Above The Sky
Chapter 369 - 369 341 Shasha's Upgrade Path 23

369: Chapter 341: Shasha’s Upgrade Path (2/3) 369: Chapter 341: Shasha’s Upgrade Path (2/3) This was merely a speculation.

Ian dared not assert what Yinaiga II’s original purpose might have been.

But without a doubt, the Labyrinth Master he aspired to become was no ordinary one.

Nevertheless, no matter how you looked at it, this speculation at least explained some of the perplexing elements.

The young man did not continue the topic.

He had already received the answers he sought from Master Gossay and knew what he should do in the future at the Second Power Level and even at the Third Power Level.

Condensing Origin Quality, elevating Origin Structure—he had already achieved perfection in this regard.

What came next was the soul and Spirit Energy Structure of the Second Power Level.

Master Gossay was getting old; it would be somewhat difficult for him to reach the Third Power Level, but it wasn’t impossible, so his preparations were quite thorough.

He relayed all the essential elements to Ian.

“Ian…”

At that moment, while Ian and Master Gossay fell silent in the rain, seemingly pondering something,

Yisen Gard spoke up, appearing to have something he wanted to say to the white-haired youth, albeit hesitantly.

“What’s wrong?”

Ian turned his head to look at Yisen Gard.

He had thought the other wanted to ask him about training and Alchemy, but the blond young man hemmed and hawed for quite a while before voicing in a mosquito-like whisper, “We’re…

friends, right?”

—Is that what he’s asking?

“Of course,” Ian couldn’t help but laugh: “We’ve shared life and death in the Underground Ruins, fought together several times; if we weren’t friends before, we certainly are now.”

But after the laugh, Ian felt somewhat reflective—Yisen Gard’s interpersonal relationships were probably limited to his classmates, and given his talent, those classmates were likely not even his peers.

Coupled with the subtle ostracism from his family, Yisen Gard indeed had few friends.

“Okay.”

Although initially embarrassed by Ian’s laughter enough to duck his head into his collar, Yisen Gard’s expression soon returned to normal, only his ear tips remained red: “Then, I look forward to our next meeting, friend.”

Ian also nodded with a smile: “Yeah, goodbye.”

And so they said their farewells, waiting for the next time they would meet.

Master Gossay and Yisen Gard boarded a carriage and left—they couldn’t be sure if there were other assassins besides Patrick, so Viscount Grant had made special arrangements for this trip; apart from Ian, no one knew of their departure at this time, assuming that the two were resting at the Viscount’s estate.

If the threat was not from assassins, they would naturally not care when the two left; if it was, there was a fair chance the ruse would be successful.

Ian watched the carriage turn a corner and head towards the western gate, feeling somewhat complex.

Master Gossay and Yisen Gard were the intermediaries through whom he had gotten a glimpse of the entire Terra World from Harrison Port—it was because of them that Ian had found an opportunity to venture outward.

“Soon.”

Shaking his head slightly, Ian turned and walked towards his own shop, his workspace.

There were still some things he needed to do before leaving Harrison Port.

For instance, helping Shasha break through to the Second Power Level.

If the journey to the South Sea Labyrinth were the stage with Ian ostensibly in the leading role, then Shasha definitely deserved a significant share of the credit.

Be it noticing the Pirate Armor or blocking the bombardment from the Pirate Fleet, or hindering the pursuit of the Surge Eels, Shasha played a crucial role.

Not to mention, within the ruins, it was Shasha who had continually drawn away the Gargantuan Eel, and later on the journey out of the Labyrinth, disabled two fast escort ships from Fiery Flame Land in succession.

Without Shasha, many battles would have been much more troublesome.

In both sentiment and reason, even if it was just to ensure that the relic beneath the South Sea Great Labyrinth wasn’t too quickly noticed by subsequent adventurers, Ian had to make Shasha, acting as the deputy Labyrinth Master, stronger.

After more than a week of not returning to the shop and workshop, dust had piled on both the containers and the documents on the table.

Aside from a small metal box at the bottom of the stairs, presumably sent by Master Gossay, Ian saw no other signs that anyone had visited his shop.

Most of the documents on the table were formulas for inscriptions that Ian had experimented with.

Not to mention others, even Ian himself needed to use the Prophet’s perspective and the Silver Chip to record data to remember what those things meant.

The level of encryption was even more complex than phonetically transcribing southern dialects.

“I’m thinking, next time, I could use the ‘Maintenance Inscription’ found in the ruins to ensure cleanliness, but I wonder about the energy consumption.”

This time, Ian’s gains in the ruins were not to be deemed insignificant, but rather overflowing.

Aside from anything else, just the various inscriptions alone would be enough for Ian to delve into for years.

From the maintenance runes for preserving the ruins to the longsword of the Green Tide, coupled with the ‘Ether Conversion Inscription’ from the Spiritual Tool Church, if he thoroughly researched them, he might be able to carry a lot of large-scale engineering equipment or alchemy instruments in the future, which would be extremely convenient.

Sitting in the chair at the workbench, Ian opened the metal box and then took a sharp breath at the light released from inside—

He saw an entire row of Demon Beast Level Elemental Crystals.

Even though they were tiny crystal particles like those from the Glinting Crystal Clams, they were merely unsuitable for Aether Armaments.

As materials for Magic Potion or as an energy source, they were precious enough to be worth several hundred Talle.

The other materials were the ‘Fluorescent Algae’ and ‘Solar Algae’ produced by the Labyrinth’s aberration, and they were actually the familiar ‘algae’ Ian himself had identified, of quite good quality.

Besides that, Master Gossay had stuffed several books at the bottom of the box.

Ian briefly browsed through them and confirmed they were intermediate and advanced alchemy textbooks from the Imperial Capital, with rows of clear explanatory notes.

“…He really went to a lot of trouble.”

After a moment of silence, Ian couldn’t help but sigh—the Demonic Beast Materials and Fluorescent Algae were one thing, as they were just a matter of money.

But those intermediate and advanced alchemy textbooks were the true treasures, knowledge that couldn’t be bought with money.

However, now was not the time to dig into alchemy textbooks.

Ian took out a pure silver ingot from a cabinet on the side.

“In my insect nest transformation, besides absorbing Elan, I also absorbed Shasha—even those three Dragon Eggs were taken by me, eventually merging into the three Crystal Ultimate Dragons Dora.”

“Putting aside what system the Crystal Ultimate Dragon truly belongs to for the moment, Shasha was transformed by my insect nest incarnation into a gigantic weapon platform…

frankly speaking, not a very innovative choice, but indeed strong enough.”

Remembering the dreamscape of the worm nest, Ian weighed the silver ingot in his hand and pondered for a moment, “Ironclad Shark, Iron Armor Shark, this is a qualitative advancement.

After becoming an Iron Armor Shark, the Ironclad Shark will become thoroughly a metal-based lifeform, its body completely covered with high-strength alloy, its reaction speed and sensitivity vastly superior to before—even capable of delving into magma to seek high-energy minerals.”

“But the developments of the Isle Whale Shark seemed like it didn’t know how to become stronger, so it just made itself bigger.”

“Becoming bigger is indeed an aspect of evolution, but it’s not mandatory…

My insect nest incarnation used the enlarged Shasha as a gigantic warship, equipping it with various high-energy cannons, arming it to the teeth with technology from previous eras, but I feel that it’s not the proper evolutionary path for the Shasha lineage.”

Just like Humans, moving from Origin Quality to soul, and then to Life Spirit Energy and Heart Light Body created by their fusion—Ian believed Shasha should also condense its soul at the Second Energy Level, then give rise to its unique Spirit Energy.

Next, based on the type of Spirit Energy, it would decide the subsequent evolution path.

“The soul is deeply connected to efficient modes of thinking, and to think faster, Shasha would need precious metals like silver and gold to reconstruct its neural network.”

On his last encounter, Ian had already determined that Ironclad Shark was essentially an artificially created biological tool.

Its cognitive upgrade was somewhat similar to a computer upgrade, requiring finer and more sensitive materials to manufacture its ‘CPU’ and motherboard.

So if one merely wanted Shasha to evolve ordinarily, it would suffice to let it drink more solutions of precious metals.

But the issue was about being better.

How to let a computer or, in other words, a metal lifeform make more efficient use of its bodily advantages and traits?

The answer was…

“It would need to be able to self-modify, self-upgrade, and control its own energy…”

Ian stopped the motion of examining the silver ingot and thought of Master Gossay’s box and the Crystal Shellfish crystals inside, “It’s electricity.”

“Electricity!” At this moment, a train of thought gradually formed in the young man’s mind, “Electromagnetic, photoelectric…

the teachings my mentor shared with me, the inheritance of materials for advancement easily found in the Southern Sea…”

“Thunderhunter Jellyfish communicate their thoughts through electrical currents,”

“Aurora Titan!” His eyes widened, “Yes, that’s it!”