313: Chapter 313 Tianheng Optimization

Two days later, the first batch of optimization results from Tianheng arrived.

Tao Zhe was in the Forward Base communications room. An encrypted video window was open on the screen in front of him.

Zhou Peide's face appeared on the screen, with two dark circles under his eyes. It looked like he really hadn't slept much these past two days.

But his eyes were bright, and he was speaking noticeably faster than usual.

'Let's start with the cultivation art itself.'

Zhou Peide shared a document onto the screen—the title read: *Beast Taming Art - Soul Link Node Optimization Report (First Edition)*.

'We've built mathematical models for all seventeen nodes of the soul link.'

A three-dimensional diagram popped up on the screen—two spheres connected by a winding line, with seventeen colored points marked along it.

'Perfected Lord Yushou's original sequence was arranged based on his own experience. The overall logic is sound, but Tianheng identified efficiency bottlenecks at four of the nodes.'

Four points on the diagram were highlighted in red.

'There's an unnecessary loop between the third and fourth nodes—spiritual energy takes a detour here, similar to the initial problem with *Rock-Shattering Strength*. After adjustment, the transmission efficiency of this path increases by twenty percent.'

'The position of the seventh node is off. In the original art, this anchor point was established on the outer layer of the beast's soul's 'emotional layer.' However, Tianheng's model shows that moving it inward by 0.3 units, precisely at the junction between the emotional and instinctual layers, doubles the anchor point's stability.'

'The sequence of the eleventh and fifteenth nodes is reversed.' Zhou Peide pulled up a set of comparative curves. 'The original order is eleventh then fifteenth, but from the perspective of spiritual energy fluid dynamics, completing the fifteenth first and then circling back to supplement the eleventh reduces overall energy loss by fifteen percent.'

'The most crucial discovery is in the 'silent zone'.'

The 3D diagram on the screen zoomed in on the area between the ninth and twelfth nodes.

'Perfected Lord Yushou's method was to pause spiritual energy output and wait for the beast's own response. After running over three thousand simulations, Tianheng found that completely halting spiritual energy in this phase is not the optimal strategy.'

'A better method is to continuously output a minimal amount of spiritual energy at an extremely low frequency.' Zhou Peide gestured with his hand. 'Like a heartbeat, one pulse after another, at a frequency of about three percent of the normal spiritual energy output.'

'What effect does this 'heartbeat pulse' have?' Tao Zhe asked.

'It doesn't trigger the beast's soul resistance—because the output is too small, below the beast's perception threshold. But it leaves a series of faint spiritual energy imprints in the silent zone, like dripping ink into water. When the beast's soul begins to respond, its response signal can follow these imprints for direction, instead of groping blindly in the dark.'

'How much can the waiting time be shortened?'

'Perfected Lord Yushou's notes record waiting times ranging from a few minutes to half an hour. After adding the heartbeat pulse, Tianheng's simulation results show the average waiting time drops to within ninety seconds.'

'The entire linking process is compressed from the originally estimated two to three hours down to forty minutes.'

Tao Zhe jotted down a few notes on paper. 'Anything else?'

'One more thing.' Zhou Peide switched to a new diagram. 'Tianheng discovered that at the very instant the soul link is fully established—the moment all seventeen nodes are connected—a brief resonance peak occurs in the spiritual energy of both parties. It lasts about 0.3 seconds.'

'If the martial artist can increase spiritual energy output within these 0.3 seconds, flooding the entire link channel, the initial stability of the link improves by an order of magnitude. If this window is missed, the link can still be established, but its initial stability will only be one-third to one-fourth of the former.'

'0.3 seconds,' Tao Zhe repeated. 'Ordinary martial artists can't seize that.'

'Correct. That's the advantage of SSS-grade Root Bone—their spiritual energy output precision and reaction speed are sufficient. S-grade can barely manage. Those below A-grade basically have no chance.'

Tao Zhe put down his pen. 'Finished with the cultivation art?'

'The art is done. Next is the matching algorithm.'

Zhou Peide switched to a new set of data.

'Perfected Lord Yushou had over a dozen screening criteria, but after Tianheng ran correlation analysis, it found that only two core variables truly determine the success rate of the link.'

He held up two fingers.

'First, the resonance frequency of spiritual energy attributes. The martial artist's and the beast's spiritual energy attributes need to be 'in tune' within a certain range. A lightning-attributed martial artist has the highest resonance frequency with lightning or metal-attributed beasts, and the lowest with water or wood-attributed ones. An ice-attributed martial artist pairs best with water and wind-attributed beasts.'

'Second, the ratio of divine sense strength to the beast's spiritual intelligence. This ratio must be greater than three to one—the martial artist's divine sense must be at least three times the beast's spiritual intelligence. Otherwise, there's a risk of backlash during the linking process. The larger the ratio, the safer, but after exceeding ten to one, the feedback effect begins to diminish. The optimal range is between three-to-one and eight-to-one.'

Tao Zhe digested this for a couple of seconds. 'So the core problem of matching is—how to quantify these two variables.'

'Right. The martial artist's side is easy. The Root Bone detector can already measure spiritual energy attributes and divine sense strength. The beast's side—' Zhou Peide adjusted his glasses, '—we need a new device.'

'A beast compatibility detector,' Tao Zhe said.

'The principle is the same as the Root Bone detector. Use spiritual energy pulses to probe the beast's soul core, reading its spiritual energy attribute, spiritual intelligence level, and bloodline information. Then perform matching calculations with the martial artist's data and output a compatibility percentage.'

'Can it be built?'

'Yes. The core architecture of the Root Bone detector doesn't need changing. We just need to recalibrate the parameters of the spiritual energy pulses to adapt them to the beast's soul structure.' Zhou Peide thought for a moment. 'Give me a week.'

'Alright,' Tao Zhe said. 'But I have one request—before the detector is built, run the data for one person for me first.'

'Who?'

'Chen Rong.'

Zhou Peide typed on his keyboard for a few moments. 'He's in the database. SSS-grade Root Bone, lightning attribute, Foundation Establishment Stage, divine sense strength over four times that of martial artists at the same stage.'

'Can Tianheng give him a recommended matching parameter based on the existing model?'

'Wait a moment.'

It was quiet on the other side of the screen for about half a minute; the sound of Zhou Peide's keyboard could be heard.

'Got it,' he said. 'Tianheng's suggestion: Chen Rong is most suited to tame high-tier beasts of lightning or metal attribute. Beasts below the third tier have too low spiritual intelligence; the feedback after linking would be limited. Fourth tier is recommended. The optimal divine sense ratio is between four-to-one and six-to-one.'

Tao Zhe noted these numbers in his notebook.

'I'll report to Group Leader Su later.'

He ended the video call, took out his phone, and dialed Su Mingyuan's number.

Su Mingyuan was at the Victory Pit, watching the first cartload of skyfall steel fragments being transported up from the pit floor.

The sound of cutting saws came through the phone, forcing Tao Zhe to turn up the volume to hear Su Mingyuan clearly.

He briefly summarized Tianheng's optimization results and the matching parameters.

After listening on the other end, Su Mingyuan asked, 'Remember the fourth-tier beast that escaped during the Black Wind Ridge cleanup?'

'I remember. Thunder Leopard, code BL-001, silver-gray, very fast, exhibits electrical discharge.'

'Which direction did it run?'

'Northeast. Tianheng's database has a record. I'll pull it up later.'

'Pull it up,' Su Mingyuan said. 'And have Tianheng calculate its likely activity range.'

The call ended.

Tao Zhe sat in the communications room, looking at the numbers he had written in his notebook.

The *Beast Taming Art* optimization was complete. The matching parameters were set. The target beast was identified.

Only one step remained.

But before that, there was still one jade slip he hadn't read.