159: Enter the Time Spire

"While I am away, I leave the Star Alliance in your hands. Temporarily halt the production of the new generation of combat readiness and focus all efforts on resource extraction."

"Statue of Liberty, you will be responsible for the allocation of resources within the Star Alliance."

"Asroth, you will primarily control the engineering robot squads to develop unclaimed star sectors."

Outside the Time Spire, Zhang Huaiyuan gave his instructions to his two companions one by one.

It was foreseeable that with the support of the collections from both major powers, his level would surely see a qualitative leap by the time he emerged from the Time Spire.

At that time, all weapons and equipment would need to be redesigned, so it was better to stockpile resources in advance. Once he emerged from seclusion and produced the blueprints, manufacturing could begin immediately.

"As you wish, Your Excellency."

"Leave it to me, Master!"

The light screens on his left and right flickered as the Statue of Liberty and Asroth responded simultaneously.

"Mhm. Also, remain vigilant, especially regarding the Orr Empire to the west. According to Old Brother Luo, they refused the invitation for talks, and the entire nation is currently in a state of lockdown. I don't know what they're up to."

Zhang Huaiyuan frowned as he spoke.

"Your Excellency, do you need me to infiltrate their systems?"

"Not for now... With your current capabilities, breaking through their defensive barriers isn't difficult. However, when facing high-level intelligences like the Intellectual Brain or the overseer, it's still hard to remain undetected. This could easily provoke a war."

Zhang Huaiyuan pondered for a moment before saying, "Of course, I grant you the authority to launch proactive strikes. As for the timing and the extent, I'll leave that to your own judgment."

"Understood, Your Excellency."

"Good."

After finishing his instructions on several important matters, Zhang Huaiyuan said no more. He nodded to Emperor Luo, who was standing nearby, and walked straight toward the Spire's main gate.

"Master Morr, you may begin."

Seeing this, Emperor Luo gave the order.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

In the next moment, a pale green octagonal crystal was slowly lowered from the void onto the top of the Spire.

The moment it fit into place, a strange energy flowed down, and the entire Spire gradually became blurred and impossible to look at directly.

Zhang Huaiyuan walked into the Spire without hesitation.

A strange sensation washed over him, as if the entire space had become somewhat unreal.

Zhang Huaiyuan scanned his surroundings with a slight frown. With a thought,

an illusory projection emerged, but it dissipated before it could fully materialize from void to reality.

"As I thought... the fundamental physical constants here have been altered."

Zhang Huaiyuan activated his True Sight ability to examine the unique energy changes within the Spire.

"It seems that part of the Time Spire's ability to alter time is achieved by changing physical constants. It's a good thing I'm the one here; anyone else probably wouldn't even be able to conduct basic research."

The alteration of fundamental physical constants meant that all applicable data needed to be adjusted here; otherwise, none of the previous equations would hold true.

"Hmm... the speed of light... gravity... even the mass of a proton has changed..."

Using his Digitization Ability, Zhang Huaiyuan quickly calculated the altered constants in this place.

Simultaneously, he diverted part of his attention to take out two large spatial storage devices.

One was given by Emperor Luo, and the other was from the Star Alliance's inventory and what had been collected during this period.

"A total of 2,732 relic items containing advanced knowledge."

"Energy-based items: 121 in total. Among them, 103 contain Level 2 knowledge, 15 contain Level 3 knowledge, and 3 contain Level 4 rule-based knowledge..."

"Weapon-based items: 531 in total. Among them, 511 are Level 2 weapons, 19 are Level 3 weapons, and one is a Level 4 weapon..."

A sharp light flashed in Zhang Huaiyuan's left eye as he activated his ability to quickly scan these items, classifying them according to their research directions.

Although he had a hundred years to research within the Spire, the task remained heavy compared to the vast sea of knowledge and classics; he had to seize every moment.

"To deal with a high-level civilization war, weapons are paramount..."

He examined these weapon-type items from the relics. Although numerous, their classifications were extremely diverse, and the knowledge that could be linked together was not as much as he had imagined.

Furthermore, for those high-level weapons, it wasn't just about researching the weapon itself; the required energy and constituent materials also had to keep pace.

In other words, he needed to master almost every discipline to potentially succeed in manufacturing high-level weapons.

"Additionally, research into Non-physical Servers had to keep up. Only then could intelligent lifeforms like the Statue of Liberty and Asroth be free from worries."

"If time permitted, further research into Pharmaceutics, Genetics, and Transcendent Studies would also be necessary."

"After all, he didn't know the exact nature of the coming enemies, so it would be best to create some powerful individual soldiers for special missions."

"Phew... let's start with weapon research."

Zhang Huaiyuan took a deep breath.

There are no shortcuts on the path of technological progress; even with powerful transcendent abilities, one still needs to make relentless, step-by-step efforts.

With a wave of his hand, he took out twelve items from the organized relics.

"[Damaged Void-Phase Resonance Oscillator]"

"Can cause objects in a localized area to temporarily enter 'Void-Phase Space,' causing inter-particle forces to fail and resulting in disintegration."

"Contained Knowledge Rule Level: 2."

"Analysis Progress: Completed."

"[Inactive Phase Interferometer]"

"Can adjust the phase frequency of an area, making attacks effective only against specific substances."

"Contained Knowledge Rule Level: 2."

"Analysis Progress: Completed."

"[...]"

That's right; everything he had selected was related to Phase Weapons.

He had already researched this type of weapon for five years in the Free Star Alliance and had gained some insights.

Currently, the Phase Weapons equipped on the 'legend generation ii' series starships barely reached the Level 2 threshold. While sufficient to dominate this world, they would be inadequate against enemies under similarly high-level rules.

"Hmm... this weapon doesn't seem to be significantly affected by phase attenuation..."

"Of course, I can rely on superconductivity and plasma technology to mitigate the effects of attenuation. Why didn't I think of that... It just so happens that the resonance oscillator seems to contain relevant technology..."

A look of joy appeared in Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes as he greedily absorbed the knowledge from these relic items.

New ideas began to surface in his mind one after another.

"If I design it like this..."

The light in his eyes grew brighter as a brand-new hand cannon model took shape in the void.

Previously, he had relied on repeatedly verifying and researching the few relic items he had scavenged to calculate feasible solutions, which was naturally inefficient.

But now, with the full support of the foundations of two massive nations, a large number of relic items containing high-level rules were laid out before him.

It could be said that he had never fought such a well-resourced battle!

His abilities were finally being fully utilized. In his mind, he quickly cross-referenced and deduced various categories of knowledge, deciphering the true mysteries of the high-level rule world...