Chapter 570: Aiming for First Place Among All Universities
True Monarch String Tone’s gaze swept across the blueprints, noting the extensive use of monsterfolk materials.
There were bones from Elephant Monsters, organs from Rat Monsters, and stomach pouches from Fish Monsters.
The design incorporated Biomimetic Technology, fusing the characteristics of various monsterfolk to create a multi-legged, multi-armed biomimetic puppet.
The puppet was covered in over a dozen eyes of different shapes, observing its surroundings from every angle to locate target items.
As the puppet sped through the testing grounds, continuously swallowing target items, True Monarch String Tone exclaimed in surprise, “What a massive stomach pouch! Is it using its stomach to store goods?”
True Monarch Bloodfall of Netherworld University smiled faintly. “It’s using Biomimetic Stomach Storage Technology. We’ve designed fifty stomach compartments, each capable of storing a different type of item in a different state.”
“Combined with muscle systems mimicking those of Elephant Monsters and Whale Monsters, it can easily carry loads up to 200 tons.”
True Monarch Heavenly Intellect interjected, “If this biomimetic puppet is so powerful, can its cost really be reduced to 30 Spirit Coins?”
True Monarch Bloodfall explained, “With the explosive growth in the monsterfolk population, the prices of monsterfolk biological materials have been steadily declining over the past two years.”
“Burial Star Forge’s design clearly takes advantage of the monsterfolk’s lack of rights and their low cost.”
“This allows him to achieve superior magical artifact performance at a significantly lower cost.”
“Look at the non-biological material content in this artifact — it’s less than 1%.”
True Monarch String Tone had to admit that Burial Star Forge’s design from Netherworld University was indeed the best he had seen so far.
“Speed, load capacity, detection… all aspects are remarkably balanced.”
String Tone mentally recalled Burial Star Forge’s previous submission to the Design Competition.
“Hmm, his live demonstration of design skill is at least 70% of what he showed in his previous competition entry.”
“It seems he genuinely needed very little guidance.”
The more String Tone considered this, the more awkward he felt about Zhang Yu’s upcoming presentation.
In the end, Burial Star Forge received a high score of 420 points.
After several more artifact refinement simulations, the Ghost God Craftsman from Heavenly Demon University took the stage.
As the artifact refinement simulation rapidly concluded, a swirling mass of black mist floated into the air.
Within the shifting darkness, one could almost discern the wails of ten thousand ghosts, their faces occasionally materializing as terrified, resentful, or furious visages.
True Monarch String Tone remarked, “Heavenly Demon Reincarnation Technology.”
True Monarch Sinful Lotus nodded slightly, his tone satisfied. “Indeed. The Ghost God Craftsman has achieved considerable mastery in this field, capable of temporarily refining the living souls of mortals into artifact spirits. The energy consumption remains somewhat high, however.”
“While living souls are readily available, their quality varies greatly, making standardization impossible. This also accelerates the aging of the artifact spirits. Most of our university’s products avoid such inferior materials.”
“Still, the primary advantage of using living souls lies in their low cost, making them perfectly suited for this application.”
The black mist seethed violently before projecting countless wisps of vapor skyward.
True Monarch String Tone recognized that the Ghost God Craftsman’s design consisted of numerous Formless Divine Demon Seeds. These seeds, existing in a state between gas and liquid, functioned as a type of puppet. Not only could they morph into any shape, but they could also separate and act independently.
Observing the black cloud’s transformations, True Monarch String Tone analyzed, “By temporarily using a mortal’s Living Soul as a central control system, he’s manipulating the black cloud to separate and act independently.”
As the black cloud continuously morphed and divided, True Monarch String Tone envisioned a black army, constantly deploying units to sweep across the battlefield.
Scouts soared high into the sky to conduct reconnaissance, guiding the main force to evade Thunderfire and locate targets.
Vanguard units advanced to designated objectives to retrieve items.
Relay units received the items and transported them to designated collection points.
“Its speed isn’t the fastest, nor is its load capacity the greatest, but with its powerful AI system, shapeshifting capabilities, and short-range communication technology between its components… it dominates the battlefield, wasting not a single drop of Magic Power or second of time.”
“This is achieving maximum efficiency with minimal resources.”
True Monarch String Tone inwardly marveled, “Truly worthy of being a Spirit Transformation disciple prioritized by Heavenly Demon University. His first-place ranking is well-deserved.”
At that moment, the Ghost God Craftsman’s previous competition entry flashed through his mind.
True Monarch String Tone mentally calculated, “His live performance is at least eighty percent as effective as his previous entry. This fellow really hasn’t relied much on his Spirit Transformation Master.”
With Ghost God Craftsman’s work scoring an impressive 452 points, Zhang Yu’s creation finally took the stage.
As the humanoid puppet gradually materialized under accelerated simulated Refining, True Monarch String Tone thought to himself, “It must at least fulfill its basic functions…”
The roughly hewn humanoid puppet landed on the ground with a thud, and then… began to eat dirt.
The assembled Judges were momentarily stunned.
True Monarch Bloodfall chuckled. “Is this a malfunction?”
True Monarch String Tone frowned, immediately consulting the design blueprints to check for errors.
But someone beat him to it. True Monarch Sinful Lotus of Heavenly Demon University remarked calmly, “It’s not a malfunction. This puppet is specifically designed to eat dirt.”
As he spoke, the humanoid puppet shuddered and produced a palm-sized miniature puppet.
The moment the small puppet landed, it burrowed into the nearby undergrowth.
True Monarch Bloodfall was startled and quickly reviewed the blueprints. “This is… a simplified production line? Eat dirt, produce people? By consuming different materials, it can create various types of miniature puppets?”
True Monarch Eroding Marrow of White Bone University added, “But the performance of these miniature puppets seems rather weak…”
True Monarch Eroding Marrow’s words were cut short as the humanoid puppet devoured a stone block. Moments later, a small stone puppet was ejected.
Simultaneously, True Monarch Eroding Marrow flipped to the back of the design blueprints, his astonishment growing with each page. “Besides the first mother machine, there are eighteen other puppet designs? He designed eighteen different puppets?!”
The blueprints displayed before the audience revealed detailed specifications for eighteen puppets, ranging from large to small, including refining techniques, required materials, functional parameters, and more.
Just then, the small mud puppet that had scurried off earlier returned, clutching a lump of ore in its arms. It delivered the ore to the mother machine puppet.
As the ore was consumed, a third type of puppet was swiftly produced.
True Monarch String Tone gradually grasped the situation. “This kid… after assessing the available materials on-site, he designed eighteen simple puppets that could be refined using those materials.”
“The materials required for these eighteen puppets range from simple to complex, with their performance and resource-gathering capabilities progressively improving.”
Even as he spoke, a sword-shaped puppet forged from metal was ejected by the mother machine.
Though the sword-shaped puppet appeared to fly slowly and leisurely, the judges could clearly see that it was indeed crafted using flying sword technology.
Moreover, as the number of puppets produced increased and more materials were gathered, the variety of puppets being created also expanded.
Soon, quadrupedal puppets resembling wild dogs emerged, demonstrating the application of biomimetic magical artifact technology.
The puppets then began combining and transforming, achieving larger sizes and enhanced performance through magical artifact transformation and assembly technology.
Watching Zhang Yu’s mother machine gradually evolve from a solitary unit into a small squad, and then into a full-fledged army, True Monarch String Tone grew increasingly astonished.
What surprised him most wasn’t the design concepts themselves, but the breadth of knowledge demonstrated within them.
Eighteen types of puppets, True Monarch String Tone mused inwardly, almost eighteen distinct technological directions, encompassing the specialties of multiple schools.
At that moment, True Monarch Heavenly Intellect sighed beside him, “Such profound foundations! To master so many artifact refinement techniques, not only understanding them but also applying them practically with such proficiency… this far surpasses the level of a student.”
True Monarch String Tone smiled faintly and turned to True Monarch Eroding Marrow of White Bone University, asking, “True Monarch Eroding Marrow, what are your thoughts?”
True Monarch Eroding Marrow paused briefly, remembering the Righteous Gods recording nearby. He immediately adopted a serious demeanor and offered a meticulous and impartial assessment: “The technical foundation is exceptionally solid, and the design principles are profoundly ingenious. Using the most rudimentary materials, he has achieved the absolute limits of performance possible.”
He kept one thought to himself: With my own skill level, under similar conditions and at the Foundation Establishment stage, I might… at best, be able to achieve this level.
True Monarch String Tone then turned to True Monarch Bloodfall, asking, “And what is your opinion?”
Watching the puppet army gradually overwhelm the arena, True Monarch Bloodfall muttered, “I never imagined we’d misjudge this so badly. A senior student mastering such a vast range of techniques, capable of designing eighteen different puppets in just six hours… truly a prodigy of unparalleled brilliance.”
As he finished speaking, True Monarch Bloodfall suddenly chuckled. He realized that not only had he been mistaken, but likely even the higher-ups who had arranged this test hadn’t anticipated such a result.
True Monarch Bloodfall thought to himself, “I never imagined that Zhang Yu’s entry from the previous competition wasn’t just free of plagiarism, but also didn’t showcase his full potential.”
Meanwhile, True Monarch Sinful Lotus remarked calmly, “His technical skills are solid, and he’s pushed cost reduction to its absolute limit.”
“These simple puppets will age rapidly; they’ll likely be completely unusable after this competition.”
“He’s calculated the maximum performance achievable from the materials and design with extreme precision.”
“This young man’s level of skill in artifact refinement design is undoubtedly the best among all the hundred schools.”
The assembled judges were visibly shaken by these words.
True Monarch Bloodfall suddenly had a thought: “Could a fourth-year student truly achieve this solely through innate talent?”
“I heard Magnetic Pole is researching Divine Monarch Jade Nectar’s Bionic, and Zhang Yu is one of the test subjects. He’s already shown significant progress in improving his cultivation art.”
“Now his artifact refinement skills have advanced by leaps and bounds… Could it be…?”
True Monarch Bloodfall’s heart jolted. “Has True Monarch Magnetic Pole achieved a breakthrough?”
As he scrutinized the intricate details of Zhang Yu’s design blueprints, True Monarch Bloodfall felt an increasing sense of familiarity. “This has Magnetic Pole’s signature all over it.”