Epoch of Twilight

Chapter 493: Technological Boom (1)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Mayor, the Wisdom Heart production is almost stable now. We’ve estimated that the maturity period would take approximately three months and ten days for the seedling to reach a mature state. The recent batch of 53 seedlings will be able to be harvested about 10 days later." Explained the person in charge of the Wisdom Tree cultivation facility who stood next to Luo Yuan solicitously.

"How many seedlings have been planted currently?" Luo Yuan asked.

"267 seedlings. They are already at their peak. If they grow any more rapidly, they mature period will be extended."

Although 267 seedlings were not much, the Wisdom Tree was a level eight plant. Moreover, with how particular they were and their excessive need for active energy which was beyond the regular needs of a level eight creature, being able to make all 267 Wisdom Trees mature within three months was already a stunning feat.

Nodding noncommittally, Luo Yuan walked fast towards the heavily guarded building before him. A group of people quickly caught up with him.

Since the discovery that the active energy produced by the energy crystal was effective in growing the Wisdom Tree, Luo Yuan scaled up the planting of Wisdom Tree saplings immediately. Because of this, he deliberately used an empty building and had people modify and reinforce it. Compared to other mutated plants, the matured Wisdom Trees were considered small. However, there were some of them which managed to grow tens of meters high. The floor that was three meters high could not support its regular growth cycle at all. Fortunately, these buildings were modular and can be disassembled easily.

The 70-floor mega-structure had four floors left after the reinforcement. Each floor was 50 meters high with metal cylinders acting as support columns. With the Wisdom Tree plantation that was growing thicker and lusher by the day, walking among them was like walking into a forest - it was energizing. Luo Yuan looked at the trees from one floor to another and he arrived at the top floor at a very fast pace. Compared to the three floors below them, there were not many Wisdom Trees here, only a couple of them were scattered around. Most of the space was empty.

There was a team of heavily armed guards that specially guarded the huge metal can which looked similar to a storage tank not far away. It was quite prominent, ten meters high with a diameter of five meters, its surface was attached to a large number of pipes that spread in all directions like a spider web. The energy crystal was placed here, the most crucial part of the cultivation of Wisdom Trees. Without the energy crystal, this production facility would lose its purpose.

"In order to conserve active energy, we’ve specially designed piping which has direct access to the roots of all the plants. We’ve also managed to scientifically design a management system which doesn’t only utilizes active energy in the most efficient manner, but also reduces the occurrence of accidents. Thus far, the safety records here state that there hasn’t been an accident in 21 days."

"Well done!" Luo Yuan finally praised them for once.

Hearing Luo Yuan’s rare praise, the person in charge was finally relieved.

In order to establish this Wisdom Tree production facility, a hefty price was paid. This was especially so in the beginning when many of the staff lost their lives after they triggered the Wisdom Tree out of ignorance. Even more people died during the harvest because of accidents. Within four months, 32 lives were put on the accident list. Fortunately, along with the specifications requested by the management for the custom-made harvesting equipment orders, special laser cutters were now used during harvesting. The death toll had now plummeted and accidents rarely happen now.

...

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Before the end of the inspection, Luo Yuan looked back once more. Looking at the Wisdom Tree, he had an adrenaline rush. This Wisdom Tree production facility was a powerful boost for humanity’s technological development. The entire production facility could produce about 1.000 Wisdom Hearts per annum. They were manufactured into wisdom elixirs that could be consumed by 2,000 people. However, now that there were 10,000 researchers, the number was pathetic. It would be impossible to let every researcher get a taste of the elixir, let alone provide a portion for everyone.

Still, despite the pathetic number, the fact that it would enable further development and drive forward the progress in humanity’s science and technology was beyond imagination.

Although the amount of time since the first batch of researchers consumed the elixir was quite short and it was not even ten days, there was already a breakthrough in human technology. The result almost exceeded all the work they had done in the previous three months.

Within these few days, more than 30 Glassian factories were activated and the first generation of quantum computers was officially launched as the first batch of production began. It was still early to say that this was the limit of human potential since there were only, slightly over 100 people who had consumed the wisdom elixir. In many industries, personal effort and diligence could make up for the lack of talent. However, it was impossible to do so in the field of research. Most researchers would go through their entire lives, experiencing a mediocre existence. The gap between a regular researcher and a senior scientist was like the difference between students in the primary school and a university.

Moreover, along with the improvements in human technology, especially after the 20th century, human knowledge was growing faster and faster, getting deeper as we branched out into different fields. Nobody could master several fields like how they used to before. Many already had their heads in the clouds within the branches of a single field and there were hardly any outstanding researchers anymore.

It was not that they became more professional and focused only on a single field but instead, there was just too much to take in. This was especially so in their attempt to decode Glassian technology where the knowledge they once had was blown away as they learned more about this alien technology. There was a plethora of new information almost every single day and new theories would emerge every other month. The knowledge learned today might become obsolete the following month and one would have to relearn it from scratch.

At such a breakneck speed, the intelligence of researchers needed to increase more and more. Without the ability to learn and comprehend new theories, it was hard to adapt their research to new information. In reality, most researchers could no longer keep up with the pace. If this situation continued, the development of human technology may just have to slow down as there were just too little researchers right now. It was ridiculous to force civilization to continue on this path. After the technological explosion after they managed to decode a part of the Glassian technology, the researchers were already too exhausted to keep up with new findings.

The discovery of the wisdom elixir was perfect timing, boosting human intelligence to a level where the rate of learning was highly efficient, turning their mind so sharp that common researchers would not be so common anymore. In other words, almost all of them had the potential to become a senior scientist. The wisdom elixir gave humans a big boost in their progress.

...

A cold wind blew on the ground as the people of the company handling the harvest of the interstellar creature’s body returned to the spaceship in exhaustion. A day of hard work had finally ended. Cui Weichuan got the leader who served under him to clean up the tools and report the damages to him. He then sat on the ground and took off his helmet but he did not have the appetite to eat at all. After a day of work, he was not exactly tired. After all, the conditions were vastly different than the ice mining days since there were now thousands of vehicles and various equipment in the company’s arsenal. It was not as tiring like it was during the ice mining days where everything was hard labor.

It was just that... Whenever he was close to the interstellar creature, he would feel a certain sense of suppression that was overwhelming, mentally draining him. Fortunately, he was wearing his protective vest, without which, he would probably pass out like what they heard from the rumors.

"I can’t imagine what it would feel like for those who worked on top of the creature." As he thought, Cui Weichuan became more relaxed.

His team got lucky when they drew the ballot to be responsible to cut off the purple thorns on the interstellar creature’s legs. Each thorn was seven meters long and four meters thick, filled with tiny scales, they shone in a purple color. It was fearsome. The thorns were ridiculously tough and regular cutting machines could not do the work. Within minutes, the blades would be flattened and even lasers could do no harm to it. The best and only way was to grind at it using high-pressure water.

Since the weather was cold, the usage of high-pressure water to cut through the thorns was not an easy task as the source of water was unavailable. However, since there were mobile nuclear stations in the construction site, energy was endless and getting a source of water was not so difficult after all. With the help of 300 people in the team and 80 pieces of equipment, they only managed to cut through the five thinnest thorns but seeing as most of the thorns were already halfway cut, there should be better results tomorrow.

"Squad leader, you haven’t eaten yet. I’ve got extra." Old Lin said.

"Ahh, thank you so much, Old Hu!" Cui Weichuan was not a fledgling recruit anymore so he did not take extra, only realizing he was hungry when he was passed some food.

"No need for thanks, it’s nothing."

The food was good and lunch was the same. There were three dishes and the main dish was a top-of-the-line cactus bun. He was from the south and used to have rice all the time before the apocalypse dawned on humanity but now that he had these for years, he had gotten used to it. It was a luxury that such dishes were served as there was no such treatment for him when he was an unemployed man.

Just as he began eating, Old lin asked, "Squad leader, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" Cui Weichuan replied with a full mouth as he was eating.

"How long do you think we’ll have to work with this company? Would we be dismissed after the project is over?" Old Lin seemed worried.

"Why would you ask me such a thing? The superiors will make the decision." Cui Wenchuan swallowed his food and continued, "However, I don’t think they would let the high unemployment rate continue like this. Now that there are more and more factories up and running on the spaceship, even if we were dismissed from this project, most of us would probably get hired in a factory, I guess."

"What about uncivilized and unskilled people like me?" Just as Old Lin began to seem a little relieved, he asked in a concerned tone again.

"You can always learn, nobody was born a skilled person. Besides, you don’t look old, you still have many years ahead of you!" Cui Wenchuan said in consolation.

He was optimistic. Now that there were only six million people left, not a single human resource could go to waste. As soon as society returned to normal, everyone could get a job. The only difference was the treatment they would receive.

"I’m 58 already." Old Lin said.

"You don’t look that old to me, I thought you’re only 40." Cui Weichuan said honestly. Most of the people nowadays did not seem old. Although there were no official studies done, humans now lived longer than they did prior to the apocalypse.

A bunch of kids who were about 12 to 13 years old passed by. Old Lin was stunned and asked, "Do we hire kids here?"

"Nonsense, they are from the escort team." Cui Weichuan attempted to stop him from talking nonsense. As the interim leader of the company, he attended the meeting before departure. He had seen this bunch of kids at the meeting and they were brought there by the mayor’s secretary. They were not ordinary kids.

...

Without a doubt, the kids were Luo Yuan’s cloned children. Due to their fusion bodies, they had grown into teenagers within a year. They already learned everything that they could from the two family teachers and began teaching themselves. With what they already knew, they were no less intelligent than a common researcher. In some aspects, they were even better than the researchers, they only lacked experience.

As their bodies unique and they were still not mentally matured, Luo Yuan did not want them to enter society just yet. Being here served as training for them as well as protection for the staff. Although the project of harvesting the carcass of the interstellar creature only involved its scales, eyeballs, thorns, and nails which were on the surface. The most they would go to would be cutting its flesh on the surface without going deeper into its body. However, they could only hope for the best since nobody could guarantee that the parasites in the body would not infect the staff.

Prior to the project, Luo Yuan spent some time to conduct a one-month training with his clones. They were born warriors and within one month, they had mastered their sword training. Even the gathering of Will which was extremely difficult for ordinary people seemed like nothing to them. Luo Yuan was even envious of their talents but unfortunately, they had zero interest in such things.