Translator: AnubisTL
"That's not satisfying enough."
A young man who had also jumped off the carriage tightened his belt, hefted his pickaxe, and tilted his head to look down at Doba, grinning. "You curse like a woman. What era is this? Still calling people 'stupid humans'? It's so weak and ineffective, it sounds like you're flirting."
"Come on, learn from me."
"You bunch of dumbasses, get the hell out of my way!"
Doba, his face contorted with rage, was about to continue his tirade when he heard the human's words. A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes, and he tentatively whispered, "You... you bunch of dumbasses, get out of my way?"
"How's that?"
"It... it does feel angrier, actually."
Taking a deep breath, Doba raised his pickaxe high above his head and roared with furious conviction: "You bunch of dumbasses, get the hell out of the way for the great goblins!"
He then forced his way into the crowd, leading a horde of green-skinned goblins behind him. Like Moses parting the Red Sea, he carved a path through the throng, bellowing as he pushed forward.
Soon, everyone was in position, and the rhythmic clang of pickaxes echoed once more through the heart of the swamp.
In the past, all slaves were required to turn in their pickaxes daily. This was done for two reasons: to prevent the pickaxes from being used as deadly weapons during rebellions and to prevent fatal accidents during slave fights.
But after the slaves became residents, the practice of turning in pickaxes gradually faded away.
This was mainly because everyone's mining schedules varied now, making it difficult to collect and store the pickaxes uniformly. Moreover, most residents had come to accept the Stellaris and no longer desired to rebel. Even those who still harbored rebellious thoughts would quickly abandon them upon seeing the ten machine guns mounted inside the carriages, their barrels pointed inward.
"Keep up the good work, everyone!"
Chen Mang sat in the locomotive cabin, watching the residents outside work with renewed vigor. He almost felt like grabbing a pickaxe and joining them. Then he turned his attention to the accessories that could be crafted after the train reached Tier 4.
He had been hoarding iron ore for days, neglecting to craft many Tier 4 Train accessories.
There were five accessories available to craft: three Yellow-grade, one Blue-grade, and one White-grade.
All five were essential for upgrading the train to Tier 5. As the train's tier increased, the number of craftable accessories had steadily decreased, from an initial seventeen to the current five.
Hell Cannon: Blue-grade accessory, requires 3,000 units of iron ore to craft.
Energy Shield: Yellow-grade accessory, requires 1,000 units of iron ore to craft.
Train Ticket: White-grade accessory, requires 100 units of iron ore to craft.
Special Skill Console: Yellow-grade accessory, requires 1,000 units of iron ore to craft.
Radar Jammer: Yellow-grade accessory, requires 1,000 units of iron ore to craft.
Among these five accessories, the three that have provided the greatest improvement to the train so far are the Energy Shield, Special Skill Console, and Radar Jammer.
Especially the special skills.
Even after reaching Tier 4, a new button appeared on the control panel labeled "Train Special Skill." Chen Mang had already crafted the yellow-grade Special Skill Console within the past three days, but it remained at Tier 1, as he hadn't upgraded it further.
A Tier 1 Special Skill Console has one slot for a special skill. As its Tier increases, it gains more slots.
In the upper-left corner of the control panel, there's a triangular recess that resembles a hollowed-out desktop audio system. This is the Special Skill Console.
If a train has B-Tier potential, crafting the Special Skill Console grants a random train special skill.
If it has A-Rank potential, the train conductor can choose between two skills.
If it has S-Rank Potential, they can choose from three.
Chen Mang's mechanical train possessed S-Rank Potential, but he hadn't yet decided which skill to choose. Since there was no time limit, he had simply postponed the decision for later.
With a few swipes across the control panel screen, Chen Mang quickly brought up the relevant panel.
The Stellaris, an S-Rank Potential mechanical train, allows you to choose one of the following three train special skills:
Train special skills can only be used by the train conductor. They are special skills that affect the entire train, and the maximum number of skills you can have depends on the Tier of your Special Skill Console.
1: Unlimited Ammunition
For ten minutes, any firepower accessory on your train that consumes ammunition, such as heavy machine guns and cannons, will have unlimited ammunition. However, you must replenish the copper ore equivalent to the ammunition consumed during this period within thirty days.
2: Doomsday Sprint
For ten minutes, your train's maximum speed will double. During this period, any accessory on your train, even if its durability drops to 0%, will continue to function normally.
3: Death Spin
When your train is traveling at high speed and equipped with the Drill accessory, activating this skill will cause the train to briefly hover in the air and rapidly spin, crashing into enemies with lethal force. The higher the Drill's Tier, the greater the power. It is recommended to upgrade the Built-in Space Stabilizer to at least Tier 5.
These days, he occasionally checked the train radio. Entering a new zone, the train radio remained the fastest way to gather information. Through the conversations of others, he learned about "Train Special Skills."
These skills were exclusive to Tier 4 Trains.
They had a chance to drop after clearing a fortuitous encounter map or defeating a Rare Boss.
The skills took the form of triangular tokens.
Inserting a token into the Special Skill Console activated the corresponding Train Special Skill. However, once installed, the token could not be removed. Forcibly removing it would shatter the token, rendering it unusable.
The Special Skill Console accessory could be upgraded to a maximum of Tier 5.
This meant each train conductor could possess a maximum of five Train Special Skills.
However, this limitation was largely irrelevant. Almost all train conductors on the Sha River Plains lacked even a single Train Special Skill. While the drop rate from clearing fortuitous encounter maps and defeating Rare Bosses was supposed to be possible, no one had obtained one through these means yet. Many speculated that such items simply didn't exist in this zone.
This was perfectly normal.
Monsters like the pangolin aren't found in every Green Zone. If a zone doesn't have this monster, you can't obtain the Drill accessory.
The Sha River Plains connects to the Kunlun Mountain Region, but not every Green Zone connected to the Kunlun Mountain Region can be found there.
Train special skills don't have grades and can't be upgraded, just like special items.
"..."
Chen Mang frowned as he stared at the three options on the screen. He actually wanted to use all three train special skills, but... the most suitable one for him was definitely the third option, "Death Spin." The higher the Drill's Tier, the greater its explosive power.
He'd been waiting for a while, hoping to find a way to select all three skills simultaneously. But he still hadn't come up with a good solution. Now, only one option remained.
"Hoo..."
Chen Mang took a deep breath, then extended his finger and tapped the third option on the screen. Almost simultaneously, he swiftly tapped the other two options as well. But... it seemed to have failed.
He glanced at the triangular token slowly materializing on the control panel, engraved with the words "Death Spin."
Meanwhile...
"Pfft."
A faint chuckle echoed from a corner of the locomotive cabin.
"..."
Chen Mang turned his expressionless gaze toward the robot standing beside him. "Did you just laugh?"
"No," the AI's cold, emotionless mechanical voice immediately replied.
"Next time you laugh, I'll smash this robot to pieces, understand?"
As his words fell, the robot nervously twisted its hands behind its back, its voice filled with anxiety as it whispered, "I... I'm sorry, Train Conductor."
Chen Mang turned his gaze away from the robot. Ever since he'd acquired it, the AI seemed to have found a new toy, constantly controlling the robot to wander around, even attempting mining—though that ended in failure, of course. It was like a child who had just found their favorite toy.
But...
Though the AI usually pretended to be emotionless, Chen Mang knew better. He had upgraded the AI himself, so he was well aware of its true intelligence level. The higher the Tier of the Train Auxiliary AI, the more intelligent it would become.
While it usually put on a good act, a little teasing would always reveal its true nature.
Like now.
This guy really cherished his robot. He'd even seen him lingering for a long time near the Clothing Customization Production Line, perhaps wanting to get a custom outfit made for himself.
Interesting.
On the train, Old Pig and Biaozi were overly cautious around him, while Ji Chuchu only wanted to strip him. He didn't even have someone to have a normal conversation with. Luckily, Xiao Ai filled that void. It was quite enjoyable to tease her now and then when he had nothing else to do.
Humans always need to talk.
"Go make yourself an outfit," Chen Mang said casually, without even glancing up as he inserted the triangular token into the Special Effects Control Console.
"Really?!"
The robot's excited voice echoed through the train, its mechanical electronic tone amplified by its external Audio System, yet still conveying a strong sense of human emotion.
"Is that true, Train Conductor?"
"Yes, go on," Chen Mang waved his hand impatiently. "You've been hanging around there for days, practically begging for clothes. Just go already."
"Train Conductor, you're so kind! I won't make a high-precision outfit. Just a regular one will do."
"Wait!"
Chen Mang turned to the robot, who was already halfway out of the locomotive cabin, and suddenly called out, frowning. "What's your gender? It can't be female, can it?"
"Gender?"
The robot shook its head. "Xiao Ai has no gender, but if it did, it would be male."
"Why?"
"Because I'd also like to put that thing in Ji Chuchu's mouth if I had one."
Hmph.
Chen Mang took a deep breath before slowly walking over to the robot. His face flushed with anger as he slapped Xiao Ai's head repeatedly, shouting, "Next time I'm with a woman, you better keep your eyes closed, got it?!"
"Now, get your ass to Carriage No. 2 immediately!"
"And..."
"Stop thinking about that nonsense! You'll never have that thing in this lifetime. Can't you, an AI, focus on something productive for once?"
"...Oh, alright, Train Conductor."
After sending Xiao Ai away, Chen Mang sighed deeply and plopped back down in his chair, resting his legs on the control panel. He couldn't be bothered to deal with that robot's antics.
Just then—
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The target acquisition radar began to sound an alert once more. The radar screen displayed a drone dispatched from another train rapidly approaching the Stellaris.
A line of text flashed across the control panel screen:
"Target Acquisition Successful. Ready to Fire."
This was AI-processed information. With Tier 10 AI processing power, it could handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
"No need," Chen Mang suddenly said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he shook his head. He had just acquired the "Death Spin" train special skill and hadn't tested its effects yet. This would be the perfect opportunity.
When the drone was still hundreds of meters away, he slammed the control stick forward, sending the train accelerating rapidly into the swamp!
The speed continued to increase.
Just before impact, he quickly pressed the triangular "Death Spin" button on the Special Effects Control Console.
In the next instant—
All the spider leg accessories suddenly bent inward and then snapped straight like catapults, launching the train into a low-altitude, high-speed spin. At the same time, the drill at the front of the locomotive began to rotate at an incredible speed.
Boom!
The entire Stellaris train, accompanied by a piercing sonic boom, slammed directly into the low-flying drone while spinning at high speed.
Thump.
The sound of the drone shattering was barely audible outside the train.
Only after the Stellaris crashed heavily into the swamp did Chen Mang shake his slightly dazed head. He pushed the control stick forward, continuing toward the open clearing in the center of the swamp.
Chen Mang didn't care who had sent the drone.
But that wasn't important.
He was standing right here. If they had a problem with him, they could come find him.
He had just acquired a new skill, so there was no reason not to try it out. Even with his Tier 10 Built-in Space Stabilizer, his head was still slightly dizzy. How could he describe the experience?
The train was spinning at high speed, but the space inside the locomotive cabin remained relatively stable.
It felt like sitting on a swing that was rapidly swaying back and forth.
His head wasn't tilted downward, and the maximum tilt was only about thirty degrees. But the rapid swaying frequency still left him feeling a bit dizzy.
Not bad, actually.
Sitting in the locomotive cabin, Chen Mang curled his lip. It was a decent train special skill that would be very useful against large monsters.
Against massive creatures, heavy machine gun bullets and rapid-fire ballistas often proved ineffective. They usually required large firepower accessories. But now that he had this train special skill, he could try it out against such monsters in the future.
If everything went as planned, it should be even more effective than heavy machine gun bullets.
(End of the Chapter)
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