Living In Another World With A Farm Chapter 8438: Cracking _1

Following a full month of dedicated study, Zhao Hai administered a thorough test to the group. Luckily, none of them proved overly dim-witted. Cultivators, after all, possessed sharp minds. As their power grew, so did their spiritual force, sharpening their ability to absorb knowledge and etch it into memory—especially when drawing from Jade slips. With genuine effort, they could grasp vast amounts of information.

This chance represented a golden opportunity to transform their fates. Several among them already shared Dao partners, raised children, and nurtured tiny families of their own. To secure brighter futures for their offspring—filled with deeper learning and richer cultivation resources—they needed to seize this moment fully, for it was a path to true elevation.

Thrilled with the assessment's outcomes, Zhao Hai assembled the entire team and launched into dismantling the city's intricate traps. Such an endeavor loomed massive. Beyond merely disabling the traps, they faced the challenge of rebuilding the city to its former glory. The Sect intended to preserve this stronghold intact.

Disarming the traps demanded immense caution, as no single one operated in isolation. Zhao Hai could trigger them separately, yet each linked inextricably to others. To unravel a single trap meant committing to the downfall of the whole network.

Furthermore, locating the starting point of these contraptions proved essential. It resembled unraveling a knitted sweater: one must pinpoint the loose thread's end before pulling it apart strand by strand. Only then could the process accelerate and unfold smoothly. The same principle applied here—cracking the mechanisms required identifying that crucial entry point.

The team scoured the city for ages without success in locating the key that would unlock the entire system. Yet, through relentless probing, Zhao Hai finally uncovered it. Shockingly, the mechanism's origin lay in a spot he hadn't anticipated: precisely where he had previously dismantled a trap. It was the quaint area of the small bridge and rippling streams. That very tree which had caught his eye earlier served as the mechanism's vital endpoint.

Only now did Zhao Hai comprehend the presence of pivotal nodes woven into the grand trap formation. Unlike a magic array, where energy flowed seamlessly via rune-linked lines, a trap array relied on gears, springs, and similar components for power transfer. This method incurred energy losses along the way. Thus, erecting a vast trap array necessitated embedding nodes throughout, with these serving as the linchpins for total deactivation.

When Number One crafted this colossal mechanism array, he incorporated numerous such nodes. These couldn't be minuscule; hence, both within and beyond the city walls stood imposing trees. These trees blended seamlessly into the landscape, boasting robust defenses. To the untrained eye, they appeared as mere foliage for offensive strikes. Little did observers suspect that concealed within these trunks lurked the array's critical nodes.

These mechanism nodes functioned akin to a formation's eye. Shatter one, and the encircling traps would falter entirely. Positioning them at ground level facilitated future maintenance. Mechanisms occasionally malfunctioned, and these nodes allowed halting nearby ones for swift repairs. Additionally, elevating them above other components ensured optimal energy flow and dominance over surrounding elements. Powered not by electricity but by mechanical force, their height amplified control.

Zhao Hai had unwittingly crushed a formation node in an instant during his prior encounter, unaware of its significance. Now enlightened, after exhaustive searches, they pinpointed it as the outermost node of the vast array. Beginning there promised a gradual unraveling of the entire structure.

With this revelation, Zhao Hai swiftly guided the team to that towering tree. Concurrently, they delved into analyzing and disabling the external city traps. Before long, the two traps Zhao Hai had faced outside ceased functioning. Far from dismissing them, the group intensified their examination. These were relatively straightforward, and mastering their inner workings would prove invaluable for tackling the city's more complex mechanisms later on.

As they dissected this setup, its ingenuity dawned on them vividly. Gears of every size meshed with springs and interlocking chains in a symphony of precision. Each element linked meticulously, ring to ring, thread to thread, forming a masterpiece of craft. Devoid of any array, its sophistication rivaled—and even surpassed—that of array-based systems.

Zhao Hai meticulously traced the interplay of forces across gears and chains. He marveled at how Number One's mastery of engineering had ascended to extraordinary heights. Unlike crude designs that funneled massive initial power through gears and links—resulting in heavy attrition en route—Number One's approach innovated brilliantly. By the time force reached the activation point, scant power remained in such flawed systems.

Number One diverged ingeniously. His technique was deceptively straightforward: distribute the force incrementally. Activating the full mechanism array required merely a nudge of initial power. As it propagated, clockworks, gears, springs, and allied parts amplified it steadily. By journey's end, that modest spark had ballooned into a torrent of might. Thus, force not only evaded waste but swelled relentlessly, rendering the mechanisms formidably potent.

Awe gripped Zhao Hai as he beheld this masterful ingenuity, prompting an involuntary sigh of admiration. The team's eyes gleamed with fervor. Never had they imagined generating such immense power sans formations or crystals—it was utterly astounding. The sheer force it unleashed left them breathless.

Zhao Hai wasted no time in mere observation; he plunged into collaborative study with the group. From the mechanisms' blueprint to their constituent materials, every facet came under scrutiny. They built their knowledge from the ground up. Truth be told, even Zhao Hai lacked prior exposure to orthodox mechanism arts, marking a true fresh start for all.

Their deep dive into these mechanisms intertwined seamlessly with insights from the Jade slips on the subject. Progress surged among them at an exhilarating pace. Yet, post-analysis of the two external mechanisms Zhao Hai had neutralized, he refrained from charging into the city's core. True mastery demanded full comprehension of mechanism techniques. Hence, Zhao Hai directed the team to reconstruct the outer traps entirely, mending every breach he had inflicted.

No dissent arose; preparations kicked off without delay. But as they geared up, the daunting reality hit: restoring the external mechanisms was no trivial feat. Materials posed the first hurdle. Number One had devised and perfected many of these components through trial and innovation—substances unavailable in common markets. Though he documented their recipes and forging methods, replicating them remained a formidable trial.

Fortunately, Zhao Hai excelled as a blacksmith virtuoso. He undertook material refinement, even tweaking the originals for enhancement. Number One's alloys boasted spell-breaking prowess—not just against incantations, but dharmic powers too. In combat, cultivators channeled dharmic powers into artifacts or wove them into shields for safeguarding. Standard metals faltered unless imbued with overwhelming might or formations; piercing such barriers proved arduous.

While mechanism techniques packed considerable punch, shattering a cultivator's dharmic power outright eluded them easily. Lacking arrays, solutions hinged on materials. Indeed, select substances inherently disrupted magic, and cultivators often incorporated them into tools for potency. Number One's mechanisms naturally harnessed these.

Thanks to such alloys, Number One's mechanical armaments excelled at spell disruption. Yet, their prowess waned against body-refining paths, offering limited havoc to shields, armors, or like defenses. Undeterred, Zhao Hai infused novel materials and refined weapon contours. These upgrades would empower the arms to devastate spells, flesh, and fortifications alike with devastating efficacy.

Zhao Hai couldn't shoulder this alone, of course. Though he, Laura, and their companions had witnessed wonders aplenty, blind spots persisted. A thousand minds birthed a thousand sparks, some eclipsing even Zhao Hai's foresight. Precisely this synergy extended their efforts to nearly a month, culminating in the flawless restoration of all external traps.

This restoration odyssey proved transformative, granting them profound command over the outer mechanisms. One might say they had at last crossed into novice proficiency in trap arts. Armed thus, breaching the city's inner traps would unfold with far greater ease.

Ere long, Zhao Hai and his crew turned their focus to the urban mechanisms. The rigorous external training accelerated their cracking and mending dramatically. Still, overhauling every contraption in that compact city demanded herculean patience. Zhao Hai and the others embraced the unhurried rhythm. With no pressing Sect duties, they savored the deliberate pace.