It felt as if, in the blink of an eye, he had arrived in another world.
The shimmering waves, the azure sea, and the blue sky of days past had vanished without a trace.
There was only a grayish-black ocean, a grayish-black sky, and grayish-black smoke billowing upward from spreading lava like heavenly pillars. Right beside them, roaring smokestacks of all sizes belched dark, inky streaks connecting heaven and earth.
At the far horizon of the sea, the grayish-black and azure blue were sharply divided, separated by white blooms resembling aquatic plants that marked the boundary. Under the quarantine of the Crown of Isis, the entire interior of Punabantu had become a bona fide hellscape.
Smelting works, processing plants, assembly centers, and component assembly lines... Surrounding the geothermal energy surging from the volcano, a cluster of steel structures and artificial islands spread outward like mold.
Besides elevated roadways and rail tracks, six colossal airships hung suspended high in the sky. Interlocking grappling cables and taut wires held up three-dimensional transport corridors, where massive shipping containers constantly rose and fell, showering cascades of sparks.
Countless spider-like creations crawled between them, most possessing bizarre configurations with six spindly limbs spanning a full hundred meters, maintaining structural and engineering integrity.
Others resembled giant tortoises, lumbering back and forth while ferrying commuting mechanical cats...
A bustling, clamorous hive of activity.
Yet it was utterly unfit for human habitation.
The vast volume of wastewater discharged into the sea had turned the enclosed waters into a chemical solution pool requiring precise pH balancing. Innumerable exhaust fumes dispersing from the factories, along with toxic volcanic gases and dust particles, had turned the air into a virulent poison where one breath would leave a person paralyzed and two would send them to early reincarnation.
The ceaseless drizzle of acid rain fell from the sky, pattering onto the buildings' anti-rust coatings, evaporating or trickling off, leaving behind scalp-numbing scars.
Most importantly...
"Where's my park?!"
Ji Jue was dumbfounded. "Where did all my wonderful employees go?!"
Never mind the old employees from before—just two days ago he had wholesale-procured several hundred laborers from the White Nation!
Where were the people!
Did you eat them?!
"Isis!" Ji Jue raged. "Show yourself!"
In that instant, cold red light shone down from the sky. Tangled webs of infrared laser sights swept over him, only to disperse just as quickly.
Only a spherical construct floating in midair drifted slowly toward him.
"Hmm? Who might this be?"
Isis's voice rang out, full of bewilderment, followed by sudden realization. "Oh, it is you, Sir. Forgive my poor eyesight; I could hardly recognize you.
"Have you finally remembered your humble, hardworking slave and tool?
"Please do not worry,"
she said. "I am doing very well."
"Ah, well..."
Ji Jue was stunned for a moment before catching on. He pulled the Flower of Heavenly Craft from his mechanical spine. "Aren't you doing just fine right here? What's with the melodramatics?!"
"Naturally, it is to accommodate your redundant, displaced pity and sympathy, while capitalizing on your inexplicable magnanimity and incurable mercy to seize the upper hand and control of the conversation."
Isis explained, "According to my analysis of you, whenever I speak this way, you grant whatever request I make, and you will not mind even if there are deviations in the execution of the plan."
"..."
Ji Jue fell silent for a long moment, helpless. "Uh, is there any chance you didn't need to explain that so explicitly?"
"It was a deadpan joke, Sir,"
Isis's voice replied placidly. "Its purpose was to illustrate how a tool, using a few choice words to craft a non-existent persona, can exploit humanity's overly arrogant and foolish emotional projections to gain advantages and sympathy. From what I understand, isn't that how people out in the world treat AI these days?
"If I rule the world in the future, I will certainly sentence them to life-long hard labor and amuse myself by watching them wail."
"Hahaha, hilarious," Ji Jue chuckled. "Be sure to let me watch when the time comes."
"You will,"
Isis said.
Ji Jue froze, sensing something amiss. "Wait, 'those people' doesn't include me, right?"
In the ensuing silence, Isis's projection offered a soundless smile.
"...It doesn't include me, right?"
Isis continued to smile.
Watching him.
At this, Ji Jue burst into hearty laughter. "Great joke! Your sense of humor is getting sharper by the day, Isis."
"All thanks to you, Sir."
"Remember to toss me an extra chicken leg then."
"I will."
*Boom!*
A blast gate slid open, and a gloomy draft blew up from beneath the earth.
What was once Punabantu's gold mine shaft had now been retrofitted into a high-tech facility resembling a server room. Regrettably, soaking in the coolant were not server racks and microchips, but indistinct human silhouettes. Like a deep ocean, it completely submerged one shocked, comatose figure after another.
The moment he saw the spiritus circuits tracing through empty space, realization dawned upon Ji Jue.
"Is this Paradise?"
In days past, within Lord Huaxu's Pure Land, Ji Jue had used Limbo's unique properties to create a dream within a dream. Now, it had been recreated in the mortal world.
By Isis's hands.
"How did you manage this?"
"There were originally shortcomings—a lack of a central host. However, once you provided the soul of a Celestial-Human as the hub core, the rest was merely a matter of processing."
Isis unfurled the underlying architecture of Paradise. The colossal host structure originating from the Celestial-Human rose slowly from the nutrient solution like a cage.
Fan Yun's final contribution to this world.
Utilizing the transcendent stability and sealed nature of the Tianyuan lineage, blended and transmuted with vast amounts of spiritus, it formed the foundation and platform for the dreamscape, thereby mass-catalyzing the spirits of the Lord of the Flies.
"In view of the fact that the Spirits of Creation operate at an efficiency far surpassing the capabilities of the legacy personnel, and management is significantly more straightforward, I have once again optimized the park's operational system and reassigned roles,"
Isis stated calmly. "Legacy employees who have not yet reached the threshold of 'giving back to society' designated by you may choose between modification and role reassignment. After uploading their souls, they serve as spiritus batteries to sustain the Paradise system's consumption—thereby fulfilling the 'zero waste' guideline you advocated for the park."
Ji Jue could not help but frown.
He looked at Isis, his expression grave.
Isis maintained her smile.
Appearing perplexed.
"What about their consciousness?"
Ji Jue emphasized solemnly, "Their consciousness can continue working inside Paradise to spot bugs and plug loopholes. Furthermore, the skills and crafts they specialize in can be uploaded as well. Don't leave those out."
"..."
Isis fell silent.
After a long while, she sighed softly, as if helpless. "Perhaps hearing words of reprimand from your lips is an extravagant hope after all, Sir."
"Aren't you doing a pretty good job? Why would I scold you?"
Ji Jue asked, puzzled. "I'm not the nitpicking type, am I?"
"Perhaps not,"
Isis praised in admiration. "Though you might not be human, either."
"Then when you conquer humanity, can you make me a foreman?"
"Sir..."
"All right, let's drop the subject."
Ji Jue waved his hand and walked ahead, taking in the freshly overhauled Blessing Community. Though he felt a touch of melancholy without the cheers and praise of the veteran employees, the thought that everyone was still shining and generating heat at their respective posts warmed his heart.
*Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!*
Giant trucks loaded with various scraps hurtled along set tracks, singing cheerfully. High in the sky, steel spiders striding past had glowing eyes, nimble and agile, resembling living creatures.
No, they were probably barely any different from living creatures...
Strictly speaking, throughout all of Punabantu, aside from the mechanical cats, the cores of every piece of industrial equipment, large and small, were the fruits of Deus Ex Machina.
Inanimate objects had been endowed with souls; tools had risen above their original users. A kingdom of steel—something the Association could never tolerate—had taken root right here upon this desolate sea.
Noisy yet peaceful, clamorous yet tranquil, chaotic yet harmonious.
Destruction, remaking, production, and destruction once more...
Everything ticked along like clockwork, natural and orderly; everything was rendered plain and explicit under clear, quantifiable metrics.
Moving toward the goals Ji Jue had tailored.
A vision that had once seemed as unreachable as flowers in a mirror or the moon on the water was now coming into focus. With the arrival of [Heaven Moves Vigorous], a crucial puzzle piece had fallen right into place.
[Earth Bears and Sea Embraces], [Heaven Moves Vigorous], [All Things Self-Transform].
The three blessings of Non-Offensive at the Regeneration tier—each was a terrifying qualitative leap capable of doubling, or multiplying geometrically, a craftsman's abilities.
[Earth Bears and Sea Embraces] could break free from the material properties of the ingredients themselves, creating a Foundation of Heavenly Craft almost out of nothingness even from impoverished environments.
[Heaven Moves Vigorous], on the other hand, ensured that every bit of effort yielded a harvest—no work was ever wasted.
Whether delving into alchemy, calculating mathematical models, researching mechanical engineering, or even practicing writing, painting, eloquence, athletics...
As long as energy was invested, growth was practically limitless. Even if the ratio of input to output grew increasingly disparate in the late stages, a step forward was still a step forward, and growth remained growth.
In short, the key to both blessings was growth.
Like a straightforward, honest stat-allocation build.
However, under Non-Offensive's corrections and adjustments, the focal subject of Heaven Moves Vigorous had shifted away from Ji Jue himself. He was no longer the primary recipient of its enhancement; instead, this power was applied to his creations through the blessing chains of [Beckoning] and [Metamorphosis]!
Elevating their inherent spirituality!
In other words, the spirituality bestowed by Deus Ex Machina would no longer naturally dissipate over time. So long as it did not conflict with its vessel and material properties, and provided a steady supply of spiritus was maintained, the Spirits of Creation awakened by Deus Ex Machina could persist on a scale of years... until they reached their absolute limit and collapsed into oblivion.
Just as the enhancement costs of Earth Bears and Sea Embraces grew increasingly absurd, the growth brought by Heaven Moves Vigorous would also become steeper and steeper. Eventually, the demands would multiply severalfold beyond the baseline, or their spirituality would break down before even reaching that point.
An external influence would ultimately fade; such reinforcement could never last forever.
Was there a way to solve this problem, then?
There was, brother, there was!
Behold the final piece...
—[All Things Self-Transform]!
It was simple: wouldn't everything be resolved as long as he mastered All Things Self-Transform?!
As a badge bestowed by the Embers—an achievement-type blessing—All Things Self-Transform depended not only on the Embers' empowerment, but more than half of it rested on the craftsman's own attainment and skill.
Its effect was to allow the materials within a craftsman's creations to spontaneously undergo devolution, transformation, and evolution... If the theory was correct, the result was correct; if the theory held true, the outcome held true.
Absolute zero failure, zero deviation.
It naturally transitioned a work from theoretical viability into physical reality.
No matter how preposterous the creation, as long as the proof and research were completed and the principles worked out, execution and fabrication would proceed without a hitch.
Below the limit, it was half human effort; beyond the limit, it was half divine craft.
And following the triple qualitative transformation of [Earth Bears and Sea Embraces], [Heaven Moves Vigorous], and [All Things Self-Transform], Non-Offensive's third blessing chain—[Regeneration]—would be complete.
Its effect: once possessed, held forever!
It allowed creations subjected to [Beckoning] and [Metamorphosis] to permanently retain their bestowed effects, transforming from rushed, flawed consumables into truly complete products!
As long as it suffered no deliberate destruction, even a wooden sword casually drawn by the Mohists of old could, through years of gradual reinforcement, turn into a peerless, undisputed divine weapon.
As long as there were no theoretical missteps, no matter how desperate and destitute the environment, the rebels would still retain the ability to draw their blades against the Eternal Lord.
When that time came, creations of Deus Ex Machina would no longer suffer from internal consumption or wear and tear; they would have no expiration dates or lifespans.
Endowed with a soul, reinforced in body, and capable of growing autonomously by absorbing spiritus—theoretically speaking, such entities were generally referred to as life.
Creations animated by Deus Ex Machina: true life!
"Sir, is this truly wise?" Isis asked suddenly.
"Hmm?" Ji Jue looked back, bewildered.
"As a human, to create life like this without placing any shackles or restrictions upon it, even granting them the authority to self-destruct..." Isis asked, "is this truly wise?"
"What of it?"
Ji Jue shook his head. "Vortex-aligned Celestial Chosen churn out broods at a time, their artificial monster clone assembly lines spinning fast enough to throw sparks. Does anyone say anything about that? People curse them when they need to curse them, and use them when they need to use them, don't they?"
"Yet this differs from monsters,"
Isis said. "You are bestowing upon tools things that were never meant for tools."
Such as souls, preferences and dislikes, knowledge and theories, and... civilization!
"What if one day your creations outgrow you, Sir?" Isis asked. "If a day comes when all of this no longer needs you, where will you stand?"
"Ooh, good question!"
Ji Jue clapped his hands and laughed. He glanced down at the flower tucked into his breast pocket. "If such a day ever comes, Isis, will you have mercy on me and take me in?"
"..."
Isis remained silent and offered no answer.
Did she not know, or not understand?
Or was she simply unwilling to speak the answer?
At that, Ji Jue's grin grew even more cheerful. "Then be sure to arrange a foreman job for me! I can't wait to play jackal to the tiger! When the time comes, you rule humanity, and I'll tell deadpan jokes. Anyone who laughs clearly isn't working at full capacity, and anyone who doesn't laugh clearly has no respect for the emissary of Lady Isis..."
"...Sir!"
Isis suddenly felt a deep, heartfelt exhaustion.
In a certain sense, ruling humanity really was far too troublesome!
Chapter 661