Chapter 48: Thunder and Time!
Chapter 48: Thunder and Time!
“I never said I’d sell them,” Jiang Zhe replied, crossing his arms. “Handing Mechanical Puppets to you boosts our combat power. If we enter a place like the Exo-Warfield, we can even use them to impersonate elites of the Mechanical Race.”
“As for all that metal,” he continued, glancing at Orianna, “you probably can’t consume it all yourself, right?”
Orianna nodded, her tone matter-of-fact. “Master, I don’t just need metal. I require diverse materials—organic matter, inorganic compounds, energy forms… Anything in the universe qualifies as my diet, as decreed by [Material Sovereign].”
“Only by consuming and deconstructing these substances can I achieve what you described—creating matter from nothing.”
Jiang Zhe grimaced. “So if I only feed you metal, you’ll suffer malnutrition? Does that mean I need to go shopping across the universe for other materials?”
Orianna nodded again, spreading her hands helplessly.
“Hmph! At least my [Thunder Prison Realm] only craves lightning-attribute treasures!”
The master and servant stood there like two gluttons, both ravenous resource-hungry powerhouses—no different from that Golden Horned Giant Pig.
“With our combo,” Jiang Zhe mused, “this must be the authentic Star Devouring Realm!”
Suddenly, he turned to the Mechanical Hound. “Alpha, are those three C-grade production lines still fully operational? Any material shortages?”
“Lord, I’ve maintained every line meticulously for millennia—no issues whatsoever!” Alpha barked proudly. “As for raw materials, the previous owner stockpiled supplies before his demise. We’ve only used less than forty percent.”
“Good dog!” Jiang Zhe praised, ruffling Alpha’s metallic fur.
The hound panted happily, its tail whirring audibly.
“Now give me exact numbers—how much can we produce?”
Alpha’s mechanical brain whirred. “Over a million C9 Alloy Starships, hundreds of millions of C-rank protective Mechanical Puppets, and nearly ten thousand C9 Supreme Laser Rifles.”
Jiang Zhe winced at the staggering figures.
“A single C9 Alloy Starship infused with Mechanical Race tech sells for about ten thousand Cosmic Coins,” he calculated. “A million ships would net a trillion Cosmic Coins—barely 0.1 Primordial Units in revenue?”
He paused, stunned by the reality check.
“Is money really this hard to make?”
He glanced down at the holographic projection of his puppet legion—assets worth 130 million Primordial Units. The contrast was laughable.
Orianna and Alpha nodded solemnly beside him.
In that moment, a seed of conviction took root in Jiang Zhe’s heart:
Legitimate methods are too slow. I should learn from Luo Feng—killing alien races really is the fastest way to make money!
Especially Mechanical Race immortals!
Still, there was an upside.
The production lines’ value had plummeted from “Marquis Immortal-worthy” to “tempting even broke immortals.” He’d clearly overestimated their worth earlier.
“If I can join the Virtual Cosmos Corporation’s core tier, I’ll safely leave these lines behind for homegrown commercial development.”
---
Exiting the virtual space, Orianna led Jiang Zhe into the World Bracelet’s domain.
Above the Machinery Factory, Jiang Zhe hovered atop his Skyfaring Needle, gazing at the endless silver city below.
This “city” lacked skyscrapers. Instead, colossal machinery loomed—furnaces, forging hammers, etching blades, mechanical arms, conveyor belts, welding stations… an endless labyrinth of production lines.
Between functional zones, squads of E9-Grade Mechanical Puppets patrolled every few minutes.
“Such abundant primordial energy! No wonder—this world built from cosmic crystals is perfect for cultivating Genetic Primordial Energy,” Jiang Zhe mused.
Staring at the oppressive puppet legions below, he suddenly asked, “Orianna, if you controlled the E9-Grade Mechanical Puppet army, could you rival a Domain Lord?”
He already knew the answer.
“Absolutely not,” Orianna confirmed bluntly. “First, my current computational power can’t handle mass control. Second, lacking Law Comprehension, I can’t empower them with law-based attacks.”
“Domain Lords wield Cosmic Source Laws—they’d dismantle our puppets like toys.”
Jiang Zhe grimaced. “Then they’d crush their internal structures and take them?”
Orianna nodded. “Not quite that extreme. Shattering E9-Grade puppets requires at least a high-tier Domain Lord.”
She fixed him with a fiery stare.
Translation note: The following dialogue uses “Anna” as a nickname for Orianna.
“Got it!” Jiang Zhe sighed. “I’ll work harder on the Storm Origin Law.”
Only when he mastered cosmic laws could Orianna exploit her [Proxy] talent to leech off his insights—and then command puppets capable of law-infused attacks.
…Wait, who’s really in charge here?
“Master, let’s enter the tower,” Orianna urged. “The Mechanical Race also studies Primordial Laws. Since it aligns with your lightning affinity, we might find useful insights.”
“Let’s hope so.”
They flew toward the city’s central spire—a silver monolith of metal, a thousand meters tall, its core reactor humming as it powered the entire factory.
The top floor housed a vast chamber, nearly ten thousand square meters. Orianna had already hacked the control systems.
As they approached, the floor-to-ceiling windows slid open, welcoming them inside.
The hundred-meter-high hall reeked of technology—polished metal, humming circuits. Jiang Zhe’s eyes fell on a massive workbench at its heart.
He sat on the three-meter-tall chair, staring at the half-finished circuit board beneath a welding gun.
He could almost see it: a Mechanical Race immortal meticulously connecting silver dots with the gun, tracing intricate pathways.
The board—about a meter long, sixty centimeters wide—resembled stiff wooden fiberboard in a dull white hue. Its rough surface bristled with thousands of tiny silver dots.
Jiang Zhe leaned closer, sensing an odd resonance.
Suddenly—
His consciousness flickered. He saw his own spear, its essence of “speed” blazing like lightning!
“Time!” he gasped, slamming his hands on the board. “This pattern bears traces of Primordial Laws… but it’s crude—unfinished!”
Orianna slammed her palm on the workbench, overriding its security locks. With a mechanical clang, the desk split open, revealing two hidden circuit boards inside a black vault.
“Master, check these—they’re the source!”
The boards matched the half-finished one in size but gleamed with superior craftsmanship: one dark purple with 72 silver dots, the other silver with nine dark purple ones. Their pathways formed mesmerizing lattices.
The moment Jiang Zhe laid eyes on them, his mind spiraled.
Thunderclouds roiled. Stars exploded. Stellar Nodes transformed. Time itself cycled endlessly.
“Lightning!”
“Time!”
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Author’s note: The third recommendation round is locked in! Tomorrow is Tuesday—readers, remember to support the novel with your reads. Grateful for your help!
(End of Chapter)
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