Chapter 508: Half a Year

On July 4th, 3990 of the Bright Calendar, on the ninety-eighth floor of the Wieldenstan Building, inside the Vice Chairman's office, a purple-red gemstone was emitting a fluorescent glow. Countless threads invisible to the naked eye continuously flowed out from the gemstone, surging rapidly toward a nearby golden pagoda about the height of an arm, which had nine tiers.

Soon, the gemstone was completely absorbed, shattering into dust that fell to the ground. Miraculously, this 'dust' eventually transformed into pure magical energy, vanishing without a trace on the floor.

Li Mochen watched with satisfaction as new mysterious runes appeared on the 'Divine Fortune Purple-Gold Pagoda'.

This was already the fourteenth Fate Gem absorbed by the 'Divine Fortune Purple-Gold Pagoda' in the past four months—the Fate Gems provided by the Dragon Witch Sect were exceptionally large and particularly pure, making them extraordinarily expensive.

Previously, the Fate Gems Li Mochen had collected cost at most over thirty million each, with the cheaper ones available for five or six million. But those provided by the Dragon Witch Sect each cost over two hundred million gold shields. They were all the size of a fist, containing rich Fate power and fragments of laws.

Thus, even the 'Divine Fortune Purple-Gold Pagoda', a mythical treasure, began to suffer indigestion. It could only devour and absorb them at a rate of one every ten days, then purify and expel the impurities it did not need out of the pagoda.

Thanks to this, the 'Divine Fortune Purple-Gold Pagoda' was converting the vast colorful spiritual light from beyond the realm faster and faster. At this point, the daily merit energy from the Original Dome Realm alone had reached sixty-five strands. Combined with what he gained in this world, his daily 'income' could exceed two hundred strands.

However, the greatest benefit Li Mochen derived from these 'Fate Gems' was his insight into 'Fate'.

When the 'Divine Fortune Purple-Gold Pagoda' devoured the Fate Gems, it forcibly shattered them into a scattered state before absorbing them, allowing Li Mochen to observe their internal mysteries. The essence of these gems was fragments of the divine personas of the six Fate Goddesses.

Moreover, he could use visualization techniques to perceive every fine structure of this 'Divine Fortune Purple-Gold Pagoda'.

Regarding 'Fate', Li Mochen had been studying it since his time as Wenjian Taoran. Now, he gained even more insights, drawing closer and closer to that realm—

With a thought, Li Mochen connected to his magic tower anchored at Wenjian Manor. Using its thirty-two mana pools, he manifested the Fate Domain.

His gaze then fixed on a glass tank placed in a corner nearby. Inside was a hamster experiencing all sorts of misfortunes: it suddenly fell off its running wheel, hitting its head hard; when it dizzily went to swing on a swing, the rope inexplicably snapped; just as the little pet recovered a bit and tried to climb back into its elevated wooden house, the seemingly sturdy stairs gave way under its paw, trapping its leg tightly.

But then, the little hamster's luck finally turned. Alisa Targaryen pushed open the door, not only rescuing it from its predicament but also giving it its favorite milk candy.

Delight also appeared in Li Mochen's eyes. The Fate Domain he had mastered was undoubtedly at the ultimate and perfect stage, only one step away from condensing divine authority.

The main issue was still insufficient mana. The luxurious magic tower designed and built for him by Bethel Einstein, though equipped with thirty-two top-tier mana pools and the most extensive energy-gathering system, was still only eight stories tall.

As for the power of 'divine authority', either you have enough understanding of truth and origin to significantly reduce mana consumption, or you have immense mana to forcibly elevate your domain into divine authority.

Previously, Li Mochen could manifest a basic level of Life-and-Death Divine Authority relying only on the 'Three Dragons' external elixir; now, his Life-and-Death Divine Authority had initially reached an intermediate level.

This was also related to Li Mochen's own magical profession having advanced to level fifteen.

Two months ago, feeling that his spiritual soul was gradually becoming complete, Li Mochen unhesitatingly broke through again.

This time, he leaped three levels in succession, charging straight into the Nascent Soul realm.

At this point, Li Mochen could have directly advanced to level nineteen, known as the 'Return to Void' stage in the Eastern cultivation world.

But he stopped, partly to wait for the Little Dragon Vein, and partly because he was ambitious, aiming directly for the Great Yin and Great Yang in the final step of the 'Dual Element Mystic Transformation Method'.

"You're torturing this little guy again!"

Alisa picked up the hamster from the glass tank and shot him a displeased look: "If you need to test your new divine authority, find someone else. Don't treat it like a lab rat, OK?"

"But I bought it precisely for experiments."

Li Mochen stopped mid-sentence as Alisa's gaze grew sharper. He shrugged: "Okay, okay! I'll find other test subjects. Alright, Alisa, is there something specific you came to see me about?"

Although his right-hand woman also held the position of Vice Chairman's Assistant at the Wieldenstan Group, she usually only worked there on Fridays.

Her current main role was Executive Director of the Rising Sun Group, so she spent most of the week at the 'Rising Sun Building'.

—That was a large office building seventy-eight stories high, previously owned by the Benedict family and named St. John's Tower. Not long ago, Li Mochen had some of the tenants cleared out and moved all departments of the Rising Sun Group except the television station into it.

Thus, St. John's Tower was renamed the Rising Sun Building.

"There are indeed some matters not convenient to discuss over the phone."

Alisa sat down opposite Li Mochen and first pulled a large stack of documents from her magic pocket: "These are the documents you must handle today—nearly a week's worth of accumulated work."

Li Mochen frowned and casually flipped through them: "Can you give me a brief summary?"

"Most are personnel and financial documents requiring your signature. Only three things are truly important."

Alisa said succinctly: "Ms. Nanette Drew has proposed a new merger plan. She mentioned it to you, right? According to her plan, the headquarters needs to inject 1.2 billion; then Brigadier General Delling Galthorp of the Fifth Armored Regiment, Major General Kevin Sarillo of the Second Enhanced Mechanized Infantry Brigade, and Brigadier General Moro Lavis of the Sixth Armored Regiment jointly propose that the headquarters purchase another batch of 'Fate Mage' armor. They believe the regiment is severely lacking in spellcasters, and this new type of magical armor from Light Magic Company can effectively improve the Sixth Armored Regiment's magical capabilities; and Major General Michael Wood's operational plan, slightly modified from his previous one. How should I put it? He seems eager to launch a campaign against the Bloody Lands. I visited Fort Stone two days ago and found the atmosphere there from top to bottom filled with restlessness. These military warmongers can no longer contain their fighting spirit."