260: Chapter 260 Further Development

Elsewhere.

Having received the notification of his companion's elimination, Zhang Huaiyuan grew increasingly cautious. Without time for prolonged mourning, he tightened his grip on the kinetic rifle he had crafted and carefully entered the forest nearby.

"The lifeforms here are too dense; it's not suitable for reconnaissance using True Sight. I still need a detector."

Zhang Huaiyuan glanced around, concentrated his mind, and a small sonic detection device instantly materialized in his hand.

*Ding ding—!*

Ripples of waves spread out, quickly marking numerous red dots.

"Judging from the feedback, there shouldn't be any particularly powerful creatures within a ten-kilometer radius. It's a pity that with insufficient materials and energy now, I can't establish a satellite base station. I can only use this sonic detector, but the intelligence it provides is too limited."

While pondering, Zhang Huaiyuan moved towards the cluster of dense red dots displayed on the detector.

He remembered the rules mentioning that some resource points would be guarded by indigenous lifeforms. Places with such concentrated life were most likely to contain resource points.

As he passed through patches of undergrowth, an open area came into view.

Dozens of nearly three-meter-tall, robust humanoid creatures lay lazily on the grass. Beside them was a massive entrance to an underground cavern.

Most of them held thick wooden clubs by their sides, some still with untrimmed branches, clearly weapons made by uprooting nearby trees from the forest.

"It seems this is a somewhat fantasy-leaning world. I've seen this kind of creature in the *Complete History of All Realms*. They seem to be called ogres."

Zhang Huaiyuan recalled the information he had read before. Perhaps because they were too inconspicuous, there was only a single line of description:

"Ogres, omnivorous creatures, prefer to feed on flesh-and-blood lifeforms."

"No specific combat power details. They should be among the lowest tier of supernatural beings, but... better to be cautious."

Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes flickered slightly as he instantly activated his ability.

A stream of complete information flowed into his mind.

[Ogre]

Classification: Carbon-based lifeform.

Life Intensity: 100. (Automatically adjusted based on the world)

Real-time Durability Intensity: 21.

Real-time Attack Intensity: 17-52.

Supernatural Abilities:

Primary Recovery – Can heal non-fatal wounds relatively quickly.

Primary Physique – Strength and defensive capabilities are enhanced.

"Huh? Since when does it display so specifically... Wait."

Zhang Huaiyuan was momentarily stunned but immediately recalled the changes to his datafication ability when he entered the high-dimensional world earlier:

"Everything seen will be fed back in a state most easily comprehensible to the brain."

"I see... Then what about this weapon of mine..."

Thinking this, Zhang Huaiyuan shifted his gaze to the kinetic rifle at his side.

[Modified Kinetic Rifle (Suppressed by Rules)]

Rate of Fire: 600 rounds/min.

Effective Range: 450 meters.

Kinetic Effect Bonus: +50.

Modification Effects:

Auto-recharge: Can automatically store one energy bullet per hour.

"The energy bullet's intensity is 100. Adding the kinetic bonus makes it 150, enough to instantly kill these guys. However, their positions are a bit spread out. With my marksmanship, I might not be able to eliminate them all instantly. My current physique definitely can't withstand a single hit from them."

After brief consideration, Zhang Huaiyuan quietly retreated. Gritting his teeth, he used the last 0.07 units of energy to materialize some materials and further modify the weapon in his hand.

Soon, all components were added. An auxiliary scope was mounted on the side of the firearm, and a dark tube was added to the muzzle.

Simultaneously, two new effect lines appeared:

"Auto-aiming: Can automatically lock onto and aim at enemies within firing range."

"Silencer: Greatly reduces the sound made when firing."

"That should do it."

Zhang Huaiyuan looked at the firearm in his hand and nodded with satisfaction.

Firearm modification was his old trade. Even after not performing such simple modifications for a long time, his skill hadn't deteriorated.

"Now it's time to deal with these guys."

Zhang Huaiyuan returned to the front of the ogre encampment, materialized enough bullets, and with his power-arm-equipped hand, gently pulled the trigger.

The next moment.

A dense barrage of energy bullets poured out, quickly locking onto the head of each ogre under the effect of auto-aiming.

*Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!*

Following subtle whistling sounds, the heads of the unsuspecting ogres instantly exploded one after another.

"Ooh ooh ooh!"

The remaining ogres scrambled to their feet in panic, howling and waving their clubs wildly, trying to block the unseen attacks.

But under the overwhelming force of technology, it was all in vain.

As the modified kinetic rifle automatically aimed, the surviving ogres fell like harvested wheat, collapsing in rows.

Soon, only a field of corpses remained.

Zhang Huaiyuan swept a glance, confirmed there were no other enemies on the detector, then stepped forward, looking towards the dark cavern.

True Sight activated simultaneously, revealing dense concentrations of metallic elements in his microscopic vision.

"Hmm!"

A hint of joy involuntarily appeared on Zhang Huaiyuan's face.

Indeed, these ogres didn't exist without reason.

Judging by the intensity of the energy concentration, the resources hidden below should be enough for him to build an engineering robot, with some to spare.

Then, relying on the engineering robot's integrated capabilities of construction, detection, and extraction, he could quickly snowball his development, just like before in the Free Star Alliance, and build a powerful mechanized empire in a short time.

Thinking this, his steps became lighter as he quickly walked into the cavern.

...

Meanwhile, on the platform formed by the branches of the World Tree in the outside world.

"The power of Holy Word is truly formidable. No wonder it's jokingly called the Great Proselytization Technique across the All Heavens and Myriad Realms."

Mild and the Elf Clan Grand Sage watched the projection in the sky, where the Missionaries had assembled a vast army of believers in an extremely short time, and couldn't help but sigh.

One could only say that, from the perspective of early development, the Time Book House and the Leviathan Laboratory combined were no match.

"You're not doing badly either."

The Elf Clan Sage looked towards one of the projections.

Inside was a dimly lit cavern where a man was assembling a massive machine.

"This seems to be a novel power system. It can directly convert energy between virtual and real states. Its potential to aid scientific research is limitless."

"With this ability and these resources, given this young man's methods, he'll be on the right track very soon."

"It's still very early. Your academy's people are ruthless too. To transform oneself into a Hive... that's a method I didn't anticipate."

Mild looked at a projection showing a mass of flesh continuously expanding and chuckled lightly.

"Let's see who can stand till the end."

The three academy leaders exchanged glances, each understanding the other's meaning.

This was also the purpose of the second round of the competition.

To see, under similar conditions, which of the three civilizations—primarily based on faith, biology, and technology respectively—was the most suitable and the most powerful.

...