Chapter 514

Chapter 514

Lorant twitched his lips to soothe, "This, there's no rush yet. It's only three Dimensional Holes, and many more haven't been captured. We have plenty of time to handle them gradually."

"We haven't even decided on the breeding grounds yet. It's too early to talk about these things!"

"By the way, how is the cleanup in the Black Forest going?"

Lorant deftly changed the subject and walked upstairs without looking back.

Silem hurriedly had the person who had been trailing far behind step forward to take over the animal cage and settle it properly, then quickly followed Lorant up.

The pet center here has five floors, each with a ceiling height of over ten meters, and due to some magical lighting effects, they often appear even higher.

The central hall is open at the top, offering an excellent view.

Translucent sunlight filters through the clouds from above, casting warm and comfortable beams that make the air seem filled with particles of happiness.

The overall style, clean and comfortable in white and gold, makes everyone who enters pause for a moment to admire the massive hundred-meter-high bas-relief wall at the front.

The hall is circular, with symmetrical spiral staircases on both sides leading to each floor of the Blue Star Center.

Lorant didn't even have time to linger and hurriedly ascended the spiral staircase.

As he climbed the stairs, Lorant began to relax.

The slight twinge of conscience he felt when facing Silem's accusations was so small that it quickly faded...

With his mind made up to ignore his promises and act according to the situation, the unscrupulous shop owner finally had the chance to look around.

As soon as he turned his head, he saw countless bamboo lanterns happily flitting around in the hall. To ensure these beautiful little creatures could appear in every corner of the public space of the Pet Center, Lorant had moved most of these bamboo lanterns and little ghosts from Blue Star Pet Shop here.

These little ones are among the few pets in the shop that can fly freely. They indeed have no special abilities; they can't even harm anyone, making them perfectly safe to be placed in public spaces.

They have indeed added a lot of vitality to the Pet Center.

The little ones are not particularly smart but adapt quickly to their environment. On the very night they arrived, they began to play happily here without a care in the world.

Various bamboo lanterns and almost identical little ghosts chase each other, looking really cute.

The top of the hall is equipped with a grand transformation array, capable of automatically simulating different weather and time changes.

Even among transformation arrays, this one is considered top-notch, and of course, its price is equally top-tier.

Right now, the hall is under a clear sky, and when you look up, you can't see the original dome—just a vast blue sky.

Uninformed people might think the entire Blue Star hall is semi-open-air, not realizing it's actually a completely enclosed indoor space.

After climbing just one floor, Lorant regretted it; the place is indeed too high. To accommodate professionals of all races and sizes, each floor of the Pet Center is made extremely high, making each flight of stairs feel like several.

The shopkeeper, who was out of shape, quickly felt his calves protesting.

Lorant awkwardly looked around, but before he could find what he was looking for, Fa Meng pulled him by the arm towards a side.

"Here, Lorant, the array is over here." Fa Meng and Lorant are almost in sync; it's totally normal for her to pick up on Lorant's thoughts without him saying a word, and she can pull him towards the short-distance teleportation array.

Unlike Lorant, who relies entirely on his eyes, Fa Meng can clearly sense the surrounding equipment with just a slight feel of the energy around.

Walking out from the stairs, Lorant saw the short-distance teleportation array on one side of a relief mural wall. Most pet shops are now equipped with these, essentially the magical elevator he had in mind.

This kind of magical elevator is generally only found in the headquarters of large organizations.

Lorant first encountered it in the Mage Guild. Although it is short-distance, any spatial teleportation array is prohibitively expensive.

Even the Mage Council only installs them in their large guilds. For smaller, remote guilds, using legs is still more cost-effective.

Only an organization like Blue Star, which is flush with cash and insists on turning every store into a department store-like structure, would routinely popularize such expensive high-end goods.

The unique aspect here is that next to the magical elevator, there are several traditional, completely mechanical elevators.

The mechanical devices are exquisitely crafted and precise, giving off a unique aesthetic. Unlike the simple magical elevator framed by half-height railings, these things have a strong visual impact.

Hard lines, smooth surfaces, and intricate gears give them a wild yet vivid vitality, making them unforgettable at first glance.

This is, of course, the work of the goblins. While the mountain fortress construction lagged, the top goblin craftsmen gathered here with time on their hands. For a reasonable fee, these goblins wouldn’t pass up a chance to earn extra income.

Especially after Blue Star secretly gave each craftsman a modest bonus, these goblins immediately became model workers.

Besides the five mechanical elevators, their work also included extensive village infrastructure.

Starting from the mountain wall, Lorant designed and built four cableways at the edge of the town.

One of them basically aligns with the road Lorant came from. The cable car starting from the mountaintop will eventually arrive at the large square in front of the Blue Star Tunnel. Once the construction is complete, it will take only fifteen minutes to travel from the village to the square, on par with the speed of a Windbreaking Horse.

The catch is that it’s a one-way cableway, so Windbreaking Horses remain the primary mode of transport.

Another cableway leads in the direction of the Church Mountain Pass, with its destination in a small town only half a day's journey from the Church Mountain Pass.

This small town, also a Blue Star project, is under construction. It was once shrouded in darkness under the Black Forest's cover. After the Black Forest was cleared, Blue Star began building a town here.

Located at the center of two mountain entrances, it provides a comfortable resting place for adventurers on the move.

The fertile surrounding land will host a large farm and pasture, supplying both the town and nearby Church Mountain Pass adventurers.

It is expected that the residents here will enjoy a much better life than the average person in the empire.

This cableway’s journey takes several hours, making it relatively long.

Another cableway connects to the Floating Giant Duck dock not far from the town. A tributary of the Holy Shield River was cleared as the Black Forest was removed. From this dock, one can connect to Cavendish's territory as well as Blue Star's territory, with regular shipments from within the empire.

This is expected to be one of Blue Star's most important logistics hubs in the future.

It could potentially become one of the most important ports on the entire continent. The Church has expressed strong interest, seeking cooperation with Blue Star here.

However, Lorant's attitude towards the Floating Giant Duck route has always been unwavering.

The port can be cooperated on. As long as there is a willingness to invest, Blue Star can share a portion of the port's profits.

Having come this far, Blue Star has never been one to monopolize. Countless partners have been able to enjoy the benefits by following them.

But beyond that, don't even think about it. The Floating Giant Duck route is Blue Star's private territory, not allowing anyone to interfere.

By completely controlling this waterway, Blue Star can freely set related rules, which is one of the reasons Lorant values the Floating Giant Duck so much.

Channels and platforms are the most important things. No matter how much the Church or the military covets them, it is useless.

Despite a hundred rejections, the Church must swallow their pride and lower their demands to use this dock...

The last cableway heads in the direction of New Las Vegas City.

Of course, the cableway is still far from directly reaching the location of New Las Vegas, but it does shave off a bit of time getting to New Las Vegas, which is better than nothing.

There is also a small village there serving as a transfer station.

Lorant gleefully rode the cool, stylish mechanical elevator to the top floor. Through the outer wall, he could vaguely see the cable car station under construction on the distant ridge. The winding path carved into the mountainside all the way to the foot of the mountain made it easy to imagine the future prosperity there.

The fifth floor of the Beast Pet Center is currently the command center of Blue Star. Upon exiting the elevator, one is greeted by a reception hall that is even more spacious than Lorant had imagined.

It was freakishly large, at least not what the normal building area of this structure should have been. Clearly, Blue Star did not skimp on the expensive spatial expansion spells.

This area is intended for Blue Star's internal staff, decorated in a more warm and minimalist style. Warm sunlight streaming from above made the light yellow leather sofa gleam.

Rows of glass bottles on the dark bar sparkled with an enticing luster, and the scattered tables and cozy nooks were warm and inviting.

It looked like the perfect spot to kick back and relax.

At this moment, several people were gathered in the corner of the hall in the beanbag sofa area. They lounged comfortably but kept chatting away, engaged in quite a heated discussion.

Among them were gnomes, dwarves, and two elves, making for a complete mix of races.

This isn’t surprising. Among all the Lopulo mountain passes, Blue Star’s is probably the most diverse—even Pokara can’t compete.

After all, building a mountain pass is a community effort, and each race has sent their own experts here.