120: Improve defects

"level 2 rules item..." Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes flickered slightly.

Aside from those relic products, the only things he had seen in this world that involved level 2 rules were those possessed to a small extent by Class 3S Experts with Gods Chosen talents.

The reason those Galaxy Beasts in the Cataclysm-level Disaster Zone were abnormally powerful was that most of them possessed rule-based damage reduction.

This meant that once he mastered the manufacturing methods for level 2 rules weapons, the monsters in those Cataclysm-level Disaster Zones would be no different from ordinary ones to him.

—This was not a simple matter.

As far as he knew, both the Star Dome Empire and the Free Star Alliance had top research teams that had been trying to decipher high-rule weapons obtained from ruins, but with little success.

They seemed to be restricted by some kind of knowledge barrier, forced to slowly advance their research in an extremely inefficient manner, like the old man moving mountains.

"My auxiliary abilities include being unrestricted by world-level barriers; so that's why this effect is so powerful." Zhang Huaiyuan mused thoughtfully.

Typically, the stagnation of a technological civilization is limited by energy and materials. But the restrictions of this world-level barrier seemed to go beyond that.

He had asked the Statue of Liberty, and it seemed that when she conducted research on high-level rules, it was as if she had been placed under a spell of ignorance, making it very difficult to understand.

It was not until she evolved through the "Miracle" algorithm and contained high-level rules within herself that her research progress on those things saw a startling improvement.

"However, these are things to consider for later. Right now, the most important thing is to first familiarize myself with the abilities of a Mechanical Armament Master."

The deep blue light points in his mind flashed simultaneously, and the void network constructed by his consciousness, bolstered by the amplification device, instantly extended into the endlessly distant starry sky.

"This is the place."

Mentally locking onto an uninhabited star a few light-years away within the "Gale" sphere of influence, his consciousness intertwined, and a phantom Warp Device appeared simultaneously on the planet's surface and beneath his feet.

The light of the empowerment stone in his palm pulsed, and through transmission protocols, the energy instantly transformed into the materials constituting the Warp Device, completing the reorganization and turning the virtual into reality.

"Teleport."

The next moment, a ripple flashed by, and Zhang Huaiyuan had already teleported from Qinglan Star to the uninhabited star one light-year away.

"It actually works!" Zhang Huaiyuan looked at the unfamiliar surroundings, a hint of joy appearing on his face.

The cells within his body, inscribed with extraordinary diagrams, frantically absorbed energy from the void to compensate for the consumption of the teleportation and materialization.

He made a slight estimation; with his current energy absorption rate and reserves, he could perform a solo teleportation over a distance of one light-year ten times consecutively without interruption. The main issue was that long-distance transmission consumed a massive amount of energy.

"Since creating a Warp Device over a long distance is possible, then..."

With a thought from Zhang Huaiyuan, automatic turrets instantly materialized on the horizon and, under his control, fired at him simultaneously.

Just as the dense artillery fire reached him, three miniature defensive space stations hovered by his side, constructing a pale blue Ion Shield that blocked all attacks.

Snap. With another snap of his fingers, several cluster weapon launchers appeared in the air, instantly shattering the previously constructed turrets.

"It is indeed as I imagined. As long as I understand the composition and grasp the principles, I can construct any weapon at any time and anywhere within my consciousness network, integrating offense and defense."

Zhang Huaiyuan felt increasingly satisfied. This meant that as he mastered more knowledge in the future, he would become even more powerful, and could even construct weapons with high-level rules out of thin air.

"However... the energy consumption is indeed a bit high." After experimenting for a moment, Zhang Huaiyuan also discovered the flaw.

Creating objects from the void not only required materializing all the materials for a turret, but also required him to provide energy for the ammunition and other needs for its subsequent firing. If he were to construct something more complex and rare, the consumption would be even greater.

Unless he gave the empowerment stone enough time to store energy, he would easily face the predicament of running out of energy during high-intensity battles.

"It seems further modification and optimization are needed." Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes gleamed with a fanaticism for research.

A qualified Scholar should naturally constantly pursue the perfection of their achievements and possess the ability to cope with all risks.

"The more complex and rare the material, the higher the cost of direct conversion through energy... so why not directly construct a stable Warp channel, connect it directly to the base's storage center, and teleport the high-cost physical objects here? This would greatly reduce the consumption of creation."

"No... this might work in normal situations, but what if it's in some extreme environment, or an area beyond the coverage of my consciousness network where I cannot connect to the base, and the battle situation is tense, and the reserves of the empowerment stone are also exhausted..."

Zhang Huaiyuan pondered the flaws in his ability, searching for ways to fix them.

"Wait... if that's the case, then create more energy supply sources at the lowest cost. As long as I add new power supply protocols to the empowerment stone, it can extract other types of energy." Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes suddenly lit up.

With a thought, he once again constructed a big guy from the void, about 3.5 meters tall, with a body gleaming with a grayish-black metallic luster. It was equipped with deformable tracks underneath, which could be switched to mechanical power legs at any time to adapt to travel in different environments. Its left hand was loaded with a huge auxiliary toolbox, which could switch to a series of tools including drills and tool hammers. It was exactly the engineering robot he had built when he first arrived at the Golden Star Sea.

This type of robot had complete civil engineering and star-machinery maintenance knowledge implanted, and was even equipped with an automatic prospecting device; as long as it was given a little time, it could develop into a modern base on its own.

Zhang Huaiyuan updated the latest data in its chip and endowed it with some high-level algorithmic intelligence. At the same time, he once again materialized an energy-matter conversion device.

"Command issued: maximize resource development."

The next moment, a blue light flashed in the engineering robot's eyes, and it dove into the ground, starting to search for and collect all available energy. In just half a day, it had collected enough resources.

After putting these resources into the conversion device to exchange them for the required metal materials, it quickly set up a workbench and began to manufacture companions. Soon, more engineering robots appeared. They cooperated, with some searching for and collecting resources, and others continuing to expand the workbench to manufacture more companions.

All energy-containing substances on the entire planet, including plants, trees, and sporadic mineral veins deep in the planet's core, were extracted and processed into high-quality energy stones. When all collectable materials were mined out, they began to manufacture a core energy extraction device, destructively absorbing the energy of the entire planet.

"Very good..." Zhang Huaiyuan watched these busy engineering robots with a look of satisfaction. Their performance was even better than he had imagined.

"Then let's strike while the iron is hot and turn the entire Golden Star Sea into my energy supply base first." Zhang Huaiyuan's expression shifted, and engineering robots and energy conversion devices were constructed in his consciousness network and projected onto different planets. He looked toward the endlessly deep starry sky, his expression relaxed and serene.

"It just so happens that the Statue of Liberty has sent news that the deciphering of Ruin No. 17 is nearing completion, and the departure of the Star Alliance's leader may not be far off..." "War, it is time to start it early."