Chapter 377: The First Decisive Battle! |
"As long as the strength is there, everything else will slowly catch up."
Xiao Ai explained quite seriously.
Chen Mang did not say much more. In fact, he had not needed an answer to his previous statement. Obviously, even though Xiao Ai possessed human-like intelligence and sometimes made better decisions than humans, she still had some trouble getting used to the complexities of human conversational context.
Chen Mang sat in the train cabin, looking at the screen that popped up on the control console.
The Human Civilization had officially been promoted to a Level 8 civilization.
It was only one step away from becoming a Level 9 civilization.
And a new civilization status screen popped up on the display.
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"Civilization Name": Human Civilization.
"Civilization Leader": Chen Mang.
"Civilization Planets": Water Blue Star, Xuanwu Star, Mining Star No. 1, Mining Star No. 2, Mining Star No. 3, Mining Star No. 4, etc.
"Civilization Population": 61 trillion people.
"Promotion Requirements": Maximum attack energy range exceeds 700,000.
"PS: Upgrading to a Level 2 civilization, including every promotion thereafter, releases an Ascension Ripple that can be detected by all surrounding civilizations. The higher the level, the wider the range of the Ascension Ripple."
"Civilization Ability": The generation speed and capacity of resource mines such as Murphy Stone, iron ore, and copper ore are doubled.
-
The civilization panel basically had not changed much.
What was worth noting, however...
There was only one condition to advance to a Level 9 civilization: the strongest attack energy range must exceed 700,000. That was equivalent to a Level 7,000 Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon. It did not require reaching Level 10,000.
The promotion requirement was much lower than he had imagined.
Furthermore, the civilization ability was also resource-oriented, doubling the generation speed of Murphy Stone, iron, and copper ores within the civilization's territory once again.
The scope of this effect could be chosen.
For example, he could designate a specific galaxy within his civilization's territory to have its resource generation speed double.
Otherwise...
This civilization ability would simply be shared across the entire universe.
Since the entire universe was carved up by god-tier civilizations, wouldn't that mean every corner could enjoy this effect, eliminating the existence of resource-poor areas?
The next moment...
A piercing alarm suddenly blared inside the train.
"Warning, warning! Detecting an attack of unknown intensity rapidly approaching!"
"Warning, warning..."
On the Doppelganger Radar, a comet-like beam of light was closing in on the Stellar Train at an incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, it had crossed tens of millions of light-years!
This was...
This was an attack launched from 780 million light-years away. It tore through dozens of wormholes along its path, crossing that unimaginable distance almost instantly to appear right above the Stellar Train just as the alarm sounded.
The attack had already arrived.
"Boom!!!"
A violent explosion of fire instantly engulfed the Stellar Train.
When the smoke cleared...
The Stellar Train floated unscathed in the vacuum of space. The frantic warning sirens inside had fallen silent. The moment it hit, he had learned the exact intensity of the strike.
It carried the destructive power of a Level 7,000 Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon.
This was an attack from a Level 9 civilization.
"It is an automatic attack from the Human Civilization."
"Upon detecting a civilization ascending to Level 8, it launched a strike immediately. It functions similarly to a Universe Ge Lei."
Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train.
"..."
Chen Mang sat in the cabin, gazing out the window. He was intimately familiar with this weapon; it was an Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon. However, the enemy's Overlimit Effect was clearly different from his own. That Level 7,000 cannon blast did not leave behind a black hole after detonating.
Instead, it reduced a surrounding area of a million light-years entirely into two dimensions.
At this moment...
It was his first time experiencing a two-dimensional universe. Looking out the window, it felt as though he had been dropped into an oil painting. Countless stars and planets existed on a single flat plane, no longer twinkling, frozen like an illustration.
Meanwhile, the Stellar Train stood out in this two-dimensional space like a three-dimensional relief carved onto the surface of the canvas.
"Not bad at all,"
he murmured softly, glancing at the information on the control screen.
It was a Universe Ge Lei deployed by the god-tier civilization known as Human Civilization. It automatically captured ascension data and attacked autonomously. Since he was currently within their territory, his promotion triggered an immediate strike from them.
All god-tier civilizations would instantly purge any civilization within their borders that dared to advance to Level 8.
This was perfectly normal.
He could understand the logic.
He didn't feel any anger over why fellow humans would attack their own kind. The action made complete sense from a strategic standpoint.
Of course.
He figured they would surely understand his impending retaliation as well.
The strike hadn't caused him a lick of damage. By now, his armor was fully leveled up and boasted the Sanctuary Overlimit Effect of Absolute Defense, rendering it virtually invincible. Even if plunged into the depths of a black hole, the train wouldn't suffer a scratch, nor would the flow of time affect his civilization.
He glanced at the train's remaining resources and the massing forces of the god-tier Human Civilization showing up on the Doppelganger Radar. A slight daze washed over him as he muttered, "It seems... I don't need to lie low and develop anymore?"
Their initial strike had failed.
The enemy clearly had no intention of dropping the matter and was mobilizing their armies for a second assault.
If it had been the old him, he definitely would have fled first to gather more strength. A gentleman's revenge could wait ten years, after all.
But...
Looking at the train's resource panel just now, he suddenly realized something mind-boggling. After years of relentless growth, he had practically reached his ceiling. There was simply no need to turtle and hoard resources anymore.
The train currently held 7,475.56 Background Units of iron ore.
That was more than enough to max out the vast majority of his components.
Perhaps...
There really was no need to bide his time anymore.
The Human Civilization could officially enter the fray. Their first war would begin with their own kind, a thorough purge of the human race. There could only be one civilization in the universe bearing the name Human Civilization. That was what his enemy thought, and that was exactly what he believed too.
"..."
Chen Mang's eyes narrowed slightly. He brought up a three-dimensional hologram of the Stellar Train and began rapidly upgrading the remaining components, preparing for a head-on clash.
First up was the prismatic-grade component, the SPY-7 Doppler Tail Spray!
After burning through 1,100.5 Background Units of iron ore, it shot straight from Level 1,000 to Level 10,000, the absolute maximum. He gained several Overlimit Effects all at once.
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"SPY-7 Doppler Tail Spray Level 2,000 Overlimit Effect": Speed Surge.
"SPY-7 Doppler Tail Spray Level 5,000 Overlimit Effect": Speed Surge.
"SPY-7 Doppler Tail Spray Level 10,000 Overlimit Effect": Speed Surge.
-
Three consecutive, identical Overlimit Effects.
It sounded incredibly mundane.
But...
It was more than enough!
When this component was at Level 1,000, it allowed the train to reach nearly a third of the speed of light. Now, with every level up boosting its base speed and those three Overlimit Effects stacking massive multipliers on top...
Maxing it out yielded a terrifying result.
The Stellar Train could now travel at ten times the speed of light!
Put simply, if the Stellar Train traveled at top speed for a year, it would cover a distance of ten light-years. Described like that, it might sound unimpressive, as ten light-years was nothing on a cosmic scale. However, one had to consider that energy cannons were the fastest weapons in the universe, traveling at the speed of light. Evading light-speed attacks was nearly impossible for most. But now, with a top speed ten times faster than light, there was practically no weapon in existence that could hit them.
Pretty good.
Of course, the Stellar Train didn't really care about evasion. Even if a shot did land, it wouldn't matter.
Continuing the upgrades!
Consuming another 1,100.5 Background Units of iron ore, he leveled up the SPY-7 Doppler Radar Jammer from Level 1,000 to Level 10,000.
The Overlimit Effects obtained were all None.
This component's previous Overlimit Effects had also been non-existent.
With the blessing of a Civilization Wonder, this component's actual level was pushed to Level 10,001. This meant absolutely no one would ever be able to detect them, unless they carelessly exposed their own resources.
The Stellar Train would become a true ghost traversing the cosmos.
The critical parts were fully upgraded.
Next came the train's secondary components.
For example...
The yellow-grade component, Space Portal!
This component played a vital role on the train, yet it was currently only sitting at Level 500. Next to the slew of maxed-out parts, it looked completely out of place.
Upgrade!
After spending 153 Background Units of iron ore, he successfully created a Level 10,000 Space Portal.
This was an individual component, meaning each Space Portal had to be upgraded separately.
It gained several new Overlimit Effects.
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"Space Portal Level 1,000 Overlimit Effect": The internal volume of the Space Portal is drastically increased. It can now simultaneously house ten planets with a diameter not exceeding 100,000 kilometers and one star, forming a planetary system inside.
"Space Portal Level 2,000 Overlimit Effect": Volume increases again. It can simultaneously house one hundred planets with a diameter not exceeding one million kilometers and three stars.
"Space Portal Level 5,000 Overlimit Effect": Planets within the Space Portal will begin to generate resources.
"Space Portal Level 10,000 Overlimit Effect": Living beings that die within the Space Portal have a chance to resurrect. They will be imprisoned on a single planet, forever unable to leave it.
-
At the same time...
Another notification window appeared on the train's console screen.
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"The Human Civilization is the first in the entire universe to obtain a max-level Space Portal component. This component is automatically upgraded to the Sanctuary grade."
"As a result, you have obtained the Civilization Wonder, New Universe."
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"Space Portal Sanctuary Overlimit Effect": The internal dimension becomes infinitely vast, capable of housing countless planets.
-
"Excellent."
Chen Mang couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth turn up. Even though he only had one max-level Space Portal right now, it was enough. This singular piece of equipment resolved a myriad of his lingering worries.
The stars he had harvested from the ruins of the Kasa Civilization last time were no longer sufficient.
He had gathered quite a few back then.
But firing off that Level 5,000 Akhenaten Light Energy Main Cannon just recently had practically drained that entire batch dry. Looking at the energy monitors, the harvested stars had almost all gone dark.
He needed more stars.
Fortunately, while a local star was an invaluable source of life for a residential planet, on a universal scale, stars were like grains of sand on a beach. There were countless of them, ripe for the taking, and an inexhaustible supply.
Furthermore...
He had assumed that these lower-grade components would have long been snatched up and maxed out by older factions. To his surprise, this item, which required a mere 153 Background Units of iron ore to hit its cap, had never been fully upgraded by anyone else.
On the other hand, prismatic-grade components like the Radar Jammer and the Doppler Tail Spray had already been maxed out by other civilizations in the past, depriving him of their Sanctuary Overlimit Effects.
"Set sail!"
Chen Mang piloted the train, rapidly diving into a newly generated wormhole. Leaving the flattened, two-dimensional region behind, he returned to the territory bequeathed to him by the Rugged Civilization.
Immediately after!
The train began tearing through the galaxy. Like a game of Snake, every habitable planet and star it passed was instantly swallowed whole into the Stellar Train!
Spending another 306 Background Units of iron ore, Chen Mang forged two more Level 10,000 Space Portals. These maxed-out variants also possessed the Sanctuary Overlimit Effect.
He now had three Space Portals.
One was dedicated solely to hoarding stars to serve as an energy stockpile.
Another was designed specifically for collecting habitable planets, building a self-sustaining ecological sphere for his civilization within the train.
The last one functioned as a gargantuan vault, storing various mining planets as a resource reserve.
This was a colossal undertaking.
Soon...
Xiao Ai provided the hard data.
"The Rugged Civilization encompassed 37 galaxies. At our current speed, we estimate it will take 879 years to absorb every star and high-value planet in the first galaxy into the train."
"To harvest all high-value planets across all 37 galaxies, the estimated time required is 37,920 years."
"Captain, you don't need to worry too much."
"With the current strength of the Human Civilization, your lifespan can easily stretch into the tens of thousands of years. You can definitely afford to wait."
"..."
Chen Mang stared at the string of data in silence. He had grossly underestimated the scale of this task. A single galaxy contained hundreds of billions of stars alone.
Even if he spammed countless wormholes and relied on the train's outrageous speed to conduct surgical strikes, swiftly plundering every valuable celestial body in a system...
Still...
The time required remained a terrifying number.
He couldn't possibly wait around here for that long.
He needed a faster method.
Lighting a cigarette, he puffed slowly in quiet contemplation, his eyes narrowing to slits. An idea began to form in his mind. 'Perhaps I could ask Xiao Lu's mother for help?'
She was exceptionally skilled at destroying galaxies.
'Could she swallow all the planets into a dungeon first, and then I transfer them into the Space Portal?'
'No...'
'The efficiency would still be too low.'
'It still isn't fast enough.'
'Wait a minute...'
'Perhaps...'
He remembered a component he had neglected for a long time.
The Power Magnet!
If he could use the Power Magnet to vacuum every planet in a galaxy directly into his Space Portal, the speed would increase exponentially.
Ever since he pushed that component to Level 500, he had rarely used it. In the past, he used it to manipulate gravitational fields, effectively gathering enemies in one spot.
A major reason for his neglect was...
From Level 200 onward, its Overlimit Effects were always None.
Even if he leveled it to 10,000, its Overlimit Effect would remain blank, robbing him of the perfect ability he envisioned!
However...
That didn't matter!
Just having this potential was enough. Taking a deep breath, Chen Mang solidified his plan. He snuffed out his cigarette before speaking.
"Tell Qi Ke Xiu and his team to drop everything they are doing. I want them to dedicate all their efforts to researching the Primordial Blueprint for the green-grade Power Magnet. I need to see that blueprint in the shortest time possible."
"Understood."
Xiao Ai's voice promptly echoed through the cabin. Clearly, she had already deduced what Chen Mang was aiming for.
It was definitely worth a try.