In a sense, the original owner's assumption wasn't wrong.
The universe is filled with countless civilizations, nearly half of which are mechanical. Of the six top-tier, ninth-level civilizations, three are mechanical.
This phenomenon stems not only from the inherent strength of mechanical civilizations but also from the fact that mechanical ascension is the easiest to trigger compared to the other three ascension methods.
However, the most numerous aren't necessarily the strongest.
Gabe Steele glanced at his personal system information on his attribute panel and breathed a sigh of relief. The transformation rates for each of the eight major systems—locomotor system 9%, nervous system 5%, endocrine system 1%, circulatory system 5%, respiratory system 1%, digestive system 1%, urinary system 1%, and reproductive system 1%—showed differences between the highest and lowest of no more than 10%. This meant there was still hope!
Human body transformation is irreversible. If it exceeds 10%, the only option is the purely mechanical path envisioned by the original owner. However, if it doesn't exceed 10%, there's still hope. As far as he knew, the most powerful civilization in the observable universe was indeed a mechanical civilization, but it wasn't solely a mechanical civilization.
Back in the pre-open beta stage of Cyberworld, the Mechanic Uprising hadn't begun, the Infinite Power World hadn't appeared, the Ruin of the Ancients, the Ancient Plague, and the Quantum of Solace were far off in the game's later stages, and there was no sign of the three despairing natural disasters.
This opportunity only comes once. Only the strongest can control their own destiny.
As the electricity began to flow, a tingling sensation spread throughout the body. The current intensity was controlled by the access device to within the human body's tolerance range. Within the modified circulatory system, cells reacted to the stimulation, conducting impulses, piercing cell membranes, generating a potential difference, stimulating bioelectricity, and thus improving his mental state.
The essence of mechanization is the continuous transformation of the human body, gradually replacing the life processes of the human body with bionic systems. As the transformation rate increases, even a daily charge of a certain amount of electricity can produce a day's worth of nutrients. Miraculous!
It is said that some bio-companies in the "City That Never Sleeps" have developed human body flash charging technology: a five-minute charge provides a full day's worth of energy. Human circulation technology is worth it. However, only pure cyborgs with a 100% transformation rate could completely eliminate the need for food and water. Gabe Steele's recharge was more about stimulating his mental state, preventing him from passing out during the return trip to the city.
In this perilous Iron Sand Desert, where indigenous people, deformed species, and cyborgs posed an ever-present threat, passing out was practically the same as waiting for death.
However, the person on the other end of the intercom didn't sound angry. Instead, he spoke with interest: "You alone can wipe out an entire squad of my knights. Not bad, very good. Are you interested in joining our Knights? I can grant you a higher level of transformation, allowing you to transcend the threshold of being a human soldier and become a combatant directly with us."
"How much higher can a higher level of transformation be? Is it higher than yours?"
"Compared to me? I'm afraid my status is beyond your imagination," the person on the other end said with a smile.
"Honestly, my imagination is definitely beyond yours."
Gabe climbed onto the hood of the SUV, squinting his eyes. He'd already ripped off his tight T-shirt, already nearly worn, revealing his muscular upper body. Three thumb-thick cables still clung to his body. The desert's uniquely hot wind blew against his face, and the iron plate around his neck rustled, revealing a ruggedly patterned "G."
"Young man, don't be so arrogant. The world is much bigger than you think!" The other man finally let out a note of impatience.
Gabe smiled, flicked his cigarette, flicked the pack out, jumped in, and slammed the accelerator.
"Since the world is so vast, how can we be slaves to artificial intelligence?"
"What do you say, former military AI? War!"
The Iron Sands Desert, once a cluster of cities from an ancient civilization, had been ravaged by nuclear explosions and then swept over by some massive energy weapon in a war between machines. All that was left was ruins and wreckage. The sky was thick and murky with nuclear dust. The remaining plants and animals, distorted by the combined effects of nuclear and energy pollution, had undergone a transformation that caused them to emit a large amount of radiation heat.
Elsewhere, a nuclear winter would cause soot to infuse the planet's atmosphere, blocking light from reaching the surface, causing a sharp drop in temperature and a sluggish, barren landscape. But here, the combination of a vast number of radioactive organisms and distorted plants created a unique post-disaster environment. Far from cooling, the temperature soared dramatically. Survival in this irradiated desert zone was difficult for ordinary people, even for cyborgs.
The only areas that could survive were those transformed by the corporations, known locally as oases. The SUV revved up, stirring up a whirlwind of sand. Its target was one of these oases.
Inside, Gabe Steele surveyed his surroundings while studying the NPC template he had stolen. He paid no heed to the Knights' high-ranking officer's offer.
Although the Knights of the Order are a powerful underground force on this planet, and their meat-machine technology is the object of imitation for countless companies, players have boasted about revealing the Order's hidden quest chains on forums, which indeed offer generous rewards. Even in the later stages of the main storyline on this planet, there are players who persevere to the end, spending countless efforts to build reputation and favor, eventually becoming high-ranking members of the Order.
Then they fall into the trap. All knights of the Order are transformed into offspring, or clones, of the military's artificial intelligence. While the knights retain their own personality templates and memory banks, if "war" requires it, they will directly control the minds of all high-ranking members—including the player's account.
It's like giving NPCs free leveling.
With this kind of greed, they're even worse than the monopolies in the City That Never Sleeps.
While those large corporations also employ various tactics to control their employees, including but not limited to storing their thoughts in read-only mode in corporate databases, injecting employees with artificial adrenaline during overtime under the guise of free medical care, and directly implanting high-frequency chips in access pods to generate high-intensity electronic noise during days off, at least they pay.
Compared to the Knights, large corporations are surprisingly respectable.
Although these salaries pass through one, two, and three hands before ultimately returning to the corporations' pockets,
"Tsk, tsk, a cyber experiment field! Since it's a test field, it naturally needs experimental materials. Aren't post-war humans the best consumables?"
Not only on the Machine Rift Star, but all player starting bases and newbie villages are various forms of cyber experiment fields.
The definition of a cyber experiment field is the exploration, research, and development of different civilizational ecosystems and the technology trees within those ecosystems by advanced civilizations.
It could be supercorporations monopolizing everything, artificial intelligence controlling the future, a powerful alien invasion, a doomsday-like living environment, cloning cultures, biohazards, and chaotic parties between intelligent races from different planets.
Within the gray area of the Civilization Council, a myriad of civilizational technology trees are taking root in anti-civilizational ways.
As players later concluded— in this game, two issues hinder technological development: peace and ethics. Peace is resolved through war, while ethics is addressed here.
This is the Cyber Experiment Field.
However, for players, this isn't a bad thing.
It houses a wealth of experimental, forbidden, and advanced technologies, enabling players to achieve cross-civilizational power enhancement.
Planetary civilizations are all Level 1 civilizations, and within this scale, the main class cap is Level 30, or Tier 1. But within the Cyber Experiment Field, scientific research and experimental results are available that can reach Tier 2 and even Tier 3.
"They're here!"
Gabe Steele suddenly looked up, seeing three small black dots approaching him at a visible speed.
"The Knights' drones!" Even before Gabe Steele took action, he knew that with the Knights' ruthless style, they wouldn't let it go so easily.
Even more intuitively, on the game panel, the quest "Life-threatening Run" was in the "Incomplete" state.
"Beep, beep, beep—"
Name: Military Technology·Flying Eagle III
Category: Drone
Quality: Elite
Weight: 38kg
Flight Altitude: 5,000 meters
Control System: Low-level military chip
Energy: AA Energy Cell (6-hour flight time)
Flight Module: 4 Booster Thrusters
Attack Module: 100 Mini-Machine Guns (Ammo), 2 Small Anti-Armor Missiles, 1 Micro-Rocket
Attack Range: 2,000 meters
Shield: 200
Attached Template: Destroy Mode (Destroys objects within a 5x5 meter radius)
Note: Although this is old-fashioned military technology, it has been used in many actual combat scenarios and remains useful.
In the game Cyberworld, equipment is categorized as Stock (product of the assembly line), Elite (customizable templates), Excellent (weapons of war), Rare (strategic-level weapons), Epic (advanced technology), and Epoch-making (cross-civilization).
Stock is the most common weaponry, while Elite is equivalent to a faction specialty. The Knights' old-fashioned military technology undoubtedly falls into the latter category.
Gabe Steele yanked the steering wheel, and the next moment, a ferocious chain of fire kicked up a cloud of dust, nearly sweeping the rear compartment.
Simultaneously, a subtle whooshing sound reached his ears, and then a powerful explosion, accompanied by a wave of mud, rolled towards the roof, smearing the windows yellow in an instant.
The chase and the escape, the scene outside the car shifted in a dizzying pattern.
Gabe Steele practically twisted the steering wheel, the windshield wipers clattered, and his foot pounded the accelerator at a high tempo, changing the rhythm to disrupt the drone's tracking system.
If it were the most advanced drone in the City That Never Sleeps, it would undoubtedly be equipped with tracking weapons and targeted strike systems, a powerful weapon against the city's super-modified individuals and cyberpsychopaths.
A more drastic approach could involve direct electronic signals to the "armed space station" in orbit, carrying out a large-scale physical cleanup—a kind of "justice from heaven."
A strike of this magnitude would easily eliminate Gabe Steele.
But if that were the case, the difficulty of this mission wouldn't just be 'normal'. After all, above 'normal', there are difficult, nightmare, hellish, and even cross-civilization missions.
In fact, the firepower of the three drones has already surpassed the 'normal' level to a certain extent.
The increase in difficulty on one side will inevitably lead to a decrease in difficulty on the other.
Gabe Steele knew why. In fact, after the first wave of attacks didn't hit him, he knew he was safe.
The car turned, the engine roared, and the off-road vehicle plunged into the concrete jungle.
(End of this chapter)