Chapter 76

Gongsun Murong took the item and examined it carefully again. It was one of the items from the diagram given by Linda, the intelligent system from another civilization. It was a critical component, and without it, the spaceship could not be repaired. Of course, the material of this item was very special, and the technology here could not damage it. It was probably because of this that someone found it and treated it as a treasure, or as some kind of special magical item, and placed it with other items. By coincidence, it ended up in the palace, where Nalasha saw it. Gongsun Murong was very happy. There were a total of fifteen key components, and finding one left fourteen more to find. Most importantly, he had a good idea: could he use various means to get others to send him these strange items? This way, it would be much faster than searching for them himself. The two of them looked at the item happily, and the others watched but did not speak. They could guess that it was a good item; otherwise, Gongsun Murong would not have been so determined to take it. After a while, Gongsun Murong noticed that everyone's attention was focused on him and the item. After some thought, he said, "It is not a magical item, but a key component of another type of spaceship. Nalasha and I need to find all the components to repair that spaceship." Emperor Rexlar listened and, after Gongsun Murong finished, asked, "I wonder if that spaceship is very powerful?" "Yes, it is very powerful. A single spaceship can defeat at least ten battle magic spaceships," Gongsun Murong said truthfully. He believed this to be true, but he did not say how many more it could defeat. He did not even mention that the spaceship could perform spatial jumps and fly out of the planet. If he had said that, he would have had to explain many more things. His statement had an effect. Everyone began to think along his lines: a spaceship that could defeat ten others was a good one. But it did not need to be taken too seriously; the empire had more than ten spaceships. Emperor Rexlar even suggested that he would help Gongsun Murong and Nalasha find the other components, provide the blueprints, and have people from all over the empire pay attention. This made Gongsun Murong feel a bit ashamed. He considered helping the empire win the competition first, and then, when the spaceship was really repaired, he would tell Emperor Rexlar the specifics. He believed that by then, Emperor Rexlar would not be able to stop him and Nalasha. At worst, they could take them on a trip outside the planet. After all, their own spaceship could not leave. After some self-comforting, Gongsun Murong's mood improved. He and Nalasha drew the other fourteen components and handed them to Emperor Rexlar, asking for his help. Time passed quietly. Another hour went by, and Nalasha finally put together all the magical items. With the items from the palace's warehouse, Nalasha managed to assemble over ten thousand high-compatibility sets. There were also several thousand sets with lower compatibility, but they could still influence each other. As for the other items, Nalasha had no immediate solution. Even so, the people in the palace were very happy. They saw countless coins and the empire's growing prosperity. The meal finally began, and everyone discussed the distribution of benefits while eating. Emperor Rexlar suggested giving Gongsun Murong and Nalasha ten percent of the profits and a noble title in the empire. Due to their previous concealment of the components, the two suggested only five percent and did not want to stay in the capital, preferring to return to their soon-to-be-obtained marquis title. Seeing their insistence, Emperor Rexlar agreed to the distribution and gave them the title of marquis in the empire. The same marquis title, but the one given by the empire was more prestigious than that given by the principality. If Gongsun Murong and Nalasha were willing to govern a region, they would become a quasi-duke, or a small principality. However, the two did not have the time to govern such a large area; they only wanted an estate and to find a way home. ****** When the dinner ended, Gongsun Murong and Nalasha, under the moonlight, returned to the place specially arranged for them to rest. Emperor Rexlar and several high officials did not sleep. Instead, they gathered for a meeting. First, they discussed a general plan to enrich the country through the auction of magical item sets. Next, they discussed Gongsun Murong and Nalasha. After dinner, they had specifically reviewed the information about the components the two had taken. The description of the item was only one sentence: "Unless the power of the gods is used, it cannot be destroyed, not even by engraving a mark on it." With this description, if they still did not understand how powerful the repaired spaceship would be, they would all be fools. A component that could not be destroyed meant that the repaired spaceship would also be indestructible by their attacks. How it had been damaged in the first place might need to be asked of someone who knew. So, did Gongsun Murong and Nalasha not know, or were they lying? "Your Majesty, I really cannot dismiss the idea that they are hiding some facts. In recorded history, three spaceships have already been found to have flown from the sky. Our magic spaceships were created by referencing the structure of other spaceships. If this is another spaceship from the sky, it would be better to keep it in our hands rather than in someone else's." A minister said solemnly to Emperor Rexlar. Immediately, several other ministers agreed. With the blueprints in their hands, the fourteen components, once found, plus the components in Gongsun Murong's hands, could repair an indestructible spaceship. They were tempted. Emperor Rexlar listened and watched calmly. Until the voices of the ministers gradually diminished. Then Emperor Rexlar spoke: "Marquis Gongsun has already given us many benefits. As you have seen, Nalasha has special abilities, and their combat strength is also very strong. I have never intended to solve some matters through force. Before, they mentioned a name, Linda, who must be an important person for repairing the spaceship. Even if we successfully seize the spaceship, what then? How much benefit can we bring to the 30 billion people with that spaceship? It can only be a tool of war, not a means of rule. What worries me more is whether the spaceship, once repaired, will contact other places, and whether it has enemies looking for it. When we possess it, will we also possess a group of powerful enemies?" His words made the ministers silent. After a pause, Emperor Rexlar continued: "I believe we all want to keep our secrets from others while trying to know theirs. This is a survival instinct. Often, what we do is suppress our desires and strive to improve our strength. Gongsun Murong and Nalasha have never asked about the empire's secrets; instead, we have always been inquiring about them and gathering information. The benefits we have given them are less than what they have given us. If we become greedy, do we want to drive them away from the empire, or make them enemies of the empire?" "Can they be enemies of a country?" someone asked. "They have already become enemies of the Mitchell Empire. According to the information we have, the Mitchell Empire has decided to send strong competitors to eliminate them during the competition." Emperor Rexlar provided another piece of information. "Ah? Then their situation is very dangerous?" Nigel, the steward, exclaimed. He was still hoping to collect substandard magical items from other places and have them help form high-compatibility sets, making a lot of money together. The ministers also became tense. "Ha ha ha~~~!" Emperor Rexlar laughed heartily. After the laughter subsided, he said, "It is their opponents who are in danger. They have been hiding their strength, and their rate of improvement is very fast, so fast that it is frightening. They have only revealed a small part of their strength." The ministers breathed a sigh of relief and became happy again. Then they began to fantasize about the final results of the competition, and none of them felt sleepy, as if they were certain that the empire would win the resource competition. ****** The next day, the new competition began. The people of the Gels Principality bought more tickets this time, occupying one-third of the audience seats. They wanted to see their country's competitors advance further. They also planned to find Princess Lucia after the competition and discuss pooling money to buy her a hair clip. They had already colluded, and every Gels Principality person they found had agreed to contribute money. But when Lucia stood on the stage, they were stunned. They saw that Lucia was no longer wearing red jewelry but had changed to deep blue, even her dress was blue. She stood there, all blue. Before the referee announced the start, Lucia had already begun to compete for control of the water elements with her opponent, who was a water-element specialist. She wore this outfit to defeat her opponent in their strongest aspect. Clouds gathered again, and the water elements on the field converged toward the two. It was clear that water had already condensed around Lucia, forming large water masses, while her opponent was only controlling small droplets. "What am I seeing? I really saw that the magical fluctuations were already one-sided before the competition started. Is there any need for this competition to continue? Is there?" The commentator's voice rang out. Not only him, but all the spectators understood that the competition had already ended before it started. Indeed, the moment the referee announced the start of the competition, Lucia's opponent immediately shouted, "I surrender." "Lucia wins!" the referee announced. "Yes!" The people of the Gels Principality cheered. Now, the first and second places were theirs. As they had guessed, Nalasha's opponent also surrendered immediately and went to compete for the third and fourth places. Next was the match between Nalasha and Lucia. Since neither of them was injured and their strength was still intact, there was no need to waste time. Lucia naturally could not defeat Nalasha. Under the watchful eyes of countless spectators, she also shouted, "I surrender, I don't want to fight Nalasha." Many spectators expressed regret. Even though they knew Lucia could not defeat Nalasha, they still hoped to see a spectacular magical performance, which would be even better than the last one. The next competition was for the older age group, and Gongsun Murong was about to appear. Everyone was excited again.