Chapter 106: A Declaration Challenging the Entire Global Realm (Part 3)

He did not bother with any alchemical magic runes, magical constructs, or similar enhancements.

These were purely technological creations. The technical complexity was not particularly high—at least, for any single mechanical unit, the technology involved was quite simple. Of course, this "low technical complexity" is only relative to the technology Jiang Chen has mastered. In truth, many of the technologies Jiang Chen employed would be considered top-secret in a low-level cosmic nation, or even some mid-level ones. Naturally, to high-level cosmic nations, or even the five major giants, the technology used in these mechanical units would not be considered very advanced.

However, even if the technology is not high-end, once a specific functionality is pushed to its absolute limit, the lethality it possesses becomes terrifying. It was much like those aircraft loaded with laser cannons in the "world within a world." In fact, the main force Jiang Chen manufactured this time was similar, only he had replaced the laser cannons with laser guns that required shorter charging times and consumed less energy. The cost had risen accordingly, but in a place where "free materials" were everywhere, Jiang Chen did not need to consider resource costs. He only needed to ensure the conversion efficiency of the alchemical transmutation arrays kept pace.

The efficiency of the cosmic industrial age is astonishing. Under the full production of numerous processing modules, mechanical units of various forms were rapidly assembled on the assembly lines and sent out of the factory. The absolute main force of the mechanical army consisted of small aircraft, only half a meter long, equipped with C3-level laser guns. For every thousand small aircraft, there was one ten-meter-long "command craft" equipped with large-scale sensors and intelligent optical computers, used for reconnaissance, marking enemy positions, and directing the small aircraft to conduct precise sniping.

"What a pity. This planet is filled with Grade B materials; means of destruction relying on 'shockwaves' and 'high temperatures,' such as nuclear explosions, are severely restricted. Otherwise, a direct nuclear carpet-bombing would have cleared the entire planet in less than three days, leaving me as the only living soul."

Jiang Chen sighed, using his telekinesis to issue commands, dispatching squadrons of fighters from this city as the starting point to eliminate every enemy detected by the sensors. The unique environment of the preliminary qualifiers meant that "large-scale area-of-effect" attacks were greatly weakened. Instead, methods with smaller areas that pursued ultimate single-point lethality were the most effective. In layman's terms, on this planet, laser guns were superior to nuclear bombs.

—

On the fifteenth day of the qualifiers, Jiang Chen stopped his work.

"These materials are more than enough; I don't need to stay here and convert any more."

"The next task is to harvest points and test the combat mode of the 'Mechanical Legion'!"

Jiang Chen glanced at the mountains of various materials and input his subsequent production and combat plans into the factory's central computer. Due to restrictions on carrying equipment, no one in the preliminary qualifiers could bring in their own artificial intelligence. Unless someone like Jiang Chen "hand-crafted" an AI, no one could contest his control over the mechanical units. Once instructions were input into the central computer in advance, Jiang Chen did not need to intervene at all. These mechanical units would seek out and kill enemies on their own, harvesting massive amounts of points for him.

Leaving most of the fighters behind, Jiang Chen donned his armor and walked out of the factory. Outside, the original residential complex had been flattened, and a massive, rectangular battleship several kilometers long sat on the ground. Jiang Chen stepped onto the ship and used his telekinesis to communicate with its central computer. Moments later, the ship took off, ascended to an altitude of over eight thousand meters, and flew rapidly toward a massive city on the other side of the continent.

On the ground, martial artists caught sight of the giant warship overhead and could not help but widen their eyes.

"What on earth is that?!"

"Can you even bring battleships into the Genius Tournament?"

"How are we supposed to fight this?!"

The martial artists who had survived a week of slaughter in the same city as Jiang Chen were on the verge of madness. But the next moment, beams of light as thick as a finger shot out from every corner of the city, rapidly eliminating the remaining survivors.

—

The environment of the world zone was very peculiar, with the highest point of the sky being only nine thousand meters. Beyond that was something akin to an "air wall." Outside the air wall were numerous spectator ships; they could not interfere with the battles inside the world zone and could only watch. At this moment, Jiang Chen's battleship was hovering just across the "air wall" from a cluster of small spectator ships, staring each other down. Jiang Chen naturally noticed the ships above, but he had no intention of paying them any mind.

He raised his wrist, and the screen on his bracelet displayed a string of information:

Contestant: Jiang Chen (Black Dragon Mountain Empire)
Points: 59,851,632
Ranking: 1

The number representing his points continued to jump. These were the points brought to him by the fighter squadrons he had dispatched to arrive at various cities and slaughter the other contestants. The Virtual Universe Company was quite fair. Although there were extreme restrictions on "technological weapons," as long as you could build them, any enemy killed by them would have their points counted normally; not a single point would be missed. In the entire World Zone 99, there were 92 cities, and only one was not on the "slaughter list" Jiang Chen had preset in his instructions. And now, Jiang Chen's battleship had arrived above that very city.

"Sixty million points. Even if I were to die now and lose half my points, I would still securely enter the top one hundred. Passing the qualifiers is no pressure at all."

A thought flashed through Jiang Chen's mind. He remembered that in the original story, Luo Feng had obtained over thirty million points and had only narrowly missed the top fifty in his world zone. Yet now, only half a month into the qualifiers, Jiang Chen had already obtained nearly sixty million. No... just in this short moment, the point total on his screen had already exceeded sixty million.

Jiang Chen closed his eyes, waited for a few seconds, then abruptly opened them. "Since there is no pressure, let's start in this city. I won't use the 'cheating' method of long-range sniping with fighters. Let's see if the mechanical legion, under conventional combat, can perform up to my expectations!"

In Jiang Chen's view, utilizing the high mobility of fighters combined with the ultra-long-range sniping of laser guns and cannons was a form of "cheating." When facing enemies who were not strong enough, such tactics were unsolvable. However, laser weapons had a ceiling. This did not refer to an upper limit on attack power, but an upper limit on attack speed. By relying on the speed of light, enemies could not react in time. As long as the attack power was sufficient, it was considered unbeatable in battles below the Undying level.

But above the Undying level, especially once one reached the level of a Fenghou (King) Undying, the "speed of light" was no longer invincible. A capable Undying could react at the very instant an attack was launched and accelerate their own body to a speed infinitely close to the speed of light, dodging the laser weapon's attack. If one relied too heavily on laser weapons, they would indeed be invincible below the Undying level, but once they went to the extraterritorial battlefields, they might suffer a great loss. It would be better to start perfecting his "Mechanical Legion" system early, building an "all-around legion" that was immensely comprehensive and suitable for any combat scenario.

Jiang Chen already had a preliminary concept for this mechanical legion, and this preliminary qualifier was the best possible "testing ground."

"I am Jiang Chen! I have sixty million points, and I am currently ranked first!"

Jiang Chen's voice echoed across the entire city. At the same time, fighters equipped with loudspeakers were broadcasting his declaration synchronously over every other city.

"I am currently in a battleship eight thousand meters above City No. 1, issuing a challenge to all surviving Star-level combatants in World Zone 99!"

"With my own power alone, I will fight everyone in this world zone!"

"Those with ambition, those who want to kill me and take my points, come to City No. 1 and find me!"

"Three days from now, I will lead my mechanical legion and face everyone who comes to City No. 1!"

"Remember, you must unite; the more people you gather, the better!"

"Otherwise, you won't be able to pose the slightest threat to me!"

The fighters broadcasting his "challenge declaration" carried his words throughout the entire world zone.

—

In the ruins of a collapsed building, a youth covered in blood and clutching a long saber heard the broadcast. A hint of killing intent appeared in his eyes as he muttered to himself: "Interesting, challenging everyone in the entire world zone? I'd like to see what such an arrogant fellow is made of!"

With that, the youth shook his blade, sending a spray of blood onto the ground and leaving a jarring trail. Without a second glance, he strode off in the direction of City No. 1.

—

In the desert, a woman in white, exuding an air of detachment from the world, casually manipulated her telekinetic weapon to kill a team of over a hundred martial artists before looking up toward the direction of City No. 1.

"That person is the 'cheater' they talk about, the one who brought a mechanical legion into the arena?"

"Sixty million points—that's worth my effort."

The woman soared into the air, stepping onto her telekinetic weapon, and transformed into a stream of light as she flew toward City No. 1.

—

High in the air, a youth surrounded by fire dragons slashed his blade, shattering a high-speed fighter. The attacks from the laser guns were perfectly blocked by the fire dragons around him, causing him no damage at all. After losing hundreds of fighters, the "command craft" issued an order to retreat. The youth did not pursue, turning his gaze toward City No. 1.

"Are these annoying things what that guy brought in?"

"To be able to use technological weapons in the Genius Tournament is quite interesting."

"Let me, 'Flame Dragon,' test whether your so-called 'Mechanical Legion' is strong, or if my 'Fire Dragon Domain' is better!"

The youth quickly changed direction and flew toward City No. 1.

—

Elsewhere, other incredibly powerful geniuses who had stood out in the previous fifteen days of slaughter were also emerging. Some could easily wipe out large teams of martial artists; others could fight and defeat strong enemies who were high on the leaderboard. There were even some who could survive the attacks of fighters equipped with laser guns, or even counter-kill them. Under the influence of Jiang Chen's "challenge declaration," all the powerhouses in World Zone 99 became deeply interested.

After half a month of slaughter, the number of surviving Star-level combatants in World Zone 99 was less than one percent of what it had been. Yet, the absolute number was still frighteningly large. Countless Star-level combatants heard the challenge and, upon learning that a "cheater" with massive amounts of technological weapons had appeared, grew interested.

Many who had seen the fighter squadrons slaughtering large groups of martial artists knew they lacked the strength and only wanted to hide, finding ways to ambush and kill a few martial artists to earn points in order to reach the top 1001. But many who considered themselves outstanding, or large groups of martial artists who knew each other, were filled with ambition, wanting to claim Jiang Chen's head and seize his points.

One had to remember that according to the rules of the preliminary qualifiers, killing an enemy not only granted the base 1 point but also allowed one to seize half of the opponent's points. Jiang Chen claimed to have over sixty million points; even if they only seized half, that would be enough to securely rank at the very top.

For a time, many began rushing toward City No. 1. Under Jiang Chen's instructions, his fighter squadrons did not intercept these martial artists; instead, they continued to slaughter those who still remained in their respective cities, trying to hide. This forced even more martial artists to converge on City No. 1. Along the way, although many skirmishes broke out, the number of martial artists arriving at City No. 1 grew ever larger.

There were those who could not contain their impatience and wanted to kill Jiang Chen and take his points before the "appointed time." But they were all easily killed in seconds by the laser cannons on the battleship. Even the attacks of a large team consisting of several thousand people could not get within five thousand meters of the warship. Everyone realized that without gathering enough people, it was impossible to pose any threat to Jiang Chen under such intensity of attack. Even the most impatient among them had to wait patiently.

Finally, three days passed.

Inside the battleship, Jiang Chen looked at the dense red dots on the 3D map and the "total number of survivors" displayed above, unable to hide a hint of disappointment.

"I didn't expect that with so many powerhouses gathered in one city, killing and eliminating each other, the rate of elimination would be so fast. In just three days, there are fewer than three million left alive in the entire world zone..."

"Fortunately, those two million-plus survivors are all in City No. 1. That should be enough to make my mechanical legion feel some pressure."

"Well then..."

"Let's fight!"

Jiang Chen's telekinesis erupted instantly, and the armor around the battleship opened completely, revealing the inner compartments. Mechanical units of various forms rapidly dispersed, instantly filling the entire sky. Seeing this, the over two million surviving martial artists in the city below realized what was happening and quickly prepared for battle.

Inside the mech control room, Jiang Chen, encased in a suit of gold and red armor, walked slowly to the edge of the ship.

"Today, I challenge everyone still alive in World Zone 99!"

"Enough talk. Let's fight!"