Chapter 184: StarForge
Chapter 184: StarForge
“So how are we going to go there?” Wang Hao asked to Jieshu and Huo Huangdi. “Maybe its just me, but I want to conserve my strength before facing that hydra.”
“So what you mean is that you do not want to use any of your power to travel.” Huo Huangdi nodded and waved his hands. An object then appeared in front of them.
What appeared was a very cool-looking ship. It was sleek and shiny, with flame red colors adorning it. It also had futuristic-looking weapons adorning its body.
Long range laser beams and missile launchers sat on its wings. Hundred of small turrets also line its body. As for what these things spit out, Wang Hao was sure its not just a normal projectile. Countless weapon surrounded the ship, all with functions unknown to Wang Hao.
“So cool!” The males’ eyes were all shining when they saw Huo Huangdi’s ship. Even Wang Hao had a trace of longing when he saw this cool ship.
Huo Huangdi caressed his ship proudly, clearly loving the attention given to it. “So, what do you say about my ship. Cool right?”
“Yeah, its cool and all. Why don’t we just ride it and go there.” Uranus turned to Jieshu and asked, “I hope you can guide us there.”
“With pleasure.” Jieshu and the other girls entered the ship, leaving Wang Hao and the boy gawking at the ship outside.
“This is cool! Where did you get this? I want one too!” Wang Hao shook Huo Huangdi, asking for his answer. “Wherever this is, I will find it!”
“Oh. I got this given to me by those old fogeys from the StarForge Planet.” Huo Huangdi replied. “They owe me a favor, so I had them make do this baby for me.”
“Are you talking about that StarForge Planet, one of the most technologically advanced planets in the Universe?”
“Yeah that one.” Huo Huangdi said in agreement. “Mind you, those old people are really stingy. They even tried to make me pay for some of the materials!”
“...”
Wang Hao sighed in his heart, not thinking about the cool ship. Upon realizing what the StarForge Planet was, he remembered another rule in the Universe.
This was not actually a rule, but something like a heavenly restriction.
As long as a planet was a cultivation planet, any kind of advanced technology will not work there. Only objects and technology that use qi and mana can be used. That means no computers or airplanes will work in the cultivation planets. A spirit ship, which relies on qi or mana to work will not be restricted on the cultivation planets.
As for the Stage 0 Planets or planets with no practitioners, their technological progress on things not related to qi and mana were bound to progress exponentially.
That was the reason why most of the cultivation planets in the Universe have none of the technology comparable to planets that Wang Hao visited before like Earth.
With the long history spanning each cultivation planet, discovering things like airplane and computers must be a certainty, since it only took the Earth’s inhabitants around a hundred years to reach it.
A hundred years was just a very miniscule part of the history of the cultivation planets. But the inhabitants here cannot use and discover these types of technology since the heavenly laws forbid them to do so. This made the technology rise on cultivation planets dramatically slower.
On the other hand, Stage 0 planets like Earth may have no practitioners, but their technology has no bottleneck. Heck, the heavenly laws even support them to improve their technology. This led to the exponential improvement of the technology on Earth. And it will just continue to grow that way.
As for why the heavenly laws does this, many theorizes that it was to give the Stage 0 Planets more chances to survive and to make the cultivation planets only rely on cultivation for their strength. In other words, the universe was balancing the scales.
This seems to be fair, since any Stage 0 Planets will be under the mercy even against a mere First Stage Planet. Using powerful technology to protect themselves was only just.
As for the StarForge Planet, it was the most powerful Stage 0 Planet right now. It experienced the longest exponential technological rise among all the Stage 0 planets, and now its power was comparable to that of a Ninth Stage Planet.
They created powerful weapons capable of destroying planets and practitioners alike. It was a relief for everyone that the inhabitants of the StarForge Planet chose to just occupy their current galaxy. Had they tried expanding more, countless Ninth Stage Practitioners might have tried to start a bloody war against them.
“What favor do their inhabitants owe you?” Wang Hao shook his thoughts about technology and cultivation as he asked Huo Huangdi.
“That’s a secret.”
“Well, one more question then. How can you make this thing work here? The Dreamworld is technically a Ninth Stage Planet. Things like this won’t work here right?”
“Of course those fogeys knew that.” Huo Huangdi replied with a terse voice. “So they tried manipulating the engine to make it rely on qi and mana instead of negative matter.”
“Negative what?” Jin scratched his head, clearly confused by the jargon used by Huo Huangdi.
“Tsk. I can’t explain it now. Just accept what I said ok?” Huo Huangdi replied irritatedly.
“Wait, there are no qi and mana on StarForge Planet. How could they have created an engine that runs on qi and mana?” Wang Hao was like a child, asking Huo Huangdi with more and more questions.
“You do know about the ‘theoretical calculations’ right? They used simulations to imagine how an engine with qi or mana will work. They used millions of simulations until they reached the perfect one. They then used that simulation to create this ship.”
“Oh, so your ship was an experimental package then. Good thing this did not explode.”
“....” Huo Huangdi has no reply for this. It was clear he had been worried about that too. He sighed as he entered the ship, with Wang Hao and his followers on tow.
Everyone chose a spot to laze on inside the ship. If the outside of the ship was ‘punky’, the inside was cozy. Soft sofas lined the walls while the fireplace was burning merrily with blue flames.
Wang Hao’s mind felt better as he sat on the sofa, eliciting a satisfied sigh from him.
Huo Huangdi sat on the cockpit, as he inputted the coordinates given to him by Jieshu. He looked at everyone and said,
“This trip will be quick, only around 30 minutes. Do enjoy the time you will spend here before we arrive.”
Wang Hao then felt the unmistakable feeling of the ship ascending a little before it accelerated forwards. Wang Hao was felt good as the ship tore seamlessly through the thick mist. Its defenses were so powerful not even an Eight Stage Dream Phantom could damage it.
“Hmmph, once I gain my power back, I will look in my storage. Maybe I have a cool ship there too, maybe I just forgot about it!” Wang Hao thought to himself, clearly jealous of this ship.
After 30 minutes of slightly monotonous but highly relaxing trip, Wang Hao started hearing roaring sounds outside the ship.
He and his companions looked outside the ship, and there they saw it.
They saw a 30-meter gaping hole floating on the air. It sucked the air and objects around it, bringing it to God-knows-where. Even without his abilities, Wang Hao’s soul instincts were telling him that this portal was the way back to the Underworld.
Right in front of the portal stood 4 figures. The 3 figures nearer to him were the followers of Jieshu who were left here. As for the 4th figure, it stood nearer the portal, letting out roars of anger as it stared balefully at Jieshu’s followers.
This figure was the Multi-Headed Hydra.
Just like Jieshu said, the hydra’s forehead was engraved with a 6-petaled flower. Out of its nine heads, five lay limp, not moving at all. Only four head were moving, and boy were they moving.
Each of these four heads spit out countless attacks, not letting anyone go near the portal. This hydra must be really dedicated to its service.
“.....” With his deduction, Wang Hao could infer that the seal put on the hydra was meant to seal its heads. Each petal unlocked will unlock a head. Right now, this hydra has 4 petals unlocked, meaning that 4 of its heads were unlocked.
As for how it can unlock the petals of the seal, Wang Hao reckons it will be different from his way.
“Do you think we can reason out with it?” As a fellow sealed Godly Divine Beast, Wang Hao felt a sense of camaraderie with the hydra. He wanted to achieve their goals without hurting it.
“If you want to reason out, then do it yourself.” Huo Huangdi replied. “Since you want to do that, maybe you have a plan to convince it.”
“Ok I will do it.” Wang Hao replied.
“Eh?” Almost everyone was surprised after hearing this, except for the scared Gabrielle and the oblivious Jieshu.
“What? Do you think I am out of my character if I do this?” Wang Hao raised his eyebrows upon seeing the exaggerated reaction of his companions.
“Nod nod.”
“Sigh. Do not be worried. I agreed because I have a plan! Now then, I will greet the Hydra with all my love!” Wang Hao said dramatically as he jumped off the ship.
“Ahh!!!!!”
A thud was heard as Wang Hao landed on the ground, unmoving.