Chapter 261: Mechanical Ascension, Man-Beast Unity, True Dragon Descends (I)

After leaving the office, Chen Chu didn’t return to his dormitory.

The base was organized very differently from the school; there was no reading room or library. The only way to access information from the outside world was through the Celestial Think Tank or East Xia’s core intelligence database, and the only place to connect to those was the control room.

Soon, after passing through several security doors, Chen Chu arrived at a room that resembled a large computer room. He politely greeted the supervising teacher, who was idly drinking some tea, before sitting down in front of a light-screen computer.

After identity and access verification, the screen quickly refreshed with dozens of options.

Chen Chu could now access more information than before. When he clicked on the "arts" category, a dense directory of thousands of arts appeared, among which were top-level secret scriptures.

Of course, these secret scriptures only had their names and brief summaries. To learn and cultivate them, one needed to apply for them, and the process of obtaining these teachings was even more cumbersome than for high-level arts.

Skipping the arts category, Chen Chu clicked on "runes.” The page immediately switched, displaying images of over a hundred complete runes and thousands of incomplete runes, each representing a type of power.

When he hovered the mouse over a “mountain” rune, the image instantly magnified, revealing a dense, intricate internal structure. It appeared to be composed of hundreds to thousands of twisted strokes, extremely profound and complex.

"Sure enough, they’re all the same," Chen Chu muttered, his eyes flickering as he looked at the rune images.

Having condensed both incomplete and complete runes before, Chen Chu could feel a certain profound aura emanating from these rune images even through the screen. However, compared to the Divine Might Dragon Elephant rune he had condensed within his body, these runes seemed much simpler, even the over one hundred complete runes.

All of the officially available runes were basic ones, which varied in their effects: some had considerable power, some merely stirred a gentle breeze, and some, when condensed, could prevent nightmares. The powers they contained were diverse and peculiar.

Even the incomplete ones held special powers. Many of the basic and incomplete runes seemed weak individually, but according to the data, sometimes combining the weakest runes could result in explosive power.

It was similar to basic computer code: a single line would be useless, but once compiled, it could become a powerful, fully functional software.

After enthusiastically browsing through the rune information for a while, Chen Chu exited the page and opened the information section, clicking on the introduction to the West Meng Empire.

He had always been curious about the cultivation environments and conditions in the two nations that were on par with East Xia, especially now that Luo Fei was transferring to West Meng.

However, as he read through the cultivation information for the West Meng Empire, Chen Chu's face showed a look of surprise. He quickly scrolled through the information and then opened the details about the North Lin Empire.

Soon, a complete picture of the Federation's cultivation structure unfolded before Chen Chu. The three major empires, or rather the entire Human Federation, were dominated by three distinct paths: the true martial arts path, the gene path, and the mechanical fusion path.

Unlike East Xia and its affiliated nations, which adhered strictly to martial arts cultivation, North Lin followed the gene path, integrating the genes of mutated or colossal beasts. Practitioners there started by cultivating special arts to fuse with beast genes, continually enhancing this fusion through their training.

Upon reaching the Fourth Heavenly Realm, they could activate the power of the fused beast, transforming and gaining a portion of the beast's unique powers and significantly boosting their combat capabilities.

However, cultivators on this path became increasingly less human, and their wills were susceptible to the influence of mutated creature genes, risking a loss of control at any time.

In contrast, the technologically advanced West Meng Empire followed the path of mechanical fusion, with the ultimate goal being the unity of man and machine.

Mainstream mechs were constructed using transcendent materials and mutated creature materials, combined with mechanical and rune technology, and centered around cultivators as the core of these combat mechs.

This cultivation method was similar to refining transcendent weapons, but with added technological advancements, allowing the integration of various combat components. Power reactors, flight engines, missiles, machine cannons and more could all be included, providing comprehensive performance and formidable firepower.

Seeing this, Chen Chu couldn't help but recall Luo Fei's earlier comment that her combat power would surge after reaching the Fourth Heavenly Realm.

Loading combat gear—could this mean wearing a mech suit?

However, the information available only provided a brief introduction to the gene and mechanical paths. More detailed data was currently inaccessible, which left Chen Chu somewhat disappointed.

Despite the different cultivation systems, the Human Federation remained highly united, sharing high-level information and cooperating on the mythical world battlefield. Yet, among low-level cultivators and ordinary society, the three major empires imposed strict information blocks, explaining why Chen Chu hadn't heard about these paths before.

The official aim was to focus all human and material resources of the three empires on exploring which path was most suitable for humanity. Over the decades, the true martial art path had progressed the furthest, producing more king-level experts and a few supreme powerhouses. However, all three paths had reached their current limits and had been stagnant for years.

Thus, the authorities were considering lifting the information restrictions, hoping to pool the entire Federation's strength to break through this invisible barrier. It seemed they had already started to gradually ease that information control; after the Kyrola incident, Chen Chu had noticed distinct changes in the online environment.

Unfortunately, with Chen Chu's current access level, he could only see this much, and couldn't understand the extent of the limits reached by the three paths.

Chen Chu then spent another half-day in the control room, browsing through many previously inaccessible documents, before finally sitting back in his chair, lost in thought as he pondered over the things Chen Qi had told him earlier.

Should I create a top-level secret scripture that suits me best, or should I transition to another top-level secret scripture passed down by a king?

Transitioning to another secret scripture could allow him to reach the Ninth Heavenly Realm more quickly and conveniently, given his attribute points' enhancement capabilities. Achieving the Ninth Heavenly Realm or even becoming a king within a year wouldn't be impossible.

However, the drawbacks were also clear. Following someone else's path seldom led to breaking through to the king level; even if it did, the combat power after breaking through was relatively weak, and progress was difficult.

Following someone else's path was like following a template without understanding the underlying principles. Ultimately, when one needed to comprehend the world independently and perfect their own framework through self-awareness and analysis, they would find themselves at a loss on how to optimize themselves.

Even attribute points couldn't solve this problem. Otherwise, Chen Chu wouldn't have needed any supplementary arts earlier; he could have directly deduced the fourth stage of the Dragon Elephant Art and broken through.

Or, instead of maximum enhancement of the Tyrant Body and condensing runes, he could have directly deduced the seventh stage of the Dragon Elephant Art and already condensed the True Martial Phantom.

During this period, Chen Chu had almost figured out the special traits of attribute points. Cultivating arts was about enhancing physical objects, such as battle armor, weapons, the Sumeru Bracelet, and even the body, so he could use points to enhance and break through each stage of the arts, all the way up to maximum enhancement.

When it came to the intangible, however, like the power of will, the points didn't work. The power of will, honed from spiritual force during art breakthroughs, could provide some momentum but couldn't be directly enhanced. Each breakthrough in willpower resulted from Chen Chu's consciousness merging with the Dragon Elephant Phantom and honing his insights.

After condensing the Hellblood Battle Will, the option to enhance it never appeared, since attribute points had almost no effect on those kinds of will. The same applied to the Insightful Eye Realm, which had stalled after losing the known arts for further deduction and couldn't enhance the Blade of Void into a complete rune on its own.

Can I create a top-level secret scripture on my own?

Chen Chu had doubts about this, though it wasn't impossible. He already had a complete Divine Might Dragon Elephant rune. The next step was to reference a secret scripture that could be cultivated to the Ninth Heavenly Realm.

Combining his own true martial art attributes, physical body, and will, he could create a Dao that perfectly suited him. Other cultivators had paved their paths to become kings step by step; he could also create a top-level secret scripture as his foundation to ascend the throne.

Especially since this era was different from the past. Each high-level art essentially represented a microcosm of a rune structure in its core principles, and there were thousands of them to reference when creating a secret scripture.

Given that he was currently in the late stage of the Fifth Heavenly Realm, with a major realm to go before reaching the peak of the Sixth, he had enough time to perfect and create his own secret scripture.

Of course, one shouldn't be blindly arrogant. So, as Chen Qi suggested, Chen Chu decided to prepare two options: if he hadn't developed his secret scripture by the late stage of the Sixth Heavenly Realm, he would choose another secret scripture as his foundation.

After making this decision, Chen Chu took a deep breath and opened the secret scripture directory.

"Confirm application for the top-level secret scripture, Divine Might Dragon Elephant?"

"Yes." Chen Chu clicked confirm.

"Secret scripture application has been submitted. Please wait for notification from the Federation headquarters. The printed version of the secret scripture will be delivered within half a month."

Phewww!

Exhaling a long breath, Chen Chu stood up and strode out of the control room.

He still had many things to accomplish next. For instance, he needed to refine his transcendent armor and weapon a second time, enhance the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd to its limit, and condense a combat skill rune.

After breaking through to the Sixth Heavenly Realm and obtaining the top-level secret scripture, he would have to consider his next steps. At this point, the southern battlefield no longer significantly contributed to his power progression.