Chapter 405 - Ascension Realm: Mechanical Era

It was actually the Mechanical Era!

Lu Ran fell into deep thought.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

[Era Introduction: Year 486 of the Star Moon Calendar. Over the course of five hundred years, with the development of the Mechanical attribute, humanity’s war capabilities reached unprecedented heights. Numerous beast empires were driven to the fringes of the Stellar Moon World.

[As technological levels advanced, humanity was no longer content with dominating beneath the Legendary level. Gradually, they extended their reach into the unknown realm of artificial gods.

[For the artificial god project, the Stellar Moon Republic established the Divine Research Institute and vigorously promoted and supported the Mechanical attribute domestically. Under policy incentives, over 60% of beastmasters in the republic had transitioned to become mechanics.

The republic’s goal was to unearth genius mechanics with top-tier research and innovation capabilities from this vast pool, enriching the number of researchers in the Divine Research Institute.

In this era, mechanical invention competitions flourished everywhere. Mechanics took pride in possessing unique inventions. The Contract Ball, which rivaled the effects of a beastmaster space, was capable of directly capturing and taming high-level familiars.

The Mechanical exoskeleton, which, when equipped by familiars, allowed for immediate mechanical-armed evolution. The Divine Wrath Missile was capable of continuously accumulating natural energy. It was powerful enough to obliterate a level 100 Overlord in a single blast. The spaceship enabled ordinary people to venture into the cosmos and complete space voyages.

These were merely insignificant minor inventions of the Mechanical Era. Mechanics ceaselessly pursued the highest pinnacle of the Mechanical attribute...]

[Ascension Mission: Participate in the University Invention Competition held in the capital of the Stellar Moon Republic with your own invention, achieving a top 100 ranking or higher, and surpassing other participants!]

[Tip 1: Only one person can advance to become a level 5 beastmaster in this trial.]

[Tip 2: The ascension mission score is directly correlated with the final ranking in the invention competition.]

[Tip 3: You have been granted the identity of a student at the National Mechanical University.]

[Tip 4: The invention competition will commence 18 days after entering the secret realm...]

[Tip 5...]

The hints kept refreshing, and Lu Ran felt overwhelmed. It gave him the same feeling as when he first entered an ascension realm. This ascension mission actually required participants to participate in some mechanical invention competition.

The main issue was that Lu Ran currently knew absolutely nothing about the Mechanical attribute. This was even worse than the chef competition back then.

Invention...? Invent what? A hammer?

Forget about him—even mechanics from later eras would be dumbfounded if they came to this time. Because the technological level of later eras was completely inferior to that of the Mechanical Era. In other words, it would be difficult to rely on modern-era knowledge to achieve a crushing advantage.

“A surprisingly mild ascension mission. By comparison, the Mechanical Era mission experienced by the Eagle Federation’s president and others seemed combat-related, which is why they got beaten badly. But actually, I’d rather it were combat-related. The only silver lining is that, apart from me, the other participants must be equally clueless. After all, mechanics are still a minority.”

During the final teleportation process, memories of the identity arranged by Limitless City were gradually implanted into Lu Ran’s mind. And as these memories took root, Lu Ran suddenly had an epiphany.

Limitless City would never assign a mission that seemed impossible to complete. With the identity information loaded, Lu Ran realized what baseline invention Limitless City had arranged for him.

Lu Ran’s identity was that of a prodigy beastmaster from the common folk who had lost both parents. Due to the formidable strength of his familiars, he was specially recruited by the National Mechanical University, with the hope that he would pursue the evolutionary path of mechanical modification for familiars.

To fulfill the mechanical modification evolution path, Lu Ran had enrolled in the university, gaining the opportunity to study mechanical knowledge. In invention competitions, the creation of entirely new mechanical modification evolution paths also counted as valid entries.

In other words, even if the participants entering this secret realm knew nothing about the Mechanical attribute, they could still sell resources, spend money to learn, or commission custom mechanical evolution paths to participate in the invention competition. By mechanically evolving their familiars, they could compete for the final rankings.

While mechanical modification evolution paths were at the bottom of the invention competition hierarchy, exceptions existed. If one could modify a familiar with a unique species talent that held significant implications for the development of the Mechanical field, it could still achieve a high ranking.

This was essentially Limitless City’s safety net for participants. If no other options were available, they could consider modifying their familiars to evolve toward the Mechanical attribute.

Of course, this approach carried risks. Each person’s familiars had fixed cultivation paths. Rashly steering them toward Mechanical-attribute evolutions might not yield good results. Rather than taking this risk, it might be better to wait for the next ascension realm.

However, if the beastmasters entering this ascension realm were from Blue Planet, some might be willing to take the risk just to explore the rare Mechanical attribute.

Amidst his chaotic thoughts, Lu Ran soon appeared in a luxurious single dormitory.

Lying on the bed, he continued to ponder. “First, to avoid wasting time, I must clear this ascension realm. Moreover, the hidden lore of this ascension realm seems incredibly promising. If I can invent something impressive enough in the University Invention Competition, wouldn’t that mean I could be invited to the Divine Research Institute as a researcher?

“In this era, the Mechanical God has yet to be created by humanity. This Divine Research Institute is almost certainly the birthplace of the Mechanical God. In other words, if conditions are met, I could even participate in the creation project of the Mechanical God?

“It feels like I’m daydreaming again. Should I really go for mechanical familiar modification? None of my familiars seems particularly suited for it. At most, it would be a sword-wielding dog with a mechanical lightsaber or a dragon king clad in defensive armor...

“But no matter how you spin it, mechanical familiar modification alone would never meet the standards for an invitation to the Divine Research Institute. It would have to be a groundbreaking invention of great significance.

“Moreover, attempting a major modification of my familiars from scratch just to complete the ascension mission is too risky. But aside from mechanical familiar modification, as a complete novice in the Mechanical attribute, dreaming up anything else is pure fantasy, especially something too revolutionary.

“With only 18 days, I could use an Epic amplification card on a Soul Cleansing Fruit to boost my learning ability and try to become a mechanical master in three weeks, but that still feels risky.

Hmm?

Wait, do I still have the inactive artificial mechanical angel in my backpack?”

Lu Ran suddenly remembered something and checked his backpack, his face lighting up with joy. He had almost forgotten about this one. No matter what, the mechanical angel was still a research-type mechanical life of the King species. During this ascension mission, it would surely be more useful than a complete novice like him.

He couldn’t wait until level 5. Perhaps he could activate it in the ruin space later and have it serve as his assistant. That would significantly increase his chances of completing the mission. Two people working together were always better than one.

However, even with the mechanical angel’s assistance, it would only slightly improve Lu Ran’s odds of completing the ascension mission.

If he wanted to achieve an SSS score and really explore the era’s secrets like in previous ascension realms, the mechanical angel’s help alone wouldn’t be enough. Even submitting the mechanical angel as an invention wouldn’t earn a glance from the Divine Research Institute.

“Got it. Before activation, the mechanical angel isn’t a mechanical lifeform—it’s just a pile of materials. Even its core AI chip is merely a mechanical resource. The mechanical angel’s AI chip is a Treasure-grade mechanical resource. Only this can support the premise of a King species research-type intelligent lifeform.

“If I use an Epic amplification card to upgrade the mechanical angel’s AI chip to Epic grade, even if it doesn’t directly evolve to the Overlord species, its research capabilities should at least match those of an Overlord research-type lifeform. Even in the Mechanical Era, an Overlord research-type intelligent lifeform would rank among the top-tier researchers.

“With its assistance, the probability of completing the ascension mission wouldn’t just increase slightly, it would be nearly 100%. I refuse to believe any other participants could secure the help of an Overlord intelligent research lifeform. Such things are only accessible to Legendary mechanics in the Stellar Moon Federation and are considered national treasures.

“However, there’s still one major problem—time and direction. 18 days is still too short, and I currently lack a suitable research direction...”

Just as Lu Ran was agonizing, the Six-Paths Flower suddenly spoke from within the contract card.

You don’t have to worry. I can solve the time issue. You just need to decide on the invention direction.

Startled by its voice, Lu Ran said, “Six Flower, didn’t I tell you not to pop up unless it’s an emergency? I know your abilities, but if you act, it’s too easy for those guys to detect you. Wait until I learn the Time Shield beastmaster skill before you come out.”

Lu Ran understood what the Six-Paths Flower was saying. Its powers also incorporated Time abilities, as Lu Ran and the others had experienced before. The Six-Paths Flower could create a hell domain where time flowed differently from the outside world, subjecting enemies to prolonged torment.

If Lu Ran’s guess was correct, the Six-Paths Flower intended to have the newly born mechanical angel conduct its research inside this time-altered hell. This way, despite only 18 days passing outside, the mechanical angel would have ample time for research and development.

However, this would place significant mental strain on the Six-Paths Flower. Additionally, Lu Ran was worried about a repeat of the previous incident, such as Legendary divine beasts from the Chaos Dragon God lineage tracking them down.

The Six-Paths Flower said, “The risk isn’t too high. The Divine Tree Era has just ended, meaning the great war between the Beast Gods and Plant Gods concluded not long ago. Precisely because both sides were severely weakened, humanity seized the opportunity to develop.

“By leveraging my Limit Breaker talent, I can sense that the restraints on plant life in this world have significantly loosened. The ones we should be wary of are likely in deep slumber for recovery.

“Moreover, in this era, plant life is everywhere, and a considerable number of Plant Gods still exist somewhere in the Stellar Moon World. This is no longer the Beastmaster Empire Era, when plant life was rare. They won’t notice us.”

Lu Ran fell into thought. Indeed, the early Mechanical Era was the period right after the war between the Divine Tree and Chaos Dragon God factions. Both sides had suffered heavy losses and were now dormant—there was no way they’d show up.

“That makes sense. In that case, I’ll enhance the mechanical angel’s AI chip. You’ll trap it in the time-altered hell to work on inventions. With a top-tier researcher and sufficient time, as long as I toss it some grand-sounding project, it really does have a high probability of developing something groundbreaking.

“This ascension mission is practically in the bag! And with a Legendary lifeform like you offering the intelligent angel some guidance, the invention might even have a solid chance of catching the Divine Research Institute’s attention!”