Chapter 914 - 688 Disarmament Trend

These Mages, who had gained great strength, quickly took on the role of instructors, responsible for teaching this new formula within the armed forces. This new formula was said to come with the enhancement of strength and the risk of failure inextricably linked, if one were successful, they would become the powerful Mage they had dreamt of becoming. However, failure could result in a temporary loss of all casting abilities. Despite this, none of the soldiers hesitated. For this was a shortcut to soaring to great heights!

But in reality, the difficulty of this formula was far greater than imagined.

It should be known that those who were taught by Ai Lin were the very best soldiers and even included some old Mages of repute. Even so, by the time they reached the last formula, only three hundred of the original two thousand remained, and among these three hundred, only half were soldiers.

It could be said that this was almost a decimation process.

Yet, when it came to the army, it was not even possible to select one in a hundred!

Suddenly, the entire army was filled with despair.

The Divine Auffa Empire had millions of soldiers across several planets. Yet after this selection, only around a hundred thousand truly distinguished themselves.

This selection rate was far below what Saint Jialin had anticipated.

Of course, looking at an army filled with Six-Star and even Seven-Star Mages was quite spectacular! And Saint Jialin believed that an army of just over a hundred thousand men, in terms of combat ability, far surpassed the previous millions!

On this side, the Divine Auffa Empire had completed the upgrade of its fighters, but when the news reached the Sanctuary Empire, Saint Danze immediately began sweating profusely.

An army composed purely of Six-Star and even Seven-Star Mages? Who could stand against such a force should they emerge?

Saint Danze urgently summoned Long Yi, and when Long Yi arrived, he first laughed scornfully upon seeing the message.

"A mere assembly of Seven-Star Mages, a bunch of trash, what’s there to worry about?"

"Mr. Long Yi, although they may seem like trash to you, to us, this is a huge problem," the Emperor of Saint Danze’s voice was slightly trembling. What on earth could they use to hold back such a group of Mages if they charged at their Sanctuary Empire!

"Your Majesty, are you questioning my abilities?" Long Yi asked displeasedly.

"Of course not!" Where would Saint Danze dare to question Long Yi, whose temper was terrible and might turn his back on them for such a slight.

"That’s better. You know that I have been busy improving our warriors’ equipment lately. Today, I will show you what I can bring to you, far exceeding anything that little girl Ai Lin could offer!"

Saint Danze followed behind Long Yi, his face filled with unease, or rather, it was ridden with anxiety. He was not Kirei of the White Dragon Empire, and he did not have as much confidence in Long Yi. Currently, his mind was overwhelmed by the thought of a horde of Six-Star Mages marching towards them; he was nearly scaring himself to death.

Soon, they arrived at the magic equipment manufacturing factory.

At this moment, Saint Danze’s son, Crown Prince Saint Linde, was also alongside. Ever since Saint Linde had brought Long Yi to the Sanctuary Empire, the Emperor had grown increasingly fond of him and began to focus on nurturing him. Today was no exception.

Long Yi pointed at Saint Linde: "What is your strength?"

Saint Linde’s face flushed with embarrassment: "My strength is very average, only One-Star."

Long Yi tossed a set of soft leather armor to Saint Linde, then pointed to a machine next to them: "Change into this and stand on it."

Saint Linde nodded, silently went to the side to change, and then stepped on it. Immediately, many pieces of armor flew around Saint Linde. Each piece was engraved with runes that emitted a glow, shining on his body. Soon, the pieces of armor fell into place on Saint Linde’s body and locked into position with one another, eventually covering his entire body and forming a dazzling set of silver armor, leaving only his eyes visible.

The runes on the armor formed an Array, and as the Array operated, the surrounding Mana surged. On the chest of the armor, stars began to emerge!

Saint Danze’s eyes widened as he stared at the emerging stars, silently counting.

"One star! Two stars! Three stars! Four stars! Five stars! Six stars! Seven stars!" Seven stars as well! It was indeed seven stars!

"How about it, are you satisfied now?" Long Yi asked.

"Satisfied! I am satisfied! Extremely satisfied!" Saint Danze was simply too excited!

"Hehe, that little lass Ai Lin doesn’t understand the true essence of war! If her soldiers die, they lose a Seven Star Mage. But if our soldiers die, we just need to find a new soldier to wear this suit of armor, and he becomes a new Seven Star Mage!"

Long Yi exclaimed loudly.

Suddenly, the gloom that shrouded Saint Danze was swept away entirely! He even felt remorse for not having steadfastly trusted Long Yi! It turned out that Long Yi held such astonishing technology! If this armor could indeed be mass-produced, it would greatly liberate the soldiers from the need for personal strength.

"So, Mr. Long Yi, when can this armor be mass-produced!" Saint Danze couldn’t wait to see the armor equipped on every warrior.

"Actually, I’ve already commissioned the factories to start mass-producing the first batch of armors. Of course, this armor requires more resources, so the speed might be a bit slow. But, we are not in a period of war right now," Long Yi said.

"Right, right! We are not in a period of war! Hahaha!" At this moment, Saint Danze was completely immersed in unprecedented joy. He had never imagined that he could command an army composed of Seven Star Mages!

Long Yi showed Saint Danze the resource consumption involved, and indeed, the armor was very expensive. It would be impossible to equip the entire army at its previous size. But now, after significantly reducing the size of the military, it seemed more than sufficient!

The new arms race between the Divine Auffa Empire and the Sanctuary Empire finally started affecting the entire Plane, and other smaller nations suddenly discovered, overnight, these two old powerhouses had undergone earth-shattering changes. They had massively reduced the sizes of their armies but the quality had increased exponentially.

For a time, disarmament became the hottest topic across the Plane. But the problem was, these nations were disarming because they were creating an army composed of Seven Star Mages. Other countries had no possibility of possessing such a powerful army!

At this time, some of the leaders of these nations were also regretting. When Long Yi had first come to prominence in the Stellar Realm Arena, some had gotten in touch with him. Back then, they had offered what seemed like a decent sum, but Long Yi had completely ignored it. At the time, they thought Long Yi was just too arrogant. However, looking at it now, even if they had increased that sum a hundredfold to secure Long Yi’s support, it would have been worthwhile!

After all, that was the terrifying Seven Star Mage Legion!

However, there was no medicine for regret in this world, and those nations could only pray that both the Sanctuary Empire and the Divine Auffa Empire were only posturing against each other, and not intending to invade other countries. Otherwise, with an army of such scale, those smaller nations had no means to resist!

Having successfully created the powerful armor, Long Yi also gained Saint Danze’s complete trust. He opened up all of the Empire’s inner magic research institutions to Long Yi. In Saint Danze’s view, the meager research achievements of his own country paled in comparison. If Long Yi could give even a slight guidance, there would surely be an astonishing improvement.

With this opportunity, Long Yi truly began researching the foundation of the Sanctuary Empire.

From the beginning, the Sanctuary Empire knew they were no match for the Divine Auffa Empire purely in terms of magic research, so they chose a different path and began to vigorously research magic equipment. For this reason, even though the quality of soldiers in the Sanctuary Empire was somewhat inferior to that of the Divine Auffa Empire, they were actually ahead in the manufacture of magic equipment.

Back when Long Yi and Ai Lin decided to join different empires, Long Yi decisively chose the Sanctuary Empire. Compared to Ai Lin, who was simply proficient in magic, Long Yi had a unique advantage in equipment research.

This time, unlike the cursory inspection when Long Yi first arrived in the Sanctuary Empire, Saint Danze ordered that all the most confidential research departments be opened to Long Yi—after all, what use were secrets compared to the practical applications of Long Yi’s creations within the current timeframe? If they were still secretive at this point, it would simply be obstructive.

After gaining a deeper understanding of the research capabilities of the Sanctuary Empire, Long Yi found that just like the Plane’s lower standard of magic, their equipment research standard was similarly low. Even in this Plane, full of Giant relics, their level of technological research was equivalent to that of the Human Realm decades ago. It was truly baffling—were the lives created by the gods not intelligent enough?

Of course, Long Yi didn’t care about these things. He was only looking for any information on how to enter the middle Plane.

In the middle Plane, as everyone knew, the Divine Auffa Empire possessed a Teleportation Gate that could access the middle Plane, a product from the Giant era. However, opening it just once required a vast amount of resources and energy, and it seemed to have no practical significance. Thus, although every Emperor of the Divine Auffa Empire held the key to open the Teleportation Gate, it had not been activated in the past thousand years.

Because it lacked practical significance, even though the Sanctuary Empire was in the lead in manufacturing magic equipment, they had not attempted to create a Teleportation Gate. It was an undertaking that demanded incredible resources with no practical return.

After learning this information, the plan to attempt to create a Teleportation Gate himself had to be shelved temporarily. Despite possessing the Giant Tablet and the Giant Staff, creating a Teleportation Gate was not so simple. It would be necessary to meticulously study the one in the Divine Auffa Empire—something they definitely wouldn’t permit, not even if Ai Lin herself wished to dismantle it.

The biggest issue now was, how to willingly convince them to open the Teleportation Gate for them?

That was a problem. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com) with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)