I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

When it comes to the Truth Energy Cannon, An plans to build one on the Ark first.

If the results are feasible, building all three energy storage cannons on the Ark is also an option.

"At this rate, I'll be turning the Ark of Salvation into a war fortress."

As for the materials required for the Truth Energy Storage Cannon, Shi An glanced at them and didn't care.

With the current financial resources and membership of the safe zone, he can easily obtain materials below the excellent level.

Even the best-quality materials are not impossible to obtain if you put in the effort to find them and conquer nightmares.

"Next comes the main event: the workshop has been upgraded."

Besides the already built "Exquisite Alchemy Workshop", he also has a complete building, the "Three-Ring Alchemy Tower", and a building blueprint, the "Cursed Artifact Manufacturing Workshop".

They are all rare.

In Shi An's eyes, the three buildings are quite different.

The exquisite alchemy workshop is quite ordinary; it can produce anything, but apart from a small chance of getting a good product, it doesn't have any special effects.

The Three-Ring Alchemy Tower focuses on alchemy and has special benefits in making potions;

The artifact manufacturing workshop boasts high production efficiency, capable of mass-producing high-quality artifacts, and even comes with several artifact blueprints. However, it can only manufacture artifacts.

but,

In the determination of the safe zone, these three buildings belong to the same type and can be directly merged and upgraded.

"Hopefully, the upgraded workshop will have more powerful effects."

Shi An dared not have too high expectations.

After all, the rare-grade workshops and rare-grade training grounds, which are also upgraded through fusion, do not have particularly outstanding effects.

After taking a bath, changing clothes, and burning incense, Manager Shi began the integration process.

"Ding!"

"Prompt: Do you wish to fuse the 'Exquisite Alchemy Workshop,' 'Three-Ring Alchemy Tower,' and 'Artifact Manufacturing Workshop (Blueprints)'? The fusion process is irreversible, and the estimated fusion upgrade time is 4 hours. Begin?"

"Yes."

Thick white fog billowed from the already emptied alchemy workshop, enveloping the entire workshop area.

Four hours passed quickly.

The familiar notification sound rang in his ears, and Shi An couldn't wait to open the panel.

This is the third superb building he owns in his safe zone.

"Furnace Refining Factory (Excellence)"

Category: Production Buildings

"Ability 1 - Cost Reduction: During manufacturing and refining, material consumption can be reduced by 10%~20% depending on the grade." "Ability 2 - Stable Manufacturing: The furnace refining plant has three production lines, capable of producing three different types of products simultaneously. Furthermore, producing common-grade items has a 100% probability of producing good quality and a 10% probability of producing perfect quality; producing rare-grade items has a 20% probability of producing good quality and a 3% probability of producing perfect quality; producing superior-grade items guarantees 100% production. (To produce good, perfect, or superior-quality items, the assistance of an expert-level blacksmith or alchemist is required.)"

"Ability 3 - Furnace Energy Block: The alchemy plant has a built-in furnace converter that can produce energy blocks containing advanced energy by adding dream crystals and special materials. These energy blocks cannot be absorbed by the human body, but can be used to charge various facilities, making them more efficient and powerful." "Ability 4 - Furnace Laboratory: The alchemy plant is equipped with a full set of advanced equipment, including "Universal Robotic Arm (Rare)," "Universal Extractor (Rare)," "Multi-functional Black Box (Rare)," and more."

Shi An stared wide-eyed, somewhat bewildered but impressed.

What are all the equipment in this metalworks?

He decisively went to the goldsmith's factory.

The upgraded alchemy factory has a huge interior space, with each of the three production lines connected to a massive black box.

In addition to this "production area", the factory also has several other areas such as "drying area", "laboratory" and "office area", which is on a completely different level from the previous small workshop.

Shi An arrived at the laboratory area, where there were some instruments and equipment similar to those he had seen on television. He could roughly guess the functions of these instruments, but he didn't know how to use them. He was completely bewildered by the rest of the equipment.

"These instruments and equipment are mostly for use by foundries and alchemists?"

"The recipe for the 'Awakening Potion' mentions that it can be substituted with a similar medicinal treasure... This definitely requires experimentation." "Also... for superior-grade potions and magical artifacts, direct production doesn't yield good quality products? The description specifically emphasizes a 100% production rate. Does this mean that even at the superior grade, the failure rate for normal crafting is very high?"

When Shi An was looking at the recipe, he thought that one dose of "Thousand-Refined Awakening Grass (Superior)" could be used to make three doses of Awakening Potion.

It seems that without this furnace and alchemy plant, it would be quite good if a single superior medicinal herb could be refined into a single potion.

Shi An analyzed each piece of information.

The refinery isn't particularly outstanding, and it doesn't have any exceptionally powerful abilities, but it has a wide range of abilities, and each one is useful.

Cost reduction is done in a simple and unpretentious way.

Regarding the production of good and excellent items, although it cannot affect superior-grade items, several mainstream best-selling items in the safe zone—such as Witchcraft Eyes, Life Potions, Curse Potions, and Purification Potions—are only common-grade items.

The only version of the Witchcraft Eye he's currently selling is the standard grade.

This is already a powerful tool for exploration; even those in the extraordinary realm cannot do without it.

The "Shadow Magic Flying Eye" he used in his early years was only of good quality.

All of these general-purpose items have been upgraded from the common level to the excellent level, which is enough to significantly improve the overall capabilities of members.

This alone makes the furnace refining plant exceptionally significant.

"We'll try the furnace energy blocks later. Now that the alchemy plant has been upgraded and renovated, it's time to try this energizing potion." Shi An entered the blueprints.

This superior-grade potion can permanently and significantly increase the upper limit of mental power, making it extremely rare.

Shi An has been collecting the necessary materials over this period of time, and has now managed to gather a set, albeit with some difficulty.

"The most precious thing is this Thousand-Refined Awakening Grass. I only have one. I just got it from a recent transaction with the Tiannan City Provincial Bureau."

"I need more Thousand-Refined Awakening Herbs, and at least an expert-level alchemist."

but,

Shi An frowned. Where was he going to find an expert in alchemy?

He was even unaware of the class divisions within these professions of casting and alchemy.

Because Blue Star doesn't have a systematic approach to this yet, the second-in-command of the Wizarding Family in White River City, known as the Alchemy Master, has only ever refined perfect-grade life potions.

It's far from good enough.

He couldn't find an alchemist, but he still had some ideas about the Thousand-Refined Awakening Grass.

"Since things have come to this, let's make the potion first."

Tiannan City, the present world.

Director Dai and his group finally returned here.

I feel a little melancholy and reluctant to part.

After hearing about the top-tier programs at the martial arts arena, Director Dai was eager to try it out, hoping that having a martial arts performer possess him and perform martial arts himself might bring him some new ideas.

They desperately need to find a path to advancement, even if there's only the slightest hope.

"Advancing to the Transformation Realm requires extremely high levels of physical strength, magical power, and spirit. It requires the resonance of these three aspects, the fusion of one's innate talent with one's soul, and the sublimation of one's spirit. Only then can an extraordinary person undergo a transformation from body to soul."

This breakthrough approach is on the right track in terms of general direction.

Because the three giants of Tiannan City all rose through the ranks in this way.

Advancing to the Transformation Realm is smoother than breaking through to the Extraordinary Realm. As long as some precious medicines are used to assist and provide backup, even if the breakthrough fails, there will be no danger to one's life.

however,

There must be something about this breakthrough method that they haven't figured out yet.

Director Dai, along with several other Grand Perfection experts from Tiannan City, as well as Zhu Chenying from Baijiang City and Ranfeng from Hongfeng Town, all attempted to break through to the next level, but ultimately failed.

They remained at the half-step ascension stage.

"The Ascension Realm is still a transformation of one's life status. At this stage, we humans and the supernatural are somewhat similar, for example, we have extremely strong vitality, extremely strong recovery ability, and no real weaknesses, etc."

"It can also transform into lightning, flames, fuse with a substitute, become a giant wolf, or turn into countless blood bats..."

"At the peak of the Transcendent Realm, the Transcendent's talent can permeate their entire body, leaving no weak points, but they still cannot do the above." This is because the Transcendent Realm is still more like a human, while the Ascending Realm is not so much like a human.

There must be some breakthrough needed somewhere between being human and not quite human.

Whether it was their incorrect resonance posture, their insufficient foundation, or their untapped talent, Dai Xin was unsure, but the training ground gave him a glimpse of a possibility for verification.

"There is another possibility: our three dimensions are still not high enough, especially our mental strength."

"Physical strength and magical power can be increased through training and taking precious medicines, but mental strength cannot be enhanced through training at all."

Unless one is consuming a precious substance.

For example, there's the Thousand-Refined Awakening Grass, but this precious medicine is more like a raw material; its direct use has extremely limited effects. Otherwise, Dai Xin wouldn't have sold it to the safe zone.

"Unless we can find a method to refine the spirit!"

Jiang Zhenshou said, "Of the three above, two of them obtained the Spirit Refining Method by chance in their early years, and the other one's awakened innate talent is related to the spirit, and he also happened to consume a precious spiritual medicine. Their spiritual power is extremely strong, which may be the reason why they were able to break through." Director Dai was of course aware that the Spirit Refining Method was likely an important factor.

However, this Refining Spirit Technique is of an extremely high level, and the two above tried many methods but were unable to pass it down.

This is a method that can only be understood intuitively, not explained in words, and certainly cannot be recorded.

Without a method for refining the spirit, the only option is to find a precious medicine for the spirit.

Director Dai has actually eaten quite a lot.

However, he could still sense that compared to his physical strength and magical power, his mental strength remained a weakness.

As for top-tier mental potions? He hadn't even considered it. No one in Tiannan City, or even in this entire Nightmare World, had the ability to concoct them. Even the merchant caravan of the Traveler Civilization didn't sell any superior-grade mental enhancement potions.

"Fortunately, we previously purchased the recipes for three rare-grade spirit-boosting potions from the Travelers' Merchant Guild. Hopefully, the masters in Tiannan City can successfully refine these potions."

The next day.

Yan Xiangtian, Zhou Huai'an, and Wang Tieshan arrived at the Provincial Bureau in Tiannan City once again and sat down in a conference room.

Important figures arrived at the conference room one after another.

Some people were unable to come in person, but participated via video projection.

Director Dai's secretary, who was standing nearby, introduced Yan Xiangtian and the other two: "This is General Wang of the city defense army. That one is Deputy Director Liu of the research institute."

City defense forces! Research institute!

Together with the Countermeasures Bureau, they are known as the three major official institutions of Tiannan City.

Although the Countermeasures Bureau is slightly higher in rank, unless a major event like the destruction of a city occurs, Director Dai does not have the authority to directly command the city defense troops and the research institute personnel.

Two of the three giants of Tiannan City came from the city defense army and the research institute.

Yan Xiangtian and his two companions were well aware of the prestige of General Wang and Director Liu, as they were leaders with higher ranks than themselves.

The secretary continued, "The one in the second row is the headmaster of Sunset Martial Arts Academy; the one attending via video is the headmaster of Thunder Martial Arts Academy. Both headmasters are half-step Ascension Realm experts, and these two martial arts academies are two of the pillars of our Tiannan City."

"In addition, there's the chairman of Danshan Pharmaceutical Group, the president of the Changhe Archaeological Research Association..."

Tiannan City was governed by an official organization.

However, beneath the three major official organizations, there are countless other forces, large and small.

Among them, there are more than a dozen forces with Transcendent Realm experts in charge.

Sunset Martial Arts School, Thunder Martial Arts School, Danshan Pharmaceutical Group, and Long River Archaeological Research Association are the four strongest civilian forces in Tiannan City. "Today's meeting is to discuss the personnel list for the 'Land of Revelation'."

Director Dai spoke.

He then briefly introduced several guests.

Yan, Zhou, Wang, and the store manager of the security zone who attended via video.

"Representatives from the three cities of Baijiang? I don't quite understand why we need to specifically ask the three cities of Baijiang to send representatives to participate in the war."

"It is said that this is the result of some kind of compromise."

"These three representatives from the three regions are said to have reached the late stage of the Transcendent Realm, which is quite impressive. But how many elites can the three cities send? It is said that the three cities are already struggling to cope with their own problems."

"What faction controls this safe zone?"

"Never heard of it."

The various factions did not only send their leaders; some had two representatives, while others sent six or seven.

People were whispering among themselves.

Director Dai understood why the higher-ups wanted people from the three cities of Baijiang to come.

He said, "Our Tiannan City will send at least 100 Dream Fallers in the Refinement stage and 20 extraordinary experts. We will select them based on age, combat strength, talent, and other factors. Everyone needs to contribute. Although this mission is dangerous, it is also a great opportunity, a great opportunity for advancement." Director Dai then looked at Yan Xiangtian and the other two.

He considered for a moment before saying, "I hope that each of the three cities of Baijiang can send 10 people at the Third Refinement Realm and at least 2 extraordinary individuals. If there is any pressure on the city's defense, Tiannan City can provide some support."

Sending strong reinforcements to temporarily station them in the three cities was a plan that Tiannan City had long ago.

The team was almost ready to depart anyway.

Now, with the safe zone and the Ark, providing support is much more convenient.

Yan Xiangtian said, "We don't need reinforcements, but as for personnel..."

"Are ten Third Refinement Realm cultivators enough? If needed, each of our cities can send at least twenty Third Refinement Realm cultivators, including top-tier Third Refinement Realm cultivators who have mastered rare spells."

"Regarding the Transcendent Realm, the information I've seen only mentions the early and middle stages, or at most the late stage?"

"It's hard to say what will happen later, but we think there will be quite a few skilled fighters from our three cities who are willing to participate in the battle during the early and mid-stages of the Transcendent Realm."

Yan Xiangtian said calmly.

As soon as he finished speaking, General Wang, Director Liu, and others who thought they knew a lot about the three cities were all a bit dumbfounded.

When did the Three Cities become so rich in powerful individuals?