Chapter 11

Shazhenghai made himself a cup of coffee and sipped it leisurely, occasionally offering a few pointers to the young man.

"… Speaking of the Sijin Star Pattern Iron, it’s not really a rare thing. During the Star Abyss Alliance era, this stuff wasn’t as common as dirt, but it certainly wasn’t as valuable as gold, silver, copper, or iron! But now… forget it!" The half-baked creator held his coffee cup and said with a sigh.

This humiliating and dark history is almost familiar to every human. Ever since the powerful Star Abyss Alliance collapsed, the native Milky Way and almost all overseas territories fell, and to this day, they are still occupied by those damned Vorotikor priests. The proud human race was driven out of their homeland and had to reopen suitable settlements in distant wilderness star systems, fighting for survival space from the ferocious star beasts and hostile alien civilizations, regardless of casualties and sacrifices!

The direct consequences of the homeland's destruction and territorial loss were a drastic decline in technological strength, a compression of strategic maneuvering space, and the cutoff of many precious resource sources. They had to find new veins or pay a huge price to buy from alien civilizations!

He thought for a moment and said, "Although that’s the case, it’s been so many years now. The human race has recovered quickly, and the star domains and resources we control are increasing. The situation will gradually improve, right?"

"Not that simple!" Shazhenghai sneered disdainfully.

"Territory is easy to conquer, population is easy to breed, and expanding regular military forces is just a matter of a word from the higher-ups! But some things, no matter how much money and resources you have, can’t be restored so easily!"

"Take mechs, for example! After the collapse of the Alliance, the technological level of human civilization declined sharply, and many precious traditions were lost. As a result, for so many years, the human race has relied on just a few half-baked strong individuals to maintain its facade, with actual combat strength being abysmal! Who knows how many more years it will take to change this!"

Qin Huang felt a pang of sadness and said, "The emergence of top-tier strong individuals is no small matter. At least a legendary-level mech and a high-level source energy cultivator need to combine, undergo life-and-death trials, and establish great merits for the human race, possessing unique cultivation techniques and secret skills, before they can possibly earn the highest honor! So…"

At this point, he could only shake his head. These extremely stringent conditions were not easily achievable! Without the backing of an incredibly powerful nation, they couldn’t even produce a decent mech, let alone cultivate strong individuals with sufficient power to control them!

Originally, the unified human civilization was a true upper-level intelligent race in the universe, one of the few sixth-tier super-civilizations. During the peak of the Star Abyss Alliance, it had vast territories, almost inexhaustible rare resources, a massive fleet, numerous giant war fortresses, and a high-level mech corps that made the star sea races tremble! It had a high number of strategists and brave generals, and its interstellar status was unparalleled!

However, with the collapse of the Alliance, all the former glory became a fleeting memory! The current human nations are far from their status a thousand years ago! To restore the full strength of the past and reclaim the former glory, it’s unknown when that will happen!

"… Look at our Yan Yun Federation. We only have a few gold mechs to hold up the facade. Perhaps there are better ones in secret, or perhaps there aren’t! The number of strong individuals who can stand up to scrutiny is few! What will we use to fight those troublesome Grand Caliphs when we go to war with those damned priests again? Rely on those cowardly and incompetent politicians? Bah…" Shazhenghai slammed his cup on the table, his face showing anger.

Qin Huang remained silent, understanding these matters but unable to change them at his current stage.

The Araya Mind Method quietly operated, and a wave of heat surged in his mind. For a moment, his divine sense became unprecedentedly clear, and every detail of the alloy component before him was vividly visible, even the tiniest flaws were hard to escape his perception.

At some point, his mental energy output stabilized, and he could control it more freely. When he retracted the etching beam and completed the first processing step, there were no mistakes at all!

"The completion time was 31% ahead of schedule, and the detail handling was perfect! You’ve been working hard recently, haven’t you?" Shazhenghai looked at the timer and said with some surprise.

"It’s all thanks to the teacher’s guidance," Qin Huang said formally.

A strong individual who can control a high-level mech will not have weak mental energy. This mysterious cultivation method was originally prepared for the top-tier strong individuals of the Alliance, and it has an incredible effect on the strength and stability of mental energy! And creators, to a large extent, also rely on mental energy, so there are many similarities in this aspect.

Shazhenghai smiled and said, "Since that’s the case, why don’t you take on the next processing steps as well! Let’s see how far you can go. Don’t worry, if you break anything, you won’t be responsible!"

This encouragement from the teacher truly put Qin Huang at ease. After all, the cost of this high-level component was no less than 30,000 star coins, and if he failed and had to pay, he wouldn’t be able to afford it even if he sold himself!

With no worries, the young man began to give it his all. As expected, before his energy dropped below the warning line, he had completed the first three processing steps, and his performance was flawless!

As for the next steps, he was a bit helpless. His strength was still lacking, and he might be able to try after some time, but not now.

However, even so, it was very surprising to Shazhenghai!

"You’re really something, kid!" He examined the component in his hand, his tone carrying a hint of appreciation. "It seems you really have the potential to become a creator! How about it? Interested?"

Qin Huang smiled and shook his head. "The creator profession isn’t something anyone can try. I don’t have the financial means to play this money-burning game! I’ll just stick to being a mobile warrior!"

"Don’t worry about the money," Shazhenghai smiled mysteriously. "If you can make up your mind, these minor issues can be solved! How about it?"

"No, I prefer to play with mechs!" Qin Huang’s attitude was firm.

The creator profession, while having an extremely high status and astonishing wealth, is envied and hated, but because of its special and important nature, it is always under the heavy protection of various forces, fearing any mishap, leaving little freedom.

In other words, they are a group of golden pigs raised in captivity, spending their days in laboratories dealing with all kinds of design drawings and machine parts. Even if they lack nothing in terms of luxury, they may not find much happiness over time.

In Qin Huang’s view, this profession can’t compare to the joy of a high-level mobile warrior exploring the vast star sea, uncovering the endless mysteries of the universe, and battling various powerful enemies. He aspired to be a strong warrior, and the life of being raised in captivity was not what he wanted.

Shazhenghai shrugged with some regret and said, "That’s a real pity! Do you know, you’ve missed a very rare opportunity!"

"Alright! Everyone has their own aspirations, I won’t say more. Your performance this time was excellent, so I’ll give you a little reward!"

He thought for a moment, opened the safe by the wall, rummaged through it, and tossed a thin black metal card to him.

Qin Huang took it and saw that the card was about the same size as his identity card, heavy in his hand, with a pure black surface that faintly shimmered with beautiful crystal light, reflecting rainbow-like stripes under the bright light. The material seemed to be some rare metal.

The card was perfectly smooth, with only a few strange silver square characters engraved in the upper left corner of the front, which he did not recognize.

"What is this?" He couldn’t see anything special and asked curiously.

"Just a token!" Shazhenghai explained.

"Take this and go to the Skylark neighborhood in Maple Leaf City on Saturday night. A woman selling flowers will appear in that area, and she can solve your physical problems!"

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