Chapter 36

There was no time for Ji Jue to react, nor was there the shock, confusion, or wariness he had anticipated.

It was as if they were discussing how nice the weather was today or what one had for breakfast... casual, indifferent, and completely unconcerned.

It made Ji Jue so startled he nearly rolled off the sofa.

Subconsciously, he picked up a can of Happy Water and offered it with both hands: "Young Hero, have a drink, and tell me more."

Ye Chun glanced at his enthusiastic demeanor in confusion, raised her hand, and pointed to the bookshelf behind him: "It should be in the left cabinet, on the middle shelf. Take a look; there should be an Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge Series."

It was a tome as thick as a dictionary. Looking at the back, it had been published in the 388th year of the Calamity Era—older than Ji Jue himself. Following Ye Chun's advice, he found the entry for Sky Rail in the index.

It was an abbreviation that left him completely baffled.

--[T5].

This name referred to five large corporate organizations that had existed since the Central Era before the Calamity Era—the period of the Eternal Dynasty in Central Earth.

It was said that in the era before Supreme Goodness, the King's Advent, they were already active in history, playing indispensable and critical roles within the Eternal Dynasty.

Although they held no actual status within the imperial court, they still received authorization and respect from the Emperor.

Then, after the catastrophe descended, the lands fell apart, and the world was turned upside down, the Calamity Era arrived. The Eternal Dynasty collapsed and turned to ashes, and Central Earth transformed from a former heavenly Holy Land into a quagmire of endless war.

Yet, these five companies persisted. They even participated in the reconstruction of the world and its order during the Calamity Era, making significant contributions and sacrifices.

Whether it was the Federation in the north, the Southern Continent Empire, or all the archipelagos drifting in the Endless Sea, every legitimate regime acknowledged their transcendent status and power, which stood above secular authority.

At the same time, to prevent the disaster from recurring and to curb the trend of the Rift World falling as much as possible, all parties gathered to sign the T5 Protocol, restricting the power, operations, production, and even the scope of activities of these five companies.

With the convergence of vast resources and backed by historical accumulation and countless uninterrupted secret studies, these five companies each occupied an absolute dominant position in their respective fields.

Their business scopes were medicine, communications, production, finance, and transportation, respectively...

Among them, the companies engaged in production and construction, after splitting, became the colossal creatures that monopolized most of the industrial markets in the Federation and the Empire: [Cosmos Heavy Industries] and [Great Creation]!

What the hell, Cosmos Heavy Industries!

Ji Jue felt his entire world falling apart.

Just as it was impossible for an Imperial citizen not to know Great Creation, it was impossible for a Federation citizen not to have dealt with Cosmos Heavy Industries. Some people spent their entire lives—from birth to death, eating and drinking—within the scope of its operations.

Ever since Ji Jue started learning auto repair, he had seen those four characters everywhere. The parts were produced by a subsidiary of Cosmos Heavy Industries, the motor oil was refined by them, the gloves came from their chemical plants, and the hard hats, uniforms, and fuel—even the Coast Automobile Factory in Yacheng had their capital investment and holdings. Lu Ma's Continent Auto Repair Shop didn't even count as a business line; it couldn't even touch the edges.

The Boundless United Communications Group in the communications sector was a behemoth that occupied eighty percent of the global communications market. In a world plagued by constant earthquakes and disasters, even a Yacheng resident calling someone in Central City couldn't bypass them. Ji Jue was still paying for an 18-credit-a-month plan.

Hope Hospital in the medical field... he felt like he had heard of it somewhere, but had no impression. Perhaps it was too high-end for a bottom-feeder like him to reach. Or perhaps they had already spread across the world through shareholding, and he simply had no way of knowing.

The Perpetual Bank in the financial sector had no detailed description other than its name, and with the few coins in Ji Jue's pocket, he would likely never have anything to do with them in this lifetime.

As for the last one, it was the undisputed hegemon in the transportation field—the Sky Rail Transportation Group!

The book stated that this group not only operated airships, trains, and all manner of cruise ships but also constructed a transportation network capable of reconnecting the world.

It made Ji Jue's blood boil with a sense of shared pride.

Such an awesome company must be powerful, badass, and prestigious. The salary must be high, right?

Regrettably, Ji Jue couldn't find any trace of their existence. Even the introduction was incredibly brief. Aside from a simple mention of their business scope and name, there was only one sentence left.

--[Due to poor management, it has now gone bankrupt and closed down].

Bankrupt?!

Ji Jue stared at the paper until his eyes nearly burned through it: Bankrupt? Are you serious?

Although he had truly hoped for this from the bottom of his heart, the other four were so incredibly powerful—why were they the only ones so pathetic?

A company that sounded so badass it could almost reach the heavens and traverse the earth... no, it could literally traverse the heavens and earth—just gone like that?!

He glanced at the date of bankruptcy and couldn't help but lose his mind again: 198th year of the Calamity Era? It had been gone for over two hundred years!

Then what the hell was his situation?!

He had only just passed his probation last month, hadn't he?

Forget about having a big tree to lean on for shade; at this rate, he might end up being the legal representative on his very first day of work!

Slap!

Ji Jue closed the book without hesitation, shoved it back into the cabinet, and carefully locked the door.

Whoever wants to join this Sky Rail company can have it; it has nothing to do with me!

Goodbye!

He hadn't signed a contract anyway, and they were bankrupt, and even the system on his watch couldn't connect to a superior. No matter how awesome Sky Rail used to be, it had been bankrupt for two hundred years. It wasn't like some boss was going to turn into a ghost and come find him in the middle of the night to force him to work overtime, right?

With that, he made up his mind to cast everything about Sky Rail to the back of his mind.

Don't know them, don't know anything, not clear on the details. I picked this watch up; I thought nobody wanted it!

After the unexpected shock, Ji Jue, still reeling from the lingering fear, threw himself into the study of alchemy for the entire afternoon, becoming so absorbed that he didn't even notice the passage of time.

Until the familiar sound of shattering emerged from the furnace once again.

The 51st failure.

The cause: material property imbalance.

Ji Jue picked up the fire tongs, scrutinizing the copper fragment that had been tortured all afternoon. He felt the Spirit Essence uncontrollably diffusing within it and analyzed the cause of failure once again.

However, he saw a crack suddenly emerge on the cooling copper, followed by a second, then a third, dense and numerous... In the end, right before Ji Jue's eyes, it fractured and collapsed, turning into a pile of scorching copper sand.

"Oh, congratulations, congratulations."

Ye Chun poked her head in. Seeing the fragment completely ruined, she couldn't help but clap her hands. "The first step to clearing out the junk pile is finally complete!"

Spirit Essence overload.

After an afternoon of Ji Jue's training and engraving, the already-discarded fragment could no longer withstand further processing and inscription. It exceeded its limit and collapsed from within.

The simpler the material's properties, the more fragile it was; the lower its threshold for endurance, the smaller the reaction after self-destruction.

If it were some dangerous substance, after being infused with massive amounts of Spirit Essence and Supreme Goodness Essence, it might have exploded right in the furnace. It could have leveled the entire workshop, turning it into a big pit. Furnace explosions were the eternal nightmare of every alchemist.

This was Professor Ye's educational plan—as long as it didn't explode, keep pushing it until it did.

Regardless, the warehouse was filled with useless scraps and waste, devoid of value. It was better to put them to use and let Ji Jue practice on them.

Even a dog could eventually become a craftsman if it could use its alchemy skills to refine that entire warehouse of waste until it overloaded and self-destructed, let alone a Chosen Summoner.

At this moment, having finally completed the first step of a thousand-mile journey, Ji Jue should have been cheering.

Instead, he inexplicably fell into a daze.

He looked down blankly at the copper shavings at his feet, and even at the Spirit Essence that was gradually rising and rapidly dissipating from the hot copper dust. The sediments and traces accumulated during those dozens of processing and engraving attempts were rapidly evaporating.

But why did he feel... so hungry?

Hunger, hunger, hunger, hunger, hunger!

Like a starving ghost who hadn't eaten a grain of rice in dozens of days, an indescribable craving emerged and rose from Ji Jue's soul and consciousness, almost turning him into a ravenous beast.

He reached out subconsciously, as if to grab the rapidly dissipating Spirit Essence and Essence, wanting to stuff them into his mouth.

Only after he realized what he was doing did he manage a bitter smile.

Trying to grasp formless Spirit Essence and Essence with his bare hands, and relying on his mouth and stomach to digest the residue of countless forgings and processes, was simply too insane.

The next moment, he froze in place.

Because his hand seemed to have actually grabbed something... Not only the Spirit Essence and Essence rapidly dissipating in the air, but even the Essence remaining in the copper sand seemed to be captured, controlled, and pulled by a Formless Power, converging into Ji Jue's palm.

On his right hand, silver light resembling circuit board pathways lit up—so familiar. Ji Jue saw it every time he used his watch to extract Spirit Essence, but now, with just a thought, those Spirit Essence Circuits, complex enough to make one dizzy, emerged from his hand.

It was as if his hand had also turned into an alchemical item.

Capturing and extracting out of thin air, and then, as his five fingers clenched, the emblem in Ji Jue's soul representing his ability suddenly surged, absorbing, devouring, and digesting all the Essence.

Dizziness struck suddenly!

Ji Jue twitched. In that brief moment, less than an instant, what appeared in his perception was actually fifty-one engravings and processes!

It was as if he had turned into copper, enduring the burning of flames and the hammering, feeling the circulation of Spirit Essence. Yet at the same time, he seemed to have become the Spirit Essence itself, leaving behind circuits and imprints time and time again, facing failure time and time again... And before that, even earlier, he seemed to have become a part of some gargantuan entity.

That was before the fragment had collapsed, from the burning of the melting furnace, countless Spirit Essence Circuits running through his body, from the hands of a blurred figure.

It was as if he were wielding creation, forging all phenomena!

Runes were born and perished amidst the flames and molten copper; complex circuits ran through everything like a Giant Tree, and in the end, at the very core, Supreme Goodness Essence collided and fused.

A magnificent creation beyond Ji Jue's imagination manifested in the furnace. Under the control of that figure, the unruly material properties were like a loyal dog, and the shifting Spirit Essence was like flowing water, achieving brand-new changes through their movements.

Until finally, the flames parted like a tide from both sides. From the violently shaking furnace, a massive engine over two people tall slowly rose. On the complex machinery, light shone brilliantly, and the blessing of Supreme Goodness flowed through the Copper Light, so solemn!

But what it met was a gaze containing a hint of disappointment.

"Excessive ascension, insufficient purification."

Professor Ye withdrew her gaze. "Another piece of junk."

In the blink of an eye, the magnificent engine that had just been completed fell apart, turning into countless fragments.

All that remained was the loud explosion echoing in Ji Jue's soul.

Boom!

Ji Jue's vision blackened, and he couldn't help but take a step back.

But the moment he reacted, he had already grabbed the fire tongs, pinched another fragment, and tossed it into the furnace. Racing against time, he didn't even wait for the material to heat up or its properties to change before pressing it onto the operation table once again.

While the experience of having just been Professor Ye and the fragment itself hadn't yet dissipated, Spirit Essence surged out!

The feeling was there!

Gone was the previous awkwardness, and gone was the previous trepidation. Ji Jue's consciousness and perception ran through the fragment along with the Spirit Essence, like a fish in water, moving forward heartily, ignoring even the heavy interference.

Rough and heroic, like cursive script flowing like clouds and water, he executed the concept that had emerged in his mind in one go!

In less than a few seconds, a process that Ji Jue had previously spent over ten minutes carefully performing was already finished. What he felt was an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

He picked up the fire tongs, clamped the fragment from the furnace, and stared at the only success he had achieved after a whole afternoon of failure—the Supreme Goodness Totem!

Like a formless fire, rising upward, eternally inextinguishable.

It was the beginning of the Twelve Supreme Goodnesses, the foundation of Truth, Transcendence, and Insight, the source of all thought and soul in the world.

--[Ascension]!

After leaving the interference-free simulated environment, in less than six hours, Ji Jue had overcome the hurdles that required other apprentices countless failures and the accumulation of experience to conquer, completing his first true Supreme Goodness inscription...

He raised his hand to wipe away the nosebleed caused by the Spirit Essence overdraft, unable to hold back an excited smile.

This was only his first step!