Chapter 302 High-Orbit Industrial Chain and Selection of Spacefaring Monks

Forty-eight hours have passed since the first rough piece was cut.

Inside the temporary vacuum cutting zone set up outside the main platform, miniature star nodes maintained a "slow flow field" around the cutting point. Old Liu, wearing a high-pressure protective suit, was operating a heavy-duty robotic arm. At the very tip of the robotic arm was the dark blue short blade that had been cold-forged yesterday.

With the support of the array and the guidance of a trace of stellar energy, this stellar short blade of the same origin exhibited astonishing cutting efficiency.

laugh--!

When the short blade cut into the dense, dark blue metallic base of the Peregrine-07, it encountered no insurmountable physical obstacles. The homogeneous properties of the stellar energy perfectly counteracted the cold pressure of the meteorite's repulsion of the active spiritual energy, making the cutting process exceptionally smooth.

A piece of starry sky material, about two meters long and weighing several hundred kilograms, was completely peeled off. The auxiliary robotic arm quickly stepped forward, precisely gripped it, and sent it to the primary cold forging area behind for impurity removal and shaping. After that, it was marked with a number and sealed in a specially made pressure-resistant heavy-duty box.

Inside the main platform's orbital dock.

When the first batch of astronomical materials was sent out, the calm, dark blue metallic luster caught the eye of the head of the high-orbit materials team. This old engineer, whose hair had turned white from worry for half a month because the "surface supply line was on the verge of being cut off," instantly became excited.

"Send it directly into the vacuum cold forging press!" he roared into the communicator, his voice trembling. "Finally, we have replacement materials for the three damaged high-orbit array bases on the main platform's perimeter, and the pressure-resistant keel for the next-generation heavy-load transport module!"

It was a tiny incision, but for the high-orbit defense line, which was short of materials, it was the first real breath of oxygen that did not have to rely on surface aid.

However, just as this grand industrial loop was about to close, another engineering bottleneck emerged.

Inside the main platform's medical cabin, Lao Liu was lying on a pressure bed, regulating his breathing, while a medical cultivator was soothing the meridians in his right arm.

"Mr. Lin, this knife is really good. It cuts raw materials like tofu." Old Liu sighed, "But the brothers really can't work non-stop like this."

Lin Feng stood by the bed, looking at the overdrawn spiritual energy data on Lao Liu's monitor, and knew very well where the problem lay.

Cutting has indeed become easier, but "space mining" is never just about cutting and finishing. Controlling a heavy robotic arm in a microgravity environment, the recoil force generated when the blade cuts into the raw material has nowhere to be unloaded in a vacuum. The operator has to use their own vital energy and meridians to forcibly absorb and stabilize the chassis.

Cutting a stone is easy, but cutting a hundred pieces in a day, with its fine yet continuous shockwaves, is enough to cause internal injuries to the meridians of an ordinary engineering cultivator.

What troubled Lin Feng even more was the subsequent cold forging process.

The two high-level weapon refiners who were specially brought up from the surface yesterday are now sitting in the rest area with their eyes closed, resting their minds, their brows furrowed.

As monks, they had no problem adapting to the vacuum and cosmic rays, and could even survive short periods of breathlessness in space. But when they actually stood in front of the cold forging table, they encountered serious "professional culture shock".

Surface crafting emphasizes using gravity to guide the flow of energy and relying on the atmospheric environment to control the temperature and spiritual pressure.

However, in a weightless environment, while their divine sense could still perceive the smallest details with precision, their long-cultivated surface-based weapon-forging techniques and muscle memory became the biggest obstacle.

Without the buffer of atmospheric drag and gravity, their habitual use of true energy to carve micron-level high-orbit pressure array patterns often results in a slight deviation of the carving tool due to the lack of a stress relief point.

This is not due to insufficient cultivation, but rather because long-standing "experience" has become ineffective in the space environment.

......

On the ground, in the Kyoto Joint Control Room.

After listening to Lin Feng's report, the military generals and representatives from various departments on both sides of the long table fell into deep thought.

"The situation is very clear." Wang Mingyuan placed his hands on the table and scanned the entire room. "The mining and cold forging of the Peregrine-07 has exposed the limitations of our old personnel classification system."

Wang Mingyuan pushed a document onto the holographic screen.

"Golden Core cultivators can provide emergency relief and break through obstacles, but we cannot keep the nation's most important equipment on the mine surface year after year; the top weapon refiners on the surface have profound cultivation, but their technical habits are difficult to adapt to zero gravity and vacuum cold pressure in a short period of time. The traditional cultivation world's 'theory of only realms' cannot be directly applied to space heavy industry."

"From today onwards, a completely new sequence will be established."

On the large screen, four cold, hard Chinese characters lit up:

【Space Monk】

"They don't need to have strong combat power, nor do they need the creativity of a master craftsman. What they need is extremely strong environmental adaptability, and the ability to control their true essence as stably as a precision instrument even under microgravity, high radiation, and the cold pressure of space."

Wang Mingyuan made the final decision: "For the high-orbit industrial chain to get running, we need the first generation of space craftsmen who truly integrate cultivation civilization and aerospace engineering."

A high-orbit adaptability screening for all monks in the alliance was quickly launched at the large-scale vacuum weightlessness simulation training base near the ground defense line.

The purpose of testing is not to eliminate the weak, but to find the "fit".

Inside the simulation chamber, a renowned swordsman on the surface was conducting a "zero-gravity array inscription" test. His cultivation was solid, and he remained unfazed by the simulated high-frequency radiation. However, accustomed to the force of gravity on the surface, a slight backlash of true energy the moment the inscription blade struck caused him to lose his balance.

In order to stabilize his posture, he instinctively unleashed even stronger sword energy, which resulted in uneven force distribution throughout the spiritual energy circulation, causing the array plate to be destroyed on the spot.

He exited the simulator somewhat frustrated. He was strong, but in space, this habitual burst of power became a hindrance to his engineering work.

In the adjacent cabin number seven, however, the scene appeared unusually stable.

Inside the cabin was a middle-aged cultivator named Chen Shi, whose spiritual sense had a very small coverage area due to his "pseudo-spiritual root" on the surface, and who could only perform assembly line repairs at the bottom of the Array Academy.

Chen Shi did not release any dazzling internal energy. Instead, he transformed the faint but extremely resilient true essence within his body into several dark currents, which precisely adhered to fixed nodes on the cabin wall, perfectly counteracting the drift caused by the weightless environment.

Under simulated freezing pressure, his eyes were closed, his breathing deep and even. The carving knife in his hand was as steady as a rock. Because his true energy output power was low, the recoil force was minimized in the weightless environment. He meticulously cut the high-density alloy, completing a micro-carving of a high-orbit heavy-pressure array.

Throughout the entire process, the heart rate never exceeded 70, and the pattern error was no more than one micrometer.

On the control panel, Lin Feng watched Chen Shi's almost machine-like precision movements on the screen and made annotations directly on the list.

"Chen Shi has been included in the first batch of astronaut training students. He will begin his first round of high-orbit cold forging practical training tomorrow."

The first batch of prospective astronaut monks was finalized after extremely precise screening, with fewer than eighty people selected.

The three directions—escort combat, engineering mining, and array cold forging—each have their own emphasis. This list doesn't include many powerful cultivators. It primarily consists of cultivators like Chen Shi, who remain unassuming on the surface but possess unique talents in resilience, endurance, and low-energy micro-management.

Space cultivators are not simply a transfer from the existing list of powerful figures. They are a new branch that naturally branched out as the cultivation system extended into deep space.

The scene then cuts back to the sky, 200 kilometers away.

A second-generation heavy-load transport capsule, fully loaded with the first batch of prospective astronauts and components for the surface-level precision array, was spewing flames as it broke through the ionosphere and steadily headed toward the main platform.

Meanwhile, in the No. 2 circular dock of the high-orbit shipyard, the first set of pressure-resistant keels, entirely cold-forged from starry sky materials, has been successfully assembled.

The Peregrine-07 is no longer an insurmountable obstacle. The cutting area, cold forging table, and transfer port on the main platform will soon be stitched together by this new group of talents into a truly integrated industrial track.

......