A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 306: Chapter 242: Steady Development_1

After eliminating the Eternal Chosen, Duanmu Huai’s actions in the Novice’s Village could finally come to an end.

He didn’t tell Carl and the others about his sealing off of the fragmented Chaos Channel. After all, even if the Chaos Gods couldn’t directly affect this planet, they could still cause trouble through their followers. Since they could no longer create portals on par with those used by the Ancient Saints, the Chaotic Demons couldn’t manifest on this planet anymore. At most, they would manipulate others to do their bidding. Seeing from this angle, it was better to keep them on high alert.

As for the Guardians, Duanmu Huai sent them back to the Guardian Star System. They had greatly contributed to this fight. After all, relying on ordinary soldiers to defeat the Chaos Army was too difficult. However, Guardians who possessed Light Energy were a completely different story.

So, Duanmu Huai temporarily withdrew and started integrating his Fragmented World.

Typical Judge Players would claim a planet as their conscripting planet and place their base there. However, Duanmu Huai didn’t need to do that because he had a Fragmented World. This meant that Duanmu Huai could be said to be carrying a world with him wherever he went. The benefit of this was that not only could he flee when needed, but also his base wasn’t vulnerable to attacks. The downside was that if his entire fleet was destroyed, his Fragmented World would also be done for.

Beyond that, another downside was that Soul Walker players found it hard to plan a definite route.

...

In Star Ocean Online, the development and location of civilizations are very reasonable. For instance, when a player arrives on a planet, they would progress from tribal civilization to ancient civilization to modern civilization, and finally to advanced civilizations. However, Soul Walker players were like nomads in the universe. They went wherever their journey took them and encountered various civilizations, unable to maintain a uniform evolution progression.

Of course, the benefit of this approach was that the civilizations in the Fragmented World developed relatively quickly. For example, the STEM knowledge crystal that Ann obtained from her world – if placed on the main star of other players – would require several generations’ worth of quests. Duanmu Huai casually obtained it while being on the run.

However, you can’t get fat with one big meal.

In the end, everything has to be done step by step.

The most important thing for Duanmu Huai was his legion. After all, he could only deal with the BOSS himself. To annihilate the Chaos Army, he would need the soldiers under his command. Except for the men borrowed from the Guardians, Duanmu Huai had the Night Guard lead the warriors from his Divine Realm into the attack.

However… the news he received from the Night Guard was not very good.

“You’re saying, they’re not suitable?”

Duanmu Huai sat in his chair, staring at the Night Guard who was kneeling before him, who slightly nodded in affirmation.

“Yes, Your Honor. Based on our observations, the souls you’ve recruited from other worlds don’t have the qualifications to be warriors.”

“From what I remember, only souls that pass the Night Guard’s trials have the opportunity to join the Tribunal, correct?”

Since the establishment of the Tribunal was recent and Duanmu Huai didn’t have time to arrange the messy auditions, he took the easy way out. He simply transferred the Night Guard’s recruitment procedures and let them handle the selection and screening processes.

“A trial is just a trial,”

The Night Guard shook his head.

“As you know, to become a Night Guard, it’s not as simple as passing a trial. They would also need to fight Demons for years. A war is the ultimate test for the Night Guards.”

“They should also be experienced warriors.”

Duanmu Huai remembered that there was also quite a lot of fighting on the horizon.

“Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but the level of battles they’ve faced is… too low. Their experience is meaningless and could even become a burden.”

“That’s also true… ”

If you are always playing in the Bronze III division, you won’t be able to advance to the Silver division even after a long time.

“Therefore, we believe that if these soldiers are to become qualified Tribunal soldiers, they need high-intensity, long-term practical training.”

“The wars of this world won’t cut it, will they?”

“………”

The Night Guard silently shook his head. Though he didn’t say it, Duanmu Huai knew it would not be enough. After all, the Tribunal’s equipment had a crushing advantage over that of the medieval world. One doesn’t need any tactics or strategy, just hold up a weapon and hack away. But while this method works against inexperienced individuals or weak opponents, it’s suicide when fighting against enemies in space.

“In other words, we need a war-ridden planet, with a relatively high, intense level of warfare… huh…”

Duanmu Huai tapped on the table, unable to immediately think of a good place. On the one hand, he needed to expose these soldiers to intense warfare. On the other hand, it couldn’t be too intense to prevent them from being wiped out. It would not be easy for Duanmu Huai to find such a place at the moment.

“I understand, I will consider it and see if I can find a suitable world.”

Duanmu Huai nodded, the Night Guard respectfully bowed to him then turned and left.

“Ah… how troublesome.”

Duanmu Huai shook his head helplessly. It would not be easy to find such a world. At least, Duanmu Huai couldn’t think of one at the moment, but it wasn’t an option to not find one…

Forget it, if I can’t think of anything, then don’t think about it for the time being.

Standing up, Duanmu Huai decided to temporarily put the matter aside.

“Ogis.”

“What is it, Master?”

“Let’s take a stroll in the Holy City.”

After Ogis fused with the Imitation Teardrop, Duanmu Huai enjoyed taking Ogis around everywhere. However, Ogis did not seem particularly fond of her new body. According to her, the sensitivity of the new body was too acute, making it ill-suited to combat. This was to be expected; if Ogis were merely a puppet, things like severed limbs or fingers would have no effect on her. But now, having fused with the Imitation Teardrop and gaining the capability to feel pain, it was a different matter altogether.

Furthermore, in Ogis’s view, having to react to different temperatures was a nuisance. In the past, she hardly cared about the clothes she wore, but now, she had to choose cooler clothes when it was hot or warmer clothes when it was cold… Ogis felt that her new ‘feature’ was extremely bothersome.

Nonetheless, some good had come out of this. For instance, Ogis could now relish different kinds of food. While she had the senses of a human being, she was still essentially a puppet, so Ogis could also enjoy some delicacies that humans could not.

For instance, Ogis did not need to be concerned about pufferfish poisoning when she ate puffer fish…

As a matter of fact, Duanmu Huai was quite curious about how the Imitation Teardrop had fused with Ogis. But even Lani, the witch, could not answer that. Speaking of which, the young witch was currently immersing herself in learning all kinds of knowledge and had shut herself in her room. Occasionally, when Duanmu Huai visited her, he would find Lani sitting in a chair, turning the pages of a book with two hands while drawing and writing with the other two…

In any case, having four hands did have its advantages.

As for Duanmu Huai, he would go for a stroll in the Holy City whenever he was idle.

For Duanmu Huai, the city was now like a holiday destination. Every time he visited the Holy City and saw the bustling streets, beautiful lakes, forests and grasslands, and the peaceful and harmonious life reminiscent of a fairy tale, it brought tranquillity to his mind. Moreover, the city’s inhabitants were familiar with Duanmu Huai and he didn’t have to worry about any trouble arising.

Of course, every time Duanmu Huai would visit the Holy City, he would also take a tour of the Puppet Zone.

“This place is getting more lively.”

Gazing at the Puppet Zone before him, Duanmu Huai couldn’t help but sigh. After the incident of summoning the Ice Hell King, the Puppet Zone had been deserted for a while, but it soon regained its bustling atmosphere. The revival of the Puppet Zone was largely due to Duanmu Huai as he had ordered a large number of puppets from the craftsmen of the Puppet Zone. Nowadays, the first automated puppet manufacturing factory in the Puppet Zone had begun construction.

This was one of the ways Duanmu Huai had found to get around the prohibition. He didn’t need to create a genuine AI with self-intelligence. He could just set up an automated factory like the ones in the real world.

Just like the current production lines for chips and cars, with mechanical arms moving back and forth to assemble and install parts. Although they had nothing to do with AI, hadn’t these machines greatly enhanced production efficiency?

Therefore, from the perspective of the player judges, the Imperial AI ban was an overkill. Just because AI had rebelled, they decided not to develop AI at all?

I’m just setting up a few assembly lines with mechanical arms. How could they revolt?

Could these mechanical arms grow legs and run away?

Isn’t that nonsense?

“Hey, kid, long time no see.”

As soon as Duanmu Huai and Ogis walked into the factory, they heard a loud voice and looked down to see a dwarf engineer waving at them. He was none other than the master puppet maker, Baddy.

“Long time no see, Mr. Baddy.”

Duanmu Huai nodded his head and then lifted his gaze to the production line in front of him.

“How’s the situation now?”

“Not bad. Although there are some parts we still don’t understand, I have to say, your idea is impressive.”

As he spoke, Baddy was banging the production line with a wrench in his hand.

“Just by adding a few arms and letting them follow the pre-planned steps, the production speed of the puppets can be increased to such a fast rate… It’s unexpected. How did I not think about it before?”

“It’s not too late…at any rate, how’s our plan progressing, Mr. Baddy?”

“It’s going well. Many people have agreed to our proposition and are willing to have their puppets mass-produced in the factory, although some people feel that puppets made in this way lack souls…”

Nonsense, they’re supposed to have no souls, right? If they had souls, wouldn’t that be disastrous?

Hearing this, Duanmu Huai silently rolled his eyes.

“Anyway, did you want something from me?”

“There is a small issue…”

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai glanced at Ogis who was standing next to him.

“I’d like to request you…to make me another mount.”

“……Hmm? What happened to the Metal Secret Dragon I made for you earlier?”

“………It’s broken.”

“What?! What did you say?!”

At that moment, Baddy’s voice even drowned out the rumbling of the factory, rising abruptly like a thunderclap.