Chapter 290: Chapter 263: Taichu Spirit Realm

While the outside world was in an uproar over news of Anton, the man himself had already quietly returned to the Silver Moon Forest.

As soon as he received the Contribution Points, Anton immediately exchanged them for Myriad Wood Source Hearts.

Considering the Eternal Tree’s absorption limit, he didn’t exchange for too many, opting to get three for now.

After returning to the Silver Moon Forest, Anton fused the three Myriad Wood Source Hearts into the Eternal Tree one by one.

It turned out his foresight was well-founded.

The benefits the three Myriad Wood Source Hearts brought to the Eternal Tree diminished with each one.

The effect of the last one was less than a tenth of what the Eternal Tree experienced during its first fusion.

At this point, the cost-effectiveness of having the Eternal Tree fuse with more Myriad Wood Source Hearts was pitifully low.

After some thought, Anton decided not to exchange for any more Myriad Wood Source Hearts, using his remaining Contribution Points for other, more valuable resources instead.

Fortunately, although the effects of the three Myriad Wood Source Hearts diminished with each use, the cumulative change was still considerable.

The Silver Moon Forest expanded significantly, finally bringing Taichu City within its bounds.

Anton’s figure flashed, and he appeared in the sky above the forest.

Looking down from his high vantage point, the Silver Moon Forest was like a boundless ocean of verdant green, stretching from one edge of his vision to the other as if it had no end.

The once-bare gray rocky lands, cracked wastelands, and rugged hills were now all covered by dense canopies, their former desolation no longer visible.

And near the forest’s edge, Taichu City rested like a cyan-gray gemstone, nestled within the boundless emerald expanse.

Under Anton’s deliberate control, dense woods now surrounded Taichu City, leaving only four wide main roads leading to the outside and a five-kilometer-wide empty buffer zone around its periphery.

The tripartite structure he had envisioned was, at this moment, finally complete.

Taichu City, the Silver Moon Forest, and Nine Nether City—the three strongholds were now interconnected through the forest, underground passages, and Teleportation Arrays, forming a complete strategic triangle.

Transporting supplies between them no longer required long overland journeys.

Troop movements were no longer restricted by distance and time.

If any one stronghold faced a threat, reinforcements from the other two could arrive in a very short time.

The defensive system was no longer a collection of isolated points, but an interconnected web.

However, the connection between Taichu City and the Silver Moon Forest was undoubtedly much closer than their connection to Nine Nether City.

Nine Nether City was, after all, located deep within the Dark Nether Realm. Even with a Teleportation Array, a distance still separated the surface from the world below.

This was unlike Taichu City and the Silver Moon Forest, which had become completely intertwined.

As Anton took in the entire layout of the forest, a new plan was already forming in his mind.

Next, he planned to transplant the Eternal Tree and the Spring of Life to Taichu City, gradually transforming the entire Silver Moon Forest into a region with the city as its core, from which the trees would spread to cover the land.

It wasn’t about simply "encompassing Taichu City," but about completely merging the two into an organic whole.

In short, the goal was to create a forest-covered region of high energy concentration centered around Taichu City.

’I’ll call it the Taichu Spirit Realm,’ Anton mused to himself.

In the past, transplanting the Eternal Tree would have been utterly impossible for him.

The Eternal Tree’s root system spanned nearly the entire Silver Moon Forest, vast in area and deeply rooted. Moving it was easier said than done.

But now that he had advanced to the Golden Core Second Stage, his Magical Power was abundant. Combined with his deepening mastery of the spatial Divine Technique, the Daluo Celestial Sleeve, he was finally powerful enough to attempt it.

Once he succeeded, he could begin modifying the arrays, completely merging the Great Derivation Cyan Profound Array and the Primordial Five Elements Grand Array.

Anton already had a plan for this.

Fusing the two Mountain Protection Arrays wasn’t a matter of simple addition, but of integrating them so they would complement each other’s strengths and cover their weaknesses.

The Great Derivation Cyan Profound Array’s advantage lay in its powerful growth potential and sustainability.

The Primordial Five Elements Grand Array’s strength was its powerful defensive and offensive capabilities, supported by Earth Vein Nodes.

Once fused, the growth potential of the Great Derivation Cyan Profound Array would compensate for the Primordial Five Elements Grand Array’s lack of scalability. In turn, the Earth Vein Nodes of the Primordial Five Elements Grand Array would make up for the Great Derivation Cyan Profound Array’s energy deficiency, bolstering its defensive and offensive power.

The two were a perfect complement to each other.

As for the array hubs, the Earth Vein Node in Taichu City would serve as the main hub, providing the core power for the entire array cluster’s operation.

The Eternal Tree in the Silver Moon Forest would act as the secondary Array Hub, responsible for absorbing, converting, and storing excess energy, as well as handling the array’s "growth" function.

The existing Spring of Life would serve as an auxiliary node, used to regulate energy fluctuations during the array’s operation and provide healing and restorative benefits.

The energy of the Spring of Life was gentle and pure, making it more suitable than either the Earth Vein Node or the Eternal Tree to act as a regulator and buffer.

This way, the new array’s growth potential would be greatly enhanced.

With the energy support from the Earth Vein Node, the array’s sustainability would also be significantly strengthened, preventing it from being easily crippled by energy depletion as it was before.

Anton hovered in the air, simulating the plan for a long while. He went over every detail of the fusion in his mind, and only after confirming there were no obvious flaws did he pull back his scattered thoughts.

The modification would be difficult and would take a considerable amount of time.

But it was worth doing.

Once the Eternal Tree was successfully transplanted and the new array was operational, the foundation of the Taichu Spirit Realm would be truly solidified.

From then on, the Silver Moon Race would have an unshakable foundation for ages to come.

Retracting his Divine Sense, Anton returned to Taichu City.

Ninefold Celestial Tower, Celestial Essence Hall.

Light from the Light Source Stones cascaded from the dome, illuminating the entire hall as brightly as day.

This was the place where the Clan’s upper echelon held their meetings.

The hall’s furnishings were simple. In the center stood a long table carved from a single block of Cyan Jade, its surface as smooth as a mirror. Faint, intricate cloud patterns seemed to swirl slowly beneath the jade’s surface.

Anton sat at the head of the table, looking through a file.

The sound of light footsteps came from the hall’s entrance.

Eleanor walked in briskly.

"Clan Leader, you wanted to see me?"

Anton gestured for Eleanor to sit, then explained his plan to transplant the Eternal Tree and merge the Mountain Protection Arrays.

After hearing him out, Eleanor immediately recognized the immense benefits of the plan and gave her wholehearted approval.

"This project is a massive undertaking. It will require mobilizing significant manpower and resources, so you should begin preparations in advance."

"No problem." Eleanor nodded solemnly.

Anton nodded slightly, then changed the subject. "If the Clan wants to acquire a new Magic Stone Vein, where do you think we should start?"

Having ruled out exchanging for more Myriad Wood Source Hearts, Anton now planned to redeem twelve Elemental Cores, which he would use to craft Profound Artifacts or Ancient Level Magic Equipment in the future.

Especially now that the Great Elder and Second Elder had advanced to the Legend rank, it was time for them to get new equipment.

His remaining Contribution Points would be just enough to exchange for two Elemental Origin Crystals.

These were far more expensive than Elemental Cores, and even more precious than the Myriad Wood Source Hearts.

It was a good thing he had "hoarded" all the rewards from destroying the spatial node; otherwise, he really wouldn’t have had enough Contribution Points to redeem so many items.

As for these two Elemental Origin Crystals, they would naturally be used to artificially cultivate a Spirit Stone Vein.

And to cultivate a Spirit Stone Vein, he first needed to acquire a new Magic Stone Vein.

Eleanor pondered for a moment before speaking slowly. "The only two Magic Stone Veins on the Eldron Plain are already in our hands. There are no others."

"To find a new Magic Stone Vein, we either have to search for an unclaimed one in the Dark Nether Realm, or... we’ll have to go after the veins in other regions."

A glint appeared in Anton’s eyes.

Needless to say, Magic Stone Veins were critically important to all intelligent species.

Any Magic Stone Vein, once discovered, would be immediately occupied by the surrounding racial powers.

Even in the vast and sparsely populated Dark Nether Realm, there were no such things as unclaimed Magic Stone Veins.

Nearly every single Magic Stone Vein was firmly controlled by the subterranean races.

To take one from those powers would inevitably require military action.

And if force was necessary either way, it was better to directly target known Magic Stone Veins in other regions.

At least that would save them the trouble of prospecting and searching.

"Do you have a suitable target in mind?" Anton asked.

Hearing his question, Eleanor immediately understood his choice and replied without hesitation, "The Green Highlands."

"There are three Magic Stone Veins over there, currently controlled by two different powers."

"One is called the Black Stone Territory. It’s a primarily human power that has integrated some halflings and gnomes, and it controls two of the Magic Stone Veins."

"The other is the Green Scale Clan, a coastal alliance of races centered around the Sea Race. It controls one Magic Stone Vein."

"Ever since Dragon City fell in the Green Highlands, the major powers have been fighting fiercely, vying for territory and resources. After years of conflict, many factions have been wiped out. Now, the entire Green Highlands is essentially controlled by these two powers."

Eleanor paused, then said decisively, "I recommend we move against the Black Stone Territory."

"Powers that cooperate with our Clan, like Gray Rock Castle and Changhu Town, have had their caravans frequently attacked by wandering Mercenary Corps and bandits. According to our intelligence, the Black Stone Territory has a hand in those attacks."

"We can use this as a pretext to send troops against the Black Stone Territory."

Anton understood and decisively agreed with Eleanor’s proposal.

"Then we’ll make an example of the Black Stone Territory."

It wasn’t just that they had a suitable pretext.

Even if they didn’t, Anton had planned to dispatch troops anyway.

This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak; he felt no moral burden about it.

The only reason he hadn’t moved against the other powers on the Eldron Plain was because "conquering" them through trade was more cost-effective.

But if the benefits were great enough, he wouldn’t mind using force.

"I understand."

Eleanor was not at all surprised by Anton’s decision.

She knew better than anyone that her Clan Leader was never an indecisive man.

He could bring countless benefits to the Clan, making the Elves follow him willingly.

But he was also a person who was pragmatic to the extreme.

He was benevolent when it was called for, and ruthless when necessary.

This was the real reason he had been able to lead the Silver Moon Race to its current heights.

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