CSMCDB - Chapter 127
Chapter 127
Four small secret realms, 32,000 experience, 2,000 points, eight days.
Wen Yuncheng didn't know what kind of secret realms the First Princess had opened for her, but they seemed far too easy. She had originally planned to try her luck inside and see if she could get some Profound-rank Spirit Treasures for protection, but she came up with nothing. After all, her Defensive Jade had shattered, leaving an empty equipment slot. The Blue Flower Shield was also cracked; it looked like it would shatter too if she pushed it any further. Only the headband was perfectly fine, having never been used at all.
Wen Yuncheng sighed deeply. In the end, all she could do in the secret realms was recharge her Star Cannons, turrets, and Enemy-Annihilators one by one. She completely drained herself, spending every day in the realms feeling light-headed from her "blue-poor" life. She could have used MP potions to replenish her energy, but since she wasn't in combat, she felt it was unnecessary and was reluctant to spend points on them.
The system store had now unlocked intermediate MP/HP potions. The effect of the HP potion was unclear, as Wen Yuncheng had never been near death, but a single intermediate MP potion could take her from a "blue-poor" state to completely full! The only catch was the price had increased again—one bottle cost 60 points.
As for the damaged Star Cannons... Wen Yuncheng had wanted to repair them during these eight days. Unfortunately, the manufacturing template's efficiency in producing parts was a limiting factor. Even with Number One and Number Two waiting to assemble the parts, there had to be parts for them to assemble in the first place.
Host: Wen Yuncheng
Race: Human
Age: 20
Class: Mechanical Overlord
Level: 48
Experience: 24375/43000
Points: 9345
...
After leaving the secret realms, Wen Yuncheng resumed taking on bounties. For a while, no major incidents occurred on the continent. After annihilating that remote family, the Empire discreetly inspected many towns and cities, secretly gathering a great deal of information.
It wasn't until early July that the Empire made its move. The Dragon Tiger Guard acted in secret, accompanied by the three Protectors, and they surrounded and annihilated several families. Only after this lightning-fast operation did the Empire formally announce the crimes of those families, including the one originally discovered by Cheng Jiangliu and his group.
On the thirteenth of July, the execution platform in the Imperial Capital was opened, and one hundred forty-seven people were beheaded in succession. With each batch executed, the crimes of their respective families were read aloud, recorded on image crystals, and mass-replicated. Within three days, these recordings were sent to the administrators of every town and village under the Empire's jurisdiction, with orders to gather the residents to watch. This month came to be known as the "Imperial Liquidation Month."
Despite the Empire's massive show of force, the "Fu" organization made no move. It seemed to have gone dormant again, as if waiting for the next opportunity to strike.
...
Nearly four months, fifty-one bounties.
She reassembled and repaired the damaged Star Cannons and continued to build new ones. Every week, she fed Xiao Shi'er one or two chickens...
After nearly four months of relentless work, Wen Yuncheng reached level 49 and was only four thousand experience points away from level 50. Her points surpassed ten thousand.
Wen Yuncheng returned to the bounty hall to turn in a mission, only to find there were hardly any missions left to take.
Host: Wen Yuncheng
Race: Human
Age: 20
Class: Mechanical Overlord
Level: 49
Experience: 41375/45000
Points: 11555
The Empire's wave of liquidation had scared many large bandit groups into disbanding on the spot. Even if Wen Yuncheng wanted to take a mission, no one was posting them anymore. She sighed and walked out of the bounty hall, momentarily unsure where to grind for the remaining 3,625 experience points. The Dueling Arena? That would take 73 battles, which would require at least a week. Secret realms were fast, but she hadn't encountered any attacks from "Fu" recently, nor did she have the merits to make a request to the First Princess.
As for the two slots Little Ice Mountain had mentioned?... Wen Yuncheng was unwilling to take advantage of that before defeating Sect Master Lin. However, she had heard from Little Ice Mountain that Sect Master Lin had recently broken through to the first layer of the Star King realm. The difficulty of her face-slapping endeavor seemed to have risen a bit.
For the time being, Wen Yuncheng hung around the Dueling Arena. She also kept asking about Sect Master Lin's recent condition. Were his old injuries completely healed? Could he use his full strength in a fight? Was his strength normal for a first-layer Star King?
Her questions were all over the place, but their intent was so obvious that it was difficult for Lin Jinyu to feign ignorance. So, Lin Jinyu asked, "Are you about to advance?"
"Ah, um, yeah." The tips of Wen Yuncheng's ears grew a little hot. "It's just... I want to go to the Flowing Cloud Sect to see you sooner."
"Father is now at the first layer of the Star King realm, and his old injuries have fully recovered. His star level is also consolidating, so he's about the same as a typical first-layer Star King," Lin Jinyu said softly. "It's normal for a Star Spirit to be unable to defeat a Star King. You... don't have to fight your way into the Flowing Cloud Sect."
"No, you don't understand." Wen Yuncheng's tone was serious and unusually stubborn. Strength was one thing, but attitude was another. Right now, Sect Master Lin thought Wen Yuncheng was a man, so the more he learned of her achievements, the more he liked her and the more satisfied he became. But what if he found out Wen Yuncheng was a woman? Would his attitude change again?
Lin Jinyu didn't argue with Wen Yuncheng on this point. Instead, she asked what she was doing in the Imperial Capital and if she needed any help with her breakthrough.
"I'll probably rest in the Imperial Capital for about a week." Wen Yuncheng was too embarrassed to admit she was grinding in the Dueling Arena again. "I don't need anything special for the breakthrough... But I am a little curious, has 'Fu' really not made any moves lately? What are they doing? The Empire wiped out so many of their affiliates; they should be furious."
"Perhaps they're plotting something on a deeper level." Compared to whatever they were planning, the loss of their affiliates was probably insignificant, which was why "Fu" hadn't reacted strongly.
"...That's true."
One week later.
Wen Yuncheng returned to her residence from the Dueling Arena and casually tossed a salt-baked chicken to the little fox to keep the little creature from making a fuss and disturbing her. Only then did she open her system panel.
Host: Wen Yuncheng
Race: Human
Age: 20
Class: Mechanical Overlord
Level: 50
Experience: 25/47000
Points: 11596
Tears welled up in her eyes. Finally, level 50!
Wen Yuncheng took a deep breath, glanced at the little fox crunching away on its chicken, and used some spare change to buy three more salt-baked chickens and place them on the table. Then, she continued to review the new skills and gains from reaching the Star Spirit level.
G-Magnetic Pulse: Summons Corona to fire a magnetic pulse. Deals multi-hit damage to the targeted enemy while pulling them to a specific marked location on the ground. Uses the principle of magnetic repulsion to make the enemy float. Cooldown: 10 minutes
Camouflage: Uses cutting-edge camouflage technology to hide oneself and nearby mechs, making camouflaged characters invisible to the enemy. (Attacking will break the camouflage.) Duration: 30 minutes. Cooldown: 5 minutes
Aerial Combat Mech - Gale: Summons the aerial combat robot Gale to assist in attacking enemies. Duration: 30 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes
Passive - Mechanical Modification (II): Reduces the casting time of all mechanical skills level 50 and below by fifty percent and increases their damage by ten percent.
Four skills were unlocked, and each cost 200 points to learn. After learning them all, Wen Yuncheng looked back at the "Assembly: Mechanical Apostle" skill and saw that it could indeed be upgraded again. The cost for the third level had just increased to 500 points. With this, she could now create the Number Three Apostle.
Wen Yuncheng didn't rush to build it. Seeing that the Mechanical Apostle skill was now maxed out, she turned her attention to the two unlocked blueprints. One was a Mechanical Master blueprint, and the other was a C-Series blueprint: the Mechanical Barrier blueprint and the C-03 Air Wing blueprint, respectively. Both cost five hundred points each.
All in all, the post-level-up learning spree had cost her a total of 2,300 points.
The Mechanical Barrier's effect was just as its name suggested—a defensive measure. It involved using mechanical parts to build a small mechanical platform. Through mechanical affinity, she could control the platform to activate its energy source, forming a light blue energy barrier with an added electric shock effect. It required an Energy Core (Modified) to function. The only drawback was that this electric shock effect... also worked on Wen Yuncheng. Unlike skills, these blueprint products offered no special treatment for her.
As for the C-03 Air Wing... perhaps in response to Wen Yuncheng's lament that the C-02 Enemy-Annihilator couldn't self-destruct, this Air Wing was different. It required two types of cores for support: one was the original Energy Core, and the other was the upgraded Energy Core (Modified).
Wen Yuncheng quickly opened the store and looked at the Energy Core (Modified), which had been unlocked along with the blueprint. Good heavens, a core no bigger than a fist actually cost 50 points?
[Energy Core (Modified): Utilizes cutting-edge compression technology to significantly reduce the volume of the energy core, making it suitable for application in various machines.] 1947 thoughtfully added a note: [See? Once the Air Wing is out, your dream of blowing up a Star Venerate can come true!~]
Blowing up ten of them would cost eight hundred points, and the Air Wing was not small—it was about the size of a Star Cannon. It would be a miracle if it wasn't conspicuous flying in the sky! Because it used an energy core, the Air Wing also needed a paint job, and with that paint job... would a Star Venerate be foolish enough to just wait for such a huge lump to crash into them and self-destruct?
Wen Yuncheng ignored 1947. If she ever met a Star Venerate that foolish, she could probably kill him with a Star Cannon.
After taking stock of her new gains, Wen Yuncheng checked the progress of the Star Cannon parts being made in the manufacturing template and didn't stop the process. Once this batch was finished, she would first make four Mechanical Barriers to use; the barrier sounded like a consumable. And the Air Wing... "1947, when can this manufacturing template be upgraded to have more slots?"
[Let me check the Mechanical Master Training Guide.] 1947 tossed the Long Aotian Growth Manual aside and started rummaging for the Mechanical Master Training Guide, which it had misplaced at some point.
After a while, 1947 spoke in a sheepish voice: [Found it. You could have unlocked another blueprint manufacturing slot when you advanced to Mechanical Overlord.]
Wen Yuncheng: ?
[That'll be 1,500 points~]
Wen Yuncheng was speechless for a moment. What else could she do but console herself with the thought, "1947 has always been this unreliable"? It was also her own fault for not thinking of it. Perhaps it was because she hadn't needed to manufacture many different things?
After confirming the payment, she unlocked the new manufacturing page. Wen Yuncheng dragged the Mechanical Barrier blueprint into it, poured in the Azure Sea Crystals from her ring, and watched as this new page also began to whir and hum with activity.
Sect Master Lin... he'd probably make a great practice target, wouldn't he?
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