Ten days later.
In the meditation room, Sunan sat cross-legged on the ground.
In the void, invisible to others, countless energy particles seemed to be irresistibly drawn, rushing into his body.
Deep in the sea of consciousness, most of the Star Ring had already materialized, with only a tiny bit left appearing vaguely ethereal.
As the energy particles continued to fill in, this last bit of the phantom disappeared visibly.
At the moment the last bit of the phantom solidified, the entire Star Ring suddenly shone brilliantly, trembling slightly.
In an instant, Sunan felt a clear ringing in his mind, and a burst of mental clarity.
"I did it!"
Sunan opened his eyes, a heartfelt smile of joy spreading across his face.
It had been nearly six months since he started practicing the Star Ring Meditation Method, and at last, he had constructed the first Star Ring.
Returning from his joy, Sunan immediately looked at the panel.
[Spirit 3.60/Constitution 3.25]
"The spirit increased by 0.78, and the constitution by 0.31!"
Sunan nodded in satisfaction.
Even with the assistance of the Sub-Active Potion, he would need to meditate for almost a month to gain such spiritual power.
The enhancement from constructing the Star Ring was indeed significant.
In terms of constitution, Sunan now surpassed a Junior Knight.
However, he was still far from the official Knight's standard of 8 points in constitution.
After all, he had not practiced the breathing technique.
"If I practice the breathing technique now, the progress shouldn't be too slow."
The breathing technique and constitution complement each other.
The faster the progress in the breathing technique, the quicker the constitution strengthens.
Conversely, it's the same.
With Sunan's current constitution, it's possible he wouldn't even need a month to achieve minor mastery of the breathing technique.
However, even saying this, he did not intend to do so.
There are plenty of ways for a wizard to enhance constitution, so there's no need to waste time and energy practicing the breathing technique.
It would be more worthwhile to spend that time improving the learning progress of spells or skills.
With a thought, Sunan opened the spell list.
[Mage's Hand]
[Sleep Spell]
[Acid Splash]
[Flash Skill]
Thanks to the enhancing effect of the Sub-Active Potion, his efficiency in learning spells had increased several fold.
In just two short months, not only had he successfully mastered the Sleep Spell, but also Acid Splash and Flash Skill.
He was currently working on the learning progress of the Lock Picking spell.
"The fields of knowledge a wizard involves are mostly extremely profound and require a great deal of time to master."
"This is also the main reason why many wizard apprentices with decent aptitude take over a hundred years to advance to a wizard."
"However, with enough resource support, this time can be greatly shortened."
Sunan mused quietly.
On the Starlight Continent, due to the withering of elements and scarce resources, wizards saw no hope in enhancing power, hence they were abandoned.
If it weren't for the synthesis cube he had as a golden finger, aspiring to advance as a wizard on today's Starlight Continent would be nothing but a fool's dream.
"Upgrading to level 2 in the Star Ring Meditation Method requires 3000 proficiency points, which will probably take about four months."
"If I can maintain a constant supply of the Sub-Active Potion, I could advance to a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice within two years at most."
Sunan estimated that producing one bottle of Sub-Active Potion costs about twelve gold coins.
Once more skilled, it might be reduced to about ten gold coins.
That would be twenty gold coins a month.
"It seems like the monthly tax revenue of Black Stone City is only forty to fifty gold coins, which is quite an expense."
Sunan thought about synthesizing the Sub-Active Potion, which might greatly enhance the effect of the potion.
Unfortunately, with the current income level of Black Stone City, it was simply not feasible for him to purchase a large amount of materials at once to produce a sufficient number of Sub-Active Potions.
"I should discuss it with my brother."
Sunan stood up and walked out of the meditation room.
On the way, he ran into Old Geller, who informed him that Kei was in the study, so he turned toward the study.
However, when he found Kei in the study, he noticed that the latter was also sighing, a look of worry on his face.
Upon seeing Sunan, Kei put away his worried expression and forcibly brightened up, asking, "It's you, Sunan, you've shut yourself up in the courtyard for many days, what makes you come out today?"
"Brother, there's something I need to discuss with you."
Sunan got straight to the point, mentioning the matter of purchasing materials.
Upon hearing this, Kei showed a bitter smile.
"We still have over fifty gold coins on the books, which I originally planned to use for purchasing armor. Since you need it, I'll give it to you first."
Sunan glanced at Kei, thinking of his distressed look earlier, and immediately understood.
"Is the territory really short of money now?"
Kei did not hide it, sighing, "Recently, the number of knights in the territory has increased significantly, drastically increasing food expenses. Next month, planting will begin, and money will need to be spent on tools and seeds; expenditures indeed aren't small."
"Is there any way to increase income and reduce expenditure?"
"Reducing expenditure won't work. For the territory to develop, saving money is impossible, whether it's arming the troops or developing the economy, you can't do without gold coins."
Kei had always had the thought of strengthening his forces to reclaim Flashing Territory, so he could never be content with being idle.
"As for increasing income, I do have an idea. I'm planning to restart the Black Stone Mine!"
Black Stone Mine?
Sunan's expression shifted slightly.
He remembered that Black Stone City was once famous for producing Black Stone Iron.
Black Stone Iron is a high-quality metal that, with simple refining, has hardness comparable to refined iron, making it an excellent material for forging armor and weapons.
The name Black Stone City also comes from this.
It was precisely because of Black Stone Iron that Black Stone City became one of the most prosperous cities in the Golden Rock Province.
However, an accident later led to the abandonment of the Black Stone Mine, causing Black Stone City to gradually decline.
"By the way, why was the Black Stone Mine abandoned?" Sunan asked in confusion.
There was no specific reason; successive lords of Black Stone City would never abandon such a gold-producing cash cow.
"According to the old soldiers in the city, a kind of monster appeared in the mine area."
"Monster?"
Kei, prepared in advance, took out a piece of parchment and spread it out on the table.
It depicted a leopard with an entirely dark body covered in a clear stone pattern, exuding a metallic sheen, looking as if it were a creature entirely composed of metal and stone.
"The previous lords called this monster an Iron Swallowing Beast. They feed on Black Stone Iron ores, and their bodies are as incredibly hard as Black Stone Iron itself. Each has combat power comparable to a Junior Knight and is very difficult to deal with."
"Are there many of these monsters?" Sunan asked.
Although a knight-level monster is terrifying, it wouldn't deter successive lords.
If necessary, spending a few hundred gold coins to hire a Grand Knight to deal with them isn't out of the question.
Unless there are many monsters, or there are other reasons.
Sure enough, Kei continued, "There aren't many monsters, probably only twenty or thirty. The key point is that the Iron Swallowing Beasts are very cunning; they escape into the rock walls the moment they sense danger, moving quickly, preventing even a Grand Knight from stopping them."
"Without completely clearing these monsters, the mine can't operate normally."
A monster that can burrow into the ground, huh...
Sunan raised an eyebrow; this indeed was difficult to deal with.
—Of course, it's difficult only for ordinary people.
"If that's all, then there might be a solution."
The words that came from Sunan's mouth left Kei somewhat stunned; it took him a moment to react, joyfully standing up.
"You have a way to deal with the Iron Swallowing Beasts?"
Sunan pondered, "I can give it a try."
Though Sunan didn't offer a 100% guarantee, this was enough to make Kei extremely excited.
After all, his biggest headache during this time had been the gold coins. If he could restart the Black Stone Mine, then all problems would be solved!