Translator: Strivon

  "What the hell!"

  Luo Nan really jumped out of his bed, his head expanding by a factor in an instant. This didn’t make any sense. He wasn’t in an out-of-body state, he didn’t sense the Wraith Sign make a hunt, nor had he done anything else…… Fine, he had done quite a bit today.

  But how was what he had done related to the surge in soul strength?

  He immediately retrieved his mind and returned to a more tangible plane. He observed the coupled situation of the God Gear and the Body Gear. The water level of the vast ocean iceberg continued to rise with no intention of stopping.

  Luo Nan had already jumped out of the mental plane, yet it wasn’t the end? Could the ’My heart’s a prison’ form be creating a vampire?

  Why…… There it was, yet another ’why’!

  Luo Nan composed his mind, putting aside these side problems. However, he grudgingly returned to the mental plane. He focused his mind, seeking the crux of the problem.

  The entire Formatting Theory system had already fused into the living starry sky. Luo Nan already knew the answer in advance. He understood how these powers worked. There were many things that came intuitive to him.

  The chains were no longer tangible, so the Formatting Theory system that covered the starry sky had become an incorporeal prison. Luo Nan had gotten rid of a single link in the chains, but the prison was simply one solid whole.

  Under the constraints of the invisible rules, the various life under the starry sky more or less affected Luo Nan. Most of their effective forces were subtle and minute, but as many little drops make an ocean, these forces naturally formed quite the scale.

  Luo Nan looked from this perspective, and he suddenly had a hypothesis. He conjectured an idea.

  Using the out-of-controlled growth of soul strength as the basis, and looking from the current status of the living starry sky, Luo Nan believed that a whole Formatting Theory system didn’t merely consist of Luo Nan as a single person model. Instead, the system was a vast structure that covered all living beings within the range of his senses.

  It resembled a planetary system. Luo Nan was the sun within the center of this celestial system, possessing an enormous mass and forming an attractive force. The sun attracted the other celestial bodies in the vast starry sky, and these bodies revolved around the sun in orbit.

  The few believers interacted with him on a deeper level. They were the planets, asteroids, and comets in the planetary system. The vast majority of the other people, however, held shallow roles. They were located far in the distance, enough that they couldn’t be considered to be a part of this planetary system. Yet there existed an iota of a relationship to an extent.

  There wouldn’t be much to say if this was merely a planetary system. However, there existed more links in how people affected each other.

  Using Coupling Theory to explain, the Formatting Theory system comprised several gears pieced together. These gears ranged all sizes, and they were located everywhere. Under the power of a strict system, the gears were undivided, as if one whole, forming an exquisite structure internally. Every level, and every step. Every set and every difference. They meshed together to form an exquisite transmission. These rivers of forces ultimately converged, gathering at the core of the Formatting Theory system. In other words, they collected upon Luo Nan’s body.

  Luo Nan thought deeper. With more gears, with more sets of gears jointly operating, wouldn’t it be like an enormous space-warping machine? A production line, established to be the core, collected energy and materials from various levels. This could be treated as the foundation; the production line was producing more and more soul strength.

  The function of this production line was far too powerful. It was completely uncontrolled, and it continued to boundlessly produce. This would continue until a surplus in production capacity arose, causing an economic crisis.

  What Luo Nan was facing was none other than the dangers of a surplus.

  Was it good to have more soul strength? Of course it was good, but please first grant him a supernatural fleshly body, so that he could completely digest and utilize this soul strength.

  A supernatural fleshly body was, of course, wishful thinking. Luo Nan didn’t possess one, and this was equivalent to having insufficient purchasing power. He couldn’t afford this soul strength even if he really needed it. Even if Luo Nan gritted his teeth and took out a loan, the pressure from long-term interest would overwhelm him.

  There was an imbalance between production and consumption, so dangers naturally emerged.

  Having thought to this point, Luo Nan’s brain began to go crazy. He couldn’t prevent his imagination from running wild. He felt like a factory owner who was unable to find a market to sell his product to. He felt like a clumsy capitalist.

  Luo Nan had to get rid of these excess goods. If he could dump it away like pouring milk into a river or tossing it into a incinerator, he would gladly do it.

  The problem was, Luo Nan wasn’t even able to find a channel capable of carrying this product. The external neuron’s Hollow Depository had once been a deep lake. Today, it became completely filled.

  As for a furnace that could incinerate soul strength…… He was forced to admit that such thoughts would be quite fanciful in imagination.

  Luo Nan began pacing around his bed, but he was unable to completely cast himself free from a wild imagination. Of course, he wasn’t truly seeking to find an incinerator. Instead, he was following down the line of thought regarding the economic crisis.

  With his recently obtained knowledge of the basic concepts of mechanical design, Luo Nan was barely able to support an odd thought:

  He should intervene. In a situation with sufficient capital, an intelligent factory owner could totally change the function of the production line and produce new products. He could open new outlets, open new markets. A little more consumption was nothing to fear!

  Tsk, he had said that all he would do was observe. It looked like he was going to violate this once more.

  But this idea that popped out of nowhere was truly beautiful. Luo Nan couldn’t help himself from expending the mental energy. He pondered some more. Actually, he didn’t need to remodel the entire production line. He just needed to add one more link, and that link would take the product and continue the endless consumption……

  in refining life essence!

  This was Luo Nan’s first thought. Gym Master Xiu had said that this sort of technique in refining essence to energy needed the participation of the mind. In turn, the technique tempered and refined the mind, raising its level. It was a sort of extraction and refinement process for soul strength.

  However, this task was a large one. This was particularly because of the maturity that was akin to jade forming purple smoke. The maturity was not quite there yet. If he were to endlessly refine from morning till night, Luo Nan’s life essence would be burned dry quite early on, and he would descend into the flames of madness.

  Then what should Luo Nan burn……? Luo Nan was affected by his wild imagination with incinerators. His thoughts concentrated on burning and refining.

  Then there was suddenly a bang. Luo Nan had kicked the bottom of the bed frame. He ignored the pain, taking his strength and venting it on the bed.

  Let’s burn and refine the external neuron!

  The so-called reverse flow of energy occurred with the Body Gear leading and driving the Soul Gear, increasing the applications of interference. Luo Nan could totally maintain a consumption of soul strength this way. And looking at things from this perspective, the Body Gear was like fire, and the external neuron, with its Hollow Depository, could store a lake of crude oil rather than a lake of soul strength!

  If the flame were to be placed below, wouldn’t everything be burned away?

  Wait……

  Only now did Luo Nan have the time to suck in a breath of pain and massage his toes. The pain gave him a sense of danger, and he was forced to admit that this idea was too ambitious. There was no actual phenomenon of this occurring. There was no data to support his idea. One bad move and he would land in an irremediable situation.

  Let’s talk about alternatives. First, he needed to do a few experiments and collect some data before making plans. After all, the external neuron wasn’t a part of his body. Who knows just what sort of consequences would be produced after a long period of refinement.

  And so, a while passed, and the idea of remodeling the production line didn’t fall into reality. It was more practical to go with disposing of milk.

  Now, how to waste it…… er, consume it?

  Luo Nan scratched his head. His toes still ached a bit from pain. He sat back on his bed and subconsciously flipped through his notebook, seeking to find an insight that could resolve this problem.

  It was very unfortunate. Insight was a tricky thing. It never appeared in limited situations with far too many restrictions. In the end, it was hard for the power of his imagination to solve practical problems.

  Luo Nan flipped through the two notebooks and was unable to find a reasonable way to do it. Until…… he saw something from the corner of his eyes. He swept his gaze to something yellowish-green between the pages.