The Demon Realm Community: Prologue to Technological Breakthroughs
When the demise of the Lava Troll settled like dust, and the traces of the Skeleton Monarch and the Lord of the Rotting Marsh were erased by invisible rules, a brand-new scene was quietly unfolding on the chaotic backdrop of the Demon Realm. The territory of the "Demon Realm Characteristic Economic Development Community" expanded like dark ink spreading on water: the Skeleton Wasteland was transformed into neat moss fields, the Rotting Marsh was filled with glowing mushroom groves, and standardized bone workshops and primary elemental energy conversion towers stood beside the scorching Lava River—this was the beginning of "order" taking root in this barren land.
The end of the Lava Troll did not stir new waves in the Demon Realm; just like the Skeleton Monarch and the Lord of the Rotting Marsh, it was quietly erased by some invisible rule, leaving not even a wisp of embers worth pondering.
The territory of the "Demon Realm Characteristic Economic Development Community" expanded steadily and rapidly, like thick ink dropped into water. The Skeleton Wasteland, Rotten Marsh, and Scorching Lava River—once symbols of chaos and death—were now replaced by neatly planned moss fields, glowing mushroom groves, standardized bone workshops, and initially operational primary elemental energy conversion towers.
An unprecedented tone called "order" began to take root and grow in this vast land. Though this order was built on the unique barren and chaotic background of the Demon Realm, making it seem rather weird, it did bring "stability" and "sufficiency" that the low-level demons had never dared to imagine before.
Lin Mo's command post had long moved from that tallest black stone to a "Community Administrative Center". This center was built by the surrendered Gargoyle craftsmen, using materials from the Skeleton Monarch's remaining throne and obsidian from the Lava Troll's territory. Inside, it was rough but fully functional; huge animal skin maps hung on the walls, densely marked with resource points, industrial zones, transportation networks (under planning), and energy nodes.
At this moment, Lin Mo stood in front of the map, listening to reports from various departments. The reporters were no longer the ignorant little demons from the beginning, but "management talents" selected from various races after preliminary training. Though they still spoke with the unique tone and habits of demons, their reports already covered professional fields such as productivity, efficiency, cost control, and demon population dividend.
"...In summary, in the last quarter, the overall GDP of the community increased by 472% year-on-year, mainly due to the resource integration and industrial synergy effect of the new territories. The basic survival material security rate reached 98%, and the per-demon energy ore holdings increased by 3.5 times..." The Lich in charge of statistics (formerly under the Skeleton Monarch, now transferred to a clerk) read the report in a dry voice.
Lin Mo nodded slightly, but his gaze did not linger on these impressive data. Instead, it fell on the edge of the map—the vast area still shrouded in chaos and the unknown.
"The basic survival problem has been initially solved, and the low-end manufacturing system has been initially established," he said, his voice calm but making all the reporting demons hold their breath. "However, development bottlenecks have emerged."
He pointed to several key nodes on the map: "The energy structure is single, relying on inefficient conversion under the inherently barren environment of the Demon Realm; materials science is backward, seriously restricting the development of high-end manufacturing; the efficiency of transportation and information transmission is low, affecting the internal resource allocation and market integration of the community; most importantly, the lack of core cutting-edge technology makes it impossible to form a real competitive advantage, nor to cope with possible higher-level challenges in the future."
The demons looked at each other in confusion. In their eyes, life now was already a paradise, and the "bottlenecks" mentioned by the Lord were like天书 to them.
"Therefore," Lin Mo issued a new order, "the core task of the community in the next stage will shift to 'technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrading'."
"Establish the 'Advanced Energy Research Institute' with the goal of deciphering the deep geothermal energy extraction technology in the Demon Realm or realizing stable cross-plane energy input."
"Establish the 'Cutting-edge Materials Laboratory' with the goal of analyzing and synthesizing unique elements in the Demon Realm, and developing new materials with superconductivity, super toughness, energy affinity and other properties."
"Establish the 'Information and Teleportation Technology Center' with the goal of building a magic network communication system covering the entire community and initially engaging in the research and development of short-distance space teleportation technology."
"The above projects will be directly led by me. All departments shall assign their top technical talents to participate, and resources shall be prioritized for supply."
With the order issued, the entire community, like a sophisticated machine, began to operate at high speed again. A large amount of resources were invested in these seemingly illusory projects, and countless talents were gathered to tackle the technical problems they were completely unfamiliar with.
Progress was even slower than expected, even to the point of being extremely difficult.
The underlying rules of the Demon Realm seemed completely different from those of the regular universe. Many physical and energy laws that were universal in other planes became ambiguous here, or required the addition of a large number of unique variables of the Demon Realm. When the Advanced Energy Research Institute tried to drill into the deep geothermal veins, it attracted a warning mental shock from the sleeping ancient underground demons, causing several researchers to suffer from mental confusion. When the Materials Laboratory was synthesizing a new type of bone alloy, a violent elemental decay explosion occurred, almost flattening half of the laboratory.
Setbacks and failures became routine.
Some surrendered demons from the old forces, who had long been skeptical of this "leapfrog" development, began to discuss privately.
"I think the Lord is too eager... Isn't life good now? Why take the risk of touching those forbidden areas?" A high-level Poison Witch from the original Rotting Marsh, now serving as a technical consultant in a biopharmaceutical factory, whispered a complaint to a colleague.
"I heard the Energy Institute failed again—what a waste of resources... If those energy ores were distributed to us, how many more weapons... uh, tools we could make!" A blacksmith from the Lava Troll race muttered.
"Building a magic network? How much soul energy would that consume? It's simply..." A Lich researcher subconsciously thought of the traditional method, then shivered and dared not say more.
The trend of doubt and conservatism, like an undercurrent, began to surge within the community. They feared Lin Mo's power and did not dare to oppose him openly, but cases of slacking off at work and pretending to comply while actually acting against orders began to appear in some departments.
Lin Mo was well aware of this, but he did not take any coercive measures. Instead, he stayed in the core laboratory of the Information and Teleportation Technology Center, constantly conducting deductions and calculations on a complex three-dimensional model composed of countless runes and energy circuits.
Occasionally, he would leave the laboratory and go to the Energy Institute or the Materials Laboratory to give some key and incisive guidance, which could often break through the bottlenecks that had plagued the researchers for months in an instant. But most of the time, he immersed himself in the vast sea of technical problems.
He understood that mere military conquest and the establishment of order could only bring superficial stability. To truly transform this deformed and barren world, and even... achieve a certain unspoken goal deep in his heart, only technology—and the insight and application of the essence of rules—could make it possible.
This was thousands of times more difficult than eradicating a hundred Demon Lords.
On this day, the Information and Teleportation Technology Center was bathed in a brilliant light!
After countless failures, a miniature space array—only capable of teleporting a small stone—finally operated stably for more than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, successfully teleporting the stone from one end of the laboratory to the other!
Though the distance was extremely short, the energy consumption was ridiculously high, and the stability was worrying, this was a breakthrough from zero to one!
All the research demons involved in the project were so excited that their soul fires flickered (if they were skeletons) or their tentacles waved wildly (if they were multi-legged monsters).
Lin Mo looked at the slowly rotating miniature array; there was still no obvious expression on his face, but a faint glimmer flashed deep in his eyes.
He turned around and said to the Lich director in charge of the magic network structure:
"The basic principle has been verified. Next, we will start designing the magic network node structure covering the core area. Remember, the energy source must be composite—prioritize the use of natural energy such as geothermal energy and wind erosion (the unique energy turbulence of the Demon Realm), and it is strictly forbidden to use any form of soul energy."
The Lich director's originally excited eyes stiffened slightly, as if feeling a little regretful, but he still bowed respectfully: "Yes, Lord! Your subordinate understands!"
When the news spread, the secret voices of doubt subsided a little. At the very least, the direction the Lord was taking did not seem to be a castle in the air.
However, Lin Mo knew clearly that this was only the first step of a long march. The three major mountains—energy, materials, and information teleportation—still weighed heavily on the community, or rather, on his shoulders.
He returned to his quiet room, and his gaze fell on the huge Demon Realm map again. His sight seemed to penetrate layers of space, landing on those areas that even he had not fully explored—areas hiding older and more powerful beings.
The road to technological breakthroughs was destined to be long and lonely.
But the last thing he lacked was patience.
And the ability to turn the impossible into the possible.