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Chapter 405: Chapter 25 The Damaged Star Map
Upon hearing the news about the Snake King, Richard wasn’t concerned about the issues with the Command Room but instead asked,
"The Snake King, what is this ’main control’ you speak of? The spirit of this fortress?"
"Spirit?"
The Snake King seemed puzzled.
The term ’spirit’ was one created specifically by Wizards for the spirits of Wizard Towers; the Giant Dragon language had no such word.
He explained to Richard, "The main control of the fortress was created by the Supreme to enhance the efficiency of the fortress’s capabilities. You can think of it as a machine simulating the brain of a living being.
All sorts of information regarding the entire Star Realm Fortress can be known through the main control."
The Snake King’s description was crisp and clear, which allowed Richard to immediately understand what this fortress’s main control was. Artificial intelligence, huh? Not any rare treasure.
However, Richard hadn’t expected that the Pioneers would use artificial intelligence to increase their efficiency in managing the fortress.
He had thought that this main control would be more "fantastical."
"Alright, this thing sounds similar to a spirit, except that a spirit isn’t simulated by a machine but is directly processed from a soul."
"Processed soul?" the Snake King exclaimed, surprised. "That’s far too unreliable. A soul isn’t as dependable as machinery."
Richard spread his hands, "The spirit’s role is more of a steward, not a soldier. Reliability is not as important as being economical."
A processed soul of a Level 1 Creature was sufficient to manage a small Wizard Tower. But creating an artificial intelligence with comparable capabilities would cost many times more.
And when it came to managing more complex machines, although processing souls became more expensive and had limitations, Alchemy Wizards could be an alternative at that point.
The soul of a Great Wizard studying Alchemy Machines was the ideal spirit for a tower.
Even a Great Wizard studying Alchemy Machines, if they saw this fortress, would potentially trade a world for it.
...
All the corridors within the fortress were made of crystals and, under the control of the main control, the Crystal Channel leading to the Command Room would light up with a faint glow, which was extremely convenient.
On the way to the Command Room, Richard took the opportunity to ask some questions about the Pioneers—being recognized by the fortress’s main control as belonging to the Dragon King Species, he naturally had the authority to inquire.
But the answers he received were somewhat chilling.
In the fortress main control’s permission list, the highest level of authority, as well as several other high-level permissions, were unexpectedly vacant.
The civilization that had battled with the Pioneers could even interfere with this kind of artificial intelligence.
Yet this news, although chilling, was undoubtedly a good result for Richard.
The vacancy of the highest authority had led to some logical errors in the main control, nearly causing it to collapse.
Fortunately, the Pioneers’ technology was advanced enough that after experiencing logical errors, the main control quickly modified itself.
Now, the highest authority of the main control had fallen to the Giant Dragon whose information had not been erased.
This meant that Hog, who was in the Command Room, now held the highest level of authority within the main control.
As a Dragon Prince, she could have ranked third in the original version of the hierarchy of control. Now, with the disappearance of the Pioneers, she had directly replaced them, becoming the highest authority holder of the fortress.
All areas of the entire Star Realm Fortress were open to her.
And Richard, having absorbed Hog’s blood and belonging to the Dragon King Species, held authority second only to Hog, shoulder to shoulder with the Snake King, who belonged to the Subspecies Giant Dragon.
Through the faintly glowing Black Crystal Channel, Richard and his companions quickly arrived at a severed section.
The ancient Star Realm Fortress had sustained severe damage, with nearly the entire upper half about to explode, a massive injury that had even damaged the fortress’s Power Furnace.
The substantial Energy Radiation emitted by the Power Furnace weaved through the rifts in the fortress, glimmering green like an aurora.
"This radiation intensity..."
Richard looked at the radiation that resembled the aurora and rubbed his forehead, a little headache setting in.
By a conservative estimate, the intensity of this Energy Radiation had reached 8,000 Energy Level. Exposed to such intense radiation, even a Three Rings Wizard couldn’t last very long.
However, according to the main control of the fortress, the Command Room was situated in such an environment.
"I’ll just brave it and go in," Ulysses suddenly said, looking at the Radiation Aurora. "You’re not strong enough. Going in there would be a death sentence for you.
This Energy Radiation poses little threat to my soul; even if my body is destroyed, I can make it back safely."
Ulysses’ proposal seemed to be the most feasible plan at the moment, but Richard was not very keen on Ulysses doing so.
The shell of a third-level creature wasn’t so easy to come by, especially one near the top-end like Ulysses’.
If his body was destroyed, he might have to stay in the Secret Realm for the duration of the Plane War.
Level 1 and Level 2 combat capabilities were almost useless to Richard.
Suddenly, Richard turned to the wall and spoke, "Main control, what is the procedure for manipulating space within the fortress?"
[To manipulate space within the fortress, one must apply to the fortress’s main control. After approval by the main control, the purpose of the spatial manipulation and its consequences must be registered before the manipulation can be conducted.]
The voice of the main control rang in Richard’s ear, and with this answer, Richard felt certain and said,
"I wish to apply for spatial manipulation."
[Your application has been submitted to the fortress main control, please wait.]
At the same time, the voice of the main control of the fortress suddenly sounded in Hog’s ear, who was beside Richard.
[Since the fortress main control has fallen in battle, according to the wartime hierarchy of authority, you are now to temporarily assume the role of the fortress main control of the World Tree Star Realm Fortress Number Three.]
[Dragon King Species Richard requests spatial manipulation approval, please proceed.]
Hearing the voice of the fortress main control, Hog looked somewhat bewildered at Richard.
Seeing her reaction, Richard nodded with a smile, "As I thought, after the fortress main control is deceased, the control of the fortress slides to the person with the highest authority within the fortress."
"Don’t just stand there, hurry up and approve my application."
"Yes!" Hog replied, somewhat flustered.
[Application approved, please register]
Having heard the main control’s response, Richard continued, "The purpose of manipulating space is to facilitate interdimensional cooperation, to help us enter the Command Room. The consequence will be the emergence of one or more World Tree-type life tentacles."
[Registration complete, you now have the authority to control space]
Upon hearing that he had obtained the authority, Richard relaxed slightly and smiled at Ulysses,
"It’s settled, you don’t have to be on the Suicide Squad anymore."
Ulysses pretended to be disappointed, "Ah, there goes my vacation."
"Get lost."
Richard swore with a laugh, then immediately went with Ulysses to open the Secret Realm Rift, allowing the World Mushroom’s mycelial tendrils to probe out from the secret realm.
"Master, what do you need me to do?"
Richard pointed at the Radiation Aurora not far away.
"Do you have a way to deal with that Radiation Aurora?"
The mycelial tendrils sent out a wave of energy, and soon Richard heard the confident voice of the World Mushroom.
"Master, if it had been before, I could only have resisted the Radiation Aurora. But after devouring those World Tree Subbodies, I have evolved.
To me, this Energy Radiation is excellent nourishment."
Richard nodded in satisfaction; feeding it so many World Tree Subbodies was finally paying off.
"That’s good, you’ll escort us next."
"Yes."
With the escort of the World Mushroom tendrils, the journey for Richard and his group became much smoother.
The World Mushroom sealed up all the rifts they encountered along the way as tightly as a bandage, not a bit of Energy Radiation could seep through.
Thus, they quickly arrived at the Command Room.
The location of the Command Room was in the upper-middle part of the fortress, right above the Power Furnace.
This design might seem dangerous, but the Power Furnace was the heart of the fortress, the most heavily guarded spot.
If there were problems with it, it wouldn’t matter where the Command Room was.
Through the World Mushroom’s Energy Barrier, Richard could see the entire Command Room was enveloped in a layer of Radiation Aurora.
Looking at these conditions, Richard could only pray that the Pioneer’s products were of sufficient quality to withstand such intense radiation for tens or even millions of years... well, that was somewhat unrealistic.
The World Mushroom sealed the Command Room’s rifts with its mycelial tendrils, but prolonged Radiation had altered the nature of the objects inside.
They, too, were emitting Energy Radiation.
Luckily, this Energy Radiation wasn’t too strong, and everyone present except Hog could easily withstand it.
The Command Room was in disarray, a multitude of Crystal Creations were wrapped in a faint glow. Even Hog and the Snake King couldn’t determine what these things were.
So, Richard had to resort to a crude method—feeling each object one by one.
If the Miracle Furnace reacted, it would be a win.
So those following Richard watched him start from crystal fragments on the floor, moving all the way up to the few large Crystal Creations in the room.
"What is the Great One doing?" asked the Snake King, somewhat puzzled.
Ulysses, who was aware of the Miracle Furnace’s existence, replied indifferently, "Don’t mind him, this is his special method of searching for things. We can’t learn it."
Suddenly, everyone heard Richard exclaim.
"Found it!"
Their eyes followed to Richard, who excitedly held a human-head-sized regular polyhedron, and even as the cells of his hands began to collapse, it did not make him let go.
[Raw Material: Damaged Star Map]
[Information that can be refined: Incomplete Supreme Star Map]
[Refinement cost: 20 spiritual power]
Looking at the information given by the Miracle Furnace, Richard was overjoyed.
It wasn’t completely destroyed!
Pioneer-made, indeed of unbeatable quality!
"Is this the Star Map?" the Snake King asked, puzzled, "But this thing looks broken, doesn’t it?"
In fact, the glow emitted by the polyhedron was significant enough to cause the collapse of Richard’s cells, having clearly been subjected to prolonged radiation.
If it was still usable, the quality of the object could only be described as terrifying.
"Don’t worry, if he says it’s useful, then it’s certainly useful," Ulysses replied calmly.
Richard took out two metal ingots from his pocket, made a box for the damaged Star Map, and then stuffed it into his pocket, continuing to search.
Since the Star Map was still usable, there might be other things that were functional as well.
But as he continued to search, Hog suddenly spoke up:
"Master, the main control told me, someone from the Inner World is trying to contact us."
