Ten thousand I am across the heavens

The most basic mechanics can only perform hardware repairs. They can be relied upon to repair engineering machinery, and repair or weld deformed or damaged parts.

The technical difficulty involved is actually quite low. It's at a level where most mechanics are. Even though their work isn't particularly technically demanding, their status in this city is still a notch higher than that of ordinary Gu Masters.

Even a novice mechanic can experience a significant boost in strength when using mechanical creations in combat. While others can also use machines in battle, any damage requires replacement after the fight. For a mechanic, however, hardware damage is easily repaired. It's as if the machine has self-repair capabilities, essentially a self-healing system.

Skills like overclocking machinery are unique to them. This is why mechanics hold a superior status. At least in urban environments, they have a significant advantage. Even without considering combat, their life skills still provide a substantial boost.

Many people wear prosthetic limbs and need them to be repaired if they are damaged in their daily lives.

Compared to the most basic Level 1 limit, the Level 2 mechanic requires much more skill. Level 2 mechanics have a certain improvement in the precision control of machinery, but not much. It is roughly an improvement from millimeter-level precision to 0.1mm. This order of magnitude improvement still basically only allows them to repair hardware.

Level 2 mechanics primarily gain enhancements in their manipulation of organic matter. Their abilities allow them to create liquids needed in a range of mechanical devices, such as coolants and lubricants. They can also synthesize batteries and other devices that require chemical reactions to release energy. Furthermore, they can directly synthesize various types of organic matter, including high-efficiency fuels and rocket propellant.

This ability gives them a significant advantage when piloting mechanical vehicles. They can greatly enhance the explosive power of machinery by changing fuel or lubricating fluid. In terms of repair and manufacturing, they gain the ability to repair batteries and create new power sources or engines. They are also better at repairing worn equipment; after all, the wear and tear that is difficult for level 1 mechanics to repair becomes effortless for them with higher precision.

Reaching this level is where the main difference between them and ordinary cultivators becomes apparent, and the main mechanics recruited by major shops are also at level 2. A mechanic at this level is basically capable of leading a small company and becoming a core member.

A large number of mechanical prosthetics are produced by these small companies. Level 2 mechanics are already proficient in using hydraulic devices and skillfully assembling different machines to design and manufacture their own automated production lines, which is a major reason why they differ from conventional support professions.

Conventional support professions, whether it's alchemy, poison making, or crafting disposable items, are ultimately individual endeavors, relying on personal strength.

The role of a mechanic is coordination—coordinating a large number of people within a miniature industrial system. How to establish a production line? That's precisely the job of a mechanic.

Relying on their own abilities, they could probably only produce four or five pieces of machinery a day, and it would be quite exhausting. They had to find a way to break down the less difficult-to-produce parts into different processes and then delegate the production to ordinary people.

That's not all. Ordinary workers also need to be trained, understanding why production is done this way and how to meet standards. For steps that are difficult for ordinary workers to perform, mechanics need to provide assistance. For example, when precision is insufficient, the mechanics need to compensate using their own skills.

In this way, the production capacity of a factory with one mechanic will increase to ten or even a hundred times the normal level. With such output, they will be able to establish their own company and build their own factory.

Mechanics with the same technical skills can create companies and factories with vastly different capabilities. This is because while their skills may be similar, the workers they recruit and their factory management abilities will vary. This is a profession that cannot rely solely on one's own strength. It's not that the better one's skills, the more efficient the factory will be.

Instead, they need to find ways to delegate tasks. It's impossible to do everything personally; delegating tasks and responsibilities, and establishing a sound reward and accountability mechanism, is essential for the factory to operate more efficiently. This also means that during the factory's operation, the skills of ordinary workers and those in technical management positions will be cultivated and improved.

After personally visiting several factories to learn the ropes, Dao Tian had gained a new understanding of this entirely new professional system. With his current reconnaissance abilities, he could spy on targets whose strength was at the second stage of advancement without being detected. Even if the targets had their own methods of concealment, they were still no match for him.

"From this perspective, Level 3 Mechanic is a watershed moment. I just spied on so many company factories and didn't see a single Level 3 Mechanic. It seems that this level belongs to the upper echelons of the city."

Indeed, in his observation, many Level 2 Mechanics had already reached the third rank in their cultivation, but they were unable to advance to Level 3. This was partly due to a lack of certain Gu worms, and partly because their knowledge and skills were insufficient to reach that level.

"According to the information on the internet, a Level 3 Mechanic requires a significant improvement in precision, several orders of magnitude. They can also control a larger number of chemical substances simultaneously, possessing the ability to catalyze chemical reactions. Based on the description, this suggests the ability to manufacture chips. However, the performance of these chips is likely very low, vastly different from the chips in the prosthetic limbs these people use. The computational power difference is tens of thousands of times. Clearly, a large number of high-precision chips must be manufactured by Level 4 or even higher-level Mechanics. It's a bit intriguing; what are the requirements for a Level 3 Mechanic? They don't seem particularly special. The catalytic dependence on chemical reactions can be achieved by certain Gu worms. What's the difficulty that's holding so many people back? Is it the precision issue? That's indeed a problem. Following their development path, although they've realized the importance of adjusting their physical growth and development to organize their Dao traces, they haven't accumulated enough experience in production practice to embark on this path. They still rely more on practicing adjusting the Gu worms within their bodies, combining them, and utilizing their ability to multitask to increase their control over precision."

If that's the case, increasing precision by three orders of magnitude, or even more, from millimeter-level to micrometer-level precision in one go is incredibly difficult. There's no information on this online; it's likely classified. However, if I'm not mistaken, further improvements in precision will probably be achieved mechanically.

Level 3 Mechanic is the biggest hurdle to advancement, likely due to the mechanics' own confidentiality principles and the differences in individual physical conditions.

For someone like me with an extremely balanced physique, advancing to Level 3 Mechanic should be effortless, requiring no special equipment or even the creation of a unique machine. However, for others aiming for advancement, without perfectly regulating their internal Dao traces, they'd likely need to craft a custom-made suit that seamlessly integrates with their body to enhance operational precision. This explains why many Mechanics are stuck at this hurdle. Each person's physical condition is different, requiring precise measurements of their own state to create such a suit. The difficulty of crafting such a suit varies depending on individual physical conditions. If the internal Dao traces are too mixed and unrefined, and further disrupted by the use of unorthodox methods, the difficulty of acquiring the necessary auxiliary equipment would increase by several orders of magnitude. Such individuals would likely need to cleanse their internal Dao traces before achieving advancement.

Based on my observations, Level 2 Mechanics are at a stage where they expand their abilities in various ways. These individuals seem to be able to break through level limitations and reach the level of Level 3 Mechanics in certain areas by installing modules or similar methods.

For example, the ability to catalyze chemical reactions can be directly granted through a set of unorthodox Gu worms. In addition, the ability to separate air, sense temperature, see through objects visually, detect internal cracks in materials using sound waves, repair cracks through resonance, and adjust the stress distribution within metals can all be acquired in advance by installing different Gu worms and different combination modules on oneself.

However, this will undoubtedly cause the Dao traces on an individual to become chaotic, with light, lightning, fire, force, and sound Dao traces all mixed together and intertwined. They influence each other, weakening their respective effects. It's fortunate that the Mechanic doesn't prioritize individual output power. Some attrition during ability activation isn't a major problem; otherwise, with such a chaotic mix, survival among those of the same cultivation level would be impossible outside of this city. In a real fight, their combat power might even be inferior to someone a level lower.

Given their physical condition, creating their own work clothes to improve precision is practically a pipe dream. Even if I were to design them, I probably couldn't manage to organize such a chaotic system of Dao traces. The costs I would incur and the benefits I would gain are simply not on the same level.

However, these expanded module capabilities are probably not so easy to discard.

After all, these are their livelihoods, their means of making a living. Losing these skills would likely lead to the collapse of their company and factory. The hard-earned foundation would be lost, and how many people would be willing to give up everything they have and start from scratch to seek advancement?

Many people, in their competition with others, constantly pile on extra skills, improving their current abilities while simultaneously cutting off their own paths to advancement. Ultimately, this leads to an unmanageable situation, where they remain stuck at their current level for life.

As Dao Tian observed, he marveled at how interesting the social structure of this city was, and at the same time, he felt a strong urge to challenge himself to become the fastest-promoting mechanic.

This city possesses a vast amount of resources. If one could advance to a Level 3 Mechanic, their influence would allow them to mobilize a significant amount of resources. Considering the scale of the city's development and its relatively superior position among surrounding cities, it's likely either because a powerful immortal resides here, or because its industrial system has reached its peak, enabling it to rival some ordinary immortals to a certain extent. Given this power, by making certain compromises and exchanges of benefits, they could achieve parity with some immortals, thus maintaining the town's operation.

If such a level hadn't been reached, logically speaking, this bustling city should have already suffered a brutal harvest. Immortals don't consider mortals to be the same species as themselves. They wouldn't show any mercy when harvesting them.

This means that if he could rise to a sufficiently high position and take away the town's important resources, he might even gain strength comparable to an immortal for a short period. Under these circumstances, his chances of successfully smuggling himself across would greatly increase, and probably no one would be able to stop him along the way. After all, this is ultimately just a trivial matter in the mortal realm. Ninety-nine percent of the immortals have been dragged to the southern battlefield, forced to deal with the Spring Offensive of the Mountain and River Republic, and it's unlikely that anyone would bother with such trivial matters.

"Hmm... In that case, let's try joining the Mechanic Guild. I don't know how to register as a mechanic. This city is still too young and doesn't seem to have its own mature education system. Apart from a few mechanics with apprenticeships, most seem to be self-taught."

"I wonder if I can pass the Level 1 Mechanic exam at the Mechanic's Guild without any preparation, given my current skill level? It shouldn't be a problem. After all, I should be able to do all the skills described online now." Dao Tian pondered his next plan, his steps already leading towards the Mechanic's Guild, nestled amidst the neon-lit buildings.

[To be continued]

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