143: True God's power, time acceleration on a small scale

The "Light of Enlightenment" from the Jixia Academy and the "Order Imprisonment" from the Temple of Law had given Lin Zhou a profound understanding of how efficient and powerful the authority granted by a divine office could be. However, a True God's might extended far beyond that. After becoming familiar with the application of his divine office, Lin Zhou turned his attention to another iconic and strategically valuable ability of the True God Realm—a deeper level of interference with the rules of time.

During his time as a demigod, he could only perform extremely limited and unstable micro-adjustments to time. But after ascending to a True God, the capacity of his Godhead crystal to analyze and carry Laws surged. The majestic Divine Power provided by the Fire of Civilization gave him a true "lever" to pry at the Law of Time.

"Time Acceleration..." Lin Zhou's consciousness sank into his Godhead, retrieving basic divine art models regarding the rules of time. Among them, the divine art [Small-Scale Time Acceleration] caught his attention. Unlike the [Localized Time Acceleration] he had tested before, which acted on a specific area, this divine art's model was more refined, controllable, and had a higher limit for the acceleration ratio. However, the corresponding consumption was much greater, and it required extremely high control over the Laws from the caster.

"It just so happens that several key projects in the Tian Gong Institute are stuck on the processing and debugging of precision parts, requiring a lot of time for polishing. The breeding and ripening of some high-level spiritual plants also urgently need time. This divine art might become a Sharp Weapon to break through these Bottlenecks."

Lin Zhou selected a testing ground—the [Precision Mechanical Workshop] and the connected [High-Order Spiritual Plant Greenhouse] located next to the core area of the Tian Gong Institute. This area had a radius of about a hundred meters, which was exactly the limit of the range he could stably control at this stage. Within the area, twenty Mohist Dwarf Masters of Rank LV35 or higher were under Bronzebeard's personal supervision, tackling the precision casting and assembly of the most core component of the [Floating Bombardment Platform]—the [Psionic Vector Thruster]. In the greenhouse next door, three extremely precious [Thousand-Year Vermilion Fruit Tree Seedlings] (carefully bred from previously accelerated Vermilion Fruit seeds) and ten [Ghost Epiphyllums] that required a hundred years to bloom were being cultivated.

"Let's begin." Lin Zhou composed his mind. On the surface of his Godhead crystal, the inscriptions representing the Mohist "Skilled Craftsmanship" and the Daoist "Nature" were the first to light up, providing the necessary rule support for the time acceleration divine art. The Fire of Civilization rose slightly, and a massive amount of Divine Power began to surge.

"True God Divine Art: Small-Scale Time Acceleration!"

As his will surged, Lin Zhou pressed his hands down into the air. The majestic Divine Power, mixed with his understanding of the rules of time, transformed into countless fine time runes interwoven in pale gold and silver-white. They poured down like a waterfall, precisely enveloping the circular area with a hundred-meter radius.

[Divine Art Activation]:

Divine Art Name: Small-Scale Time Acceleration (Divine Rank, High-Order Application)

Area of Effect: 100-meter radius spherical area (covering the Precision Mechanical Workshop and High-Order Spiritual Plant Greenhouse)

Time Flow Ratio (Inside : Outside): Set to 10 : 1 (meaning ten days pass inside while only one day passes outside)

Divine Power Consumption: 500 Divine Power for activation, 50 Divine Power/hour for maintenance (God Domain time)!

Estimated Sustainable Duration (based on current Divine Power reserves): Full maintenance for approximately 40 hours (God Domain time), meaning the area will experience 400 hours (about 16.7 days) of accelerated time.

Rule Stability Requirements: Extremely high. The more complex and intense the material density, energy flow, and life activities within the area, the greater the maintenance cost and the higher the stability requirements.

"Buzz—!"

A wave of time, more obvious and profound than during previous tests, rippled out. The hundred-meter area enveloped by the pale gold time runes seemed to be briefly "cut out" from the main world. The light inside distorted slightly, and the edges of objects appeared a bit blurred, as if separated by a layer of flowing water.

The Mohist Dwarves within the area immediately sensed something unusual. They couldn't see the outside world, but they could clearly feel a "sense of disconnection" in their own perceptions, movements, and even their mental connection to the outside. However, long-term disciplined training and absolute trust in the Dominator allowed them to quickly calm down. Under Bronzebeard's roaring commands, they immediately realized this was the "accelerated time" bestowed by the Dominator—a precious opportunity to complete their arduous tasks!

"Boys! Don't just stand there! The Dominator has given us ten times the time! Put every ounce of strength you have into this! Three days! No, by the time outside, we only have seven double-hours! We must manufacture the core components of the [Psionic Vector Thruster] for me!" Bronzebeard's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was like a resonant bell as he was the first to swing his newly acquired [Thousand-Jun Divine Fire Hammer], which shimmered with a dark golden luster.

Inside the workshop, they instantly entered a state of frantic work!

Under the tenfold time flow, the movements of all the dwarves were so fast they left afterimages. But they weren't just moving fast; the entire workflow was being extremely compressed:

Material Smelting: [Star Iron], which originally required twelve double-hours of slow-fire calcination to remove Impurities, saw its impurity precipitation speed increase tenfold under the dual effects of time acceleration and the special [Divine Fire Forge] (which had been partially activated in advance). The smelting time was compressed to just over one double-hour.

Part Forging: The precision blades, bearings, and rune substrates that required extensive tempering were forged at a visible speed from glowing red iron billets into semi-finished products with a cold metallic luster under the dwarves' tireless hammering. Bronzebeard personally handled the forging of the most core [Psionic Resonance Chamber]. His hammer shadows were almost continuous, and the sound of his strikes was as dense as a rainstorm!

Rune Inscription: The Elven Engineer (temporarily stationed) in charge of the runes used the time acceleration to repeatedly test the most optimized rune circuits. If they failed once, they wiped it and started over. While only a few minutes passed outside, they had already tried dozens of times inside the area! Ultimately, an improved rune array that reduced energy loss by 15% compared to the original design was finalized and began mass inscription.

Assembly and Debugging: Parts were rapidly assembled, and complex transmission structures quickly took shape in the dwarves' nimble hands. Whenever they encountered assembly tolerances or poor energy conduction, they had "ample" time to stop and repeatedly adjust and polish until everything fit perfectly.

[Accelerated Area · Workshop Progress Real-time Monitoring (Internal Time)]:

Day 1 (Internal Time): Smelting and purification of core Materials were all completed; forging of seven hundred and twenty basic parts was 80% complete.

Day 2: All basic parts were forged; precision processing and rune inscription began. Three design flaws were discovered, and drawings were urgently modified and parts remade.

Day 3 Noon: The three core modules of the [Psionic Vector Thruster] (Power Chamber, Vector Nozzle, and Control Hub) were separately assembled and debugged!

Day 3 Evening: Final assembly began! Under Bronzebeard's coordination, over three hundred parts of various sizes were methodically assembled. During this period, eleven micron-level assembly conflicts were resolved, and seven energy circuits were optimized.

Late Night of Day 3 (Internal Time, approximately 7.2 hours outside): A [Psionic Vector Thruster] prototype, about three meters long with a complex and precise structure, flowing with pale blue psionic runes and emitting powerful energy fluctuations, stood tall on the test bench in the center of the workshop!

"Success! Hahaha! Three days! It only took three days!" Bronzebeard stroked the still-warm metal casing, his beard trembling with excitement. According to normal progress, after gathering the Materials, forging and debugging alone would have taken at least a month! And now, under my god's miracle, it was completed in three days!

It wasn't just completion; with (relatively) ample time, they had even performed multiple optimizations, resulting in this prototype's theoretical thrust being 8% higher than the original design and its energy efficiency being 12% higher! This was a qualitative leap!

Meanwhile, in the spiritual plant greenhouse next door, the changes were equally astonishing.

Under the tenfold time flow and the nourishment of abundant Spiritual Qi, the three [Thousand-Year Vermilion Fruit Tree Seedlings] grew taller, sprouted branches, and unfurled leaves at a visible rate. Seedlings that originally would have taken ten years to grow to the height of a person had, after three days in the area, grown into three small trees three meters tall with lush foliage! The trunks were dark red, the leaves like red jade with faint flame patterns, and the Spiritual Qi they emitted made the entire greenhouse as warm as spring. Although they were still far from truly flowering and fruiting (a thousand years), this growth speed was already a miracle.

Even more surprising were the ten [Ghost Epiphyllums]. This spiritual flower blooms once every hundred years, and the bloom lasts only an instant; it is one of the main Materials for refining high-order Mind-Calming Medicinal Pills. Under time acceleration, their growth cycle was extremely compressed. Three days in the area was equivalent to thirty days of normal growth! Although a hundred years was still a long way off, signs of flower buds beginning to form could already be seen, providing valuable prerequisites for subsequent "flower-inducing" experiments.

Lin Zhou monitored the changes within the accelerated area throughout the process, especially the Divine Power consumption.

[Divine Power Consumption Real-time Data]:

Activation Cost: 500 Divine Power (deducted instantly)

Maintenance Cost: An average of 50 Divine Power/hour for the first 10 hours; due to the high-load operation of the workshop and intense energy fluctuations within the area, the actual consumption once reached 55 Divine Power/hour.

Current Divine Power Reserve: 2850/5000 (recovering continuously, but maintenance cost is greater than the recovery speed)

Estimated Remaining Sustainable Time: Approximately 28 hours (God Domain time), meaning there are still about 280 hours (11.7 days) of acceleration time left for the area.

"The consumption is indeed massive." Lin Zhou clicked his tongue inwardly. In less than eight hours outside (God Domain time), he had already consumed nearly 900 points of Divine Power! And this was just for maintaining an area with a hundred-meter radius. If the range were larger, the flow ratio higher, or the activities within the area more intense, the consumption would grow exponentially. True God-level time manipulation was indeed a "luxury item."

However, seeing that completed [Psionic Vector Thruster] and the three thriving Vermilion Fruit trees, Lin Zhou felt this "investment" was well worth it. Time was precisely the most precious resource for developing a civilization and advancing technology. Being able to trade Divine Power for time was undoubtedly worth it at critical moments.

With a thought, he temporarily stopped the time acceleration divine art. The pale gold time runes slowly dissipated, and the area resynchronized with the time flow of the main world.

The dwarves in the workshop were suddenly jolted out of their high-speed work. Many stumbled, but they were immediately overwhelmed by a huge sense of achievement, and their cheers echoed through the sky. Bronzebeard even hugged the thruster prototype, his eyes brimming with tears.

Lin Zhou's projection appeared in the workshop.

"Well done, Bronzebeard, and you masters as well." His voice carried praise.

"It's all thanks to my god's grace!" The dwarves knelt down in a crowd, the points of faith so dense they almost became physical. They had personally experienced the efficiency brought by the "miracle," and their adoration for the Dominator reached a new height.

"Complete the final stability tests for this prototype as soon as possible, then put it into the final assembly of the [Floating Bombardment Platform]. I want to see its initial test flight before I leave the God Domain to report to the university."

"As you command! Rest assured, my god! With this fellow, the platform's final assembly progress can be doubled!" Bronzebeard thumped his chest in guarantee.

After handling the workshop matters, Lin Zhou's attention returned to his own Divine Power reserves. Maintaining the time acceleration had consumed quite a bit, and he needed to replenish it quickly. Fortunately, as the divine fire burned steadily, the Divine Power recovery speed was considerable, and the faith output efficiency had improved again as the followers in the God Domain became even more devout after witnessing the "miracle."

Just as he was planning to enter deep meditation to speed up Divine Power recovery, a clear ripple came again from the Moonlight mark deep within his Godhead crystal. This time it wasn't a simple greeting, but a Divine Thought containing specific information:

"The ripples of the rules of time... You can already stably perform tenfold acceleration? Your progress is rapid. However, the power of time consumes a great deal and easily triggers deep-level rule ripples; you must use it with caution. I've attached a bit of insight on 'Moonlight Time-Condensation,' which might help you slightly reduce consumption and stabilize the time setting. Also, the freshman registration for Xinghai University is in three days; do not forget."

Following the message, there was indeed a small section of refined techniques on how to use the "cool" and "constant" characteristics of Moonlight Power to stabilize the edges of the time acceleration area and reduce rule leakage loss. Although it couldn't drastically lower consumption, it was estimated to save 5%-8% of maintenance Divine Power and improve the area's stability.

Lin Zhou received this timely and precious "experience package," and a warm current surged in his heart. Su Yueyao's reminder also made him realize that he had been so immersed in the excitement of testing his new abilities that he had almost forgotten the important matter of university registration.

"Thank you. See you at Xinghai University in three days." He also sent back a Divine Thought carrying his gratitude and a clear response.

After replying, Lin Zhou began to combine the insights provided by Su Yueyao to re-examine and fine-tune his own time acceleration divine art model. At the same time, he also began to plan his schedule for the next three days: consolidating his True God Realm, becoming familiar with more True God-level basic divine arts, handling the backlog of affairs in the God Domain, and preparing for university registration... Having mastered the True God power of "Small-Scale Time Acceleration," Lin Zhou felt a bit more confident about the competitions, tasks, and even crises he might face at Xinghai University.

Time was on his side.