Knowledge is Power, and I'm Already Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

It had been nearly ten thousand years since the Sun Moon Empire unified the Douluo Continent and established the Federation.

Over these ten thousand years, soul guidance technology had grown wildly, like weeds.

At this moment, in East Sea City.

The setting sun dipped into the sea, a line of crimson, while the evening tide breeze swept past the sails of a thousand ships.

Golden light shimmered across the surface of the sea, and as the sea breeze blew, it scattered into fragments of gold.

Carrying the salty, fishy scent of the tide, the sea breeze drifted through the seaside villa, traveled down the staircase, and finally came to a halt at the entrance of the basement.

The door here was not shut tight; a sliver of light leaked through the gap, accompanied by the occasional clinking sound of metal being struck.

The rhythmic tapping was incessant, a ping-pong echo of metal colliding that reverberated through the empty basement.

Several luxury cars were parked outside the basement, but no one paid them any mind.

These things were the cheapest items in the entire basement.

At a workbench in the basement, a boy of about six years old with short, purplish-black hair was operating a power forging hammer, striking a metal billet repeatedly with high-speed, reciprocating impacts.

Although this device could only perform the equivalent of a hundred-refinement process, for Xiao Mu, it was more than enough.

He wore an oversized pair of work overalls. Sparks flew, landing on his goggles like a swarm of fireflies desperate to escape.

"Hundred-refinement purification, complete. It's a pity this thing can't handle thousand-refinement. Still, I can use modern techniques to manufacture alloys manually. The wheels of history roll forward, yet who would have thought that the most basic forging would still require manual labor."

Xiao Mu stopped his hand and held a palm-sized piece of metal up to the light. The surface of the metal shimmered with a faint, ghostly blue glow.

He set the metal down and dragged a box out from under the workbench. Inside was a jumble of miscellaneous parts, from which the boy retrieved a piece of material for a soul guidance core.

He scrutinized it against the light, and only after confirming there were no issues did he let out a sigh of relief.

Placing the core on the workbench, Xiao Mu moved over a machine—a laser engraving tool he had modified himself. Although its power was slightly lacking, the most important aspects of soul guidance engraving were stable soul power and precise carving.

Clearly, these could both be replaced by machinery.

Even for the specialized design of battle armor, the formation remained the same; the final adjustments were not the job of a mecha manufacturer.

That fell to the mecha repairman.

"It's just that I haven't awakened my martial soul and lack soul power. Don't underestimate my divine talent; a little difficulty like this won't stop me."

The laser soon stopped; he had finished engraving the soul guidance core.

"Xiao Mu, what are you doing again?"

A gentle female voice drifted down from the stairwell. High heels clicked against the concrete floor, and a green dress swayed as she walked over—tap, tap, tap.

Xiao Mu didn't even look up, his hands never ceasing their work.

"Mom, I'm building an energy core for a mecha. I've already finished reading most of the knowledge on mecha manufacturing; I can definitely build one."

He firmly believed that for the poor, it was about mutation, but for the rich, it was about technology.

In this era, Ling Zichen clearly had a say in the matter, and she would still have a say ten thousand years later.

It was evident that technology could hold its own anywhere.

Moreover, his family specialized in contract manufacturing for the Federation military, so he naturally had many advantages.

Ye Ran stepped closer and saw the piece of metal clearly. As a mecha designer, she was certain that he had succeeded.

Judging by the soul guidance formation, it appeared to be a third-tier soul guidance core.

Although Xiao Mu had been studying for a long time—nearly two years—this was all based on the fact that he had started learning while possessing no soul power at all.

After all, the Douluo Continent had no Wi-Fi and no short videos, which made Xiao Mu, a transmigrator, feel that life was worse than death. Within less than a month, he understood exactly what it meant to be driven to the brink where one could accomplish anything.

Having finished all the knowledge of a mecha manufacturer without even awakening a martial soul, Ye Ran felt that compared to her son, all other geniuses were completely eclipsed.

Presumably, those soul master geniuses from ten thousand years ago could have done the same if they had these conditions.

"Xiao Mu, get up early tomorrow. You need to go awaken your martial soul. Once you have soul power, you can study soul guidance devices even better."

Ye Ran reminded him, fearing the boy would forget this most important matter.

"Got it."

Xiao Mu's thoughts on soul guidance devices were simple: since he was already here, he might as well learn everything first.

The neighboring Title Douluo, En Ci, had only started learning later; he wanted to finish all the theoretical knowledge before his martial soul awakening.

Besides, he was idle anyway—he was almost bored to death.

There was no way to become a god in this era; at most, one could break through level one hundred in soul power after resolving the Abyss.

True immortality was impossible.

One could not truly become a god.

Flesh is weak, but machines ascend.

Xiao Mu removed the soul guidance core and scrutinized it against the overhead light. The patterns were complete, the circuits were closed, and it emitted a strange glow.

He nodded and slowly injected the liquid soul guidance medium into the grooves of the core.

The metal instantly lit up with a ghostly blue light, seeping out from the depths of the core and spreading along the engraved patterns like veins.

He took a deep breath and placed the core onto a precision tester, attaching two wires to its ends as the numbers on the screen began to flicker.

It meant success.

Ye Ran watched Xiao Mu, wondering why her child was so exceptionally interested in soul-guide technology.

Everyone else looked forward to awakening their martial soul, so why did her son have no interest in it at all?

Was awakening a martial soul not important?

Her own martial soul was, after all, the Tree of Life, the same as Zhuang Yusen of Shrek Academy ten thousand years ago.

The boy's father's martial soul wasn't bad either, yet this child had not a shred of expectation.

"Xiao Mu, aren't you looking forward to seeing what your martial soul will be?" she couldn't help but ask.

"There's nothing to look forward to. History has proven countless times that even if parents have powerful martial souls, children only have a chance of inheriting them. There is also a very low probability of awakening a trash martial soul."

Xiao Mu didn't even look up, clearly referring to the case of Grandmaster Yu.

He had only reached level twenty-nine before hitting a bottleneck at the age of fifty.

He continued, "Mom, when you understand something well enough, there is no reason not to use it.

The greatest difference between humans and beasts is the ability to use tools.

Just as humans mastered fire to drive away beasts and cook raw meat, polished stone tools to chop hard objects and dig the earth, and wove ropes and baskets to store supplies and bind heavy loads.

Everything, every single thing, points to the importance of tools."

After hearing this, Ye Ran did not refute him; she knew how much convenience even the smallest technological progress brought to humanity.

From the war-grade soul guides of ten thousand years ago to the civilian soul guides popularized today, the era was constantly advancing.

"Then remember to eat dinner at six; our genius soul-guide master cannot go hungry."

Ye Ran gave a final instruction before turning to leave. She rubbed her forehead, suspecting that Xiao Mu would do things far more extreme than skipping meals in the future.

"I know."

Xiao Mu didn't say much more and continued his research, even though the armor would soon be discarded due to incompatibility with his physique.

But he knew what the so-called gods of this world were; they were not impossible to surpass.

They could bleed, and they could be killed.

They were merely people who could live longer and possessed greater strength.

There was nothing worth worshipping.

Of course, useless things weren't worth worshipping either.

He looked at the metallic paint surface in front of him, which reflected his own face.

"Knowledge is power, and I am already standing on the shoulders of giants."

"I will put an end to the era of the Sea God!"