Chapter 454: 450 Chapter 454: 450 “Mia, the Wind King Eagle has already agreed to our renovation of Cloud Island,” Muria stood at the Crystal Eagle’s Nest, smiling at the Dragonborn maid behind her who was lowering her eyes. “You can start preparing, first roughly estimate the total cost of renovating these cloud islands, then present it for my review.”

“Master Muria, isn’t this a bit…” Mia looked back at Muria’s actions only to find that the giants that had followed them all turned their heads away as if some splendid scenery in the other direction had caught their attention, so they missed everything that Muria had just done and said.

“A bit what?” Muria showed a gentle smile, touched his cheek, and the instant his fingertip touched his cheek, a fleeting illusion of a faceguard engraved with the Mysterious Ancient God Text could be seen.

It was the Saintly Imperial Abyss. In terms of defensive power, not many city walls in the world of Erathia could surpass it. Therefore, Muria’s skin could not be broken even by a magic cannon.

“…” Mia was silent for a moment, swallowed the word “shameless” back, as it would be disrespectful to her master. Breaking the silence, she said, “Your Majesty, in doing so, if the Wind King Eagle awakens, it will…”

“Mia,” Muria interrupted his personal maid, “the eagle has already agreed. So when it wakes up, it will be pleased and gratified by the renovated Cloud Island, not angry. However, if we mess up Cloud Island while transforming it into a floating city, it will indeed be angry.”

“Sir, I would better go and calculate the cost of construction first”. Mia was rendered speechless by Muria’s shameless behaviour. After a respectful bow to Muria, she went back to the palace to summon the cloud giants, asking them to begin measuring work, calculate the size of Cloud Island, and then roughly estimate the remodelling cost based on the floating city transformation method provided by the Golden Dragon Mother.

“Wind King Eagle.” Muria looked at the giant beast before him, which was sleeping soundly. He watched it for a long time. To say he was not apprehensive of the beast would be a lie, even the Titans didn’t want to provoke it.

However, the current state of the Wind King Eagle gave Muria the courage to use the cloud islands it had collected. Beings this powerful often sleep for centuries, and when injured, sleep even longer. That’s enough time.

After all, Muria had full confidence in his future and his bloodline. Regardless of how the Wind King Eagle would react to seeing Cloud Island transformed into Floating City, he had enough power to “soothe” and “enlighten” the beast.

…

“Why is it so expensive?” Muria looked at the numbers on the pile of cost estimates in front of him. Those long, conspicuous figures made his good mood after breaking the limit of his soul disappear, “Mia, are you sure there isn’t a mistake?”

“I have double-checked three times, Master Muria”. Mia was standing to one side with a calm expression, this was the way she showed her displeasure. Her careful work with hundreds of cloud giants, measuring hundred and thirty-two cloud islands, were being doubted by Muria.

“Ahem!” Muria cleared his throat and looked at the disgruntled Mia, realizing he had misspoke, “Mia, I’m not doubting your ability, but I was shocked by the remodelling cost. Such enormous expenditure is something even emptying the entire Lockman Kingdom can’t handle, it is impossible to accomplish the transformation of all cloud islands.”

“Indeed, it is impractical to use the resources of the Lockman Kingdom for the transformation of all cloud islands.” Mia stated her conclusion from the calculations, “Master Muria, maybe you should reevaluate the feasibility of the Cloud Island renovation project.”

Tap! Tap! Tap… Muria’s fingers drummed on the table, lost in thought. The resources required to transform all cloud islands into floating cities, converted into Elemental Crystals, were close to one hundred million cubes. This was a figure that would even amaze the deities.

However, upon further thought, the estimation cost was not unreasonable. Although Golden Dragon Mother’s method of transforming Cloud Island into a Floating City saved nearly forty percent of the cost compared to directly constructing a Floating City of the same scale, it was still an astronomically high figure.

What is a Floating City? It is the ultimate achievement of a Legendary Mage. Mages possessing a Floating City in the Material World have the audacity to defy the Deities. They hold the highest status amongst mages, second only to those in the Epics.

Not every Legendary Mage can possess this pinnacle of mage fortresses and laboratories. More than eighty percent of mages cannot afford to construct a Floating City, even if they were to expend every resource available to them.

For example, Elemental Master Heinal, the creator of the Semi Plane acquired by Muria, is one of the most distinguished amongst Legendary Mages, both in terms of strength and fortune.

But, even an entity like him needed to adopt a loan-like system to construct a Floating City. The longer the construction time, the more debts he would accrue.

So, when Heinal unexpectedly perished, the construction of the Floating City was abruptly halted, with no hope of continuation.

By extension, building a Floating City would essentially drain the economy of a prosperous Duchy, leading to economic collapse, national turbulence, and rampant thievery. Without a Legendary figure to keep everything under control, the Duchy would basically be doomed.

As for the Lockman Kingdom ruled by Muria, its overall strength surpasses Duchies by far. Had the kingdom stayed as it was before the Magic Disaster, maintaining economic stability while supporting Muria’s transformation of fifteen Cloud Islands would not have been an issue at all.

However, now, after weathering for so long under the torment of the Magic Disaster, even with the protection of an Ancient Dragon, the Lockman Kingdom is still significantly weakened. Supporting Muria’s transformation of five Cloud Islands is already a strain on the Kingdom’s economy, let alone one hundred and thirty-two. Even if Muria were to drain the resources of the Lockman Kingdom completely, it would not be enough.

Of course, if Muria was willing to wait, within a maximum of fifty years, given human reproductive capability and the growth of two to three generations, the Kingdom could absolutely recover to its former glory, or even surpass it.

This is because the remnants of the Medis Kingdom from the Dark Region will nourish the Lockman Kingdom. The destruction of the Choel Kingdom came during the period of the Magic Disaster, which left no capacity to reap the spoils of war. Now that the Magic Disaster is over, they can naturally begin to assimilate that part of the Dark Region.

Even though the essence of the Medis Kingdom has been split among the Golden Dragon Mother and those Ancient Dragons, the remaining debris, which is of the greatest quantity, is still enough to make the Lockman Kingdom prosper.

“Fifty years is too long!” Muria frowned slightly. His original plan was to keep the Lockman Kingdom for about ten to twenty years. Fifty years is too long and exceeds his expectations. Moreover, even if the economic recovery revitalizes the Kingdom, it would still not be enough to support this vast project.

“I don’t have that much time to waste on this Subcontinent. Since we can’t fully transform it, let’s just transform a part of it as best we can. Belradin entrusted me with the Kingdom, and I cannot let it go to waste.”

“Master Muria, which part will you be transforming?”

“Just enough to get the Cloud Island moving.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read