Chapter 110: Establishing the Trading Channel (Second Update)

After the first stage of the preliminaries, various factions began to take action, seeking to win over the geniuses who had distinguished themselves in the initial round.

The larger powers naturally set their sights on those who had emerged victorious in the first round and were poised to advance to the cosmic finals.

Smaller factions, meanwhile, focused their attention on geniuses who were just a tier below.

Even many talented individuals who had been eliminated in the first round but had shown promising performances attracted considerable interest from various forces and organizations.

Although Jiang Chen, Luo Feng, and others were not particularly interested in these matters, they could hardly avoid receiving invitations that were difficult to decline.

These came from high-ranking officials of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire and major factions within the Qianwu Cosmic Nation.

However, neither of them readily accepted these invitations; they merely exchanged polite courtesies, establishing a cordial relationship—an amicable bond, so to speak.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jiang Chen expanded his business ventures further.

Over the past few years, he had accumulated a considerable cache of valuable assets.

Beyond the “Spatial Forge,” a powerful money-making tool, he also possessed impressive technologies in spaceship engines, intelligent optical brains, and various scientific weaponry.

Although technology in the cosmos was highly advanced, at slightly lower tiers, the cost-performance ratio of Jiang Chen’s system-exchanged blueprints often surpassed that of conventional technologies.

Through the platform of the genius competition, Jiang Chen had preliminarily established cooperative relationships with several factions within the Qianwu Cosmic Nation.

While these factions were willing to collaborate, their goodwill largely stemmed from Jiang Chen’s achievements in the competition—they hoped to strengthen ties through mutual benefit.

Initially, the scale of cooperation was modest, and these factions approached Jiang Chen with a mentality akin to “gifting money.”

Naturally, such generosity was not without limits; each faction had its internal valuation for dealings with Jiang Chen.

Still, Jiang Chen believed that as long as his products demonstrated superior performance at attractive prices, yielding substantial profits for partners, the attitudes of these factions would inevitably evolve.

In any environment, unless one possessed overwhelming military superiority, making great profits required enlisting powerful partners to expand the pie together.

Monopolizing resources was universally unwelcome in any world.

——

Inside a quiet chamber of the Virtual Cosmos,

Jiang Chen folded the recently signed contract and smiled. “Lord Yu Kan, the first batch of D5-class spaceship engines will be delivered within six months. I believe this marks the beginning of a long-term cooperation between us. Our company offers the most competitively priced and highest-performing products at this tier.”

Before him stood an Immortal—though not among the strongest representatives from various factions meeting Jiang Chen, his status was unique.

He represented the Ji Clan, one of the three hundred noble houses of the Qianwu Cosmic Nation, and was a disciple of Ji Tianzang, the clan leader.

Jiang Chen’s other avatar, known as Eso, was a disciple under the Illusion Spirit King, whose cosmic-level disciple Ji Qing hailed from this clan.

Yes, Ji Qing—the character from the original story who fell in love with Hong but was ultimately torn apart by the Illusion Spirit King.

Thanks to Ji Qing’s background, Jiang Chen was well acquainted with the power of the Ji Clan, aware that they controlled vast industries within the Qianwu Cosmic Nation, thus attaching great importance to this transaction.

“I tend to speak frankly. If I offend, please forgive me,” Yu Kan said as he put away the contract and looked at Jiang Chen.

“Our cooperation is purely because of you personally. As for the product’s performance, I do not hold high expectations. But that’s fine—as long as your spaceship engines meet the minimum D5-class standard, this deal can continue. If you succeed in becoming a core genius at the Virtual Cosmos Company, and your status there rises with your strength, the scale of transactions can expand accordingly.”

Yu Kan’s stance was unmistakably clear: he did not expect this deal to bring profits to the Ji Clan and was prepared to incur losses.

He regarded this as spending money simply to foster good relations with Jiang Chen.

For a family like his, such “business” was commonplace.

On the surface, it was business; in reality, it was a means of transferring benefits and building connections.

The scale of such transactions—the extent of benefit transfer—depended on the counterpart’s strength and status.

Jiang Chen paid no mind to Yu Kan’s attitude and smiled slightly. “Once the engines are delivered, you may have your technicians verify them. As I said, I only sell the best products and prefer win-win situations. Of course, if you don’t believe me now, that’s fine—you’ll understand once you receive the goods that I did not deceive you.”

Yu Kan nodded, outwardly appearing to accept Jiang Chen’s words, though his true thoughts remained his own.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Yu Kan soon took his leave.

Jiang Chen took out the contract again, glanced over it a few times, and nodded in satisfaction.

——

Setting aside the connection through Ji Qing, the Ji Clan controlled vast mineral resources within the Qianwu Cosmic Nation, including special metals and ores imbued with powerful supernatural properties.

This was exactly what Jiang Chen needed most for constructing his mechanical legion.

In terms of B-class to E-class metals alone, the Ji Clan held nearly thirty percent of the Qianwu Cosmic Nation’s market share.

Of course, the majority belonged to the Qianwu Cosmic Nation’s “Commerce Department,” in which the Ji Clan held shares and managerial rights.

However, the Commerce Department rarely involved itself in specific management, so the Ji Clan wielded considerable influence over mineral trade.

If Jiang Chen could establish a long-term cooperative relationship with the Ji Clan, he could procure raw materials at prices lower than the market rate.

Even if the discount were only a few percentage points, when multiplied on a large scale, the savings would be substantial.

Most importantly, securing a resource supply channel would allow Jiang Chen to avoid being constrained by others when building his mechanical legion in the future.

Although the major five powers’ supply channels were reliable, having an additional channel meant more options.

“The Ji Clan controls ‘Silverflow Metal,’ ‘Obsidian Yttrium Metal,’ ‘Loyu Crystal Stone,’ and other materials—all in great demand for constructing my mechanical legion. With this channel, I can begin preparations,” Jiang Chen mused, planning for the future.

After the preliminary round’s test, the prototype of Jiang Chen’s mechanical legion had been validated in actual combat.

Next, he only needed to continuously improve the design along this line of thought.

Of course, assembling a mechanical legion of sufficient scale required astronomical funding.

But Jiang Chen still had plenty of time.

There were several years left after the genius competition.

He could even wait until entering the Virtual Cosmos Company’s core secret realm to complete the creation of the mechanical legion.

All he had to do was gather the “start-up capital” before the competition ended and before journeying to the initial cosmos.

“Hm, the core made from the ‘Void Dragon Bone’ can be postponed for now. I’ll design an E-class mechanical unit first and handle the ‘Zerg Queen’ on Earth later,” Jiang Chen decided.

After making this decision, he quickly teleported back to his residence in the Virtual Cosmos, entered a specially designated experimental space, pulled up a design plan, and began studying and refining it.

——

Two months after the first-round preliminaries ended.

On July 17, 2066, Huaxia time, the second round of the preliminaries—the “Arena Battle”—commenced.

As in the original story, Hong failed to advance past the first round of the arena melee and was unfortunately eliminated.

However, given his strength, reaching this stage was already somewhat fortunate.

Even if he had passed the melee, he would have little chance to break through subsequent one-on-one elimination matches and the reincarnation battles.

Without crossing the threshold of the “Laws,” he could not hope for a high cosmic ranking.

Luo Feng performed well. After surviving the arena melee, he won four consecutive one-on-one matches, securing a promotion.

Unlike in the original story, he did not encounter the stronger Rong Jun, who had sent him to the “Losers’ Group” and the grueling “Reincarnation Battles.”

Yet, missing out on the ordeal of reincarnation battles was neither definitively good nor bad.

Some geniuses deliberately lost in the last round to enter reincarnation battles, seeking to face one opponent after another.

——

Those who reached the “Arena One-on-One” stage were by no means weak, even if eliminated.

Facing such adversaries was meaningful for many geniuses.

Perhaps an opponent’s performance could inspire new insights.

For instance, Rong Jun of the Qianwu Cosmic Nation, whom Jiang Chen paid close attention to, had deliberately lost in the last arena one-on-one round to enter the reincarnation battles, seeking greater challenges.

This was also in line with Rong Jun’s personal style.

Having begun experimenting with his own secret techniques at the stellar level, he needed ample combat to discover flaws in his methods.

Without a formidable teacher, it would be difficult for him to create suitable opponents within the Virtual Cosmos on his own.

——

Those “real” opponents were far more appropriate targets.

However, this path was not suitable for Jiang Chen.

With the arena battles concluded, the genius competition entered the long and harsh “Reincarnation Battle” phase.

Jiang Chen temporarily set aside his focus on the competition, returning his attention to self-improvement.

His main body still spent most of its time immersed in the system library, continuously learning and researching new knowledge.

Occasionally returning to the outside world, he conducted research in the laboratory.

Apart from rare rest periods, Jiang Chen’s only indulgence was drinking a few bottles of rare cosmic wine when weary, using intoxication to wash away fatigue.

As for his three avatars:

The “Eso” avatar focused on studying the Illusion Spirit King’s secret arts within the “Death Realm.”

Over the months of the competition, Jiang Chen had successfully mastered 58 types of soul defense techniques and begun exploring other methods of the Illusionist school.

The “Uchiha Shisui” avatar pursued the “Phantom Warrior Style,” which required deep mastery of illusions.

Though this identity could not directly use the Illusion Spirit King’s secret arts, understanding the principles allowed development of auxiliary illusion techniques for combat.

Unlike illusionists who relied heavily on illusions and soul attacks, the Phantom Warrior Style used illusions as support, with the warrior’s martial techniques being paramount.

Extracting essence from the Illusion Spirit King’s methods enabled the creation of relatively rudimentary illusions sufficient to contend at the stellar level.

The other two avatars devoted nearly all their energy to perfecting the mechanical legion.

In the first round preliminaries of the genius battle, Jiang Chen’s mechanical legion was barely a prototype—not even a half-finished product.

Only through continuous refinement and meticulous polishing of each mechanical unit’s details could it become a truly “complete” mechanical legion.

Besides research, the two avatars also allocated some time to cultivating combat secret arts.

Research and cultivation—these two pursuits dominated Jiang Chen’s entire life.

Even the energy blocks produced by the Spatial Forge and the trade orders signed with various Qianwu Cosmic Nation factions were entrusted to Jarvis and his slaves.

Jarvis handled production and procurement arrangements; the slaves executed the transaction processes.

Except in extremely necessary circumstances, Jiang Chen refused to waste time on errands.

——

Time passed.

Among the four from Earth, Jiang Chen and Luo Feng advanced to the cosmic finals of the genius competition.

Hong and Thor, who were eliminated, each found their own opportunities.

Thor, of course, had long apprenticed under the “Kabu Realm Lord,” who left behind an interrealm at the beginning.

After his elimination, at the behest of the white-bearded intelligent being “Mist,” he left Earth to roam the cosmos.

Hong, due to his outstanding performance in the competition, attracted the attention of “Luo,” founder of the “Three Axe Mountain” sanctuary and holder of the “Time Realm Lord” title.

After some exchanges, Hong chose to apprentice under Luo, leaving Earth to wander the universe.

Luo Feng, though not intending to leave Earth, often stayed on Mercury to cultivate the “Divine Soldier” technique, returning to Earth only during rest periods to reunite with family.

Mars had long since become Jiang Chen’s “mine.”

Among the Earth four, only Jiang Chen remained, stationed on Earth.

More than eight months after the arena battles ended, the long-awaited system notification finally sounded.

(End of chapter)