Chapter 152: Harvest Review (Second Update)

High above the surface of the Veska Planet, at an altitude of over one hundred million kilometers, Jiang Chen was organizing the spoils of this recent battle with the assistance of Jarvis.

"Ninety-two immortal divine bodies. Thirty-four of them have consumed the 'Blood God Fruit' and possess a gene level exceeding one hundred times. The remaining fifty-eight must have had the 'Blood God Fruit' extracted from them, leaving their gene levels at a mere onefold."

"Hmm... Judging from this, once the 'Blood God Fruit' is extracted, the user's gene level doesn't revert to its original value, but instead degrades directly to a single fold?"

Looking at the test data of the immortal divine bodies, a hypothesis formed in Jiang Chen's mind.

Under the special environment of the Veska Planet, immortal divine spirits who normally cultivate by absorbing the universe's origin energy would possess at least dozens of times their gene level upon breaking through to immortality.

The higher ones could reach close to a hundredfold gene level.

Upon further consumption of the 'Blood God Fruit', the gene level typically ranges between one hundred and fifty to two hundred times.

However, many of the immortal divine bodies in Jiang Chen's possession possessed only a singlefold gene level, leading Jiang Chen to speculate whether this was related to the 'Blood God Fruit'.

Verifying this was simple. Once he left the Veska Planet and purchased some specialized equipment and medicine, he could take an immortal body with a gene level of over one hundred, extract the 'Blood God Fruit' from it, and then conduct tests to know the result.

Yet, within the Veska Planet, this 'experiment' was impossible to perform.

On one hand, Jiang Chen needed to forge these immortal bodies into immortal puppets to bolster his combat power so he could attack the 'Ancestral God City' and plunder its resources.

On the other hand, Jiang Chen lacked the corresponding equipment on hand.

He could not yet manufacture the equipment required to extract the 'Blood God Fruit' and would have to purchase it through Virtual Universe Company channels.

Among the ninety-two immortal divine bodies, quite a few had sustained damage.

Many of those excavated from the 'Ancestral God Tombs' were also incomplete and fragmented.

However, this was not a major issue. Immortal puppets were essentially a combination of immortal divine bodies and machinery; as long as the damage wasn't too severe, a slight modification to the design would make them entirely usable.

Having gained experience from the previous twenty-odd immortal puppets, Jiang Chen was already quite proficient in this regard.

Naturally, completely modifying all ninety-two immortal divine bodies would require a considerable amount of time.

Furthermore, his material reserves were insufficient, so he could only modify a portion of them first.

Only after conquering the 'Ancestral God City' would he slowly begin mining the resources across the two continents.

Jiang Chen had no intention of running away immediately after capturing the Ancestral God City.

While the most valuable treasures on this planet were unquestionably the 'Blood God Fruit' and the immortal divine bodies, the various mineral resources within the planet also held immense value.

Even with Jiang Chen's current technology and capabilities, he could only excavate shallow resources down to twenty or thirty thousand kilometers beneath the surface, which still amounted to a staggering figure.

The shallow resources of a single 'Abandoned Continent' alone were worth over two hundred million mixed yuan units.

The other two larger continents would undoubtedly contain even more resources.

Although this massive profit could not rival the value of the 'Blood God Fruit', it was nonetheless astonishing.

Even if other universe-level geniuses possessed heaven-defying strength and fortune, successfully discovering and acquiring the secret opportunities hidden behind the mission worlds one after another, their total gains across multiple mission worlds would still not equal Jiang Chen's harvest this time.

Using the mechanical legion to crush the indigenous upper echelons and subsequently plundering the mineral resources within the planet and its worlds—

Although the value of a single mineral vein might not be exceptionally high, the total value of the mineral veins across the entire planet and world, even just a fraction of them, was an astonishing figure.

"Aside from these immortal divine bodies, this time we also acquired a batch of funerary objects from the Ancestral God Tombs, along with the treasures carried by those ten immortal divine spirits. The storage equipment carried by the other twenty-five immortals guarding the Ancestral God Tombs was destroyed, and the items inside were scattered into the spatial turbulence, beyond recovery."

While reporting, Jarvis generated a detailed inventory listing the treasures acquired this time.

Jiang Chen merely glanced at the final figure at the very bottom.

It was the total value of the treasures calculated by Jarvis after querying their prices through the virtual universe.

A little over seventy thousand mixed yuan units in total.

Not particularly large, but well within expectations.

After all, being immortals from an indigenous planet, their wealth was unquestionably far inferior to that of immortal divine spirits in the wider universe.

Most of the 'funerary objects' within the Ancestral God Tombs were merely commemorative items, utterly devoid of any truly precious treasures.

Jiang Chen estimated that even if these immortal divine spirits had possessed precious treasures during their lifetimes, upon their fall, the items had either been seized by enemies or carved up by other powerhouses on the Veska Planet.

While the resources of the Veska Planet were indeed abundant, it lacked channels to convert those resources into the specific treasures one needed.

Coupled with the large number of immortal divine bodies on the planet, treasures were naturally insufficient to go around.

"Are there any that we can make use of?" Jiang Chen asked.

"There are a few weapons that can be utilized by the immortal puppets or mecha. However, selling them to acquire better equipment would be a superior choice. The treasures used by the indigenous people of this planet are far too inferior," Jarvis replied. "Master, if we are to deploy immortal puppets on a large scale, you should also consider the weapons they will use."

"Mhm," Jiang Chen nodded.

The weapons currently used by the immortal puppets were either looted spoils from the Veska Planet or cobbled together from the weaponry of Gundam mecha, falling far short of the 'immortal' tier and preventing them from pushing their combat power to the ultimate extreme.

For formidable combat capabilities, weapons were also an immensely crucial component.

The current immortal puppets were sufficient to deal with the indigenous people of the Veska Planet who lacked superior treasures.

Yet when encountering stronger opponents in the future, lagging weaponry would create severe shortcomings in their combat effectiveness.

This issue had to be resolved once he left the Veska Planet and returned to the Wuchen Continent.

However, there was no need to rush into it immediately.

"How many immortal puppets can our current material inventory support for modification?" Jiang Chen asked.

With ninety-two immortal divine bodies, Jiang Chen's current material reserves were certainly insufficient to modify all of them, permitting only a partial conversion.

Jarvis quickly calculated the results and reported, "If we are modifying immortal puppets with a gene level of a hundredfold or higher, our current material reserves are sufficient to modify twenty-six immortal puppets. This figure accounts for the materials remaining after deducting the consumption required to repair the mechanical legion."

"Twenty-six is barely enough for now. However, if we want to completely suppress the combat power of the Ancestral God City, it would be best to completely modify all the immortal bodies..." Jiang Chen muttered under his breath.

Jarvis immediately offered a suggestion: "Master, we can first occupy a portion of territory in the 'Land of Eternal Slumber' and continue mining for resources. I have calculated that if we occupy this region, it will take only about seven months to gather enough resources to convert all ninety-two immortal divine bodies into puppets."

As he spoke, Jarvis projected a map of the 'Land of Eternal Slumber' onto the large screen, highlighting a territory that roughly equated to one-fifth of the entire continent.

"This territory contains hundreds of indigenous cities and hundreds of billions of people. Can you manage all of that?" Jiang Chen asked.

If left to Jiang Chen himself, he certainly had no leisure time for such chores.

As for slaughtering them all... Jiang Chen wasn't cruel enough to do that either.

Yet if he ignored them entirely and these indigenous people caused trouble for him—while Jiang Chen didn't mind—he also wished to avoid excessive complications.

"As long as Master grants me operational authorization over the mechanical legion," Jarvis declared with absolute confidence, "I guarantee they will not disturb our resource mining."

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Chen nodded and said, "Very well, I'll leave it to you then. Just avoid mass slaughter."

Killing a few people to make an example of them and establish rules was unavoidable.

As long as it wasn't large-scale slaughter, Jiang Chen couldn't be bothered to interfere too much.

Given Jarvis's capabilities, as long as sufficient computing power was provided, managing an entire world in meticulous detail was entirely feasible, let alone exercising rough control to prevent the indigenous peoples within his sphere of influence from stirring up major chaos.

After observing via satellite and confirming there were no unusual movements from the Ancestral God Cult powerhouses in the 'Land of Divine Bestowal', Jiang Chen ordered the spaceship to return to the 'Land of Eternal Slumber'.

The mechanical legion and engineering machinery armies were successively deployed to stake out territory and excavate mineral veins.

Along the way, any large gatherings of ferocious beasts encountered were directly annihilated.

As for indigenous cities, successive columns of the mechanical legion were dispatched to take them over and place them under control.

It took over a month to occupy roughly one-fifth of the territory in the 'Land of Eternal Slumber'.

Mine after mine began excavation.

A single full-power strike from an immortal puppet could split the earth open with a massive fissure.

Hundreds of millions of engineering machines plunged deep into the earth along these fissures to unearth ore.

For a faction wielding sufficiently advanced technology, the efficiency of resource extraction was astonishingly high.

In key regions designated for intensive mining of rich deposits, the landscape changed almost day by day.

Returning after three to five days, even indigenous people who had lived there since childhood might fail to recognize their own homeland.

Jiang Chen tossed all these trivial chores to Jarvis to handle.

He left behind a clone to set up the 'Alchemy Transformation Array', converting the various excavated ores and the carcasses of ferocious beasts into the materials he required.

His true body, meanwhile, plunged headfirst into the system library.

Having advanced to the fourth tier, the 'capacity' of the system library had expanded countless times over, while the 'experience points' required for upgrades had reached an absurdly high degree.

More than forty years had passed since the conclusion of the Genius Tournament, and Jiang Chen had only just advanced to Tier 4 Level 2.

Furthermore, as his responsibilities grew increasingly numerous, the time Jiang Chen could spend immersed in the system library was forcibly and drastically reduced, causing his leveling speed to slow down more and more.

To ensure his rate of personal strength progression could keep pace with his demands, Jiang Chen was forced to seize every available moment, diving into the system library whenever he had a shred of free time to master new knowledge.

On the path to becoming a powerhouse, resources were undoubtedly indispensable.

Yet the strength one wielded oneself was vastly more important.

---

In a certain secluded location within the universe.

A gigantic palace drifted in the void.

Inside the palace, a man with disheveled hair, resembling a wild savage, sat upon a throne, his figure appearing vaguely hazy and illusory.

He was the current strongest individual of the human race, the Founder of Great Axe.

Naturally, the true body of the Founder of Great Axe was far outside the primal universe, exploring dangerous regions within the Universe Sea.

What remained within the primal universe was merely a divine power avatar.

"This sleep has lasted for several more years..."

The avatar of the Founder of Great Axe opened its eyes and connected its consciousness to the virtual universe: "Let me see if there's anything interesting lately."

"Hmm? Jiang Chen, this kid, has finally accepted cultivation missions? The Prison Battlefield, the Dawn Continent, the Veska Planet—three clones accepting three different missions, and they've only just begun a little over two years ago?"

"Let me check what this kid has been up to in the mission worlds..."

With a permission level belonging to the absolute highest tier of the human race within the virtual universe, the Founder of Great Axe could naturally easily retrieve any data already recorded by the virtual universe system.

Ever since Jiang Chen accepted the missions and entered the mission worlds, he had kept synchronous transmissions open; everything within the mission worlds had been recorded and could naturally be queried by the Founder of Great Axe.

"Oh?" The Founder of Great Axe suddenly caught sight of a conversation record within the virtual universe and raised an eyebrow: "He went to ask the Phantom Spirit King about the secret opportunities behind the mission worlds? Quite imaginative."

The Founder of Great Axe didn't dwell on it.

The opportunities within mission worlds were indeed astonishingly valuable.

Some major opportunities were yearned for by numerous domain lords, undying immortals, and even universe honorables.

Yet to beings of the Founder of Great Axe's caliber, they were utterly negligible.

Although Jiang Chen's actions slightly violated the rules, it was hardly a matter of any consequence.

Among genuine powerhouses, very few adhered strictly to convention.

In the struggle to seize resources required for growth, stepping slightly out of bounds on occasion was perfectly normal.

The Founder of Great Axe continued browsing the records of the virtual universe system.

His two clones in the Prison Battlefield and the Dawn Continent merely executed their missions in a conventional manner, exploring the hidden secrets behind the mission worlds. Yet since they hadn't found them yet, there was nothing particularly special to note.

The Founder of Great Axe merely glanced at them before bypassing them without a second thought, shifting his focus to Jiang Chen's performance on the 'Veska Star'.

Halfway through watching, the Founder of Great Axe couldn't help but exclaim in praise: "This kid, this mechanical legion—their technological level is quite high! This 'Void Dragon Mecha'—even if those few in our race most proficient in technology were to act, without using better materials, they would at best achieve this level..."

Naturally, this did not imply that Jiang Chen had reached the cosmic pinnacle in technology.

An engineer capable of crafting Grade-G weapons might not necessarily perform better in terms of destructive power, cost control, and other fine details when assigned to craft a Grade-E weapon than another engineer who specialized solely in Grade-E proficiency.

Jiang Chen's 'Void Dragon Mecha' had pushed things to the absolute extreme within a certain scope.

Even those with higher technological prowess than Jiang Chen might not necessarily produce a design surpassing the 'Void Dragon Mecha' within that same scope.

The Founder of Great Axe sighed in mild admiration, though he didn't dwell on it further, and continued watching Jiang Chen's performance.