Chapter 448: Surge in Nuclear Reserves and New Time-Space Portal!
Despite Lynn's almost perfect conditions tempting it, the shadow of the beast remained unmoved, restlessly growling within the ring of fire, its gaze filled with distrust.
"Or maybe we should just kill it!" Sanchez, who had lost a hand due to forcibly resisting the energy wave, angrily suggested.
In his view, although this peculiar monster had some utility, its threat level was too high. If it weren't for Lynn's unquenchable flames having a certain restraining effect on it, they might have had a hard time leaving today.
Keeping such a powerful beast in captivity could lead to significant casualties if not controlled properly.
Lynn also hesitated for a moment. After pondering for a while, he quickly thought that this guy seemed very interested in some novel, high-energy aggregates that it hadn't consumed before. So he decided to give it another try. He opened his hand, and a lead-wrapped sphere appeared in his palm.
As the lead layer was peeled away, a beautiful "ice crystal" was revealed.
This was extracted from water, cooled and stored, and was about to be used as tritium fuel for nuclear fusion! Like uranium, this stuff was radioactive, with a half-life of just 12.43 years!
If he wasn't mistaken, the shadow in front of him probably relied on absorbing alpha, beta, or gamma rays emitted by radioactive materials to supplement its energy or increase its size.
That tritium element was undoubtedly much more palatable than "hard" uranium!
Sure enough, upon seeing the ice crystal floating in Lynn's palm, the shadow immediately became restless, showing an extremely strong desire.Lynn smiled. It seemed that there was still hope. He then turned to Arlad and gave instructions.
"Go have someone bring some uranium ore over!"
...
In the following week, Lynn implemented his beast-taming plan in the uranium mine.
Although the shadow's ability to refine ore was important to them, Lynn would not be completely submissive. The best way to tame a beast was to reward and punish.
Moreover, the opponent's combat power was not to be underestimated. Its energy body had extremely destructive power and an unreasonable speed. Without relying on the terrifying properties of tritium, he really had no way to deal with it. If it could be thoroughly tamed, it would be a great help in dealing with the church.
Last time, relying on the sudden use of nuclear explosion magic to kill the incarnation of the false god, it might be difficult to succeed next time if the other party was prepared.
After a week of "friendly communication," the two sides finally established the most basic trust.
For the sake of convenience, Lynn also gave the other party a nice name.
Since it could devour nuclear fuel and release powerful energy waves from its mouth, it had some similarities to Godzilla from an ancient film.
So why not call it...
Muto!
Godzilla's archenemy!
Of course, during the full seven days, Lynn did not spend all his time on taming the beast. He also explored the uranium mine with Raphael and others.
The scene inside shocked Lynn. The closer to the depths, the stronger the radiation and the more concentrated the magic. There were many crystalline magic stones embedded in the walls and floors all around, shimmering with a faint blue light in the darkness. �
"Wow, we're going to make a fortune!" Raphael couldn't help but exclaim.
The value of a magic ore was self-evident. The reason why the council chose to establish a new home in the wizard's land was because they found a large reserve of magic crystal mines there.
It's just that after hundreds of years of mining, the reserves of internal magic stones have been depleted. If it weren't for this war, the council would not want to use its limited magic stone reserves.
Now that a new magic crystal mine has been discovered, it is undoubtedly great news!
Lynn's gaze was focused on the deeper part of the cave, where a large amount of magic was gathering. In the center, a strange magic node was formed, and a blue light shrouded the area about three meters outside the node, constantly circulating like a vortex...
Lynn understood that this was a visual phenomenon caused by spatial distortion!
"This is... a spatial portal?!" Lynn's expression was extremely solemn.
Arlad and others also noticed this magic node, but they were not as surprised as Lynn. After all, there is also a portal in the magic stone mine in the wizard's land, and most of these great wizards have been there.
But the portal in front of them was slightly different from the one in the wizard's land.
After pondering for a moment, Raphael speculated that this portal might be in a closed state.
There are two arguments.
First, there are not many magic beasts appearing in the mine (it may also be that the invading territory has been dealt with by Muto).
Secondly, the generated magic fluctuations are far less intense, and the resulting impact is very limited.
It should be noted that when the portal in the magic stone mine is not restricted, spatial distortions appear within a radius of a thousand meters.
Due to the scarcity of samples, Raphael couldn't be 100% sure.
While several great wizards were discussing whether the time-space node in front of them was in an active state, Lynn was thinking about another thing, that is, how this node was formed...
According to the council's speculation, it is possible that the excessive concentration of magic in this area affected the space-time, and even Lynn himself thought so before.
After all, he hadn't fully understood the characteristics of magic.
However, after seeing this so-called time-space node, another doubt arose in Lynn's mind...
With just a magic crystal mine, is it really enough to distort space-time to the point of creating a "door"?
Even the impact of the most central nuclear explosion on space-time is extremely limited.
Lynn vaguely thought of another possibility, but he didn't intend to tell Raphael and others...
"You came from over there, Muto?" Lord Lynn suddenly turned to the blue shadow beside him and asked.
The blue shadow did not respond, maintaining a very aloof posture.
Lord Lynn shook his head helplessly. The initial trust established over the course of a week was quite limited, merely preventing the other party from displaying strong hostility.
In fact, this fellow spent most of its time dormant, except when eating. It didn't pay much attention to him either. The only reason it agreed to bring them to its lair this time was because Lynn provided it with half a kilogram of tritium.
Having gnawed on 'hard bones' for so long, Muto was very interested in these 'soft' snacks. For now, Lynn could only 'manipulate' it through this method.
"Let's go back as soon as possible and report our findings here to the council," Lord Lynn said solemnly.
Raphael and the others nodded in agreement. Whether the time-space portal was open or not, it posed a significant threat. It was best to have those alchemists who were proficient in force field magic come and deal with it. The protection of the uranium mine also needed to be strengthened.
After cutting several pieces of magic crystal from the mine as samples, Lord Lynn did not linger any longer. He left the uranium mine with several grand wizards and immediately boarded an airship back to the City of Fire Oil.
Naturally, his new 'pet' Muto had to be brought along, because apart from himself, there was no one else in the mine who could suppress it. If any problems arose, such as sudden madness, everyone would be doomed.
But by doing so, the uranium ore needed to be transported to the City of Fire Oil for processing, which was time-consuming and laborious, but there was no better alternative.
...
After several hours of flying, the City of Fire Oil was already visible from afar.
Along the way, Lord Lynn kept an eye on Muto, fearing that it might have a stress reaction during its first flight.
Fortunately, the blue shadow was calmer than he had imagined, just lying on one side digesting the tritium it had just eaten, without any fear or anxiety.
It's just that its body temperature was too high, almost burning through the deck...
But it was normal to think about it. Since it was an energy body, it probably could fly without wings, and there was no possibility of being killed by falling.
The airship slowly descended into the City of Fire Oil. Just a week apart, Raphael almost thought he had come to another city when he walked down the airship.
With the combined effects of magic and technology, the entire City of Fire Oil was changing almost daily.
The main thoroughfares inside had been widened by almost twice their original size. The previously dilapidated and foul-smelling slums were now replaced by exquisite mansions. One-quarter of the reconstruction work had been completed, and the framework of the train station had also been erected. It was no longer just a few empty walls like when they left.
It was expected that when the railway was completed, the station would be perfectly finished.
Not only that, but in the month since they occupied the City of Fire Oil, over a hundred workshops had been established, employing tens of thousands of workers. After all, this was the frontline of the war, and it was most convenient to produce all kinds of materials locally.
A continuous stream of mist gushed out of the huge chimneys of the workshops. Lord Lynn was thinking whether the emitted exhaust gases could be reused through magic.
For example, the main emission, carbon dioxide, could be used to synthesize starch, solving part of the food production problem.
Lord Lynn was preparing to turn the City of Fire Oil, located within the Empire, into a model city. Through the passage of trade caravans, he aimed to undermine the faith of the Empire's subjects!
At first, Raphael and the others were a bit puzzled. Who would dare to trade with them, the wizards, risking the strictest ban in the history of the Empire and their own lives?
However, they were soon proven wrong. There were more caravans coming and going than they had imagined.
As Lord Lynn had said, merchants were not afraid of the law or being caught and hanged. What they feared was not having enough profit!
And that was undoubtedly available!
The glass, cloth, pottery, fine salt, and various novel and interesting alchemical creations produced in the City of Fire Oil were the most sought-after commodities in the Empire. As long as they could be smuggled back and sold at twice, even ten times the price, they could easily be sold!
With such a crazy profit trend, the Church's so-called ban was simply a complete joke!
"Notify several councilors for me. I need to convene an internal meeting!"
Lord Lynn had just disembarked from the airship and had no intention of resting. He immediately instructed Elok and others who had come to welcome them to inform several councilors, while he himself returned to the mansion to bring the previous research materials with him.
Since the issue of nuclear scarcity had been resolved, it was time to put the production of the nuclear fusion reactor on the agenda!
The sooner they ascended to the legendary rank, the sooner they would have the qualifications to confront that pseudo-god head-on.
In the evening, in the Duke's mansion, an impromptu meeting of the councilors was quickly convened.
As Aurora entered the meeting hall, she immediately noticed the two-meter-tall blue shadow inside and curiously remarked, "Is this the magic beast that can devour uranium ore? Quite unique!"
Harof and Victorio also marveled at it, probably only such a creature could feed on dangerous radioactive elements.
Under the inquiring gazes of several councilors, Muto, who was in the process of digesting, 'opened' its eyes, saw a few bipeds, realized they posed no threat, and closed its eyes again.
"It's called Muto, considered one of the gains from this trip to the uranium mine. With it, the refinement of radioactive minerals will become much easier. In addition, I found more Demon Stones, enough to cast the Grand Nuclear Explosion Spell five times," Lord Lynn explained.
"Very well, this way, we don't have to bluff like before." Hearing this, Harof couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and said in a relaxed tone.
Although they had repeatedly won on the surface, beating the Holy See and the Empire to the point where they were toothless, there was still a very obvious gap in high-end strength. Their apparent dominance was entirely maintained by the deterrence of the nuclear explosion spell.
The councilors were well aware that Lord Lynn had only one chance to use this spell. Once used, he would lose his last chip, so Harof had been worried that the Holy See might attack again.
Now that they had a lot of nuclear fuel reserves, they could at least retaliate in kind, such as sending a fighter jet over to bomb the Holy City when necessary...