Building his own bridgehead had become Zhang Hao's greatest desire. He asked, "Great one, are there any prerequisites for opening my own bridgehead?"
"Not bad—you actually know there are prerequisites for building a bridgehead. There are, indeed. To build one, you must have a powerful soul. Your soul is only a little stronger than an ordinary person's right now. It's nowhere near strong enough to establish a bridgehead."
Zhang Hao smiled bitterly. "How can I strengthen my soul quickly? Oh, right—can blank souls be fused?"
Mi Feng smiled. This was the first time Zhang Hao had seen Mi Feng smile. Though the robot had been custom-made and its smile looked a little stiff, Zhang Hao was sure he hadn't imagined it.
"They can be fused, and your soul can be strengthened quickly, too!"
Zhang Hao heard the faint mockery in Mi Feng's voice and immediately realized something was wrong.
Sure enough, Mi Feng continued.
"If your soul grows stronger but your Original Body can't adapt, then the moment your soul returns, your body will collapse. Without Soul Crystals to help, you'll be as good as half-dead. Having no body comes with serious drawbacks."
"When you have no original body, your soul can indeed grow stronger quickly, but you'll lose your humanity. All your joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness will disappear. You'll become more and more like an Intelligent program. Is that what you want?"
Holy crap!
There was a huge pitfall here. Zhang Hao's soul shuddered. "Then what should I do?"
"Let your soul grow stronger little by little, in step with your body. In other words, you can't stay in a Soul Crystal for too long. You need to return to your body from time to time. You've already learned music, and that's a good thing. Good music can help your soul and body find the best balance. That takes living, and it takes musical understanding."
"In other words, your soul and body need to grow stronger together."
"If they're out of sync, there'll be serious trouble."
"This is a fundamental principle, the foundation of everything. If only your soul remains, without a body to nourish it, your soul will endure endless suffering. That pain will make you wish you were dead!"
The warning made Zhang Hao take the matter seriously. He wouldn't dare fool around with his soul and body again—not even in his thoughts.
Mi Feng said, "Your soul will gradually grow stronger the longer it spends in a Soul Crystal. That alone is a way to improve, which is why you can't stay in one for too long. You have to return to the Main Bridgehead in time and let your body adapt. As your soul grows stronger, your body will also be strengthened. The two complement each other."
"Let me remind you: Soul Crystals can rapidly strengthen your soul. In the world of the Space-Time Wanderers, only Soul Crystals have that effect, and Soul Crystals are... extremely rare. Their advantages and disadvantages are equally obvious. You'll understand more as time goes on."
"When your soul is strong enough to contain an Intelligent program—not one of the Intelligent programs here, but an extremely advanced one with immense computing power—that will be the foundation for building your bridgehead."
Zhang Yihu, Zhang Erhu, and Zhang Sanhu stood ten meters away from the two of them. They had no interest in Zhang Hao and Mi Feng's conversation, and even if they heard it, they wouldn't understand. Everything from their previous lives had been erased.
"Enough about that. Right now, you need to choose your own mecha."
"A Humanoid Mecha! I don't want to use a mecha that imitates an animal."
Mi Feng said, "You certainly know how to choose. Humanoid Mechas are known as the strongest mechas on Slaughter Planet. At first, most people who could pilot them were experts. Later, some people started making fake humanoid mechas. They were even weaker than mechas that imitated animals, let alone a match for real Humanoid Mechas."
"Real Humanoid Mechas are all custom-made. They come in light, medium, and Heavy Mecha varieties. Which type do you want?"
"A medium one. A heavy one would probably be too exhausting."
"Here's my advice: start with a light one, the kind with short wings. It can fly at super speed for a short time, which makes it great for escaping."
Zhang Hao couldn't help wanting to roll his eyes, but the robot didn't support that facial expression.
Still, he didn't object. He knew next to nothing about mechas, after all.
"You need to have skills uploaded and learn how to use them. Piloting a mecha is actually easy. Our mechas are different from those in the local world—they're more advanced. Our main tasks are collecting Soul Crystals and mining Mineral Deposits, not fighting."
"We're more like bystanders, but we do have a few rules. One is that we fight anyone who tries to steal our Soul Crystals. Another is that we take other people's Soul Crystals. And then there are people who try to take our Mineral Deposits..."
"We steal other people's mines, too?"
"No. We can survey and mine deposits ourselves, but Soul Crystals are different. They're too precious, and we're short on them, so they're our most important resource. If you see one, you have to get your hands on it! Also, if someone provokes us or tries to kill us, don't hold back—hit them back!"
Zhang Hao laughed. "I get it. If people don't mess with me, I won't mess with them. If they do, I'll make them pay!"
"Good summary. That's exactly it. Except for Soul Crystals: whether or not they mess with me, I'll mess with them."
Mi Feng was fiercely obsessed with Soul Crystals. He simply assumed that every Soul Crystal in the world belonged to him, and that he had to take it back as soon as he saw it. He was domineering and utterly unreasonable.
"Fine, fine. I get it."
Mi Feng took out a thin metal rod, a little thicker than a toothpick and only two centimeters long. He handed it to Zhang Hao. "Swallow it. You know how to use it."
Zhang Hao nodded. It was a storage device for uploading skills, containing Soul Crystal Stone powder that acted directly on the soul.
A robot's mouth was different from a person's. It had teeth and a vocal apparatus, but no tongue or throat. The moment Zhang Hao put the storage device into his mouth, a massive amount of information flooded into him. It was transmitted directly to his soul. Zhang Hao's soul was already much stronger than an ordinary person's, but it was still far from truly powerful. The impact made his whole body sway.
His soul trembled violently!
Mi Feng shook his head slightly, took out a round patch, and stuck it directly to Zhang Hao's head. Music immediately rang through Zhang Hao's soul: the piano he had played himself, and his own singing.
As the music played, Zhang Hao's soul gradually steadied. Even though a vast amount of information was still coming in, as long as his soul remained calm, nothing would go wrong.
This time, the information transfer was enormous. It included information about the Slaughter Planet base, instructions for controlling the various mechas, and knowledge about Slaughter Planet as a whole. Most importantly, his soul was also given the authority to enter the base and use the light gates. The gates relied on soul recognition. Zhang Hao was the second-in-command, with authority second only to Mi Feng.
The process took a full four hours... During that time, Mi Feng uploaded skills to the three Elite Level mecha warriors. Their skills were simple: just one skill for piloting a mecha. If they had been given the same upload as Zhang Hao, their souls would have collapsed before even one percent of the information had transferred.
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