Chapter 88: New Specialty, "Three Souls Transmuting Spirit"

After confirming the value of the Spatial Furnace, Jiang Chen did not immediately rush to purchase more materials or craft additional Spatial Furnaces. The Spatial Furnace was indeed highly profitable, but creating just one required Jiang Chen himself to spend more than half a month—not counting the tasks he could delegate to Jarvis. During those weeks, his own “upgrade progress” would grind to a halt, and he would be unable to acquire new knowledge. Immersed in such a cycle of relentless profit, though the rewards were substantial, it was hardly a deal worth celebrating. Unless he could “free” himself by finding a suitable assistant to handle the magical engineering phase, this approach was far from optimal. Ideally, he would have a team of assistants.

The magical constructs added to the Spatial Furnace were not of a particularly high tier. While not exactly “entry-level,” they were certainly not profound. As long as Jiang Chen was willing to teach, anyone with a solid foundation had a good chance of mastering them. Of course, the requirement to grasp the corresponding laws was beyond Jiang Chen’s ability to provide.

“If I were to recruit from the outside, anyone with a grasp of the laws would either have to be a freakish prodigy, or at least a Domain Lord,” Jiang Chen mused with some headache. Hiring a Domain Lord to work under him? That was far too risky. He had no means to keep such a person in check—if they turned on him, he’d be in real danger. Unless the assistant was an “intelligent lifeform” like Babata, one who had mastered laws and could be bound through a recognition contract to guarantee loyalty.

But… Jiang Chen had already made a tentative inquiry through the channels of the Cosmic Star River Bank, and the price quote he received was enough to make him give up immediately. A masterless intelligent lifeform that had received the Heart of Evolution and mastered a law was worth more than the combined wealth of most undying deities. To ensure such a being would recognize Jiang Chen as their master required an additional fee. Not only could Jiang Chen not afford it, even if he could, how many Spatial Furnaces would he have to produce—and how many years would it take—simply to break even?

This path was thus completely blocked.

Of course, if he gave up the magical engineering phase and simply assembled ordinary Spatial Furnaces, the profit was still considerable. The break-even period would stretch to over two years, but the earnings would remain impressive. However, with less than three years before the “Qianwu Auction,” aiming to amass a large sum before then made the ordinary version of the Spatial Furnace far less attractive. Spending money to craft a batch of furnaces, beginning to turn a profit, and only barely breaking even by the time of the Qianwu Auction—while there would be plenty of profit afterward, it would do nothing to help with the auction itself.

“What a pity the Spatial Furnace requires such high-grade materials to withstand spatial rending, driving costs so high. If the costs could be lowered a bit, the efficiency would be terrifying…” Jiang Chen thought to himself.

After a moment’s hesitation, he opened the system interface, hoping to see if there was any solution to his current dilemma. The blueprint for the Spatial Furnace itself had come from the system; among the other blueprints of similar level, none boasted the same outrageous earning potential—at least, not for the world of Swallowed Star. As for the “knowledge” in the library, it certainly was profound, but it required long-term accumulation to yield any qualitative change. The only apparent “solution” seemed to lie within the [Specializations] tab.

He opened the specialization screen, where a list of available options appeared before him.

[Extraordinary Physique: HP +10%, Recovery Rate +180%, Status Resistance +8%. Requires 85 specialization points.]
[Martial Arts Mastery: Strength +5, Endurance +3, Melee Attack Power +6%, Parry Rate +4%. Requires 53 specialization points.]
…
[Mechanical Genius: Mechanical equipment crafted has attributes increased by 14%, crafting speed increased by 44%, and costs reduced by 22%. Requires 666 specialization points.]
[Three Souls Transformation: Allows you to seize three separate bodies as clones, with shared consciousness. As long as one clone survives, the main body cannot die. However, the process of seizing a body is akin to possession and carries considerable risk. Requires 888 specialization points.]
…

Jiang Chen’s gaze lingered on the [Mechanical Genius] and [Three Souls Transformation] specializations. At the second tier, each level-up awarded 299 specialization points, and after reaching level three of tier two, he had accumulated 912 points.

Redeeming the [Mechanical Genius] specialization would allow him to reduce the cost of an ordinary Spatial Furnace to about eight Hun Yuan units, while increasing its performance by 14%. All things considered, the cost-effectiveness would then rival that of the magically engineered version. Over three years, his wealth would at least triple or quadruple. Most importantly, nearly the entire process could be left to Jarvis or his slaves, except for ordering materials through the Cosmic Star River channels—Jiang Chen would need to pay little attention himself.

As for [Three Souls Transformation], Jiang Chen understood it to be roughly equivalent to the clone techniques of the Swallowed Star universe. The main difference: the Golden Horned Beast’s clone secret art creates clones by fusing the genes of other lifeforms, whereas [Three Souls Transformation] directly seizes another being’s body. The distinction was substantial. For example, the Golden Horned Beast could choose any race for its clones, as long as their genetic level wasn’t beyond its limit. [Three Souls Transformation] was limited to “lifeforms with souls”—without a soul, possession was impossible. As for the genetic level, Jiang Chen wasn’t sure if he could seize bodies with thousands of times higher gene quality.

In the current situation, if he acquired [Three Souls Transformation], once he seized a body and created a clone, he could delegate the magical engineering tasks to the clone without impacting his main body’s improvement. In the future, should he venture into dangerous places, he could send a clone, greatly increasing his own safety. For such clone-type abilities, survivability was the most crucial attribute.

Of the two, Jiang Chen favored [Three Souls Transformation]. Nevertheless, he hesitated. The system offered more than one clone-type specialization; [Three Souls Transformation] was just the only one he could currently afford. What he could not confirm was whether there was a cap—perhaps only a single clone-type specialization could be selected. If so, redeeming [Three Souls Transformation] now would mean he could never obtain a more powerful clone ability.

For instance:

[Myriad Forms Divine Body: By physical contact, you can acquire the target’s abilities and memories. Once acquired, you permanently remember the form and can create corresponding clones, with no limit to the number. Requires 9,999,999 specialization points.]

Though [Three Souls Transformation] was powerful, compared to [Myriad Forms Divine Body], it was nothing. If he could someday acquire the latter, even without the system’s help, Jiang Chen believed he could reach the pinnacle of this world. However, the cost of redeeming [Myriad Forms Divine Body] was astronomical—nearly ten million specialization points, utterly unattainable for the foreseeable future.

“There’s no point worrying about such distant prospects. Better to focus on the present…” After some internal debate, Jiang Chen decided to redeem [Three Souls Transformation]. Even the cheapest clone-type specialization beyond this one cost five digits’ worth of points. Accumulating enough for another would be a long process, and Jiang Chen had no intention of dying midway. Securing a powerful life-saving ability came first. Besides, the three clones granted by [Three Souls Transformation] would greatly accelerate his growth.

He confirmed the exchange: 888 specialization points were deducted, leaving him with only 24. A mysterious, complex stream of information instantly appeared in his mind, allowing him to understand instinctively how to activate [Three Souls Transformation]. Such “innate abilities” were simply part of oneself—using them was as natural as breathing, even without understanding the underlying principles.

“The first clone should be human… but even among humans, the different branches vary greatly. I’ll need to select carefully,” Jiang Chen thought, diving into the virtual universe to consult the relevant data.

The “human race” referred to all “humanoid, flesh-and-blood lifeforms.” In principle, any such being—with a soul, roughly human form, and self-identifying as human—could be counted as part of the human race. Of these four criteria, the most crucial was self-identification. For example, the Yan God Clan met the first three, but did not consider themselves human, and thus broke away to form their own faction.

Among the universe’s peak races, both humans and demonkind were such “multi-branch federations.” The Machine Race and Insect Race, by contrast, were far more uniform: the former consisted entirely of intelligent lifeforms who had evolved via the Heart of Evolution, while the latter was entirely centered on the Insect Queen. Insect warriors were not considered true members of the race unless, by rare chance, they developed self-awareness.

Returning to the humans: as a whole, they were not especially gifted individually, but over countless generations, some branches had evolved remarkable talents. For instance, the Manka Starfolk, the Skywing People, and others. But these exceptionally gifted branches were fiercely protected by their own formidable champions; trying to seize one of their bodies for a clone was extremely risky. If Jiang Chen tried to possess a Manka Star clansman, the entire race would erupt in wrath if discovered.

Only weaker branches with no “background”—those lacking powerful patrons—were suitable targets for Jiang Chen. Of course, if he encountered a Yan God clansman who had defected from the humans, he wouldn’t let the opportunity pass. So long as he stayed within the human race’s territory, retaliation would be impossible. Even the leader of the Yan God Clan, “Yan God” himself, dared not enter human domain—his continued survival depended on the humans’ reluctance to offend his mentor, Zuo Shanke, not any inability to deal with him.

After paying a consultation fee through the Cosmic Star River Bank, Jiang Chen received a trove of detailed intelligence on the various human branches: their talents, abilities, backgrounds, and more.

“In terms of overall racial talent, the most monstrous among humans are still the Manka Starfolk, Skywing People, the Augus Star Lineage, and the Wild God Clan…” Jiang Chen sighed as he flipped through the data. These major human branches all boasted extraordinary gifts; adults naturally reached Domain Lord, and possessed impressive innate abilities. The Manka Starfolk, for example, had the “Barbarian God” talent, enabling explosive outbursts of power many times their base strength. Should Jiang Chen seize one as a clone, he would gain the same abilities.

However, these great clans all possessed terrifying backgrounds and internal cohesion—Jiang Chen dared not provoke them. Should he target one of their “children,” he would likely be dead before he even found his mark.

“The top three bloodline tiers are all off-limits,” Jiang Chen concluded after reviewing the data. Within the human race, branches were ranked by innate talent into ten tiers. Earthlings came in at tier nine, nearly at the bottom. The top three tiers were guarded by mighty beings and formidable factions—absolutely not to be trifled with. Starting from the fourth tier, there were some decent candidates, but none with access to innate secret arts; at best, their cultivation talent was above average, which Jiang Chen cared little about.

“It’s best to look among those humanoid, non-human races… If the price is right, buying a Yan God or Giant Demon for possession would be most cost-effective. But these races are not weak; suitable targets, if available, would not come cheap…”

After pondering the information a while longer, Jiang Chen quickly made his decision: “I’ll contact the Cosmic Star River Bank. If the price is acceptable, I’ll get a powerful race to possess. If not, I’ll settle for a star-level slave from an ordinary race…”

Setting aside the data, Jiang Chen swiftly contacted the bank with his requirements. Moments later, the reply came—and the quoted price immediately shut down any hope. A living, star-level Yan God clansman cost hundreds of thousands of Hun Yuan units. While cheaper than the Golden Horned Beast or other special lifeforms with clone abilities, it was clearly not priced for ordinary buyers. Only those with phenomenal backgrounds and monstrous talent could expect their elders or teachers to pay such sums for these powerful lives to use as clone bodies. Without sufficient backing, even the most gifted would never have access to such resources.

(End of this chapter)