<h4>Chapter 1304: Reconnaissance</h4>


    Lin Yun considered the connection, and suddenly realized that the troublemaker might not be his businesspetitor at all. They were simply trying to cause trouble. If it was done by the rock mage or whoever was behind the rock mage, their only purpose had to be killing Lin Yun, or stopping him from rising in the Odin Kingdom.


    When he thought of it that way, he realized that everything they did made sense. Because they were not the Gilded Rose’spetitor, they were only seeking destruction without wanting anything in return.


    Lin Yun had a headache when he thought it through. He was more scared of such lunatics than he was of businesspetitors. To make things worse, he hadn’t found out who those people were exactly just yet.


    Unable to figure out who they were, Lin Yun simply stopped thinking. He took out the 20 alchemy puppets that he had made in his Demine.


    Most of those puppets weren’t in human shape. Some were giant insects, and some were beasts. Only a few looked like human beings because they were usually not as apt for fighting as beast- and insect-shaped puppets.


    The insect-shaped puppets with a suitable energy system, in particr, could amodate more weapon systems than human-shaped ones did, and were more powerful.


    Lin Yun handed over the new puppets to Faleau.


    “Those are all my experimental products. All of the puppets are level 40. Although their wisdom hasn’t awakened yet, theirbat ability is as good as that of a level-1 Heaven Rank expert. Distribute the puppets, and ensure that the shipment of raw materials isn’t cut off.


    “Due to the shortage of raw materials, transfer some of the materials from the Raging me ne to the Odin Kingdom to ensure the Gilded Rose’s operation. I believe some of the herbs can be acquired from Andlusa too.


    “That’s all for now. Let’s wait until we find the culprit.”


    The convoys should be safe with those alchemy puppets. After all, even the most powerful organization only had a limited number of Heaven Rank experts, who couldn’t all be sent to deal with the Gilded Rose’s convoys.


    Sending one or two of them to attack the convoys was already very costly. It was impossible for more to be deployed. With the protection of the alchemy puppets, the convoys would be safe.


    This age was sort of the beginning of the Great Colonization. Noscent’s infinite nes were conquered starting from this age.


    All the powerful organizations in this age were seeking nar Paths to other nes. Very few experts were left in Noscent. However, colonization was not so easy. In particr, the mages had toplete the conquest with their own strength in this age. Their efficiency was extremely low.


    It required at least decades to conquer a ne. It was not unusual to attack nes that had strong natives for hundreds of years to conquer them.


    Also, even after those nes were conquered, they were mostly used as resource fields that had to be guarded. Moreover, the guards had to be reced constantly.


    After all, the mages in Noscent carried the life marks of Noscent, which were different from the marks of other nes. The stronger a mage was, the more closely they would be linked to Noscent. The Heaven Rank experts couldn’t stay in other nes forever. They could fight there, but couldn’t stay for a long time as garrison troops.


    As a result, all organizations could never have enough Heaven Rank mages. Until the overall alchemy technology in Noscent had groundbreaking breakthroughs, this situation was unavoidable.


    The idle Heaven Rank mages Lin Yun saw in the Merlin Family’s ancestralnd had returned from other nes. After they stayed in another ne for a while, they had to return to Noscent.


    It was impossible for any organization to send a dozen Heaven Rank mages to attack a convoy. If the enemy was so strong, they could’ve just attacked and crushed the Gilded Rose. It shouldn’t be a problem for them to kill everybody of the Gilded Rose, including Lin Yun, right in Neverwinter City.


    The level-40 alchemy puppets were deployed. As expected, the attackers suffered major setbacks. The puppets ripped apart five mages who were at the peak of level 39, and killed more than 20 Archmages and Sword Saints…


    The convoys were safe for now, but the attackers didn’tpletely vanish. There was no telling what they were up to, but none of the Gilded Rose’s stores were attacked.


    Faleau had been running the business well. He made friends with a lot of people and nobles of the Odin Kingdom. Even though their friendship was not very reliable, nobody really dared to tantly attack the Gilded Rose’s branches inside the city. If they did, they would bebeled as invaders who were trying to take over the city. That was a me that nobody dared to take.


    After taking care of the incident, Lin Yun thought that it wasn’t the best choice to let outsiders provide materials. Last time, the Lodney Family messed with the Gilded Rose’s material supply too, except that they were rather dumb, and affected other people’s interests.


    Some of the materials could be provided from the Andlusa Kingdom. The Raging me ne yielded a lot of materials. There was a mountain next to the Four Seasons in that had all sorts of herbs. The Four Seasons in itself was suitable for the growth of herbs too.


    However, those weren’t enough. Potions required too many kinds of materials. No alchemy store could guarantee that they had all the materials they needed.


    The Andlusa Kingdom was generally colder than the Odin Kingdom, and had a longer winter. Most local herbs were ustomed to the climate. The Raging me ne was hot, and had a broader category of herbs. But there were huge limitations too.


    The two ces included the frigid zone and the tropics. As for the herbs grown in the temperate zone, the Gilded Rose had been purchasing from the Odin Kingdom when they were in demand.


    Of the three kingdoms in Noscent, the Odin Kingdom had the greatest productivity of herbs. It was very vast, and had temperate and tropical herbs. At least 70 percent of all types of kinds could be found in the Odin Kingdom.


    The remaining 30 percent of herbs had to be imported from Andlusa or the Sten Kingdom.


    Lin Yun wondered if he should seize the source of materials, and provide materials for himself. In such a way, materials wouldn’t be the Gilded Rose’s weakness anymore.


    In order to control the materials, there was only one solution: to grow them in other nes. His Natural Demine had abundant mana, and was more suitable to grow nts than any other ce. However, it was too small.


    He couldn’t grow herbs and other nts everywhere in his Natural Demine, as it wouldn’t benefit the development of the Natural Demine.


    In the future, Noscent would colonize countless nes. By then, an alchemist would build ab using an entire ne. The nters would be too ashamed to call themselves that unless they had a couple of nes that were full of ntations.


    The herb suppliers would nt herbs in the entire ne. They would grow whatever suited the ne.


    It was nothing unusual for the same herb to upy the entire ne. Also, thanks to the development of alchemical technology, not manyborers were needed. Several dozen alchemy puppets and Archmages could manage all the herbs.


    Also, even bandits were unwilling to rob such nes, because nothing worthwhile could be found except the herbs, food, and nts that wererge in stock.


    Lin Yun considered that the Gilded Rose needed its own ne for material supply. He would rather not have a ne that was only suitable for one type of nt. He was looking for one that could provide temperate herbs. Also, it had to cover a wide spectrum of climates.


    It wouldn’t be smart to build ntations in the ne, as too manyborers would be needed. It would be best if the ne was naturally resourceful. The yields of such a ne should be enough to support the Gilded Rose.


    He remembered a lot of ne coordinates. Most of them were famous and readily usable in Noscent.


    Unfortunately, he didn’t dare to open the nar Path, and go to any of those famous nes.


    It was because those coordinates marked and led to ces that would have been constructed and developed for countless years in the future. They were almost all in the cities in those ces. Anyone with those public coordinates would teleport and arrive at the cities.


    However, Lin Yun didn’t know where the coordinates would lead to in the undiscovered nes at this moment. Since the cities were mostly established in the central and best parts of the ne, those ces were likely still upied by the most powerful locals of the nes as their nests at this moment…


    If he opened a random nar Path, and embarked on a trip, he would definitely die painfully. None of the nes with urate coordinates was of a low level. It wouldn’t be very surprising even if one of the locals was an extraordinary creature above the Heaven Rank.


    The low-level nes weren’t qualified to leave their coordinates recorded in history books at all. It wouldn’t be bad at all if their descriptions were mentioned.


    In addition, it was impossible to modify the coordinates until onended in the ne and recalcted. With the slightest modification, the nar Path that he opened might lead to a dangerous ce in the boundless void.


    Lin Yun had never dared to open the nar Path, even though he had coordinates. He wasn’t sure whether or not an extraordinary creature woulde to him first through the nar Path if he opened it…


    However, at this moment, he could try his luck with the nes that were less dangerous and that the Gilded Rose needed.


    He could give the coordinates to Xiusi, and let it investigate. He wouldn’t establish a nar Path unless the ne could be developed and conquered.


    Lin Yun stared at Xiusi, which was enjoying pastries. Immediately, its expression froze, and it swallowed the food in its mouth before it grinned, and flew to Lin Yun.


    “Great Sir Merlin, do you have any instructions for Xiusi, your most loyal servant?”


    Looking at Xiusi’s obsequious owl face, Lin Yun couldn’t help but wonder how it could put on so many expressions. Also, as it learned thenguage and picked up knowledge in Noscent, it seemed to be growing into ackey…


    “These are the coordinates of a ne. Go there and investigate.”


    Lin Yun snapped out a rune from his fingers into Xiusi’s head. Instantly, Xiusi grinned.


    “Alright, Sir Merlin. Just wait a moment. I’ll be right back.”


    Xiusi pped its wings and disappeared. In no more than one minute, Xiusi broke out of the location of the coordinates, and reappeared in the normal space.


    However, the moment it appeared, it saw a one-eyed monster, which was a dozen meters tall and had hundreds of tentacles, turn around and nce at it.


    The moment it saw the monster, Xiusi’s feathers were almost exploding. It vanished with the power of space without hesitation.


    After Xiusi disappeared, the one-eyed monster had glittering light in its eye. It disappeared along with Xiusi…


    In the cracks of space, Xiusi was about to catch its breath when it had a grim sense of foreboding. It turned back, only to see the monster following it.


    Immediately, Xiusi’s eyes were filled with fear.


    “Goddamn it, a Soul Swallower…”


    That was a terrifying monster that was strong, and could simte its target’s soul power. Also, it specifically devoured souls.


    Usually, such monsters couldn’t possibly keep up with Xiusi. However, as it happened, Xiusi had emerged right in front of the Soul Swallower.


    The Soul Swallower wouldn’t let go of the food that had delivered itself to it. The distance between them was short enough for it to simte Xiusi’s soul abilities.


    Running from the cracks of space to the shadows and then to the subspace, Xiusi was almost desperate. The level-48 Soul Swallower kept tailing it. At such a short distance, it could simte whatever ability Xiusi might use.


    The Soul Swallower didn’t stop at all after entering the subspace. Seeing the projection of an enormous a dozen meters tall, Xiusi gritted its teeth and screamed, running to it.


    “Damn you, bastard, you want to kill the great Xiusi, and stop him from enjoying delicious pastries ever again? Not a chance! You will surely die if you dare toe close…” Xiusi shrieked, but the Soul Swallower didn’t care. It simply followed Xiusi and simted Xiusi’s abilities, jumping into the projection of the in the same trajectory.


    On the surface of a round, smooth silver, Xiusi appeared out of nowhere, and immediately fell to the ground.


    Vague spatial waves surfaced. Xiusi stabilized its body, and resisted the enormous gravity. It consolidated itself in the space, and then gradually moved its body away one centimeter after another with mana.


    A few secondster, the Soul Swallower appeared too. However, its body was pressed to the silver ground immediately. Half of its tentacles copsed. Its blood fell to the ground, and spread out before it sprang.


    The Soul Swallower roared in panic, and hurriedly consolidated the space around itself by simting Xiusi’s ability to keep itself steady.


    However, after the space was consolidated, it couldn’t move anymore. It could only watch Xiusi move away bit by bit.


    With satisfaction in its eyes, Xiusi sent out soul waves.


    “Idiot, what can you do now? I have a body. I can move without using my soul ability. You want to eat me? Dumbass. Just wait to die here. I’m going back for my pastries…”


    Xiusi was even happier about its body. It had been using its soul power during the escape, but it suddenly remembered that there was spatial power in its bloodline. Although it was negligiblepared to the soul power, it became a lifesaver at this moment.


    It was impossible for the Soul Swallower to simte bloodline power.


    The power pushed Xiusi away one centimeter after another. It moved for only two meters after half an hour, and was so exhausted that its eyes were almost shivering. It wasn’t sure that it was far enough from the Soul Swallower, so it kept pushing itself angrily.


    “My level is too low anyway. I must improve my physical level after I go back. I have to raise it above level 40 for a start, or my body will be too weak. The bloodline power is truly great…”


    After three hours, Xiusi finally pushed itself a dozen meters away, which was a remarkable achievement on this which had a horrifying gravity.


    Looking back at the Soul Swallower, which seemed to have been frozen in ice, Xiusi grinned and burst intoughter.


    “Idiot,e bite me! Come eat me! Why are you not moving? What can you do? I have bloodline power! Do you? Just keep copying me! We’re more than 10 meters away from each other. Can you copy me? Just rot in hell. I’m going back for my pastries…”


    Xiusi cackled and then disappeared. A dozen meters behind, the Soul Swallower red at it, and the glowing brilliance in its only eye had covered its pupil. However, it could only watch Xiusi go away without being able to do anything.