Chapter 86: The Spatial Furnace (Bonus Chapter for One Hundred Subscriptions)

One day later.

Inside the world within the World Ring.

Countless construction machines roamed across the plains, continuously transporting mountains of various materials to nearby factories, where they underwent different stages of processing.

After countless procedures, these materials would be transformed into a vast quantity of goods destined for export.

On the third floor of the System Library, Jiang Chen finally found an advanced technology that would allow him to carve out a place for himself in the cosmic era.

— Spatial Furnace.

———

Name: Spatial Furnace

Category: Energy Refinement/Production Equipment

Production Capacity: Extracts one Hersch index of energy per minute (can produce 13,141,592 units of Level-Five Energy Blocks)

Rating: Tier Three+++

Note: Do you think this is an endless energy source?! Yes, it is!

———

This was an energy extraction technology far beyond nuclear power, and even superior to the Mechanical Tribe's "Energy Towers." By inducing spatial oscillations, it collected the immense energy generated by the oscillation waves and converted this into high-density energy blocks for storage.

Jiang Chen had checked the market for this kind of technology through the channels of the Cosmic Star River Bank. In the universe, the value of energy was highly polarized, mainly determined by energy density and "quality."

The high-energy blocks produced by the spatial furnace were of such quality that they nearly reached the grade of "cosmic crystals." In other words, producing one energy block was equivalent to obtaining a cosmic crystal.

At least among humanity, cosmic crystals themselves served as currency, and all other currencies were directly pegged to cosmic crystals. Therefore, the energy refined by the spatial furnace, after a complex conversion process, could be directly used as cosmic currency.

However, building a spatial furnace was extremely costly and difficult. The basic materials alone cost Jiang Chen nearly ten Hunyuan units.

The manufacturing process was even more complex. With 9.17 million types of components, totaling in the billions, both the machining and assembly required an exceptionally high degree of precision. The slightest error could cause the spatial furnace to fail or even self-destruct.

Moreover, Jiang Chen planned to enhance the furnace's efficiency through "magical constructs" from arcane technology, further raising the difficulty.

Still, as long as he succeeded in building the spatial furnace, the effort would be worthwhile.

"Master, there is a 30% surplus in production materials. Preliminary processing is expected to take 28 to 52 days before assembly can begin. Before assembly starts, you need to finish processing 219 types of construct materials. I will first produce these 219 components that require magical constructs and preprocess the necessary materials," Jarvis's voice sounded in Jiang Chen's mind.

In magical constructs, some lower-level constructs were simple, but higher-level ones began to involve the power of "laws."

This was a field beyond Jarvis's comprehension.

Without understanding, it was impossible to complete the required work. While machines and AI never made mistakes, that was only if they understood how to complete their "tasks." If they didn't know how, success would be out of reach.

"I understand. Notify me when you have finished the preliminary processing," Jiang Chen replied.

Jarvis answered, "This will take approximately six days. You may attend to your own affairs, and I will remind you then."

With that, Jarvis fell silent.

Jiang Chen connected his consciousness to the inside of the World Ring and glanced at the busy machines, confirming that his plans were proceeding smoothly. Satisfied, he temporarily shifted his attention elsewhere.

"Right, I should contact Babata and ask about the issue of AI and the laws..."

Suddenly reminded, Jiang Chen dialed Luo Feng's communicator.

A moment later, Luo Feng answered the video call, smiling, "Ah Chen, you didn't stay long on your trip to the universe."

"Just had some things to buy, and came back as soon as I was done," Jiang Chen replied casually, moving straight to the point. "Luo Feng, could you get Babata for me? I have something to ask him."

"Babata? Oh, he's here." Luo Feng, a bit puzzled, pointed the camera at Babata, watching with curiosity from the side.

"Jiang Chen, what do you want to ask?" Babata looked at Jiang Chen with interest.

"It's like this: I want to know if support AIs can comprehend 'laws.' I tried to have Jarvis help me make a device that involves laws, but he can't understand the laws, nor can he read the blueprints I gave him," Jiang Chen explained.

"Laws?" Babata's eyes widened. "It's impressive enough that you've grasped domains, and now you're getting into laws?! Are you sure it's really about laws?"

Without waiting for Jiang Chen's answer, Babata continued, "Ordinary support AIs, and even sentient AIs, cannot comprehend laws, because they are not true 'lifeforms.' Even sentient AIs, though self-aware, don't count as real life. Only if they obtain the Mechanical Tribe's 'Heart of Evolution' and evolve into true lifeforms, do they have a chance of understanding and comprehending laws—and even then, it depends on their aptitude."

"Comprehending the laws is the privilege of true lifeforms," Babata concluded.

"I see..." Jiang Chen nodded thoughtfully.

He still didn't quite understand why Babata insisted that sentient AIs, before obtaining the Heart of Evolution, were not true lifeforms. But that final summary he could grasp: only "true lifeforms" had the possibility of comprehending and mastering laws. No matter how intelligent or lifelike an AI was, it still lacked the qualifications to comprehend the laws.

This seemed to be some kind of restriction imposed by the universe—or this world itself. As for the deeper reason, Jiang Chen did not yet understand, but it was enough to know such a phenomenon existed.

"What are you planning to do? I'm quite interested in things involving the laws," Babata said with palpable curiosity. "Back when I traveled the universe with my master, he spent a huge price to get me a Heart of Evolution, allowing me to become a true lifeform. Although my body perished in that great war and I had to revert to AI form to survive, I still haven't forgotten the portion of the laws I comprehended."

"Oh?" Jiang Chen smiled at Babata's words. "Which laws did you comprehend?"

"Fire and water, but neither completely," Babata answered candidly.

"Water? Perfect, I actually need some components made with the water law," Jiang Chen said immediately. "Are you sure you want to help? These blueprints are pretty demanding and the manufacturing is quite troublesome."

Babata seemed provoked by this and exclaimed, "Troublesome? Since when has Lord Babata ever shied away from trouble?! I'm helping you out of the goodness of my heart, and you don't even appreciate it?!"

"Well then, thank you, Lord Babata!" Jiang Chen smiled and sent over some blueprints involving the water law.

"I've sent the blueprints. Take a look—can you make them?" Jiang Chen asked.

For some reason, seeing Jiang Chen's smile, Babata felt as if he had just fallen into a trap. But he quickly put that aside, focusing all his attention on the blueprints Jiang Chen had sent.

"These really do contain some mysteries of the water law, but... this kind of law sigil, I've never seen before! Judging by the way it triggers the law—is it waves? Water oscillations? No, that's not it! It's using the profundity of 'waves' to offload force, reducing the pressure on the components!"

Babata's voice was full of surprise and delight.

The magical construct blueprints seemed to open a new world before his eyes.

Hearing his words, Jiang Chen couldn't help but be impressed by Babata's perceptiveness. Although Babata had never seen magical constructs, and could not fully understand their mysteries, he could deduce the construct's purpose just from the way it invoked the law.

Indeed, as Babata had said, the purpose of the construct Jiang Chen designed for these components was to use the water law to reduce the pressure they endured during repeated activations, thereby indirectly increasing work efficiency.

"So, can you make them?" Jiang Chen asked with concern.

If Babata could handle these components, it would save Jiang Chen a great deal of work.

"Yes. Water law is my forte. I can do these. Even if I don't understand your sigils, there's a design to follow. As long as I stick to it step by step, I can complete them," Babata replied. Then, looking at Jiang Chen with confusion, he asked, "Judging by these special sigils and how you use the laws, you've already gone beyond the domain level and stepped into the threshold of the laws? Did you get these blueprints from somewhere, or have you really reached this level yourself?"

Jiang Chen was silent for a few seconds.

The blueprints, whether for the "Spatial Furnace" or the magical constructs, all came from the system. However, the system only permitted him to exchange for blueprints if his own knowledge met the blueprint's level.

So, the fact that he could obtain them meant that, in areas including the laws, he was already qualified—just as Babata said, he had stepped over the threshold of the water law.

"I have indeed crossed into the threshold of the laws—water and wind. I'm also close with the law of light," Jiang Chen answered honestly.

"Damn! At the Stellar level, you've crossed into two laws? Kid, you're a freak of nature!" Babata exclaimed, then turned to glare at Luo Feng with an expression of exasperation, sending a chill down Luo Feng's spine.

"Just a stroke of luck," Jiang Chen said, not dwelling on the matter.

Without the System Library, he could never have achieved this. Besides, even the third floor of the library only provided a preliminary understanding of the laws—barely enough to step across the threshold. To fully grasp the laws would require much more.

After venting for a while, Babata suddenly asked, "But what's the deal with these sigils? I've never seen anything like them before."

"Sorry, that's my core technology, and I'm not ready to share it yet," Jiang Chen replied, glancing at Babata. "Unless you acknowledge Luo Feng as your master and he orders you not to spread it, then I would teach you."

After taking over as Huyan Bo's successor, Babata had always followed Luo Feng, but never formally recognized him as master. Whether out of unwillingness or higher expectations for Luo Feng, Jiang Chen did not know. Still, because of this, he always retained a sliver of caution regarding Babata—never quite giving the complete trust he gave Luo Feng.

Hearing Jiang Chen's words, Luo Feng was startled, "Why am I suddenly involved?!"

"Kid! You're so stingy!" Babata glared at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen countered, "Which faction in the universe would ever share its core secrets so easily?"

"True enough... forget it then."

Babata grumbled and hung up the call.

Only after did he suddenly realize, exclaiming, "I nearly forgot! Jiang Chen is also a disciple of the Black Ink Star line! He talks as if he's planning to found his own school!"

Luo Feng remarked from the side, "There's no rule in the universe that says every disciple must submit a copy of their secret techniques, right?"

Babata was momentarily speechless.

After a long pause, he muttered awkwardly, "Fine, I, the great demon, will not hold a grudge against a petty person like him!"

Luo Feng almost couldn't help laughing at Babata's behavior. Fortunately, he remembered he still needed Babata's help, so he managed to hold it in.

——

On the other side.

Having entrusted Babata with the water-law construct components, Jiang Chen recalculated the number of parts he needed to handle himself.

"All the water-law ones are with Babata. The rest—the wind and darkness laws—are up to me. The total is similar to the water-law constructs: over a hundred types, several thousand parts... Even with Jarvis handling the initial processing, it'll take at least half a month of work..."

The "Spatial Furnace" involved quite a few types of constructs, but only three elemental attributes: water constructs for alleviating pressure during activation, wind and darkness constructs for boosting efficiency and power.

This system resembled "alchemical runes" but was fundamentally different. It was also somewhat like the "secret sigils" found in the universe, though only in outward form—their core principles were entirely distinct.

Jiang Chen was curious about the secret sigil schools of the universe as well. But without the System Library, relying solely on real-world or virtual universe study would be far less efficient.

Until he reached a higher level, the System Library's unparalleled learning speed would always be his greatest advantage.

"I still have a few days of free time. Hmm... I might as well keep grinding and level up," Jiang Chen thought, recalling his plans for the near future. Suppressing the urge to go out and have fun, he opened the system and entered the library.

(End of chapter)