[Defeated Powerful Enemies × 13 → Obtained 221,362 Adventure EXP]
Clang! — a heavy metallic body crashed to the floor, ringing sharply.
Nolan glanced at the newly added Adventure EXP. It wasn't much, but still a satisfying gain.
"These metal-boned things are really easy to handle. Just destroy whatever they call their calculation core and they stop moving entirely," Mona remarked, watching the robot he'd taken down with ease.
"Maybe their models are just outdated. I've seen a robot once that didn't have any obvious weak points."
Nolan thought of Screwllum.
When he used Fischl's Affection Skill on him back then, he'd found that Screwllum's weak point was almost imperceptible — meaning that the body was balanced and flawless, with no major difference in defense across any part.
In other words, there wasn't anything like a processor weak spot at all.
"I see…" Mona, who wasn't too familiar with such things, turned to another question. "Now that all the automatons here have been dealt with, what's next?"
"There are still plenty of robots in other areas. I'll clear them out first, then slowly explore the rest."
Once Nolan confirmed there was nothing here that could threaten him, he stopped holding back.
He summoned over a dozen 'Sword Gods', commanding them to sweep through and eliminate all the remaining robots within the base.
At the same time, he spread his spiritual sense over the entire complex — and surprisingly, it wasn't very large.
Roughly five or six square kilometers in total, most of it was made up of energy warehouses, and one area was a factory producing "Universal Energy Blocks."
That factory was still running even now, with no robots around — fully automated production.
And the raw material for those "Universal Energy Blocks" was metallic hydrogen.
No wonder this logistics base was built here. The planet's core itself was made of metallic hydrogen — an endless supply of raw material.
Given that, Nolan decided it would be a waste to dismantle this base just to use its parts to build a spaceship hull.
The entire "Universal Energy Block" production line was far more valuable than a single spacecraft.
By selling these endlessly generated energy blocks, he could easily earn enough for not just one, but ten spaceships over time.
Even if there weren't any trade routes for now, bringing them back for Teyvat's use would be no problem at all.
Plus, this neatly solved the issue of being unable to directly utilize the planet's metallic hydrogen. All things considered, taking over this logistics base was much better than tearing it apart.
And since this was a "Mechanical Empire" logistics base, there should also be plenty of valuable data left behind.
Perhaps it could be uploaded to the "Akasha Interconnected Network" for the scholars to study — they might extract useful technology or knowledge from it.
However, the computers here weren't designed for humans. There were no buttons or holographic interfaces; the robots operated by directly linking to the network and sending commands mentally.
So Nolan clearly couldn't upload anything to the "Akasha Interconnected Network" on his own — perhaps Nahida and the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata could research the system slowly later.
It didn't take long for the "Sword Gods" under his control to finish off the remaining active robots in the base.
With the "Anti-Organic Equation" in effect, any machine that detected organic life would attack — making their continued existence unnecessary anyway.
Even if he wanted to study them, scrapped models would work just fine.
After all, these robots, outdated as they were, wouldn't be something Teyvat's ordinary scholars could analyze anytime soon — though someone like Cloud Retainer or Guizhong might manage it.
Perfect — when they were free, he could bring them here to study this place.
Clearing out the base's robots also netted him over two million more Adventure EXP.
Not a huge amount — likely because the base was so highly automated that it needed only a small number of maintenance bots.
Adding it all up, his Adventure EXP now totaled over 16 million:
[Adventure EXP: 16,259,973]
He still needed about ten million more to level up. Once night fell on Baihuang Star, the "Sword Gods" he'd stationed there could just knock out a few more Louyue Beasts to cover that easily.
After securing the base and eliminating all threats, Nolan dropped stealth mode and began exploring the complex with Mona and the others.
They inspected the energy-block production area and several storage warehouses.
Every warehouse was packed with energy blocks of various models — clearly, years of continuous production had built up quite a stockpile, even at the lowest maintenance output.
When they checked the production floor earlier, they found that the output speed was actually quite slow.
It made sense — the Mechanical Empire had long since fallen, and these energy blocks were only being used by the few robots remaining in the base.
In that case, minimal production was more than enough to keep the line operational.
Beyond the production area and the warehouses, Nolan discovered another peculiar structure deeper below.
[Micro-Attractor Generator: A miniature gravity-source device engineered by "Emperor Rubert," modeled after the "Grand Gravitational Core." It can amplify a planet's own gravity and even alter its direction, allowing it to capture distant celestial bodies and pull itself along for movement.]
This information came through Yae Miko's Affection Skill.
Nolan couldn't help but admire such extraordinary genius.
If he wasn't mistaken, this "Micro-Attractor Generator" was effectively a planetary engine — one capable of moving entire worlds.
It didn't use chemical propellants or warp drives, but rather something far more ingenious: gravity itself.
By locking onto another planet with greater gravity, it could use that force to "pull" itself forward — a gravitational slingshot drive.
Its speed might not rival a warp jump, but its energy cost was minuscule.
After all, making a planet jump through hyperspace would require an astronomical amount of power, whereas borrowing another planet's gravity was like having someone give you a pull — minimal cost for tremendous movement.
To invent such a thing… only a genius like Rubert the Emperor could.
It now seemed clear why several nearby planets orbited this gas giant — they'd likely been captured by the Micro-Attractor Generator.
He still didn't know why the robots had done that.
But the reason didn't matter much. What did matter was that, in all his time surfing the Interstellar Peace Network, Nolan had never once heard of a "Micro-Attractor Generator."
Perhaps after Rubert's fall, no one had ever managed to recreate it again — and to Nolan, that made it the most valuable thing on this entire planet.
Perhaps the cost of creating it wasn't that high — but as a genius's invention, its research value was absolutely immense!
After all, the Genius Society had once laid the foundation for the galaxy's prosperity merely by reproducing the technologies of Synesthesia Beacon and Remote Perception.
If the Micro-Attractor Generator could be popularized, then the method of short-range interstellar navigation would undergo a revolutionary change.
It would even make the cost of moving entire planets drastically lower.
In that case, when the Xianzhou Alliance discovered a resource planet, they could simply move it closer and group such planets together — much easier to protect and manage.
Nolan didn't dare to tamper with the "Micro-Attractor Generator," lest he accidentally damage it.
It was better to let Cloud Retainer, Nahida, and Rukkhadevata study it thoroughly first.
If the scholars of the Genius Society could reproduce the inventions of the geniuses of the "Genius Club," then even if those three weren't at the level of a "Genius," they certainly wouldn't be any worse than those scholars.
Later, when Teyvat came into contact with the interstellar community and began trading with other civilizations, the Micro-Attractor Generator could even serve as one of Teyvat's signature export technologies.
Nolan's mind was flooded with thoughts.
By now he had more or less understood the entire situation of this base — the most valuable assets were the base itself and the Micro-Attractor Generator.
Since both were things he couldn't take with him for the time being, Nolan left one Sword God stationed there, then teleported away with Mona and the others.
It was around two or three in the afternoon by Teyvat time.
Nolan decided to make good use of the time, taking Mona and Layla to teleport across several more locations to observe other celestial bodies.
After all, this was a celestial observation journey, not a monster-hunting or treasure-seeking one — he couldn't let them down.
They continued visiting different sites, watching the movement patterns of various stars and planets.
Through firsthand observation, both Mona and Layla gained a great deal, and even Faruzan, though not an expert in astronomy, found her horizons broadened.
By the time it was around six in the evening, Nolan used Interstellar Travel to teleport everyone back to Sumeru City.
---
Sumeru City — The Sanctuary of Surasthana
Just as Nahida was about to rest, she saw Nolan appear with several girls and smiled softly.
"So, how was it? Did you all enjoy yourselves today?"
She already knew that Nolan had taken them beyond the world.
As one of the ruling Archons of the mortal realm, Nahida couldn't leave Teyvat herself — doing so might draw the attention of Celestia, so she had stayed behind out of caution.
"Not bad," Nolan said with a faint grin. "We found quite a few interesting things."
He briefly described to her the discovery of the Mechanical Empire's logistics base.
"Eh? Lady Lesser Lord Kusanali!"
At that moment, Faruzan and Layla realized where they were — inside the very place where the Little Lord Kusanali usually worked — and that they were standing before the Archon herself. They couldn't help but feel a bit awestruck.
"Hello, you two — both excellent scholars of the Akademiya," Nahida greeted them kindly.
"Ah, e-excellent scholars… I-I wouldn't dare call myself that," Layla stammered, blushing and shaking her head.
"Y-Yes, Lady Kusanali, we still have much to learn," Faruzan added, uncharacteristically modest in the Archon's presence.
"There's no need to be nervous," Nahida said gently, hands on her hips, "I've read your papers — without a doubt, you're among the Akademiya's best."
Encouraging as ever, she nodded approvingly.
"Haha, if a Archon herself says so, then of course you two are outstanding scholars," Nolan teased lightly, glancing at them. "Alright then — I'll see you home."
"Mm." Layla and Faruzan nodded politely, still a little stiff — it was hard to relax in front of the God of Wisdom.
After bidding farewell to Nahida, Nolan led the girls to the lift and descended to the lower floor of the Sanctuary.
Once the elevator doors opened and their feet touched the ground, both Faruzan and Layla finally exhaled, visibly relaxing. Meeting the Dendro Archon herself had been… a little nerve-wracking.
"Well then, I'll head back first," Faruzan said, glancing at the others. "You should go home early too."
[Faruzan Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 360 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.5 (420/500)]
Seeing the pop-up on his status screen, Nolan smiled.
"Alright, Faruzan — see you next time. When there's a chance, let's go stargazing together again."
As Faruzan departed, Layla was about to take her leave as well, but since her home was along the same route, Nolan and Mona decided to walk her back.
"N-No need, really. I can manage on my own," Layla said quickly, waving her hand, her pale cheeks flushing red — clearly a bit shy.
"It's fine. Let's go."
Nolan shook his head. Since it was all within Sumeru City, it wasn't far anyway.
Before long, they arrived near Layla's residence. When she opened the door, she turned to them with a grateful smile.
"Thank you so much. If it were up to me alone, I'd probably never have had the chance to see what the stars really look like — nor learned so much so quickly. Thank you!"
"You're welcome. For me, traveling there is something I can do anytime. If you ever want to go again, just come find me."
Nolan replied with an easy smile.
"Mm." Layla nodded softly.
[Layla Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 350 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.10 (MAX)]
As the affection prompt appeared, Layla's relationship with Nolan officially reached its maximum.
Another line of text followed on the status screen:
[Through sincere emotion and unyielding effort, your fate has intertwined with that of the girl once separate from your own. From now on, her star of destiny shall shine alongside yours. Gained Ability: Blessing of the Starry Sky.]
As expected, it was the prompt for acquiring an Affection Skill.
"By the way, Layla," Mona suddenly spoke up, deep in thought. "From observing those celestial movements, I've had some inspiration — I think I can optimize the way we map star charts."
Remembering her new idea, Mona pulled Layla into an enthusiastic discussion about the stars.
The two of them stood at the doorway, talking animatedly — as if they'd completely forgotten that someone else was still waiting patiently nearby.
Nolan simply stepped inside, found a chair, and sat down. Watching how absorbed they were, he didn't interrupt.
It seemed their conversation would last quite a while, so he turned his focus back to the new Affection Skill he'd just obtained.
Blessing of the Starry Sky — what kind of power could that be?
With curiosity rising, Nolan opened its detailed description.
(T/N: yo! cliff-kun how are you?)
(End of Chapter)
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