Technological advancement begins with devouring.

Chapter 38 Choosing a Base

Materials Science has been upgraded to Lv.21; level has been increased.

[Current level: Tier 1, Level 3.]

You gain +10 to all attributes and 10 free attribute points.

You have gained 99 feat points.

"Finally leveled up! After reaching the planetary level, although the efficiency of acquiring new knowledge has increased significantly, the leveling speed has actually slowed down..."

Seeing the system prompt that popped up, Jiang Chen casually added his free attribute points to the 'Spirit' attribute, and then opened the attribute panel.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Name: Jiang Chen

Race: Earth Humans

Rank: First Rank, Third Level

Attributes:

力量127、敏捷126、体质127、智力172、精神172、神秘162

Free attribute points: 0

Knowledge: [Natural Technology Lv.19], [Alchemy Technology Lv.7]

Specialties: High level of focus, psychodynamics, scholarly mindset

Specialization Points: 242

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After the upgrade, the original traditional science and technology disciplines were merged into the "Natural Technology" category. However, by opening the detailed interface, you can still see the upgrade progress of each sub-field.

After his attributes improved again, Jiang Chen's Force and Psychic Power also broke through. However, compared to the increase in attributes, the number of special skill points gained with each level up after reaching the first tier tripled to 99 points, which was a more significant improvement.

With just two upgrades, Jiang Chen had already accumulated 242 specialty points on his panel, enough to exchange for one or two rather powerful abilities.

"I've been building up my strength for months, but I don't know if it's enough..."

Jiang Chen logged out of the system and asked, "Jarvis, how many mech units do we have now?"

"There are 140 'Boxer' mechs that are officially ours, forming ten squads. We can change the squad configuration at any time by changing equipment. In addition, there are twelve 'SCVs'. If we need to enter an emergency, I can immediately gain control of 1262 mechs belonging to the eight major global powers. However, this would expose the fact that you left backdoors in the mechs."

Jarvis quickly recited a series of data.

Nine months have passed since the first "Boxer" production line was successfully established, and the second production line has been in operation for nearly five months.

With the full support of various countries, as well as the two major martial arts schools and the HR Alliance, there was no need to worry about the production of raw materials. Production was in full swing, and more than 1,400 [Boxer] mechs were produced.

Ninety percent of them were sold to various powerful forces, becoming materials, funds, and other treasures in Jiang Chen's hands. The remaining one-tenth was kept by Jiang Chen himself, becoming his own armed force.

As for the extra twelve [SCVs], they were preparations made by Jiang Chen for the construction of the new base.

"What about resource reserves?" Jiang Chen pressed again. "How's the money allocated to you last time going?"

"Most of it has already been spent, but there are still two batches of materials that have not been delivered for the orders placed through the HR Alliance. Currently, the warehouse has enough parts to manufacture hundreds of [Boxer] and [SCV] units, as well as various materials worth over one trillion Chinese yuan, mainly metal materials, concrete, energy, fuel, weapons and ammunition, electronic equipment, etc."

Jarvis presented a series of data, then added, "According to your Plan No. 12, these resources are barely enough to build a small industrial base in the wilderness. But transporting these resources to their destination is a considerable challenge."

"Yes, transportation..." Jiang Chen sighed, also feeling very troubled by this problem.

The amount of building materials involved in constructing even a small base is enormous.

Carrying so many materials across such a long distance to reach Jiang Chen's planned target location, while also guarding against monster attacks, is a very troublesome matter.

These materials, totaling over a million tons, could not possibly be delivered in a single trip, regardless of the transportation method used.

If the base is built outside of Eurasia, the transportation burden will be even greater.

Even if we absorb technology from extraterrestrial civilizations, we are still limited by Earth's own technological level and cannot create anything that far surpasses Earth's technological level.

In terms of transport aircraft, the most powerful transport aircraft on Earth today can carry a maximum of just over 100 tons of cargo, excluding the weight of the aircraft itself and its fuel.

Millions of tons?

It would take a full ten thousand flights to transport it all!

Even if Jiang Chen used his spatial ring to transport it, it would take hundreds of round trips.

Unless there are more and larger space rings, the number of transports can be reduced to a sufficiently low level.

"If we can reduce the number of air transports to less than ten, I think the first target location is the most suitable choice," Jarvis suggested. "If the air transport exceeds ten times, based on existing data, the probability of attracting a King-level monster will increase by 87.5%, which is too risky. Even if the master successfully kills the monster, if some of the cargo is destroyed, the master's plan will fail."

Jarvis obtained a large amount of information online, and Jiang Chen trusted Jarvis's judgment when it came to data analysis.

The first target location is in South America, the territory of the country that loved to dance samba and play football before the Great Nirvana. It has extremely rich mineral resources, ranking among the world's top in both variety and reserves.

The area is now completely occupied by monsters, with no trace of humans. If Jiang Chen could occupy it and establish a base, he wouldn't have to worry about resources before entering space.

But Asia and South America are so far apart that the only way to get there is by flying. Flying once or twice is fine, but if you do it too often, you're likely to attract the attention of high-level flying monsters, and the risk is quite significant.

If the number of times resources need to be transported cannot be reduced to a sufficiently low level, then the only option is to find a suitable location on the Eurasian continent and send the resources Jiang Chen has stockpiled there by land.

As for maritime transport... the oceans are now entirely the territory of monsters, and even Hong and Thor would not easily venture there, let alone ordinary ships.

There are two places in Asia that Jiang Chen is quite satisfied with: the grasslands in the north and the Golden Triangle region in the south. Both are areas outside the control of major powers, and they also have considerable mineral resources.

But no matter which one it is, it's always missing one or two things, which makes people feel very uncomfortable.

"If only I could get that spatial ring from Babata," Jiang Chen muttered to himself.

Although the spatial ring in Babata's hand cannot compare with the World Ring, its internal space is extremely large. It can pack all of Jiang Chen's stockpiled resources and mechanical legion in one go, making it much better than Jiang Chen's standard-sized spatial ring.

However, Jiang Chen would not be willing to go to Babata.

"Forget it, let's ask Councilor Jia Yi if he has any ideas. I refuse to believe that this is the only space ring that has been discovered on Earth." Jiang Chen opened his communication bracelet, found Jia Yi's phone number, and dialed it.

(End of this chapter)