Chapter 266 Thirty Years
Time flies like a white horse passing by, and thirty years have passed quietly in the battle of planes.
The airspace plane is now completely covered by the mark of wizard civilization.
However, the expected resource depletion did not occur, and the development boom did not subside. Instead, it showed a deformed and almost boiling prosperity.
Thanks to the almost infinite abundance of wind elements, this plane exhibits all kinds of incredible characteristics.
The vast expanse of space lost the constraints of gravity, and everything was suspended, giving the entire plane's explorable area an additional dimension.
What is even more amazing is that those space-distorted areas that are scattered everywhere, like scars on the plane, are constantly giving birth to new small spaces inside.
Every newly created small space is like an independent ecological bubble.
It contains unique resource spectrums and bizarre biological communities, like treasure chests randomly scattered in the universe.
It is this peculiar phenomenon of near "renewable" nature that has prevented wizards from fully understanding the entirety of this plane despite thirty years of frantic mining.
The floating city of the wizard camp is no longer what it used to be.
It expanded several times, like a giant metal beast entrenched in the void.
At the very top of the floating city, the atmosphere was violently distorting, forming a huge, slowly rotating energy vortex, emitting heart-pounding spatial fluctuations - the world teleportation array was about to be connected!
This project was supposed to be completed more than ten years later, but with the personal intervention of the seventh-level wizard Dionysius Spencer, the progress was forced to be advanced.
The reason for such urgency is that the "richness" of this plane is far beyond expectations, and the mountains of harvest are almost overwhelming the frontier base.
The central square, which has been expanded countless times, now looks more like a chaotic and huge distribution center for supplies.
Countless creatures of various shapes and forms, some curled up docilely, while others violently rammed into the cage.
Colorful minerals with different energy reactions are piled up in mountains, and there are also some indescribable rare resources that emit strange light or fluctuations.
At the edge of the square, thick metal chains extended out, tying up more giant iron cages that were suspended in the clouds outside the city, filled with living creatures.
Even beyond the plane rift, one could see cages piled up on the ground of the opposite ship plane, stretching endlessly like new mountains.
In order to maintain the vitality of these precious living specimens, millions of constructed puppets shuttle between temporary space gates like worker ants every day. They carry precious space magic weapons and transport massive amounts of nutrients from the rear base, performing what may be the most luxurious "feeding" work in the world.
The early opening of the world teleportation array was like opening a floodgate for a blocked river. A steady stream of resources were efficiently transported back to the core area of the wizard civilization, which slightly alleviated the storage pressure on the front line.
The wizards, on the other hand, became even more frantically busy.
Every wizard is like a clockwork machine, desperately pursuing merit and resources.
In this plane without any level six creatures, the local forces were unable to organize an effective resistance and could only allow these "extraterritorial demons" to plunder endlessly like wolves and tigers.
One day, a streak of light passed through the thin clouds and approached the floating city.
It was Benjamin.
Behind him dragged a string of giant cages connected by thick iron chains, filled with strange creatures captured during a recent exploration: some were shaped like floating jellyfish, but gleaming with a metallic luster, while others were like birds made of pure energy, their chirping causing tiny ripples in space.
Thanks to the zero-gravity environment of the airspace plane, he was able to drag back this huge harvest so "roughly" at once.
After handing over this long list of "trophies" to the alchemy puppet that came over, Benjamin was too lazy to even go to the market to slowly look for buyers.
He left enough research samples and sent them to his long-term rented warehouse, and sold the rest in bulk to the camp officials directly through the magic network terminal at a price slightly lower than the market price but in an extremely fast way.
I have to say that Lord Dionysius Spencer's plan is indeed far-reaching.
Although this official recycling mechanism does not offer much profit, it greatly improves the efficiency of wizards' operations.
This allows them to engage in the next round of plundering missions more quickly, forming an efficient closed loop.
Walking on the now crowded streets inside the floating city, Benjamin slowed down his pace and silently observed everything around him.
The noise filled the ears, wizards of various shapes and sizes were hurrying around, and energy fluctuations were intertwined.
In front of the bulletin board, wizards kept accepting tasks and loudly recruiting temporary teammates on the spot.
After a brief negotiation, they signed a soul contract, formed a team, and transformed into streams of light, rushed out of the protective shield of the floating city, and disappeared into the depths of the colorful plane.
The effects of more than 30 years of unrestrained plundering are obvious.
The wizard civilization's terrifying resource digestion and transformation capabilities, comparable to those of the Zerg, were fully demonstrated at this moment.
Benjamin clearly remembered that at the beginning of the expedition, more than 98% of the team were first- and second-level wizards, and third-level wizards were rare.
But now, walking on the streets, the presence of third-level wizards can be seen almost everywhere. A rough perception shows that their proportion is probably close to one-third of the total!
At this point, Benjamin also understood why the wizard civilization divided the training of wizards into two types: logistics and combat.
The Logistics Department is stronger, but requires higher qualifications and the promotion process is relatively stable... or it can be said to be slow.
Although the combat system is not as strong as the logistics system at the same level, its unique training method enables it to have a strong enough ability to digest and absorb resources. Once it has enough resources, it can quickly improve and gain immediate combat effectiveness.
It can be said that the logistics department is indeed a serious elite unit, but the combat department is not pure cannon fodder.
Of course, behind the glory is cruel elimination.
During these thirty years, more than ten percent of wizards perished forever in this foreign land due to various reasons - spatial traps, violent creatures, and even betrayal by their companions.
Although most of these newly promoted third-level wizards have insufficient knowledge accumulation and are unable to fully exert the strength that their power level should have.
However, the huge base and the number of newcomers have increased the overall strength of the expeditionary force.
Looking at this bustling scene full of vitality and greed, there was an indelible doubt in Benjamin's heart.
Such a plundering method of draining the pond to catch fish is fundamentally harmful to this airspace plane.
It is no exaggeration to say that even if the wizard Dionysius Spencer wanted to re-release the acquired creatures after the war, the ecology of this plane would never be able to recover in hundreds or thousands of years.
For the wizard civilization, which has always been good at "sustainable exhaustion of fish in the pond", this behavior of almost killing the chicken to get the eggs seems extremely abrupt and wasteful.
"The only explanation..." Jemin cast his gaze towards the increasingly clear vortex of the world teleportation array at the top of the floating city, thinking to himself, "The true purpose of this Lord Spencer's expedition is of value far beyond a single plane."
Combined with the other party's meaningful "appetizer" from his early years, Benjamin could understand the meaning.
But he still couldn't imagine what kind of existence or thing could be worth more than the long-term benefits of an entire rich plane?
"Even if there is another more valuable plane, there is no reason to completely abandon this plane that we have already gained preliminary control of... Unless, that 'target' is not another plane, but something... Once obtained, there is no need to care about these 'ordinary' resources?" Benjamin's thoughts surged, but he quickly suppressed them.
He knew very well that the planning and vision of a seventh-level wizard were far beyond his current level of ability to guess and question.
There is no benefit in making unwarranted guesses.
After strolling around the temporary stalls in the square for a few rounds and purchasing several rare crystal minerals with peculiar energy structures, as well as biological samples suspected of possessing special abilities, Benjamin returned to his temporary residence for a short day's rest, sorting out his recent gains and insights.
Then, he opened the magic network terminal again and skillfully screened the task list.
Soon, a task titled "Exploring the newly discovered abnormal energy reaction source of the large-scale space fold 'Eye of the Storm'" attracted his attention.
The mission has a high risk rating, but the merit rewards are also extremely generous, and there may be unrecorded rare species or special rule phenomena.
Without much hesitation, Benjamin accepted the task.
A moment later, a stream of light shot out from the floating city again, heading towards the vast plane without hesitation.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
