Chapter 236: Chapter 163: Sea Abyss Ancient God Mecha, Mutated Aberration!_1

The Blue Star civilization took twenty years to successfully cross the abyss.

Many high rank mecha pilots had been stuck at 8th Rank for over a decade, and when they broke through their bottlenecks, they were naturally extremely excited.

The steampunk civilization was different; they crossed the abyss much faster, and their strongest mecha pilot was only 1st Rank, so there was no talk of getting stuck.

Even with all the members of the civilization getting the Abyss Rune, there were only a few thousand people in total.

Therefore, the civilization crossing the abyss was not as thrilling as the re-emergence of “Lord Tian Qi”.

Upon hearing the news, the entire town was buzzing with excitement.

Laila donned her still unrepaired mecha and hurried over.

The gentleman in the tailcoat simply teleported, arriving ahead of everyone else even though he started later.

Seeing these two familiar figures, Jiang Chen also felt a range of emotions.

From the first time he advanced in rank to now, barely two months had passed, yet he felt as though it had been ages…

It seemed not entirely an illusion.

Jiang Chen grinded twenty-four hours a day, with a single day’s exploration equating to many days for the average person.

It was as if he compressed several years’ worth of experiences into just under two months.

When he was at 0th Rank, Jiang Chen’s attributes were still struggling in the dozens.

Now he was already on the verge of breaking a hundred million.

Meeting again, it naturally felt like ages had passed in a single day.

He caught up with Laila and the gentleman in the tailcoat for a while.

Soon after, he revealed everything about the abyss, mecha pilots, the fire of civilization, and Fire Transmitter traits.

He asked if they were willing to accept the Fire Transmission.

Laila and the gentleman in the tailcoat were much more straightforward than the initial Blue Star civilization.

They agreed without a second thought.

Jiang Chen encountered no obstacles and thus completed his goal of transmitting the fire.

[You have successfully shared the Fire Transmitter trait with the Age-Old civilization, igniting the fire of civilization.]

[The potential of the Blue Star civilization has been enhanced, current potential: 52.]

[You have received the Light of Hope.]

…

[Light of Hope]

[Type: Special]

[Effect One: Enables the hopeful to communicate with the fire of civilization, unlocking hope privileges rapidly.]

[Effect Two: When choosing civilization traits, use one of the limited uses to reset options (can reset individually).]

[Remaining uses: 3]

So this was how Senior Yano had used the Light of Hope item back in the day.

While Jiang Chen had this epiphany, he couldn’t help but wonder.

The Light of Hope had only three uses.

If he didn’t use it to awaken hope privileges, could he keep one use to himself?

“Ahem, Laila, stretch out your hand.”

“Let me help you unlock the hope privileges.”

Naturally, Jiang Chen wouldn’t do such a thing.

He wasn’t a naturally evil Fire Plunderer mecha pilot!

Moreover, Jiang Chen already had a plan for the [Sea Abyss Ancient God].

After Laila had communicated with the fire of civilization and unlocked the hope privileges, he spoke up.

“Laila, have you thought about your next mecha’s development path?”

“…Not yet, Lord.”

Laila shook her head.

Since becoming a mecha pilot, not only had she awakened a mecha pilot talent called [Divine Gift Mecha],

which could enhance her own mecha, granting it the [Divine Gift Effect] and significantly increasing its attributes and divinizing its modules.

Her transcendent talent had also evolved further.

Although she still couldn’t hear the mecha soul voices of others’ mechas clearly,

she could hear the mecha soul’s voice and feel its needs through the strong connection with her own mecha.

Therefore, without the mecha blueprints of the Blue Star Alliance or the accumulated knowledge of her predecessors,

she could still prepare the appropriate enhancement materials for the mecha through communication with the mecha soul, achieving an almost perfect enhancement effect.

For this reason,

despite her outstanding mecha pilot talent, her upgrading process was extremely slow.

The 0th to 1st Rank advancement trial only required ten days.

Yet, she spent nearly two months gathering enough materials to enhance her own mecha, passing the Abyss difficulty level of an Age-Old Shadow.

“I’m still enhancing two mechas, and I haven’t thought much about the subsequent mecha route…”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chen smiled and spoke.

“What do you think about ancient deities?”

“… Ancient deities?”

Laila looked puzzled.

Jiang Chen touched the Abyss Rune, taking out a contract.

“During my time settling in the Legendary Shadow, I obtained three [Soul Contracts] from Master Luo.”

“These items can be used to form a contract with a [Non-Age-Old Shadow] abyssal creature and transform them into abyss mechas.”

“If the abyss creature is powerful and outstanding enough, they can even awaken special talents.”

“It’s an extremely precious specialized item.”

“However, three of them are too many, and I currently have no use for them all.”

“More contracts will be produced in the future…”

“I can give you one now, to contract with that ancient god from the depths of the sea abyss.”

Jiang Chen glanced at the coast as he spoke.

“This ancient god destroyed your civilization, causing who knows how many human deaths; simply killing it would be too simple.”

“Better to transform it into a mecha to provide protection for your civilization and atone for its wrongs.”

Indeed.

Jiang Chen initially wanted to deal with the Sea Abyss Ancient God, but now he changed his mind.

Contracting it into a high-quality enigmatic side mecha not only removes the hidden dangers to the Age-Old civilization and secures more development time,

but also strengthens Laila’s power, enhancing her potential as the original Light of Hope.

Much better than directly killing it!

As for why Jiang Chen himself didn’t contract with it…

An ancient deity of peak-level 5th Rank worthy of being his mecha?

If he were to contract with an abyss overlord, at the very least it should be of Legendary Overlord caliber, right?

Moreover, letting Laila do the contracting also conveniently tests the effects of the Soul Contract and sees what it’s all about.

“…”

Ancient deity that destroyed a civilization contracted into a mecha?

“`

Laila was stunned.

She recalled the terrifying tentacles that once spanned the sky, enveloping the entire planet, and stammered,

“This, this isn’t good, Lord…”

“The ancient god you mentioned is so powerful…”

“I’m just a 1st Rank mecha pilot, how could I possibly make a contract with Him…”

“And also, my mecha slots are full…”

Jiang Chen smiled and said.

“Don’t sell yourself short.”

“You are the person of hope for civilization, a genius without equal even when looking across the Endless Abyss.”

“Once you create a supercharged mecha, even as a 1st Rank mecha pilot, you can possess the strength of a 3rd Rank.”

“That Sea Abyss Ancient God is merely at the properties of peak-level 5th Rank… at most the strength of a 6th Rank.”

“That’s only three ranks higher than you.”

“You are the one with truly infinite potential!”

“As for the issues of rank suppression and mecha slot availability, you don’t have to worry about that either.”

“If the rank of the Abyss overlord is higher than that of the mecha pilot, or if the mecha pilot’s slots are full, after the contract is made, it will be suppressed and devolved into a [Near Nascent Form] state.”

“In this Near Nascent Form state, the mecha cannot be strengthened, cannot mount modules, and its attributes and abilities are greatly weakened.”

“Once the mecha pilot’s rank is sufficient and slots are available, it will automatically bind and gradually unlock.”

The gentleman in the tailcoat listened with bright eyes.

Lord Tian Qi had considered every aspect most thoroughly; as a mecha pilot, one just needed to lie down to make the contract…

Turning the monster that once destroyed the world into a mecha!

He simply couldn’t imagine just how powerful one could become after piloting such a thing.

If Laila was unwilling, he would be!

It’s just a pity…

Seeing Lord Tian Qi put it that way.

Laila suppressed the reverence and awe she felt for the mysterious ancient god with tentacles and nodded.

…

Having reached a consensus with Laila, Jiang Chen immediately began to act.

He asked Laila to wait for a moment, went outside, soared into the sky, and turned into a shooting star, flying towards the depths of the sea abyss.

In just a moment, accompanied by the rolling waves,

a huge shadow emerged on the distant horizon.

The overall outline of the shadow was like the Shallow Abyss Giants that once ravaged the land, with a humanoid shape.

However, its head was like a terrifying octopus, covered with numerous fierce tentacles.

Its arms and legs were more like those of an invertebrate, twisted and strange.

Most importantly, its body was immensely towering, floating in mid-air, almost occupying the entire sky.

Tentacles hung down, almost covering the entire ocean!

Just the terrible form alone was enough to strike fear into the heart.

The survivors from the old town, looking at this terrifying ancient god from afar, were so shocked they couldn’t speak.

Was this the actual embodiment of terror that used countless tentacles to destroy the entire civilization?

Apart from shock, they did not feel any fear, trembling, or weakness in their legs.

On the contrary, the soft bright light shining above the ancient god, like the sun, made them feel peace and joy—

The [Light of Sanctity] module.

“`

The Enigmatism side, Luminance Type modules can suppress necro-type creatures, weakening their attributes and abilities, and generate tranquility and other special effects on regular creatures. They also resist corruption and other negative states.

After testing out the Perfect Body, Jiang Chen had especially selected this module to make up for deficiencies.

He had already replaced the redundant [Mechanical Tentacle] module with it, making it one of the permanent sedimentation modules.

This ancient god possessed nearly ten million enigmatic value and was a monster of the corrupted, dark side.

If Jiang Chen didn’t activate [Light of Sanctity], a mere glance at It would drive ordinary people completely insane, mutating them into frenzied monsters.

With the [Light of Sanctity], Jiang Chen was able to carry It to the town’s outskirts, throwing It into the coastal seawater.

He then returned to the town and landed in front of Laila.

“Let’s go, I have already subdued It.”

At this moment, Jiang Chen had already switched to [Conqueror Status] for a quick resolution of the Sea Abyss Ancient God.

He grew to five meters tall, and even as a small giant, he maintained perfect proportions and physique, exuding a strong charm.

This charm was then suppressed by the [Light of Sanctity], turning into pure goodwill.

People looked up at this being akin to the sun, radiating soft light like a Divine Giant, as if seeing a deity from mythology stepping into reality.

Laila’s heart filled with awe as she nodded vigorously.

“Mhm!”

She piloted her mecha and followed Jiang Chen to the seaside, pulling out the Soul Contract.

Following instructions, she pressed the strangely textured paper onto the “head” of the Sea Abyss Ancient God.

For an instant, the air paused—

At that moment, mysterious fluctuations imperceptible to people spread out.

Translated into his ears by the Universal Translator, Jiang Chen heard.

“[Powerful being, do you intend for me to contract with this ant?]”

The Sea Abyss Ancient God was aggrieved.

It was sleeping hazily when suddenly, a monster with three heads and six arms barged into its bedroom, gave it a beating, and demanded submission…

Well then, submission it was.

The world of the Sea Abyss Ancient God was very simple.

The bigger your fists, the more you get to call the shots.

But then…

This terrifying monster didn’t demand Its submission to him but instead wanted It to submit to a weak ant?

That was just too much!

“There’s always a shortage of everything but monsters nowadays.”

“If you won’t do it, there are plenty of other monsters who will.”

“Choose whether to explode as material or serve as a mecha, it’s up to you.”

“[…]”

The Soul Contract lit up and silently shattered.

The fragments seemed to transform into a long thread, connecting Laila with the Sea Abyss Ancient God.

At the same time, it wrapped around the Sea Abyss Ancient God continuously, rapidly suppressing and shrinking It.

In an instant, the once towering Sea Abyss Ancient God became a palm-sized pink octopus, indignantly shooting out a stream of water.

[Sea Abyss Ancient God (Sealed, Unseal When Slot Opens)]

[Type: Large Aberrant Mecha]

[Quality: Epic]

[Attribute: Sealed]

[Special Talent: Mutated Aberration (When this mecha fully absorbs a module, it gives the module a special aberrant effect, all of which are positive enhancements)]