Chapter 00268: Divine Art Supply Cut Off
# Divine Art Supply Cut Off
Chapter 268
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 268 Divine Art Supply Cut Off
On the other side of the screen, Li Chengxi looked at the scene and sighed.
The last time Audel came, Li Chengxi emphasized several times not to run off to the Tandelon Demon Kingdom to find the Ring of the Demon King.
The result was a classic case of, "I know I was wrong, but I'll dare to do it again."
The Ring of the Demon King was certainly important, but in Li Chengxi's eyes, a high-level mage like Audel was even more important.
Even without considering their past friendship, Audel was a technology verifier.
Li Chengxi could get some blueprints for windmills or waterwheels, and Viola could have craftsmen build them.
But for anything more difficult, Viola was out of her depth.
Not to mention things like extracting gasoline from petroleum or creating polymers, which Li Chengxi himself didn't understand.
The level of social productive forces was still at a medieval stage, and the technological gap was reflected in all aspects.
Even a single screw showed a significant difference.
To create something that surpassed the era, they could only rely on magic.
Not to mention, Audel was the youngest high-ranking mage, and her future achievements were limitless.
Letting her risk her life to get the Ring of the Demon King was very unwise.
But since they were already here and had alerted the enemy, there was no point in telling them to go back now.
"You said your follower entered a large warship that looks like a nautilus? That's a Mind Flayer's nautiloid."
"What's a Mind Flayer?"
"They come from beyond the distant stars. There are also theories that they come from a future timeline. Even among the gods, almost no one can clearly explain their origins."
Aidas pinched her own cheeks and made wild gestures:
"These creatures have purple skin, with several long tentacles growing from their lips down to their chins. Beneath the tentacles is a circular mouthpart. Their teeth can pry open the skulls of sentient beings like a crowbar to suck out the brains inside. They are soulless creatures, even more bizarre and evil than fiends."
Doesn't sound like a good thing...
"Nautiloids are the spaceships of the Mind Flayers. They rely on them to travel between the stars, plundering creatures for food and test subjects everywhere. But later, the slaves they kept rebelled, and most Mind Flayers hid deep underground. The nautiloids rarely take off anymore, as their magic-driven engines would be detected the moment they start."
Isn't this just a spaceship? No wonder they say Mind Flayers might come from a future timeline.
Thinking about it carefully, golems are basically large combat robots, and teleportation spells are wormhole jumps.
The ways of magic really can't be measured by Earth's technology tree.
In that case, if they could get this nautiloid running, perhaps it could be used as an aerial gunship.
But Li Chengxi looked at the huge crater left by the nautiloid's crash...
The probability of this thing being able to start up again felt very low, even more disastrous than an air crash site.
With these thoughts in his mind, Li Chengxi casually clicked open the ability panels of Audel's teammates and glanced at them.
"Speaking of which, since the gods were shot down and ended up on Earth, can divine arts still be used?"
"Uh..."
This question stumped Aidas as well.
After all, nothing like this had ever happened before.
She pondered for a few seconds before saying:
"If they were all suddenly shot down like me, our divine realms would still be running automatically, but the granting of divine arts is not an automatic process. There won't be any major problems for a day or two, and priests might not even notice. But after a while, once the priests use up the divine arts they have, they will find that they can't obtain new ones. At that point, divine arts will become unusable."
Mages cast spells through learning, which is equivalent to a small workshop that produces and sells its own goods, making and selling one product at a time.
Priests, on the other hand, are like franchise stores.
The head office gives you trademark authorization, sends you raw materials and technology, and all you have to do is sell.
But if one day the head office suddenly stops shipping goods, the franchise stores that have sold out their stock will be left in the lurch.
This is the difference between priests and mages.
However, the divine arts Li Chengxi granted to the Royal Guard were of a different style.
He didn't just give them raw materials and technology; he directly gave them the rights to production.
This was equivalent to reducing the losses caused by transporting raw materials, which was why the divine arts of Viola and the Royal Guard were more powerful than ordinary ones, but their variety and quantity were far less than that of typical priests.
After listening to Aidas's explanation, Li Chengxi thoughtfully picked up the microphone...
The Tiefling rogue, Nimia, scouted ahead, complaining in a low voice:
"This damn place stinks of rot. I wonder if it's poisonous."
"I've checked with Detect Poison. It's fine."
The Halfling priest, Perrin, fiddled with the sun-shaped holy emblem in his hand, indicating that she could rest easy.
"I'm more concerned about what monsters are in this damn place, and what treasures we can find."
The Dwarven warrior, Delge, carrying a battle-axe on his shoulder, looked around.
All that entered his vision were shriveled and wrinkled muscle tissues and dust-covered armor plates.
He turned his head and asked:
"Professor, what exactly are we looking for in this place?"
He saw Audel slowly nod, her eyes fixed on the lines and symbols on the organic wall, as if trying to decipher their meaning.
"A nautiloid is sure to have magical artifacts not found in the outside world, which have great research value."
"Hah, I only care if there are gold coins."
"But if we could get this nautiloid running, it should sell for a lot of money, right? I heard the Tandelon Demon Kingdom is at war. They would be interested in a nautiloid."
At the mention of this, Nimia got a little excited, even starting to fantasize about herself sitting on a mountain of gold coins.
"Don't get your hopes up."
Audel, holding her staff, poured a basin of cold water on the others' excitement:
"This nautiloid crashed at least several decades ago. Most of the ship's functions have already failed. Right now, it can only be considered a large piece of junk with some research value."
"Can't you repair it, Professor?"
"The Mind Flayers' psionic technology is completely different from magic; it's not my field of research. Besides, even if I could repair it, only a Mind Flayer can start a nautiloid. They've encrypted the nautiloid's most important component, the magic helm."
Hearing Audel say this, the three of them all clicked their tongues, probably feeling regretful that they couldn't fly the nautiloid away.
Just then, Nimia, who was walking at the very front, suddenly raised her hand above her head, signaling for the others behind her to stop.
She immediately dropped to the ground, her long, slender ears listening for any movement coming from the floor.
Two seconds later, she got up and said in a low voice:
"I hear something approaching. The sound is very faint, but there are many of them. It might be some kind of small creature. What should we do? Do we fight?"
When adventurers are on a mission, they avoid confrontation whenever possible.
No matter how good you are at fighting, you never know what you'll encounter next.
Conserving strength is always the best choice.
However, the three of them were hired as guards this time, so they had to listen to their employer.
Thus, all three looked towards Audel.
"No, we should avoid combat as much as possible."
"But there's nowhere to hide in the corridor."
"Come closer."
Audel formed a hand seal, and an invisible wave spread out, covering the four of them steadily like a shield.
"This is an Invisibility Orb. Staying within the orb's range will keep you invisible."
Then, they found a recessed area on the side of the corridor and quickly took their positions.
At this moment, a series of faint, rustling sounds, like cockroaches crawling across tiles, entered their ears.
The sound grew clearer and clearer, and soon, from the darkness at the other end of the corridor, a group of strange creatures emerged...