The Geared Immortal

Chapter 121

Shin Jiao returns to the cave with his huge haul inside his spatial tool. As he approaches the entrance of the huge stump crawling with thick roots, a voice entered his ears.

"Presence accepted, turning down defensive measures and force shields… Welcome back, master." A mechanical woman's voice said.

Then in front of Shin Jiao, a thick mechanical door slid open revealing a tunnel with lights illuminating the stone-paved path. He followed the twirling entrance and not long entered a huge well-lit cavern.

Shin Jiao has already used many of the materials inside the cave and what was left is still enough for him to even make a spacecraft. He didn't expect that the cave contains too many metal and different types of crystals which are almost impossible to find anywhere. Then some investigation he found the reason, under the plant in the middle of the cave, is a World essence.

The world essence is like any other essences which contain the pure power of the soil. And because of this the crystals and ore in the area are growing little by little. According to his estimate, the world essence appears in this cave, not more than a hundred years ago. And in just no more than one hundred years, it produced the number of ores and crystals in the cave. And if he is not wrong, under this cave there exist the rest of the ores and crystals which can be found in this world.

Shin Jiao already has the Plant essence of this world, but he didn't know what happened to it. After he was able to discover the spheres, he hasn't seen the Plant essence, but Shin Jiao is not worried. He can feel that it is still within his mind dantian, all he has to do is find out how to access it.

Shin Jiao walks towards a long table and pours down the huge number of demon beast core. He then checked them using a scanner.

"Master, the number of demon cores in here is five thousand eight hundred cores. Out of the cores there is a level 6 good core, 120 level 5 cores but only 10 of them are good and the rest is a medium grade or already damaged, and there are level 4 and level 3 cores but only 2,000 of these cores are good the rest are damaged." The mechanical female voice said after the scan was complete.

"Wow, those two really worked hard for these things." Shin Jiao muttered as he could not help but admire the beast-man and his pet.

Then his gaze turns towards his long Rifle and lets out a sigh. Although this rifle of his is made of the strongest metal on this planet, however, it doesn't have black ore as a coating. After firing those rounds, he can clearly see that the barrel is already cracked and the inner parts of the rifle are broken.

This is due to the extreme energy accumulated by the rifle just to release enough power to be able to penetrate the tough skin and Qi field of the beast-man and his pet. At that time Shin Jiao has to show himself to buy some time for the energy to accumulate while not attracting the attention of the two.

"Central, please scan my condition." Shin Jiao said as he walks towards the table where a 3D image of a vehicle that looks like a motorcycle without wheels is shown.

The A.I. controlling this cave is actually the same A.I. program that Shin Jiao uses in his laboratory. He wasn't able to put this A.I. on his laptop as the data it consumes is way too huge. But now that he is able to use different kinds of crystals and ore, he was able to make a huge database bank in the cave giving life to his A.I. creation. Though it is still unable to think on its own, nevertheless it has enough intelligence to follow and execute commands.

"Master, your body has already absorbed 90% of Qi and is about to break through to the gold core realm physique. Would you like to proceed with the breakthrough? We can use five good cores of level 4 demon beast to accelerate this process… I computed that you will have at least a 70% chance of success." Central replied after some time.

"70%… hmm… That's not too bad. But I will have to postpone that for now, I need to fix this vehicle first. I can just do my breakthrough in the evening." Shin Jiao muttered.

"Confirmed… Master, that vehicle is not a viable model of transportation as according to my scan of topography outside. This world doesn't have any roads, using a motorcycle to travel is not safe." Central suddenly said.

"You're right. But it's fun… I really missed riding motorbikes…" Shin Jiao said as he continues to edit the 3D design.

"Fun?... Such I cannot understand. Sorry master."

"Haha… There, I'm done… Central, print this out." Shin Jiao commanded.

Then from one of the corners of the cave where many long mechanical arms stood. Red light and a beeping noise sounded out. Then slabs of ores and crystals began to move through the conveyor belt and were slowly formed into shapes. Shin Jiao was able to engineer a mechanical factory that acts as a 3D printer to make the things he drew on the 3D computer. This way he can produce anything he can think of almost immediately without doing too much effort and wasting too much time.

After doing that he enters his own room, and sat on a soft mat made of demon beast fur.

"Central, let's begin my breakthrough," he said as a hole suddenly opens up on his lower navel where one can see mechanical circuits and patterns.

When Shin Jiao lost his dantian, he began his plan to make the manufacturing machine so that he can create the things he needed to repair his own damaged body. But he based everything on the idea of artificial implants and biocybernetics.

It took him a long time to make such a machine as he did it manually, but after many sleepless nights and long hours of work. He was able to make the machines along with the A.I. he called Central, and it was a success.

Due to this, he spent another month to find compatible crystals and ore which would not cause any problem for his body at the same time could connect to his spiritual roots. After researching he was able to find and make a biomechanical dantian which he put on the lower part of his navel. Since this is a prototype, he has to use an external core to power up his dantian.

The power he could use depends on the energy output of the core, but it should not be at most two tiers stronger than his physique. If it is more than that his body would explode due to over drafting of energy absorbed by the mechanism which his body could not handle.

From the ground, four demon beast cores suddenly floated surrounding Shin Jiao's figure sitting in a lotus position. Then another demon beast core floated towards the open hole on Shin Jiao's lower navel where a small mechanical arm grabs it and pulls it in after it ejected the previously used core.

Shin Jiao concentrated on absorbing the huge amount of energy as it tampers his body slowly. He has already learned the proper way of permanently strengthening his physique. By doing this, his physique would be stronger than ever with a strong spiritual suppression his body would still maintain its toughness, although his strength would still be based on his cultivation realm.

Shin Jiao called this cultivation technique, the Primordial immortal body tampering.

He first discovers this when he suffered a huge set back after killing the beast king Fen Hu. Because of the healing effect of the balm, plus its reaction to his skin he was able to create the same synergistic reaction using the energy as it responds with his body.

Shin Jiao suddenly gritted his teeth as he can now feel the tearing and repairing of his tissues and the tiny cells of his body. Although the process is painful however he knows that it is the most effective way to become truly strong.

After 2 hours of grueling pain, Shin Jiao finished his technique and was able to advance to the gold core realm physique. He can now feel the energy of the core which calmly courses through his meridians. Before advancing, whenever he uses a level 4 beast core his body would heat up and is unable to absorb 100% of the energy inside the core and use it. He would always have some trouble in wielding this amount of energy.

It feels rough and uncomfortable, it's like his body would feel heavy and burdened by something. This would almost always work against him when fighting but then with this, he can only use explosive moves just to alleviate the uncomfortable feeling it causes him.

But now that he is able to advance he can now tap on the energy of the demon core with ease.

Shin Jiao then stood up and began to consolidate his advancement. He felt excited and can't wait to practice.

Now in his body there exist 3 different kinds of power: first is the cultivation he has created which now rested inside his head, he discovered that this cultivation is now more concentrated in absorbing natural energy. The next is his physique, which grows through the absorption of Qi and natural energy while changing every cell in his body. The last is his artificial dantian which produces Qi using demon cores. He also uses the same energy to replenish the natural energy inside the spheres in his head. His artificial dantian according to his calculation has the capacity to withstand enough amount of energy until his body would reach the nascent realm.

Once he reaches that realm he needed to change the dantian or reform an original one. But for Shin Jiao he prefers this artificial dantian as he can monitor his own progress without inspecting his own body. The data would immediately show inside his head as he connected the machine function to the spheres.

So even while fighting Shin Jiao can monitor his own body status, vitality, strength, energy and more. With this, he can make correct and accurate judgments on his next moves.

When Shin Jiao was about to move from his position he suddenly discovers that his body was covered with impurities and dead cells. So without a choice, he went inside the shower and takes a bath first.

"My strength has doubled, I think I'm twice or three times stronger than my previous cultivation progress before." Shin Jiao muttered as he sent some punches to the air.

When Shin Jiao came out of his rooms, he felt refreshed and calm. When he saw the already assembled motorcycle, he can't help himself but show a big smile.

"I think it's time for me to leave." Shin Jiao thought.

He then roams his gaze at the huge cave which he has considered as his home for more than 2 months. He wanted to take everything with him, but the ring which Gubu crafted is still broken. His cultivation is not yet enough to fix it.

The energy he needed to fix the ring is huge; if he can reach the nascent realm and the number of spheres should be around 60, then he might have a chance. As he can wield two types of energy, so it is possible for him to fix it.

With his continuous training, the spheres inside his head dantian now number around 40. This is due to the uniform growth of the spheres along with his physique. His progression is really fast as his body has already experienced the nascent realm, so he was able to easily adapt and change.

On the long metallic table, Shin Jiao lay everything he needed to bring for his journey. First is the modified exoskeleton which he created to assist his strength. In case he faces an infant soul realm cultivator, with the help of the exoskeleton he can put up a fight against that cultivator physically. Then there are two semi-automatic handguns which are his main weapon. They are inconspicuous and can be easily hidden under his sleeves. Some sniper rifles which he designed by himself, and more than 100 different kinds of grenades from freezing, lightning, flame, smoke, and etc.

After checking his arsenal, Shin Jiao then check his consumables. He has concocted several bottles of healing pills, but because of the lack of ingredient, the pills he was able to make are not as effective as the Rapid Hemostatic pill. But it is still enough to save his life in a worst-case scenario.

"I guess this is it. I hope that everyone on the base is doing well… Qin Lou…" Shin Jiao muttered as his mind once again drifted to the sweet memory he has with her.

"I wish I had taken her picture. I should have crafted a camera. Damn…"

…

Meanwhile, in the borders between the land of the beast clan and the cultivation land, two figures can be seen standing atop a reinforced earthen wall.

The two figures show a heroic aura that would always attract those people who are below and those behind them. Both have similarities in their appearance, though the other one seems to be older.

"Younger brother, you did a great job in conquering this fortress of the beast clan. I heard you only lost a small number of men in this battle."

"It was the time when we were about to advance towards the death valley. We were ambushed by their advance army as they killed the advance scouts we sent. Lucky for us, we have received the medicine that Father Emperor has sent. If not for that, we would have already lost this war."

The two figures talking above standing on the wall walk are the crown prince and the second prince of the Xi Empire.

The war was won because of the valiant prowess of the second prince and his clever machinations. The beast men were defeated due to a trick which the second prince was able to think at the last minute before the battle starts. Due to the simple-mindedness of the beast-men, he was able to send a couple of his best warriors to assassinate the commanders.

When the war starts the beast men's camp and castle immediately became chaotic. And because of that they fell and were pushed back to their own lands with their pride crushed. Many wanted to return and attack the walls, but it just ended up with them shedding more bloodshed as those who tried to face the cultivators fell without the protection of the walls.

They are like lambs to the slaughter.

And so because of this, the cultivators won the war for the first time after hundreds of years of fighting. Many wanted to know what the second prince did to trick the beast-men, but no matter how hard they tried to pry, no one found out how.

"Father is really proud of you… he asks me to tell you that, he thinks it is time for you to start a family of your own. You have already proven yourself a great prince and a powerful cultivator. I as your elder brother am truly happy." The crown prince said as he pats his younger brother's shoulder.

"Thank you, big brother." The second prince said as he nods his head.

"I heard that your fiancée is a genius and the great beauty of the Lotus Sect.. She is already one of their elders at a very young age."