Technological advancement begins with devouring.

Chapter 90 Spiritual Elevation (3rd Update)

After confirming that the number of clones for the [Three Souls Transformation] technique could be changed at will, the first thing Jiang Chen did was to use up all three clone slots.

Three Black Mongol slaves voluntarily offered their lives to Jiang Chen in exchange for the freedom of their relatives and people.

The sudden splitting of his soul into four parts, even with the [Three Souls Transformation] skill allowing for rapid recovery, caused Jiang Chen immense pain.

Nourished by a large number of treasures, it took more than a month for the souls of the main body and the four clones to gradually grow and become complete.

The remaining funds are enough to build five [Space Furnaces].

Without the main body's involvement, it would take the three clones a little over a month to complete the construction and enhancement of all the parts.

Of course, the entire construction process will take longer. Even if Jiang Chen can mobilize more construction machinery, it will still take nearly two months to install all five [Space Furnaces].

However, if you wait patiently for a while, and with the original [Space Furnace] running at the same time, you can earn about 3.5 Mixed Yuan Units per month, which is quite a considerable income.

If the profits are reinvested to build more space furnaces, the subsequent returns will be even more astonishing.

As for whether he could sell all the high-level energy blocks he produced, Jiang Chen wasn't worried.

Although the technology in the Swallowed Star world is advanced, it is still far from being free from its dependence on energy.

Even items like cosmic crystals, which contain a large amount of energy, have become the most mainstream currency in the Swallowed Star world.

No matter how many energy blocks Jiang Chen produces, the human race can absolutely consume them.

However, once the first batch of space furnaces is installed, there is no need to leave all the clones to manufacture space furnaces.

At least in the initial stage, one clone is more than enough.

The main character naturally spends most of their time in the system library, absorbing knowledge and leveling up.

As for the remaining clones, after a little thought, Jiang Chen decided to send one clone into the universe to adventure and gain experience in various dangerous places.

When you have free time, you can also enter the 'Kill Space' in the virtual universe to hone your combat skills and make up for your shortcomings in this area to the greatest extent possible.

Before obtaining a clone, Jiang Chen had no interest in spending a lot of time fighting.

Rather than becoming an invincible combat genius of the same level, Jiang Chen prefers to crush his enemies with his superior strength.

But with a clone, Jiang Chen could do more things at the same time, so he naturally began to consider making up for this deficiency.

There are still a few years until the Cosmic Genius Battle.

Jiang Chen has already crossed the threshold of the laws in the three elements of wind, water, and darkness. Before the Genius Battle arrives, Jiang Chen is confident that he will cross the threshold of the laws in all six elemental laws involved in the third layer of the system's library.

While this level of mastery of the laws may not be comparable to that of the universe's most outstanding geniuses, such as Bolan, Luo Feng, and Rong Jun, as long as one doesn't perform too poorly in actual combat, breaking into the top 1,000 in the universe's overall rankings is not difficult at all.

Perhaps there's still a chance to try and get a spot in the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, or even the Primordial Secret Realm.

As for the original secret realm...

Unless the Genius Battle allows Jiang Chen to participate in the battle in a mecha, or even with a mechanical legion, Jiang Chen has no expectations for it.

However, as his core strength, Jiang Chen will not give up his research in science and technology.

Especially after experiencing the power of the [Three Souls Transformation] feat, Jiang Chen became even more ambitious and eager to acquire other powerful feats.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to obtain skill points.

Aside from the fixed number of skill points gained with each system level upgrade, the only way to gain skill points is to research new blueprints based on your existing knowledge, refine them to a level acceptable to the system, and have them included in the system's database.

However, achieving 'system recognition' is no easy feat.

When creating the 'Goliath' mecha, Jiang Chen not only combined natural technology and alchemy, but also repeatedly adjusted, modified, and updated it countless times before the system recognized and included the mecha's design.

Since then, Jiang Chen has not produced a second 'blueprint' that has been approved by the system.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Jiang Chen was no longer under external pressure and did not focus on designing a particular thing.

For Jiang Chen now, with his efficiency in mastering new knowledge constantly improving, whether it's mechanics, alchemy, or magical constructs, even if he painstakingly designs a perfect solution, the old design will soon be obsolete as 'knowledge' is updated, so there's no need to spend too much energy on it.

Even if there is a need, they will only find a similar design in the system drawings and make some modifications.

This level of 'innovation' is clearly insufficient to meet the requirements for system inclusion.

However, now that he has a clone, Jiang Chen can have the clone do this.

One clone focuses on honing combat skills, while the other two focus on designing various technological creations and improving them to a level that the system approves of.

As for manufacturing the [Space Furnace], it will take time to accumulate enough resources to build one anyway, so we can just take one from the clones that are researching the blueprints.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Time passes day by day.

When Jiang Chen first obtained the system, the most difficult thing was to go from zero to becoming a 'formal martial artist'.

It took Jiang Chen nearly three years to reach the God of War level.

However, with the improvement of attributes, and the support of the two specializations [High Focus] and [Scholar's Mindset], the leveling speed became even faster later on.

It took just over two years to go from planetary-level to stellar-level.

However, after reaching the stellar level, Jiang Chen's upgrade progress slowed down once again.

It's not because my expertise is lacking, or because I'm inefficient at acquiring new knowledge.

Instead, each upgrade requires more 'experience'.

It took a full year and a half from entering the second tier to reaching the third level of the second tier.

Furthermore, the further you progress, the longer the 'experience bar' is required for each level up, and the leveling speed will continue to decrease.

Jiang Chen even doubted whether he could break into the third tier and enter the cosmic level before the Genius Battle ended.

Of course, there are ways to speed up the upgrade process.

By exchanging for specializations like "High Focus" and "Scholar's Mindset," which accelerate the acquisition of new knowledge, Jiang Chen can spend less time mastering the knowledge in the system library and level up.

However, all types of expertise share common characteristics.

The cheaper the exchange rate, the less effective it is.

The more powerful the effect, the higher the exchange price.

To redeem a powerful feat that can significantly speed up the leveling process, you'll need a considerable number of feat points.

Furthermore, given the relatively limited number of skill points, whether to upgrade speed or improve other abilities requires careful consideration.

For example, Jiang Chen was very envious of the [Mechanical Genius] feat, which was worth 666 feat points.

This specialty, when combined with the 'Legion Rush' strategy of the Mechanical faction, will greatly enhance both the ability to mass-produce units and the quality of those units.

However, after much hesitation, Jiang Chen decided to postpone acquiring this skill.

On the one hand, Jiang Chen used all his funds to manufacture the [Space Furnace], leaving him with no extra money to build a powerful mechanical army.

On the other hand, Jiang Chen does not have this need in the short term.

Cheaper, cosmic-level slaves are perfectly sufficient at this stage.

With the technology Jiang Chen currently possesses, he cannot create mechanical units with combat power exceeding that of a ninth-order cosmic unit.

If even a ninth-order slave of the universe can't defeat an enemy, then Jiang Chen has no way to deal with them either.

To build a mechanical legion, it would need to be at least a legion capable of reaching the combat power level of a 'Domain Lord' in order to be of any help to Jiang Chen in his current state.

Since we're not building a legion, the [Mechanical Genius] feat isn't as valuable.

Instead, it would be better to first redeem some learning-related expertise or other 'functional' expertise to accelerate your growth.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Six months after obtaining the clone.

With the division of labor and cooperation between the two clones, Jiang Chen developed the second blueprint that was recognized by the system: the Giant God Weapon.

This is a 'work' that combines the three fields of technology, alchemy, and arcane arts.

By using alchemical technology to modify living beings, erasing their self-awareness, and then implanting mechanical equipment, their combat capabilities are enhanced.

Finally, through magical constructs, the strength of the alchemical creatures is greatly enhanced.

These units, existing somewhere between biological and mechanical, have a troll-like appearance but can be controlled by Jarvis, becoming his mechanical legion.

Although it is ugly in appearance, it has combat power of up to the fifth level of the universe and is completely immune to illusion and soul attacks.

Of course, the cost is not low either, averaging around one billion cosmic coins, which is much more expensive than directly buying a fifth-order cosmic slave.

— Directly purchasing a fifth-tier slave in the universe would only cost three to four hundred million universe coins, less than half the price.

Furthermore, slaves have the potential to be upgraded, while the [Colossus] has no room for further upgrades unless its weapons are replaced or it undergoes deeper genetic modification, etc.

However, Jiang Chen designed the [Giant God Weapon] not to mass-produce this 'weapon', but simply to obtain system rewards.

After continuous improvements, the blueprint for the [Giant God Weapon] was collected by the system and rated as 'Tier 3, Level 5'. Jiang Chen received a reward of 999 specialty points.

This number made Jiang Chen guess that the upgrade to the third stage would probably be a reward of 999 specialty points per level.

Jiang Chen didn't keep those skill points; instead, he exchanged them for a skill called "Spiritual Ascension."

[Spiritual Ascension]: Increases Intelligence, Spirit, and Mystic attributes by 30%, increases Spirit Resistance by 40%, and increases Spirit Resistance tier by 1.

The exchange requires 850 specialty points.

The 30% boost to intelligence, spirit, and mystery attributes, combined with [High Focus] and [Scholar's Mindset], will significantly improve Jiang Chen's efficiency in learning and mastering new knowledge.

However, what's even more important about this specialty is 'Mental Resistance' and 'Mental Resistance Rank'.

The latter two are hidden attributes on the system panel, and Jiang Chen is not even entirely clear about what they represent.

However, literally speaking, it is related to the defensive capabilities of the soul and consciousness, and can greatly enhance one's ability to survive.

The ability to save lives through clones is strong, but it's not a panacea.

If the ability to create clones in the universe is killed by an enemy through soul annihilation, both the original body and the clone will die.

Jiang Chen wasn't sure if his [Three Souls Transformation] had such a weakness, but improving his soul's ability to protect himself was definitely not a bad thing.

This world is full of dangers, and you can never have too many strong survival skills.

The successful inclusion of the [Giant Warrior] in the system also provided Jiang Chen with a 'shortcut'.

A single-system design is extremely difficult to be included in the system.

Because the system contains top-notch technological achievements from countless worlds, it is difficult for any system to surpass the blueprints already included in the system.

However, combining different systems is much easier.

In particular, the more systems involved, the fewer drawings are required within the system, and the more likely it is to achieve 'innovation'.

In fact, in Jiang Chen's opinion, the design details of the [Giant Warrior] were not perfect and there was still a lot of room for improvement.

However, the combination of alchemical creatures, mechanical constructs, and magical constructs has led to a new 'path'.

This kind of 'innovation' is the main reason why the [Giant Warrior] was included in the system and received a high rating.

Having confirmed this, Jiang Chen immediately knew which way to go from here.

Practicality and cost-effectiveness are not important considerations for now.

The most important thing is to continuously combine natural technology, alchemy technology, and arcane technology to research more 'innovative' blueprints and acquire a large number of expertise points.

Of course, doing this is also very expensive.

Many designs cannot be completed based on paper calculations; ultimately, they must be made into physical objects and tested and improved repeatedly.

The continuous improvement of the [Giant God Soldier] has cost nearly 10 billion cosmic coins.

However, compared to the skill points gained, this amount of money is negligible.

A small portion of the profits from the [Space Furnace] would be enough to cover Jiang Chen's research costs.

-

On Earth, Jiang Chen's main body and two clones spend almost all their time in libraries and laboratories.

Outside of Earth, one of Jiang Chen's clones constantly ventures into various dangerous places to hone his combat skills.

It wasn't the 'legion-style' Jiang Chen had envisioned, with a mechanical legion at its core and the main body protected by multiple legions.

Instead, they follow the most traditional path of mental master controllers, fighting with only one mental weapon, the 'Sky Shuttle'.

Six months later, Jiang Chen was once again included in the system through new blueprints and exchanged for a new specialty. Suddenly, Jiang Chen had a new idea.