Forty millenniums of cul.., p.804
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 804
The weird scenes reminded Li Yao of a possibility. The cold sweat on his forehead dropped into his eyes quickly, making his pupils constrict.
"This—this is a f*cking MCV[a]!" Li Yao mumbled to himself.
"Li Yao, what did you say? Isn't this a 'minor apocalypse' from the Imperium of True Human Beings?" Professor Mo Xuan asked in a low voice.
"It is not a minor apocalypse, but it is likely to be even scarier than a minor apocalypse. Or rather, it represents thousands of minor apocalypses!"
Gloomily, Li Yao replied, "It seems that we have all underestimated the Imperium of True Human Beings!"
Professor Mo Xuan and the Fire Ant King looked at each and sensed each other's anxiety. They asked nervously, "What do you mean? Have you seen through the attack pattern of the Imperium of True Human Beings?"
"It's just my speculation, but it should be correct!"
Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao explained, "We thought at the beginning that the Imperium of True Human Beings was likely to have launched a 'minor apocalypse' toward us. But if we think about it more carefully, it might not be the case. The environment throughout the universe varies greatly, and the forms of different civilizations are rarely similar. How could the Imperium of True Human Beings know for sure which kind of 'minor apocalypse' would work on us?
"Besides, minor apocalypses target individuals. A minor apocalypse is definitely not strong enough to trouble an entire civilization!
"Therefore, we speculated that the purpose of the 'minor apocalypse' was not destruction but reconnaissance and localization. It was here to lead the way and knock down the door for the army of the Imperium.
"But from what we've seen, we might've been wrong all the time. The army of the imperium is unnecessary. It is possible that the ragged starship of the imperium is enough to destroy us and conquer the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector!
"Because it isn't an apocalypse at all but… a factory that can manufacture minor apocalypses!"
[ol][li data-annotation-id="97662b20-cbd1-7f20-0901-da598f175f83"]Short for "mobile construction vehicle", from Red Alert[/ol]
Chapter 1229: Factory of Apocalypses! |
A factory of minor apocalypses!
Li Yao's words were like a deafening thunder that struck Professor Mo Xuan and the Fire Ant King speechless.
But the two of them were the top-tier experts with amazing computational ability after all. Enlightened by Li Yao, they quickly realized what was going on.
"It does make sense…" Professor Mo Xuan murmured. "In a super long-distance expedition covering millions of lightyears, projecting an army or a powerful weapon is not a sensible choice at all!
"The larger an army is, the more resources it will consume on the way, and the more losses there will be should any accident occur.
"The strategical weapons that are as strong as 'apocalypses', during their long voyage, are vulnerable to radiation and cosmic dust. Their strength will gradually be reduced to nothingness.
"It is needless to mention the precision. Millions of lightyears away from each other, after dozens of space jumps in a row, and the target is hit precisely? That is too incredible and completely surpasses the technology of our civilization and even the Pangu Clan's. It is definitely unachievable!
"Also, the larger an army is and the stronger the 'apocalyptic weapon' is, the more difficult it will be for them to cruise the four-dimensional space. There will also be more unpredictable risks!
"Time and space are the solidest 'walls' in the universe. It is difficult to climb over or break them!"
With a grave face, the Fire Ant King remarked, "Therefore, instead of teleporting an army or an apocalyptic weapon to the target to be attacked, they might as well teleport a 'factory' or a 'base' that can manufacture armies and strategic magical equipment!
"Such a 'base' doesn't have to be huge, and few Immortal Cultivators are required—just a couple of them are needed to supervise the situation at the critical moment while they are kept in the hibernation state when they are not needed.
"They don't even need to carry too many Grand Illusionary Soldiers. As long as the safety and maintenance needs on the way are met, it will be enough.
"The most crucial thing is that the base must carry a mainframe crystal processor with an extremely high computational ability, a metal purification assembly line with a high compatibility, and a production line that can produce automatic magical equipment such as Grand Illusionary Soldiers and the beast puppets!
"Chances are that the designs of many other kinds of magical equipment are stored inside the mainframe crystal processor. With enough resources, countless pieces of automatic magical equipment can be manufactured incessantly!
"Such a base is like a swift dandelion that carries countless spores. When it is aimed at a certain direction and launched out, it will float on its own in the sea of stars.
"After it arrives in the vicinity of its destination, it will not explore or attack its destination directly but find a planet with abundant spiritual energy and minerals around first.
"Once it finds such a planet, it will land and release the Grand Illusionary Soldiers and beast puppets that it carries. They will be asked to collect resources, expand the base, and copy themselves. Gradually, more advanced buildings will be constructed, and more complicated Grand Illusionary Soldiers and beast puppets will be produced. Then, it is another circle. In such a spiral, more and more cutting-edge buildings and automatic facilities will be made, and what they really want will come out sooner or later!"
"It may be a magnificent star beacon system!" Li Yao's voice was mixed with freezing coldness. "So magnificent that it is enough to lead the way for the army of the Imperium of True Human Beings and allow them to jump over instantly!
"It may also be a certain kind of mysterious magical equipment that can attack our planets directly, which will be incessant 'minor apocalypses'!
"Or rather, the most straightforward approach may be building a swarm of Grand Illusionary Soldiers and a few starships to accommodate them. That way, we will be easily drowned!
"After all, this place is not far away from the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector. Not too many advanced starships are required to cover the journey!
"As for exactly which pattern is adopted, it will probably be decided by the development level of the civilization in the destination!
"If it is an immense force with a large army and many Core Formation Stage and Nascent Soul Stage experts, chances are that they will establish star beacons and summon the army of the Imperium for the attack.
"During the process, they will also build certain strategic magical equipment and harass the target force in the form of 'minor apocalypses'. They will bleed the enemy until the army of the Imperium arrives.
"If they discover that the local civilization is not developed and does not have many experts, chances are that they will build a swarm of Grand Illusionary Soldiers and suppress the enemy on their away!"
The antennae on the Fire Ant King's head and the tentacles around Professor Mo Xuan trembled.
"What a perfect mode of expansion!" The Fire Ant King gnashed his teeth. "Those sons of b*tches! This is even more sordid than throwing a 'minor apocalypse' at us!"
If a powerful minor apocalypse was really launched from the homeland of the Imperium of True Human Beings, covering the long journey in between, as the specialists of the three Sectors estimated, it would definitely be resolved as long as the methods of attack and the operation modes were figured out.
Even if the information was not figured out, the three Sectors were unlikely to be destroyed by one minor apocalypse.
However, with such a method, once the army of the Immortal Cultivators proliferated to a tipping point, they would expand faster and faster. Chances were that they would be able to produce more than ten types of strategic weapons of different categories that were similar to 'minor apocalypses' right there!
"We should've realized it earlier!" Li Yao smashed his head hard, his voice turning hoarse. "Expansion in the boundless universe certainly requires such a system that can automatically collect resources, reproduce, upgrade, command, and fight. Otherwise, if everything needed to be reported to the mother planet millions of years away while they waited for the instructions and reinforcements from their home, there would be no way to expand at all!
"The Fire Ant King is quite right. Such an expansion mode is truly impeccable and shameless!
"Think about it. Logically, the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector could not have discovered Kunlun, which was hidden deep inside the crab nebula at all, right?
"Even if we had the Star Map of Kunlun from Senior Ba Yanzhi, we wouldn't have found this place without the guidance of the Star Prier's House!
"If it weren't for the fortuitous collaboration of the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector, we wouldn't have known the first thing going on here. In that case, the 'base' of the Imperium of True Human Beings would have been able to develop unhurriedly. It wouldn't have mattered if the process took three to five years. Eventually, an unparalleled force certainly would have been produced!
"By then, when millions of Grand Illusionary Soldiers appeared in our atmosphere with dozens of minor apocalypses, we would certainly be caught unprepared because we never would have dreamed that the 'foreign intruders' would crawl out from next door!"
Despite the lack of a nerve system, Professor Mo Xuan shuddered hard.
Looking at each other, he and the Fire Ant King both realized that the truce of the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector and the collaboration of the three Sectors came right in time!
If Li Yao had not stopped the war between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector, there would not have been a victor at all!
It was hilarious that the 'patriots' such as Lu Zui were fantasizing over enslaving the demons and sending them to the Flying Star Sector for mining. Before their great cause was pushed forward, an overwhelming army of the Imperium would have shown up in less than five years and annihilated the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector alike!
The Imperium of True Human Beings truly deserved to be a superpower that was the first to have united the center of the universe for a thousand years after the Star Ocean Imperium!
Although it was faced with the serious threat of the Covenant of the Holy Alliance, it was still not something that the Star Glory Federation could deal with.
"It must be stopped!" Professor Mo Xuan said resolutely. "Right now, it has only one 'base'. The efficiency of resource collection and construction is not very high. But look, the eggshell-like buildings are obvious some sort of docks!
"Smaller bases will be produced inside the docks and send into every part of Kunlun!
"One growing into two, two into four, four into eight. The base's efficiency will increase exponentially!"
"This is too unbelievable!" The Fire Ant King clicked his tongue in astonishment. "As long as such a base proliferates in the universe like a virus, wouldn't the Imperium be invincible? I really can't imagine what the Covenant Alliance can possibly be like now. With such a marvelous weapon, is the Imperium still on the losing side?"
"Not necessarily. From what I've seen, such a mode of expansion has a fatal shortcoming, too. We might be just unlucky." Professor Mo Xuan recovered from his original shock. Activating all his computational ability, he replied with a bitter smile, "The collection and utilization of resources have their own restraints.
"It is true that metal minerals are distributed on many planets. However, it is one thing for mother lodes to be buried under the ground, and it is a whole different thing to develop the mother lodes, purify the minerals, and build them into magical equipment that can contribute to a battle. The process will consume a lot of ingredients and spiritual energy!
"Of all the ingredients, the most important one is water!
"By the experience of the federation, to produce a ton of 'Hundred Wave Gold', the most fundamental alloy for the compound armor, a hundred and twenty-two tons of water will be consumed!
"Take the most common MP Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit for example. In the production, not counting the cost of other materials, the water consumption alone will be around thirty-five tons on average!
"Of course, the industrial level of the Imperium of True Human Beings must be higher than that of the Star Glory Federation. But the water cost is unavoidable. Let's say that their efficiency is two times better. Then, a Grand Illusionary Soldier, a beast puppet, or a crystal suit will still consume tons of water when then are produced.
"There are too many planets in the universe. Metal can be found everywhere, but they are mostly raw materials with tremendous impurities that are deeply buried to the underground!
"To purify such raw materials and turn them into alloys fit for the purpose of refining, astronomical water and spiritual energy will be consumed!
"Water is the invaluable treasure in the universe. You might not find one planet with a natural atmosphere and water from a million planets. Same goes for spiritual energy. Although the universe is filled with spiritual energy, it is extremely thin in most places and hardly exploitable.
"Therefore, few planets are apt for such 'bases' to unfold and upgrade. Even if they found any, the environment on the planets must be harsh, and the speed of the development would be low. Chances are that a resource collection system would not be built until a year and a half later, and there would be another three to five years of waiting before the first Grand Illusionary Soldiers walk out!"
Professor Mo Xuan sighed. "It is a pity that it is not an ordinary planet that they have found but 'Kunlun'!"
Chapter 1230: Debut of the Immortal Cultivators! |
Li Yao and the Fire Ant King immediately understood what he was getting at.
Ordinary planets did not have an atmosphere or water resources because they were either too close to or too far away from a star.
If they were too close, it was barely possible for them to generate a force field that was strong enough. Most of the spiritual energy around the planet would be attracted by the star.
If they were too far away, they would be frigid hells due to the lack of radiation from the star. The spiritual energy would be equally inactive.
On such planets that were short of sunlight, water, air, and spiritual energy, even if the reserves of metal minerals were impressive, it would be a tedious project to excavate them from underground and refine them into high-purity materials that were good for magical equipment. A lot of corresponding factories and personnel were required. It was indeed impossible to be achieved in a year and a half.
But Kunlun was different.
It was not an ordinary planet but a planetary warship modified by the Pangu civilization, with an atmosphere and an ecological system that were even more stable than the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector!
The purple clouds in the sky indicated abundant water resources. Li Yao and his teammates, while on their way there, had already seen many rivers and lakes. As for the unseen underground rivers, there were certainly even more!
The purple clouds that enveloped Kunlun were also attracting the radiation of the pulsar and transforming them into the purest spiritual energy. It was essentially an inexhaustible treasure!
What was more critical was that metal scraps were scattered everywhere on Kunlun. They were all high-purity materials that had been refined by the Pangu Clan millions of years ago.
Although most of the remains had rusted or lithified with the passage of time, they were certainly of better quality than the raw minerals which contained too many impurities!
In such a favorable environment, the war base of the Imperium did not even need to purify the raw materials. It simply collected the remains, filtered the usable parts, and cut them out. Then, there would be enough ingredients for production!
Such a speed of development was like a big bang. It was definitely a hundred times faster than on an ordinary planet.
Fortune might have been a curse in disguise. Kunlun, because of its closeness, naturally could bring tremendous relics, technologies, and techniques to the New Federation, but at this moment, it also turned into a catalyst that was pushing them toward the abyss of doom!
"According to my calculation, the production of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers and the metal spiders is slowing down."
Looking at the time on the lens on his retina, Li Yao said in a low voice, "But the construction efficiency of the buildings has been significantly increased. Meanwhile, the entire base seems to be expanding!"
"It is perfectly normal," Professor Mo Xuan said. "The Grand Illusionary Soldiers are not very advanced magical equipment after all. Their combat ability is not high. There's no need to waste too many resources on them.
"If I were the commander of the Imperium in the base, I wouldn't decide to build too many Grand Illusionary Soldiers, either. As long as I could protect myself, it would be good enough. Most of the resources should be used to upgrade the base so that larger, tougher magical equipment could be produced sooner!"
"Magical equipment stronger than the Grand Illusionary Soldiers?" Li Yao licked his dry lips and felt that the tip of his tongue was hot. He could not tell whether he was excited or anxious.
"Have you noticed it?" The Fire Ant King squinted and said, "The Grand Illusionary Soldiers recently produced are mottled, as if they have patches all over their body. Also, their movement is a bit rigid, too, and not as swift as the first Grand Illusionary Soldiers."
Li Yao and Professor Mo Xuan observed carefully for a moment and nodded at the same time.
"I get it now. The materials that make up the Grand Illusionary Soldiers are not the refined raw minerals but the scrap from the primeval battlefield. Or in other words, they are not 'produced' but 'jumbled'!"
