Chapter 321: The First Level 500 Component! |
The entire Stellar Train was immersed in an atmosphere of joy. After the creation of the Human Civilization, everyone felt a stronger sense of belonging.
This included Young Master Li and the others who had newly joined the train.
But right at this moment—
A sudden and unexpected event shattered the peace!
A blinding white light abruptly flashed across the entire hull of the Stellar Train, making it highly conspicuous in the dark cosmos. Immediately after, like a massive boulder smashing into a tranquil pool, several ripples rapidly expanded outward into the universe with the train at their epicenter!
This was...
An Ascension Ripple!
The Ascension Ripple of the Human Civilization!
"..."
Except...
This thing didn't seem to be under his control.
Exactly one hour after he established the Human Civilization, the civilization automatically upgraded itself, completely bypassing his input.
It automatically advanced to a level-two civilization.
And it broadcasted an Ascension Ripple across the surrounding universe.
Announcing to everyone in the vicinity that the Human Civilization had reached the second level!
He looked at the civilization interface before him.
-
"The Human Civilization has met the promotion requirements and will now automatically upgrade."
"The range of this Ascension Ripple is one hundred thousand light-years."
"All beings within level-one civilizations and above will receive this Ascension Ripple in their own unique ways."
"The Ascension Ripple propagates at the speed of light."
-
"Uh..."
Chen Mang's expression turned a bit strange. It seemed the problem wasn't actually that big?
The Ascension Ripple propagated at the speed of light?
In other words, it would take a full one hundred thousand years to finish broadcasting across its entire range?
Then it was fine.
His current region was the borderland between the Zerg Civilization and the Kasa Civilization—a buffer zone. The surrounding area was filled with unranked, insignificant civilizations that couldn't even receive the Ascension Ripple.
However, quite a few train captains had gathered here at the moment.
Even if the Zerg Civilization and the Kasa Civilization found out, it honestly wasn't a big deal.
His main concern was that the broadcast range would be too wide, potentially attracting trouble from god-level civilizations deep in the universe. If the news was contained to just his little corner of space, he had nothing to worry about.
Right at that moment.
Xiao Ai's suppressed laughter suddenly echoed through the train.
"Thinking of something funny?"
"Captain, do you remember how long it took you to develop from scratch to where you are now?"
"Two or three years, I suppose."
"Then have you ever considered this: when you advance to a level-three civilization, or even a level-four civilization, the Ascension Ripple's range could reach millions of light-years. A million years from now, when the civilizations that received the ripple eagerly march their massive armies over, only to discover that your civilization has already reached level seven or higher... what kind of expressions do you think they'll make?"
"Hmm..."
Chen Mang couldn't help but shake his head and laugh as well. "That would definitely be hilarious. I just hope I can live that long."
Human lifespan could be extended using the Medical Pod, but every time lifespan was restored, the required resources would increase exponentially. Once he could no longer afford the resource cost, he would reach the end of his life.
Millions of years.
He didn't think he could live that long.
In this region of the universe, it had been a very long time since an Ascension Ripple had appeared.
The group of train captains lingering near the planets and Wormholes behind the Stellar Train received the ripple almost immediately.
-
"The level-one civilization 'Human Civilization' has successfully advanced to a level-two civilization."
-
It was a simple, brief message.
Yet, it sent monstrous, crashing waves of shock through the hearts of every train captain present.
For such news to emerge at this particular time was tantamount to the sky falling.
The Kasa Civilization had absorbed all surrounding level-one civilizations into its Kasa Civilization Federation and explicitly forbidden any of them from advancing to level two. It was an absolute death order!
Yet, this Human Civilization was actually bold enough to publicly ascend during the war between the Kasa Civilization and the Zerg Civilization. This was a naked provocation against the Kasa Civilization.
Moreover.
The name Human Civilization was exceptionally audacious in itself.
Their original exploratory expedition had already been derailed following the Zerg attacks. In silent agreement, the numerous train captains steered their trains into the Wormholes, returning to their own territories and bringing the news back with them.
Things were getting more chaotic by the day.
It was better to stop going on expeditions.
It felt like in a little while, they wouldn't even need to travel to explore; they could just step out their front doors. Danger was everywhere. The prerequisite for exploration was starting from a safe harbor. If their very homes were unsafe, it ceased to be an expedition—it became a damn apocalypse.
Civilizations served many purposes.
One of which was making information transfer vastly more convenient.
It was originally a massive territory spanning one hundred thousand light-years.
However—
The news rapidly spread to almost every civilization. Even the Zerg Civilization learned of it immediately. Yet, not a single civilization stepped forward to issue a statement. Even the Kasa Civilization remained silent, failing to immediately deploy armies to crush the upstart as they typically would.
There were many reasons for this.
Part of it was because the Kasa Civilization's logistics and military forces were already deeply entangled with the Zerg Civilization, among other reasons. But naturally, the primary reason was that no one could locate the homeworld of the Human Civilization on any star map.
However, almost every civilization's daily newspaper published a sudden headline.
-
"The Human Civilization rises as a sudden force, ascending to a level-two civilization overnight and stepping into the public eye! With no planets belonging to this civilization found on any star map, are they a river without a source, or an unfathomable mystery?"
"Human Civilization—Is This Name Truly So Arrogant?"
-
These news reports struck like massive tidal waves, completely muddying the waters of the entire sector!
However...
Things were about to get even muddier.
At the front lines, Commander Li's face was extremely gloomy. He didn't even dare to send a reply to the Head of State. He had bet wrong—completely and utterly wrong!
This time, it wasn't just him who was going to die!
The entire Kasa Civilization was going to die. Everyone was going to die!
A lack of communication had led to a fatal miscalculation.
He hadn't known which civilization the Zerg Civilization was fighting. He had merely sent people to bypass the Zerg forces, find that unknown civilization, and propose a pincer attack. He believed that as long as he clearly explained the stakes—explaining the grave danger of sitting by and watching the Zerg Civilization grow—the other side would agree.
He was confident that with his oratorical skills, he could definitely persuade that civilization's leader.
But the people he dispatched always lost contact halfway.
Just moments ago—
He finally received the latest intelligence. The civilization fighting the Zerg Civilization was also the damn Zerg Civilization! The two civilizations shared the exact same name and were fighting over who was the legitimate orthodox lineage. But after the Kasa forces launched a rear attack on the older Zerg Civilization...
The two Zerg factions held a quick discussion.
And decided to join forces to wipe out the Kasa intruders first before settling their own score.
Now, the massive armies of both Zerg factions were steadily merging, preparing to launch an all-out offensive against them.
It was over.
Completely and utterly over.
His previous worst-case scenario was that the unknown civilization would just watch from the sidelines. Even then, if his forces burned through their civilization's entire foundation in a desperate struggle, victory wouldn't have been entirely impossible. But now, it was finished.
It had gone from an expected two-on-one to a one-on-two.
A trace of dazed despair flashed through Commander Li's eyes. His usually ramrod-straight posture suddenly seemed to sag, radiating a sense of deep exhaustion for the first time. He slumped in his chair for a long time before muttering, "Relay this information to the Head of State, exactly as it is. Ask him to make a decision."
Things had escalated to a point completely beyond what he had envisioned.
He considered himself a man of great decisiveness.
And of sufficient capability.
But right now, he truly didn't know how to handle this mess.
The Stellar Train drifted through the cosmos.
Chen Mang was currently inspecting his civilization interface. The requirements to advance to a level-three civilization were noticeably much harsher.
-
"Civilization Name: Human Civilization."
"Civilization Level: 2."
"Civilization Leader: Chen Mang."
"Civilization Planets: Water Blue Star, Xuanwu Star, Mining Star No. 1, Unnamed Star."
"Civilization Population: 5.7 billion."
"Promotion Requirements: The population of intelligent lifeforms must reach 1 billion; peak attack energy output must exceed 20,000; ownership of at least two planets; civilization warehouse resource reserves must exceed one quadrillion; construction of over 10 permanent two-way Wormholes."
"PS: Advancing to a level-two civilization and every subsequent promotion will release an Ascension Ripple detectable by all surrounding civilizations. The higher the level, the wider the range of the Ascension Ripple."
"Civilization Ability: Universe restrictions will be partially lifted."
-
The combat prowess of the Zerg Civilization was unquestionable. They had once spent a century annihilating the Mechanical Civilization, so their strength spoke for itself. Yet, they remained a mere level-two civilization, constantly failing to break through to level three. Clearly, it was the first promotion requirement that had blocked the Zerg Civilization's path to ascension.
Looking at it now.
The Zerg Civilization wasn't entirely favored by the universe either. At the very least, the fact that Zerg monsters lacked intelligence meant that no matter how monstrous their combat power was, they could never advance to become a high-level civilization.
And once a certain threshold was crossed...
The methods possessed by high-level civilizations could not be quantified by mere numbers. It didn't matter how vast the Zerg Civilization's numbers were or how strong they hit; it would all be meaningless.
Just like the diary of the Mechanical Civilization's former leader stated: a level-five civilization possessed the means to create high-dimensional Time Fissures. They could briefly travel back tens of millions of years through these fissures and launch a devastating strike across the Dark Abyss directly into your distant past.
Against such an attack, an entire civilization would shatter instantly like wet paper.
High-level civilizations existed in a state of absolute, crushing supremacy over lower-level ones.
This also dictated that the Zerg Civilization's ultimate limit was permanently capped—unless they managed to birth enough intelligent members.
Right at that moment—
Xiao Ai's excited voice rang in his ears. "Captain, Qi Ke Xiu and I have made a massive breakthrough! Our experiments kept failing, but we suddenly succeeded just now. Within three days, we'll be able to produce the first component blueprint!"
"Oh?"
Chen Mang raised an eyebrow. This was great news. He then glanced at the new ability granted by advancing to a level-two civilization and somewhat understood what 'universe restrictions will be partially lifted' meant. Before the restriction was lifted, creating blueprints might have been impossibly difficult, but afterward, it became much easier.
This was a pleasant surprise.
Aside from that, a holographic image of an illusory space had appeared on the control console screen. This was the newly added 'Civilization Warehouse' acquired after the promotion. Its space was nearly infinite, capable of storing a massive amount of resources.
However, it could only store resources, not other items.
He placed it inside Carriage No. 2. He wouldn't have to worry about resource storage issues in the future, but to advance to a level-three civilization, he needed to hoard a quadrillion units of resources. That was no small figure.
Even during his sudden windfall a while ago, which allowed him to upgrade the train's Armor straight to level 200, he had only raked in slightly less than two hundred trillion resources. From this alone, it was obvious just how obscenely wealthy the Kasa Civilization was.
The strategic resource reserves of just a few of their cities were almost enough to fund a civilization's advancement to level two.
He didn't delay any further. Instead, he transformed the entire Stellar Train into a brooch, pinned it to his chest, and plummeted into the depths of space once more. He dropped into a Refrigerator and returned to the 27th Galaxy.
The very instant he returned.
The train received the daily news broadcast from the Kasa Civilization.
The front pages of all the major newspapers were practically dedicated solely to him. They were emergency headline editions. The entire spread consisted only of news regarding the Human Civilization—there was nothing else. Countless outlets were reporting on him.
There was praise, and there was criticism.
But without exception, every single article raised the same burning question: where were this civilization's planets, and what methods were they using to keep them hidden?
"Tsk."
Chen Mang couldn't help but chuckle. They wanted to find his civilization's planets? They could take their sweet time looking; he had stuffed them all inside his train. He suddenly realized that the level 200 Space Portal was incredibly handy. Its main selling point was absolute security!
No one could find his planets.
In a way, that meant no one could launch an attack on him.
After all, they couldn't even find his home base.
Even if they harbored ill intentions, they would be powerless and could only stare at a locked door.
However...
He narrowed his eyes, staring at a scene replaying continuously on the screen. It was footage recorded by the train's cameras when he accidentally stumbled into the Zerg Civilization's Wormhole and ended up in their main hive. He hadn't looked closely at the time, but examining it carefully now...
He saw a massive horde of Zerg monsters, many of which looked very familiar.
For example, the Man-Eating Spiders.
Old friends.
The very first boss he encountered on Water Blue Star was a Man-Eating Spider. It had chased him for a long time back then, and it took him several grueling hours to slowly whittle it down to death. That was how he obtained the Spider Legs component.
He had upgraded that component to level 30, allowing the train to travel freely on 180-degree inclines—essentially driving upside down on ceilings.
Upgrading this component required a special material: Fine Spider Silk.
This kind of silk only dropped from killing Man-Eating Spiders.
A thought had suddenly popped into his mind just now. If this component was upgraded to level 50 or 80, the effects probably wouldn't be any different from before, as a 180-degree incline was already the physical limit. But what if it reached level 200?
What about the Divine Level Extraordinary Effect at level 200?
Based on his experience, the more a component relied on specific mechanical gimmicks, the stronger its Divine Level Extraordinary Effect would be once it hit level 200!
He suddenly really wanted to upgrade this component to level 200.
Just to see what its Divine Level Extraordinary Effect would be.
He had almost completely forgotten about this component. Ever since he entered space, he hadn't used it for a long time, and it rarely found any practical application anymore. But now...
"Hmm..."
Chen Mang remained silent, pondering and weighing the strengths of both sides. From that fleeting glance, he had gleaned quite a bit of concrete data on the Zerg Civilization. At the very least, the main forces in that specific area didn't pose any real danger to him.
Before leaving back then, he had left behind a few Refrigerators.
Those Refrigerators had yet to be destroyed. As long as he willed it, he could return to the Zerg Civilization's territory right now.
He could slaughter a batch of spiders, grab some silk, and leave.
The risk wasn't too great.
It was worth a try.
Having made up his mind, he checked the integrity of the train's various components before shrinking the train back down to the size of a brooch. Taking a deep breath, he plunged into the cosmos and ducked into a Refrigerator.
He walked deep into its spatial pathway until he arrived inside another Refrigerator tens of thousands of light-years away.
He tentatively pushed the door open and took a peek outside.
His breath hitched sharply.
Countless Zerg monsters were crouched on the ground, completely encircling the Refrigerator. Their eyes were locked dead on it. The moment they spotted him, the horde instantly grew agitated, letting out hideous, menacing growls.
"Bam."
Without a shred of hesitation, Chen Mang pulled his head back inside and swiftly slammed the Refrigerator door shut.
Facing these Zerg monsters in the flesh really put the pressure on.
The Zerg monsters, which had just been roaring in frenzy, were now completely dumbfounded, frozen in place.
The very next moment—
The Refrigerator door was shoved open once more.
Chen Mang burst through the door, leaping high into the air. Simultaneously, the brooch on his chest transformed rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it expanded into the mechanical train—not in its usual long, serpentine form, but standing upright like a Mecha.
Instant Mecha Armament!
A colossal Mecha constructed from over a dozen massive carriages.
It stood towering over the ground like a world-bearing giant.
He fluttered down lightly, landing squarely inside the main control cabin.
"Safe now."
Chen Mang exhaled softly as he sat down in his chair. Ignoring the swarming Zerg monsters below, the thrusters on the sides of the Mecha's legs erupted simultaneously with roaring blue flames. The thrust propelled the colossal machine upward at breakneck speeds, shooting straight toward the exosphere!
A rapid escape!
The Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon, normally mounted on the roof of a carriage, was now situated on the Mecha's right wrist, functioning like a massive arm cannon.
Components like the Doppler Radar and the Target-Acquisition Radar began to operate at maximum capacity.
Soon!
Having broken through the atmosphere and entered the void of space, Chen Mang blasted toward the nearest planet at incredible speeds. The radar indicated that the Zerg monsters on this planet were exclusively Man-Eating Spiders, his exact targets for this trip.
The levels of these Man-Eating Spiders weren't very high, generally hovering around level fifty or sixty.
This area was deep within the Zerg Civilization's territory.
"..."
Chen Mang quickly scanned the feed from the Doppler Radar, his brows furrowing slightly. There was a populated planet nearby, though it belonged to an unranked civilization. That planet had completely fallen; it was now a living hell.
Countless half-human, half-bug entities writhed and crawled across its surface.
Massive factory complexes had been erected all over the planet's terrain. Countless humans were penned up inside like livestock, forced to mate with various Zerg monsters—such as giant worms and man-eating variants. Astonishingly, they had actually broken through the reproductive barrier, giving birth to entirely new species.
However, these so-called half-humans looked exceptionally revolting and possessed very little intelligence.
Clearly.
This was the Zerg Civilization's desperate attempt to advance to a level-three civilization. They could only resort to such horrific methods to breed more lifeforms with a modicum of intelligence. Otherwise, the Zerg Civilization would forever be barred from reaching level three.
For the first time, he felt that the Doppler Radar's real-time visual transmission had its drawbacks. It wasn't as clean as the Target-Acquisition Radar, which simply used red and green dots to distinguish friend from foe. He really didn't want to see these physiologically nauseating sights in such vivid detail.
But—
There was no time left. The radar detected a massive number of Wormholes forming in the vicinity. He had to end this battle swiftly and leave immediately, or things would get extremely tricky once the main Zerg army arrived. Without a second thought!
Chen Mang aimed the Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon at the nearby spider-infested planet, calibrated the attack intensity to level 110, and fired in an instant.
Instantly!
Three beams of light, carrying terrifying, apocalyptic power, tore through the cosmos at blistering speeds and slammed mercilessly into the core of the planet.
"Boom—"
Tens of seconds later.
A colossal cloud of dust suddenly exploded outward from the planet's surface. The once azure planet turned a sickly pale yellow in a fraction of a second. Countless dense, visible shockwaves rippled outward in every direction with the planet as their epicenter!
The soundless explosion in the vacuum of space was all the more soul-shaking.
The Target-Acquisition Radar showed that these three shots had instantly eradicated countless Man-Eating Spiders.
However, that wasn't enough. With blinding speed, he fired another three shots. These three consecutive level-110 attacks from the Akhenaten Main Cannon completely overwhelmed the planet's structural integrity. Finally, the moment a violent flash of fire erupted from the surface...
Massive, visible fissures spiderwebbed across the entire globe.
Endless torrents of fire spewed out from the cracks.
Immediately after—
The entire planet rapidly disintegrated, shattering into a storm of fragments. In the cataclysmic explosion, countless Man-Eating Spiders perished. The Fine Spider Silk they left behind mixed with the cosmic rubble and scattered in every direction.
Six shots from a level-110 Akhenaten Main Cannon were enough to easily and utterly obliterate a planet!
Following that!
Chen Mang piloted the Stellar Train, rapidly closing in on the vast asteroid field formed by the planet's explosive destruction. The Power Magnet, which he had previously upgraded to level 200, was now flexing its might, rapidly pulling all the Fine Spider Silk from an incredibly vast area directly into the train!
The Stellar now possessed the terrifying power to shatter planets!
Cosmic-scale fireworks were always exquisitely beautiful!
Countless planetary fragments began shooting outward in all directions at thousands of kilometers per second. Surrounding planets belonging to the Zerg Civilization were caught in the crossfire, bombarded by short-lived, machine-gun-like barrages of debris and radiation. However, all of it was effortlessly deflected by the train's Armor.
"Thank goodness the Power Magnet's collection range is wide enough after reaching level 200, otherwise, grabbing this loot would have been a real headache."
Countless threads of Fine Spider Silk were mixed in among the planetary shrapnel.
Yet right now, all of this silk was being vacuumed into the train. He didn't bother counting the exact amount; he just felt that there was a lot... a whole lot...
Just then—
Several Wormholes nearby suddenly began to flash with light. Their exits writhed incessantly, looking much like the intestinal tracts of giant worms. Hordes of Zerg monsters and massive Zerg motherships poured out of the portals.
The Zerg army's reinforcements had arrived much faster than he had anticipated.
He threw a quick glance at the radar screen.
At the very front of the vanguard was a grotesquely shaped mothership, armed with a main cannon that read as a staggering level 200. It was also a light energy cannon, though not of the Akhenaten make. Chen Mang didn't linger for a single second. He immediately transformed the train back into a brooch, ducked straight back into the Refrigerator, and escaped to the Kasa Civilization Federation.
He came fast, and he left just as fast.
Aside from a single shattered planet, it seemed like nothing major had even occurred.
In a war of this scale...
Once a main cannon locked on, evading it was usually impossible.
From start to finish, the entire operation had lasted barely a minute.
Yet Chen Mang was already back safely in the 27th Galaxy.
"380.8 billion units of Spider Silk."
After tallying up all his spoils, Chen Mang stood in silence for a moment. In the entire universe... it seemed like only individuals from the Zerg Civilization dropped special resources upon death, right?
He had never seen any human burst into a pile of loot after being killed.
This silk was also fundamentally different from what could be directly extracted from the corpses of Man-Eating Spiders.
It was clearly a product condensed by the rules of the universe. Moreover, this silk seemed incredibly resilient—even a planetary explosion hadn't damaged this special resource in the slightest.
He suddenly got the feeling that the universe didn't favor the Zerg Civilization at all. Sure, they were given plenty of broken evolutionary traits, but no matter how you looked at it, it just felt like the universe had purposefully designed a race of monsters specifically meant to drop loot...
"Let's see if this trip was a profit or a loss."
He had gone on this raid purely on a whim, emboldened by the confidence of his superior skills.
A single level-110 shot from the main cannon consumed 90 billion units of iron ore.
He had fired a total of six shots.
That was 540 billion units of iron ore burned through in a single quick run. Over half a trillion gone just like that. This ammunition was way too expensive! Even though he still had a little over 28 trillion units of iron ore left, he couldn't afford to burn through it like this indefinitely.
It was equivalent to trading 540 billion units of iron ore for 380.8 billion units of Spider Silk. However, the latter was exponentially rarer. Even in the Kasa Civilization Federation, where supposedly everything was sold, this material simply wasn't on the market.
It was incredibly scarce.
Over 300 billion units of Spider Silk...
At the time, he had only seen that the planet was densely packed with a massive number of spiders, and that the surrounding space was littered with giant, trap-like webs. He hadn't known the exact number of spiders. He just hadn't expected them to drop over 300 billion units of silk, which meant there had to have been at least tens of billions of spiders crawling all over that planet.
Tens of billions of spiders...
He was experiencing the Zerg Civilization's terrifying troop-spawning capabilities firsthand for the first time.
It truly was a bit exaggerated.
Somewhat absurd, even.
The only thing that confused him slightly was that this planet had been situated heavily in the middle of Zerg territory. Furthermore, the very second he finished his attack, nearby Wormholes started flashing. It was as if the Zerg Civilization placed extreme importance on this specific batch of spiders, even though their levels clearly weren't that high.
He took a deep breath, withdrew 800 million units of Spider Silk, and smoothly upgraded the green-grade Spider Legs component straight to level 200 in one go!
The standard level-ups yielded no extra numerical effects.
He had thought the stats might show a 181-degree incline capability.
But they didn't.
The climbable incline limit firmly remained at 180 degrees without any change. However, when it hit level 200, a series of Divine Level Extraordinary Effects appeared.
-
"Spider Legs Level 50 Divine Level Extraordinary Effect: Travel speed is increased when driving on steep inclines."
"Spider Legs Level 100 Divine Level Extraordinary Effect: Component usage cost is halved."
"Spider Legs Level 200 Divine Level Extraordinary Effect: Capable of weaving webs in space to intercept the universe's Core Energy, condensing it into solid resources that materialize on the web. Weaving webs consumes Spider Silk."
-
"..."
Chen Mang furrowed his brows slightly. This meant he had basically spent 540 billion units of iron ore to buy this single Divine Level Extraordinary Effect. Granted, he knew he was highly likely to take a loss since this was purely an experimental gamble. After all, this was one of the incredibly rare components that required a specific, special resource to upgrade.
This Divine Level Extraordinary Effect couldn't exactly be called weak.
It just didn't feel overwhelmingly strong.
Clearly, that planet swarming with Man-Eating Spiders must have been a logistical hub. The giant webs woven in the surrounding space were primarily functioning as resource collectors. The Divine Level Extraordinary Effect he had painstakingly unlocked at level 200 was something those Man-Eating Spiders were born with as an innate ability.
That racial talent was truly enviable.
Although this Divine Level Extraordinary Effect left him a bit disappointed.
But...
He narrowed his eyes, looking at the material requirements to push the Spider Legs component to level 500. Going from level 200 to level 500 required exactly 380 billion units of Spider Silk!
The cost had multiplied many times over.
However, the total amount of Spider Silk remaining in his train was exactly 380 billion.
No more, no less.
It was just that coincidental.
After level 200, the next Extraordinary Effect unlock milestone was at level 500.
He had coined the term "Divine Level Extraordinary Effect" himself because all components underwent a qualitative leap when they reached level 200. Currently, there wasn't a single component on the train that had surpassed level 500.
Perhaps the Spider Legs could become the train's very first level-500 component.
Keeping this silk lying around in storage was pointless anyway.
Without a hint of hesitation.
Without even thinking too hard about it, Chen Mang consumed the remaining 380 billion units of Spider Silk and blasted the Spider Legs component straight to level 500 in one go, officially making it the first level-500 component on the train.
At level 499, it remained identical in function to level 200.
After all, standard level-ups no longer provided any incremental statistical boosts for this specific component.
But when it finally hit level 500, a brand-new Extraordinary Effect surfaced.
It was a long string of text.
Before even reading the contents clearly, Chen Mang let out a long sigh of relief. He slumped back into his chair, relaxed, and eagerly lit a cigarette, finally examining the very first level-500 Extraordinary Effect on the Stellar Train!
His worst fear was that after paying such a monumental price to reach level 500, the description would simply read "None." If that had happened, he would have genuinely started cursing.
-
"Spider Legs Level 500 Divine Level Extraordinary Effect: Allows entry into 'Pseudo-Fourth Dimensional Space.' The Spider Legs will tear through space to enter the 'Pseudo-Fourth Dimensional Space.' Within this dimension, your observation will be nearly impossible to detect. You may launch attacks from within, and tracing the origin of said attacks will be extremely difficult."
-
"..."
Chen Mang stood frozen in place, his mouth hanging slightly open. He had guessed that the level-500 Extraordinary Effect would be powerful—after all, the level-200 Divine Level Extraordinary Effect was already a qualitative leap, let alone level 500.
But he had never expected it to be this utterly broken.
It was written plainly in black and white.
As for how it actually functioned in practice, he would need to test it out to know for sure.
Back in the 27th Galaxy, Chen Mang sat on the train and pressed a button in the corner of the control panel that he hadn't touched in a long time. The metallic Spider Legs slowly extended outward. The Stellar Train floated in the cosmos like an imposing mechanical dragon.
He activated the level-500 Extraordinary Effect.
The next instant—
A crimson glint flashed across the tips of the Spider Legs. They immediately began to scurry rapidly, propelling the Stellar Train forward through the vacuum of space as if crawling on solid ground. Its speed skyrocketed wildly, pushing faster and faster until it hit an absolute threshold. At that peak velocity, the foremost Spider Legs ruthlessly slashed forward!
Slicing open a spatial rift directly in front of the train.
Following its momentum, the Stellar Train dove headfirst into the tear.
The door to the control cabin was pushed open.
Xiao Ai strode in, walking straight to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the cabin. Looking at the scene outside, his eyes were filled with profound shock. The sheer majesty of what was unfolding had compelled him to come down in person just to witness it firsthand.
It was an experience he had never encountered before.
Bizarre, even.
"..."
Chen Mang piloted the train, slowly cruising through the Pseudo-Fourth Dimensional Space until he hovered over a planet. This planet belonged to the Flourishing Star sector. He had visited this world before.
He had been parked near this planet for the past few days.
How should he describe this sensation?
It wasn't a true fourth-dimensional space.
It felt more like an alternate dimension.
Similar to a mirror.
The real world existed outside the mirror, while he and the Stellar Train were situated inside the glass. He could clearly see the boundary between the two realities. In the real world, everything was brilliantly vibrant and colorful, whereas his side of the glass was muted entirely in monochromatic shades of black and white.
The people on the outside couldn't see him.
Yet he could observe every single person outside with absolute clarity.
"No wonder it's called a Pseudo-Fourth Dimensional Space."
Standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, Chen Mang stared at the bustling city below in long, drawn-out silence. The Stellar Train was currently weaving directly through the skyscrapers of the city. Absolutely nothing could obstruct his path.
His train acted like a phantom, able to phase freely through any physical obstacle.
And absolutely no one could detect him.
He strongly believed that even a level 1000 Doppler Radar might fail to detect him. After all, this involved two entirely different dimensions—a literal dimensional disparity in stealth.
And from here...
He could launch strikes onto the outside world at his leisure.
The victims in the outside world wouldn't even know where the attacks were coming from, completely robbing them of any way to retaliate.
This casual, impulsive idea of his to upgrade the Spider Legs to level 500—an upgrade he hadn't even agonized over—had paradoxically rewarded him with a supremely unique method of attack. Armed with this tactic, regardless of who emerged victorious in the final showdown between the Zerg Civilization and the Kasa Civilization, he would remain standing in a position of absolute invincibility.
The more he learned.
The deeper his awe and dread grew toward that unknown higher-tier civilization located on the other side of the Dark Abyss.
Every single trump card he possessed, that civilization undoubtedly wielded as well.
The sheer, crushing suppression brought by civilization levels was a gap that many things simply could not bridge.
However...
He had found a way to bridge that gap, and that lay in his Extraordinary Effects. Even for that unfathomable high-tier civilization across the Dark Abyss, resources were not infinitely abundant. Their component levels could not be upgraded endlessly.
But he could.
For him, Murphy Stones were in infinite supply.
The next Extraordinary Effect milestone was at level 1000. Once every single component on his train hit level 500, or even level 1000, the resulting Extraordinary Effects would be exponentially more game-breaking, blessing him with far greater confidence.
Level 10 Spider Legs allowed the train to scale steep inclines.
Level 500 Spider Legs allowed the train to slip into a Pseudo-Fourth Dimensional Space.
Or rather, a mirror dimension.
The power leap between those milestones was astronomically vast.
What about level 1000 Spider Legs? Would it allow formal entry into a true Fourth-Dimensional Space, granting him the power to freely traverse timelines?
That was highly improbable.
After all, according to the information left in the former Mechanical Civilization leader's diary, even that level-five civilization couldn't travel freely through time. They could only synthesize Time Fissures, which was fundamentally different from true chronological navigation.
After a long time.
Chen Mang finally exited the Pseudo-Fourth Dimensional Space, bringing the train back into real space above the Flourishing Star. Maintaining that dimension passively consumed resources—not a lot, but a penny saved was a penny earned. Now armed with this terrifying component effect, he was practically itching to go pillage the Zerg Civilization blind.
After testing the waters this time.
He realized that the Zerg Civilization didn't seem quite so untouchable after all.
As a civilization as a whole, they were undeniably formidable. But against his hit-and-run guerilla tactics, the Zerg Civilization had absolutely no countermeasure. With a tool like the Refrigerator in hand, he could come and go exactly as he pleased.
Now that he possessed this new Extraordinary Effect.
His confidence had swelled dramatically.
This time, victory was absolutely assured.
"Time really does fly."
Chen Mang stepped back up to the control console, chuckling softly as he watched the stream of incoming news bulletins scrolling across the screen. Before he knew it, he had grown strong enough to waltz straight into the heart of the Zerg Civilization's territory, wreck havoc, and stroll back out entirely unscathed.
A long time ago.
The Zerg Civilization had seemed like an insurmountable, heaven-touching monolith to him—a force that could not be defied and could never be opposed.
Looking at it now.
They were just alright. Lacking a bit of spice.
No matter how many millions of trash mobs they threw at him, trash was still trash. He only had a single train, but that was more than enough.
Meanwhile, the console screen indicated that the few Refrigerators he had deployed were still holding strong and had yet to be destroyed.
The very ones he had tossed deep into the Zerg Civilization's domain.
At the thought of this.
He couldn't hold back a laugh, perfectly imagining the Zerg Broodmother's apoplectic fury. His Doppler Radar had a detection radius of one hundred thousand light-years.
A staggeringly ridiculous number.
And his Refrigerator's level-100 Divine Level Extraordinary Effect was: "As long as it remains within the range of the Target-Acquisition Radar, the Refrigerator shares the same defensive fortitude as the train's Armor (energy shields excluded)."
Although the text panel specifically mentioned the Target-Acquisition Radar...
In actual practical application, it synchronized perfectly with the Doppler Radar as well.
Which meant...
Those seemingly innocuous Refrigerators he had scattered across various corners of the cosmos currently boasted the exact same impregnable defense as a level-200 Armor. Destroying an appliance with that grade of fortification was by no means a simple task.
They were probably establishing a massive military perimeter around the Refrigerators right now, all while repeatedly failing to blast them apart.
Of course.
If the Zerg Civilization was truly determined to destroy them, they would eventually succeed. It would just cost them a vast, agonizing amount of resources to do so.
He wouldn't be traveling through the Refrigerators anytime soon, either.
There was a tiny window of vulnerability between the moment he stepped out of the Refrigerator and the moment he entered the train. Even if it was just a fraction of a second, the gap existed. If he was caught out during that microscopic window, it was basically game over. The Hell Brooch still wasn't completely foolproof.
It wasn't safe enough.
If he could just find a special item that allowed the fully-shrunk train to drive straight out of the Refrigerator on its own, that would be ideal. That would eliminate the vulnerability window completely, polishing his security to absolute perfection.
Right at that moment—
The Kasa Daily suddenly updated again.
Generally speaking, the Kasa Daily only updated once a day. This was already its third update today, with the second one having been the breaking news about the Human Civilization.
"Expedition Thwarted: The civilization engaged in warfare with the Zerg Civilization is revealed to also be the Zerg Civilization. The two factions have ceased hostilities, called a truce, and have united their military forces entirely against the Kasa Civilization. We desperately need everyone's united cooperation at this critical hour."
"..."
Chen Mang stared at the headline, his mouth twitching slightly.
If this was how things were going to play out...
The Kasa Civilization was basically completely screwed.