Chapter 37 T5
Ji Jue was not given any time to react, nor was he given the shock, confusion or vigilance he had expected.

It's just like talking about how nice the weather is today and what you had for breakfast as a matter of course... casually and without any concern.

Ji Jue was so scared that he almost rolled off the sofa.

He subconsciously picked up a can of happy water and offered it with both hands: "Young man, have some tea and tell me in detail."

Ye Chun looked at his enthusiastic expression in confusion, raised his hand, and pointed to the bookshelf behind him: "It should be the cabinet on the left, the middle row. Look for it. There should be an encyclopedia in the Universal Knowledge Detailed Explanation series."

It was a book as big as a dictionary. Looking at the back, it was published in the 388th year of the Cataclysm Era, which was older than Ji Jue. According to Ye Chun's words, he found the entry about Tiangui from the index.

An abbreviation that left him confused.

——【T5】.

This name refers to five large corporate organizations that existed during the Central Age before the Cataclysm, the Eternal Dynasty period in Middle-earth.

It is said that they were already active in history in the era before the arrival of the Supreme Being, and played an indispensable and key role in the Eternal Dynasty.

Although they had no actual status in the court, they still received authorization and respect from the emperor.

And just as the disaster struck, the lands collapsed, and the earth turned upside down, the Age of Cataclysm arrived. The Eternal Dynasty fell apart and turned to ashes, and Middle-earth changed from the holy land of heaven to a quagmire of endless war.

Moreover, these five companies still exist and have participated in the reconstruction of the world and order in the Cataclysm Era, making significant contributions and efforts.

Whether it is the Federation in the north or the Empire in the south, or even all the islands floating in Middle-earth and the Endless Sea, all orthodox regimes recognize their transcendent status and power above the secular world.

At the same time, in order to prevent the disaster from happening again and to curb the trend of the rift's fall to the greatest extent, all parties came together and signed the T5 Agreement, which restricted the power, operation, production and even scope of activities of these five companies.

With the convergence of a large amount of resources, backed by historical accumulation and countless uninterrupted secret research, these five companies also occupy an absolute dominant position in their respective fields.

Their business scope includes medical care, communications, production, finance, transportation...

Among them, the companies engaged in production and construction, after splitting, became behemoths that monopolized most of the industrial markets in the Federation and the Empire, namely [Universe Heavy Industry] and [Great Creation]!
God damn Universe Heavy Industry!

Ji Jue felt unwell.

Just as it is impossible for the Imperials not to know about the great creation, it is impossible for the Federation people not to have dealt with Universal Heavy Industries. Some people's entire life, including birth, aging, illness, death, eating, drinking, defecating and urinating, is all within its scope of business.

Since Ji Jue started learning to repair cars, he has seen these four words many times. The parts are produced by the company under Huanyu Heavy Industry, the engine oil is refined by others, the gloves are from others' chemical plants, the helmets, uniforms, fuel, and even the local Coast Automobile Factory in Yacheng have their own investment and holdings. Lu Ma's Dalu Auto Repair Shop can't even be considered as a business line, and it can't even reach the edge.

In the field of communications, the Wujie United Communications Group is a giant that directly occupies 18% of the global communications market. In this world where earthquakes are rampant and disasters are constant, people in Yacheng can't bypass them when they call people in Zhongcheng. Ji Jue is still using a package of yuan a month.

Hope Hospital in the medical field... I seem to have heard of it somewhere, but I don't remember it. It may be too high-end, and a commoner like Ji Jue can't even reach it. It is also possible that they have already spread all over the world through shareholding, but I just can't find it.

There is no detailed description of the perpetual bank in the financial field except its name, and with the money in Ji Jue's pocket, he is afraid that he will never be able to get involved with it in this lifetime.

As for the last one, it is the undisputed overlord in the transportation field - SkyTrack Transportation Group!
The book states that this group not only operates everything from airships, trains, and cruise ships, but also builds a transportation network that can reconnect the real world.

Ji Jue's blood boiled after watching it, and he felt proud of it.

Such an awesome company must be very strong, very cool, and very powerful, and the salary must be very high, right?

Unfortunately, Ji Jue couldn't find any trace of their existence, and even the introduction was so brief. Apart from briefly mentioning the business scope and name, there was only one sentence left.

——[It has now gone bankrupt due to poor management].

collapse?!
Ji Jue’s eyes almost pierced through the torn paper: Bankruptcy? Are you serious?
Although I really hope so from the bottom of my heart, the other four companies are so awesome, why are you so lame?

Such a company that sounds so awesome that it can go anywhere... no, it sounds like it can go anywhere, just disappears like that?!

And after taking a look at the time of bankruptcy, he couldn't help but get mad again: 198 years of the Cataclysm Era? It was gone more than years ago!
Then what's going on with me? !

Didn't he just get better last month?
It’s bad enough that I don’t have a big tree to lean on for shade, but looking at this situation, I might have to be the legal representative on my first day of employment?!
Snapped!
Ji Jue closed the book without hesitation, put it in the cabinet, and closed the door carefully.

Whoever wants to go to this crappy company has nothing to do with me!

Farewell!

Anyway, there was no contract signed, and they were all bankrupt. Even the watch's own system could not be connected online. No matter how powerful the Tiangui Company was, it had been bankrupt for more than 200 years. It was impossible for some leader to turn into a ghost and come to ask me to work overtime in the middle of the night, right?

Just like that, I made up my mind and put all the sky tracks behind me.

I don’t recognize it, I don’t know it, I’m not sure. I picked up this watch and I thought no one wanted it!

After the unexpected shock, Ji Jue, still in shock, devoted the entire afternoon to the study of alchemy. He was so absorbed in it that he didn't even notice the passage of time.

Until the familiar sound of shattering emerged from the furnace again.

51st failure.

Cause: physical imbalance.

Ji Jue picked up the fire tongs and looked at the copper fragment that had been tortured for the whole afternoon, feeling the spiritual essence spreading out of control inside, and once again analyzed the reasons for the failure.

As a result, a crack suddenly appeared on the cooled copper sheet, followed by the second, the third, and so on... Finally, right under Ji Jue's eyes, the crack collapsed and turned into a pile of hot copper sand.

"Oh, congratulations." Ye Chun leaned over and saw that the debris was completely scrapped. He couldn't help but clap his hands: "The first step of clearing the garbage dump is finally completed!"

Ectoplasm overload.

After Ji Jue's afternoon of training and engraving, the already scrapped fragments could no longer withstand further processing and engraving. They exceeded their endurance limit and collapsed from within.

The simpler the material, the more fragile its physical properties are, the lower the upper limit it can withstand, and the smaller the reaction after self-destruction.

If it was some dangerous substance, after being infused with a large amount of spiritual essence and the essence of the Supreme Good, it might get out of control and explode directly in the furnace, and the entire workshop might be razed to the ground and turned into a big pit. The explosion of the furnace has always been the eternal nightmare of alchemists.

This is Professor Ye’s educational plan - if you can’t blow it up, just try to blow it up.

Anyway, the warehouse is full of useless waste and scraps that are worthless, so it’s better to put their waste heat to good use and give them to Ji Jue to practice.

Even if it was a dog, if it could use its alchemical skills to refine all the waste in the warehouse until it overloaded and self-destructed, it could become a craftsman, let alone a Chosen One?
At this moment, having finally completed the first step of a journey of thousands of miles, Ji Jue should have been cheering.

But, I inexplicably fell into a trance.

He looked down blankly at the copper chips under his feet, and even at the spiritual essence that gradually rose from the hot copper chips and quickly dissipated. The sediment and traces accumulated in the dozens of processing and engravings were rapidly evaporating.

But why do I feel... so hungry?
Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry!

Just like a starving ghost who hadn't eaten a grain of rice for dozens of days, unspeakable hunger emerged and rose from Ji Jue's soul and consciousness, almost turning him into a vicious dog.

He subconsciously reached out his hand, as if to grab the rapidly dissipating spiritual essence and try to stuff it into his mouth.

After I realized what was happening, I couldn't help but smile bitterly.

It is too crazy to try to grasp the invisible spiritual essence and essence with just your hands, and to digest the residues of countless forging and processing with your mouth and stomach.

The next moment, he froze in place.

Because his hand seemed to have really grasped something... Not only the spiritual essence that quickly dissipated in the air, but even the essence remaining in the copper sand seemed to be absorbed, controlled, and pulled by an invisible force, and gathered in Ji Jue's palm.

On his right hand, lines of silver light like circuit boards lit up slightly, so familiar - Ji Jue would see it every time he used the watch to extract spiritual essence. But now, he just thought about it, and the spiritual essence circuit that was so complex that it made people dizzy emerged from his hand.

It was as if his hand had also become an alchemical object.

Gathering and extracting out of thin air, and then, as his five fingers clenched, the emblem representing ability in Ji Jue's soul suddenly rose up, absorbing, swallowing and digesting all the essence.

Dizziness comes suddenly!

Ji Jue twitched. In the brief moment of time that was less than a split second ago, what emerged in his perception was fifty-one engravings and processing!

It was as if he had turned into copper, enduring the burning and forging of flames, feeling the movement of the spirit essence. But at the same time, he seemed to have turned into the spirit essence itself, leaving circuits and marks again and again, and facing failure again and again... and before that, and even before that, he seemed to have turned into a part of a giant.

That was when the fragments had not yet collapsed. From the burning of the furnace, countless spiritual circuits were running within the body, from the hands of a vague figure.

It’s like, using nature to create everything!
Runes were born and died in the flames and copper liquid, and the complex circuits ran through everything like a giant tree. In the end, at the core, the essence of the highest good collided and merged with each other.

A magnificent creation that surpassed Ji Jue's imagination emerged from the furnace. Under the control of that figure, the unruly nature of things was like a loyal dog, and the ever-changing spiritual essence was like flowing water, achieving new changes in the process.

Until finally, raging flames broke out from both sides, and from the violently shaking furnace, a huge engine that was more than two people tall slowly rose up. Above the complex machinery, the light was dazzling, and the blessing of the Supreme Good flowed from the bronze light, so solemn!
But what he was greeted with was a look full of disappointment.

"There is more ascension than purification."

Professor Ye retracted his gaze: "It's waste again."

In the blink of an eye, the magnificent engine that had just been completed fell apart in an instant and turned into countless pieces.

All that was left was the loud noise that echoed in Ji Jue's soul.

boom!
Ji Jue’s eyes went dark and he couldn’t help but take a step back.

But the moment he reacted, he had already picked up the tongs, picked up another piece of debris and threw it into the furnace. He raced against time and did not even wait for the material to heat up and change its physical properties before pressing it on the operating table again.

While the experience of being transformed into Professor Ye and the fragment itself has not yet dissipated, the spiritual essence rushes out!

The feeling is coming!

There was no more awkwardness or fear. Ji Jue's consciousness and perception moved through the fragments with the spirit essence, like a fish in water, moving forward with great pleasure, not caring even under heavy interference.

Rough and heroic, just like the smooth and flowing cursive writing, the ideas that emerge in the mind are completed in one stroke!

In just a few seconds, the process that once took Ji Jue more than ten minutes to carefully complete was over, and he felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

He picked up the tongs, took the broken pieces out of the furnace, and stared at the only success he had finally achieved after an afternoon of failures - the Shangshan Totem!
Like an invisible fire, it rises upward and never goes out.

It is the beginning of the twelve supreme virtues, the foundation of truth, transcendence, and insight, and the source of all thinking and soul in the world.

——【Upgrade】!
After leaving the interference-free simulated operating environment, in just less than six hours, Ji Jue overcame the difficulties that other apprentices needed to accumulate countless failures and experience to overcome, and completed his first real Shangshan Inscription...

He raised his hand, wiped away the blood from his nose caused by overdrawn spiritual essence, and could no longer hold back his excited smile.

This is his first step!
(End of this chapter)