Chapter 137: The Great Axe Intends to Take an Apprentice (3rd Update)

"I, the founder of the Giant Axe Dojo, known as 'Giant Axe'."

"I intend to take you as my disciple, though there are some small trials to undergo."

"If you also wish to become my disciple, you may enter my tutelage upon passing the following trials."

"The contents of the trials are as follows:"

"1. Choose one from the following mission worlds and complete the cultivation mission within that world while maintaining a synchronized transmission with the Virtual Universe throughout the entire process: Viska Star, Blood Luo World, Flame Ice Continent..."

"2. ..."

"Once the above tasks are completed, I will decide whether you are qualified to become my disciple based on your choices and performance during the missions."

"You have one hundred years to complete the trials."

"If you are unwilling to become my disciple, I will not force you."

"Everything is decided by you; choose according to your own inner heart."

"No matter what you choose, this matter must be kept confidential and must not be spread."

"—Giant Axe Founder."

—

The content of the email was not long, but it left Jiang Chen feeling immensely surprised.

"The Giant Axe Founder, intending to take me as his disciple?" Jiang Chen was somewhat puzzled. How had the Giant Axe Founder even noticed him?

Could it be a recommendation from the City Leader of Chaos?

But why did the City Leader of Chaos not come forward to take him as a disciple personally, or even seek out other Universe Masters from the Virtual Universe Company lineage, instead of looking for the Giant Axe Founder?

Jiang Chen could not quite figure it out.

Furthermore, the email itself was quite strange.

The 'Giant Axe Founder's' introduction of himself consisted of only one sentence: Founder of the Giant Axe Dojo.

Beyond that, not a single word was mentioned regarding his strength, his areas of expertise, or his personality and preferences.

If Jiang Chen were an ordinary genius, knowing nothing about the other party, he would be extremely cautious about a decision regarding apprenticeship. He might even reject it outright.

The founder of the 'Giant Axe Dojo,' one of the five giants of the human race, was indeed an intimidating title.

However, ordinary geniuses would not have a clear concept of this; they would not understand the extent of such a status and thus would not necessarily value the opportunity.

If not for having read the original story and knowing the strength of the Giant Axe Founder, Jiang Chen's first reaction would certainly have been to refuse.

After all, when it comes to apprenticeship, beyond finding a powerful backer, what matters more is the path of cultivation and compatibility in personality. If there is mutual aversion in various aspects, it would only be uncomfortable for both parties after the apprenticeship.

In fact, from the perspective of the 'path of cultivation,' Jiang Chen did not consider the Giant Axe Founder a suitable teacher for himself.

The Giant Axe Founder was undeniably powerful, but the path he walked was the most traditional and mainstream in the universe, a cultivation system based on laws and techniques.

Jiang Chen’s path, however, could be considered even more niche and obscure in the universe than that of a 'pharmacist.' Aside from the Automaton Race, there were likely few who had achieved high levels on this path.

However, the status and strength of the Giant Axe Founder were very tempting to Jiang Chen.

If he could enter the Giant Axe Founder’s tutelage, this 'backer' would provide him with sufficient protection before he could grow strong enough on his own.

In terms of personal strength, after the Original Ancestor was suppressed, the Giant Axe Founder could be called the strongest in the Primal Universe, or even the Universe Ocean. Such strength was undeniably a very reliable shield.

However...

Jiang Chen still hesitated.

That question lingered in his mind: Why would the Giant Axe Founder take notice of him?

Even if it were a recommendation from the City Leader of Chaos, Jiang Chen was well aware that the path he was walking was clearly different from that of the Giant Axe Founder. From the perspective of 'compatibility in cultivation,' the Giant Axe Founder had no motivation to take him as a disciple.

Jiang Chen always felt there was something strange about this, which kept him from making a decision.

—

"Forget it. In any case, the Giant Axe Founder has given me a long time. There is no rush to decide. I'll perfect the design plan for the 'Void Dragon Mecha' and build the mechanical legion first."

After thinking for a long time, Jiang Chen finally decided to postpone the matter.

The 'Void Dragon Mecha' had already been delayed for twenty years; if he continued to drag it out, the progress would be far too slow.

—

A few days later, staff from the Virtual Universe Company delivered the 'C-grade nutrient solution.'

Jiang Chen's clone soaked in the nutrient solution, while his consciousness remained in the Virtual Universe, continuously perfecting the 'Void Dragon Mecha' design.

This was a very tedious and massive undertaking. Even though Jiang Chen interrupted the respective cultivation of his 'Uchiha Shisui' and 'Urso' clones, and all three clones worked together, the project's progress was not fast.

The greatest difficulty lay in the fact that Jiang Chen wanted to preserve the Void Dragon's innate secret technique, 'Phase Jump,' as much as possible.

This was the ability closest to 'Teleportation' within the Space Law system.

Once he could master 'Phase Jump,' even if he faced an undying god, as long as the enemy had not mastered the same ability or the 'Space Imprisonment' under the 'Space Lockdown' branch, even if Jiang Chen could not defeat the enemy, they would not be able to stop him if he chose to escape.

One can never have too many means to maximize one's survivability.

However, to restore this level of 'innate secret technique' using only a skeleton was extremely difficult. It not only involved the two systems of genetic technology and laws but also required other elements to act as the 'key' to unlocking the Void Dragon's genes.

Just finding this 'key' took Jiang Chen more than three years.

Subsequently, Jiang Chen began to build the power, armor, and weapon systems of the 'Void Dragon Mecha.'

In terms of weapons, should he choose melee weapons and rely on his own control to unleash the power of 'laws'? Or should he choose thermal weapons, laser weapons, and the like, taking a purely 'technological' route? Or perhaps a combination of both?

Regarding additional enhancements, should he choose alchemical magic patterns? Or magical constructs? Or means from the psionic or rune systems?

The combinations were incredibly complex. Determining the optimal solution—or which one could best adapt to various environments and different enemy battle situations—required a massive amount of testing.

Fortunately, the Virtual Universe could simulate everything that could exist in the universe, helping Jiang Chen save a significant amount of time and monetary cost.

In the process of continuously perfecting the 'Void Dragon Mecha,' Jiang Chen also used his newly acquired knowledge to research one 'part blueprint' after another that could be used on the machine.

To pursue perfection, Jiang Chen ensured that every major component blueprint used on the 'Void Dragon Mecha' was recognized by the system and recorded in the library.

—Being recorded by the system meant that the blueprint had reached the absolute limit of what could currently be achieved in at least one characteristic.

This process also brought Jiang Chen a large number of specialty points and technical accumulation.

For Jiang Chen, the process of designing the 'Void Dragon Mecha' from scratch and continuously refining it was like a massive 'Manhattan Project.'

Completing the 'main quest' was certainly important, but while the overall progress moved forward, the successes in individual 'branch projects' also brought significant benefits, sometimes even long-term ones.

For example, one of the core components of the 'Void Dragon Mecha,' the energy supply module, was a 'Psionic Power Reactor' that Jiang Chen built by combining knowledge mastered from the fifth floor of the system library with arcane, alchemical, and psionic systems.

The massive power provided by this device could be used not only on the mecha but also on any mechanical unit larger than a certain size, providing an immense energy supply and raising its operating power to a staggering level.

Whether it was life or machine, energy supply would always be the core of the core. Even undying gods needed to rely on the 'undying divine power' within their bodies to sustain combat. Without a powerful energy source, it was impossible to have powerful combat strength.

Beyond the energy supply module, there were energy transmission, intelligent optical brains, armor, weapon modules, and so on. Even magic patterns, constructs, enchantments, and runes.

Every link was pursued to the absolute limit of what could currently be achieved.

In fact, when Jiang Chen’s true body mastered deeper knowledge in the system library, if it could be applied to the 'Void Dragon Mecha,' Jiang Chen would even discard the original design and re-strengthen the mecha.

Doing so inevitably led to significant delays in the final completion of the design plan, but it allowed Jiang Chen to obtain a much more powerful mecha.

—

While perfecting the 'Void Dragon Mecha,' Jiang Chen did not let Jarvis remain idle.

During the thirty years in Chaos City, Jiang Chen challenged the thirty-one Heavenly Bridges with varying results, the highest being the 15th level of the 'Heavenly Craft Heavenly Bridge' and the lowest being the 6th level of the 'Ancestral Tree Heavenly Bridge.'

However, most results fell within the 10th to 12th level range.

In the first thirty years of entering Chaos City, challenging the Heavenly Bridges carried a ten-fold point bonus. Altogether, Jiang Chen earned over 70 million points from the thirty-one bridges.

Added to the 100 million points reward granted by the City Leader of Chaos, he had a total of over 170 million points.

Such a massive amount of points could be used to exchange for many resources. Building a legion composed of tens of thousands of mechanical units at the World Lord level would only consume a small fraction.

Of course, for a legion-style approach, no amount of resources is ever enough. If tens of thousands of mechanical units weren't enough, then hundreds of thousands, millions, or even hundreds of millions—there would always be a time when the money ran out.

Although the marginal effect of quantitative changes leading to qualitative changes is obvious, and bottlenecks appear after reaching a certain scale, once the quantity reaches a certain level, even the most powerful enemy would feel an immense headache.

Especially since the mechanical legion had one major difference from the Zerg legion: in the absence of extremely powerful 'data intrusion' means by the enemy, the mechanical legion could completely split into separate detachments, with each unit capable of executing tasks independently without command.

Of course, playing like that would burn through money faster than it could be earned. Jiang Chen did not have such plans for the time being.

Under Jiang Chen's current design framework, the absolute core of the mechanical legion was naturally the 'Void Dragon Mecha' that he piloted himself.

The main force consisted of ['Vulture' High-Speed Fighters] equipped with laser guns or anti-matter missiles, and ['Gundam' Mechas] equipped with various functional/combat modules.

These two accounted for the vast majority of the legion's quantity and scale. As for other units like transport ships, logistics command units, and auxiliary units, their numbers would not be high, totaling less than one percent.

Configured at the 'World Lord level' of combat power, the ['Vulture' High-Speed Fighter] had a slightly higher cost; equipping one with a ['Light Spear' Laser Gun] cost 4,200 Hunyuan units. If fully loaded with eight, it would cost over 30,000 Hunyuan units.

If equipped with two missile launchers, the cost was much lower, with the fighter itself costing only a few dozen Hunyuan units. However, a single E9-grade anti-matter missile cost over 100 Hunyuan units. This item was a consumable; once a battle was over, many might be used up, making it potentially more expensive than laser guns in the long run.

The average cost of the ['Gundam' Mecha] was lower. Whether equipped with 'functional' modules for energy interference and gravity regulation or various weapon modules, the average cost did not differ much, at about 300 to 400 Hunyuan units each.

Of course, the ['Gundam' Mecha] could also carry laser guns and anti-matter missiles. However, considering that the ['Gundam' Mecha] was far more likely to take enemy fire in combat than the fighters sniping from a distance, Jiang Chen chose not to do so.

Jiang Chen wouldn't feel the sting of losing a few ['Gundam' Mechas]. But if a few E9-grade laser guns were destroyed, it would be a huge loss.

Of course, the above costs were calculated at 'original prices.' If he used the authorization granted by the City Leader of Chaos, he would only need to spend half.

After careful calculation, Jiang Chen decided to configure 3,000 ['Vulture' High-Speed Fighters], with half equipped with laser guns and half with anti-matter missiles.

Additionally, there would be 200,000 ['Gundam' Mechas]. The majority would be configured with combat modules, and only about one-tenth would be equipped with the four auxiliary modules: ['Interference Field Generator'], ['Gravity Regulation Device'], ['Psionic Shield Generator'], and ['Psychic Storm Exciter'].

The quantity ratio of each auxiliary module varied, but the 20,000 mechas combined would ensure that the upper limit of the power of the four auxiliary modules reached the E9 level, sufficient to cover the entire legion.

Coupled with space carriers, transport ships, logistics support warships, and other auxiliary units to carry the fighters and mechas, along with a large reserve of energy and ammunition, the total cost under the 50% discount authorization would be exactly 70 million points.

With the remaining 100 million points, he would set aside a portion to build the 'Void Dragon Mecha,' leaving several tens of millions as a reserve for contingencies.

After leaving Chaos City, without the ten-fold point bonus, earning points would become much more difficult. If he spent all his funds now and encountered more troublesome enemies later, needing to upgrade or strengthen the mechanical legion, he would be helpless without money.

(Note: There is a bug in the original work regarding the purchasing power ratio between points and Hunyuan units. The exchange ratio is 1:1, but the purchasing power ratio fluctuates between 10 points = 1 Hunyuan, 1 point = 1 Hunyuan, and 1 point = 10 Hunyuan. Here, it is uniformly calculated as 1:1.)

(End of chapter)