Wang Zhen's explanation left Zhan Lan speechless!
It was a pretty far-fetched explanation, but there was no denying that his desire to get stronger was admirable. His choice of power did leave plenty to poke fun at, but as he'd said, it was still a superpower. Even with its severe limitations, it could prove useful if he learned to use it well.
In X-Men: The Last Stand, Pyro John, the original owner of this "Fire Control" ability, had modified a lighter into a device he could wear on his hand and ignite at will, letting him control fire whenever he wanted. During a fight, Magneto tossed a car into the air, and John only had to set the fuel tank alight to turn it into a giant fireball and send it crashing into the target. His own offensive power might be limited, but with the right support, he could still become an artillery platform!
Even if someone else had to load the shells, it was still an artillery platform with enormous firepower!
So Wang Zhen's idea was a little twisted, sure. But as he'd said, with so few reward points, what more could he ask for?
When everyone fell silent, tacitly accepting Wang Zhen's choice of enhancement, Zhang Jie suggested they train together and prepare for the next story world. After all, they only had ten days to rest in God Hall. Once those ten days were up, the Main God would send them to an unfamiliar story world to complete a mission.
Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan both agreed with the suggestion. They wanted to form a team and combine everyone's strengths to survive the story worlds. After all, according to Zhang Jie, those worlds were bizarre and fraught with danger. No one knew what might happen next, so working together was the sensible choice!
Zheng Zha supported the idea most of all. He was a junior manager, after all, and organizing a team to tackle a project was nothing unusual for him. Not only did he support the plan, he made it clear that with his Vampire Baron and Intermediate Internal Energy Enhancement, he was strong enough to be the team's leader!
Zhang Jie went one better and declared that Zheng Zha wasn't merely strong—he was the strongest! Zhang Jie had hidden away to clear every story world, so even after several of them, he hadn't earned as many rewards as Zheng Zha had for saving that black team captain in Resident Evil. Naturally, he hadn't gotten any impressive enhancements and couldn't compare to Zheng Zha's Vampire Baron and Intermediate Internal Energy Enhancement. That made Zheng Zha the strongest member of the Zhongzhou Team, so he should be their captain!
Zhan Lan agreed with Zhang Jie. Whether it was because she'd developed a soft spot for Zheng Zha or because her wallet was too thin to afford anything she wanted, sticking with the strongest person around was clearly the best choice.
To Wang Zhen, it was like watching a 3D holographic projection. He was having a great time! Especially when he saw old fox Zhang Jie put Zheng Zha forward as a convenient target, without mentioning that every team captain in Infinite Space had to complete a trial mission before officially becoming captain. It wasn't as if you could carve "By Heaven's Mandate, Long May He Reign" onto a carrot and declare yourself the First Emperor!
Still, Wang Zhen didn't expose him. Zhang Jie was a half-human, half-guide bug, and his strength was severely constrained, but that didn't mean he was weak. With his A-rank telekinesis enhancement, if he hadn't been on a dead-end path and then been moved by Zheng Zha, Zheng Zha wouldn't have had much chance of beating him in the final trial mission!
So if Wang Zhen exposed Zhang Jie's true nature, even in God Hall, a desperate Zhang Jie might still be able to kill him. Better to leave a dangerous hornet's nest alone and let the brainiac Chu Xuan deal with it.
Wang Zhen said he didn't want to train with them. He wanted to figure out how to use his ability on his own!
Over the next few days, Wang Zhen and Selene experimented in his private space with various instant Transmutation Circles, combining them in different ways. Using the space's ability to create things, they also recreated a full-scale set based on the spaceship in Alien I, then tested the circles inside it. Though no one in Infinite Space was giving him assassination missions anymore, years of habit had set in. He didn't mind, so he kept testing one possibility after another.
Following Wang Zhen's instructions, Selene secretly exchanged a large quantity of high-end materials from the Main God. After she brought them back, Wang Zhen tried to analyze them. The process wasn't fast, but each material he analyzed was one he could freely break down and reassemble. One or two materials wouldn't amount to much, but once he'd successfully analyzed all these materials packed with modern technology, he could clap his hands and combine them into all sorts of new, mixed materials that could only be called cutting-edge technology!
Many modern materials had one or several outstanding properties because of the limits of technology and their basic ingredients. The trade-off was that they had equally prominent flaws. Take the famous carbon fiber, for example. On paper, it was downright cutting-edge. But when you tried to make something with it, you ran into an awkward problem: it was afraid of fire!
Carbon fiber itself wasn't flammable, but to make anything from it, you first had to turn it into a workable material. That process required resin, which could catch fire. And that led to the situation just described: make a car or tank out of carbon fiber, and all it took was a Molotov cocktail to leave it stranded as a charred lump of carbon fiber!
But Wang Zhen could solve that problem now. By breaking it down and reassembling it, he could shape carbon fiber into anything he wanted!
So during the remaining days, Wang Zhen analyzed as many materials as he could, breaking them down, reassembling them, and conducting all sorts of experiments. He came up with several decent formulas. On the final day, he started making some necessary preparations. After all, an alchemist's defenses were close to nonexistent—not even as good as a mage's.
Wang Zhen used the shoulder-armored leather coat Sephiroth wore in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children as a model. He combined carbon fiber with other materials to create an almost perfect new substance, then used it to make a complete outfit, inside and out, with an impressively faithful design.
The outfit had a very obvious cosplay feel, but that didn't mean its attributes were poor. On the contrary, this cartoonishly stylish outfit offered protection equivalent to a level-six American bulletproof vest—the highest level available!
He also made a glove for his left hand, the same kind worn by Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. Like Roy, he could produce fire instantly without using a Transmutation Circle, but wearing this glove, which had a circle drawn on it, made the flames more powerful and easier to control.
And, of course, inspired by Pyro John from X-Men, he made a device that let him start a fire at will and wore it on his right hand. That way, he could better use his "Fire Control" superpower to conceal his real supernatural ability... Alchemy!
When he heard the Main God's announcement that they were about to be sent to a new story world, he straightened his clothes and walked out. He didn't have enough reward points, and the Good Luck Cheat didn't provide storage space, so there was no way he could preserve his dignity by wearing Sephiroth's outfit while carrying a huge, person-sized hiking backpack.
Not bringing the Masamune was already disrespectful enough to Lord Sephiroth. He couldn't go around ruining the look any further!
There were now twenty pillars of light, each two meters in diameter, standing on the platform in God Hall. Each pillar faced the doorway of a room. The Zhongzhou Team only had four members—Zhang Jie, Zheng Zha, Zhan Lan, and Wang Zhen—so only four of the twenty pillars glowed a milky white. The rest were gray.
"Searching for story world..."
"Locking onto story world!"
"Lock successful!"
"Members of the Zhongzhou Team, enter the area of your assigned teleportation pillars..."
"Failure to enter a teleportation pillar within thirty seconds will be considered mission abandonment!"
"Abandoning the mission... will result in elimination!"
"Thirty-second countdown beginning..."
Wang Zhen's pockets were emptier than his stomach, so he walked straight into the teleportation pillar. Zhang Jie and Zheng Zha were still being affectionate with their girlfriends, reluctant to part. Zhan Lan hadn't exchanged for a boyfriend, so she didn't need to say goodbye to anyone. This woman had some sense, at least: at the last moment, she exchanged for some first-aid medicine. She seemed to have a strong sense of danger.
Wang Zhen didn't feel like explaining anything. The main reason he hadn't brought anything was that his Alchemy had let him analyze so many materials. He could simply use whatever he found in the story world to create the things he needed!
"Countdown complete!"
"Beginning teleportation... Story world..."
As the Main God's countdown ended, everyone's pillar flashed with milky white light. When it dimmed, the people inside had disappeared!
Wang Zhen clutched the back of his head and woke with a grimace. The Main God's teleportation was brutally simple, like someone had taken a thick club and smashed it against the back of his head, knocking him out cold before tossing him into the story world.
After a silent bout of grumbling, Wang Zhen could only endure the pain and inspect his surroundings. Was this the Alien I world he'd guessed? Judging from the people, he was eighty percent sure, but the Main God was capricious. What if it decided, "I don't care what you think. I only care what I think," and tossed them into some unfamiliar story world instead?
Don't doubt it!
The Main God was absolutely capable of that!
Fortunately, the surroundings confirmed that this was Alien I. Wang Zhen then looked at the Main God-branded watch on his wrist and confirmed it again: this was the Alien I story world!
"If the story world hasn't changed, then the people probably haven't changed either! In other words, that Chu Xuan is about to make a grand entrance?" Wang Zhen looked over the newcomers sprawled out nearby.
A few of them did have unusual breathing patterns. It seemed they were Chu Xuan, Zero, and Ba Wang. The reason their breathing was off was that they'd already woken up and were pretending to sleep with their eyes closed!
"Since you're awake, get up! Waking before the others means you're talented and capable. There's no need to lie there playing dumb! If you have questions, think back carefully. The Main God has already implanted the basic information in your memories!"
Before you continue