Chapter 161: Upgrading

"Old Zheng, your calculations are clearly flawed!"

Academician Ding reminded, "Although Mr. Huang's physical body has an extremely high affinity for electrical energy, achieving a one-hundred percent conversion rate during lightning charging is absolutely impossible!"

"After all, the energy of lightning is far too violent, with voltages easily reaching millions or even hundreds of millions of volts. If Mr. Huang manages to successfully absorb even ten percent of that, it would already be considered remarkable!!"

"That is true..."

Academician Zheng pondered for a moment, nodded, and said, "However, even a ten percent conversion rate is still quite considerable. It means Mr. Huang's body can absorb three million kilowatt-hours of electricity in a single minute, 180 million in an hour, and 4.32 billion in a day... Hiss, just thinking about it feels terrifying!"

"Indeed, 4.32 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity is roughly equivalent to 3.7 million tons of TNT equivalent..."

Academician Ding sighed with emotion and said, "Viewed purely from the perspective of energy tiers, this can already be classified as a tier-nine lifeform!"

"Right now, I am rather concerned that Mr. Huang is absorbing so much energy all at once, which will undoubtedly lead to rapid leaps in his strength... Could this pose any hidden dangers to him?"

"...Hidden dangers?"

Hearing this, Academician Zheng's expression also turned grave. "Old Ding, are you worried that... Mr. Huang's mindset might undergo changes?"

"Precisely!"

Academician Ding nodded slowly and said, "Although Mr. Huang's mentality has consistently remained quite sound—"

"After all, he is using a human soul to pilot the body of a giant dragon. Compatibility and stability have always been worrisome factors, and no one can guarantee that his humanity and his enthusiasm will continue to remain this healthy..."

"Furthermore, the material realm seems to possess a remarkably robust self-protection mechanism, which does not allow overly powerful lifeforms to linger within the material realm for extended periods."

"Therefore, if Mr. Huang suddenly becomes too powerful and consequently triggers the material realm's protection mechanism, forcing him to leave... This obviously will not be anything good for us!"

"After all, a vast amount of our current work and various operations already cannot do without Mr. Huang!"

"Indeed, being too weak won't do, and being too powerful won't do either. It is truly rather headache-inducing!"

Academician Zheng also sighed. "Yet there is nothing we can do right now. It is hardly possible to actually acquire a high-yield hydrogen bomb and forcibly interrupt Mr. Huang's evolution, is it?"

"Our only hope is to pin our expectations on the mysterious entity who arranged all of this behind the scenes—hoping that this entity anticipated this situation long ago and possesses a way to help Mr. Huang bypass the material realm's self-protection mechanism..."

"Otherwise, even if Mr. Huang successfully ascends to a tier-eight or tier-nine lifeform, the gains will likely not outweigh the losses, leaving him with very little room to maneuver and forcing him to live away in the astral plane or the abyss..."

"However, I believe that since that entity selected Mr. Huang and arranged everything, it is impossible for them to commit such a low-level mistake!"

"After all, Mr. Huang's stage is clearly in the material realm and in our Huaxia. Leaving this place prematurely would absolute not be a wise choice!"

"Therefore, I believe that entity must have made foolproof preparations, and Mr. Huang will surely be blessed by fortune and weather any adversity!"

"That makes sense. Let us hope so..."

...

The black dragon was completely oblivious to all of this. Its consciousness had long since completely severed its connection with its body, god knows where it had drifted off to.

Therefore, the thunderstorm appearing in the sky was evidently not the black dragon's own intent. It resembled a pre-programmed routine; once the prerequisite conditions were met, it would automatically execute, summoning wind and rain, calling down lightning and electricity, and utilizing the mighty force of nature to forcibly execute a hardware upgrade on the black dragon's physical body.

Regarding this, if Huang Ze's consciousness had still been lucid, he might not necessarily have felt happy; instead, he might have felt some anxiety or even resistance.

After all, as a black dragon, his hardware was already powerful enough. Even if an upgrade was necessary, it should be the software part getting upgraded—strengthening his soul instead!

Yet none of this shifted according to Huang Ze's will. Regardless of whether he was willing or not, countless bolts of lightning still poured magnificently onto the black dragon's body, reinforcing every single inch of its muscle and every single cell!

The heart, which had constantly been bullied by the brain, finally took charge as the master this time, enjoying absolute financial freedom.

It directly scraped together all the gold reinforced within the black dragon's teeth and bones, and then fused it all into the heart!

Gold is supreme above all else!

This was the favorite slogan shouted by giant dragons, and in reality, it also represented a certain truth—gold is the most perfect vessel, and only gold can carry the life and power of gods!

Previously, although the black dragon's heart had absorbed a fair amount of scattered gold, due to immature conditions, it had never undergone a deep-level reaction with them. Now, the opportunity had finally arrived!

"What has happened? Why did I suddenly sense the presence of my Lord?"

Imprisoned deep underground, Kyle abruptly opened her eyes, her heart filled with inexplicable shock.

Having been locked up in Huaxia for over half a year, all the various functions of her body had severely degraded, particularly her perception, which had even grown somewhat dull. No matter how lively the lightning and thunder raged outside, she remained completely unaware.

Yet just moments ago, she clearly sensed the Lord's will scrutinizing this vast earth.

"Wasn't it said that the power of deities cannot penetrate into Huaxia's borders? Why now, then..."

Kyle muttered to herself, subconsciously overlooking one problem: when the God of Light had just scanned this region, she hadn't even actively responded to her own Lord!

"Kyle, why must you betray the light?"

After a short while, a familiar voice suddenly reached the angel's ears. Her spirit inexplicably grew somewhat hazy, making it temporarily difficult for her to distinguish whether this was the Lord inquiring of her, or merely a delirium generated within her own mind?

"Kyle, why do you dare not answer? Can it be that you no longer even possess the courage to gaze directly upon the light?"

"I have not betrayed the light!"

Kyle suddenly spoke in a loud voice, "Baldur, what you represent is not true light!"

"Foolish child, there is no absolute light in this world. Blindly pursuing the absolute will only plunge you into darkness!"

"Yet a flawed light is even more terrifying than pure darkness!"

Kyle's expression suddenly turned resolute, and she proudly declared, "Baldur, I have not betrayed the light. The true betrayer is clearly you yourself!"

"..."

That voice instantly ceased, as if the angel had retorted so sharply that it was left speechless, or perhaps because it had deemed the angel utterly hopeless and no longer wished to waste its breath.

As for Kyle, she remained silent for a moment before suddenly making up her mind. She retrieved those black feathers she had previously plucked out and plugged them back into her wings, one by one!

...

The God of Light had merely projected His will over to show face and made no follow-up actions. Unlike that Eye of True Knowledge, which directly took aggressive action and brazenly launched an attack against the black dragon!

It was still the classic meteorite strike!

However, this time He was clearly playing on a much larger scale, unexpectedly launching over a thousand meteorites all at once. Although the largest meteorite failed to reach ten meters in diameter, it certainly counted as a major undertaking!

After all, matter in the astral plane is extremely scarce. These thousand-plus meteorites were likely all the inventory He had managed to collect recently!

From this, it was evident that He was truly panicked. As an observer and knower within the astral plane, He was well aware that once the black dragon completed its evolution, there would definitely be no good days left for Him!

And these thousand-plus meteorites did indeed generate considerable psychological pressure for everyone.

Following a day and night of fermentation, figuring out how to help the black dragon smoothly complete its upgrade had become the top priority for the military and the Huaxia Academy of Sciences. If this evil god, the Eye of True Knowledge, really managed to mess it up, the losses would be far too devastating!

Therefore, even knowing that the probability of these meteorites hitting the black dragon was infinitesimal, everyone still dared not lower their guard and directly launched missiles for interception!

Even tactical nuclear missiles had been delivered to the launch silos; the moment the situation turned south, they would be decisively launched to carry out a saturated interception.

However, the three standard tricks of the Eye of True Knowledge had failed to do anything to the Huaxia people in the past, and this time was naturally no exception. Huaxia's atmosphere faithfully performed its duty, burning up the overwhelming majority of the meteorites, while the few漏网之鱼 (escaped fish / strays) failed to make any significant splash.

Moreover, Huaxia was not unprepared. They quickly counterattacked with high-power laser weapons; although they failed to successfully hit the evil god, it could be considered driving Him away.

"To think that only the Eye of True Knowledge took action... This is highly unscientific!"

Although the crisis was resolved, not only did Academician Ding not feel relieved, but his expression grew even heavier.

The black dragon's upgrade and evolution had caused such a colossal spectacle, and its strength would undoubtedly multiply. For those deities harboring malice toward Huaxia, this was definitely not good news!

If given the opportunity, they would undoubtedly stop it at all costs, nipping the dangerous factor in the bud.

Yet right now, apart from the Eye of True Knowledge—the evil god who held a deep-seated blood feud with Huaxia—not a single other deity had made a move!

"Indeed, it is somewhat unscientific."

Liu Weihan, standing beside him, also pondered and said, "Although we have done quite a bit of confidential work to conceal Mr. Huang's true identity, completely deceiving those deities with ulterior motives is probably somewhat unrealistic."

"And even if we successfully deceived them, not knowing that the black dragon is actually the soul of a Huaxia human, they should still harbor profound detestation for a giant dragon that dared to commit the ultimate taboo of defecting to the enemy. Given the chance, they would surely can't wait to eliminate Mr. Huang as soon as possible!"

"Yet ever since returning to the country, Mr. Huang has frequently engaged in activities outside our borders, yet he has never encountered any conspiracies targeting him. Logically speaking, this actually doesn't quite make sense."

"Therefore... could it be that those extraterrestrials controlling everything from behind the scenes are worried that Huaxia will perish too quickly, and thus specially set up a novice protection period for us?"

Liu Weihan proposed a sudden whimsical thought.

"...That possibility cannot be ruled out!"

Academician Ding nodded thoughtfully.

Liu Weihan's conjecture, while sounding somewhat subjective at first listen, actually had a certain objective basis to it—

The barrier isolating Huaxia's domestic territory and the material realm was still standing right there. Without this thing, Huaxia would probably have been overrun long ago by magical tides and the indigenous intelligent creatures of the material realm.

"However, if that really is the case, then Mr. Huang's upgrade and evolution this time seems rather inexplicable."

Academician Ding's expression suddenly turned stern as he said, "Don't you all think... that this has come a bit too suddenly and too anxiously?"

"If there truly is a so-called novice protection period, then given Mr. Huang's current strength, it is actually entirely sufficient for our needs!"

"Aside from that divine spawn created by the Titans, Mr. Huang has not encountered any decent challenges or dangers during this period. He could entirely have grown stronger steadily step by step, rather than being forced to grow rapidly by having his seedlings pulled up to encourage growth like this, forcibly endowing him with even greater power!"

"Powerful strength is naturally a good thing, but it also easily causes people to lose themselves and become bloated. If the entity behind the scenes... truly holds high expectations for Mr. Huang, then that entity shouldn't have used such a grandiose method to forcibly upgrade Mr. Huang at this specific juncture. This isn't helping him; it's harming him!"

"Old Ding makes a lot of sense!"

Academician Zheng also agreed deeply. "Mr. Huang's upgrade this time can be said to have come completely without warning and without any foreshadowing. Perhaps even Mr. Huang himself did not anticipate such a situation."

"Although this allowed Mr. Huang to acquire formidable power, it also exposed him completely!"

"Having gone through this ordeal, presumably all the deities filling the sky now know that our country is raising a black dragon capable of directly swallowing storms, and they will henceforth be endlessly vigilant against Mr. Huang... Such logic is impossible for that entity not to know."

"Therefore... could it really be that some terrifying danger is awaiting us ahead, and it is imperative to grant Mr. Huang greater power so that he can survive this ordeal?"

"Perhaps... and perhaps only this can explain it!"

Academician Ding sighed and said, "Right now, we can only hope that Mr. Huang's humanity remains sound and that he will not break away from us in heart and virtue."

"Otherwise, even if he directly ascends into a powerful deity, the losses will still outweigh the gains for us."