Chapter 360: Lava World

The teleportation array, consuming an immense amount of energy, glowed brilliantly with its intricate and delicate patterns.

A tiny, ant-like figure soon materialized in the pitch-black environment. It was so profoundly dark that one could not see their hand in front of their face, making movement difficult. The area was solidly filled with earth, leaving not a single gap.

"Buried alive," the thought flashed through Xu Zhi's mind.

A soft, warm light flashed again. A wizardry spell emanated a glow, slowly forming a protective shield that pushed open the surrounding dark earth. The black soil and hard rocks around him seemed to be compressed by an unseen, immense force, beginning to deform like an eggshell.

"Invisible Perception!" Xu Zhi's clone slightly raised its hand. The fifth-tier mental wizardry, Invisible Perception, spread out like ripples. Soon, a red holographic image, much like a bat's echolocation, appeared in his mind, revealing rocks, gravel, soil, molten rock, and scorching magma.

"Huh? The main magma vein is still very far away," he thought, "but the nearest branch is about thirteen meters from here..." Within his sea of consciousness, a scorching red river of psychic perception materialized.

"This branch is quite substantial, a full seven meters wide, which is suitable for establishing the sandbox," he mused. "Other, more distant locations can serve as ordinary underground spaces. I could even introduce water there to create rivers, and they wouldn't evaporate."

He continuously assessed the situation, repeatedly exploring and scanning the entire sandbox area. After all, it was a highly dangerous lava region; if he were to smelt here and magma was directly above him, it could collapse instantly.

The clone cautiously cut the rock containing the teleportation array's positioning diagram from the stone wall. It then placed it in a secure location to prevent loss, as losing it would make future teleports impossible.

Only then did the clone slowly begin to use wizardry, expanding and burning to widen the environment until it could comfortably accommodate one person.

With a flash, a young man wearing black welding goggles appeared in the clone's stead.

After preparing the environment, Xu Zhi himself arrived. "A tiny, ant-like clone would take ages to burn through this," he thought. "It's much faster for my main body to do the work."

With a wave of his hand, he continuously opened a path, breaking through to the lava river.

Soon, the scorching lava river appeared before him, hot and bubbling, instilling a sense of silent terror. Magma is one of Earth's most dangerous natural phenomena, embodying nature's most terrifying power.

"Rise!" Xu Zhi commanded, extending a hand.

The crimson magma, heavy as mercury, transformed into fiery red silk, rising into the air and burning the surrounding earth. Inch by inch, meter by meter, the space continuously expanded.

Xu Zhi also activated a wizard's protective shield, covering his entire body. Even if he accidentally fell into the lava, he would have a good ten seconds to struggle.

"Digging magma and underground in reality is far more difficult than in games," he mused. "And it doesn't need to be huge; about an acre will suffice! I'm not like Phoenix, that expert excavator who spent decades digging a hundred acres. That's simply too exhausting. As for the rest of the land, I'll let the creatures of this world develop and excavate it themselves."

Xu Zhi remained calm.

As long as he didn't limit the scope, they would dig on their own.

The previous sandbox was one hundred acres, but for this new world, Xu Zhi set the scope at ten thousand acres! What does that even mean? It's a hundred times larger than the Ancient Wilderness World, but all of it will need to be expanded by its inhabitants.

The total area of this world is more than thirty times larger than the Three Realms combined!

For the period that followed, Xu Zhi activated a "hundred-year acceleration" on himself. He worked in fits and starts, utterly exhausted, managing to clear only one acre of land.

Next, he planned the environment, positioning rivers and mountains to create a reasonably logical terrain. The orchard's Rubik's Cube pet finally had a purpose; Xu Zhi had it store a large volume of water in its internal space, then transport it. After several transfers, he skillfully set everything up, even creating a vast ocean spanning half an acre.

"Release the spores!" As Xu Zhi extended his hand, the most primitive life entered the ocean. The seawater remained calm, yet life's most beautiful and infinitely possible original form was slowly incubating within it, like a fetus in amniotic fluid, holding boundless potential.

"The origin of life has begun..." Xu Zhi's expression was calm. "But this is merely the foundation. The development of the lava world and the release of spores are fundamental... The civilization and system of this world, and its main characters, still need to be created."

This time, Xu Zhi intended to break free from the constraints of previous worlds and embark on something truly grand.

"This world is a hundred times the size of previous transcendent worlds, and I want to try combining mechanical technology with transcendent power," Xu Zhi pondered. "Cultivating transcendent power through scientific methods..."

This idea was inspired by Pan Xuexian.

The path of physical cultivation for the demon race that she pioneered required a "system" – a portable "body monitor" to check heart rate, blood, and muscle distribution. Only by adjusting data and receiving bodily feedback could one train more effectively and achieve overall biological evolution.

While divine sense could also accomplish this, it was an inefficient and unrewarding method – not only consuming significant resources but also being slow and time-wasting.

This made Xu Zhi realize something significant.

Just as someone training for fitness benefits greatly from a coach's guidance and scientific methods, achieving twice the results with half the effort...

...so too, perhaps, should a cultivator constantly monitor their body. Could technological cultivation lead to better results?

"Just look at Dragon Ball," Xu Zhi thought. "Scientific training, various black technologies like gravity chambers and scouters, they can literally destroy planets..."

The ultimate outcome remained unknown, but he was determined to try.

So, how could he make it sufficiently scientific? A system, of course!

Previously, this had been difficult to achieve, but now it was possible thanks to the silicon-based life computer. Thus, Xu Zhi decided on the genetic foundation for the new world, to serve as the basic template for its system.

In the Wizard World, the ape and Evil Eye genes led to the wizard system. In the Ancient Wilderness World, monkey and Rubik's Cube genes developed the inner world system. So, for this new world, with its '??' and 'System' genes, what kind of system would emerge?

Xu Zhi didn't know which primitive genes to use as a template, but he intended to try them all.

"Creatures of this new world – with circuit board brains made of chips, bodies of flesh, humanoid computers with angelic hearts? How will they cultivate?" Xu Zhi found this to be an incredible world, difficult to imagine what it would ultimately become. Nevertheless, he returned to his task, directly using the "System" gene to begin fusing new life.