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nMore than a month later, in the hidden underground base at Maximus Castle.

nMaximus placed the Aethercore Nexus, the last piece needed to activate the array.

nAfter putting it in the center and arranging runes made of void stone dust, the whole kingdom suddenly lit up.

n…

nIn one of the restaurants, Kevin saw the whole world suddenly light up.

nThis happened in just a few milliseconds, so Kevin thought he was hallucinating.

n“Did you see that?” Kevin said as he drop the food that he was eating.

nThe person sitting beside him simply nodded with a bewildered expression.

nAfter confirming that he was not dreaming, continued to think about what just happened.

nWhen suddenly, the magic particles in the atmosphere suddenly gathered, becoming purer and denser.

n“Huh,” he suddenly breathed in.

nIt felt as if everything suddenly became bright, full of colors.

nHe felt like he was bathing in a spring, like a newborn baby.

n“What just happened?” He murmured.

nKevin even felt his headache suddenly gone.

nIn a good mood, he decided to indulge and eat until he vomited to celebrate this phenomenon.

n“Waiter! Bring me your most expensive set.”

n…

nIn one of the houses, an elderly man was on the verge of dying due to old age.

n“Old man, don’t die just yet,” cried one of his sons.

n“This is just how life is. One day, it will be your turn,” the old man smiled with a wrinkled face as if he was about to run out of breath.

n“Sob, grandpa, I will miss you,” his grandson cried as he held his hand.

n“What’s happening to Grandpa?” A clueless little girl said, her eyes red from the somber atmosphere despite not knowing what is really happening.

n“Your grandpa is already old and tired, so he needed to rest,” Her mother said, trying to offer comfort.

n“Hahaha, indeed I’m already 55 this year, the oldest in our district. You should be proud of me, little girl, a long-lived species,”

nThe only man said, he laugh nearly out of breath, proud of his achievements.

nNormal people only have an average lifespan of 40 years old due to the corrosive mana in the atmosphere.

nSo the old man is indeed right to be proud as he has lived another decade.

nBut just as the old man was about to close his eyes for a final farewell, a blinding light shone brightly in the sky.

nThe old man squinted his eyes for a while and suddenly felt a long-lost feeling of vitality in his body.

nHis wrinkled face also started to plump up as if he was getting younger.

nUsually, in such a mana-laden environment, it would be easy for people to reach the age of 70s or 80s, but the corrosive mana had the opposite effect, decreasing their lifespan.

nHowever, with the activation of the formation, the mana became denser and somewhat purer, rejuvenating the old man.

nThe old man’s relatives were also shocked by the change, as they felt this strange energy and sensed that everything suddenly become colorful.

n“Ahh! Grandpa became a ghost!” The little girl was shocked and scared as she witnessed the transformation of her grandpa.

nThis brought the family back to reality as they felt the changes in their own bodies.

n“What just happened?” One of them said.

nOn the other hand, the old man on his deathbed suddenly got up.

nThough his skin was still wrinkled, a hint of vitality could be seen in his eyes.

n“HAHAHA! I’m alive again!” the old man exclaimed excitedly.

nThe old man didn’t know what had happened, but he was very excited about it.

nHe could continue being the oldest person in their district and boast about it to his old pals who were younger than him for a few more years.

n“AHH!!! Grandpa is going to eat us!”

nThe little girl screamed and ran away in fear as he saw his grandpa suddenly change and laugh weirdly.

n…

nMeanwhile, Maximus, who had just set up the formation, felt the changes in the atmosphere more clearly.

nIn just a few seconds, the mana intensity doubled in magnitude.

nIf the mana environment was previously at tier 0.2, it now jumped to 0.6 instantly.

nAnd this mana intensity would continue to grow until it reached a tier 3 mana environment.

nHe could also sense the corrosive properties of mana slowly disappearing.

nHe reckoned that they would completely vanish once the mana environment reached tier 1 and the blue spirit bluegrass fully grew.

nSatisfied with the effects of his painstaking work over the past month and the billions of GP spent, he turned his attention to the Aethercore Nexus.

nThis was the main brain of the formation array, and he even supplemented it with one top-grade magic crystal, which should be enough to power it for a year.

nA virtual screen pops up after inputting his spiritual and mana signature to brand it as his own.

nHighest Authority: Maximus Shadowcrest

nMana Density: Tier 0.7…

nDefense and Attack: Charge – 0%

nFunctions: Monitoring – virtualize, recording, alarm…

nConnection – not set

nThe mana density displayed the current mana intensity.

nAs for the defense and attack, he sighed at yet another expense.

nHe still needed to use magic crystals to charge it up, but he guessed that once more mana was gathered, it would automatically charge using the mana in the atmosphere.

nAs for the monitoring function, it proved quite convenient.

nHe tried clicking on “virtualize” and suddenly, a sand table version of his kingdom was displayed.

nIt even provided a live feed. He could zoom in and out and even hear sounds if he liked.

nIt was like the peeping crystal in the anime he watch from his previous life but more advanced.

nHe also tried filtering the mana intensity of individuals.

nUpon doing so, he saw several readings of tier 3 earth knights and a lot of tier 1 official mages.

nAs for tier 2 great mages, there were only a few, including his wives and Isabelle, whom he hadn’t married yet.

nAs for others or those above that level, he saw none of them.

nPerhaps because the range is only in the formation array or they had already escaped to another place far from the Sunburnt Plateau.

nAs traveling has become quite easy these days, as long as one had money, thanks to the existence of EGCC everywhere.

nAfter having fun with the virtualized map for a while, Maximus turned his attention to the connection function.

nUpon clicking to see what he could connect with, another tab appeared.

nConnect to:

n5 million Tokens

nMana scanner

nDatabases

nCommunication jade

n…

nIn essence, he could connect to anything that stored and transferred data.

nAs for the 5 million plus tokens, after more than a month, the grand relocation brought over 3 million people into his territory.

nOnce they arrived, they registered their identity tokens, just like the previous citizens.

nMaximus decided to connect them all to the Aethercore Nexus since he had the highest authority and he can rest assured that it was very private, only available to him.

nLoading… Complete…

n…

nOnce he connected everything, all of the tokens suddenly vibrated.

nEarlier, Kevin felt the sudden change in his surroundings and his body, now there is another anomaly again.

n“What’s happening this time?” Kevin reached out for his token, which had started vibrating.

nAll the people in the Moonlight Kingdom were required to carry the token at all times as part of the protocol, or so they said.

nWhen the token identification system was implemented, many were curious about its purpose, as it required all kinds of information.

nIt even required some weird things that Kevin didn’t understand. He had heard that it was for spirit and mana signatures.

nInitially, he was puzzled, but when a strange device touched him, he felt like all his essence was being sucked out.

nFortunately, he recovered the next day, or else he wouldn’t have known who would manage his spice business.

nUntil now, he still didn’t know the full extent of the token’s use, except for identification.

nTaking out the token from his pocket, he saw a virtual screen pop out, which surprised him a little bit.

nPersonal Information

n-Waiting for updates…

n“Waiting for updates?” Kevin murmured.

nFor personal information, he was aware of it, as every time he went to another place in the kingdom, he needed to scan his token to enter, which displayed his personal information such as his origin, age, and history.

nBut what did “waiting for updates” mean?

nWas there another function of this thing?

n“Whatever,” he murmured as he put the token on the table and continued eating.

n…𝑶𝐯xt.𝓒𝑂𝑚

nOn the other hand, Maximus was tinkering with the connection function, contemplating what he could do with it.

nHe focused on the token and realized he could create a rune code to input various functions into the token, such as a banking system, chatting system, or even virtual games if he can.

nFortunately, he could buy these rune programs in the system mall.

nHe just had to manually input them; otherwise, he didn’t know what else to do.

n“Hmm, What should I add first?” He questioned.

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