Chen Yu learned from Silver Sparrow that beneath this magnificent castle lay an even more complex network of underground spaces—the castle’s true "heart."
Within it was the core furnace room responsible for powering the entire castle. It consumed Magic Power and Spiritual Qi to maintain the defensive Magic Arrays, protective wards, a climate-controlled environment, and the operation of various magical facilities.
There was a main control room, the castle’s "nervous system," filled with Magic Crystals and intricate Rune control panels that could command the castle’s overall operations. There were also engine rooms that enabled the castle to float and move...
That’s right—this enormous castle actually moved by floating.
It was less a castle and more a mobile aerial fortress, fully equipped with all kinds of Magic Arrays and magical facilities.
According to Silver Sparrow, when operating at full power, the castle was fully capable of confronting an epic-level creature head-on. It could even gain the upper hand thanks to its formidable defenses and diverse offensive capabilities.
Silver Sparrow stood before Chen Yu, her hands folded neatly before her, and reminded him with a serious expression, "Master, the castle has been in a low-power state for several hundred years. Most of the Magic Arrays and facilities have been kept in a minimal ’hibernation’ mode. For the sake of the castle’s long-term health and functional integrity, please begin restoring its power supply as soon as possible."
"How do I restore it?"
’If I could actually take this thing out for a spin, I can’t even imagine how terrifying it would be. Casaric, the Demon Legion, the Burning City... I’d just fly the Floating Castle to Golden Glow Valley and steamroll everything in my path.’
Silver Sparrow replied formally, "There are three conventional methods to fully restore the castle. The first is to feed it the corpse of an epic-tier monster. The second is to provide a sufficient quantity of rare minerals, like Star Realm Brilliance Crystals or Earth Vein Cores. The third is for a Golden Core cultivator to personally control the castle and power the furnace room."
Chen Yu’s entire Gel body trembled.
’The corpse of an epic monster?’
’Rare minerals?’
’And it needs a Golden Core cultivator to pilot it personally.’
’Now I get it. This castle is basically a Magical Treasure for a Golden Core expert. It’s not something a little Foundation Establishment Stage Slime like me can just use whenever I want.’
The good news, however, was that the Slime Kingdom had excavated large quantities of raw Gray Gravel Crystal Ore, charged it using a Spirit Gathering Array, and stored it in the Kingdom’s treasury.
Although Gray Gravel Crystal was far inferior in quality to those legendary rare minerals, it was relatively abundant and could store and convert Spiritual Qi.
Theoretically, as long as there was enough Gray Gravel Crystal, it might be possible to awaken this sleeping castle and get it running again.
It was just that the Kingdom’s current Gray Gravel Crystal Ore production was only enough to cover regular wartime consumption. To power this gold-swallowing behemoth of a castle, they probably didn’t have enough for even a fraction of what was needed.
This made Chen Yu set his sights on the main mine shaft at Split Stone Pass.
He had known for a while that the mining area beneath Riftstone Fortress was actually just the surface layer of an entire, massive vein of Gray Gravel Crystal Ore.
The true main vein was buried deep beneath the pass’s mine shaft. Its reserves were astonishingly large, but it had long been controlled by the goblins, who only used it to produce Magic Dust, a Magic Material that wasn’t particularly high-value.
Now that the Goblin Army had fled, Split Stone Pass had effectively fallen under the Slime Kingdom’s control. By working hard to develop the mining area, there was still hope of gathering enough Gray Gravel Crystal to activate the Floating Castle.
However, witnessing the castle’s many magical functions also sparked a flood of ideas in Chen Yu’s mind.
Traditional Demon Legion positional warfare was finding it increasingly difficult to deal with high-walled fortresses built on treacherous terrain.
If the enemy had an Extraordinary individual on the field, almost every battle would drain the majority of the Kingdom’s energy and resources, and casualties were often heavy.
The Secret Magic Ancient Tree needed a long time to grow to the Gold level. The Kingdom currently lacked a weapon of war that could effectively deter the Demons and surrounding nations.
The first thing Chen Yu thought of was Artifact Refining—creating Extraordinary Weapons to deal with Extraordinary beings. Individual weapons like sabers, swords, spears, and halberds counted, but they were just a "minor path," with limited influence.
He could completely imitate this castle’s design philosophy and some of its principles to create a miniaturized "mobile war fortress," a weapon of war capable of directly influencing the outcome of a battle.
In the face of a war fortress that could float in the air and carry powerful firepower, traditional defensive fortifications that relied on terrain and high walls would become completely meaningless.
This wasn’t just an upgrade in weaponry; it was a fundamental change in the very nature of warfare, far more revolutionary than painstakingly cultivating a few Extraordinary units.
Silver Sparrow automatically chimed in with praise, clapping her hands. "That’s a genius idea! You’re brilliant, Master."
"Is it feasible?" Chen Yu ignored her emotionless praise, blinked, and asked earnestly.
Silver Sparrow bowed. "Silver Sparrow can draw up the complete blueprints for the castle and provide basic guidance on the principles of the Magic Arrays and structural design. But to truly develop the ’war fortress’ you envision, it will require the deep involvement of more of the Kingdom’s specialized artisans."
This was indeed a problem.
A simplified version of the war fortress might seem like just a matter of scaling it down and giving it a ’basic configuration,’ but in reality, it involved the coordination of the Kingdom’s entire system. This included the deployment and skill of its artisans, the research and inscription of Magic Arrays, the fortress’s structural design and material selection, the miniaturization and optimization of the power system, and the integration and control of its weapons. In all these aspects, it was an exceedingly complex and massive undertaking—not something that could be resolved easily.