Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 300: Qualitative Change to Mountain Body, A Brand New Path!

A sudden, moderate rain fell over Diversion Island, lasting for three minutes and causing quite a commotion.He wondered if Luo Kuke would find it strange to encounter such a natural anomaly right after stepping onto the island.

After pondering and researching for another half hour, by the time Cheng Ye took the wooden boat back to the dock, Luo Kuke had already taken his men to patrol elsewhere.

Although the guards stationed at the waterproof wall were surprised, no one dared to step forward and ask questions.

Returning to his room, Cheng Ye took off his combat armor, sat at the desk, and picked up his pen once again.

This time, he was no longer completely in the dark about Runes; instead, he had a clear and definitive understanding.

After writing the word "Rune" in large letters at the top of the blank paper, he began to methodically organize the information he currently knew:

[1. The key to breaking the cognitive impairment regarding Runes lies not in "understanding," but in "hosting."]

[2. The specific method of hosting Runes is currently unknown. Possible groups are deduced to be: individuals with hidden talents, martial artists in the Heaven-Man Unity Realm, and powerhouses in the Transcendent Control State.]

[3. The carrier hosting the Rune must be able to directly supply energy to it. For example, Runes engraved on an Immortal Item rely on the Immortal Item converting life force for energy; the Runes inside the Chamber of the Demonic Eye Sponge are powered by its main body. Furthermore, the Elder once mentioned that using Immortal Items requires paying a massive price, and this price might be an immense amount of life force.]

[4. Runes do not create matter out of thin air. The so-called "Celestial Arts" are essentially an advanced application of energy. It is a broader and more convenient way of utilizing resources, similar to how humans convert light and heat energy, except the physical scope covered by Runes is much wider and the application forms are more flexible.]

[5. Every single stroke of a Rune has an independent meaning and can be used separately. If a large number of strokes can be mastered, perhaps they can be combined and spliced together to derive different methods of usage.]

With these five core discoveries written down, Cheng Ye put down his pen and fell into deep thought.

Based on the current clues, Yu Erlan, who was in the Transcendent Control State, definitely knew how to host and use Runes in order to condense air resources as a means of attack.

The Elders of Happiness City also definitely knew the traits and usages of Runes, yet they never shared this information with Shi Xu, resulting in his research never making any breakthrough progress.

Even after Happiness City obtained Immortal Items, they could not effectively utilize them and could only trade them with Torch in exchange for other technologies.

'So, what the Elders truly care about is not how to host the Runes themselves or how to acquire them, but how to lower the threshold and price of using Runes?'

Coming to this conclusion, Cheng Ye suddenly understood why Shi Xu had been unable to secure financial support for so long.

Happiness City actually already had a clear answer regarding the path he was researching.

It was just that this answer would not be spoken by Yu Erlan, nor would the Elders take the initiative to reveal it.

What if?

What if Shi Xu could truly research a method to lower the hosting threshold, or find a new cognitive breakthrough point?

At worst, it was just wasting the resources of a research team and a director, something Happiness City could still afford.

But directly blocking off this path would mean Happiness City had entirely given up on exploring Rune hosting.

However, Shi Xu's research progress was simply too slow. Without additional resource support, he had not even crossed the threshold to this day, still analyzing and guessing the essence of Runes. This was equivalent to going down a dead end, leaning more towards theory rather than application, naturally making it as difficult as ascending the heavens to get funding.

'Following this line of thought, perhaps Torch has not researched how to lower the threshold for hosting Runes either, but they have highly likely made a new breakthrough in reducing the price of using Runes.'

'Hmm... Let me guess...'

Cheng Ye picked up his pen again, grabbed a fresh sheet of white paper, and quickly wrote down the conjectures in his mind one by one:

[1. Among the Rune strokes researched by Torch, there might be energy consumption reduction type Runes. Adding them to the usage process of the main Rune could directly reduce energy consumption.]

[2. Torch has found a cheap method of supplying life force, such as raising a large number of animals, mutated creatures, or even cultivating specific price-type creatures, using these special organisms to replace the direct extraction of human life force by the Runes.]

[3. In their Rune strokes, there might exist a life force-gathering Rune, similar to the Water-Gathering Rune, but this Rune can extract human life force and control the extraction rate. Just like donating blood, if everyone only donates five percent of their life force per cycle, it would have no impact on their lives, but accumulated together, it would be a massive amount sufficient to drive the Runes.]

[4. Through potions or special means, Torch has cultivated a batch of blood cow warriors. The life force of these people far exceeds that of ordinary humans, even rivaling Transcendents, and they can serve as a stable energy source for Runes.]

[5. Torch has mastered energy conversion technology, capable of converting conventional energy such as electrical, light, and heat energy into the energy form required by Immortal Items or Runes.]

Another five conjectures fell onto the paper.

Relying on the logical thinking of a modern person, the comprehensive analysis of a large amount of relevant information, coupled with his practical combat experience of personally hosting and using Runes.

Cheng Ye stroked his chin, secretly feeling that his status as a novice researcher was truly not obtained in vain.

Although he temporarily had no clue on how to sit in a laboratory doing professional research to produce hardcore results that could be put into actual production.

But analyzing the various possibilities behind a transcendent phenomenon was something he did with ease, absolutely meeting the novice standards of the Research Institute.

More importantly, none of his research conjectures were built on baseless fantasies, but were traceable. Furthermore, as long as he found an opportunity in the future, he even had the ability to personally verify them.

This was an advantage that ordinary researchers at the Research Institute could not match. Many people could only stay in the laboratory for their entire lives, and even stepping out into the wasteland required them to be as cautious as he previously was.

'So Cheng Wu's words were really correct; letting an Inspector do scientific research is completely feasible!'

Cheng Ye felt a stir in his heart and pulled over another blank sheet of paper, beginning to conduct a more detailed breakdown and refinement of the conclusions he had already reached.

It was not until the sky grew slightly bright and the Civilization Collector once again transmitted a fully charged notification that he suddenly snapped out of his focus.

This night had truly been busy. Not only had his strength improved significantly, but his understanding of Runes had also taken a massive step forward.

'Miraculous Runes, their effects are too extraordinary. Even my incomplete stroke that can only summon rain holds immense value! As long as I can find a way to reduce consumption and achieve long-term preservation, I will not have to worry about a lack of buyers!'

Cheng Ye gathered the white papers covered in handwriting, unable to stop his mind from wandering.

The currently condensed Rune could only be maintained for ten minutes and could not be preserved long-term.

Moreover, using it once almost cost him his life, making frequent use completely impossible, let alone mass production.

But once the usage price could be lowered and stable preservation achieved, this method of artificial rainfall would simply be absurdly powerful.

When the farmlands of various sanctuary cities needed watering, they could directly buy a Rune and toss it into the sky to summon rain as needed, no longer having to rely on the whims of the heavens.

If the Runes on the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch could be further disassembled, such as the ability to modify the terrain, not to mention major sanctuary cities, even small gathering places would go crazy fighting for it.

Creating a natural moat to block infected bodies and infection sources with just a single thought would directly max out safety. This value was simply immeasurable.

Thinking about it this way, Happiness City had indeed gone down the wrong path.

Torch single-mindedly pushed forward Rune research. Once there were substantive results, they could harvest resources across the entire wasteland.

This would be equivalent to the industrial revolution in human history. If a Rune revolution truly broke out in the wasteland, the enhancement of productivity would be unimaginable. By then, the industrial technology that Happiness City relied on for survival would likely instantly become obsolete, making it no longer possible to rely on technological advantages to harvest resources from surrounding sanctuary cities.

And looking back at Happiness City's history of rising to power, it was clearly by relying on a more complete industrial cluster and technological barriers that it achieved resource monopoly and harvesting from surrounding sanctuary cities, step by step growing into the overlord-level existence it was today.

Logically, Happiness City should be the clearest on the importance of technological barriers, but after succeeding, who knows what they pivoted to researching, wasting vast amounts of time and resources in vain.

Now, on this path of Rune research, they were probably not only left behind by Torch and the Nature Faction.

Across this massive wasteland, there were definitely quite a few super sanctuary cities researching Runes, and the pace of progress of these sanctuary cities should be much faster than Happiness City's.

Once the node of technological expansion and explosion arrived, one slow step would lead to falling behind at every step.

By then, if Happiness City wanted to pivot back to Rune research, there would probably only be one path left to take...

War!

Only by plundering technology through brutal means could they make up for the gap left behind over these years.

But anyone with half a brain could guess that those sanctuary cities capable of pushing forward the Rune revolution would not fail to prepare in advance for the arrival of war.

It was highly probable that a new alliance would be born by then.

A Rune Alliance.

The sanctuary cities within the alliance would definitely join forces to suppress backward sanctuary cities together, forming a new paradigm of technological harvesting.

'This data cannot be shown to Shi Xu for now. He is still focused on researching the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch. Wait until this winter is completely free, then bring Shi Xu to Dabo Town to slowly try deciphering Runes with him.'

Cheng Ye calculated, 'By then, taking a field duty trip and casually making up some experiences can clearly explain why I suddenly gained an understanding of Runes.'

He stuffed the white papers filled with handwriting into the bottom of his backpack without putting up much guard.

After all, these were just conceptual ideas. Even if someone saw them, it would not matter. How did the saying go? Those who know, know; those who do not understand will just waste their time looking at it.

It was just like having a chip design blueprint in hand; without a high-precision lithography machine, one would ultimately be helpless.

Looking down through the window, Liu Bi's morning exercise class had already started.

Luo Kuke had stayed up all night on duty and had no energy left to practice martial arts. In the slightly chilly morning breeze, only Yu Yong and Wang Kang were following behind Liu Bi.

The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, focused entirely on practicing their fist techniques. Although their styles were different, their movements were highly similar, becoming slower and slower, and also more and more rhythmic.

Especially Yu Yong, his moves could actually drive obvious surging air currents, forming an invisible circle, just like a martial arts master with special effects in a movie.

Was it because he inherently had the talent of a Hidden Talent?

Or was it that the Ghost Shadow Spider, which had reached the Inverse State and was only one step away from the Control State, helped him cross that most difficult threshold?

Doubts surfaced in Cheng Ye's mind.

'The Still Water Martial Domain I searched from Brother B has not been decomposed yet. I should take this opportunity to try it and see if Runes can be obtained from every Heaven-Man Martial Domain, or if the Heart Lake Martial Domain is an exception.'

If the path of decomposing a Martial Domain to obtain Runes could work, it would not just be an occasional occurrence.

Although there were few martial artists who could reach the Heaven-Man Unity Realm, quite a few could still be found, enough to piece together many valuable Runes.

However, having stayed up all night and continuously pondered and researched, Cheng Ye yawned, inevitably feeling a bit exhausted.

The massive increase in life force gave him a physique far exceeding that of ordinary people, allowing him to complete more tasks in a given unit of time, but mental fatigue could not be eliminated.

Even if his body could still support him, his thinking speed had noticeably slowed down, and he urgently needed rest to recover.

He grabbed his backpack and went downstairs towards the hydroelectric station.

The three of them were practicing so intensely that they did not notice him walking out the door, otherwise they would definitely make a fuss over his currently shrunken physique.

After arriving at the hydroelectric station, Cheng Ye took out the pendant to collect the fully recharged value and activated the decomposition function once again.

He threw in the Still Water Martial Domain, and an image subsequently materialized.

Based on the words "Still Water," Cheng Ye subconsciously thought it would be related to water, perhaps an ability to control the flow speed of water. Yet, what gradually became clear in the image was a towering, majestic mountain, along with Liu Bi sitting cross-legged on the mountain peak.

Eh, where was the water?

It was not until the image was fully generated that a small river surfaced at the foot of the mountain. It was just that the mountain blocked the river's path, forcing the water flow to spread out along the two sides of the mountain, unable to continue forward.

"Good heavens, this is literally stopping water in a physical sense."

Cheng Ye was a little dumbfounded. After carefully looking at it a few times and memorizing the image's details, he clicked the decomposition button.

The image flickered for a moment, the mountain gradually shattered, and a system panel prompt popped up:

[Decomposition Successful]

[This information decomposition was affected by the Collector's existing similar skill (Lv3. Surfing Through Waves), generating identical information fragments that can be fused.]

[Detected that the Collector lacks the current Recharge Value and does not meet the requirements for another decomposition. If you wish to decompose again to match other similar skills, please choose to abandon this decomposition result.]

[Please choose whether to Collect / Abandon]

"Surfing Through Waves?"

Cheng Ye furrowed his brows. Although it was a rare-grade Lv3 skill just like his physique talent, the actual effect of Surfing Through Waves was not even as good as the Lv1 Fish-Mimicking State; it merely enhanced his water affinity slightly. Furthermore, the fusion and upgrade path for the Fish-Mimicking State was clearer, only requiring continuous extraction and fusion of trait skills from underwater creatures.

Additionally, the core of the Still Water Martial Domain was clearly this mountain, not the small river below.

Even if he used the Martial Domain materials to upgrade Surfing Through Waves, he figured the utility would not see a massive improvement.

"Abandon!"

With slight hesitation, Cheng Ye straightforwardly chose to abandon it.

Wasting 800 kilowatt-hours of electricity just like that inevitably made his heart ache a little. But each Martial Domain could only be decomposed once, and it would be very difficult to search for another Heaven-Man Martial Domain in the short term, making it clearly much more precious.

The interface faded away. After recharging the Collector again, Cheng Ye let out a long breath, set an alarm, and simply went to sleep inside the hydroelectric station.

Three and a half hours later.

He got up, gathered the Recharge Value again, and initiated the decomposition.

The result this time was even more unexpected. The decomposition directly skipped the Lv3 skills and matched with the Lv2 Snake Force he had already mastered long ago.

"Tsk, it really feels a bit like opening blind boxes now!"

Cheng Ye could not help but click his tongue. "Could it be that I can even open an upgrade material that matches Life Blessing?"

Matching only with the proficiently mastered Snake Force made him inevitably somewhat unwilling, and he chose to abandon it again.

But this also made him deeply realize one thing: unlocking functions in advance that were meant to be opened at the next rank could sometimes be a happy annoyance.

The power of the Collector was undeniable, but its complicated and complex functions required increasingly terrifying amounts of energy.

Although these functions still retained the traits of lower-level functions—having no concept of success or failure, always guaranteeing an output result, and never letting the invested energy go down the drain.

Human desires, however, always expanded as strength grew. The more one knew, the clearer they became on what they truly wanted. If he were just a novice who had recently entered the Inspection Station, he would gladly accept any skill decomposed. But now that he had a clear pursuit, he had to pay the corresponding resource price for the desired result.

After another three and a half hours, Cheng Ye slept until noon before getting up, feeling full of energy and in a refreshing mood.

And the third decomposition finally did not disappoint him again.

Although it still did not match the Lesser Nature Physique, and wasn't even an Lv3 skill, it matched the currently quite important "Iron Physique"!

Whether it was used to further mitigate the symbiotic price of the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse or to improve his survival ability in combat, the growth path of the Iron Physique had not stagnated. This trip to Guang Province was originally planned to continue strengthening it.

Now that the Still Water Martial Domain could match related upgrade materials, it was undoubtedly a good start.

"Not bad, finally got a practical one. I am done gambling!"

Cheng Ye let out a long breath and decisively pressed the collect button.

[Collection Successful]

[The Civilization Collector has successfully recorded: Stone Physique (Lv2; Perfect; Fusion Material)]

Iron Physique, Stone Physique.

Good names!

Just hearing the names conveyed a sense of heaviness. Cheng Ye felt settled in his heart, suddenly feeling that the wasted 1,600 kilowatt-hours of electricity were worth it.

At the same time, looking at the dazzling array of various skills in his skill bar, he made up his mind:

Before going on field duty, he had to fuse and streamline all the skills he could not use.

Out of the four skill slots, two Transcendent Skills needed to be permanent residents, and the Lesser Nature Physique was also considered a semi-permanent state. Currently, the available skill slots had been compressed to just one.

Right now, the most direct way to elevate his life level and expand his skill slots was to extract the Transcendent Seed from the Vortex Turtle. After using it, he could highly likely rush to Life Level 3 and unlock a new skill slot.

However, as an infection source, the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse would not attract the attention of its kin in the wild.

Little Flame had also been concealed by Tan Ming and would not leak any transcendent fluctuations, allowing him to walk safely through the wilderness.

But if he fused with the power of the Vortex Turtle, should even a trace of fluctuation leak out, it would inevitably draw a string of troubles.

'It seems the idea of fusing a large number of basic skills can now be put on the agenda.'

Cheng Ye pondered in his heart, 'Previously, searching for Lv1 and Lv2 skills had threshold restrictions. Now, it only requires a one percent cooperation level to search. Individual low-level skills have limited utility for me, but what if I fuse five, ten, or even twenty of them?'

'A quantitative change will always trigger a qualitative change. Fusing enough of them might just break through the current limitations!'

Currently, searching for an Lv1 skill once only required ten percent of the Recharge Value, which was 80 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Furthermore, people possessing Lv1 skills were as numerous as hairs on an ox. Just in Dabo Town, Wenlu County, and Dongping Town alone, he could easily search up at least several hundred non-repeating ones.

Factoring in the energy consumption for fusion, each skill would consume 35 percent of the Recharge Value, totaling 280 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

As long as he set his alarms properly and did not waste any Recharge Value, he could replenish 5,800 kilowatt-hours a day, enough to synthesize 20 skills!

'Plan established, next is just executing it step by step...'

Closing the panel, Cheng Ye sat on the control console and flipped open the legion's files to continue browsing.

Calculating it carefully, time was indeed becoming increasingly insufficient; everything seemed to be piling up together.

While researching Runes and improving his strength, he also had to prepare for the negotiations with the Heavy Machinery Faction.

Even if the negotiations went smoothly and the Heavy Machinery Faction was willing to bet on stationing troops, he would have to plan and construct a qualified military site in Dabo Town before the army moved in.

In addition to that, the research and development iterations of equipment, the updating of combat concepts, and the adjustment of personnel configurations—each required a massive amount of energy to handle.

Coupled with the fact that the window for field duty was getting closer and closer, he still needed to collect relevant intelligence on Guang Province, prepare the supplies needed for field duty, and finalize the destination and core mission for this trip.

'Since I am going to Guang Province, I have to poach a batch of talents back no matter what...'

Cheng Ye made up his mind, even placing the priority of this matter ahead of external trade.

The sky gradually approached dusk, and the Collector's Recharge Value filled up once again.

After recovering the energy, Cheng Ye opened the panel and began attempting skill fusion.

Compared to his excitement when fusing physiques, his mood this time could be described as unusually calm.

Unlike physique fusion, which required multiple mutations to achieve the goal, Iron Physique had never been upgraded before, and its fusion route had not been completely finalized. This time, he only needed to push it in the direction of "reducing pain sensation."

Moreover, his primary goal was no longer the change in the Iron Physique, but to verify whether the path of decomposing Runes from a Heaven-Man Martial Domain was truly feasible.

A humanoid phantom materialized on the left side of the panel. At a rough glance, it looked somewhat like Dai Zun, but upon closer inspection, it was slightly different.

Noticing that the phantom's facial features were faintly trending towards his own appearance, Cheng Ye suddenly came to a realization.

Could it be that talents, just like skills, slowly modified the body as they were equipped over time, merging into the body, and ultimately no longer occupying a skill slot?

However, looking at the magnitude of this modification, just the rare Lv2 Iron Physique would probably take at least one or two years of being equipped to fully merge.

A more powerful Perfect-grade talent or an Lv3 talent would take at least three to five years, or even over a decade.

This speed was truly too slow. He could keep an eye out in the future to see if there was a way to speed it up.

Throwing the Stone Physique skill into the right side of the panel, the materialized image was not the high mountain from the Still Water Martial Domain, but an oval-shaped giant boulder.

Cheng Ye carefully identified it and, comparing it with the image details he had noted down earlier, immediately recognized that this giant boulder was exactly the base core at the foot of the mountain used to resist the impact of the water flow. It was the most prominent and impact-resistant part of the entire mountain.

Enduring the washing of the water flow day and night, the toughness of this giant boulder could be imagined. Being able to match with the Iron Physique was not considered unexpected.

Cheng Ye pressed the fusion button, only to see the giant boulder on the panel vibrate slightly and turn into a smear of pale yellow flowing light, smoothly merging into the humanoid phantom on the left.

The two completed the fusion without any conflict, but in terms of form, the human shape could not be maintained.

The yellow flowing light clearly gained the upper hand, gradually transforming the human figure into a giant boulder!

[This information fusion process has been completed. Fusion result: Perfect]

[Do you wish to record the fused skill: Mountain Body (Lv2; Perfect)]

[Detected that the Collector's current Recharge Value can trigger the "Random Mutation" mechanism. Do you wish to mutate?]

"Mountain Body?"

Cheng Ye froze for a moment. The fusion of iron and stone had actually directly metamorphosed into a trait pointing to an entire high mountain.

The image on the panel also changed accordingly, gradually condensing into an iron-stone hill several meters tall.

Although it no longer had a human shape, that heavy aura blowing straight at him made him choose to collect it without hesitation.

Opening his skill bar, the pale red "Mountain Body" skill appeared in the candidate box.

He swapped out the Toughness Blessing in his skill slot, and his vision instantly blurred, as if he had suddenly plummeted into an unfathomable abyss.

When the feeling of weightlessness dissipated, Cheng Ye looked up to see an iron-stone hill already standing before him.

It was exactly the physical manifestation of the Mountain Body.

"Eh, there are no Runes?"

Cheng Ye's eyes swept over, sizing up the hill back and forth, trying to find traces of Runes. But after circling the hill, he failed to spot any stroke marks resembling the Water-Gathering Rune.

Wait... why is the shape of this iron-stone mountain a bit strange?

Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow. Just as the thought arose, his vision suddenly elevated, as if lifted dozens of meters into the air by an invisible force.

Looking down again, the form of the iron-stone mountain instantly became clear; it was actually an incredibly astonishing symbol:

[Dot]

"Is this a dot within Rune strokes, or a part of some stroke?"

Surrounded by a familiar special fluctuation, Cheng Ye deliberately shifted his gaze away, yet this dot-shaped Rune did not disappear from his memory. Instead, it grew even clearer.

Although compared to the portion obtained from the Heart Lake Martial Domain, the Rune hosted by the Mountain Body was pitifully small—its length and size were only about a quarter of the former.

But it was still a Rune, firmly proving that he had obtained the qualification to host yet another Rune.

Moreover, what excited Cheng Ye even more than obtaining a Rune was...

A perfectly replicable path, one that could collect more Runes, had clearly been paved right in front of him!