Chapter 275: High-End, Mid-Range, Low-End

Chapter 275: High-End, Mid-Range, Low-End

Loris stared at Dan Marina for a long time, holding the new chopsticks brought over by the Ghost Maid. After Zheng Yichen finished that sentence, she felt something was off. She suspected this woman, Dan Marina, deliberately steered the conversation that way to probe for something!

After all, Zheng Yichen’s mindset had already cracked once before. Dan Marina couldn’t possibly have missed that. Bringing up something that could affect his mood at a time like this was highly likely to be deliberate. Most likely, this woman still hadn’t given up on figuring out the ‘secret’ between Zheng Yichen and her. Without a doubt, once she gathered enough ‘clues,’ Dan Marina could absolutely trace back to the core of the issue.

Perhaps aware that she had inadvertently touched upon something she had previously promised not to pursue, she wisely stopped the topic and introduced a new one: “Hey, Little Dragon, have you paid attention to the recent state of that magic weapon ?”

“No time.” Zheng Yichen ground his claws together. Regarding the state of the magic weapons, he really hadn’t paid much attention lately. Ever since he learned the roots of those Magic Weapon Evil Gods were in his hands, his focus had decreased significantly. He even seldom followed the Demon Sword Sect matters. After all, how much time had passed? Less than two months. This wasn’t some strategy game where you could plan everything, hit an acceleration key, and fast-forward to wait for the results. Two months was an ordinary period for minor situations in this world; for major situations, it would hardly cause any significant change.

“What happened on that side?” Since Dan Marina brought it up, Zheng Yichen’s curiosity was piqued. It was, after all, because of this woman that Zheng Yichen could learn many secret matters from the outside world even while staying home. As for news that wasn’t secret, on one hand, he could get it from Qin; on the other hand, he could find messages on the Magic Weapon Forum. This world didn’t have the explosive internet development like Earth, with true and false information flying everywhere.

Things like starting with just a picture, making up the entire story, or shocking headlines—this world only had the Magic Weapon Forum. Most of the special terms popular there originated from Zheng Yichen. Original ones? Sorry, none at all!

So, in the future, any “shocking department” or similar things would probably all originate from Zheng Yichen. Anyway… what exactly happened with Azure Wrath?

Zheng Yichen thought for a moment and suddenly had a new idea. Since people could use the Magic Weapon Forum, beings like Magic Weapon Evil Gods, who were also intelligent, using the Magic Weapon Forum shouldn’t be a big problem either!

“In that case…” Without another word, Zheng Yichen directly took out the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, intending to make a slight modification to allow Magic Weapon Evil Gods to communicate on the Magic Weapon Forum. After all, the Magic Weapon Forum required a Magic Weapon Contract to establish a connection before one could post. Although Magic Weapon Evil Gods were essentially magic weapons, they didn’t have something like a Magic Weapon Contract. That meant they couldn’t post on the Magic Weapon Forum through their connection with the magic weapon, nor could they view the contents of the Magic Weapon Forum…

So, Zheng Yichen needed to make a slight modification in this regard. Of course, it wasn’t about granting Magic Weapon Evil Gods a Magic Weapon Contract. He thought granting them Magic Weapon Contracts now would be too troublesome. Currently, the only controllable Magic Weapon Evil God was Azure Wrath. The evil gods born from the magic weapons Apophis and Holy Spirit Hammer: one roamed freely, and the other was controlled by the Sanctuary Church. Even if the magic weapons were destroyed, they would be damaged but wouldn’t disappear.

Therefore, before fully determining whether they were allies, Zheng Yichen definitely wouldn’t easily grant such permissions. Otherwise, he would just be asking for trouble. Opening the permission to enter the Magic Weapon Forum was already the maximum leniency. Anyway, the number of magic weapons was limited, so adding them one by one was fine. As for those uncontrollable magic weapons, Zheng Yichen could completely block them from viewing the Magic Weapon Forum, but this wasn’t absolutely foolproof. As long as they found followers with Magic Weapon Contracts, they could indirectly view the Magic Weapon Forum.

There had been cultists posting declarations on the Magic Weapon Forum before, but back then, all those posts were banned by Zheng Yichen. That was also a sweet income of Mana. Banning accounts… Well, that was a must, but the Magic Weapon Contracts weren’t canceled. After all, these cultists were like leeks; keeping their Magic Weapon Contracts meant they could continuously provide Mana.

Why completely cut them off and waste that?

“Uh, let’s finish dinner first.” Noticing that Dan Marina and Loris were both staring at him, Zheng Yichen said awkwardly. He quickly put the Magic Weapon Summoning Book aside, tapped his head, and took a slight breath, trying his best to slow down his eating pace. This habit needed to change!

“It seems your problem, Little Dragon, is really not small. But after a while, you’ll get to meet a similar research maniac.”

“Dan Marina!” Loris’s tone instantly turned cold!

“Ah~ Don’t be angry. It’s rare for Little Dragon to have such good conditions. Why not make good use of them? Continuing to keep things hidden is the biggest waste.” Dan Marina waved her hand lightly, ignoring Loris’s anger.

Loris snorted with extreme displeasure. Another witch… She really was quite resistant to the idea. After all, Zheng Yichen had many characteristics that attracted witches, especially the trait of ignoring the Witch’s Curse. Any witch who learned of it would be interested. With Zheng Yichen, they could see the possibility of shedding their weaknesses as witches. Who wouldn’t care about that?

It could even be said that aside from not being Human, he was perfect in every other way! Of course, Loris knew the truth about Zheng Yichen. His appearance was that of a dragon, but seeing his true form was simple: just enter his Dream. There, Zheng Yichen remained firmly part of the “humans are best” camp, without a single dragon-like characteristic. So, appearance… one must look at the essence!

But thinking about Zheng Yichen’s long-term plan, witches, while the biggest unstable factor, were also a needed force. After all, breaking through the sky’s barrier was too difficult. As for the Sanctuary Church… Black Moon was the trigger mechanism to detonate the “witch card” bomb. Only when Zheng Yichen had thoughts of stirring things up there would the people of the Sanctuary Church maliciously try to stop it. If they really stopped it, then the Sanctuary Church definitely had some problems.

Dan Marina was more suitable to analyze this matter, but her thoughts were not easy to figure out. Loris didn’t trust her. Therefore, even though she was well-suited for this analysis, she wasn’t the best candidate right now.

“…” The moment Loris lowered her head to pick up food, Dan Marina’s lips curled up slightly for an instant. She had indeed promised not to try to figure out certain things on Zheng Yichen to satisfy her curiosity, but figuring it out from someone else was not within the scope of that promise…

Hmm… In any case, she could confirm that the very important thing Zheng Yichen wanted to do must be related to witches, and witches were likely to play a significant role in it. Otherwise, after she said those words earlier, Loris would have immediately kicked her out without another word. Why would she choose to tacitly agree?

So, what exactly was this secret matter?

Seeing Loris’s expression growing worse, Dan Marina wisely refrained from saying any more “nonsense” and focused on eating. The Ghost Maid’s cooking was excellent, not inferior to food from some famous places she had been. This made her wonder if she should create a servant or two when she had nothing to do?

But that seemed troublesome. She had always been a loner, and with her abilities, she didn’t worry about being schemed against. Moving alone was too convenient. Bringing extra people along—she definitely wouldn’t hold them back; instead, those people would have to consider their own circumstances. So, the benefits of being solo were clear. Since it was so troublesome, she might as well come here for meals when free.

Anyway, Zheng Yichen seemed to be aiming for change, and with change, three meals a day would never be missing. Mhm-hmm… that was decided.

Loris glared at Dan Marina, displeased, feeling that this woman had just emitted a wavelength that annoyed her greatly. Why did a witch with such convenient abilities have such a troublesome personality? If her personality were steadier, Loris felt she wouldn’t be so averse to seeing her. For now… she would have to accept it and adapt.

“Hurry up and eat, then leave immediately after finishing!”

“Got it, got it. I’ll come back for dinner after leaving.”

Zheng Yichen watched Loris’s increasingly cold expression and poked Dan Marina’s head with a claw. “Can’t all this food shut you up?”

“How could this little bit be enough?”

“…” Zheng Yichen always felt there was an implied meaning in this woman’s words. He directly ignored her and focused on devouring the exquisite, plastic-like food in front of him. As for the flavor, watching the “deep” eye contact between the two of them, Zheng Yichen thought it best not to interrupt at this moment… though he really wanted to say something to stop this silent “exchange…”

Quickly finishing the remaining food, Zheng Yichen let out a burp and tossed aside the chopsticks that could be used as sticks. Using Dragon’s Claw to hold chopsticks felt awkward at first, but habits could be adapted to with a little time.

After dinner, he didn’t immediately return to the Laboratory. Instead, he inspected his “territory,” starting with the production Workshop. After checking the parts that needed maintenance, he glanced at this increasingly large Workshop. Since the success of researching Inferior Enchanted Material, materials were no longer the limiting factor for producing Alchemical Puppets. The real limitation was Soul Material!

If not for his recent poor mindset and lack of time, he would have prepared to research new models of Alchemical Puppets. The current Alchemical Puppets could basically be downgraded to cannon fodder level. After all, they were made from Inferior Enchanted Material and could only rely on numbers to win. As for quantity?

Cannon fodder units were already sufficient, but elite units were also indispensable. In the future, Zheng Yichen also planned to develop some Boss-level units… like Neutron Star Golems… Ahem, thinking too far ahead. In short, even though most of the current units were cannon fodder, just the stockpile of cannon fodder Alchemical Puppets in the warehouse was enough to wage a large-scale war.

Small countries would have no resistance against this steel tide and the suppression of Earth’s firearms. As for Spellcasters… Zheng Yichen noted that he was also a ‘Mage.’ He knew what they knew. The production facility had enough Inferior Enchanted Material to produce ‘enchanted’ bullets. Even if a regular Spellcaster’s Shield could block a few to a dozen bullets, bullets made from Inferior Enchanted Material also had shield-breaking effects. With dozens of bullets, the shield released by an ordinary Spellcaster would almost certainly break.

Hmm… Mental Energy. Zheng Yichen pinched his chin. The production conditions for enchanted bullets weren’t too easy either. After all, for a Magic Rune Array to take effect, Spiritual Power synchronization and coordination were necessary. Simply carving a Magic Rune Array had no effect. Besides the Mana Zheng Yichen infused into the material in the machine tool, there was also stored Spiritual Power. This was only possible because Zheng Yichen’s power characteristics were sufficiently unique…

It was like a printer; just follow the template to produce it, allowing machines to do the work. However, Mental Energy would never be as abundant as Mana. Zheng Yichen could squander Mana freely, but he couldn’t do the same with Mental Energy: “Hmm~ when will I develop a Magic Rune Array that can produce effects without needing Mental Energy? Even if the effect is weaker, as long as it can break through this point…”

Then there would be no more production limitations on weapons!

At that time, he could fully equip a high-end Alchemical Puppet army with excellent weapons in the shortest time. If he then produced some elite or Boss-level Alchemical Puppets, he might be able to rival some major powers. If materials were sufficient and production scale expanded further… tsk tsk, if not for the strong individuals in this world replacing weapons like Nuclear Bombs, Zheng Yichen wondered if he could trigger a weakened version of the Tianwang crisis?

“Uh, why did I suddenly think of stirring up trouble?” Zheng Yichen shook his head and decisively dismissed this unrealistic idea. Mass-producing troops was for self-defense and as a precaution… Yeah, that’s right—self-defense. It shouldn’t be used for unjust aggression. After all, nothing was absolute. The Underground Base couldn’t keep its secrets forever. If it were exposed one day, those with ulterior motives who discovered it was an unshakeable steel fortress should rein in their ambitions… Beyond that, it was preparation for the future.

To move about openly on the outside, he had to make himself troublesome enough!

He couldn’t rely on anyone, nor did he have the conditions to overly depend on others. Currently, aside from “climbing the tech tree,” many things Zheng Yichen wanted to do couldn’t follow a normal path. Normal ways to grow stronger? Since that was the case, why not fully utilize his advantages?

High-end combat power had the witches. Mid-range? He could manage that himself and would attempt mass production in the future. Low-end? The Underground Base was fully stocked with cannon fodder ready to be used. With high, mid, and low tiers covered, how could that not be better than the normal, single-path development for growing stronger?

“If only this world could fast-forward a decade or more like a game.” Zheng Yichen tapped his head, left the production workshop, and arrived at the cultivation room. This was mainly for cultivating rare Magical Beasts or special plants. Parts obtained from them were important materials for Alchemy or Magic Potions. It was also Zheng Yichen’s place for raising pets…