“Elder Qi, you're still here? I thought there was a specialized construction crew for Xinwang City. Why do they still need you?”
“The construction crew handles civilian buildings, but special structures require professionals from Heavenly Crafts to design and build them.”
As he spoke, Qi Xuanheng pointed toward the ground.
“Underground? What's down there?”
“Special arrays. Giant energy shields, energy gathering, monitoring, purification, and teleportation. It needs to have multiple functions. There are also specific features tailored to the local environment. For example, this city also has arrays designed to control wind and sand.”
Elder Qi spoke at length once the topic turned to his specialty.
“I didn't expect Heavenly Crafts to have mastered so much runic technology.”
“Of course. The transcendent system is a reality. Most people are restricted by the panel and only use transcendent power without ever analyzing it. The mission of the academies and Heavenly Crafts is to analyze the various systems bestowed by the World Will and find more possibilities within them.”
Chen Xu nodded, agreeing with Qi Xuanheng's words.
The professional system was like the World Will giving one person a gun and another a knife. Humans could use these tools to solve most problems.
As they fought, the gun would upgrade, becoming more powerful with more bullets and longer range.
The research of the academies and Heavenly Crafts was to ensure a person wasn't just limited to using a gun. Through study, they could use both a gun and a knife, or even a cannon.
This research significantly improved the strength and survival probability of low and mid-tier professionals.
As for people like Ye Bufan and Chen Xu, who were like immortals flying in starships, they could use whatever they wanted.
Chen Xu wanted to continue the conversation to broaden his horizons, but Xia Qiming sent an emergency message through the Soul-Inducing Token, asking him to come to the military academy.
“Elder Qi, I have some business. I'll visit you at Heavenly Crafts another day.”
With that, he recalled Invincible into the Undead Kingdom and summoned Sindragosa instead.
“By the way, Elder Qi, keep these eight dungeon cores in Xinwang City. Please help me place them when the time comes.”
Already in the air, Chen Xu looked down at his statue and remembered the eight dungeon cores. He took them out and tossed them toward Qi Xuanheng.
Since they had already erected a statue of him here, he might as well leave the eight cores as a gesture of goodwill.
...
Daxia Military Academy Dungeon Preparation Base.
Outside Xia Qiming's office.
Knock knock knock!
“Come in.”
After receiving permission, Chen Xu pushed the door open.
Inside the office, Xia Qiming was comparing two images.
Two people sat on the sofa nearby. A man and a woman, both wearing combat gear, though their style differed from those at the base.
“Professor Xia, why the urgent summons? Is there another support mission? Or is Daxia preparing to move against the dungeon monsters in the north, at Hanyuan?”
Chen Xu's voice made Xia Qiming put down the documents. He picked up another file from the desk and threw it to Chen Xu.
“Hanyuan is different from Mohai. We must act cautiously there. Besides, we have a new problem. Look at this file first.”
Chen Xu caught the file. The cover read: 《Report on the Activity Range and Population of the Sea Race》.
“The sea race?”
As someone from Linghai, the sea race was no stranger to him. Parents often used them to scare children, saying that if they didn't behave, the sea race would catch and eat them.
Furthermore, Linghai Academy organized students to study the sea race, including common types, weaknesses, and countermeasures.
The report documented the activities and population changes of the sea race along Daxia's coast over the past ten years.
“What are these naga and merfolk planning now? The ocean is so vast, isn't it enough for them?”
The last page of the report recorded recent activity on the coastal defense lines. In just one month, Linghai City alone had been struck by the sea race five times.
“Who knows? Originally, Daxia thought the sea race was divided into clans and factions that kept each other in check, with little interest in the land. But their recent actions have forced us to consider a possibility.”
“What is it?”
“The sea race may have achieved unification,” answered the woman sitting on the sofa.
“They are researchers from the academy's station in Linghai, Wei Qian and Yuan Chuanxin. Wei, please explain your theory to him.”
“Okay.” Wei Qian nodded and turned on the projection function of her smart terminal, beginning to explain their years of research to Chen Xu.
The sea race appeared about fifty years into the dungeon era.
At first, people thought they were just marine life mutated by transcendent energy. Initially, they were just sea creatures with mutated forms or special abilities.
It wasn't until later, when they discovered creatures like naga and merfolk, that they realized the sea race might also be part of a dungeon invasion.
However, the ocean was too vast, and for many years, they only lingered in the deep sea.
Once they realized this, humans began building coastal defenses to resist the sea race.
But over time, people gradually let down their guard.
When the sea race left the water, their strength dropped significantly. Except for certain special naga and merfolk, most sea race creatures would die if they stayed out of the water for too long.
Most importantly, humans discovered that naga, merfolk, and certain large sea creatures did not get along. The wars between them were far more brutal than their attacks on human defenses.
Thus, humanity's focus returned to the land.
“However, the frequency of sea race attacks on Daxia's defenses has been increasing lately. Moreover, the naga and merfolk have begun to cooperate. Although they try to hide it, the merfolk magic on the naga cannot be concealed from us. Therefore, we suspect the war between their two races has ended in unification. Next, they will extend their reach to the land.”
“But won't their strength decrease significantly on land? What do they gain by coming ashore?”
Chen Xu couldn't understand. If those naga and merfolk couldn't even survive on land for long, what was driving them to invade Daxia?
“We don't understand it either, but we have a few theories.”
“First, they believe the power gap is so great that they can easily eliminate us despite the disadvantage of fighting away from their home turf.”
“Second, they are performing a massive ritual and need the war to provide energy for it.”
“Third, to please a god.”
“To please a god?”
“Yes. When believers exercise a god's authority, it brings great benefits to that god. If they worship a god whose authority involves war, blood, or death, it wouldn't be strange for them to attack us.”
Chen Xu felt his scalp tingle. None of those three possibilities were easy to handle.
“Professor Xia, what do you want me to do? It's not like you have some god-slaying plan, right?”
Xia Qiming raised an eyebrow at Chen Xu, ignoring his joke.
“We have too little information. The detection equipment developed by Heavenly Crafts is destroyed before it can even travel a thousand meters. Since we don't have any Beast Tamers specializing in sea beasts, we can only place our hopes on you.”
“Me? Skeletons don't need to breathe, but a bunch of bone frames doesn't look like they'd be good at swimming.”
“That's why we're using this.”
Xia Qiming took a space fragment from his storage ring and placed it on the table.
“Doesn't your Necrotic Space absorb special affixes? Our plan is for you to absorb this space fragment and see if you can summon it by consuming carcasses.”
Chen Xu picked up the fragment and checked his panel.
“Whoa!”
He let out a cry of surprise.
【Dungeon Space Fragment, fragment attribute (Leviathan): Can be synthesized with other space fragments or fused into a dungeon.】
Rate on N.U.
