Book 4, Chapter 166: The End Of The Battle

Night in the merged space was supposed to be the best time for the imperial army, but with the artifact’s light protecting the World Ring Defense System’s military, the greatest advantage of the imperial army was gone.

As the World Ring Defense System’s military pressed on, the imperial army started surrendering in large batches. Their morale was in shambles. The military continued pressing forward along the main road and killing their enemies.

The airship carrying Yao Zhiyi, Chen Chuan, and the others returned to Fort 4. It parked at the mooring point, but they didn’t disembark from the airship.

It was time for dinner, and the airship had a cook. The airship crew brought Yao Zhiyi and Chen Chuan their meals.

Chen Chuan took a look. The food didn’t seem like it was anything special. It was just a bowl of rice, a plate of meat, and a bowl of scallop soup.

But every grain of rice was large and full, and the bowl was filled so high up that it reached the height of his head. The rice had also been soaked with a fragrant, white broth that made his mouth salivate just by looking at it. The thin, translucent meat slices piled up into another tower were the size of an adult man’s palm.

The scallop soup was rich in color, and just by looking at it, Chen Chuan could tell that it was going to smoothly slide down his throat. The tender scallop was soaking in the soup with some green herbs he couldn’t name. It was incredibly tempting.

The meal wasn’t prepared with average ingredients. Chen Chuan could smell a tempting scent, and his mutated tissue was growing restless. It was instinctively thirsting for the food.

“These are all nutrient and calorie-dense foods produced in the merged space. The central government gave us several servings for the operation, but they have an expiry date, so it’d be best if you helped me finish all of them,” Yao Zhiyi explained.

Chen Chuan nodded and waited for Yao Zhiyi to begin eating before picking up his chopsticks and picking up a slice of meat. It melted the moment it entered his mouth, and he could feel warmth spread all over his body. His mutated tissue gained a burst of energy and screamed at him that it wanted more.

“At our limit, we’re strong, yes, but we also expend a lot of energy. That’s why we need a lot of nutrients and calories to make up for it,” Yao Zhiyi explained.

“Our minds can pull in some external energy to keep our bodies in fighting condition, but if we don’t have enough mental energy, that external energy will only be enough for our daily activities. We won’t be capable of long, high-intensity fights.

“That’s why we need to eat nutrient-dense food. Without these, we’d just end up burning away our life force if we fight.

“That’s why martial arts masters don’t challenge other people unless the rewards are greater than our expenditure. We need to avoid unnecessary fights to cut down on burning our energy.

“Training also burns a lot of energy. This alone requires you to eat a lot of such food.”

He looked at Chen Chuan. “You weren’t feeling hungry before, because you’ve only just entered the Fourth Limit. While you were going through a breakthrough, your mind reached a certain height and absorbed enough energy from the other world to replenish your body. That energy will continue modifying your body.

“But once your mental energy starts falling back, it won’t be able to absorb as much energy and will stabilize somewhere around that point.

“The energy you gained was supposed to be used to modify your body, but now, you spent a portion of it fighting. If you don’t replenish it, it might affect you and prevent you from reaching the height you were originally supposed to.”

Chen Chuan examined himself but couldn’t find any sign of his mental energy dropping, unlike what Yao Zhiyi said. His mind remained at its greatest height and continued providing him with energy. There were some fluctuations, but they could be overlooked.

This might be because his breakthrough was an unprecedented case. He did it while his body and mind were both past the theoretical peak. This might explain it.

Yao Zhiyi finished the plate of meat in front of him in a flash and exhaled before saying, “What I’m eating is usually provided by Central City and the merged space. The bigger our territory in the merged space, the more types of ingredients they can provide to us.

“Let’s use me as an example. I have a fixed quota, and Central City provides me with the ingredients based on it. This is enough for my daily training. If I need to fight, they judge the situation and give me more ingredients before or after the fight.

“That’s why every martial arts master needs to have an end-to-end supply chain. It’s the only way for us to remain at our best.”

Chen Chuan nodded and asked, “Are all martial arts masters like this, Mr. Yao?”

“Not really. Some martial arts masters who don’t like having their freedom restricted choose to hunt for their own food. Most of our medicines and food come from the merged space, since things here are really good for us. However, the logistics officers aren’t capable of hunting down every merged space creature that is useful to us.

“Both options have their pros and cons. If you rely on logistics for food, you get a steady supply of food, but there isn’t anything special about it. If you hunt for your own food, you need to be strong and lucky.

“If you’re unlucky, sometimes, you may lose energy instead of gaining it after a hunt. Merged space creatures that are valuable are usually also very aggressive. They can also only be found in dangerous spaces. One mistake, and you’ll end up dead.

“Some of the existences from the other world also treat us as food, because our mutated tissue and mental energy are delicacies for them. If I may be blunt, we’re food for each other.”

He picked up a bowl of rice and poured the entire thing into his mouth. After chewing a few times, he swallowed and continued, “Aside from using food to replenish your energy, there’s another way to do it. We can absorb energy from the other world with our minds to replenish our bodies, just like what you did when you broke through to the Fourth Limit.

“But it’s hard to do so here. You need to venture deep into the merged space for that. In simpler terms, the closer you are to the World Ring, the easier it is to replenish one’s energy.

“That’s why most martial arts masters aren’t willing to stay in Central City. That place makes them waste too much energy. Fighting there uses up a lot of energy, and the place has no good way to replenish it. They also need to plan their training carefully. If they stay in a state of inadequate energy for too long, it might affect their growth.”

Chen Chuan figured out a few questions that had bothered him before. He had never heard of martial arts masters fighting in or outside Central City. Perhaps aside from the restrictions placed upon them by the country and them being too destructive, their greatest limitation was actually the expenditure of energy.

By the looks of it, the martial arts masters who participated in this fight had to make certain sacrifices.

“You played a huge role in this fight. I’ll write it all in the report so that you can get what you deserve,” Yao Zhiyi promised.

“Thank you, Mr. Yao,” Chen Chuan was truly grateful.

“You don’t have to thank me. All contributions must be rewarded, so this is what you should get.”

Yao Zhiyi picked up his soup and gulped it down. “The nutrients will keep disappearing bit by bit. It’s best if you finish the food as soon as possible.”

Chen Chuan nodded and said nothing else. He concentrated on eating.

He also started thinking. His mind had reached incredible heights, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t need other ways to replenish his energy. Aside from the energy he was going to burn when he fought against others in the Fourth Limit, Yao Zhiyi had said that training, too, required a lot of it. The more food he got, the better it would be.

But Chen Chuan had his second self. Once he started getting close to his current level, he would no longer need to worry about burning his energy while fighting.

As for going to the World Ring? He would think about this later. After all, he could open gaps with the Frost King Saber to train or hunt in the other world.

Once they finished dinner, the airship crew removed their plates and cutlery. Then, Yao Zhiyi had his aide-de-camp brew tea for them and looked outside. “By the looks of it, the war will be over by tomorrow morning. There’s no knowing whether the imperial army will do anything about this, though. We have to do our best to hold the line tomorrow in order to make sure nothing goes wrong. You’re not part of the plan, and I know that you still have business in Central City, so you should go back tomorrow. The three of us will be enough here.”

Chen Chuan nodded and said, “If you ever need me, just call me.”

“I won’t hold back if we do need you,” Yao Zhiyi stated.

Chen Chuan took a look at the colorful light in the sky. Even without considering its true use, this artifact was basically a tactical weapon against the imperial army. With it, they could get rid of the imperial army’s greatest advantage. It was no wonder then that the imperial army placed such great importance on it.

“Will the light keep shining in the sky, Mr. Yao?” he asked.

“We’ve tested it in a special environment before, and we’ve found that it can shine continuously for as long as half a year. Then, it will enter a resting phase for half a year. Basically, it needs to rest for as long as it shone. It’s better to make its light dim. If necessary, we can release it again.”

“Was it the artifact we first detected?” Chen Chuan asked.

Yao Zhiyi cackled at that. “It’s not. When the gap appeared in the World Ring, we knew that an artifact would show up. It took us a very long time to find it, but then we came up with an idea to set up a trap and use this artifact’s light to cover the light from the one we found.”

Neither of them had any intention of retiring to bed. While they chattered, they waited for news about the war. The night soon passed. When the sky started turning bright, Chen Chuan saw the colorful light in the sky turning dim.

“Looks like things went pretty smoothly. I’ll have to move the airship to the front now. Lead Investigator Chen, if you have any questions about training, come ask me. Good luck on your trip back,” Yao Zhiyi said.

“Okay.” Chen Chuan got up and said goodbye to Yao Zhiyi before getting off. Once he planted his feet on the ground, he looked up to watch the airship rise and leave into the distance.