In the summer of Year 734 of the Aran calendar, it had been more than a month since the birth of the first mecha modified by the fire seed. Almost two months had passed. The number of mecha had also increased to 1,977, about to break through the 2,000 mark.
This growth rate was very … slow compared to the entire elemental creature population. This was a problem that Lin did not expect at first.
Because the original settlement was not the same size as the new body, and because it was impossible to return to the base in the early stages to conquer others, the mecha had abandoned their original settlement and devoted all their strength to the great cause of increasing their companions. The time was roughly allocated like this. It took an average of three days to move to the next settlement, five minutes to fight or flex their muscles, and another three days to modify the fire seed.
In other words, about half of the time was wasted on traveling. Then, the fire seed modified the mecha one by one, which was also quite inefficient. Lin did not have any solution to the first point. It could be said that it was a hard problem. He could not use Blink to help them travel, right? If he did that, he was afraid that after a few times, the mecha population would be contaminated by foreign energy and turned into evil spirits.
As for the second point, there was also no good solution. At most, Lin could think of some ways to save time.
Using the fire seed to modify more than two people at the same time would not work. Because during the process, the souls of elemental creatures that were modified at the same time would interfere with each other, intertwining and fusing, and become no longer pure. This was a great taboo for elemental creatures. This was also the reason why they did not directly devour each other in their primitive way of growth. Now that they had become mecha, they also had to avoid this kind of thing.
That was the only time a modification experiment was done at the same time. In order to deal with the aftermath, a certain someone had given up a lot of ideas. In the end, Lian Fen, a master of necromancy magic and a genius at playing with souls, jumped in to help. Only then did the souls of the two elemental creatures were separated again, and they were modified individually by the fire seed.
The time that should be saved was the time it took for each mecha to be modified a second or third time. Because after every actual combat, regardless of whether they contributed or not, as long as they saw their companions come up with new ideas, there would always be someone who wanted to try it themselves. Since they wanted to try it, they had to modify themselves into that appearance or add new functions. This required the fire seed to do it again.
Using the fire seed was equivalent to doing a thorough full-body scan and a complete examination. Then, according to the wishes of the person being modified, the best plan would be given. Of course, this process would take some time. Fortunately, no matter how severe the dysphoria was, no matter how long it took in the world of thoughts, it was just a snap of the fingers in reality. Even so, time could not be saved when it came to body modification and reconstruction.
If it was the first modification, the elemental creature's elven core would have to be transformed into a nuclear reactor, and even the entire body's structure would have to be reconstructed. All of this could not be completed without the guidance of the fire seed. But after the second modification, most of the modifications were minor changes. In fact, there was no need to use a powerful weapon like the fire seed.
On the other hand, when the robots were damaged, they had the ability to repair themselves, just like the elemental creatures. The specific operation was to use magical modeling to "restore" certain parts to their original appearance after being modified by the fire seed. Such an ability was good, but in the eyes of the machines, it was a waste.
The wastage here involved the machine's existing energy system. One was converted from the original elven core, which they called the energy of the origin. The method of cultivation and accumulation was no different from the elemental creatures of the past. They relied on absorbing free pure energy to grow bit by bit, and relied on rest and sleep to recover the consumed part.
The other new energy source was, of course, the electrical energy output from the nuclear reactor. Electricity was not only responsible for driving all the functions of the machine's mechanical body, but it was also the source of energy for the weapon system. It could be said that the machines' daily lives and battles were mainly powered by electricity. But when it was necessary to use magical modeling to self-repair, the consumption was mainly the energy of the origin, with electricity as a supplement.
To put it simply, the part of technology consumed electricity, and the part of magic consumed the origin. The accumulation and recovery of the origin were quite slow, and the electricity produced by the nuclear reactor could basically support the operation of the machines all year round, without any rest or forced into energy-saving mode.
It was so unscientific because no matter what the machines said, they were ultimately magical creatures with magic as their foundation.
And compared with electricity, electricity had the capital to squander, but it was necessary to be calculative about the use of the energy of the origin. Therefore, the machines thought that it was a waste to use the ability of the origin to constantly solidify the body and continuously repair it.
It was very simple to cancel such a function. However, there had to be other methods to repair the damaged body, and the consumption was lower, so it could be used as a conventional method. And the self-repair that required the consumption of the origin could be used as an unconventional last resort.
In order to help the machines carry out some small modifications to their mechanical bodies, in order to help the machines do some repair work, and in order to complete these two goals, the first specialization branch of the machine race appeared — mechanics.
Compared to the new lifeforms who prepared at least five weapon systems, mechanics were more reserved. Basically, there was a long-range weapon and a close-range weapon. Most of the functions and knowledge stored in the memory were used to repair and modify the machines.
Most importantly, mechanics had the ability to adjust the machine's core program, which was to change the body structure solidified by the tinder. Only by doing so would every machine not be covered by the active modification later on when they used their last resort to self-repair and revert to the appearance after the tinder's modification.
Other than that, the database of mechanics would also be regularly exchanged with the tinder to complement each other. It could be considered a kind of data update to prevent the information stored in the tinder from being disconnected from the latest modification progress of the machines.
This way, the machines would no longer need the tinder when they carried out a second modification. Repairing the damage could also reduce the consumption of the origin. This group of machines that had been reborn became machines that did not need to rest in the true sense.
After the specialization branch of mechanics appeared, the machines also found their own specialization direction according to their own interests and personalities, or the needs of the entire race. For example, the long-range specialization of the multi-barrel rocket launcher, the close-range specialization of the multi-arm, the reconnaissance specialization of the clairvoyance and stealth, the defense specialization of the meat shield type, and the communication and command specialization. It was difficult to describe all kinds of directions.
Only a small number of leader-type machines still maintained their all-rounded form. In other words, leader-type machines would not choose a specific specialization direction. Whether it was in long-range or close-range combat, they maintained a high level. In terms of reconnaissance, defense, and speed, they might not be as good as those specialized machines, but they were still far above the average level of the machines.
In front of the machine race that was gradually forming a system, the first challenge came even faster than Lin Xiang's Elephant Zhong. Elemental Lord Pablo gathered the old forces, and there were more than ten thousand of them, to eliminate this unknown new force.
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