Chapter 337: An Insane Upgrade! |
"2,997 trillion units of iron ore, 389 trillion units of wood, 1,360 trillion units of copper ore, 34.9 billion units of Redheart Rock, 47.97 billion units of Titanium Crystal Ore."
A massive total of nearly 3,000 trillion units of iron ore!
This was the highest resource reserve the Stellar Train had ever accumulated in its history.
Without further ado!
Time to upgrade!
First and foremost.
The most important component was naturally the "Carriage Steel Armor"!!
When facing the incomprehensible methods of advanced civilizations, armor levels became meaningless. For instance, being directly erased from existence like the Niya Civilization. Under such absolute rules of the universe, no matter how high the armor level was, it would be useless.
It was a dimensional strike, an absolute crushing defeat.
For him at this current moment, on the verge of war with the Zerg Civilization, the armor level was still highly significant. Furthermore, even for advanced civilizations, such methods were likely not conventional attacks. It was impossible for them to unleash their ultimate moves the moment they met.
Chen Mang cast his gaze onto the control panel screen. From the very beginning, this component had been the biggest resource sink on the train. Just upgrading it to level 200 had cost him a staggering 30 trillion units of iron ore.
To his past self, that was an astronomical figure.
Even with the all-out support of the Xuanwu Civilization, they had only provided him with a total of less than 10 trillion units of resources.
But now.
It was merely a drop in the ocean. He could finally stand tall.
A normal Prismatic-grade component would require 100 trillion units of iron ore to upgrade from level 200 to 500. The Carriage Steel Armor consumed a bit more, requiring 1,000 trillion.
It far exceeded the upgrade costs of other components.
But for the Stellar Train at this moment, it was completely acceptable.
The next moment—
As 1,000 trillion units of iron ore turned to ash within the carriage and seeped into the train, the component's level shot straight up to 500.
And it gained a new Overlimit Effect.
-
"Carriage Steel Armor Level 500 Overlimit Effect": Eternal and Indestructible. Upon suffering an energy attack, the armor will absorb all energy attacks, regardless of their level, and use them to temporarily increase the train's armor level for 24 hours.
PS: This level 500 Overlimit Effect is a unique Overlimit Effect, the only one in the universe.
PS2: Other civilizations will no longer be able to obtain this Overlimit Effect.
-
"..."
Looking at the Overlimit Effect before him, a flash of shock crossed Chen Mang's eyes. He naturally knew that a level 200 Overlimit Effect was basically the upper limit for a third-level civilization.
A level 500 Overlimit Effect was something only a fourth-level civilization was qualified to touch.
And every single level 500 Overlimit Effect was incredibly monstrous.
But...
Wasn't this a little too insane?
In interstellar warfare, the vast majority of attacks were energy-based. This meant that even if the enemy used a level 1,000 Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon...
He would be completely immune!
Not only immune, but he could also absorb that energy to temporarily boost his own train's level!
The stronger the energy attack, the higher his train's level would become. Although it only lasted for a brief 24 hours, that was more than enough time.
"Gulp."
The sound of Chen Mang swallowing hard echoed in the train's control room. His first reaction was to look at the Doppelganger Radar.
He had once seen a beam energy main cannon in the Dark Abyss to the south, one with an energy output equivalent to a level 4,987 Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon!
When he observed it from the edge of the Dark Abyss, the distance he recorded was 80,000 light-years away.
Right now, the distance was too far.
He was located inside the Kasa Civilization Federation. That beam attack was over 100,000 light-years away from him, so it did not appear on the radar.
He remembered that when he first saw this light cannon, he hadn't panicked much. After all, it was 80,000 light-years away. There was still plenty of time; it would take 80,000 years for that main cannon blast to reach him.
He had merely returned the favor with a few shots from his own Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon.
And then he hadn't thought about it again.
But now—
He suddenly thought of that beam main cannon. What if... what if he created a Wormhole spanning 80,000 light-years and actively sought out that beam attack?
Wouldn't a level 4,987 main cannon temporarily boost his armor to an astronomically high level?
At least over a thousand levels, without a doubt!
However...
"..."
Chen Mang suddenly let out a long sigh. Using this to crush the Zerg Civilization was truly like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. His current armor level was already more than enough to obliterate them.
It could be kept as a "trump card weapon."
Using this trick against a fourth-level civilization should give him a fighting chance.
This thing.
It could be considered the Human Civilization's first true, guaranteed-to-work trump card weapon. Their previous "trump card" was the information regarding the Niya Civilization, which was speculative and not guaranteed to work. But this one was absolutely certain to take effect.
He would save it for later.
It wasn't going anywhere anyway.
He also wasn't worried about anyone taking that beam main cannon away. If someone had the ability to do that, he'd be thoroughly impressed.
He was now vaguely looking forward to encountering a civilization stronger than the Zerg Civilization just to test the waters.
With a sharp blade in hand, the intent to kill naturally arises.
When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail you just want to smash.
Chen Mang took a deep breath and glanced at the Doppelganger Radar again. The Zerg Civilization was still brewing something over there. He didn't know what exactly they were preparing, but he wasn't going to wait any longer.
Once he finished this round of upgrades.
He would basically reach the limit of what the resources in this region could provide him.
Waiting any further would be meaningless.
He checked Xiao Lu's level.
Unfortunately.
Xiao Lu's level had only reached 300; it didn't jump to 500 along with the train's armor. Clearly, the level cap for an S-Rank Potential Star Behemoth was 300. Breaking through again would be very difficult. Relying on the Behemoth Carriage was no longer enough to force a breakthrough.
Aside from that—
The fact that the armor's level 500 Overlimit Effect was the only one in the universe was quite surprising to him.
He could be sure of one thing.
When the Mechanical Civilization created this Primordial Blueprint for the armor, they absolutely had not detected this. They could only detect up to level 200, not level 500. This was pure coincidence.
It was an extremely powerful Overlimit Effect.
He didn't have the Primordial Blueprint.
The Mechanical Civilization had it.
Although the majority of civilizations in the universe were "Train Civilizations," the Niya Galaxy region was a bit special. Many Train Civilizations in this area used blueprints from the Mechanical Civilization.
Even the initial framework of the trains was built by the Mechanical Civilization.
That meant.
In this region, the Overlimit Effects of the component blueprints were generally uniform. But once they left this area, what kind of Overlimit Effects other civilizations' trains would have was completely unknown.
This also meant.
Even if Qi Ke Xiu managed to forge a Primordial Blueprint for the armor, he would never be able to re-roll this specific Overlimit Effect. This unique Overlimit Effect slot had already been claimed by the Mechanical Civilization.
However, he wasn't sure if the rules of the universe dictated that if a civilization perished, the slots they occupied would automatically be returned to the universe.
He then looked at the other components, starting with the Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon.
After consuming 100 trillion units of iron ore, it shot straight up to level 500!
No Murphy Stone required.
Upgrading was just that simple. There was no threshold at all; it was infinite upgrading.
-
"Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon Level 500 Overlimit Effect": When near a star, it will siphon the energy released by the star to fire the main cannon, drastically reducing the energy consumed by the attack. The closer it is to the star, the less energy it consumes.
-
"..."
Chen Mang stared at the Overlimit Effect in front of him, slightly stunned. The number of stars in the universe was as numerous as the hairs on a cow. This Overlimit Effect practically slashed the main cannon's energy consumption by a massive margin.
He could easily find a star anywhere.
But the problem was...
He literally had a star stuffed inside the Space Portal on his train.
The next moment—
He saw the specific data provided by Xiao Ai on the control panel screen.
-
"Estimated to reduce energy consumption by 99.99%. Frequent combat will significantly decrease the lifespan of the current star inside the train."
"If the star currently inside the train is used solely for driving the train at full speed, it can power the train for 7.6 million years."
"Furthermore, the current 'Circuit System' inside the train is insufficient to transmit energy from the star chamber to the Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon. It is recommended to upgrade the Red-grade component 'Nuclear Energy Transmission Network' to level 500."
-
"...Phew."
After a long time.
Chen Mang sat in his chair and slowly lit a cigarette. He gazed absently at the swirling smoke filling the train's control room. At this moment, he suddenly felt like he had graduated. Truly graduated.
The Zerg Civilization?
He had prepared for so long to face the decisive battle with the Zerg Civilization.
But now that this moment had truly arrived, he suddenly found it dull. It felt like bullying a child.
Although he knew the Zerg Civilization had been preparing their trump cards all this time, he was dying to know what kind of trump card they could possibly pull out to match him now?
The Red-grade component, "Nuclear Energy Transmission Network."
He had obtained this component a very, very long time ago, back when the train had leveled up to 13 on Aqua Blue Star. However, he had never manufactured it. The main reason was that his "Circuit System" component had been upgraded high enough at the time, making it perfectly adequate.
Without overthinking it.
He immediately spent 20 trillion units to level this component straight to 500.
There was no time for messing around.
From now on, the train was entering a "level 500 or bust" mode. Any component below level 500 wouldn't even be fit for a dog. Even the toilets had to be upgraded to level 500.
-
"Nuclear Energy Transmission Network Level 5 Overlimit Effect": No manual adjustment required. The Nuclear Energy Transmission Network will completely merge into the carriages and can be freely adjusted via the control panel screen.
"Nuclear Energy Transmission Network Level 10 Overlimit Effect": Faster energy transmission speed, achieving near-zero latency.
"Nuclear Energy Transmission Network Level 20 Overlimit Effect": None.
-
Chen Mang casually glanced at the upgraded component's Overlimit Effects. From level 20 onwards, the Overlimit Effects were all "None."
But it didn't matter.
Every time this component leveled up, the energy transmission speed would increase, and its load capacity would grow. That was the primary effect he needed; the other Overlimit Effects were inconsequential.
Having them was just icing on the cake; lacking them was no big deal.
Soon—
He saw a scene on the control panel screen that gave him an extreme sense of security.
Inside the Space Portal holding the star, a massive suction pipe radiating a heavy sci-fi mechanical aesthetic plunged straight into the core of the star.
And this pipe was part of the Nuclear Energy Transmission Network.
The pipeline was buried deep within the train, connecting all the way to the rear end of the Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon.
From this day forward!
99.99% of his main cannon's energy consumption would draw from the star's energy, while the remaining 0.01% would come from his own reserves.
It was practically completely free.
There were far too many stars in the universe, and none of them had owners. He could load up as many as he wanted.
"What a pity. What a shame,"
Chen Mang lamented with a sigh. "It's a shame that all this copper ore in the train has no use anymore!"
The biggest use for copper ore was as ammunition.
He had originally planned to upgrade the Prismatic-grade firepower component he had recently acquired, which used copper ore for ammo. But now...
He couldn't be bothered to waste ammo upgrading it.
Wait, no.
He still needed to upgrade it. He couldn't get arrogant. What if someone else had a level 500 armor Overlimit Effect? That would be disastrous. That Overlimit Effect granted immunity to all energy attacks, which meant he would still need the physical ammunition provided by copper ore in such a scenario.
However—
The most pressing matter right now was...
Chen Mang looked into the depths of the universe and forcefully pushed the control stick forward. The train shot into the depths of space at extreme speeds as a wide grin spread across his face.
"Set sail!"
The Stellar Train entered a long-awaited busy mode.
During the previous Train Expansion, he hadn't pushed it to its absolute limits, only to the most suitable size at the time. But this time, Chen Mang chose to max it out entirely.
The train officially entered the era of the behemoth.
As a result, a massive amount of space was freed up.
Its length, width, and height expanded several times over.
And—
One level 500 Space Portal after another sprang up like mushrooms after rain in Carriage No. 14!
After the expansion, a single carriage could accommodate up to 300 Space Portals. In one breath, Chen Mang forged 100 level 500 Space Portals and installed them in Carriage No. 14.
A single level 500 Space Portal cost 700 billion units of iron ore.
Not even a trillion.
A hundred of them only cost a mere 70 trillion units of iron ore.
It wasn't even enough to cover the cost of upgrading a single Prismatic-grade component to level 500.
In two words:
Dirt cheap!
Stars throughout the cosmos were forcefully sucked into the Space Portals to make their new homes. Like a fisherman casting a wide net, Chen Mang began to brazenly harvest stars in the sea of space.
He wasn't picky either.
Big stars, small stars, anything went. As long as it was a star, he stuffed it into the train.
He would just toss them when they ran out of energy, and he could easily swap them out if he found better ones.
They were all free, after all.
Just the Niya Galaxy region alone—spanning a mere 100,000 light-years or so, which was just a tiny speck of a corner in the vast universe—contained hundreds of billions of stars!
He couldn't take them all.
He simply couldn't take them all.
At this moment, Chen Mang was like a greedy kitten dropped into a fishmonger's stall. He couldn't finish it all; he absolutely couldn't. Even if he filled every single level 500 Space Portal on his train, he could only cram in 101 stars.
To the Niya Galaxy.
This didn't even count as a scratch on its surface.
"This is awesome!"
Chen Mang piloted the train, speeding through the depths of space. Looking at the stars being sucked into the train one by one, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curve upward wildly.
Ever since his transmigration into this world.
Resources had been extremely scarce.
Especially ammunition.
He had truly been poor from the very start, never daring to attack without restraint. He had always been scrounging and saving, but now... he had finally achieved ammunition freedom!
These 101 stars would be his greatest source of ammunition, his ultimate source of confidence!
"Xiao Ai."
He leaned back in his chair, still feeling a bit unsatisfied. Gazing at a star in the distance that was currently being devoured by a black hole, he asked, "Since these stars can be used as an energy drive source, they must fundamentally be related to Core Energy. Is there any way to directly compress a star into iron ore?"
"If we could pull that off."
"Then we would achieve iron ore freedom too."
"Tell Qi Ke Xiu's team to brainstorm and see if they can make it happen."
The train remained silent for a long time without Xiao Ai's response. After a lengthy pause, Xiao Ai's electronic mechanical voice finally spoke up, "Understood."
"Huh?"
Located in Carriage No. 2's Mecha Development Center on the Stellar Train, Qi Ke Xiu received Master Mang's latest order. He stared dumbfoundedly at Boss Ai in front of him and pointed at himself. "Me?"
"Mhm."
Xiao Ai nodded expressionlessly. "This is Master Mang's expectation of you. There's no rush for now. I'm just passing on the message. Good luck."
Three days later.
Packed to the brim.
The train was completely filled.
With 100 stars stuffed into the train's Space Portals, Chen Mang was actually very tempted to run an experiment. If he threw all 100 stars out at the same time, the explosion triggered by the resulting gravitational chaos would probably be a spectacular sight.
But that wasn't all!
The Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon was an incredibly powerful weapon, but it had a massive drawback: it required a charge-up time.
The stronger the intended blast, the longer it took to charge.
This meant its rate of fire was very slow.
Firing high-intensity attacks felt like a middle-aged man standing by a urinal, struggling to let out a few drops—completely unsatisfying.
The solution to this was also simple.
Quantity.
A sufficient quantity could cure any ailment!
Forging one Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon required 102 trillion units of iron ore.
This thing was originally gigantic, but after the train's recent expansion, it now seemed a bit small. This component had strict space requirements; if the train was too small, it couldn't be mounted.
But now, he didn't need to worry about that.
Five more!
After throwing down 612 trillion units of iron ore, the Stellar Train gained two Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannons at the front, one in the middle section, and two at the rear.
As for the original "Three-Legged Cat Heavy Machine Gun" and other messy odds and ends, they had long been dismantled!
Carriage No. 14 was originally the "Missile Carriage," but now he had dismantled the missiles too, moving them further inside as mere decorations. This carriage was now exclusively dedicated to housing stars.
Including...
Those cosmic energy receiving devices in Carriage No. 13 would have to go sooner or later as well. As the train evolved, those things were due for obsolescence. The pitiful amount of iron ore they absorbed was simply a waste of time and space.
Thus—
After consuming a full 1,682 trillion units of iron ore, the Stellar Train received an insane level of improvement!
He still had 1,315 trillion units of iron ore left.
That was enough.
He had originally intended to save a bit more iron ore for ammunition reserves, just in case he spent it all on upgrading components and ended up with high-level weapons but zero ammo to fire them. But he had just tested something out.
Normally, one shot from a level 200 Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon consumed 1 trillion units of iron ore.
But for him...
It only cost 100 million units of iron ore.
100 million!
Mother of god, could you find a fairer price than that anywhere? The Zerg Civilization didn't even have level 200 armor. A level 200 attack was basically enough to steamroll them.
With the resources currently inside the train.
It was enough to fire over 10 million shots! That was over 10 million blasts from a level 200 light energy main cannon. Wiping out the entire Zerg Civilization cleanly would be absolutely no problem!
Next—
He just needed to make a few final preparations, and he would be ready to launch a preemptive strike.
He was completely ready.
He hoped the Zerg Civilization was ready too.
Chen Mang took a deep breath, looked at the train's remaining components, and continued upgrading them in batches. He just had to make sure to keep his iron ore reserves above 1,000 trillion to avoid running short.
Meanwhile—
At the edge of the Niya Galaxy.
A massive Star Behemoth was slowly drifting through space. Its speed appeared agonizingly slow, but the gravitational field around the Star Behemoth had been completely destroyed. Frequent spatial rifts caused the Star Behemoth to propel itself forward in waves through the cosmos, much like a worm.
Its body was nearly two light-years long.
It was currently roaming along the edge of the Niya Galaxy, seeming as though it were asleep, its eyes never opening.
But bizarrely enough!
On the surface of this terrifying Star Behemoth's skin—a creature that destroyed almost all planets and stars in its path—stood two middle-aged men.
The two middle-aged men completely ignored the spatial fragments being constantly shredded by the behemoth's gravity around them. Their gazes pierced through the armor-like layer of debris—shattered remnants of planets destroyed along the beast's path, orbiting its body—and looked out into the distant starry sky.
Of the two men, one was tall and the other short.
The short, plump middle-aged man looked at the logbook in his hand, jotting things down as he spoke softly.
"The travel log indicates that Universe Ge Lei No. 3 was detected by 12 civilizations over the past 100 years. It successfully destroyed all 12 civilizations without missing a single one."
"Internal black hole integrity is at 96%."
"This falls under normal wear and tear. No repairs needed."
"No advanced civilizations encountered. Everything is normal."
"Energy transmission mechanism is functioning normally."
Miraculously.
The man didn't even lift a pen; simply by speaking, the corresponding words materialized on the notebook. The material of this logbook was certainly extraordinary, otherwise, it couldn't possibly survive in such an extremely harsh environment.
This was an environment so hostile that even stars couldn't escape being torn apart.
Wherever it passed.
It left absolute devastation in its wake.
The shredded space of the universe would take a long time to slowly repair itself naturally.
"Twelve?"
The tall middle-aged man standing beside him furrowed his brow and said deeply, "In the previous century, it was only detected by three civilizations. This time, it was detected by twelve? No wonder it consumed so much energy these past few years."
"Things haven't felt very stable recently. The phenomenon of a Civilization Great Explosion is occurring more and more frequently."
"Yeah."
The short, plump middle-aged man tucked the logbook back into his coat and explained, "Not entirely. Of those twelve civilizations, only nine were third-level civilizations equipped with level 200 Prismatic-grade radars. The remaining three were just first or second-level civilizations who got purely unlucky."
"But even if it's just nine, that's still quite a bit more than before."
"I recall this area was just swept clean four hundred years ago. And in only four hundred years, nine new third-level civilizations have already emerged. The speed is much faster than before."
"Oh, right—"
"I forgot to tell you, I'm planning to retire after we head back this time."
"I've been at this for seven hundred years. I don't want to spend the remaining three hundred years of my life working. I want to spend the rest of my time having fun, seeing the sights on different planets, and traveling around."
"You're retiring?"
The tall man said with a hint of envy, "Must be nice. I've only worked for four hundred years; the money I've saved isn't nearly enough to retire on. Remember to come visit me from time to time after you retire."
"No problem."
The short, plump middle-aged man smiled. "Our line of work is actually quite relaxed, and the pay is high. We usually just need to monitor the remaining energy of the deployed Universe Ge Leis in real-time, then replenish them instantly via the 'black hole.' Every century or so, we come check the landmines' logs, and that's about it."
"By the way, there's a question I've never understood," the tall man asked, puzzled. "The thing inside the Universe Ge Lei is clearly a Wormhole, so why do we call it a black hole?"
"Isn't the logic behind replenishing the Universe Ge Lei's energy to provide it remotely through a Wormhole?"
"Well, about that..."
The short, plump man hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Normally, this is classified information and shouldn't be asked about. I only heard bits and pieces from my seniors. Although we're responsible for providing the energy, have you ever seen a single piece of iron ore at our workplace?"
"I truly haven't."
"That's because the other end of the black hole is in a completely different place. We just need to press a button. And it truly is a black hole, just one that happens to possess the properties of a Wormhole."
"The gigantic black hole on the other side shreds all the stars and planets in its vicinity, compressing them into high-density energy. Although this energy can't be used for trains, it's absolutely perfect for Star Behemoths. The other end of the black hole is right inside this guy's stomach."
The short, plump man stomped his foot and sighed. "This thing is a full 1.9 light-years long. I have no idea how our civilization managed to create it. If you tried to walk from head to tail on foot, who knows, you might just use up an Immortal Emperor's entire lifespan before finishing the trek."
"If it weren't for our work uniforms, the two of us would die the moment we showed our faces here."
"Alright then."
The short, plump man shook his head. "We still have to check the log of the next landmine. Let's try to get it all done today. Once I head back and report in, I'm retiring for good."
"Alright."
The next moment—
The two men vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye.
As if they had never been there at all.
Only this massive Star Behemoth continued to drift through the universe, its immense mass constantly shredding the surrounding planets. Spatial fragments vanished in a flash like fish scales. The dust clouds, which were originally painted with stunningly beautiful hues by the starlight, became tattered and broken, looking like violently stirred coffee grounds.
Meanwhile—
On Aqua Blue Star, Xiao Lu was sprinting across the Barren Plains, dragging the "Star-Treading Saber Tiger" along. As if suddenly sensing something, Xiao Lu looked up at the sky, tilted its head, and pondered for a moment in a surprisingly serious manner before ducking its head and resuming its mad dash.
The Star-Treading Saber Tiger, on the other hand, was exhausted to the bone, huffing and puffing as it neared total collapse.
The boss had said it was too weak.
And that it needed training.
The first goal was to run ten laps around Aqua Blue Star. It was currently on its third lap, and it felt like it was going to die.
It actually really wanted to say something.
That this was completely useless.
But right at that moment—
The panting, exhausted Star-Treading Saber Tiger suddenly felt an extremely abundant surge of strength welling up within its body. All the soreness in its muscles vanished in an instant. It blankly shook its tiger paws. It really didn't feel tired anymore?
Wait a minute, had it leveled up?
Was this actually useful?
Thinking this, the Star-Treading Saber Tiger instantly became extremely excited and continued sprinting madly behind Xiao Lu.
Sensing the commotion from the Star-Treading Saber Tiger behind it, Xiao Lu also happily shook its head and continued rolling rapidly across the ground like a bouncing ball, yet not a single speck of dust stuck to its body.
"Master Mang once said."
"The ending to every story is happy. If it isn't happy, then it isn't the end."
Aqua Blue Star, Taiping City.
In front of a barbecue restaurant, Young Master Li stood at the entrance, gazing at the bustling shop filled with customers, and grinned in satisfaction.
Taiping City was where Master Mang had started his journey.
It had also become the absolute core city of the Human Civilization, with an endless stream of tourists visiting every day.
And he had opened a barbecue restaurant in this city.
As the successor of the Scallion Civilization, he knew exactly how to grow delicious scallions. And how could one eat scallions without pairing them with barbecue? Naturally, he also possessed deep expertise in making excellent barbecue.
The restaurant's name was:
"The Tastiest Scallion BBQ in the Universe."
It was fully packed with customers every single day.
Just then—
"Husband."
A woman's voice came from the side. A woman with a scallion growing from her head and a slightly bulging belly walked out from the back kitchen. She leaned against Young Master Li and whispered, "Business being too good isn't great either. You're exhausted every day, and my heart aches seeing you like this."
"It's fine to be a little tired. It's good."
Young Master Li wrapped his arm around the woman and looked outside the shop with a smile. "Only when life makes you a bit tired does it mean you have something to strive for."
His Scallion Civilization was slowly reviving as well.
They had rescued quite a few members of the Scallion Civilization last time, ensuring that his people didn't go extinct in the universe. However, he had no plans to rebuild the Scallion Civilization. From now on, they would completely integrate into the Human Civilization.
The current information on his Iris Chip was:
Civilization Affiliation: Human Civilization.
Species: Scallion Human.
This kind of life was pretty good.
If only...
If only that Star-Treading Saber Tiger wouldn't eat so much of his food every meal. That guy had a massive appetite and was far too expensive to feed. It was nothing like Xiao Lu. He had never even seen Xiao Lu eat anything; when he offered Xiao Lu barbecue, it refused to eat it.
Xiao Lu was much more economical.
"It's not going to work."
Xuanwu Star, Central State City.
The Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion shook his head. "We've tried it. We cannot teach the people of the Human Civilization to practice Cultivation. Even though we have officially joined the Human Civilization now, it simply won't work. It's just like the folks from the Scallion Civilization—they joined the Human Civilization, but you don't see everyone in the Human Civilization suddenly growing a scallion out of their heads."
"As it stands right now."
"The most orthodox humans in the universe take the mainstream appearance of the current Human Civilization. Their limbs have zero mutations, and they possess no special means. They cannot practice Cultivation, nor can they use magic. They are completely ordinary."
"People like us and those from the Scallion Civilization both fall under the category of mutations, just benign ones."
"At present, the only way for orthodox humans to practice Cultivation is to have children with us 'Cultivators'. The resulting offspring have a certain probability of inheriting our mutation, which would then allow them to practice Cultivation."
Their civilization on the Iris Chips was registered as the Cultivation Civilization.
Their species was registered as "Cultivators."
Following the integration of the civilizations.
Many people on Aqua Blue Star yearned for Cultivation, and they had tried to teach them, but every attempt had ended in failure. It was fundamentally impossible—much like a form of reproductive isolation, it was incredibly difficult to break through.
Of course.
Cultivators, Scallion Humans, and orthodox humans were all fundamentally human.
Although some mutations might not be easily inherited, if these three groups intermarried, it wouldn't affect their ability to have children. There was no actual reproductive isolation in that regard.
Stellar Train, Control Room.
"Hmm?"
Chen Mang, who was sitting in his chair preparing to upgrade each component one by one, suddenly looked at a notification popping up on the screen. He had reconnected with the chubby boy's side. After entering the dream state, the miner had encountered the chubby boy once again.
He immediately cast the footage onto the main screen.
He prepared to chat with the chubby boy first.
"You're back!"
On another Ore Star, the newly settled chubby boy looked at the mysterious guest appearing in his mine and trotted over excitedly. "I thought it would be hard for us to meet again. I was even planning on going back to that Ore Star to find you once I finished mining this site."
"I didn't expect you to actually be able to leave that Ore Star."
"You're really amazing."
"Oh, right—"
"Weren't you quite interested in 'The Palace'? I brazenly went and asked my father about it yesterday. He said they've basically finished exploring it, and the inside is completely empty. There's nothing in there at all; it's totally bare."
"Not a single thing?"
"Right, absolutely nothing. My father said what he received should be firsthand intelligence, but even he's a bit doubtful about its authenticity. Logically speaking, it shouldn't be empty."
"For one thing, keeping such a massive Palace suspended in the sky above a planet, not to mention having it appear on the planet instantaneously, definitely requires an energy source, right?"
"At the very least, there should be an energy transmission device, or some sort of resources."
"But there's nothing. Completely empty."
"Not even a single piece of iron ore."
"It's actually empty?"
After chatting for a while, Chen Mang agreed to meet the chubby boy again tomorrow and disconnected. That cyber miner was no longer responsible for mining; its sole purpose was now to act as a communication medium between him and the chubby boy.
Chen Mang sat in his chair, deep in thought.
He was now certain that this "Palace" was built by Doba and the others in the future. Moreover, it was highly likely that he himself had thrown it back from the future. At first, he had wondered if his future self had stuffed it full of resources and blueprints before tossing it back, but from the looks of it now...
There was absolutely nothing.
His future self definitely wouldn't have overlooked this.
The reason he didn't do it likely boiled down to two possibilities.
First, the rules of the universe didn't permit it.
Second, his future self couldn't guarantee that his past self would definitely find The Palace.
Ah, right.
If it hadn't been for the Starlight Civilization, he wouldn't have known about this Palace in the first place.
If his future self wanted to ensure he got his hands on The Palace, figuring out how to accurately drop it in front of his present self was quite a challenge. Judging by the current situation, it seemed he had failed, since the thing hadn't ended up in his hands.
It had fallen into the hands of the Naomi Civilization.
"..."
Chen Mang suddenly thought of something, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. When this "Palace" was built in the future, it would definitely count as a Civilization Wonder, right?
He had just handed the task of building a Civilization Wonder to Doba.
Well then.
That was nice.
He'd give Doba credit for it in advance.
However, he didn't know when exactly Doba would be able to build this Palace. Given the Goblin Civilization's current level of technology, it would be extremely difficult to achieve without a few hundred years of development.
After that, he stopped thinking about it.
He resumed upgrading his components.
Continuing to look at the three-dimensional holographic map of the Stellar Train on the control panel, his gaze swept over each component. When his eyes landed on the "Refrigerator," he let out a faint sigh of regret. This component had provided him with a massive amount of help.
It was incredibly useful when he was still weak.
And it was still very useful even now.
He had originally been highly anticipating the Refrigerator's level 500 Overlimit Effect. But sadly, when he had upgraded the Refrigerator to level 500 last time, the Overlimit Effect it yielded was "None." This meant that even if he upgraded it to level 1,000, the Overlimit Effect would still be "None."
He could only wait for Qi Ke Xiu to forge the Primordial Blueprint for the Refrigerator to re-roll its Overlimit Effect.
He also needed to see if they could find a way to raise the upper limit for detecting Overlimit Effects. Only being able to detect up to level 200 was a bit too low; they needed to be able to detect up to at least level 500.
For that, he would have to look at...
The Train Auxiliary AI.
The next moment—
After consuming 380 billion units of iron ore, the Train Auxiliary AI shot straight up to level 500!
It gained a brand-new Overlimit Effect.
-
"Train Auxiliary AI Level 500 Overlimit Effect": Computing power is massively increased. The level limit for deducing the Overlimit Effects of Primordial Blueprints is raised to 500. Additionally, inherits the databases of all AIs that have died within the radar's range over the past 10 years.
-
"Hm?"
Chen Mang's eyes lit up, his expression turning slightly odd. Why did he feel like his luck was intermittently good and bad? He was just thinking about how to raise the detection level limit, and in the blink of an eye, the problem was solved.
"Xiao Ai, tell me how it feels to reach level 500."
However.
Xiao Ai's voice did not ring out inside the train.
"Xiao Ai?" Chen Mang asked, slightly puzzled.
The next moment—
"Wait... a moment..."
Xiao Ai's voice sounded strained and stuttering through the speakers, like a computer crashing.
"Uh."
Only then did Chen Mang notice the latter half of the level 500 Overlimit Effect. His radar range was 100,000 light-years. That meant Xiao Ai was currently busy inheriting the databases of all the deceased AIs within this massive radius.
Alright.
This did indeed seem like quite a daunting task.
The area was just too vast, after all.
It wasn't until a full thirty minutes later that Xiao Ai's voice echoed in the train once again, sounding much brisker. "The process is completely finished. Captain, I'm exhausted."
"Can you explain to me how you did that?"
Chen Mang was rather curious. "When an AI is destroyed, the information in its database should be completely wiped out too. How did you manage to acquire the data from those databases?"
"That's a bit complicated to explain. I downloaded it from the universe's backup."
Xiao Ai began to explain, its voice sounding much more human-like and emotional than before. "I didn't know about these things before, but now I feel like I've gained a ton of knowledge. I'll slowly explain it to you, Captain."
"Let me grab a drink of water first."
"You even drink water now... This isn't called evolution anymore; it's practically a mutation, right?"