Chapter 386: Divinity is Indeed Useful Stuff

Olivia’s gaze was gloomy; she did not answer Wu Chang’s question.

The Difference Engine had predicted that Xiao En would come to stop her plan, but it had not predicted that this deputy commander under Xiao En would be able to produce such a bizarre steam engine.

Wu Chang’s previous question echoed in her ears: was the Difference Engine truly not omniscient?

But things had reached this point; she had no way back.

Although, purely in terms of mechanical design and workmanship, the lion-shaped mechanical beast beneath her was far behind the Peacekeeper, the strength of a mechanical beast did not lie in its mechanical performance, but in the transcendent steam engine core embedded within its body.

A lion-shaped mechanical beast fused with dozens of transcendent steam engine cores was equivalent to possessing dozens of transcendent powers; combined with the combat plans formulated by the Difference Engine, it might not necessarily lose.

Olivia connected to the Difference Engine via the Steam Rule, letting the Difference Engine search for the Peacekeeper’s weaknesses and methods for the lion-shaped mechanical beast to defeat the Peacekeeper.

The thick fog representing the Steam Rule shrouded the Peacekeeper; a moment later, Olivia received the Difference Engine’s answer.

No weaknesses and self-detonation.

In the view of the Difference Engine, the Peacekeeper that appeared in the Steam Phantom plane possessed no weaknesses, and every function had reached perfection.

With the stats of the lion-shaped mechanical beast, there was only one possibility to defeat the Peacekeeper: convert all energy into steam explosives and then self-detonate with the Peacekeeper, gambling that the Peacekeeper’s armor could not withstand the massive damage of the explosion.

Receiving the Difference Engine’s answer, Olivia fell silent. Could it be that the Difference Engine was truly unreliable?

Putting aside whether the conclusion of having no weaknesses was correct, just looking at the method to defeat the Peacekeeper—she wanted to defeat the Peacekeeper, not destroy it at any cost.

According to the Difference Engine’s estimation, the power of the steam explosives it would need to convert was enough to blow the entire Grimland to the sky.

Even if she could take out the Peacekeeper, she herself would not survive.

Olivia disconnected from the Difference Engine with an expressionless face, preparing to ignore external interference and test for herself whether the Peacekeeper truly had no weaknesses.

She activated the Land Heart within the mechanical beast; the beast instantly changed its posture, its body surface shimmering with a metallic luster as it charged straight toward the Peacekeeper.

As a transcendent steam engine symbolizing the army, what originally carried the Land Heart was a massive war chariot; the Land Heart could provide powerful propulsion and an energy barrier that could not be broken.

Relying on these two points, the Fran Army, led by the land flagship, was nearly invincible.

But the power brought by the Land Heart was simply not enough in front of the Peacekeeper; the lion-shaped mechanical beast’s full-force pounce was like a small dog playfully leaping in front of the Peacekeeper.

The Peacekeeper merely extended one hand and clamped onto the lion-shaped mechanical beast’s throat, steadily halting its pounce.

Being able to handle the lion-shaped mechanical beast so easily was inseparable from the bonuses of the Peacekeeper’s skills.

"Item Skill: Specialized Armor"

"Skill Description: When activating the mecha, Specialized Armor will block most control effects for the pilot. The mecha inherits the pilot’s physical attributes and adds 100 points of non-decaying bonus attributes on top of the original base."

Under the bonus of the Specialized Armor, the Peacekeeper’s current physical attributes were:

Health: 345 (245)

Strength: 481 (381)

Agility: 205 (105)

Stamina: 207 (107)

Energy: 409 (309)

(Values in parentheses are attributes before the Specialized Armor bonus)

After the Specialized Armor bonus, Wu Chang’s lowest attribute while piloting the Peacekeeper exceeded 200 points; even for his least proficient agility, purely in terms of numbers, it exceeded the vast majority of Agility-specialized players in the Wilderness.

The lion-shaped mechanical beast’s speed was already slow, and coupled with Olivia not having the corresponding piloting skills—only manipulating the beast through the Steam Rule—its speed appeared like slow motion in front of Wu Chang.

If she could not even surpass him in agility, it meant Olivia had not the slightest chance of winning.

In the Wilderness, as long as he wore the Peacekeeper, there was only what he could not catch up to, not what he could not beat.

Under the bonus of the Specialized Armor, the Peacekeeper’s Strength attribute reached 481 points; before he obtained the Violator title, this value was already approaching the limit the Wilderness could accommodate.

In the face of 481 points of Strength, let alone the lion-shaped mechanical beast, even if the naval flagship of Stilan were to ram it, the Peacekeeper could hold it off.

Wu Chang clamped one hand onto the lion-shaped mechanical beast’s throat; no matter how it struggled, it could not make his hand loosen even slightly.

He activated the power thrusters at the Peacekeeper’s feet, pushing the lion-shaped mechanical beast out of the Crystal Palace and into the open square outside, then slammed it onto the ground.

The massive tremor nearly threw Olivia right off the top.

Olivia stabilized her body with the help of the Steam Rule, her gaze toward the Peacekeeper filled with wariness; through the exchange just now, she fully realized the gap in their mecha performance.

No wonder the Difference Engine’s evaluation of the Peacekeeper was that it had no weaknesses; in front of the Peacekeeper, she could not even muster the slightest heart to resist.

Close-quarters combat—the path of trying to crush it through a size difference would not work; to win, she could only rely on firepower.

Seeing that Wu Chang did not press the attack, she operated the lion-shaped mechanical beast to jump backward, then reached out and pointed toward the sky.

The massive airship that had previously carried everyone, the Queen Olivia, appeared above the battlefield; under Olivia’s instruction, the Sky Heart loaded within the airship descended, guided by the Steam Rule, and fell into the back of the lion-shaped mechanical beast.

Amidst a sound of rotating gears, two massive mechanical wings unfolded from the back of the lion-shaped mechanical beast.

It flapped its steel wings and took to the air.

The Sky Heart had bestowed upon it the power of flight.

Wu Chang did not care whether Olivia could hear him; he spoke as if talking to himself:

"Technology is still too backward; it’s just flight, there’s no need to make such a big scene."

As he switched the Peacekeeper to air combat mode, power thrusters extended from behind and beneath the Peacekeeper, carrying him up into the air.

"Item Skill: All-Domain Combat Mecha."

"Skill Description: As an all-domain combat mecha, the Peacekeeper is suitable for water, land, and air combat; the mecha can replenish its internal energy through any type of energy source."

Seeing that the Peacekeeper could also fly, Olivia abandoned the idea of high-ground advantage and launched a bombardment directly at the Peacekeeper.

Cannon barrels extended from all over the lion-shaped mechanical beast, and especially within the wide-open lion’s mouth, a massive cannon muzzle with a diameter of nearly one meter emerged.

The surfaces of these cannons shimmered with a pale blue luster; they were absorbing the Steam Rule from the air into the muzzles and converting it into energy.

In terms of cannon manufacturing, the transcendent cannons produced by the "Transcendent Cannon Machine Tool" of Delu were undoubtedly the pinnacle of the Steam Phantom plane.

The cannons currently used by the lion-shaped mechanical beast were all special cannons produced by the transcendent cannon machine tool within its body, combined with the firepower and rate-of-fire bonuses from the Land Heart, the super destructive power brought by the steam explosives, and the Magic-Breaking Mark imprinted on the shells by the transcendent stamping machine.

With multiple transcendent steam engines working together, the damage of the bombardment was stacked to a terrifying degree.

Especially the power of the main cannon in the lion’s mouth; even Wu Chang, piloting the Peacekeeper, felt a threat from it.

He was not prepared to act as a target and stand in place to eat a round of bombardment; the Peacekeeper was an exclusive item poured with He Yun’s affection, how could it be broken by Olivia just for the sake of testing its strength?

He stared fixedly at the lion-shaped mechanical beast’s muzzle, and the moment before the shells were about to be fired, he pushed the Peacekeeper to climb upward at full power, dodging the pouring bombardment.

Wu Chang discovered that bosses in the Steam Phantom plane, as long as they mastered power, all liked to use area-of-effect firepower.

First the Executioner, then Xavier, and now it was Olivia’s turn, still the same move.

As soon as the area-of-effect firepower mode was opened, ammunition seemed to be free.

He piloted the Peacekeeper in the air, constantly making sharp stops and changing directions to dodge; relying on his powerful agility, he dodged ninety-five percent of the bullets.

The few bullets that happened to hit were also blocked by him in time.

Soon he discovered that Olivia had changed her tactics; she must have followed the Difference Engine’s plan, as the shooting began to block his dodging paths.

By constantly pressuring his movements, when he had nowhere left to dodge, the main cannon in the lion’s mouth roared.

A massive beam of energy, mixed with the nearly solidified power of the Steam Rule, blasted toward the Peacekeeper.

Seeing that it was difficult to dodge, Wu Chang raised the Peacekeeper’s energy barrier and simultaneously activated the mecha’s Divinity Mode.

"Item Skill: Divinity Mode"

"Skill Description: Remove the limiter within the Peacekeeper and enter Divinity Mode to obtain a demigod state; if the divinity stored within the mecha is exhausted, it will automatically exit Divinity Mode. If the pilot possesses divinity, it will amplify the divinity effect; in Divinity Mode, energy consumption is three times that of normal mode."

The massive beam of Rule power impacted the Peacekeeper’s energy barrier; after a brief silence, a massive explosion followed.

The huge shockwave brought by the explosion, even from hundreds of meters away, shattered the glass walls of the Crystal Palace on the side adjacent to the battlefield. Spreading along with the shockwave was steam converted from the power of the Steam Rule; the steam blotted out the sky and sun, swallowing the entire battlefield.

These Steam Rules that fell into chaos after the explosion could not be controlled even by Olivia; the obstructed vision caused her bombardment to enter a brief cooling period.

She looked warily toward the location where Wu Chang had been; she could feel that the last shot had hit the opponent, but she could not be sure how much damage it had caused to the Peacekeeper.

She tried to ask the Difference Engine, but the Difference Engine’s answer was blank.

What did that mean? Did that shot evaporate the Peacekeeper directly?

If Wu Chang knew what Olivia was thinking, he would definitely be unable to help but correct her: "No, the Difference Engine is telling you that there is smoke but no damage; the damage is blank."

The Peacekeeper, having entered Divinity Mode, had an existence equivalent to a demigod, and the energy barrier it used contained divine power.

A special shell that was a three-in-one of Steam Rule, steam explosives, and Magic-Breaking Mark—if any ranked player were to take one head-on, even without suppressing their abilities, they would be evaporated on the spot.

But in front of the energy barrier containing divinity, it only knocked off five units of Wu Chang’s divinity.

"Current stored divinity: 95/100."

A strike that was almost at the peak of Source Power, slamming into a demigod, could only cause this much damage.

Wu Chang looked at the Peacekeeper’s divinity energy bar and thought to himself, this stuff called divinity is indeed useful; the gold content of "only gods can defeat gods" was still increasing.

Olivia’s shot not only embodied the chasm between mortals and gods but also exposed one thing: Olivia had not condensed divinity.

If it were Xavier piloting the lion-shaped mechanical beast, taking that shot would have at least reduced the Peacekeeper’s divinity by 20 points.

But if it were Xavier, he would not have had the chance to fire the cannon.

Amidst the fog, Olivia was pondering what degree of damage the Peacekeeper might have sustained when a voice came from the fog beside her.

"Your Majesty the Queen, why haven't you awakened divinity like Xavier?"

Olivia’s heart sank; Wu Chang’s voice did not sound like he had been severely injured. She scanned her surroundings, wanting to find Wu Chang’s trail, while answering:

"With your ability, you should know that the Steam Rule brought by the transcendent steam engine has been tampered with; other things are mixed inside. They can only be used, not integrated into, otherwise one would become a puppet in the hands of those gods."

"And I am the King of Stilan; a king does not need divinity, what is needed is humanity."

Wu Chang’s voice came, "Your Majesty the Queen, do you not wish to become a god?"

Olivia shook her head and said, "Before fulfilling my promise to Zhu Li, I have no interest in becoming a god."

Whoosh~

A strong wind blew, scattering the thick steam. Olivia, whose vision had partially recovered, was surprised to find that the Peacekeeper piloted by Wu Chang had appeared ten meters in front of the lion-shaped mechanical beast at some unknown time.

In the Peacekeeper’s hand was a firearm she had never seen before, aiming at the chest of the lion-shaped mechanical beast.

Wu Chang said, "It’s a pity you took the wrong path."

As he spoke, he pulled the trigger.

Olivia’s pupils constricted; she hurriedly activated her lion-shaped mechanical beast, linking the Heart of Land, Heart of Ocean, and Heart of Sky together—all three vehicle-class extraordinary steam engine cores possessed defensive capabilities.

The triple defense stacked together, forming an incredibly sturdy barrier.

Worried that the defense was insufficient, she also used her own steam rules to form a protective shield on the surface of the lion-shaped mechanical beast; this was the maximum level of defense she could achieve.

It was a pity that Olivia had not condensed divinity, yet the Peacekeeper now possessed divinity within its body.

The maximum-level defense she unleashed, just like the maximum-firepower attack she used, was not worth mentioning in the face of divinity.

Wu Chang used an attack converted from 5 points of divinity, easily piercing the joint defense of the three hearts of land, sea, and sky, and then penetrating Olivia’s steam rules.

There was no sound, nor was there an explosion; only a flash of light passed by, and a small half of the lion-shaped mechanical beast’s body, plus one wing, vanished within the divinity-imbued attack.

The next moment, the mangled lion-shaped mechanical beast tumbled crookedly toward the ground.

Boom!

The lion-shaped mechanical beast fell from a height of nearly a thousand meters, smashing into the ground and turning into a heap of scrap metal.

Although Olivia managed to escape in time thanks to her steam rules, the plan she had wanted to complete was already declared over.

She gazed at the ruins on the ground, her eyes vacant.

It was as if she had lost something important, yet also as if she had cast off some heavy shackle; she stood blankly on the spot, not knowing whether to be happy or sad.

Wu Chang piloted the Peacekeeper and descended slowly; he did not launch any further attacks on Olivia.

After all, there was no mortal enmity between him and Olivia, and from the perspective of his original body, Olivia had always treated him well since he took on the role of Captain of the Secret Magic Knights.

If it weren't for helping the client resolve their inner knot, he wouldn't even have wanted to take action against Olivia.

How things would develop from here would depend on the client themselves.

Zhu Li came to Olivia’s side and said softly, "Everything is over."

Olivia wanted to say something, but after opening her mouth several times, she didn't know where to begin.

"I didn't expect things to reach this point; I only wanted to fulfill the promise between us, I just... didn't want to let you down."

"But looking at the results, it seems I took the wrong path."

Zhu Li grabbed Olivia’s hand, trying to soothe the uncontrollable trembling of her limbs, and comforted her:

"You were not wrong; it is precisely because of the route you chose that Stilane became the most prosperous country in the world."

"It possesses the most advanced industry, the most developed railways, the most powerful medical care, and the most vibrant universities."

"We were just too impatient, eager to solve all problems at once and mold the world into the shape we wanted."

Olivia turned her head to look at Zhu Li and asked, "Then what should I do?"

A look of reminiscence appeared in Zhu Li’s eyes as she said:

"At first, I didn't know what to do either, until I saw Mrs. Xiao En helping the people in the slums; only then did I begin to have some realization."

"To create a world where everyone can live in peace, perhaps it is not necessary to push through certain bills or design complex plans; one only needs to extend a helping hand to those in need, rather than treating them as necessary sacrifices before reaching a goal."

"Mrs. Xiao En has done very well; I think perhaps we can replace the Holy Revelation Sect with the Eternal Light Sect she believes in, and then use the Eternal Light Sect as a foundation to gradually change everything."

Wu Chang’s original body, who was eavesdropping on the side, felt his heart skip a beat upon hearing Zhu Li’s answer, and a look of guilt appeared on his face.

Miss Zhu Li, mind your status; you, a Saint Child of the Apocalypse, suggesting replacing the Holy Revelation Sect with the Eternal Light Sect—is that appropriate?

Although he did indeed have the intention of poaching, with Zhu Li being so proactive, wouldn't that make Christine misunderstand something?

Olivia’s gaze turned to Wu Chang and asked:

"Sir Xiao En, what do you think of this proposal? If I want to promote the Eternal Light Sect that your wife believes in within Stilane, what do I need to do?"

Wu Chang shook his head and said, "You do not need to do anything. If Your Majesty wishes to promote the Eternal Light Sect in Stilane, my wife and I will cooperate fully."

A land of faith delivered for free—how could he have any reason to refuse?

Christine hadn't mentioned entering an S-rank dungeon when she asked him to help earlier; him taking this piece of faith land would just be considered making up the price difference.

As Wu Chang spoke, several lines of prompts popped up before his eyes.

"Player has completed Main Quest 1: Survive at least thirty days in the capital of Stilane, Grimland, and witness the grandeur of the World Industrial Expo."

"Player has completed Main Quest 2: Obtain at least one 'Pearl on the Industrial Crown'."

"Player has completed Main Quest 3: Investigate the truth behind the Prime Minister’s assassination."

(End of chapter)