Chapter 120: From Bows and Arrows to Artillery

Seeing Feng Xue pull out a jade seal, the Weather Goddess, though unaware of its nature, felt a deep unease as a deity's instinct warned her.

Yet, rather than being trapped in a small place like this for hundreds or thousands of years, she gritted her teeth and said:

"Say it."

"I need control over your avatar—the administrator permissions. Since you're bound to a code, you must have this." Feng Xue spoke with calm precision, uttering words so bold that even Sara couldn't help but stare—yet the Weather Goddess, far calmer than Sara expected, showed no anger or refusal, only curiosity. "You think I'd agree?"

"Don't test me. I already told you—I know the difference between a divine avatar and a descent. Your avatar's administrator permissions aren't yours. Rather than mutual suspicion and probing, sending a lesser deity as a 'diplomatic bride' is the best solution. That way, you can remotely monitor progress through your avatar, and I can use its abilities without fear. After all, you only need blueprints and materials—there's no conflict of interest between us."

Feng Xue spread his hands, the jade seal rolling between his fingertips. An avatar, in a sense, was like the relationship between Piccolo and Piccolo Jr. —there was a connection, yet it had become a distinct individual.

What Feng Xue sought—the administrator permissions—was effectively locking out any possibility of the Weather Goddess remotely controlling the avatar, preventing her from issuing commands bypassing him or using the avatar for actions he didn't know about.

Faced with Feng Xue's demand, the Weather Goddess fell into prolonged contemplation—not wondering whether she could grant the permissions, but whether granting them would yield sufficient returns.

As Feng Xue said, splitting off an avatar was devastating for a deity with only a thousand or so worshippers. His demand for administrator permissions was nearly identical to demanding ownership of the avatar itself.

To trade an avatar, requiring centuries of accumulation to produce, for such an opportunity…

As the Weather Goddess pondered, Feng Xue spoke again:

"Don't worry I'll slack off. Compared to periodically sending batches of goods back, finding remotely controllable robots and mining equipment is the optimal choice.

"If you're willing to sign this contract, I'll actively seek suitable technologies—even to avoid making constant trips back and forth. That way, I can break free of our contract and gain my own deity, while you achieve self-sufficiency.

"But conversely, if there's no sufficient benefit, I'll slack off just to enjoy the convenience you provide—avoiding the discovery of autonomous navigation and transport machinery, so you can't ditch me and go solo.

"Judge for yourself: do you hand all initiative to me, letting me decide the pace of your resource acquisition? Or do you strive for self-sufficiency as soon as possible, avoiding dependence on others? I trust you'll make the right choice."

Sara felt her database shaken. In her view, Feng Xue's words were pure bluff—yet the Weather Goddess was seriously considering their feasibility. This forced Sara to dismantle her entire model of divine cognition.

The Weather Goddess understood and agreed with Feng Xue's logic: with sufficient survival resources, population growth was the easiest task. Simply issuing a divine decree every few years—"This year is the Year of Fertility; newborns shall receive the Goddess's blessing"—and the island's population would skyrocket.

As for food, with enough resources, she could build as many plant factories as she wished! In essence, with resources alone, she could elevate this native civilization to the current world's advanced level within two centuries.

As for food, as long as there are enough resources, she could build as many plant factories as she wanted, however many she wanted! One could say that, given sufficient resources, within two hundred years she could bring this indigenous civilization up to the advanced level of the present-day world.

And even before this cycle was established, it couldn't even be called a loss—merely an occupation.

Moreover, before this cycle is fully set up, it can't even be counted as a loss (at most, an occupation).

The Weather Goddess's projection made a gritted-teeth expression and nodded.

"I accept your terms."

"Excellent!" Feng Xue extended his hand. Though he merely gripped a virtual image, a metaphysical contract was sealed.

Though she'd conceded much, Xiao Fengling felt surprisingly cheerful. She reached out and selected from the pile of items: a wristwatch, a smart terminal, and a pendant. "Choose a terminal form. Performance is nearly identical—I'll load the avatar into it!"

Feng Xue, who had planned to offer a spirit tablet for the virtual deity to inhabit, fell silent. But upon reflection, a smart terminal wasn't so different from a cybernetic spirit tablet.

Yet at that moment, Feng Xue noticed another issue:

Feng Xue, who had originally planned to grab a memorial tablet slot for the Void God, immediately shut her mouth, but on second thought, a smart terminal was, in its own way, a kind of cyber memorial tablet.

At this, Sara's fur stood on end. Xiao Fengling, however, had already reacted earlier and merely nodded calmly.

"It's a micro-nanometer unit printer—old model, yes—but printing consumer-grade terminal chips is no problem. Most of my designs are meteorological equipment and open-source civilian blueprints. Oh, and some pre-civilization virtual idol figurine models…"

Hearing this, Feng Xue's eyes lit up instantly—

"A small printer using micro-nano units — it's an old model, but it can still print chips for civilian-grade terminals. However, what I have here is mostly meteorological equipment and civilian open-source design schematics. Oh, and some pre-civilization virtual idol figurine models…"

"First, I must remind you—if you seek gemstones, targeted cultivation techniques would be more suitable. With sufficient pressure and temperature, high-quality gemstones can be easily grown."

Here, seeing Feng Xue's slightly disappointed expression, the Weather Goddess grinned mischievously and changed tone:

"Of course, the thermal processing components in this printer can also crystallize materials. Though not for mass production, output in kilogram-scale batches is feasible. But I lack data to judge gemstone quality—you'll need to provide technical support and sample analyses."

Hearing this, Feng Xue's eyes nearly glowed. He immediately pulled out his phone, opened the video "Jade Decoding," and found the section detailing jade artifact quality assessment and structure-altering cultivation methods—

"Of course, the thermal-processing component of this printer itself also has the function of cultivating crystals. It can't do mass production, but small-scale output on the order of kilograms is doable. However, I don't have the relevant data for distinguishing gemstone quality — I'll need you to provide the corresponding technical support and analytical samples."

"Technically, no problem. I'll produce a batch of samples, then scale production based on your approved quality standards. Also, your terminal device is outdated—would you like me to upgrade it?"

"Please do!" Feng Xue opened his backpack and took out a drone, a backup phone, a solar power bank, a hand-crank generator, and a whole series of modern devices—everything except the memory card—and said:

"If possible, replace everything with your equivalent products—prioritize battery life. Use solar, high-energy batteries, anything that works!"

"No problem. These are extremely outdated models—I'll just make you a new batch." The Weather Goddess was unusually generous—so generous that Sara kept shooting Feng Xue frantic glances.

But Feng Xue now wore a "you dare give, I dare take" expression. He even pulled out a storage card.

"No problem, these are all extremely outdated models — I'll just build you a batch of new ones." At this moment, the Weather Goddess was extraordinarily generous, so generous that Sara beside her kept shooting Feng Xue meaningful glances.

But Feng Xue's attitude at this point was completely one of 'you dare give, I dare take,' and she even fished out a memory card and said:

"Remember, it has to be a memory card that can read this kind of specification!"

(End of chapter)