Apocalypse Gachapon

Chapter 2265: Qiuqiu (2)

The energy in the universe was of a single origin at its core; that much was true. But that did not mean any kind of energy could be absorbed.

Especially power that already belonged to another lifeform; aside from a handful of special methods and abilities, it could not be converted into absorbable energy. It was like blood types, only far more complex—different blood types together would cause rejection reactions.

Of course, the wonder of the universe lay in the fact that many theories, many fundamentals, and many things that people took for granted as correct could dramatically change, or there would be individual cases that defied the norm.

Some lifeforms could directly absorb energy without any conversion process whatsoever.

To put it another way: for example, when Yellow Ball ate the corpse of a great expert, that was also a form of energy absorption, but it had to digest the otherʼs flesh and blood to extract nutrients and then convert them into its own energy. It was a process of ”assimilation.”

But Qiuqiu was different. It absorbed energy directly, taking the otherʼs energy into its own body and making it its own right away.

That was perhaps where its strangeness and power lay.

But!

Qiuqiu had that ability; Ye Zhongming did not!

Back on Earth, even a single injection of evolution fluid could cause agony—and that was already the most easily absorbed and least side-effect-prone method of energy absorption created by wheel technology!
Now, one of Qiuqiuʼs white threads was attached to him, transmitting energy that Qiuqiu clearly could not absorb.

Perhaps the little creature itself had not expected that it, a glutton, would be unable to consume all the energy contained in a single hand.

From this, one could see how terrifying a peak expert was.

Qiuqiu could eat a lot; the energy it could absorb within its body was vast. Perhaps in its view, a severed hand from a peak expert should contain energy it could finish off. Or maybe it had never even thought about it, only subconsciously assuming it would be fine.

But after absorbing it, Qiuqiu found that things were not as it had imagined. After filling Qiuqiuʼs body, the energy remained immense and kept coming. Qiuqiu had formidable defenses, like a cockroach, but even it could not keep eating once it was full. That would truly burst it.

Just when Qiuqiu could no longer hold on, Ye Zhongming came closer. The dazed and overwhelmed Qiuqiu immediately found a release channel and transferred the excess energy onto Ye Zhongming.

As someone elseʼs battle pet, Qiuqiu could only make such a transfer to Ye Zhongming.

This unfamiliar and overbearing energy surged into Ye Zhongmingʼs body. Since he had been unprepared at the start, the Cloud Peak Kingʼs injuries, which had just begun to heal, flared up again. He spat out a mouthful of blood, which alleviated some of the physical discomfort and also cleared his momentarily darkened consciousness.

Ye Zhongming immediately tried to convert the energy that had burst into his body.

In theory, the Cloud Peak King was already quite skilled at energy conversion, because whenever his elemental spirits or Lord equipment upgraded, he had to purify and compress his own energy. Although that was not quite the same as converting external energy, at least he had some experience to draw on.

But Ye Zhongming still underestimated the energy of a peak expert. He felt his conversion efficiency was already very high, but after purifying just a small amount of energy, his body reached its limit.

The speed of conversion was far too slow compared to the total amount of energy rushing in.

Ye Zhongming tried to let the elemental spirits and Lord equipment absorb it on their own, but they only absorbed a little before starting to resist, so Ye Zhongming quickly gave up.

For the first time since becoming Ye Zhongmingʼs battle pet, Qiuqiu sent out a pleading signal. It was a sign that it could no longer hold on. Even though it had transferred excess energy to Ye Zhongming, its masterʼs capacity was far smaller than its own. Now, master and pet had both reached saturation. If this continued, they would burst together.

Ye Zhongming broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead. He knew he had to find a way to vent this energy quickly, but Qiuqiuʼs body and his own were no good, and the means and methods he had for absorbing energy were also insufficient. So...

Ye Zhongmingʼs gaze fell on the mechanical war beasts beside him.

These things filled his field of vision and were the only things he could reach at that moment.

The Cloud Peak Kingʼs eyes lit up. Enduring the intense bodily pain caused by the energy overload, he began processing materials.

At first, Ye Zhongming was not very skilled, because normally he used his own energy to enhance the quality of materials, thereby raising the grade of the finished products. Now, his greatest need was to consume the peak expertʼs energy and to use that power to complete the work.

In other words, he would use his own skill and ability, combined with this external energy, to accomplish what he had done before.

Crackling and popping, many parts burst; either because Ye Zhongming instinctively infused his own energy first and then the peak expertʼs energy, causing rejection, or because he could not control the peak expertʼs energy well and damaged the structural integrity of the parts. In short, at the beginning, this method did not seem to work either, and Ye Zhongming continued to endure the growing pain of energy accumulation in his body.

But the Cloud Peak King was, after all, a top-tier craftsman. After some experimentation, he still found a way and successfully processed one part using this method.

This part was clearly far superior to when he had processed it entirely with his own energy.

There was no help for it: first, when Ye Zhongming normally processed parts, he only used his full effort on the core components; for other parts, he only gave them a cursory treatment. That way, he could meet the requirements while saving mental energy, stamina, and power.

Second, although he was a top-tier craftsman, the purity and intensity of his own energy were far inferior to those of a peak expert, so now the difference between the two methods was immediately visible.

And so, Ye Zhongming processed and improved one part after another, quickly finishing the scattered ones. But the energy in his body was still there; he could not stop, so he had to dismantle the repaired mechanical war beasts again and reprocess all their parts.

Before, he had to use things sparingly; now, he could use them freely. Every part was upgraded to nearly the highest level he could achieve.

In the end, except for Mountain Fury, all the mechanical war beasts had been taken apart by Ye Zhongming, and all their parts had been raised to the highest grade. But still, the energy was not depleted. It continued to rage within Qiuqiuʼs and Ye Zhongmingʼs bodies.

Ye Zhongming had no choice but to start dismantling Mountain Fury.

This Raini-grade piece of equipment was something Ye Zhongming had never dared to touch before, because it was simply too precious; if he accidentally damaged it, there would be no second one.

In battle, Mountain Furyʼs ability to amplify mental shockwaves was incredibly useful.

But now, to save his life, Ye Zhongming could not care about any of that. Cursing Qiuqiu, that little trap, in his mind, he began removing the less important parts from Mountain Fury for reinforcement.