Chapter 98: Psionic Technology, the Power of “I Reckon” (Bonus Chapter for Reaching 300 Average Subscriptions)

More than two months after the clone named Erso entered the Death Secret Realm, Jiang Chen once again developed a blueprint that earned a Tier Three evaluation. The system accepted it and awarded him 999 specialty points.

Those specialty points lingered on the system panel for less than a minute before transforming into a new specialty called Mechanical Grand Sage.

Its attributes were much the same as Arcane Grand Sage, differing only in a few details.

Mechanical Grand Sage: When you learn or study knowledge and skills belonging to the Natural Technology system, you receive an additional, substantial enhancement. For every point of Intelligence, Spirit, and Mystic attribute, total efficiency increases by 1.5 percent. The base attributes of mechanical units you create are increased by 30 percent, and the speed at which you create mechanical units is increased by 20 percent.

The reason he had once wanted to choose Arcane Grand Sage was simple: in the third-level library, among the bodies of knowledge Jiang Chen had not yet mastered, Arcane content was the most abundant.

However, considering its impact on the real world, improvements related to mechanics were actually more important.

After a brief hesitation, Jiang Chen still chose Mechanical Grand Sage.

Of course, he would not let Arcane Grand Sage, Alchemy Grand Sage, and the rest slip through his fingers either.

At his current rate, with the two clones working together, they could produce, on average, about one Tier Three blueprint accepted by the system every half year, or two or three Tier Two blueprints.

Added to the specialty points gained from leveling up, it would take at most a few months before Arcane Grand Sage and Alchemy Grand Sage were both within reach.

After obtaining Mechanical Grand Sage, Jiang Chen devoted more of his energy to knowledge of the Natural Technology variety, setting aside for the moment whether what he studied was urgently needed or not and focusing first on rapidly raising his level.

He was currently at Tier Two, Level Four. With the enhancement of the Mental Sublimation specialty, all three of his attributes—Intelligence, Spirit, and Mystic—had already broken through the four-hundred mark.

Under the boost of Mechanical Grand Sage, his efficiency in studying Natural Technology soared by more than tenfold.

What used to take months to complete a single level could now be done in just a few days.

In less than three months, Jiang Chen consecutively advanced five levels and crossed the threshold into Tier Three.

His main body's origin force and mental power also transformed to a cosmic level.

During this process, the specialty points awarded by leveling also allowed Jiang Chen to acquire Arcane Grand Sage and Alchemy Grand Sage.

Arcane Grand Sage: When you learn or study knowledge and skills belonging to the Arcane system, you receive an additional, substantial enhancement. For every point of Intelligence, Spirit, and Mystic attribute, total efficiency increases by 1.5 percent. When you cast arcane abilities, their effects are increased by 40 percent.

Alchemy Grand Sage: When you learn or study knowledge and skills belonging to the Alchemy system, you receive an additional, substantial enhancement. For every point of Intelligence, Spirit, and Mystic attribute, total efficiency increases by 1.5 percent. The attributes of your alchemical creations are increased by 40 percent.

After the breakthrough was complete, Jiang Chen did not bother with the changes in his attributes. He immediately entered the system library to see whether anything new had appeared.

—

Inside the system library.

The fourth-floor library was several times larger than the third, vast enough to rival a gigantic base city on Earth.

Jiang Chen flew through the library at high speed, his gaze sweeping across row after row of shelves.

“Natural Technology, Alchemy Technology, Arcane Technology... found it!”

Passing through the zones that also existed on the first three floors, Jiang Chen quickly discovered a brand-new section.

A massive screen hanging overhead displayed the words Psionic Technology.

“Psionic?” Jiang Chen was somewhat puzzled.

This was an unfamiliar system to him, one he had never even heard of.

Judging by the name, it seemed to be some kind of purely transcendent power.

Alchemy and Arcane were also transcendent systems, but they still retained some connection to science and included plenty of things that had to be studied and interpreted through scientific methods.

But with the experience gained from the first two floors, Jiang Chen knew that the Psionic Technology section would certainly contain the most basic knowledge of this system.

It would also provide an introduction to the system as a whole.

His eyes swept over the shelves. Before long, Jiang Chen found what he wanted: Psionic Fundamentals.

He took the book down from the shelf and flipped through it at a speed that scarcely resembled reading at all, almost as though he were simply passing time. The massive volume, more than half a foot thick, was turned through in just a few seconds.

Yet under the overwhelming force of his spiritual power, the information within had already been completely etched into his mind.

Of course, memorizing it was one thing; truly understanding it still required some time.

If the material was highly difficult and profoundly esoteric, then unless one could comprehend it quickly, even memorized information would be forgotten at a rapid pace and could not remain in the mind for long.

But this was only the “fundamentals.” Even though it was knowledge that appeared only on the fourth floor, the difficulty would not be absurd.

At the very least, with Jiang Chen’s current Intelligence and Spirit attributes, neither memory nor comprehension would present any real obstacle.

He closed his eyes and recalled the information carved into his mind.

More than an hour passed before Jiang Chen opened his eyes again.

“So that’s how it is... Psionic power refers to the strength of the mind. It is highly idealistic in nature, and in most worlds it is either overlooked entirely or pursued only in terms of use, not understanding. But in a very small number of worlds, this idealistic power can be understood, and even mastered...”

After reading through it, Jiang Chen had a broad understanding of the psionic system.

In essence, it was a system that combined consciousness-level forces with transcendent power in the real world.

For example, the illusionist system in the Swallowed Star world was one expression of psionic power.

But what psionics could accomplish went far beyond illusions and soul attacks.

If psionic power was strong enough, it could even distort the underlying laws of an entire world.

For instance, the Ork belief power in the Warhammer world was a high-level application of psionics.

It used the collective thinking of the Orks to alter certain physical laws, allowing some seemingly ridiculous “technology” to become reality.

But to reach that level was not something ordinary psionic strength could achieve.

Both the intensity of psionic power and the efficiency with which it was used had to reach an extremely high standard.

“Still, even basic psionic technology has some value,” Jiang Chen judged.

However, he did not immediately continue studying psionic knowledge. Instead, he turned toward the Arcane Technology section.

After searching for a while, Jiang Chen soon found the shelves holding books on laws.

He looked up at the labels on the shelves.

Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, Light, Darkness.

All the advanced laws of the six fundamental elements were there.

Beyond that, there were many other law systems as well.

Metal, Wood, Thunder, Space, Time, Life, Death, Creation, Destruction...

Dozens of different domains of law occupied a substantial share of the Arcane Technology area.

In the Swallowed Star world, the eight lower laws and two higher laws were all included.

There were also many law systems that did not exist in this world.

However, judging from the level of the laws covered on the third floor of the system library, Jiang Chen could easily tell that even the fourth floor could not possibly contain a complete set of laws for any single system.

But for Jiang Chen now, the knowledge on this floor was already enough to occupy him for a very long time.

“That clone, Erso, has entered the disciple ranks under the Illusion Spirit King. Its performance is still very important. Then I’ll start by studying laws and increasing Erso’s value...”

Jiang Chen made his decision quickly. He walked to the shelf for Wind Law and picked up a book titled The Relationship Between Wind Elements and Spatial Structure, trying to open it.

But in the next instant, he suddenly gave a wry smile.

Prerequisite knowledge required: Magic Mathematics Lv. 40, Plane Geometry Lv. 40, Mysticism Lv. 30, Space Law Lv. 5...

“Fine. I’ll start from the beginning after all. With Arcane Grand Sage supporting me now, I won’t learn slowly.”

Jiang Chen shook his head, returned the book to the shelf, and went back to the start of the Arcane Technology section to begin reading from the beginning.

—

Death Secret Realm.

As soon as the main body stepped into the cosmic level, all the restrictions on the clone Erso were immediately broken.

In the room, Jiang Chen took out a container that looked like an oversized bathtub and placed it in the center of the living room.

Inside the container was a deep blue liquid, radiating a bone-chilling cold.

This was one of the “benefits” the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance had issued to Jiang Chen: B-grade nutrient solution.

It could raise a stellar-level being all the way to stellar rank nine without any side effects.

But its price was equally staggering.

The cost of this single tub of B-grade nutrient solution would be enough to buy tens of thousands of stellar-rank-nine slaves.

Generally speaking, those who joined the core secret realms of the five great powerhouses were mostly stellar rank nine even if they started at stellar level, and soon after joining they would cross into the cosmic level, using the cosmic-grade C-grade nutrient solution instead.

It was rare for someone like Jiang Chen to join while still at stellar rank three.

However, the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance would not care about such “small money.” The moment this clone of Jiang Chen arrived in the Death Secret Realm, staff members were sent to deliver the nutrient solution and informed him that once he broke through to the cosmic level, he could at any time submit an application through the Virtual Universe for an even higher-grade C-grade nutrient solution.

For the past few months, however, constrained by the level of the main body, Jiang Chen had never allowed this clone to soak in the nutrient solution. Instead, he had shut himself away and devoted himself to studying the secret manuals bestowed by the Illusion Spirit King.

Time had still been short, so no one had asked why Jiang Chen had not been soaking in the nutrient solution.

But if he dragged it out too long, that would definitely not do.

“According to the instructions, I just need to take off my clothes and soak in it. My body will slowly absorb the nutrient solution, raising origin force and mental power in a very balanced way...”

Jiang Chen set the manual aside, stripped off his clothes, and lay directly into the bathtub.

The moment his body came into contact with the nutrient solution, he could not help but grimace.

“So cold! With a body like mine, even if I were immersed directly in liquid nitrogen, I wouldn’t feel anything. Yet this nutrient solution actually makes me feel bone-deep cold. This should not be due solely to physical temperature; there must be some extraordinary property involved as well...”

Jiang Chen analyzed it out of habit.

In space, both extreme cold and extreme heat were terrifying conditions.

But if it was only physical cold or heat, the impact on the strong was not that great.

Stellar level, cosmic level...

The higher one’s strength, the stronger one’s adaptability to the environment.

Even a stellar-level being could easily endure extremes from two hundred degrees below zero to several thousand degrees above without finding it particularly uncomfortable.

But if a temperature carried some kind of transcendent property, that was another matter entirely.

With the knowledge Jiang Chen possessed, he quickly determined that the “coldness” in the nutrient solution had little to do with actual temperature. Rather, one of its constituent materials carried some kind of extraordinary cold attribute.

Still, this cold was not fatal. In fact, if he stayed in it a bit longer, he would soon adapt.

“Soaking in nutrient solution is rather boring, though. There’s nothing to do at all.”

“According to the instructions, the whole process takes a few months. About three or four months to reach stellar rank nine at the peak. I might as well not waste the time and find something else to do.”

After muttering to himself, Jiang Chen connected his consciousness to the Virtual Universe and directly entered it to study the secret techniques bestowed by the Illusion Spirit King.

—

More than three months later, the clone Erso successfully advanced to the peak of stellar rank nine, only one step away from breaking through to the cosmic level.

The main body had already reached cosmic level, so Erso could break through at any time.

However, constrained by the level of the main body, even after breaking through, he would at most be cosmic rank one.

After entering Tier Three, the growth rate of the system’s experience bar far exceeded Jiang Chen’s expectations.

Even with the support of the three major specialties—Mechanical Grand Sage, Alchemy Grand Sage, and Arcane Grand Sage—while staying home and remaining in the library for more than three months, Jiang Chen’s leveling experience bar had only risen by less than half.

Without a new leveling specialty, it would take about half a year to gain a single level, and five or six years to reach cosmic rank nine.

However, specialty points were not easy to obtain, and more powerful specialties that could increase leveling speed were also exorbitantly expensive. They were not something that could be secured in a short time.

Jiang Chen did not rush to alter his plan. Instead, he continued to draw knowledge from the system library in an orderly fashion, steadily increasing his reserves.

At the same time, the two clones assigned to blueprint research continued to work on new designs, and the specialty points they accumulated were used to buy specialties that improved survivability, enhanced strength, or provided other useful functions.

As for the clone Erso, it devoted itself to studying the secret techniques granted by the Illusion Spirit King, especially the fifty-eight soul-defense secret arts, which were placed in the very highest priority tier.

Once one clone learned a technique of this kind, it meant the main body and all the other clones had learned it as well. The cost-effectiveness was extremely high.

Although Jiang Chen had always planned to pursue a legion-style path in the future, when it came to improving the main body’s ability to survive, there was never such a thing as too much.

Time passed.

At the end of 2065, an email arrived simultaneously in the inboxes of Jiang Chen and Luo Feng.

The once-every-three-years Qianwu Auction was finally about to begin.

After a long absence, Jiang Chen also gave his main body a vacation and withdrew from the system library.