Master of Kaidan
Chapter 428: Living people cannot become Kaidan, but accounts can

Chapter 428: Chapter 428: Living people cannot become Kaidan, but accounts can

The final closed beta came to an end with the crushing defeat of the pirates by six Gundams. All the major guilds, who had planned to make a name for themselves by defeating the boss in the last few days of the beta, fell silent. The Gundams that appeared in the Jianghu became the focus of everyone’s attention.

A flood of fan creations swept across major online platforms, riding on the popularity of Jianghu, the world’s first fully immersive virtual reality MMO game, breaking out of its niche instantly.

The six players, who were the center of attention, logged off along with other beta players. Meanwhile, Feng Xue, who had played a pivotal role in fueling the frenzy, quietly returned to the "game world," leaving behind only an "Oxford Dictionary" on a young man’s bedside table.

The power that shrouded Great Locust Tree Village had dissipated. Although the players who tinkered with screws had disappeared, the village, now transformed into a heavy industrial hub, did not halt its operations.

The blacksmiths, who had been taught internal cultivation methods, wielded their hammers and inner strength, forging metal ingots into shapes required by Feng Xue. Feng Xue then refined these with the [Cleverly Crafted] power and finally assembled them using the [Follow the Map] power to form rudimentary mecha skeletons.

Even though these skeletons lacked onboard computers, the silver lining was that the operation of Cyberpunk World mechs depended entirely on the electromagnetic muscle bundles, systems that defied real-world technology, known as "pure mechanical transmission." The onboard computer’s role was more about adjusting gear speeds, managing cameras, and reporting mecha damage.

In other words, even if the onboard computer was taken out, as long as the power source, originally driven by batteries, diesel engines, or palladium reactors, was replaced by inner strength, it would work fine.

In fact, Feng Xue could even opt for an oil (diesel) and gas (inner qi) hybrid, but considering the logistical burden, he ultimately decided to skip ahead and transition directly to the era of inner strength-powered machines.

This meant that only those with sufficient inner strength could maneuver the machine flexibly; otherwise, it would be as taxing as trying to move on stilts several meters high.

This also explained why the small players in the Gundam Band, once launched, relied entirely on sound attacks to defeat enemies. Directly operating a Gundam would still be crushingly powerful because of its size and armor, but the slow movements would lack sophistication.

Speaking of Gundams...

As Feng Xue continued assembling mass-produced machines, he glanced at the six musical Gundams behind him. Although the players had logged off, these six behemoths remained in the game.

It’s worth mentioning that when these six Gundams were assembled, they were the True Object.

However, after being identified by the game system, they turned into pseudo data bodies, much like other True Objects brought into Infinite City, transforming into equipment with attribute panels in the players’ eyes.

But now, their state had changed again—

A substantial amount of [Identity] surged from the void, converging on these mechas. Most of it hovered around, while a small portion continually fused with the materials composing the mechs.

The entire process was under Feng Xue’s surveillance. To avoid missing details, he even deployed his Phantom Object drone and used panoramic cameras to record everything comprehensively.

Feng Xue was very familiar with this process and had experienced it more than once. Undoubtedly, it was the process of the Kaidan Fire condensing.

Yet what was happening before his eyes differed significantly from what Feng Xue had seen before, as the [Identity] did not coalesce into entries as swiftly as he had experienced but remained wandering around the mechs.

His confusion didn’t last long, for the six mechs finally completed their qualitative transformation. Although the [Identity] continued to hover around them, it didn’t stop him from turning on the Golden Finger and checking the state of these mechs—

Name: Phantom Object·Beis Gundam

Elements: [Instrument], [Armor], [Weapon], [Machine], [Gundam], [Equipment], [Whole Life]

Description: The Gundam piloted by the bassist of the famous group Gundam Rock Band in the fully immersive virtual reality MMO Jianghu. Why such a cross-era creation as Gundam exists in an ancient martial world is unclear, but it is certain that this mech possesses power that matches its size.

Notably, this mech requires inner strength as its energy source, so at least a second-rate expert in Jianghu is needed to operate it. Moreover, while the inside is equipped with pinhole imaging technology for observation, the field of view is somewhat narrow compared to the naked eye. If one wants to exert sufficient combat capability, extensive practice is essential.

Note: This is more like an instrument than a Gundam.

...

"It actually turned into a Phantom Object instead of a Kaidan?" Feng Xue cast his gaze to the other mechs and found the descriptions were similar. Undoubtedly, they seemed to have turned into something like "companion phantom objects," but the problem was, based on Feng Xue’s usual experience, companion phantom objects should only condense after the Kaidan has taken shape (or assimilate other tools).

Yet now, the Kaidan entry for the "Gundam Band" hadn’t been condensed.

"Tsk tsk, it seems my somewhat crazy idea might actually succeed?"

Although Feng Xue was surprised by this situation, he was more filled with the joy of a successful plan.

Indeed, the reason he went about creating Gundams in an ancient martial world wasn’t just to test the function of the [Follow the Map] power, nor was it simply for fun.

His real purpose was to experiment with a somewhat crazy idea—

To turn players into Kaidan.

It was common knowledge that living people couldn’t become the main subject of Kaidan, or at least not the main body. Even the "Everyone in Yan Country Knows Martial Arts" super large group Kaidan is essentially derived from Feng Xue, who merely "shares" the power with all Yan Country people.

It’s just like how a light bulb doesn’t generate light by itself but receives electricity from a power plant to emit light.

Of course, if a person from Yan Country dies and was somewhat known, they could become a subsidiary Kaidan of the major Yan Country Knows Martial Arts. For example, "Martial Arts Star XXX," "Martial Arts University Teacher XXX," and the like.

But in Feng Xue’s view, this is merely a facade, because the fundamental reason humans cannot become Kaidan is that their own [Identity] is sufficiently condensed.

They are equivalent to a massive "Kaidan" named [Human], with information so vast that it is beyond comprehension. This results in external cognition labels being automatically categorized into this "collection," naturally preventing the formation of separate Kaidan.

However, the players in this world are different.

Because they are not complete human information, but a set of "consciousness data" uploaded to this world through the game’s phantom objects.

And what was happening now clearly verified Feng Xue’s crazy idea—

These accounts, or rather the players’ consciousness data, indeed had the potential to become Kaidan!