The number of stones would dictate the strength the puppet could exude within its realm for the saint and celestial puppets, however the dao puppets were slightly more complex than that.
Because there were three divisions for dao level energy stones, each division corresponded to a third of the dao formation stages. Dao stones could elevate a puppet from the 1st to 4th stage, transcendent stones dealt with the 5th to 8th stage, while enigmatic stones could raise them the final levels to the 12th stage.
Dyon didn't even want to think about that level of cost… He hadn't even seen an enigmatic stone in his life, let alone even conceiving the number it would take to power a puppet for an extended period of time.
According to the spirit, it would take a thousand stones of a corresponding energy to power a single puppet for 1 minute. Even worse, that was only for the lowest barrier of the corresponding cultivation stage. For example, if Dyon gave a saint puppet a thousand saint stones, it would be able to fight with the battle power of a first stage saint for one minute. If he set it to fight with the battle power of a second stage saint, it would only last for 6 seconds, which means he would need to insert ten thousand stones for the equivalent minute of fighting.
When Dyon heard this, he wanted to fight the spirit head on, but he obviously hit nothing but air. How the hell could any kingdom withstand such consumption? This was too ridiculous.
In the end, Dyon could only sigh and wave his hand. A moment later, three tightly bound kitsune had appeared, each with their cultivations sealed.
Gin was still in a half-muddled state, not having recovered from his sacrifice. Masako was shocked that she had survived and could only look at Dyon with a complicated gaze. While Aki's eyes were still spitting fire, after all, one doesn't get over becoming a eunuch so quickly.
"What are you keeping us for?!" Aki raged. "Unseal me if you have the balls!"
Dyon snorted. "I defeated four people far more powerful than you at the same time, why would you even say something so embarrassing?"
Aki grit his teeth. "You used cheap tricks, you didn't fight like a man at all."
"Mm. I'm sure fighting so many vs one is very manly."
SLAP!!
Aki was sent flying across the room, awkwardly tumbling over bits of furniture before slamming into the wall.
"Speak out of turn again and I'll cut something else off."
After he finished speaking, he ignored the three of them. 'Are you ready, master?'
Before this, Dyon could casually use his contract seals. However, that was only because the strongest person he had ever used it against were the essence gatherers of the Uidah Clan.
However, now that he wanted to seal three geniuses of the Kitsune clan to follow his will, the difficulty rose to a completely different level. It took a month of his master siphoning off his soul energy to create three comet level contract seals for this plan to come to fruition.
It had to be said that Dyon's master was a former Star level array alchemist. When she had died, she was still at the comet level. But, after spending thousands of years in seclusion beneath Focus Lake, she had nothing better to do that to comprehend array alchemy theory.
This was all to say that Dyon's master was incredibly familiar with drawing arrays without a body to rely on. The fact it still took her a month to draw these arrays, even though there were three of them, was a testament to their intricacy and efficacy.
Before the three kitsune could even realize what was happening, Dyon had already placed the three seals on them. With their cultivations sealed beforehand, they had no chance to resist, making it an extremely smooth process.
'Alright Dyon, I'm going to go into a deep slumber like the Archer. If we remain awake, it'll slow down the awakening of your inner world too much. I'll wake up from time to time to guide you properly as your master,' Although it seemed like she was saying this casually, the 25th White Mother's eyes were filled with emotion. As a master, she had given Dyon too little guidance. Now that she was here, how could she allow this trend to continue? 'Stay safe, little one.'
'Mm.' Dyon nodded, fighting spirit lighting in his eyes. With his master by his side again, he had one less worry in this world.
After getting his emotions under control, he sealed the three kitsune in the tower prison. How could a war machine not also have a dungeon?
Then, he looked at a list of 10 or so names. After Dyon recruited the Archer, whose name he later found out was Legolas, he had the idea of possibly repeating this again. Although Dyon's empire had a very solid base of talents, what it lacked the most were experts of the upper end. Maybe the valley could help him solve that.
These 10 or so names weren't randomly chosen, but were rather made of individuals his master and Legolas trusted in the moral character of, and also happened to be individuals from poor backgrounds as well.
Dyon involuntarily laughed to himself, 'Of course his name is Legolas.'
**
Dyon spent the next month traveling the core valley, speaking to various geniuses. Of the eleven on the list, he somehow managed to convince them all to join.
That said, when he thought about it, it wasn't too shocking. Who didn't want a second chance at life?
As individuals from poorer backgrounds, seven of the eleven of them died tragic deaths far too early. Three of them died while searching for opportunities. And one died investigating the world outside of the 100 quadrants.
Their stories almost sounded like rehashed versions of each other, each more depressing than the last. The truth of the matter was that having appropriate backing in the martial world was almost more important than having great talent.
When talented youths appeared from poor backgrounds, it was often just a matter of time before they died at the hands of larger clans they offended while following their martial path. The number of geniuses who died like this were simply innumerable.
Those that didn't die this way died by taking risks those richer geniuses didn't have to take. If they didn't risk their lives entering forbidden regions, how would they make up the gap in their backgrounds?
Dyon soon found out that they all had titles like the Archer did. Legolas had told Dyon that he earned the title of Prince of Archery. At the time, Dyon think much of it until the other spirits began telling him their own titles. Dyon even found out that his master's name was also a title 'White Mother'.
Titles weren't a new concept to Dyon. For example, others referred to him as God Sacharro. This in itself was a Title.
It turned out that in the Martial World, different Titles came with it various strengths and legacies. The 'White Mother' Title was only capable of being bestowed by the Celestial Beast Clans. But, the Title that Legolas and the other spirits had were given to them by the Epistemic Tower.
Dyon didn't want to think too much about what these Titles meant and what they represented now since the opportunity to earn them were on the celestial floors, something still too far away from him. But, he still noted the Titles of these spirits.
Prince of War, Battle Prince, Princess of the Skies, Flame Prince, Ice Princess, Fist King, Princess of Strategy, Earth Prince, Princess of Beauty, Princess of Melody, and Forging Prince.
From what Dyon could understand, many people could hold a Prince or Princess title. But, the number of Kings was limited, because unlike the Prince and Princess titles which could be earned the moment an expert met the requirements, the King title could only be taken by defeating someone who held the title. This made the Fist King likely the most impressive of them all.
There were still more than one Fist King, but the number was limited to 108, just like every other King level title.
When Dyon heard this, he could help but think back to the Holy Princesses. There were 108 of them too, no? But, they were called Princesses, not Queens…
