Chapter 240: Creating a God?

Chapter 240: Creating a God?

What she came to Kaja for didn’t matter, as long as she wasn’t there looking for him. After making sure there was no tail behind him, Zheng Yichen felt quite pleased as he returned to the hidden elevator entrance. He quickly went back to the Underground Base via the elevator. He only needed to visit Lily every few days. Now that the Loli he needed to arrange for was no longer by his side, he could almost completely settle down and focus on his research.

What was the second plan again? The Power Core, right… Hmm. Zheng Yichen stripped the Bionic Alchemical Avatar naked and tossed it into a Culture Tank. This thing was semi-living; it needed maintenance when not in use. If left alone somewhere, its blood would deplete, and it would probably break down within a couple of days if not tended to.

His mouth twitched a few times. Zheng Yichen pulled out the crystal that had been stuck between his teeth earlier. Because its power had been absorbed, the crystal had turned completely colorless. Thanks to this crystal’s power, Zheng Yichen’s current Mana Quality was at least three times its original level. From this, one could see just how powerful the energy a Witch possessed was…

Of course, considering this crystal was practically as precious as the Fate-Killer Dan Marina made, Zheng Yichen actually felt such an improvement was normal. How many precious items did Dan Marina use to make Fate-Killer?

She never said. Given how long she had prepared for it, how could it be few? Something of the same level couldn’t possibly be inferior. If this crystal had been complete and unused, Zheng Yichen felt his Mana Quality could have increased by over ten times at the very least. Sadly, that was just a pipe dream. Reality? It was already good to have the gains he had now. Why think so much? Only what you could get into your own hands was truly yours.

Zheng Yichen narrowed his eyes, staring at the crystal. After losing its stored power, it had become completely colorless. He felt a bit troubled about how to handle this thing. Whatever, he better consult Irene about it. Muttering to himself, he placed the crystal into his Personal Space and shifted his attention to the idle Projection left with Irene.

When Zheng Yichen opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was Irene sitting on a soft chair in front of him. At this moment, her eyes were vacant and blank, as if she were a doll.

“What is it?” Irene’s vacant eyes quickly regained their spark. She stood up and walked over to Zheng Yichen to ask.

“Uh, I want to ask something. How malleable is this crystal?” Zheng Yichen took out the power-drained crystal and asked.

“Quite low. What do you want to change it into?” Irene thought for a moment before asking.

“Can its interior be divided to store different types of power?”

“Yes. Any power poured into it will solidify in the form it was poured in. Even if they come into contact, they won’t change,” Irene said. This crystal wasn’t of much use now that its power was exhausted, but it was still made from a considerable amount of precious materials. Even without its original immense power, its inherent effects remained strong.

“Oh… I see. What would happen if this thing was divided?” Zheng Yichen asked again.

“Nothing much. Even if divided, it could be restored once the pieces were reconnected. But… can you cut it?” Irene countered. She had put a lot of effort into making this thing back then. Was it something that could just be cut? He was thinking too simply about something she made. This thing could hit a spatial rift without much issue. Cut it? Dream on…

“I’ll ask Loris for help, of course.” Zheng Yichen casually tossed the crystal back into his Personal Space. After confirming some of its characteristics, he waved at Irene. Under her slightly silent gaze, he pulled his attention back to his main body.

Irene glanced at the Projection that fell to the ground, its movements frozen, looking like a small statue. Asking Loris for help was indeed one way to divide the crystal. Of course, she had a better method, but Zheng Yichen hadn’t asked. Probably because he thought an exchange was needed. She gave a slight shake of her head. An exchange wasn’t necessary. This thing had already been given to Zheng Yichen. That method could very well be considered a bonus.

As for affecting her? That didn’t exist. That method also had considerable limitations. It couldn’t be divided in less than two or three days anyway.

“Lori, can you cut this thing into small pieces like these?” Zheng Yichen placed the crystal in front of Loris while also putting a design Blueprint in front of her. The design Blueprint was for division. It could equally divide this crystal into 999 small pieces, each with an extending part that could connect to the surface layer.

“…Yes. One month.” Loris glanced at Zheng Yichen’s Blueprint, tapped the crystal with her finger, and said to him. Zheng Yichen looked at her calm eyes and scratched his head, feeling a strangely weird illusion. At this moment, she seemed like she should be saying… You always find such troublesome things for me?

Uh, he was probably overthinking it.

“I’m hungry.”

“Oh, right! I’ll go prepare it right away.” Zheng Yichen quickly nodded. Since Loris accepted the task without saying anything, he shouldn’t say anything more either. He immediately went to the kitchen and saw two Ghost Maids preparing… he took out his watch to check the time… preparing dinner. He handed them a frozen container. The two Ghost Maids were very familiar with this thing; they had seen it often recently. What was inside?

Zheng Yichen’s Dragon Blood.

After handing the Dragon Blood to the Ghost Maids cooking, Zheng Yichen went to the basement. Since the crystal would take a month to process, the Power Core matter could be postponed for now. Might as well do something else first. The Ruins’ permissions had been completely cracked. Zheng Yichen could add extra wiring without affecting the main structure. He also knew the purpose of those parts of the Ruins that pierced into the ground.

Their function was to channel the unusable parts of the gathered and converted Mana into the ground. By “unusable,” it meant parts that the Ruins’ conversion function couldn’t utilize, such as the attribute of Elemental Power… After all, this conversion wasn’t like a biological individual cultivating Mana, where the attribute part is automatically filtered out during practice.

These attribute parts channeled underground could gradually affect the environment below. Over time, they could produce something called elemental ore crystals—crystals containing various impure Elemental Power. Not extremely high-end things, but when applied at the basic level, they were pretty good Enchanted Materials. Moreover, the existence of such artificial ore vein parts could facilitate the gathering of Elemental Power, speeding up the Ruins’ operation.

This formed a virtuous cycle. As for the exposure issue? With the Ruins present, the concentration of Elemental Power in this area always remained at normal levels. Any excess would be absorbed by the Ruins. This was also the main reason why the Ruins Irene left behind long ago hadn’t been exposed for so long.

Laying the lines was a huge project, especially when it had to be established throughout the entire Underground Base. Many areas needed redesigning. Before the formal Blueprint was completed, what Zheng Yichen was doing now was first to finish transforming this Ruins that remained only as the main structure. He would create all the interfaces and such. The formal design could come later; this wasn’t something that could be finished in a day or two anyway.

He took out the plan book and looked it over. Once all these tasks were completed, everything would proceed on track. Then he could live a relatively relaxed daily life, study hard and improve every day, living a happy, long life where it could be once a day, twice, or even three times… right?

Speaking of which, what had that charlatan Dan Marina been up to lately?

“Huh? This place? You’re sure you want to go there?” Dan Marina looked at the location marked on the map, giving the “companions” sitting around the table with her a strange look. If Zheng Yichen were here, he would notice that Oss, whom he hadn’t paid attention to for quite a while, was among them!

“What’s wrong with this place?” Oss asked. Dan Marina was a female Adventurer he had met some time ago. At that time, her situation didn’t look very good. After all, a Mage who could only cast a small Fireball was always quite helpless against a ferocious Magic Wolf. Oss felt fortunate he had discovered her then; otherwise, this beautiful woman might have tragically perished.

After some time together, Oss found that this young woman named Lena, besides being a bit “weak” in strength, was very knowledgeable and knew many things most people didn’t. He curiously asked about this, but Dan Marina’s answer left him speechless yet unable to argue.

She had put all her effort into studying knowledge, so of course, she didn’t have time to practice Magic. Being a bit weak was normal, right? It sounded strange, but in feeling, there wasn’t anything wrong with it. Specializing in one area meant other aspects would inevitably be weaker.

At the time, Oss advised that since that was the case, she should hurry back to wherever she came from. Someone who could master so much knowledge definitely wasn’t an ordinary woman. Unfortunately, Lena seemed particularly eager to venture outside at that time and didn’t take his words to heart at all. This forced Oss to temporarily travel with her.

Because… he saw that Lena wasn’t strong, and she was also very beautiful. For such a woman to wander around, it wasn’t just possible, but absolutely likely, that she would encounter the kind of situation that almost happened to his sister before. Now, he even felt there were benefits to bringing along this woman who seemed a bit prone to causing trouble. The additional companions by his side were the best proof.

Dan Marina wasn’t just knowledgeable; her judgment of people was also very sharp. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to find these reliable companions around him. Perhaps that was why she agreed to travel with him temporarily back then?

“Hmm~ From what I know, some kind of Aberration seems to have happened at this place. It was about over a month ago. The Sanctuary Church even blocked off the area.” Dan Marina tapped her cheek, speaking with a somewhat uncertain tone.

“Over a month ago?” Oss thought about it. This was probably something Dan Marina heard from her family when she left to venture out. That time was shortly after he met Dan Marina.

“Should we go check it out?”

“Well… after all, this Quest is like that.” Oss nodded. Adventurers could also take Mercenary Quests. Different from Mercenaries who frequently took Quests, Adventurers generally only took Quests that were along their way. Therefore, many Quests Adventurers took didn’t seem to match their strength very well.

You could think of Adventurers as a different kind of Mercenary, just not as professional.

Achille sat alone on a mountain rock, silently watching a Valley in the distance. His expression was calm and unruffled as he listened to a Sanctuary Church member by his side giving a report. The report’s content was about Oss’s recent movements. Letting him go back then needed no further discussion. What he had been doing recently simply couldn’t be associated with a Cultist.

Even though he possessed the power of a Cultist… With such information now, it was enough to make some within the Sanctuary Church who knew about this matter shut up. The Demon Sword Sect’s development methods were completely different from other Cults. Still wanting to use the old ways to target it? Did they really think that would work?

Using the harshest methods to strike against those inhumane Cultists was fine, but the Demon Sword Sect’s development policy was too unique, a breath of fresh air. Even though it was categorized as a Cult, if one could understand the Demon Sword Sect’s “teachings” in detail, they would find this Demon Sword Sect was too easily accepted by the grassroots…

Especially by those who suffered oppression. Although those people might do more extreme things after gaining power.

Such was the case with the Demon Sword Sect. As for other Cults, unless truly pushed to the brink, no one would choose to join those deceiving Cults. Therefore, the methods used against the Demon Sword Sect absolutely couldn’t be the old ways. Overly harsh targeting and suppression would only make the Demon Sword Sect recruit people on a large scale to cope with increasing pressure.

The consequence would be more and more grassroots learning about the Demon Sword Sect… Even if deliberately smearing it, people had a sense of wishful thinking. What if some people heard information that wasn’t bad, but the normal way the Demon Sword Sect operated? Wouldn’t that be disastrous?

“Understood. Continue observing.” After listening to the report, Achille nodded. He continued looking at the Canyon visible from his position. Oss’s Quest was to investigate the changes in this Canyon from over half a month ago. The one who issued this Quest was probably someone from a certain faction. The reason it was issued only now was that this Canyon had been blocked off by the Sanctuary Church until just a couple of days ago when it was reopened…

Looking at it, Achille couldn’t help but recall what happened here before. Over a month ago, he was summoned by the Sanctuary Church’s higher-ups once and given a top-secret mission…

Creating a god…

Of course, not those vanished gods. The Sanctuary Church had no connection with gods. The so-called “creating a god” referred to an existence like an Evil God. They weren’t trying to create a chaotic, evil Evil God, but a positive “Evil God.” This was also an experimental attempt by the Sanctuary Church.

The inspiration for this experiment came from the Demon Sword Sect. Since most intelligence indicated that the Evil God within the Demon Sword Sect was related to the High-Level Magic Soldier Apophis in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, and based on that Magic Arms, an Outsider Evil God among Cults was created—using evil-type Magic Arms to produce a completely different Evil God—if a sacred-type Magic Arms was used as the foundation, could an even more special Evil God be created?

Thus, the experiment on creating a god was conducted at this location… It ended just a week ago!