Chapter 96: The Grand Wedding

As time flew by, the month of Flowing Fire (July) arrived. This was the time when the sun graced the earth with its presence.

In the Celestial Gold Empire, it also marked the annual Flame Festival. Meanwhile, in the Starry Principality, although the Harvest Festival was still two months away, a festive mood was already spreading among the people.

The Golden Rock Province was no exception; in fact, it was even more lively and joyful than other provinces. This was because the Marquis of Golden Rock was about to be wed! The joyous news spread like wildfire from the lord's manor, quickly reaching every corner of the province.

Sunan, who was deeply engrossed in his studies and training, was among the last to hear about it.

"So, the wedding is set for the day of the Harvest Festival," Sunan remarked in surprise upon hearing the news in the council hall.

"That's right," Key replied, beaming with happiness. "It's a celebration with the people. What do you think?"

"It's great," Sunan said, though the idea of a noble saying "celebration with the people" sounded odd to him.

"Who's the bride?" he asked.

"The youngest daughter of the Marquis of White Tower."

A political alliance, it seemed. Key was gradually expanding his network of connections.

"I'll be there for the wedding," Sunan promised.

As he prepared to leave, Key stopped him with a cheerful smile. "Wait, there's something else I'd like to discuss with you."

Sunan sat back down, curious. "What's that?"

"You're twenty now. Isn't it time you considered settling down?"

Sunan was taken aback and then chuckled, shaking his head. For a wizard apprentice aspiring to become a full-fledged wizard, marriage seemed like a distant prospect.

"I'm not planning on it anytime soon."

"Are you sure? Many nobles have approached me, hoping to marry their daughters or nieces to you. Some of them are quite beautiful."

"No, thank you," Sunan declined without hesitation.

Compared to wizard apprentices, ordinary people's lifespans were too short. Even legendary knights lived only half as long as a level 3 wizard apprentice. Marrying a regular person would mean watching them age and pass away, which was not ideal for either party.

Besides, he had no interest in starting a family now. His time was consumed by training, learning, and developing his land, leaving no room for anything else.

"Oh, by the way, I've chosen a location for the new magical plant garden. I'll leave the construction arrangements to you."

With a wave, Sunan left the hall without looking back.

Watching him leave, Key shook his head with a sigh. "It seems the responsibility of continuing the family line falls to me."

Building a single magical plant garden was much simpler than constructing a base. By the Book Month (August), the basic construction of the magical plant garden was complete. Sunan named it Magical Plant Garden No. 2, with the base garden being No. 1.

In addition to Dragon Blood Fruit and Silver Moon Flowers, Sunan allocated a third of the space in Garden No. 2 for mandrake, gold-thorn grass, calming flowers, and other magical plants commonly used in potion-making.

Standing at the garden entrance, surrounded by blooming flower fields and breathing in the sweet floral scent, Sunan smiled with satisfaction.

Once the Silver Moon Flowers matured, he could synthesize mid-grade third-circle transcendence potions, further boosting his meditation efficiency. The high-grade third-circle potions, however, required a mental strength of at least 34 points and a constitution of 25 points, which he wouldn't be able to use until he had constructed the eleventh star ring.

Dragon Blood Fruits could also enhance his constitution, helping him reach the level of a junior grand knight sooner.

"Sunan!" A warm, gentle female voice called from the sea of flowers. A dozen exquisite little beauties, each only a foot tall, fluttered out from the blooms on colorful wings.

These tiny beings, standing about 30 centimeters tall, wore elegant dresses in various colors, with bows on their chests and long boots on their slender white legs. Their delicate, colorful wings made them look exceptionally pretty.

"I want some rose dew," one of them said.

"I want honey; yesterday's honey was delicious," another added.

"Hurry up," they chimed in, laughing and swirling around Sunan.

Leading them was one with a flower crown, her beauty standing out even among the charming little fairies.

These were flower fairies, a type of fairy-like creature Sunan had recently summoned. Like flower spirits, they had little combat ability but were excellent at tending to magical plants—something most fairy-type creatures excelled at.

Some fairies even possessed abilities akin to plant light, making them highly sought after by many wizard apprentices for magical plant management.

Unlike flower spirits, flower fairies were not mischievous and were quite fond of those they liked. The one with the crown was the Fairy Queen, named Tia.

Initially, Sunan had summoned Tia, and after tasting the flower dew and honey he synthesized, she readily agreed to manage his magical plant garden. She even summoned more flower fairies to join her.

As payment for guarding the garden, Sunan only needed to provide them with enough flower dew and honey each month, making them cost-effective and efficient helpers.

"Tia, how's everything today?" Sunan asked, handing the flower dew and honey to the fairies before offering his palm for Tia to perch on.

"Everything's great," Tia replied with a sweet smile. "The mandrakes were noisy, screaming nonstop, but I scolded them, and they're quiet now."

"Oh, and two apprentices visited this morning. I played hide and seek with them. Hehe, they couldn't find me at all."

Nature had granted flower fairies a magical ability to hide. When concealed in the flower fields, even a full-fledged wizard would struggle to find them.

Tia chatted away, describing her day to Sunan with a series of bell-like laughs. Sunan listened patiently, occasionally chiming in.

In the future, flower fairies would be the primary managers of any new magical plant gardens he established. The Fairy Queen's ability to summon her kin meant Tia could call on new fairies whenever needed, solving any manpower shortages in the gardens.

While the flower fairies could handle most tasks, some work still required apprentices. The third round of aptitude tests in Golden Rock Province had concluded last month.

Compared to the first two rounds, this one was larger, resulting in eighteen youths passing the tests. The base now had thirty-three students, nearly half of whom had begun the Star Ring Meditation Method.

Shayman, Corey, and Atil, in particular, had constructed their second star ring and mastered three or four zero-circle spells. Additionally, Shayman and Atil had successfully produced zero-circle potions, reaching level 1 in Potion Making. Corey had mastered Puppet Crafting.

Thanks to their progress, Sunan no longer needed to focus on making low-level potions or crafting Black Rock Panthers, having delegated these tasks to the trio.

Shayman, Corey, and Atil now primarily worked on potion-making and puppet crafting, while other newcomers handled tasks like tending to magical plants, cleaning the lab, and maintaining golems.

"Once more people learn to make potions, I can expand the scale of potion sales."

The business of making money had to continue and grow. As Sunan's power increased, so did his expenses. For instance, researching substitutes for the magic rune core materials had cost over 3,000 gold coins recently.

Fortunately, the money wasn't wasted, resulting in the successful synthesis of three substitutes. Now, he only needed 21 more rare metals to complete the materials for the magic rune core.

The mountain forest was especially quiet at night. A group of men in leather armor moved through the forest under the dim starlight, the sound of insects flapping their wings forming a nocturnal symphony.

The group advanced in silence, their footsteps rustling through the underbrush, the cold night air and stillness keeping their nerves taut.

After a while, someone couldn't hold back any longer and whispered to the lead navigator, "Fudley, how much farther?"

"Almost there," Fudley replied without turning.

"You said that half an hour ago. How much farther?" The speaker's voice was tinged with impatience. "You're not leading us on, are you?"

Fudley glanced back coldly. "If you don't trust me, you can leave now."

"You—"

"Enough, stop arguing," an older man interrupted. "Keep your voices down, or you'll attract beasts. Black wolves often roam here at night."

The older man held some authority among them, and at his words, the complainer fell silent.

Fudley gave the man a nod. "I've spotted the markers I left. It's only seven or eight hundred meters to the cave I found."

The group perked up at this, quickening their pace.

Soon, they emerged into a clearing with a steep rock face at the end, where a dark cave mouth gaped like a monstrous maw, seemingly waiting to devour any intruders.

Yet the men showed no fear, their eyes fixed on the cave with an eager heat, their faces alight with excitement.

"Fudley, you found silver ingots in this cave?" the older man asked.

Fudley nodded emphatically. "Yes, I saw a silver vein deep inside the cave."

Excitement rippled through the group.

A silver vein, even a small, shallow one, could yield enough silver ingots to make them rich overnight. If the deposit was larger, they might never have to worry about money again.

"Let's go in!"

Suppressing his excitement, the older man led them into the cave. Some lit torches at the front and back, the bright flames illuminating the cave's interior.

The older man examined the cave walls, frowning in puzzlement.

The cave showed signs of recent excavation, suggesting it was a newly mined tunnel. Yet there was no sign of anyone around, and no one in town had mentioned mining in this forest.

A sense of unease crept over him, making him consider withdrawing to investigate further.

Then a voice called out in excitement, "There's the silver vein!"

The older man looked up to see a patch of dull silver-gray on the cave wall, sending his heart racing with anticipation.

The lure of silver quickly quelled his unease.

Without hesitation, he drew the pickaxe from his belt and exclaimed, "Let's mine!"

The group had been waiting for this. Eagerly, they began to work.

"Haha, we're going to be rich!"

"I can take a long break after this job!"

"This cave seems deep. There might be more veins inside."

"Yeah, we should check it out later."

The group chattered excitedly.

But then, an eerie sound came from deeper within the cave.

Despite their excitement, the older man's years of adventure experience made him alert to the danger.

"Quiet!"

"There's something in the cave. Stay on guard!"

The group dropped their pickaxes and drew their weapons, eyes fixed warily on the cave's depths.

"Squeak, squeak!"

To their horror, giant rats the size of cats surged from the darkness.

"What are these?"

"Rats?"

"Rats don't get this big—damn, these things are fast! I got bitten!"

The sudden appearance of the rats, with their red-tinged eyes, made them like frenzied beasts, attacking with sharp teeth and claws.

Worse, they moved quickly and were numerous.

In the confined space, the group struggled to defend themselves and soon began to fall.

"Stay calm! Back to back!"

The older man cleaved a rat in two with his sword, shouting orders.

But a heavy rush of air came from behind him.

Before he could turn, a massive figure knocked him to the ground.

"Captain!" someone cried out.

In the flickering torchlight, they saw a hulking creature, like a toad with a toad-like head, dark red skin, eyeless, with thick limbs.

"Glug, glug!"

The toad monster opened its maw, biting off the older man's head and swallowing it whole before lunging at the others.

"Ahhh!"

The captain's death threw them into chaos.

Panic-stricken, they fled toward the cave entrance.

But they didn't get far before the toad monster and rat swarm caught up, taking them down one by one.

Fudley, running fastest, reached the cave mouth first.

Seeing freedom so close, his face lit with wild joy.

But then a slimy tongue lashed out from behind, wrapping around his waist and yanking him back.

"Ahhh!"

His scream was cut short, replaced by the sickening sound of chewing.

"Crunch, crunch!"

Before long, the sounds ceased, leaving the dark cave in an eerie silence once more.

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