At the base, in a room converted into a bug nest, various minerals lay scattered across the floor. This newly established nest was designated for rearing Gem Bugs.
Under the soft glow of magic stone lamps, three egg-sized bugs were leisurely feeding on the minerals, their backs adorned with nearly fully-formed pure gemstones, which stood out prominently.
After over two months of feeding, the three once-near-death Gem Bugs had fully recovered and were now exceptionally healthy.
Nowadays, all they needed was to feast on minerals daily, condensing various pure gemstones as a result.
Depending on the type of minerals consumed, the resulting gemstones varied.
Thanks to the notes left by Avigney, Sunan avoided many detours in this process.
It's noteworthy that a single Gem Bug could produce an average of three standard units of pure gemstones per month.
With three Gem Bugs, that amounted to nine per month.
Frankly, this output was rather meager.
Fortunately, Gem Bugs could self-replicate.
However, this required a special diet.
According to the notes, the main components of this special diet included Abyssal Black Copper, Rainbow Iron, Solar Gold Sand, Mithril, and high-grade gemstones, among others.
"None of these are easy to find," Sunan sighed.
But thinking of the benefits once the Gem Bug population increased, he felt motivated again.
He wouldn't need many; just thirty Gem Bugs could produce ninety gemstones a month, over a thousand a year, enough to manufacture more than twenty elite stone golems or a thousand ordinary stone golems annually.
If he had two to three hundred Gem Bugs, he wouldn't have to worry about low-grade gemstones anymore.
"I'll collect them gradually," Sunan thought as he left the bug nest.
Aside from the Gem Bugs, Sunan had also brought back a few Blood Soul Bugs from Avigney's cave.
However, considering that nurturing them required a large number of souls, and he was unwilling to waste precious soul crystals on them, he decided to abandon the idea.
After all, the only use Blood Soul Bugs had for him was extracting bloodlines to make Bloodline Imprints.
Although there weren't many creatures with ancient beast bloodlines on the Starlight Continent, there were enough. He didn't need to limit himself to Blood Soul Bugs.
Originally, Sunan planned to extract and synthesize the Blood Soul Bug bloodline, but ultimately, he couldn't solve the soul pollution issue.
He speculated that the soul pollution wasn't caused by the Blood Soul Bug's bloodline ability. The bloodline ability was to convert soul energy into lifespan, and the pollution was a side effect of absorbing souls.
Without the ability to purify souls, absorbing them inevitably led to pollution.
In the end, Sunan personally dissected a few Blood Soul Bugs, collected data, and disposed of the remains.
Leaving the bug nest, Sunan headed to the workshop.
"Teacher!"
"Hello, teacher!"
Along the way, he encountered several apprentices. These youths, dressed in gray robes, immediately stopped and respectfully greeted him.
Since implementing the talent detection policy in Shimmer Territory, the base had welcomed a new recruit every few months.
Currently, the base had a total of thirty-six students.
With the various otherworldly creatures Sunan had summoned, the base felt livelier and no longer as desolate as before.
Sunan didn't pay much attention to these students. He simply assigned tasks, prepared resources for them to exchange, and mostly acted as a hands-off manager.
With the Forest Cabin platform, Sunan greatly expanded and refined his foundational knowledge.
Night Owl and the others, through years of collection, had a wealth of wizard tomes, encompassing all the basic knowledge, zero-level potion formulas, and low-tier puppet designs needed by level-one and level-two wizard apprentices.
With the knowledge he traded from them, Sunan was confident in training more apprentices.
The base now operated with a comprehensive system, and with help from otherworldly beings like Gree and Madeleine, it required little of Sunan's attention.
Of course, he still occasionally guided students.
One of the resources available for exchange was Sunan's guidance, though the contribution points required were high, and few students could afford it.
In the workshop, Sunan approached the workbench.
On the large workbench lay an unfinished magic robe.
The experience of exploring the underground city-state reminded Sunan of the need to create a magic item for concealing his presence, to facilitate future explorations of the underground world.
After much consideration, Sunan decided to craft a robe with a permanent invisibility enchantment.
The robe itself was made by a renowned tailor in Shimmer City, noted for its excellent texture and feel.
Sunan enchanted it with Cleanse, Silence, and Invisibility.
The first two were relatively easy—a zero-level spell and a first-level spell—but the second-level Invisibility was significantly more challenging.
Even with Sunan's [Magic Item Creation] skill at level 4, he failed several times before succeeding.
Afterward, he added an Illusory Appearance trait to the robe, allowing it to change appearance at will.
Busy until evening, Sunan finally completed the robe.
Admiring the exquisite robe on the workbench, a satisfied smile spread across his face.
He donned the robe, and with a thought, vanished from sight.
The room fell silent, and over ten seconds later, Sunan reappeared at the other end.
"Not bad," Sunan nodded in approval.
The robe's Invisibility could be used twice a day, each lasting half an hour.
The Silence enchantment created a quiet zone with a two-meter radius around him, preventing any sound from escaping.
Additionally, Sunan added some scent-removing powder to the robe to eliminate the wearer's scent.
Overall, the robe provided invisibility that concealed appearance, sound, and scent. While not as versatile as a Shadow Dragon's phased invisibility, and unable to hide soul auras, it sufficed for most situations.
"With this robe, infiltrating places will be much easier," Sunan mused with a smile, noting the late hour as he headed to the meditation chamber.
Tonight marked the fourth quarterly Forest Cabin gathering since Sunan joined.
After a moment of meditation, Sunan sensed the trading cabin open. With a thought, he found himself in the familiar little house.
Looking around, Sunan was slightly surprised.
This gathering had an unexpectedly large turnout—seven attendees.
Besides himself, Night Owl, Scepter, Wraith, Rose, and Red Heart, there was a new face.
The newcomer wore a black wooden mask, with "Black Forest" inscribed on the table before him.
"So, you're the newcomer Night Owl mentioned. Sorry, I've been busy and missed the previous gatherings. Welcome to Forest Cabin," Black Forest greeted Sunan with a wave, appearing more cheerful than the others' reserved or gloomy demeanors.
"I heard from Night Owl that you have some good stuff. I came prepared to trade with you."
"Welcome," Sunan replied coolly.
Night Owl cleared his throat and said, "Black Forest, let's finish the Divine Blood Amber transactions first."
"Divine Blood Amber? What's that?" Black Forest asked, puzzled.
Night Owl explained the transactions with Sunan.
After hearing it, Black Forest felt regretful.
"If I'd known about this, I'd have attended the earlier gatherings."
"Twenty magic stones is quite a bit. I'll have to collect some Divine Blood Amber after this."
Before he could finish, Red Heart interjected, "You might be disappointed."
His voice was hoarse, and he seemed visibly weakened, indicating an injury.
Seeing the others' attention, Red Heart coughed and said, "A month ago, I was ambushed while attacking a Spark Church branch. I was badly hurt and barely escaped."
The others were taken aback.
While they didn't know Red Heart's exact strength, as a level-three wizard apprentice, he nearly died at the hands of the Spark Church?
"Is the Spark Church that powerful?" Wraith was skeptical.
Night Owl, Rose, and Scepter remained silent, but their expressions showed doubt.
In previous attacks, the Spark Church hadn't shown the power to threaten their lives.
"The ambush was led by an old man, called Oviju High Priest by the other cultists. He had several strange items, resembling artifacts mentioned in wizard tomes—quite troublesome."
Artifacts!
Everyone exchanged glances.
Artifacts were said to be crafted by deities, possessing immense power.
They doubted the Spark Church truly had such items, but from Red Heart's account, the church held items capable of threatening level-three wizard apprentices.
Such items were likely rare or had stringent usage conditions, which explained their previous absence.
But now, the Spark Church seemed desperate, and wouldn't hesitate to use them.
Seeing the group's reactions, Sunan sighed inwardly.
Wizard apprentices were pragmatic. While magic stones were valuable, they paled against the risk of death.
The group's choice was predictable.
It seemed the actions against the Spark Church would end here.
Unless Sunan could offer irresistible terms, he couldn't entice them to act against the church again.
As expected, Night Owl said, "Unfortunately, this will be our last Divine Blood Amber transaction."
"Really?" Black Forest muttered. "I didn't even get a taste."
Wraith glanced at him, saying, "You can still raid the Spark Church for Divine Blood Amber. No one's stopping you."
Black Forest shrugged, falling silent.
After a brief pause, the group handed over their Divine Blood Amber to Sunan.
Except for Black Forest and Rose, the others had varying amounts, with Night Owl having the most at twelve.
In total, Sunan acquired twenty-five more Divine Blood Ambers.
With that transaction complete, they moved to regular trading.
"I'll go first," Black Forest said.
Seeing no objections, Night Owl gestured for him to proceed.
Sunan watched with interest, curious about Black Forest's offerings.
Under their gaze, Black Forest produced a golden apple.
"A Golden Apple!" Sunan's eyes narrowed.
Black Forest glanced at Sunan, surprised. "You recognize this?"
"I found it in a wizard apprentice's legacy. According to their notes, eating it grants infinite vitality, instantly restoring all physical and mental energy, lasting about an hour."
Infinite mental energy!
Everyone sat up straighter.
Wizard apprentices knew well that in battle, mental energy often decided the outcome.
With enough mental energy, they could cast spells without restraint.
Even for just an hour, it could decide a battle's outcome.
Everyone was intrigued.
But they didn't notice Sunan's delight beneath his mask.
To others, the Golden Apple was a powerful, one-time consumable. But for Sunan, it was a lifesaving trump card.
With his magic rune core's significant mental energy consumption, its proven power against the adamantine golem was undeniable.
The only drawback was its high mental energy cost.
But with the Golden Apple, this was no longer an issue.
With an hour of unrestricted magic rune core use, even ten adamantine golems wouldn't faze him.
To others, it was useful; in his hands, it was a lifesaver!
Sensing the group's interest, Black Forest said proudly, "Anyone interested?"
Everyone looked at Sunan.
From past experience, they knew that unless Sunan didn't want something, it usually ended up with him.
His spending was unmatched.
Sunan, unperturbed, asked Black Forest, "What do you want?"
"Magic stones," Black Forest replied without hesitation. "Fifty."
"Too much. Thirty."
"It's good stuff. Forty-eight."
"Thirty-three."
After some haggling, they settled on thirty-nine magic stones.
Black Forest was satisfied; it was a good price for the Golden Apple.
Sunan was equally pleased; thirty-nine magic stones for a trump card was a bargain.
The trading continued, with Night Owl, Scepter, and Red Heart offering items.
Sunan bought up all rare metals and soul crystals, outspending the others.
To his delight, Night Owl's rare metals included Rainbow Iron, vital for Gem Bug replication.
As he acquired it, he felt Rose's envious gaze.
She clearly wanted the Rainbow Iron for her Gem Bugs, but couldn't outbid Sunan.
Unless Sunan skipped a gathering, she couldn't hope to trade for Abyssal Black Copper or Rainbow Iron from the others.
At the gathering's end, Sunan asked directly, "Does anyone have blueprints for specialized puppets, preferably flying types?"
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