions, or even billions of demons is but a drop in the Abyss.

Demons slaughter each other, and larger-scale blood wars rage endlessly.

At every moment, the number of Abyss demons fluctuates—rebirth, reshaping, promotion, or death—so the disappearance of millions of demons does not attract the attention of the Abyssal Four Gods.

In Lei En's view, the bottomless Abyss is an inexhaustible treasury.

The endless demon souls are even more alluring than source crystals; the Star Destroyer and the Extreme Warband's advance into the Abyss aim primarily to harvest souls!

Of course, only he knows this secret.

Outwardly, a grandiose justification is still needed: advancing into the Abyss to eliminate evil, a lofty ideal every mortal yearns for but cannot attain. If this becomes known, no one will doubt his motives, and it remains beyond reproach.

Whoever dares question the legitimacy of demon extermination becomes the target of a thousand accusations.

"The mine may need a few more days to stabilize its output," Lei En rose from the metal chair and said, "Ai Luotixiya, I'll arrange a room for you."

As he spoke, he opened a teleportation portal.

The two entered the portal and emerged in a spacious, bright corridor, located in the accommodation zone on the Star Destroyer's sixth level.

He pushed open a metal door ahead and stepped inside; before his eyes was a three‑room, one‑hall suite, simply yet elegantly arranged, with bed, desk, chairs, bathroom, a meditation room and a study, and one wall that could project the view outside the Star Destroyer—extremely convenient.

Lei En led the succubus Holy Sword Knight around the suite, showing her how to use the facilities, and whispered, "The conditions are modest; sorry to have you stay a few days."

"Having a safe place in the Abyss is the most luxurious thing," Ai Luotixiya said gratefully.

She looked around the suite, finding everything novel.

"If anything arises, or you need anything, just call my name; as long as I'm on the Star Destroyer, I'll hear you," Lei En noticed the succubus's gaze linger on the bathroom, chuckled inwardly, thinking a cleanliness‑obsessed demon likely stems from her angelic past.

Having said that, he politely stepped out of the room.

A moment later.

Ai Luotixiya returned to the bridge feeling fresh, now wearing a fitted dark‑red leather outfit that accentuated her stunning curves, leather boots on her feet, violet‑red curls draped over her shoulders, and a hint of embarrassment on her flawless face.

Lei En sat in his chair, watching the mine's operations continue, turned his head to glance at the succubus, a smile appearing on his face.

A set of tables and chairs rose from the bridge floor.

Lei En walked over, raised his hand, and the table was already laden with various delicacies and juices; then, very gentlemanly, he pulled out a chair, "Ladies first, please sit."

"Thank you," Ai Luotixiya whispered a breath as she sat down.

Lei En sat opposite her, "I'm also hungry, please don't hold back."

Ai Luotixiya saw him start feasting, so she dropped her restraint and ate with Lei En. After just a couple of bites, her eyes lit up; she hadn't tasted such delicious food in ages, and unconsciously she quickened her pace.

In less than ten minutes, the entire table of food was devoured in a whirlwind.

Actually, Lei En wasn't hungry at all; after a few bites he slowed down, and most of the food went into the succubus's stomach.

"Are you full?" Lei En asked with a smile.

Ai Luotixiya nodded repeatedly with great satisfaction, looking at the messy table, her face slightly flushed, grateful that Lei En was considerate and didn't tease her.

"We have plenty of time," Lei En cleared the table and brought out two glasses of red wine, "I would like to ask you about the Abyss; any questions you have about the Prime Material Plane, feel free to ask me."

"Can I ask anything?" the succubus asked, anticipation in her eyes.

She had heard from her teacher that Holy Soul Wizards are the most erudite mortals in the world; their thirst for knowledge is endless, and any question posed to a Holy Teach Wizard is almost always answered, though such opportunities are rare.

Lei En nodded, "Sure."

"Alright!"

Ai Luotixiya's heart fluttered, and she immediately asked her biggest curiosity, "Lei En, how did you become a Holy Soul Wizard at such a young age and also serve as a Consul of the Empire? Moreover, you seem like a powerful warrior, with none of the wizard's frailty?"

"Hahaha... that's a long story," Lei En laughed.

"We have plenty of time," the succubus replied slyly.

Lei En was momentarily stunned, silently admiring the succubus's cleverness without scheming. His Soul Eye saw that this was her nature, never turned bitter from past hardships, always maintaining an optimistic spirit.

Perhaps because of that, she can, in a succubus's body, become a Holy Sword Knight.

"I could become the youngest Holy Soul Wizard in history before thirty, of course thanks to my great talent..."

Lei En replied evenly, "Becoming a Consul was also widely expected. As for looking like a warrior, that's because I'm a Battle Wizard."

"Battle Wizard?" Ai Luo Ti Xi Ya had never heard the teacher mention.

"This is one of the three major Wizard schools..." Lei En explained as simply as possible.

Time passed unnoticed.

In the Sighing Wilderness there is no distinction between day and night; the sky is forever shrouded in thick clouds, and one can only judge the approximate time by the faint changes in light intensity.

One week later.

The Thundercast Celestial Soldiers had long set up the camouflage array and the evil‑energy shielding field, covering the entire mining area; outside, a sky of sand dust swirled, and unless one barreled straight into the mine, it was almost impossible to detect any mortal activity within this sandstorm.

The dwarf artificers had already installed the mining equipment and began excavating from the third day.

They only handled extraction; the barbarians transported the mined ore to a massive workshop spanning several thousand square meters, where the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers processed it.

Each Thundercast Celestial Soldier possesses "metallic touch" and "activated metal", functioning like the most efficient smelting furnaces, separating iron ore from impurities and melting them into high‑purity iron ingots. Of course, the most important thing is refining the source crystals from the ore!

In just three or four days, the refined source crystals exceeded ten thousand pounds!

Lei En was very pleased with this result.

Moreover, the dwarf artificers surveyed the whole mine and preliminarily judged that the source crystal ore reserves were at least one million pounds; further digging would surely yield more.

Ultimately it could reach two million pounds!

This is undoubtedly a super source‑crystal‑rich mine; even during the Giant Empire era, mines with such massive reserves were few enough to rank in the top five. Though deeper excavation raises difficulty and gradually reduces yield, for a long period there will be no need to worry about source crystal supply.

Lei En felt extremely cheerful.

The Abyss surely contains more than this one source‑crystal mine; more can be found later.

With so much source crystal, even if the entire Extreme Warrior Corps of six hundred members were all equipped with power armor, the source crystal supply would be more than sufficient.

And the Star Destroyer can also be built without restraint!

Three or four ships are not too few; seven or eight are not too many.

Adhering to the principle "bigger is beautiful, more is good", the Star Destroyer's size will only keep growing, and the number of turrets will increase as well, eventually forming a fleet!

Lei En placed the refined source‑crystal rod into the Titan Furnace's storage room, returned to the bridge, and at a glance saw a succubus sitting by the window, propping her chin as she watched the bustling mine.

Ai Luo Ti Xi Ya sprang to her feet, "Lei En, you're here! Shall we continue talking about Gotham City and the Cataclysmic Legion's war today?"

These past days, she had received a great deal of knowledge from Lei En.

The topics spanned the Prime Material Plane, the Empire, the transcendent, Wizards, New Era history, magical knowledge, psychic arts, elves and dwarves, the gods' grudges, and so on—nothing was left out. She finally believed the teacher's words: the Holy Soul Wizard is the most erudite mortal in the world, and Lei En is among the very best.

Lei En not only mastered dozens of languages and scripts, but also understood astronomy, geography, history, magic, music, art, and countless other fields…

The succubus even got the illusion that Lei En knows everything!

As long as she posed a question, Lei En could easily give an answer, offering her insight or opening her eyes wide.

She was like a sponge, greedily absorbing knowledge nutrients from Lei En.

Ai Luo Ti Xi Ya once suspected that Lei En was an incarnation of the God of Magic, and that only VijesCui, who holds the divine office of "Knowledge", could wield such vast understanding; Lei En honestly told her he was merely mortal, with just a little extra knowledge in his mind.

Even so, her reverence for Lei En was almost divine.

However, what she liked hearing most was still about Lei En himself—how he grew stronger step by step, the heroic deeds during the Empire's rise.

"We won't talk about Gotham City any more."

Lei En sat on the chair in the middle of the bridge, smiled and said, "You can go to Gotham City yourself for a tour; we have more important matters to attend to today."

Ai Luo Ti Xi Ya perked up, "Are you going to start exterminating the vampires?"

"Hmm."

Lei En nodded, lightly tapped the floating glass screen before him, and commanded the Star Destroyer to ascend.

In fact, he could have controlled the Star Destroyer purely with his mind, staying still and getting it done, but he preferred manual operation; sitting idle was too boring.

Life needs a sense of ceremony, and piloting the Star Destroyer is also.

Lei En left three Extreme Warriors without power armor at the mine, took along one hundred twenty Extreme Warriors and one thousand Holy Lance Knights, plus a dozen Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, to disperse after the battle began and cover the entire battlefield to absorb souls.

Boom—, the Star Destroyer broke out of the camouflage array, continued soaring upward, and accelerated toward the north of the Sighing Wilderness.

Very quickly it burst out of the sandstorm, speed increasing, and with a deafening roar it vanished.

The next second.

The Star Destroyer appeared a thousand li away; ahead lay the only barely survivable Black Thorn Forest in the Sighing Wilderness, and ten or so miles further a grim castle perched in the twisted forest, bloodlust soaring, with vampires moving about.

The Star Destroyer, hidden by the Invisibility Field, was unseen, but its high‑speed flight generated a huge noise; the vampires' keen hearing made them all look up toward the sky.

More vampires poured out of the castle, led by a Vampire Count.

It stared at the Star Destroyer's direction; beneath the dim clouds the sky was empty yet rang with thunder‑like booms, a puzzled expression on its face. The Vampire Count shouted orders, and hundreds of mid‑ and low‑rank vampires transformed into a swarm of bats, taking flight to investigate the sound.

However, when the bat swarm was halfway, a massive beam of light suddenly burst forth.

The sky over the Sighing Wilderness lit up!

(End of Chapter)