Chapter 29: The Castle

"Stop! How dare you raise your hand in front of the prince?" A storm giant beside the mountain giant swung his greatsword, cutting the wooden club in the mountain giant's hand in half.

"I…" The mountain giant, his face turning from red to almost black with anger, then threw away the half-club in his hand and knelt before Muria: "My prince, I meant no offense to you."

"But," the mountain giant lifted his head, glaring fiercely at the cloud giant leader who had just mocked him, "I cannot tolerate his contempt for us mountain giants."

"I didn't show any contempt towards you mountain giants," the cloud giant leader huffed. "I was merely stating the facts. You mountain giants wield the power of the earth element, capable of condensing hard rock. You're quick at making caves, but do you know how to construct a castle? Especially a super-large castle fitting for Prince Muria's status."

"…" The mountain giant was taken aback, then shamefully lowered his head, saying nothing more.

"Alright, Dix, that's enough," Muria stopped the cloud giant leader Dix who wanted to continue, "The mountain giants' respect for me is clear to all. They simply wish to serve me."

"You don't need to argue about who will build the castle. All of you giants will take part in constructing Tai Chi Island," Muria stood up and announced his decision after pondering for a while.

"The storm giants, few in number but strongest in might, will be responsible for surveying the island's terrain, measuring its area, and counting the number of giants under my command. I still don't know how many giants are following me.

As for the cloud giants, you will provide me with a design for a super-large castle and then present a plan for building a city around the castle. Remember, prepare multiple plans.

Next, the tide giants will scour the endless oceans for treasures to adorn my castle. It cannot be too shabby.

Muria looked at the three downcast brown-yellow mountain giants representing all mountain giants, "Lastly, you, the mountain giants. My castle cannot be as luxurious as my mother's, built with magical crystals, so I need a large amount of stone, enough to build a city of giants. Can you provide that?"

"Of course, no problem, Prince Muria."

"Leave it to us mountain giants."

"We will definitely complete this task for you."

The mountain giants' faces instantly brightened, and they enthusiastically assured Muria they could provide the needed stone with their innate ability to solidify rock.

"Don't be hasty in your promises. I don't need just any stone; it must be not only hard but also as white as clouds in the daytime. Can you condense such stone?" 

The mountain giants looked at each other. One of them stepped forward, raised his hands, and summoned earthen yellow light points from the air towards his hands. A large stone brick rapidly took shape out of nothing.

Muria frowned at the four-meter-long, two-meter-wide, and one-meter-tall brick because it was earth-yellow. But his frown soon relaxed as the color of the brick swiftly lightened until it was as white as clouds, without a single flaw, just as Muria had described.

"Prince Muria." The mountain giant held up the white brick for Muria, who took it and inspected it closely. He applied pressure with his palm, but the brick showed no change or cracks, noteworthy since he could crush ordinary rock with his strength.

"The texture is hard, the stone is fine, and it's crystalline white. Very good," Muria nodded, satisfied with the stone condensed by the mountain giants' innate talent. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "This stone shall be named: White Jade Stone."

Muria initially wanted to name it after a white marble very similar to this stone in his previous life, but he refrained because the term "Han" had no meaning in Erathia.

"Thank you for the name, Prince. We mountain giants will start condensing White Jade Stone for you now," hearing Muria's words, the three mountain giants were overjoyed. They eagerly took their leave, ready to start producing White Jade Stone with all the mountain giants.

Afterward, all the giant leaders took their leave, ready to lead their people to begin the tasks Muria had assigned, hoping to complete them as soon as possible.

Muria nodded, watching all cloud giant leaders and giant representatives depart, mobilizing their people immediately to start on their tasks.

"Racial prejudice, huh!" Muria rubbed his temples, realizing the four types of giants gathered under his command all belonged to the giant kin, massive humanoid creatures. However, aside from their size, their powers, knowledge, and even racial habits were very different, and the disparity between different types of giants was vast.

In terms of civilization, storm giants and cloud giants were the most advanced, mastering essential knowledge like forging and building. They even had the leisure to study art, as Muria had seen many cloud and storm giants carrying musical instruments.

Mountain giants, though physically strong and reaching Gold Tier Three upon adulthood with a few elite advancing to Gold Tier Four, had a pitiful level of civilization, still living in a primitive state due to their formidable strength, barely above subsistence. 

Tide giants were slightly better than mountain giants but not by much, strictly speaking, neither mountain nor tide giants had developed a civilization, harshly put, they weren't much different from the gold-tier monsters on the islands.

Such a vast gap in civilization made the average Gold Tier One cloud giants naturally view the barbaric mountain and tide giants, averaging above Gold Tier Three in strength, with a mix of envy and disdain...

The storm giants, masters of the wind element, were quick to act. They surveyed the entire Tai Chi Island overnight, roughly measuring its terrain and area.

By sunrise, the storm giants presented a meticulously made sand model of Tai Chi Island to Muria.

"The island has an area of 36,578 square kilometers," Muria read out the numbers, pointing at the sand model in front of him, surprised at the few storm giants of various skin colors, "This is your accomplishment in just one night?"

"Yes, Prince."

"Can you guarantee absolute accuracy?"

"If there are any errors, we are willing to wash away our low-level mistake with our blood," a green-skinned storm giant said solemnly.

"No need for that, I believe you," Muria smirked, with the storm giants stating their case so strongly, how could he continue to question the accuracy of their measurements and the sand model.

Muria was merely astonished at the speed of the storm giants' work. In his previous world, such a task, regardless of effort, manpower, and time, would have been impossible.

But this was Erathia, a world of gods and demons, where a task that would have taken a tremendous amount of manpower and time in the previous world could be completed by a group of giants overnight.

"Over 30,000 square kilometers. I remember my mother's island being only about 1,500 square kilometers. Now, Tai Chi Island is almost twenty times larger than hers."

Realizing Tai Chi Island's size compared to his mother's, Muria grinned, seeing it as one area where he surpassed his mother.

"Hmm, my island looks good!" Muria carefully examined the sand model made by the

 storm giants, a miniature island reduced countless times, with every detail clearly visible.

Through this model, the terrain and features of Tai Chi Island were laid bare before Muria. The island's terrain was very flat, with hardly any mountains, just some low hills scattered around.

Like other islands in the Titan Sea, Tai Chi Island was lush with ancient trees, bursting with vibrant life. Thus, to build a castle or even a city, Muria would need to undertake a large-scale logging operation to clear a vast area.

"Right, you're about to count the number of giants on the island," Muria looked up at the storm giants, who nodded in confirmation. He continued:

"Although I've said it once before, I want to say it again, regarding the island's native creatures, it would be best to domesticate them and become their partners.

Next is to drive them away, do not harm their lives. Only as a last resort, when lives are at risk, may you choose the worst option, to kill them.

When you count the number of giants, remember to pass my orders to every giant."

Muria finished hesitantly, then looked at the storm giants.

"Prince, you are the most merciful ruler I have ever seen," a storm giant said after listening to Muria's words, moved.

"Merciful? Heh." Muria chuckled, indifferent to the storm giant's praise. "Go ahead and pass the orders."

Not long after the storm giants departed, Muria, who was wandering the island with a few dragons, was stopped by a group of cloud giant leaders.

"Your castle design plans are ready?" Muria looked surprised at the uniformly fifteen-meter-tall cloud giant leaders.

The eighteen cloud giant leaders answered Muria's question with action. One of them took out a miniature castle model and a stack of design plans for Muria to review.

"You're quite fast!" Muria smacked his lips, genuinely impressed. The castle model in the cloud giants' hands was a direct proportional reduction of the successful castle construction, represented in a compact physical model, allowing Muria to more intuitively choose the design plan.

Muria glanced over most of the design plans, ultimately fixing his gaze on two castle models.

The models Muria disregarded at a glance were not because they were unattractive; in fact, they all met his aesthetic standards. However, they were irregular and asymmetrical compared to the two castle models Muria favored, which seemed somewhat disordered by comparison.

The models chosen by Muria, regardless of the viewing angle, were symmetrical on both sides, a symmetry that particularly appealed to him.

"I extremely, extremely, extremely dislike asymmetrical and irregular buildings, even though some of them might look pretty."