Chapter Thirty-One: The Advancing Number 133

As soon as more CPUs were mentioned, everyone’s eyes lit up, and the Star Lord’s electric-blue gaze grew even deeper. Though goblin computer CPUs looked unimpressive, their construction was intricate, involving rare materials—so much so that even deities found them difficult to manufacture. Having experienced the wonders of parallel computation, the Star Lord naturally longed for more CPUs.

“Hurry, tell me where they are!” demanded the God of Earth, urgency thick in his voice.

“They’re on the other warships,” replied Number 133, his tone ostentatiously dramatic.

The three were momentarily dumbfounded—was that even an answer? Wasn’t that common knowledge? Which warship didn’t have them? The problem was, to get those CPUs, they’d have to fight for them, and the monsters were guarding the exits!

“I know which warship has the most CPUs and is easiest for us to loot,” 133 quickly explained, seeing their mounting frustration. “Actually, I want to leave here myself. I’ve been waiting for my goblin masters to return, but the Goblin Empire is gone. Now, Sun Licheng is a goblin—one with ancient goblin blood—so he is naturally my new master. I want to follow him out, to see the world. I have no other demands; if you help me modify a new body, I’ll tell you which warship is our best target.”

With that, for the first time, a blush crept across 133’s usually unflappable face.

His answer put the trio at ease. The pursuit of freedom is the instinct of all beings. Though only a control terminal, 133 was not a mere artificial program—in scientific terms, he was an artificial soul, and it was natural for him to feel the urge to explore.

“The world is vast; I long to see it,” Sun Licheng said, a touch of poetic sentiment in his voice.

He paused, looking at the Star Lord, whose towering steel form radiated an intimidating presence. “Though I’d love to help you, you can see for yourself: controlling a mechanical golem requires massive energy, yet these golems have no separate mana crystal slots. The Star Lord’s body is entirely powered by divine energy. Even if I give you a mechanical body, you wouldn’t be able to use it.”

Sun Licheng’s eyes were full of regret as he addressed 133. “Besides, how would you get out of the crystal sphere? How would you control such a huge mechanical form to move with us? What about your original data? These are all problems. Plus, I can’t just drag around such a massive hunk of metal everywhere I go.”

He paused, then asked several more questions.

“In my knowledge base, there’s a simple way to store energy using mana crystals. We only need to slightly modify the golem’s head. I saw you and His Majesty, the Star Lord, modify that golem earlier—it shouldn’t be hard. Also, goblin computer CPUs aren’t just for computation; they have inscribed magical arrays for information storage. So, if you take me out of the crystal sphere, you can just place me directly into the golem’s head. The only thing left is to adapt my program so I can use parallel computation as you described.”

133 was clearly prepared and answered without hesitation.

At last, Sun Licheng understood: goblin computer CPUs were not merely processors—they combined CPU and hard drive functions. No wonder the Star Lord found them more effective in greater numbers.

Suddenly, Sun Licheng thought of data optimization and introduced the concept of cloud storage to the Star Lord, urging him to give it a try.

A deity’s divinity lies in understanding and wielding the laws of reality, and the foundation of that is a powerful mind. What mortals call soul strength is, in essence, computational power—the speed at which one can manipulate those laws. Without a strong enough mind, the power of a deity would backfire due to insufficient mental capacity. Sun Licheng’s body had been specially enhanced with divine power, his brain vastly expanded, which made his thought processes exceptionally fast. That was why his memory and learning abilities had skyrocketed—he practically had a genius’s brain!

With over four hundred CPUs, the Star Lord’s computational capacity, though not yet at divine levels, was still formidable. In a flash, he grasped Sun Licheng’s meaning and immediately adjusted his use of the CPUs.

“Haha! It works, it really works. Sun Licheng, help out 133—you could use an assistant anyway.”

It seemed to be effective—the Star Lord was in high spirits, for once speaking up on 133’s behalf.

“If it really won’t work, I could always use Dogmeat’s body. That way, I could travel with you everywhere,” 133 added, following the Star Lord’s suggestion.

Seeing everyone so supportive, Sun Licheng readily agreed. He very much wanted a well-versed assistant like 133 by his side.

“Dogmeat’s right foreleg is broken. What should we do?” Sun Licheng suddenly thought of an issue.

“That’s easy. The warship I mentioned has spare parts; it can be fixed,” 133 assured him.

With solutions to all their problems, Sun Licheng officially agreed to help 133 acquire a new body.

“Oh, yes!” For the first time, 133, usually so serious, leapt for joy on the light screen, thrilled to have his wish granted.

…

133 began optimizing his information database, collecting data from other controllers. It was then that Sun Licheng remembered he hadn’t protected the data when installing the CPUs earlier, resulting in significant data loss.

“It’s all right—the crucial information is in the central control cabin. The rest doesn’t matter,” 133 quickly consoled him, seeing his distress.

At this, Sun Licheng’s eyes lit up.

“Don’t get your hopes up. The control cabin must have been destroyed first—otherwise, the ship wouldn’t have crashed,” the Star Lord said dismissively, shattering Sun Licheng’s fantasy.

Well, that ended that. Sun Licheng let it go.

With the Star Lord’s help, Sun Licheng soon hauled back two more golems from the cargo bay. These were quite different from the Star Lord’s—whereas the Star Lord’s body was tall and sleek, these two were bulky. One had an especially large belly, which turned out to be a small storage compartment inside—resembling a big-bellied cricket.

Naturally, the God of Earth wouldn’t choose the cricket-like one; it was too unsightly. As for 133, he was content to have any golem at all.

With their prior experience, Sun Licheng and the Star Lord were now adept at modifying mechanical golems. They quickly filled the head of the second golem with CPU mounting brackets.

Since there weren’t many CPUs left, the Star Lord generously donated nearly half of his own; apart from reserving ten for 133, the rest all went into the God of Earth’s new body. Once they found more CPUs, everyone would be topped up. For now, this was the most practical way to bolster combat strength.

After installing the CPUs, Sun Licheng used the leftover purple-gold wire to embed a magical array in the God of Earth’s body.

To his delight, the God of Earth taught him a new defensive array. Due to the limited quantity of wire, even with two arrays, the God of Earth’s defense was still inferior to the Star Lord’s.

When it was 133’s turn, he had a new proposal.

“Dogmeat’s body won’t stand a chance against those monsters outside. It’s better to disassemble him and store him inside the third golem’s belly. Once we reach a safe place, we can reassemble him. It’s much safer that way,” he said to Sun Licheng.

After considering, Sun Licheng agreed. The cricket golem’s belly was spacious, and Dogmeat fit inside easily. Sun Licheng also hoped to find a way to keep Dogmeat, so he didn’t remove Dogmeat’s CPU—for he’d grown fond of the loyal companion who’d run so many laps with him.

After dealing with Dogmeat, Sun Licheng installed the remaining ten CPUs into the cricket golem’s head, then discussed with 133 how to install the mana crystal slot and implement parallel computation.

133, being an artificial soul, far surpassed Earth’s artificial intelligences. With formidable coding skills, he quickly grasped the principles and wrote the new program in short order.

Installing a mana crystal slot in the golem was easy; there were plenty in the warship, ready for use once removed. Sun Licheng, with his powers over fire and elemental manipulation, swiftly embedded the mana crystal slot into the cricket golem’s head, resolving its energy needs.

While Sun Licheng worked, 133 tested his new program. He successfully controlled two extra CPUs, discovering a significant boost in his abilities with the multi-CPU setup. Once the cricket golem’s modifications were complete, he had Sun Licheng open the crystal sphere and extract him.

There was a mechanism on the sphere—once found, a gentle touch opened it. Soon, Sun Licheng completed the installation, giving 133 a new body. Noticing some extra space in the cricket golem’s belly, he also stowed a few intact crystal spheres there, figuring they might come in handy later.

With the sound of metal scraping, 133 stood up. Excited by his new body, he swung his mechanical arms about, touching and exploring, savoring his new life.

…

As a warship, this place was not lacking in weapons. Soon, Sun Licheng and the group amassed a stockpile of standard-issue Goblin Empire arms: heavy crossbows, long knives, axes, halberds, and flails. 133 even managed to drag back a mana crystal cannon from somewhere.

It was Sun Licheng’s first encounter with firearms in this world. The mana crystal cannon resembled a two-pound bronze cannon from Earth, though shorter, with a slot at the rear for inserting a mana crystal.

“This is the warship’s anti-aircraft cannon. Each shot requires at most one mana crystal—using less power, one crystal can fire multiple times. Its main effect is a penetrating beam, extremely powerful,” 133 explained, as Sun Licheng circled the cannon in fascination.

“A fine weapon—just a bit heavy and rather energy-hungry,” Sun Licheng said, patting the cannon, imagining the spectacle of massed artillery fire.

“Do you have mana crystal guns here?” Sun Licheng asked.

“What’s a gun?” 133 looked utterly confused.

“No, this is the smallest caliber cannon on the ship. Infantry mainly use crossbows and javelins,” 133 replied after hearing Sun Licheng’s explanation, shattering his hopes.

“Well, looks like I’ll keep wallowing in the mire of cold steel,” Sun Licheng muttered, reluctantly pulling a crossbow from the heap. It was far superior to his own handmade one, but he didn’t throw the old one away—he stashed them all in 133’s belly.

Each person’s weapon choice suited their character. The Star Lord picked long knives. He selected twenty from the pile, kept four in hand, and strapped the other sixteen across his back, resembling a peacock king from a comic—though not nearly as handsome.

The God of Earth, with his explosive temper, chose heavy weapons: axes and hammers, swinging them with a whooshing force reminiscent of a legendary strongman.

Sun Licheng and 133 preferred crossbows and long knives. Their greatest skill was running away—tactically called “maneuvering”—and they agreed that keeping their distance and launching arrows was the surest way.

“It seems we truly are master and servant,” Sun Licheng mused.

Thanks to the Star Lord’s millennia of experience in fleeing, he naturally became the party’s leader. Once everyone was armed, he had 133 take control of the external combat golems.

“Your Majesty, all combat golems are now under control,” 133 reported, his enhanced abilities evident.

With a metallic clatter, Sun Licheng pulled open the hatch, and the group filed out one by one.

The corridor floor was strewn with centipede monster corpses, and Sun Licheng hacked away at their heads with vigor.

Never one to leave loot behind, Sun Licheng naturally pried the crystals from the centipede monsters’ skulls. Unfortunately, only the largest ones had mana crystals, and even then, the stones were small and cloudy—clearly poor quality.

“Hmph, ignorant fellow. Still, after ten thousand years, the monsters the gods left here have clearly degenerated—their size and power have shrunk considerably,” the God of Earth scoffed as Sun Licheng examined the crystals.

…

The closer they got to the lower-level exit, the louder the centipede monsters’ distinctive hissing became. Only a dozen combat golems remained guarding the doorway, evidence of ongoing skirmishes.

Sun Licheng poked his head out to look around. The number of centipede monsters had clearly dwindled, but there were still over a hundred, densely packed, and several of them were massive.

“This won’t be easy—still too many of them,” Sun Licheng muttered, clicking his tongue.

At that moment, with a clang of metal, 133 came to his side and pointed off into the distance at a particularly rotund wrecked warship.

“That’s the fleet’s supply ship—the one with the most resources. It’s also near the perimeter, making it easier for us to keep retreating,” 133 said.

At his words, the group’s eyes shone with anticipation.