As for the Ancient Capital University's Mechanical Department, some had been transferred here against their will, while others genuinely loved mechanics but, because of poor grades, had only been admitted to the Ancient Capital University's Mechanical Department and failed to get into the Imperial Capital or Star Capital Universities.

After arriving at the Ancient Capital University, although its Mechanical Department was more than capable of teaching them, and its mechanical knowledge was more than they could finish learning in ten years, whenever they saw some highly influential mechanical achievement coming out of another school, and then looked at their own school, and then at the archaeological machinery research projects they themselves took part in, the Mechanical Department students of the Ancient Capital University could not help but sigh.

They were utterly at the bottom of the academic food chain among the various institutions' majors.

But today, they had sat through this year's Mechanical Conference in a state of complete stupefaction.

A thousand words, in the end, were distilled into a single cry: "Badass!!"

Faces flushed red, they all understood: this time, the Ancient Capital University's Mechanical Department was going to take off, just like the Beast Rearing Department and the Battle Department had taken off, and it was the same person who was going to make it take off — the big shot from the neighboring Archaeology Department, Shi Jin!!

Of course, at this moment, the students of the Ancient Capital University's Archaeology Department and Battle Department who had watched the Mechanical Conference, such as Yu Shu and Wang Ling, also wore extremely strange expressions, unable to comprehend it!! That beast Shi Tan — was he even human!!

Before long, as the Magic Capital University finished its presentation and barely managed to struggle along under the bright lights, the Mechanical Conference reached its intermission, during which news of the Mechanical Phantom Beasts spread and fermented like a tsunami!!!

Aki, the legendary mechanist from Kamikaze, left almost at the first instant and went to his own room.

He took a deep breath and took out a device bearing the mark of a mechanical fruit — a device that looked like an oversized phone and also like an undersized computer.

Dr. Aki activated the device directly.

At the same time.

Across the ocean, in this nation known by many names — the Land of Kamikaze, the Land of the Divine Eagle, the Land of Machines, the Land of Technology, the Land of Freedom — in a very special communications room, a young married woman with wine-red hair and pale skin unexpectedly answered the communication.

"Dr. Aki, what's happened?"

At present, due to the Totem Zone and various restrictions, the seven nations simply could not communicate normally by technological means, but what Dr. Aki was using now was the Kamikaze Kingdom's latest research fruit — even across two nations, a brief communication could be conducted, though it consumed enormous energy.

The liaison officer currently responsible for contacting Dr. Aki, seeing that Dr. Aki, who was far away in Donghuang on an exchange and study program, had suddenly activated this device, immediately realized that something major might have happened.

"Judy, listen to me first. Notify the Association first — gather the ancient fossils from all over the country. I'll sort out the specifics and send them to you."

"Huh??" The woman named Judy said in great surprise: "Dr. Aki, what on earth has happened?"

"Do as I say!" said Dr. Aki. Though Kamikaze did not currently possess the technology Shi Jin had, Shi Ying's invention had at least given them a line of thinking — with the Kamikaze Kingdom's technological strength, so much greater than Donghuang's, it was not necessarily impossible to replicate it!

Judy was first stunned, then suddenly thought of something: "Dr. Aki, could you... explain a little first?"

"What exactly did you discover?"

"Why are you asking so many damned questions!" Dr. Aki was growing anxious.

Judy said, dumbfounded: "Because, because the Donghuang exchange delegation that came to Kamikaze earlier bought up a very huge batch of ancient fossils from us, to take back as East Wind friendship commemoratives — quite a large batch..."

While Donghuang was purchasing large quantities of mechanical materials, it was also using other rare resources to trade for relatively low-value fossils, and Kamikaze was naturally delighted to oblige.

"???"

"Pfft." Dr. Aki's vision went black, and he nearly spat blood. To hell with your East Wind friendship — is that something a human being would do?

"This — this — how could you give them away!!!" he raged.

"Those are the core resources of an entirely new mechanical faction — enough to shake the existing landscape of the mechanical field!!"

"What?!!" The liaison officer Judy was dumbstruck.

Dr. Aki heaved a long sigh and said: "A Donghuang man by the name of Shi Ying — he, he has developed a new mechanical faction called Mechanical Phantom Beasts, which revives ancient life through ancient fossils. The core resource involved is ancient fossils!!!"

"It's all right. They can't possibly have bought them all up clean, and if worst comes to worst, we start a war with the Totem Kingdom and take them by force," Dr. Aki said after a deep breath.

Judy remained dumbstruck, unable to react, unable to understand what it was that had elicited such high praise from Dr. Aki, who looked down on the mechanical fields of other nations.

"Shi Jin?? Who is this person — a legendary mechanist of the Donghuang Kingdom? And reviving ancient life?" She was deeply baffled and shaken. Good Lord, was this not a miracle?

Dr. Aki shook his head and said: "This person... is just a twenty-year-old archaeologist."

That same day.

Within the Kamikaze Kingdom, numerous legendary mechanists were shaken, and the name of Shi Jin was carried abroad for the first time in a highly influential form.

They also issued an important mission to Dr. Aki, who was in Donghuang: he must win over and befriend this mechanical genius named Shi Ying, and exchange for the technology with Donghuang; the Kamikaze exchange delegation would set off for Donghuang immediately!

...

At present, during the intermission, Shi Jin was frantically busy.

Because the legendary Xiao Shuang, Brigadier Xiao Qin, Fang Lan's parents, and Fang Lan had all come running to find him, wanting to see the Mechanical Phantom Beasts.

Feng Jin, Hao Ling, and Grandma Li were naturally overjoyed throughout.

Feng Jin was overjoyed because the Ancient Capital University was about to take off again; Hao Ling because the Mechanical Department was about to take off, and on top of that she had contracted a Mechanical Phantom Beast — by Shi Ying's account, a Quetzalcoatlus fossil plus a Mechanical Phantom Beast embryo plus his own postnatal modifications meant that this mechanical Quetzalcoatlus could in the future absolutely reach the level of a hegemonic species! And this was, after all, the old lady's first pet beast with hegemonic potential!

As for Grandma Li, she might well be the biggest winner of all. She had always been the person with the largest fossil collection in the Donghuang Kingdom, the highest authority in the field of fossils — over sixty percent of the Donghuang Kingdom's rare fossils were in her hands — and with the Donghuang exchange delegation's massive purchase of foreign fossils two months earlier, she had taken off straight away as well.

Of course, they had all reaped the benefits, and Shi Jin, as the pioneer of this field, would certainly reap plenty of benefits afterward too.