Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

As Liu Nian withdrew his fist, the last LV94 raging wind elemental exploded into scattered air currents in front of him.

A golden light shone from Wu Zhan's body, indicating that he had leveled up, and he finally stopped at level 89.

"It's done!" Wu Zhan breathed a sigh of relief. In just two and a half hours, thanks to Liu Nian's incredible stats, he had leveled up three times, a speed that was unimaginable in the past. Most of the Longyuan team members who followed him also leveled up two or three times, and they were all beaming with joy.

"That's about it." Liu Nian checked the time and said to Wu Zhan, "I have some other things to take care of."

Wu Zhan nodded: "Understood. Thank you very much for today. I'll go use the altar to level up to 99 now. With the great battle approaching, I can't be in two places at once~"

Liu Nian waved his hand, said no more, and his figure transformed into a stream of light, returning to the floating city.

A moment later, he emerged from the Corrosion Dynasty's teleportation array, greeted the remaining Shattered Mountain, and, based on his soul connection with Arachne, found the group that was engaged in discussion.

Upon Liu Nian's arrival, Arachne proactively reported, "Master, regarding the repair of the psionic core, my mistress and I have had in-depth discussions and have come up with a breakthrough solution."

"Oh? Tell me about it." Liu Nian became interested upon hearing this.

"Relying solely on our existing energy sources and technology, the repair process will be slow and highly uncertain. But do you remember Lake Eternal Darkness?"

"Eternal Darkness Lake?" Liu Nian thought of that body of water inhabited by the undead water race.

"Yes," a Naga technician explained, "Eternal Darkness Lake was not formed naturally. In fact, deep beneath its surface lies an ancient leyline node, which was transformed into negative energy accumulation due to undead corruption. However, this also resulted in the accumulation of a massive amount of chaotic energy with unique properties. Our 'Tidal Core' can attempt to 'extract' and 'convert' this energy to provide a stable and powerful repair energy source for the Psionic Core."

Arachne added, "We need to establish an efficient energy transfer channel between the energy extraction point (Lake of Eternal Darkness) and the repair point (here), and construct a stable conversion array. This requires the Master's assistance!"

"Me? What can I do to help?"

"The Naga deep-sea engineers cannot stray too far from the water, and they also need to transport large quantities of heavy engineering equipment. Your behemoth is just what you need!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Nian immediately nodded in agreement: "Okay, when do we make our move?"

Arachne said, "The specific plan isn't finalized yet, and the equipment isn't fully prepared. Let's do it first thing tomorrow morning!"

Liu Nian nodded, checked the time, and realized there were still several hours until the rest time indicated by the system.

Liu Nian returned to the floating city. Because Arachne was researching the repair of the psionic core, many tasks in the floating city were temporarily put on hold without her supervision.

Liu Nian didn't understand these restoration tasks either. After thinking about it, he decided that he should recruit some NPCs for the floating city.

Actually, you can buy it directly from NPC cities, but the NPCs you buy from have very low authority and basically no autonomy. They're like automated Q&A robots in the system shop. So, after thinking it over, I still have to get a special NPC like Mekkatorque.

When Mekkatorque gave Liu Nian the magic stone, he also gave him a quest to explore the distribution of mineral veins in the third layer of the Underdark, but Liu Nian didn't finish it, only exploring about a third of it.

He had no interest in continuing the exploration, so he simply gave up and went directly to Mekkatorque.

Although he did not meet Mekkatorque's mission requirements, Liu Nian was confident that he could still persuade him.

Even if the entire third level of the Underdark were explored, the dwarves simply wouldn't have the capacity to develop it further.

Liu Nian is now the mastermind behind the Spider-Elves' Exile City, and he can take the lead in developing the various mineral veins that have been explored around the Exile City together with the dwarves.

Therefore, compared to a map of mineral vein distribution, this collaborative development proposal is more realistic and more likely to win over Mekkatorque!

Without stopping, Liu Nian used the teleportation array to arrive at the under-construction Dragon City.

He went directly to Mekkatorque, the dwarf master craftsman who was overseeing the construction of the city walls.

"Ah! Liu Nian! You've come at the perfect time!" Mekkatorque put down his precision measuring instrument, jogged over, his eyes shining. "Any progress on the exploration of the third ore vein?"

Liu Nian handed a data crystal recording part of the distribution of the third-layer mineral veins to Mekkatorque and said bluntly, "Master Craftsman, the exploration is partially complete. But I think that instead of a map that may never be fully developed, perhaps we can try a more practical way of cooperating."

"Oh? In what way?" Mekkatorque asked curiously.

"I am now the city..." he said, pointing to the city of exile on the map, "...the actual controller of this spider-elves' city of exile. The area around the city of exile contains many rare mineral veins, but the spider-elves lack the technology and manpower to mine and smelt them."

He looked at Mekkatorque: "And you, with your unparalleled engineering and mining technology, what do you think of us joining forces—the City of Exile providing the mine locations, security, and some labor, and the gnomes providing the technology, equipment, and professionals—to develop these resources together, sharing the profits?

Mekkatorque's breathing quickened noticeably, and his large mustache twitched with excitement. "Cooperative development... shared profits... this... this is indeed far more practical than a blueprint! Yes! Yes! Yes! Prince Gelbin will certainly agree!"

But his face immediately fell, and he said with distress, "But, Liu Nian, I'm currently the chief engineer of Dragon City, personally appointed by Prince Gerbin, and I really can't leave! The construction of Dragon City is at a critical stage... Here's what I'll do!" The short man suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "I'll write a personal letter, and you can give it to Prince Gerbin for me. I'll explain the situation to him, and resign from my position as the lord of Toothpick City, recommending my student Jinli to succeed me. Jinli will assist you with joint development matters, how about that?"

"Golden Li?" Liu Nian thought of the bespectacled, bearded dwarf. That was the first engineering dwarf he had ever met. He and Golden Li were old acquaintances, and they worked together without any problems!

A moment later, Liu Nian arrived at the Gearheart, the main city of the gnomes, carrying a letter bearing Mekkatorque's personal insignia, and met the dignified Prince Gelbin.

The prince carefully read Mekkatorque's letter and listened to Liu Nian explain the plan for jointly developing the mine.

He stroked his long beard and pondered for a moment.

"Now that we have allied with the human Dragon City, it is only logical for Tooth Spike City, as a subordinate city, to further deepen its cooperation with the forces controlled by the human hero Liu Nian. This will also benefit us in acquiring scarce resources." Prince Gerbin made his decision. "I agree to this cooperation. Mars!" He summoned the tax minister beside him.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"You will accompany Lord Liu Nian to Toothpick City to announce my decision: Due to the needs of Dragon City's construction, Mekkatorque will no longer serve as the city lord of Toothpick City. His student and assistant, Ginli, will succeed him as city lord. At the same time, Ginli is granted full authority to represent us in in-depth cooperation with the exiled city and floating city controlled by Lord Liu Nian. He is also authorized to appoint some of his more astute clansmen to assist Lord Liu Nian in the restoration of the floating city!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"