Chapter 336: A Peculiar Civilization

Chapter 336: A Peculiar Civilization

The Malacca Strait mission was the first overseas assignment for the Dragon Dive Special Forces, and it was of great importance as it involved the control of the future's top shipping lane. Thus, not only the Southern Theater Command but also the entire Xia Empire's high command was paying close attention.

From the day the Special Forces set out, Lu Heng received daily updates on the mission's progress.

On the first day, the Deep Sea Squad entered the Andaman Sea to locate the undersea rift but encountered a group of Abyssal Tidal Worms. After clearing them out, they continued their search.

On the second day, the Deep Sea Squad continued their exploration in the Andaman Sea without any incidents, gradually narrowing down their search area.

On the third day, the squad encountered a high-level Abyssal monster in the depths of the sea. Cao Lixiong protected the team as they retreated to the surface, where they joined forces with the support team from the surface to slay the thirty-meter-long Multi-headed Abyssal Serpent.

On the fourth day...

While the Special Forces were on their mission, Lu Heng practiced the Wind Dragon Suffocation Slash in the coastal area.

His proficiency in Wind Dragon Suffocation Slash LV1 had reached 932/1000, and he was close to mastering it.

On the fifth day of the Special Forces' mission, Flame Emblem had accumulated a batch of tempering orders.

Lu Heng went to the Tempering Castle to fulfill the tempering orders, completing those above +6, three of which were for spirit infusion.

After completing these orders, his Master Tempering Master profession gained 510 experience points.

Ever since Lu Heng's tempering profession reached the Master level, it became difficult to gain profession experience from tempering tasks below +6. Therefore, these lower-level tempering orders were assigned to Yuan Hecheng.

Unlike Lu Heng, who had to balance his combat strength, Yuan Hecheng could focus all his energy on tempering, resulting in rapid progress in his profession level.

In just half a year, he had advanced to the Advanced Tempering Master level.

Sometimes, when Lu Heng was busy and couldn't complete the tempering orders, and the clients needed them urgently, Yuan Hecheng would take on the +6 and above tempering tasks.

Currently, Yuan Hecheng was the most skilled tempering master in the Tempering Castle, second only to Guru and Lu Heng.

After completing the accumulated tempering orders, Lu Heng turned around and saw that Yuan Hecheng was still busy.

As the tempering market expanded, there were numerous low-level tempering orders, ensuring Yuan Hecheng had work almost every day.

Lu Heng's primary purpose for tempering was to improve his tempering skills and gain Flame Resistance.

Therefore, he generally avoided tempering tasks that didn't provide profession experience.

Yuan Hecheng, on the other hand, tempered not only for profession experience but also to earn money.

Over the past six months, as his tempering skills improved, he had made a considerable amount of money, enough to repay the debt for the Fluid Metal crystal core that his daughter, Yuan Yaoyao, had absorbed.

Initially, Lin Zeyu had purchased this Fluid Metal crystal core at a high price, intending to use it himself.

However, the crystal core was only moderately compatible with Lin Zeyu's abilities.

Yuan Yaoyao's innate talent, the Mechanical Heart, had near-perfect compatibility with the Fluid Metal skill.

Thus, when Yuan Hecheng sought help, Lu Heng gave the Fluid Metal crystal core to Yuan Yaoyao, considering their financial situation.

The purchase price of this crystal core was 40 million.

Yuan Hecheng had been working hard for the past six months to repay this debt, finally settling it last month.

Repaying the debt was not the end but a new beginning.

Yuan Hecheng was concerned about his daughter's frequent summons to the Abyssal Battlefield, even though she always returned unharmed. He wanted to earn more money to buy resources and enhance her combat power.

For this reason, Yuan Hecheng took on any tempering job that could earn him money.

Seeing Yuan Hecheng still busy, Lu Heng didn't disturb him. He waved and left the forging room.

Upon returning to the front hall of the Tempering Castle, Lu Heng ran into Yuan Yaoyao.

Yuan Yaoyao, wearing a dress, smiled at Lu Heng with a mix of childishness and intelligence. She ran over, grabbed his hand, and pulled him towards the second-floor balcony.

"What's going on?" Lu Heng asked, puzzled.

Yuan Yaoyao led him to the south balcony on the second-floor living room, closed the door behind her, pushed Lu Heng into a chair, and sat down beside him. With a serious expression, she said, "Brother Lu, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" Lu Heng examined her but couldn't spot any issues; she seemed the same as before.

Yuan Yaoyao straightened her posture and took a deep breath before saying, "I was summoned yesterday."

"To the Siks Civilization again?" Lu Heng had asked her about this before, and all her summons so far had been to the Siks Civilization.

It was likely due to the compatibility of her Mechanical Heart with the Siks World, combined with the spatial anchor point and the Black Feather Spirit's mechanical angel, that she was frequently summoned to the Siks World.

Yuan Yaoyao shook her head and said, "Not this time. This summoning was very strange."

Usually, when a summoning occurs in the Abyss Battlefield, the summoning system assesses the combat strength of the summoned individual, and the same Ability User may have different power rankings in different worlds.

Yuan Yaoyao's combat ranking would be high in the future tech world, but relatively lower in other worlds.

Lu Heng casually guessed, "Another cyber world?"

Yuan Yaoyao shook her head again, "Actually, I'm not sure either. This time, after being summoned, I didn't even get to leave the initial space."

Lu Heng became curious and asked for more details, "What happened? Tell me everything."

Yuan Yaoyao began to narrate her summoning experience: "After being summoned, I appeared in a peculiar space with many glowing lines around me, like a cyber neural network.

"I was floating in mid-air, unable to feel gravity, so I didn't fall.

"When I summoned the Black Feather Spirit and tried to move—

"The neural network in the surrounding space lit up and started talking to me.

"It told me that it knew my identity and my mission, but it asked me to stay put until the mission time was up.

"It also promised a generous reward if I waited in place until the mission ended.

"It even showed me a list of rewards, which included a Skill Slot Expansion Crystal Core, a crystal core that can increase skill slots.

"I was curious about what the outside world was like.

"But my Lightbrain System's crystal core analysis suggested that the civilization level of the world I was in exceeded our understanding, and it recommended that I follow their instructions.

"The Lightbrain System's analysis has never been wrong, so I did as they asked and spent fifteen days in place, watching TV and listening to music.

"After the time was up, I really did receive a Skill Slot Expansion Crystal Core. Look."

She took out a super crystal core and held it up before Lu Heng.

Lu Heng's eyes widened at the sight of the super crystal core.

Since Abyssal Descent, it had been a year and a half, and he had heard of the Skill Slot Expansion Crystal Core a few times, but he had only seen it twice.

The first time was the one from the Gong family, and the second time was the one in front of him now.

Just lying around and watching TV for fifteen days after being summoned could earn you a Skill Slot Expansion Crystal Core?

If this story got out, no one would believe it, but Lu Heng did.

Because Lu Heng remembered something from his past life.

This civilization that asked summoners to stay put and offered compensation was likely the one from his memories... the world related to Reincarnation Essence.

This civilization's behavior was very strange; summoners were always sent with a mission, but this civilization asked summoners not to participate and offered rewards more generous than mission completion.

On the surface, this seemed illogical, but it had indeed happened.

Lu Heng recalled other Ability Users from his past life describing similar experiences to Yuan Yaoyao's.

Of course, there were also Ability Users who didn't obey this strange civilization's requests and tried to break through the initial space. The result was instant loss of consciousness, and when they woke up, they had returned to Bluesphere.

Yes.

The process was indeed peculiar; this civilization would stop summoners from acting but wouldn't kill them.

If a summoner resisted, they would use some method to make the summoner lose consciousness until the summoning time ended.

In his past life, many Ability Users had discussed this strange civilization, speculating on their reasons.

Lu Heng had also pondered this question, but no matter how he analyzed it, he felt that this civilization's behavior didn't align with normal logic.

Moreover, there were few summonings to this peculiar civilization, and in his past life, he only remembered two or three instances. No one had managed to break out of the initial space, so no one knew why this civilization acted this way.

Lu Heng tried to understand from the perspective of this strange civilization and thought that they might not want summoners to disrupt the balance of their world.

Only this explanation seemed reasonable.

Regardless of the reason, one thing was certain: this peculiar civilization's level was far beyond that of humans, even surpassing the Siks Civilization.

"Lu Heng, are you listening?" Yuan Yaoyao waved her hand in front of Lu Heng.

"Yes, I'm listening," Lu Heng had been lost in his memories and was distracted.

"Do you not believe what I'm saying?"

Yuan Yaoyao also felt that what she was saying was too incredible for adults to believe.

Lu Heng nodded and said, "I believe it. This world must be very peculiar."

Yuan Yaoyao's eyes lit up, and holding the super crystal core in her hand, she happily said, "Really? Then I'll give you this crystal core."

Lu Heng was stunned and reminded her, "This crystal core is priceless. If others find out, they might send mercenaries to take it."

Yuan Yaoyao nodded in agreement, "I know, but I want to give it to you."

Lu Heng considered it seriously, then took her hand and gently returned the crystal core to her grip, saying, "You keep it. To survive in the Abyssal Age, you need to improve with each summoning. Otherwise, future summonings will become increasingly dangerous."

A single Skill Slot Expansion Crystal Core could greatly increase one's combat power, and Lu Heng actually wanted it. However, taking such an important artifact from a young girl seemed a bit cold-hearted.

Moreover, Lu Heng had three more skill slots than Yuan Yaoyao, so this crystal core would benefit her even more, possibly even determining her future fate.

If he took this crystal core and it led to her not returning from the Abyssal Battlefield, he knew he wouldn't be able to get past that hurdle.

Yuan Yaoyao thought for a moment and then took out another item, "Then I'll give you this."

This time, she took out a transparent cubic crystal core, and upon checking its attributes, it turned out to be an Abyssal Law Assimilation Crystal Core.

As the name suggested, this crystal core could assimilate weapons and equipment with the laws of the Abyss, achieving the same effect as using divine energy for assimilation.

In simpler terms, this crystal core could replace divine energy to assimilate an item with the laws of the Abyss.

However, this crystal core didn't allow for exploiting any bugs; the data limited the quality of items that could be assimilated, with an upper limit of 100kg.

In other words, assimilating a tank or a warship into the Abyss was impossible.

Lu Heng did have an item that required assimilation—the S-class artifact, the Spatial Confinement Orb, which the archmage Augustus had used to obtain the Magic Codex.

At that time, Lu Heng's entire team, including Fiona, had been trapped in the Magic Tower by this Spatial Confinement Orb. It was only after Teris arrived that the magic tower's attacks were stopped, and they were released.

This S-class Spatial Confinement Orb was incredibly powerful, truly deserving of its S-class rating.

Lu Heng had obtained the orb, but it had remained in his inventory.

Without sufficient divine energy for assimilation, he couldn't use it on Bluesphere.

Now, Yuan Yaoyao had taken out an Abyssal Law Assimilation Crystal Core, which could be used to assimilate the Spatial Confinement Orb.

Lu Heng took the crystal core and asked, "Are you sure you want to give me this precious artifact? You can't even buy it outside."

Yuan Yaoyao nodded seriously, "Both crystal cores were obtained by me staying at home for fifteen days. You can have either one."

"The increase in skill slots will greatly benefit you. Keep it for yourself. If you really want to give me something, then give me the Law Assimilation Crystal Core," Lu Heng said.

"Okay," Yuan Yaoyao happily nodded, and then began to absorb the Skill Slot Expansion Crystal Core.

Moments later, her number of skill slots increased from three to four.

"My skill slots have increased, Lu Gege. What skill do you think I should learn?" Yuan Yaoyao was delighted.

"Don't rush. You can decide when you find a suitable skill. Since you've given me such a valuable gift, I'll help you upgrade your skills," Lu Heng said, feeling obliged to help her after receiving such a precious item.

"What's the gift?" Yuan Yaoyao's eyes lit up, as she had never received a gift from Lu Heng before.

The crystal core she had given him earlier didn't count as a gift, in her opinion, as her father was going to pay him back.

So, when she heard that Lu Heng wanted to give her something, she immediately became excited.

"Have you maxed out your skill proficiency? Do you have any divine energy? I'll see if I can help you upgrade your skills," Lu Heng offered, intending to help her upgrade as a gesture of gratitude.

Yuan Yaoyao pouted and muttered quietly, "It's not a gift..."

"What did you say? Speak up. Which skill do you want to upgrade?" Lu Heng asked again, not having heard her clearly.

"Um... Fluid Metal is good. Its skill proficiency is already maxed out, and the Lightbrain analysis suggests that upgrading this skill will provide the most improvement," Yuan Yaoyao said, deciding to follow the Lightbrain's analysis and choose the best skill to upgrade.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end