Chapter 9

Damn it! This is really frustrating! In the interior of the Sealed Sanctuary, Yalin stood alone, looking at the holographic map and shouting in frustration. Just as he was about to summon, Nemo informed him that he needed to upgrade the AI level of ordinary summoned creatures to level 3 to conduct magic research.

"The reason all summoned creatures currently seem too cold and mechanical is that you haven't upgraded the character AI level," Nemo explained carefully, word by word.

After Nemo's explanation, Yalin finally understood that the character AI level referred to the intelligence of non-special summoned creatures. As the AI level increased, ordinary summoned creatures would exhibit changes in their actions and expressions, becoming more proactive in technological research or construction projects. They wouldn't just follow orders like robots; instead, they would gradually become more emotionally rich and human-like. In the later stages, these summoned creatures would even fall in love, marry, and have children...

Yalin took a deep breath and asked, "But they will still be absolutely loyal to me, right?"

"Yes, my respected master! However, the character AI upgrade will not affect special summoned characters who already have rich emotions and thoughts."

Understanding this, Yalin reluctantly spent 35,000 soul energy points to upgrade the character AI level to 3, leaving only 5,500 soul energy points remaining in the summoning system interface.

"Another question, what conditions need to be met to unlock new races?"

"Your loyalty, my master. To unlock a new race, you need at least one member of that race to swear allegiance to you."

Reflecting on Nemo's words, Yalin recalled the Frost Elf from earlier. Indeed! The Frost Elves had always been loyal to the White Dragon King. Even though the White Dragon King had been dead for a long time, the Frost Elf still swore allegiance to him, which likely unlocked the new option. If so, unlocking new race options wouldn't be too difficult, as long as one member of the race swore allegiance to him.

The day's work was done. Yalin exchanged food to feed the resting goblins and mountain giants, and also exchanged some exquisite dishes to enjoy with Major Alex. His level increased by one, and Yalin immediately spent the talent point to upgrade the "Frost Storm Barrier" to level 2. The blizzard below the mountain continued to rage, but the wind and snow on the mountain had been stopped. Apart from the occasional natural snowflakes, there was no cold wind at all.

Night soon fell over the Yanode Mountains. Yalin observed the mountain's condition through the map, recalling the events of the day. He then returned his consciousness to the clone still clearing the Great Library. Dragons needed very little sleep, and since he didn't need to sleep, he might as well keep working!

This time, Major Alex got lucky! This was Yalin's last thought for the day. He called over the other four dragons, punched through the rock in front of him, and continued working.

Inside the cleared passage, a large group of goblins lay sprawled on the ground, snoring loudly. The massive mountain giants were ordered to sleep far from the goblins to avoid crushing them in their sleep.

Major Alex, the Alchemist with the Strong Arm, Alex Louis Armstrong, lay in his sleeping bag, his face red and tense, unable to sleep. The reason was the dozen beautiful elf maidens lying beside him. Any normal man surrounded by such beautiful maidens would find it hard to sleep calmly. Major Alex, a man of valor, felt like he was in a steam room, sweating profusely. As a noble soldier, he couldn't have improper thoughts about these girls. No! He had to think of something else...

"Iron Fe, Zinc Zn, Copper Cu, Gold Au..."

Soon, the periodic table of elements was recited in the passage...

Earlier, when Yalin summoned three Frost Prayers and ten Frost Elf High Mages, he noticed a problem: why were all the summoned elves female? When the thirteen beautiful elf maidens swore allegiance, they were all wearing simple cloth clothes. When they knelt, their white, tender chests were visible through the low-cut necklines, making Yalin swallow hard.

"My respected master, the summoning system defaults to female creatures unless otherwise specified."

Damn! That 'Panda' is up to his tricks again!

"Why were the four White Dragons I summoned earlier randomly assigned genders?"

"Your previous summoning was before I was activated as your assistant, so the default setting was on me."

"Cancel that default setting!"

"Master, what's wrong with having female summoned creatures?"

Yalin, with his hands behind his back, said a bit agitatedly, "Nemo, I'll say this once! My sexual orientation is perfectly normal. Any man would hope to have a harem, and I do too. But I want you to understand my current goal! As the White Dragon King, whose power can rival the gods, my goal is to establish a wise, cold, and terrifying image in the short term, not to be a king indulging in wine and women. If people discover that my palace is full of beautiful women, what will they think? I won't be the White Dragon King but the Lustful King!"

Nemo nodded and bowed slightly, "I understand, my respected master! I will immediately modify the default setting, but the already summoned creatures..."

"I know, I don't expect a refund."

At night, the goblins had a bit of an odor. The Frost Elf maidens, now with a level 3 AI, had developed a habit of cleanliness and didn't want to be too close to the goblins. The massive mountain giants also couldn't be too close. For the elf maidens, the only person they could be close to was the human male, Alex, whom their master trusted.

For Major Alex, this night would definitely be sleepless...

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"Is this the limit?"

Yalin was walking in the great forest at the foot of the Yanode Mountains. It felt as if a powerful force was pulling him back, making each step more difficult. Eventually, he had to stop, panting heavily.

This must be the limit of the power's range! Looking at the deep footprints he had left behind, Yalin finally gave up on advancing.

Lying on the ground, he looked around at the towering trees, some over a hundred meters tall and requiring a dozen people to encircle. The vast forest was silent except for the wind and snow. Unlike in fantasy novels where the forest was full of monsters, he hadn't seen a single one. But it made sense; this was once a dragon's lair, and even though it had been abandoned for ten thousand years, the dragon's aura still lingered, keeping the monsters away.

Yalin got up, feeling a bit bored, "According to the conventions of fantasy novels, shouldn't I encounter an adventure team or a princess in distress by now?"

The only response was the wind and snow. Shrugging, Yalin laughed, "Hahaha! Such cliché plots only exist in novels. Who would come to this forest and mountain in the middle of winter? It's practically suicide."

"Alright, that's enough for today. Let's go back!"

With a cold wind, Yalin's body turned transparent and shattered like ice, his consciousness returning to the Sealed Sanctuary. Nemo had already planned the entire territory's construction, and a holographic projection of the magnificent Dragon City appeared before Yalin. The grand buildings on the mountain peaks, the massive bridges connecting the cliffs, the towering walls encircling the mountains, and even the floating sky city—all of it was breathtaking.

"How long will it take to build all of this?"

"According to my calculations, it will take 1,200 years to complete everything."

"1,200... years... Not bad, can we extend the time a bit more?"

"This is based on the current resources. If you increase your soul energy recovery rate, the construction process can be accelerated."

"I guess I wasted too much soul energy at the beginning. Otherwise, the construction speed would be much faster."

"In fact, I suggest you use the reward soul points to summon some Frost Goblins to start logging. There's plenty of material energy to use for construction. There's no need to be overly frugal and delay development."

"I understand... I'll do that when the next task reward is available."

Material energy could be used to exchange for various items and minerals. Yalin noticed that exchanging finished products with material energy was much more expensive than exchanging raw materials. For example, a defense turret required 24,000 material energy, but if he exchanged the materials to build it himself, it would only cost about 12,000 material energy. The same principle applied to buildings, weapons, armor, and food. As long as he had the technology and workers, it was always more cost-effective to exchange raw materials and process them himself.

<System Notice: Magic Research Tower construction activated. Task completed, rewarded with 30,000 soul energy points, 50,000 material energy points! Random special summon character 1, custom White Dragon lineage 1 (special summon character's maximum potential is D grade)>

Finally! Yalin clenched his fist in excitement. The long-awaited construction task reward was complete! He quickly opened the system and summoned 100 Frost Goblins and 30 Frost Elf civilians at 180 soul energy points each.

Although they were listed as civilians, the 180 soul energy point Frost Elf civilians had excellent attributes and could function as half-mages. With a bit of training in the library, they could quickly become mid-level mages.

Next, Yalin used material energy to instantly build a logging camp and a farm within the territory. The level 1 logging camp looked like a small family shed with a few axes and saws, and the level 1 farm could only grow low-level crops, with a dilapidated cottage. Determined, Yalin spent 20,500 material energy to upgrade the logging camp to level 4 and 32,000 material energy to upgrade the farm to level 5. He assigned 50 goblins to each location and had the newly summoned Frost Elf civilians supervise them, subconsciously assigning the male elves to the logging camp and the females to the farm, just like in "Age of Empires 3."

After completing these tasks, Yalin checked the remaining energy. He had 25,715 soul energy points left and 1,057,700 material energy points. Unfortunately, material energy couldn't be exchanged for soul energy.

For his strategic plan, Yalin made some initial arrangements. First, considering his current body was sealed in the Yanode Mountains and couldn't leave, he knew completing tasks would expand his range, but these tasks would be difficult and unlikely to be completed in the short term. Relying on soul energy to summon creatures for development was too slow, especially since he was currently poor and couldn't summon more people.

Second, he knew too little about this world. The White Dragon King's memories were from over two thousand years ago, when the continent was unified by the tyrant Garselech. Now, the empire seemed to have fragmented, but the exact situation was unknown.

Yalin outlined two primary tasks: first, accelerate territory construction. He wouldn't be frugal with material energy and would use it to instantly complete necessary construction, quickly completing basic tasks and obtaining rewards. He also needed to establish a stable supply of resources, as feeding everyone daily already cost 4,000 material energy, and the cost would increase with the population.

He also needed to send scouts to gather intelligence about the human kingdoms outside the mountains, but cautiously, as he didn't want to be discovered yet. Although 'Panda' assured him he was almost invincible and he had four adult White Dragons, he couldn't risk being surrounded by a large army.

High walls, abundant grain, and slow claims to power! Yalin decided to follow these three strategies. For intelligence gathering, he had no suitable scouts yet. The Frost Elves in the summoning system had rangers, but with only level 3 AI, they would likely be exposed. Major Alex, though human, was clearly not suited for scouting. Gathering intelligence would require careful planning.

Regardless, it was time to summon the random special character!

Entering the selection interface, anime and game icons began to flash. Yalin looked for a while, hoping to find a pattern, but after a long time, he only had sore eyes. Rubbing his eyes, he decided to stop.

"Let's go with 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.' Not bad, let's see what luck brings!"

This anime was very familiar to Yalin, and he particularly liked the protagonist, Lelouch vi Britannia. Unlike the typical overpowered or weak protagonists, Lelouch's strategic mind was rare and refreshing. Characters like the immortal witch C.C. and the imperial prime minister Schneizel also left a deep impression on Yalin.

"You seem very happy, my respected master," Nemo's holographic image said beside him.

"Of course, I need some partners with administrative and strategic abilities. If I could summon Lelouch, that would be great. Even Schneizel would be fine, just not a minor character like Yuki."

Mentally repeating "Lelouch! Lelouch!" Yalin indicated to stop.

When the character icon stopped, Yalin was stunned, then punched the wall heavily... Was this good luck or bad luck? He had summoned a traitor!

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To be continued...