The Synthesis Wizard

Karolaina worked efficiently. 

By the next day, the insect corpses from Kasham were delivered to Sunan's laboratory.

Under the bright light of the magical stone lamps, twelve grotesque insect beasts lay on the large workbench.

These beetle-like creatures had bright red, hard shells, ten legs, four black round eyes, two sharp claws, and a pair of serrated mandibles.

However, what caught the eye most was the large bell-shaped chitinous protrusion growing from their mouths, resembling a giant horn.

According to Karolaina's description, these creatures were called Deathbell Beetles.

Their carapaces were as hard as steel, and their sharp claws could easily tear through solid rock. Additionally, they could emit ear-piercing sonic waves potent enough to cause bleeding from the seven orifices.

Adult Deathbell Beetles only had combat strength equivalent to a novice knight, not particularly strong. 

However, when these creatures appeared in swarms, their threat level soared.

Especially when hundreds or thousands of Deathbell Beetles unleashed their sonic waves simultaneously, even grand knights struggled to withstand it.

The allied forces of Lake U City, Matu, and Osen had suffered greatly from the swarm's sonic attacks, incurring heavy losses each time to eradicate the insects.

In Kasham's nest, within the narrow and semi-enclosed environment, the Deathbell Beetles' sonic attacks were even more potent.

The Red Widow and the Black Duke dared not counterattack Kasham largely because of this.

"A sonic-emitting insect beast, quite rare."

Kasham's swarm comprised more than just Deathbell Beetles; there were also Jellyfish Worms, Bigmouth Sandworms, Six-winged Insects, and other insect beasts.

But Deathbell Beetles were the mainstay of the swarm.

Sunan used Mage Hand to move a corpse in front of him and began dissecting it.

As the dissection progressed, more of the Deathbell Beetle's body structure was revealed.

Its massive bell-shaped chitinous protrusion was actually a horn-like tumor.

The beetle's ear-piercing sonic waves emanated from this tumor.

The tumor extended from its shoulders, flaring outward above its sharp mouthparts, with four black insect eyes on either side.

In essence, this creature lacked a true head, with the massive horn-like tumor replacing its skull.

When Sunan cut open the tumor, he found the insect brain inside.

"What a peculiar structure."

Sunan couldn't help but marvel.

He had seen many strangely shaped insect beasts, but none with a structure as unique as the Deathbell Beetle's.

From his experience, such a structure was unlikely to occur naturally, more likely the result of artificial induction or genetic modification.

"This might be the work of a wizard apprentice's biological modification."

Sunan pondered.

Could there be a wizard apprentice behind Kasham?

If so, attacking Kasham might not be as straightforward as he thought.

"If a wizard apprentice is indeed controlling Kasham, what's their purpose in periodically sending swarms to hunt?"

Sunan was puzzled.

After a moment, he shook his head, dismissing the thought.

Regardless of the wizard apprentice's intentions, Kasham needed to be dealt with.

Otherwise, with insect disasters occurring periodically, how could he develop nearby mines and explore more?

The only good news was that golems were highly resistant to the Deathbell Beetles' sonic attacks.

Golems lacked the sensory organs and visceral systems of typical creatures, rendering them virtually immune to sonic attacks.

In dealing with Deathbell Beetles, the golem army had a significant advantage.

After dissecting all the insect corpses, recording the data in his experimental notes, Sunan waved his hand, incinerating the remains, and left the laboratory.

Kasham's recent movements were increasingly frequent, signaling an imminent insect disaster.

He needed to accelerate golem production to bolster his forces.

"Here are the architectural blueprints for the knight academies in the six provinces, all modeled after the Dragonheart Knight Academy. See if there's anything you want to change."

In the study, Ke Yi pushed a thick stack of documents toward Sunan.

Sunan skimmed through them, nodding in satisfaction. "Let's proceed with this. When will they be completed?"

"Next month," Ke Yi smiled. "The instructors are already arranged, ready to take their positions once the academies are built."

With the war just ended, he had many responsibilities as the new Grand Duke. Yet, tasks assigned by Sunan were prioritized, with Ke Yi frequently overseeing them personally.

Seeing the Grand Duke's dedication, subordinates dared not slack off, working tirelessly. In just two or three months, six knight academies went from concept to reality with impressive efficiency.

"Recruitment is underway, following Dragonheart Knight Academy's model."

Ke Yi paused, then hesitantly asked:

"Are seven knight academies really enough? We have ample manpower and funds; we could build more."

The entire Starlight Duchy belonged to the Ayanster family. With the nation's resources, establishing knight academies in every town was feasible.

Sunan shook his head, "Quality over quantity."

Building more academies was easy, but training competent knight students wasn't.

The key issue was the limited production of dragon blood fruits.

Training qualified knight students in just four years required dragon blood fruits.

Without them, students from commoner and farmer backgrounds, lacking the innate qualities of noble children, couldn't become knights in four years.

Even with seven academies, Sunan needed more magical plantations to grow dragon blood fruits to meet demand.

Any more would be beyond his capacity.

Perhaps in the future, with more plantations, they could consider expanding the academies.

Seeing Sunan's resolve, Ke Yi dropped the matter.

He had considered establishing a knight academy specifically for noble children, modeled after Dragonheart Knight Academy.

But after much deliberation, he abandoned the idea.

Firstly, he lacked enough dragon blood fruits, prioritizing the military.

Secondly, noble families had their own breathing techniques, martial skills, and unique training methods, making standardization impossible.

Partial standardization was also unfeasible.

Unless he could offer superior breathing techniques and martial skills, or more efficient training methods.

Given these factors, the concept of a noble knight academy was impractical and abandoned.

"How's the aptitude testing going?"

Sunan's voice interrupted Ke Yi's thoughts.

Returning to the present, Ke Yi smiled, "Very smoothly. Testing is complete, with 223 children showing aptitude. I've arranged for their escort to Shimmer City, and they should arrive at the base in a few days."

Sunan nodded slightly.

A considerable number.

Covering six provinces, a high number of qualified candidates was expected.

Thus, the base would soon have nearly 270 students.

And this number would only grow over time.

"How's your training going?" Sunan shifted topics.

"Stabilizing nicely," Ke Yi beamed.

After consuming the high-grade dragon blood fruit Sunan gave him, he successfully broke through to become a legendary knight.

Now, after several months, his realm was stable, and he sought higher breakthroughs.

Ke Yi's natural talent and aptitude were exceptional, having become a high-level knight at nineteen. As Grand Duke, his resources far exceeded before, accelerating his training.

He was confident of reaching second-circle legendary knight status by thirty-five and third-circle by fifty.

When Evans, once hailed as a prodigy, became a third-circle legendary knight, he was already eighty.

This was a conservative estimate.

With Sunan's help, Ke Yi was confident of an earlier breakthrough to third-circle legendary knight.

"That's good."

Sunan nodded slightly.

His plan was for his brother to reach third-circle legendary knight status within twelve years, allowing him to enter the Tower of Stars for the knight's trial.

Twelve years from first-circle to third-circle was feasible with enough resources.

With this in mind, establishing new magical plantations was a priority.

Leaving the ducal manor, Sunan pondered the plantations.

With profits from underground mines, funding plantations wasn't a concern; manpower was the only issue.

Flower sprites were easily solved; Queen Tia could summon more kin.

The key was the apprentices to guard the plantations.

"I'll post a batch of guard tasks at the base, rotating apprentices regularly."

Without second-level wizard apprentices, Sunan had to manage plantation establishment himself.

But he could delegate guard duties to students, setting high task contribution values.

With new students arriving soon, training them would prepare them for various basic tasks.

Once basic tasks became competitive, senior students would naturally focus on guard tasks.

Time flew by.

Thunder Moon (April) passed swiftly.

During this time, Sunan attended another Forest Cabin gathering, acquiring over a dozen rare metals and four micro soul crystals.

After the gathering, Sunan finally gathered materials for the third Magic Rune Core.

Upon crafting the third Magic Rune Core, he immediately synthesized it.

The synthesized level 3 Magic Rune Core further increased physical and soul requirements.

Besides requiring 45 points of mental power, it also required over 40 points of constitution.

"My mental power is 45.04, meeting the requirement, but my constitution is only 36.37, still lacking."

Sunan weighed the Magic Rune Core, heading to the warehouse.

His constitution was roughly equivalent to a junior grand knight. The high-grade dragon blood fruit had noticeable effects; consuming a few more would quickly raise his constitution above 40 points.

After two days of digesting the dragon blood fruit, Sunan's constitution reached 40.35.

Without hesitation, he fused with the level 3 Magic Rune Core and headed to the spell training area for testing.

Considering the Magic Rune Core's power, Sunan didn't use a steel golem for testing but selected the stronger high-grade stone golem.

First, attack power.

At full power, the Magic Rune Core's metal cone storm bombarded the high-grade stone golem, leaving it riddled with holes in seconds, nearly scrapped.

"Impressive, attack power increased by 80-90%."

"A one-circle legendary golem would be obliterated instantly."

Next, defense.

After testing, Sunan had a rough idea.

"In terms of defense, it's around 4800 to 5000, equivalent to the cumulative defense of five Extreme Protection Rings."

Sunan nodded inwardly.

With such high defense, even a formal wizard couldn't break through in one attack.

To Sunan's delight, his primary concern, mental power consumption, barely increased.

With his current mental power, he could use the Magic Rune Core for three minutes.

Even under intense attack, it could sustain for two minutes without issue.

"If upgrades continue increasing power without consumption, once my mental power rises further, the Magic Rune Core could become a regular weapon."

A regularly usable Magic Rune Core, a terrifying thought!

At that level, Sunan would be invincible below formal wizard status.

"The golem army expansion is complete."

With Sunan's full dedication, Lake U City's golem army had expanded significantly.

Planning not to craft adamantite golems or simulacrums soon, Sunan used the four micro soul crystals for steel golems.

Now, Lake U City's golem army comprised nine steel golems, twenty elite stone golems, three hundred Twin-Blade Spiders, and one thousand stone golems.

This force far exceeded Lake U City's previous strength.

Karolaina was stunned when she saw the golems in the makeshift military camp.

Her last shred of worry about the impending insect disaster vanished.

With such a powerful golem army, why fear a mere insect disaster?

The next consideration was whether to counterattack Kasham.

Truthfully, Sunan had planned to ignore the disaster and strike Kasham directly if not for wanting Matu and Osen to share the burden, reducing casualties, and eradicating as many insects as possible outside to ease future pressure on Kasham.

However, Sunan didn't wait long.

On the first day of Blooming Moon, the manticore scouts near Kasham reported that the swarm was on the move.

Countless insects swarmed toward Lake U City!

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