Two-Stage Transmigration

Two-Stage Transmigration

After the Fenghou Group's cuju tournament ended, Ke Feijia, as someone connected to the 4.1 Incident, was questioned as part of the investigation.

After clearing his name, he filed a report and hurriedly flew over to see Wei Keng.

"Your actions have drastically changed history," Ke Feijia told Wei Keng with great seriousness.

After reading the assassination report Ke Feijia had sent, Wei Keng said, "Is it because of my influence on the timeline? So an assassination attempt happened further downstream?"

Bai Jingqi's unfortunate experience made Wei Keng feel a little embarrassed.

Wei Keng thought it over some more. For now, all he had done was provide jobs for people with less education and plan a market for low-cost products.

If even that could cause other nations and factions further downstream in this plane to overturn the table and try to eliminate what seemed to them to be the "wrong" source, then... what if he directly presented a clear platform in this era and launched an offensive against the upper echelons of the intellectual world? Wouldn't that...?

Wei Keng's expression grew increasingly grave. He began to understand why he was the only one making improvements.

Ke Feijia interrupted his deep thoughts. "You've been accumulating superpowers for a year now, right?"

Wei Keng nodded.

The system within Wei Keng's consciousness was currently operating under the codename Jiajing 3443.

It carefully measured the current fluctuations in Wei Keng's consciousness and the resonance between them and the Meson-Macro Particles in his body. Based on the world's original training methods—the internal energy exercises Ke Feijia had collected—it made fine adjustments according to Wei Keng's physical condition each day.

Daoist Breathing Exercise had daily practice routines.

Wei Keng's system was much more thorough in its analysis.

At six every morning, it first checked his body's current movement and blood flow, then had him perform a set of exercises similar to Tai Chi on the Plum Blossom Stance to coordinate his body. During the day, it divided the daylight hours into six periods, each with breathing exercises at a different frequency, while precisely adjusting his meals down to the gram. At night, when yin began to rise, he lay in a Life Support Pod and entered deep sleep with the aid of magnetic coordination.

With this method, his internal energy would grow increasingly profound in the later stages, but progress at first was extremely slow. Just how slow?

When Wei Keng first entered this world, his consciousness and body were badly mismatched. At his current rate, it would take about ten more years before he could attach a trace of True Qi to a note and guide it precisely into a girl's hand. That level might be enough to guide a model aircraft, but piloting a giant mecha? No chance. Small wonder the Daoist had thought so little of him.

Ke Feijia said, "Turn on sharing in your system and let me see how much superpower you've accumulated."

Ke Feijia carefully checked Wei Keng's condition.

A three-dimensional projection of Wei Keng's physical state appeared before them. Ke Feijia's expression remained calm. Wei Keng had clearly followed all the rules to the letter. He hadn't been lustful or drunk, and his meals were properly timed and portioned. But even so, the Meson-Macro Particle frequency fluctuations in his various nervous systems were still at the stage of seeds just beginning to crack open.

Of course, there was no reason to be disappointed. A Transmigrator couldn't expect to perfectly match a target plane on the first crossing. Ke Feijia himself had only gained his current aptitude in this world after crossing three times.

Once the projection vanished, Ke Feijia asked, "Do you want to gain superpowers faster?"

Wei Keng didn't take the bait. Instead, he cautiously asked, "Fortune favors the bold?"

"Crossing planes is risky to begin with. I'm just suggesting one approach. The choice is yours."

Wei Keng nodded.

Ke Feijia explained, "When our consciousness reaches a plane, it binds to some of that world's particles. Those particles often include the ones responsible for that plane's unique phenomena." He snapped his fingers, producing a crisp pop as the air burst around them. "The Meson-Macro Particles in this plane are affected by consciousness. So when consciousness shifts its position, it can make those associated particles more energetic."

Wei Keng's nerves stirred. "A shift in position? Is that the key phrase?"

"Exactly. If you use this plane as a starting point and cross over once more, when you return, you'll be able to sense the scale of the Meson-Macro Particles in your consciousness."

"Cross back to the Main World?"

"If it were 2603 in the Main World, you could. But it's wartime now. If you cross back to the Main World, you won't have enough time after returning here. Time moves ten times faster here than in the Main World. It takes you a week to pass through the Gravity Well; then you spend a day in the Main World, and ten days pass here. Our mission is to remain stationed in this time-space. You can't be away from this plane for too long."

Wei Keng nodded in understanding. He needed to go to a Space-Time Region where time flowed faster.

He also realized once again that his younger brother had started working years before him and had built up far more influence in this plane than he had previously imagined. Wei Keng's position as a Weak Master in the Luoshui Group remained unchanged.

Two months later, Wei Keng took two weeks of leave from the group.

He arrived in the Northern Shaanxi region. The Luoshui Group's headquarters were in the Guanzhong Qin Land, but this was the first time Wei Keng had learned that the group had a facility here.

The facility was a hemispherical Electromagnetic Field controller a hundred meters in diameter. Its outer shell was covered in energy-distribution panels that looked like golden dragon scales. Its codename in official documents was Hetu.

Where there was Hetu, there was Luoshu. Wei Keng took this to mean there were at least two laboratories.

In this world, the North American Union had conducted a Faster-Than-Light experiment in Philadelphia in 1943. An entire battleship had jumped directly to Norfolk, 479 kilometers away. Although North America had kept the test highly classified, Shenzhou had still obtained intelligence about it.

The Shenzhou Military had followed up on the project, and this was one of its laboratories. The lab had already successfully tested Hyper-Space displacement and the creation of Space-Time Rifts.

However, the Shenzhou Military's assessment of the technology was that it produced a specific phenomenon under specific conditions, was easily disrupted, and consumed too much electricity. Its practical value in combat was low.

The current tactical doctrine of the Shenzhou Combat Research Department was to use electromagnetic overload to increase projectile velocity and range, and improve the protection offered by electromagnetic armor. Using vast quantities of electricity to achieve Hyper-Space transport had little tactical value, so the technology had not been a development priority. For now, it was merely being kept in reserve.

But from the Main World's perspective, sending a leap in the energy level of matter into a Space-Time Rift in this world was a major step toward projecting into the Main World. So for the Transmigrators from the Main World, an instrument capable of sending their own material information into a Space-Time Rift was all they needed. It was enough to let them cross a second time.

Wei Keng, a Weak Master, had only just learned from the Luoshui Group's archives that the Shenzhou of this plane had begun developing Hyper-Space technology with the support of Wei Keng's Father. Later, Wei Keng's younger brother, Wei Qiang, continued investing in its development alongside the military. As for Wei Keng? The family elders had wanted to cut these unnecessary projects, so they hadn't told him.

But how could they cut it? In the Main World, the project had been one of Wei Qiang's major achievements during his sixth crossing, earning him a promotion from corporal to sergeant. In the Plane Space-Time Region of this world, Transmigrators from neighboring timelines had also established corresponding facilities based on the research Wei Qiang provided, building a system for tactical support.

To emphasize once more: circumstances differed across timelines. In the Shenzhou timeline, the neighboring faction was the Central Revolutionary Alliance. But in this Space-Time Region, several timelines existed, and the two Main World factions' Transmigrators were in severe conflict.

After learning all this, Wei Keng couldn't help but marvel. "The people who came before me really were a whole succession of capable people."

Now.

Wei Keng had come to the facility under the pretext of an inspection, but as soon as he entered, he and Ke Feijia gained full access to its Artificial Intelligence.

The Main World had kept some safeguards in place around important technological facilities in this plane. During construction, Wei Qiang had connected certain nodes on the facility's Computer Chips to the Main World. Information could now be transferred directly. Wei Keng didn't even need to swipe a card; facial recognition let him enter the Space-Time Pod.

As electricity gathered in the Space-Time Pod, Wei Keng's body slid through the Hyper-Space Stream toward an unknown region of space.

Once he entered the Space-Time Rift, Wei Keng connected to the system in his consciousness. The system said, "A suitable plane has been matched. Please select a destination."

Wei Keng looked at the data for the several planes displayed before him.

There were things to consider when choosing a plane to cross into. First, Wei Keng wasn't crossing back and forth from the Main World, so the Meson-Macro Particles might ultimately manifest in a form unsuited to True Qi. Crossing toward a plane with a higher rate of time flow would make some property of the Meson-Macro Particles especially pronounced. When Wei Keng returned, the superpower phenomenon produced by the connection between his consciousness and the particles might be more like the abilities being trained in Western laboratories.

At present, the four main applications of superpowers in these Near Planes were:

The first was Mind Control.

The second was Energy Storage: blasting superpower outward like a bomb.

The third was Shaping: accumulating superpower into tools with almost no mass but considerable hardness and toughness. This was often used to make shields.

The fourth was Corrosion: infusing a material, such as a bullet, and temporarily enhancing its properties to the utmost. This could let an Information Bullet made of Nano Material pierce the thick armor of tanks and warships with ease, then locate and eliminate the people inside.

Wei Keng was choosing to cross into a plane with different physical properties. After he returned, the nature of his superpower would tend toward one or two of the forms above.

Wei Keng knew he was a rookie. For safety, he narrowed his choices to two planes corresponding to Energy Storage and Shaping.

The Shaping plane was the Star Wars Plane.

Wei Keng asked, "Hmm, in Star Wars, does Faster-Than-Light Travel have a paradox where its energy can't be replenished?"

The system replied, "The region of the universe containing our star is a normal region. In some regions connected by Dark Matter, Atomic Matter can make jumps. Astronomical Observation has already identified corresponding locations in those regions."

A map of the universe opened. Fifty billion light-years away, among countless galaxies, regions suitable for jumps were marked.

Of course, the interstellar spaces where jumps were possible were quite small. The largest held more than two hundred stars, while the smallest had only a few. Scattered throughout a galaxy, these spaces became stations along its high-speed travel network. If a Life Planet happened to lie nearby, it would be as convenient as buying a home in the 21st Century next to a subway station. There'd be no need to live like people on Earth, staring up at the Sea of Stars while competing with one another down below.

Wei Keng hesitated over this Star Wars Plane.

This plane also had Human Civilization. Its people's genes differed somewhat from those of humans on Earth, making them two subspecies. But that wasn't the issue. The plane also had superpowers, called Psionic Energy. Since it was an interstellar world built around Ship Technology, who knew what unexpected dangers might await?

So Wei Keng took a look at the second plane.

This one was rather strange. According to the information gathered so far, it consisted of a single continent, illuminated in rotation by eight suns. The lengths of the eight days in a cycle were 9:7:8.5:7.6:6.4:7.8:6.4:8.1:8.7.

Wei Keng asked, "Eight stars taking turns shining down? How does that work?"

The system replied, "Based on current surveys, the continent and Water Area form a rotating, axial-cylinder structure. According to its Geological Structure, Plate Tectonics and Gravitational Turbulence began thirty million years ago, measured by a Cesium Atomic Clock. It seems a planet was stretched into a thin sheet."

The image quickly simulated a giant planet being stretched into a long strip. Then the view zoomed out to show a Black Hole absorbing the planet, while the strip-shaped structure swung past eight stars around the Black Hole at a speed extremely high relative to the outside world.

Since time passed differently in the Black Hole's inner region than it did outside, things wouldn't seem so fast within. The planet, torn apart, was first destroyed and melted, then seemed to stabilize and form a band of matter.

Since each rotation of this band of matter took only eight days, and time grew increasingly prolonged within as it fell, the rotation appeared faster and faster from the outside. But within, living things still had to endure the long passage of hundreds of millions of years. So after falling into the Black Hole and the initial destruction gradually ended, life slowly began to evolve anew.

The system added, "The above explanation based on Black Hole Theory is only a hypothesis. Since we can only travel into it and can't leave that world to construct a comprehensive observational framework, we can only make deductions using existing theories and observations."

Wei Keng carefully studied the images in the plane's data: eight suns of varying brightness, each taking its turn at work. The key point was that humans lived in a world like this. So how large was the universe the Main World civilization could see, and how much of it remained unexplored?

The countdown flashed a warning. Now wasn't the time for Wei Keng to marvel; he had to make a decision.

Even after receiving the Plane Information, Wei Keng still hesitated, hoping the system would give him more specific advice.

[Some people learned the details to make their own decisions. Others, like Wei Keng, learned the details so that when someone else made the decision for them, they would know whether they were getting the short end of the stick. Unlike the young Transmigrators who wanted to make something of themselves, Wei Keng was more like a veteran employee coasting through his days.]

However, the system wasn't someone he could rely on.

The system said, "Your father has already arranged an Initial Force for you in the Star Wars Plane. You can inherit an excellent Social Status as soon as you enter."

Wei Keng muttered to himself, I bet it's another bunch of half-brothers. Dad really has lived a full life.

The system continued, "If you choose the Black Hole Axis Plane, you can carry a limited amount of supplies on a one-way trip. On your first crossing, you can carry cargo weighing up to one-third of your body weight. Please decide within ten seconds. 10, 9, 8..."

Wei Keng patted himself down and realized he didn't have a coin to flip.

In the end, he gave his brain a hard jolt, raised his hand, and quickly slapped himself five times in a row. Smack, smack, smack, smack, tap—the last one barely touched him.

"The fourth one hurt. Even number. Right, I'll choose the second one." Wei Keng made his decision cheerfully.

The Chrono Legionnaire was an Allied Infantry Unit in the Red Alert 2 game series. A Chrono Legionnaire never needed to walk anywhere; he could teleport instantly across the map. The distance he teleported determined how long it would take before he could teleport again to a new location or attack. Since he couldn't move or attack for a period after teleporting—and that period grew in proportion to the distance traveled—a Chrono Legionnaire was extremely vulnerable at such times. His weapon was highly unusual, apparently a modified Rift Generator. It erased enemy units and buildings from time and space instead of destroying them; erased neutral buildings left no ruins behind. The more health an enemy had, the longer it took to erase them. While an enemy unit was being erased, it couldn't move or attack.