After mastering the resurrection technique, they begged me to extend their lives.

Chapter 95 My Disciple, Your Beloved Slave Has Arrived

Ten days later.

On the scorched gravel beach of the Deep Black Rift Coast, An Xiao, along with his creations and the Skeleton Team, were returning home.

Several days later, he had completely planned the mining and planting scheme for the dry desert, and even the route for water collection and irrigation had been planned.

At the beach watchtower, several skeletons of laborers were setting up a temporary workshop to store their tools.

Although everything seemed to be going smoothly after the treasure was found, he was still frowning deeply, with dark magical energy swirling around his fingertips.

"This is difficult."

"Mana is still not enough."

"The more I want to expand the scale of creation, the greater the pressure I bear, and the more difficult the choice becomes regarding the 'life-extending spell.'"

"If we don't resurrect the creations and only use a short-term 'last gasp' to order the workers, they will become non-renewable after no more than a day. Even if I use a 'sacrifice contract' to recover 30% of the mana, it will still be too much and we will not make ends meet."

"That won't do."

The thought that his ambitions had swelled to the point of "building a Great Wall at Endedes" and "creating wonders on the Plain of the Dark Tombs" struck him deeply.

The obstacles he was currently facing made him increasingly uncomfortable.

"Commander, why do you look so down? Do you need my help?"

Secretary Xingmi skipped out of the No. 3 watchtower and came to his side.

In the past few days, Xingmi has offered him a lot of advice and suggestions.

She was fully involved in and helped formulate the mining plan for the desert.

"Um.

""

An Xiao added, "I just resurrected a new batch of desert creatures to serve as laborers, but I feel like I haven't resurrected many at all, and 3% of my mana has already been deducted—this is a bit puzzling."

To be honest, in just half a month, all of An Xiao's creations would have needed a round of life-extending spells.

And indeed, after "extending the life" of all creations, he successfully advanced the creation experience to more than half of the seventh stage, about 85 percent of the progress.

But his Mana cap is still 400.

Putting everything else aside, simply reviving a level 25 "Bad Sandworm" to help loosen the desert soil requires a whopping 60 Mana.

If we include the "Sand Warriors" who can traverse the desert with ease, working without even breaking a sweat—or the "Desert Scorpions" who can detect hidden skeletal treasures beneath the surface—

That's not enough.

Even if Airi snuggled in his arms like a little sister every day, frantically pouring magic into him, it wouldn't be enough for him to squander like this.

He poured out all his troubles to the little fox.

Upon hearing this, the little fox also said with a troubled expression, "This is indeed difficult to solve—the consumption of resources limits your capabilities. Consequently, the progress of land reclamation and expansion will be stalled, and nothing can be accelerated."

"Yes."

An Xiao stood in the center of the deep black rift, looking back at the block map she had built up over the past few days, filled with emotion.

The number of watchtowers has increased from two to four.

To make them easier to remember, he named them "First Tower, Second Tower, Third Tower" — and so on.

The first tower is the command post, the second tower is the lookout point, the third tower is the skeletal barracks, and the fourth tower is the outpost.

In addition, Hogan also proactively built a horizontal pass at the entrance to the rift valley, serving as a "gateway" for the necessary landing on the beach.

In this way, anyone who wants to enter the core of the Dark Rift must pass through the strict defenses of 4 defensive towers and a pass.

Even if the dragon riders came, they would be skinned alive.

At this moment, harpies circled atop each watchtower, and elite lizardman royal soldiers stood ramrod straight at the entrance of each watchtower, spears in hand.

On the rooftop of the pass, Carol was admiring the view from the center.

On either side of her, two large rows of newly recruited "skull archers" drew their bows and arrows, constantly guarding the area directly in front of them.

They come from the second wave of bone tide in the Dark Rift.

After nearly half a month of exploration, An Xiao finally understood that the reason there were so many bones in the rift valley was because bone tides are a kind of "weather phenomenon," rather than a product of people dying and their corpses decomposing.

By combining the oasis with the Dragon Saliva Tea Pool, one can discover that this place, though seemingly barren and desolate, is actually full of treasures!

Moreover, they all came from that black dragon, Nidhogg.

All the supplies and magical energy were brought to this land by him.

Bone tides come one after another, and they are all renewable resources.

The essence within the dragon's body is the source of these resources.

Once I've mined all the blocks in this area, I will definitely enter the Black Dragon Labyrinth and have a good talk with him, asking him what he needs.

He gave me so much treasure, so I'm definitely paying the toll.

Buzzing—

Suddenly.

Just as An Xiao was surveying her territory.

A very, very faint sound, seemingly coming from a very distant place, like a spatial fluctuation, instantly caught his attention.

Soon, at the top of the second tower, Nivea flapped her wings and swooped down, reporting almost instantly: "Master!! A blue portal has appeared above the sea!!"

"What the hell?"

"A portal??"

"Yes! The binoculars have detected a blue light curtain above the clouds that looks like the one we saw in the Radel Jungle that day—I have ordered everyone to be on alert!"

'

"etc."

An Xiao frowned, pondering. If it was a similar teleportation portal, then it should be—the same person who cast the spell.

Sure enough, before I could think further, a questioning voice came from above—

"It seems a bit too high. It appears my long-distance spatial navigation spells are not yet very proficient. I should aim directly at my disciple's bedroom bed for a more accurate location."

Everyone: "——————"

The light curtain on the ceiling closed.

The next instant, they appeared on the ground.

That is, it was reopened in front of An Xiao.

This time, the voice of that evil mentor did not reappear.

Instead, a familiar little girl figure appeared—

And one by one, her belongings.

call.

Lilia, her hands and feet bound and her mouth wrapped with magic tape, was kicked out of the portal by a delicate foot clad in black pantyhose, and fell to the ground.

Her clothes were disheveled, her skirt filthy, and her face streaked with tears. She was unconscious, and it was unknown what she had suffered during her teleportation journey.

Behind her, with a crackling sound, the portal spewed out cargo like garbage: 10 puppet coffins, 125 shadow magic books, 1 astrologer, 1 mechanical bird, 3 wardrobes, 8500 gold dragon coins, 50 dresses, 100 styles of Lilia's underwear, and several sets of her used brushes, cups, sheets, and blankets.

Endless, from furniture to materials, from used socks to her personal belongings, everything was laid out in front of An Xiao, like a massive house move.

An Xiao had no doubt that Lilia had likely brought her "Sorcerer's Guild" over.

And clearly, the one who did this was not herself, but her evil mentor.

"My God, this—is this right—! I've seen many of these things in her study!"

The little fox Xingmi recognized the items at a glance.

"You've been to her house?"

"Yeah, I told you before that I'd help you gather information about her! I remember she only had 10 main battle puppets in total, and now it seems they're all here—"

Hoshimi had an excellent memory; after taking stock, she concluded that Lilia was the one who had been completely stripped bare—

"Master, what should we do with this little girl?"

Hino stepped closer and asked seriously, "She attacked us. Should we follow the previous solution and kill her directly?"

"—No, stop."

An Xiao waved her hand, stopping the Sword Maiden from asking questions that were tinged with personal motives.

Hatred is hatred, and quarrels are quarrels.

If I understand correctly, Lilia has now become my "slave," her status and position are not what they used to be, and if she harbors any resentment and wants to rebel, the consequences will be far more terrifying than the backlash from the contract signed by the eaglets.

At best, their souls will be scattered; at worst, they will descend into the eighteenth level of hell and suffer the torment of being refined by the fires of their souls.

"Everyone, calm down."

An Xiao's gaze swept over Lilia's ten coffins, and suddenly a compromise came to mind.

"As you can see, Lilia was sent to me as an entrance gift by Mentor Gray Mist. Therefore, the gift cannot be destroyed, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the mentor."

All the women: "————"

An Xiao: "Secondly, my Mana is always running out lately, and even though Airi keeps helping me reply, it's not enough to cover my daily expenses, which makes me very anxious."

"I'm thinking, if 'Resurrection' can't handle the massive production of artifacts for the time being, and 'Return of Light' prevents many of my plans from being implemented due to its time-sensitive nature, is there a way to both mass-produce artifacts and solve the problems of timeliness and mana consumption?"

"Now, the answer is right in front of you."

At this point, he pointed to the poor, unconscious little girl—

"Lilia's 'Corpse Puppet Manipulation Technique' is a low-end version of the resurrection technique. Its drawback is that the creation is not intelligent and cannot continue to gain combat experience and grow after being revived;

The advantage is that once completed, the puppets will not need to be "restored to life," but can simply be powered by inexpensive magic to complete their daily activities.

"In other words, they're like batteries," he said. "With a simple supply of mana, they can perform many simple commands such as defense, clearing, patrolling, and farming, without putting any strain on me."

An Xiao became more and more satisfied as she spoke, nodding slightly. "Therefore, my plan is to wake her up and tell her that if she wants to survive in the future, she must make puppets for me at all times to 'complement' my magic."

I want to make her a perpetual motion machine, constantly expanding my available tools and transforming those tools into productivity to aid all our needs during our pioneering work in Endedes.

An Xiao's logic is tight, and her words are reasonable, well-founded, and even eloquent!

It seemed reasonable to almost everyone present.

Only one person.

He silently walked to Lilia's side, bent down and glanced at the "Flesh Slave Contract" branded on her neck —

Then, without considering the occasion or the environment, he turned to An Xiao and asked, "Boss, how do you plan to 'wake her up'?"

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