CHAPTER 55: SELENE PALACE

There were many mountains, large and small, on the road to the Tholien Mountains and One Mountain.

One of these mountains was just across the river, about six kilometres away.

It was a mountain about six hundred metres long and one kilometre wide, and it was an area that Luke had set his mind on after seeing the river.

There was a large enough area in the city, in the south-eastern region where he had demolished his mansion, to build a small palace, but Luke did not want a small palace.

He now had an Ancient Dragon at his command. He had become a much more valuable human being, and he was aware of this. Of course, that was why he wanted a large palace.

Even when he examined the blueprint of the large palace, he saw that it was not that enormous. There were still many, many structures that were locked, but Luke did not think he wanted a palace larger than the one in the capital.

Of course, to build such a palace, he might have to unlock a hundred more locks. After all, creating the largest palace in the world, covering an area of four hundred kilometres, would not be easy.

He was sure it would cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins with his system.

That’s why he chose the largest palace he could build at the moment.

This mountain, whose base expanded to a total width of one kilometre and whose length stretched to nearly six hundred metres, would be completely transformed into a palace.

Luke sat where he was, had the servants set up tents for both Zoey and themselves to rest, and began changing the blueprints one by one, undeterred by the cold weather.

He had purchased a total of sixteen sketches. The palace sketch alone cost a total of one hundred and sixteen thousand gold pieces, which was still considered inexpensive. Building a palace could require spending millions of gold pieces.

This was naturally an amount of gold that Luke could have had if he wanted to, but which he did not currently possess.

However, Luke was grateful; despite having only about one hundred thousand gold pieces left, he had managed to get into a good position again thanks to the shop panel.

One of the sixteen blueprints was for the palace, while the others were for carvings inside the mountain to ensure it could withstand the weight and similar tasks.

The main area of the palace, where both Luke’s and Zoey’s thrones would be located and also serve as the ballroom, would be at the top of the palace.

Above the palace, there would be structures resembling hands, with closed tops to prevent snow from falling, large enough for dragons to enter, and made entirely of mithril to prevent them from breaking apart.

The palace would be constructed from extremely sturdy stones, coloured white and black to match the architectural style of the region.

The palace itself had already begun to resemble the grandeur befitting a dragon king.

Luke was quite satisfied. Despite still making changes, he was aware that this was a good thing.

He was particularly sure that Zoey would love this palace because it would feature paintings that Zoey enjoyed, located at the back of the palace and even in the buildings surrounding the palace area, places known in other regions as the ducal blacksmith, ducal tailor, ducal animal keeper, ducal groom, and ducal training ground.

At least in Ducal areas.

Luke was very skilled at painting, so he worked tirelessly, spending hours meticulously reviewing each painting one by one. He replaced them with works by artists whose names he had never heard of before but who created masterpieces, purchasing their paintings through the shop panel.

He then made changes to the mountain itself, carving it out and reinforcing it with mythril supports by connecting each sketch to the palace on the blueprint.

There would be many areas like wine cellars in the carved-out regions, and Luke had already added them to the sketches.

After two days of sleeplessness, everything was finally completed. Another ten thousand gold pieces were spent on the changes made with the sketches, and everything was completed at a cost of one hundred and twenty thousand gold pieces.

After bringing Zoey and the servants to a safe area—one where they wouldn’t be harmed when the blueprints were used—Luke carefully looked at each of them and said, "Watch this!" Then, as if doing something playful, he snapped his fingers:

"SNAP!"

The snap echoed around them, and as if by magic, a vast palace and a region began to form, with the surroundings glowing softly in transparent, green, purple, and red lights.

The ground was changing, with marble slabs from Moon Stone being laid for walking and carts to pass over.

Around them, ironworks, tailors, and many other things began to form, made of black and white stone, as well as red wood, it was likely the same type of wood used in a vampire kingdom on one of the western continents.

As each structure was completed, murmurs and growls began to rise from the mountain, and as the transformation began, the palace itself began to take shape as if it were being mounted onto the mountain.

Zoey smiled as she looked around. She could see dozens of statues, trees and plants of different colours from different habitats, easily see the drawings on the marble, and observe the works of art carved into the buildings.

Luke had spent quite some time searching for the carved marble and walls with drawings, as there were so many locks open on the shop panel, and finding things took a long time.

At least... There were categories, and that made the task a little easier.

When the palace itself was formed, and in the area where the flags of the Hiera Empire and the Great City, Selene, flew side by side, the formation of the vast habitat regions was completed, and then the Dragon Language, which would echo throughout the entire city, was spoken:

"Shenhal, come to your home."