[Status]: Holy Beast Blessing

...

As days passed by.

The flames of the Mechanical Spirit Cup have yet to officially ignite.

Yet the storm woven from anticipation, frenzy, and capital quietly swept through Coastal City, reaching every corner of this city under the watchful eyes of numerous giants.

In an era where networks are so advanced, the promotional system can precisely target advertisements to each individual.

And with the seemingly overwhelming promotional and advertising blitz, pushed by Coastal City's officials and sponsors and investors of the Mechanical Spirit Cup, this event, originally the highest honor within the mechanical spirit beast circle, has started to become universally known.

Besides those Spirit Masters with innate mechanical talents who have contracted mechanical spirit beasts, all Spirit Masters interested in mechanical spirit beasts and spiritual artifacts can be viewed as the audience or even potential audience for the Mechanical Spirit Cup.

Step by step, it sweeps in more people who were initially uninterested into this frenzy.

Almost no one knows why.

For ordinary Spirit Masters, it seems the wind has suddenly shifted.

On various forums in Yue Shui Province, analysis threads on the performance of new mechanisms for this competition, popular posts, can get tens of thousands of replies every day.

Countless Spirit Masters, and even researchers with nothing better to do, engage in heated debates citing sources, analyzing from materials science to the construction of spirit rune arrays, and discussing drivers and manufacturers' past achievements, as if they were the chief designers of these terrifyingly valuable war machines.

Related programs flood in similarly, countless interviews, explorations abound.

The entire Coastal City, even Yue Shui Province, is caught in this topic.

Now walking into the observation-commercial street of Sky Arena's dozen floors, casually sitting at an outdoor barbecue stall, you might witness a vendor tell his contractual partner to increase firepower, energetically flipping skewers while passionately debating with queued diners about who to bet on winning this season, whose odds are higher.

Even in a members-only restaurant hundreds of floors high, elegant Spirit Masters might swing their wine glasses elegantly while engaging in another discussion.

Whose mechanism is superior, and thus whose corporation's stock is likely to rise.

Every corner of the city, from students to vendors, from elites to gamblers, participates in this impending celebration of machinery and iron in their own way.

However…

Few delve into the true significance behind this phenomenon.

......…

December 30th.

Senran Studio.

Standing on the platform, Lin Guang looked down at his phone.

After nearly two months of disappearance, "This user does not exist" finally came online.

"Lin Guang brother, oh, sorry, just saw it... was busy stabilizing my realm before."

"Tower of Babel: Congratulations on breaking through to Six-Star."

"Haha, same joy, same joy, you surely won't be far behind, just a matter of years at most."

"I've found the materials you wanted."

"They're not particularly classified, just dug a bit deeper. Mainly my talent and true intent are a bit sensitive; upon breakthrough, got forcibly appointed to Coastal City's Celestial Secret Department, many eyes from BYD are on me, makes me wary of hacking those corporations' firewalls."

"File: Mechanical Spirit Cup contestant and data summary."

"Tower of Babel: Thanks."

"Tower of Babel: Speaking of which, this year's Mechanical Spirit Cup seems unexpectedly grand."

"Yeah, you must have noticed. This Mechanical Spirit Cup isn't just the usual small-scale commotion, it relates to the strategic layout of the entire Yue Shui Province and even Great Xia, many people are banking on this event to make money."

"Tower of Babel: I only guessed a bit, do you have more specifics?"

"Actually, it's not too complicated; under the guise of this year's Mechanical Spirit Cup, Great Xia's officials and military are likely to initiate some cooperative ventures with Federation Countries, developing industries related to mechanical spirit beasts and spiritual artifacts."

"Similarly, other somewhat larger surrounding countries, like Fusang, are also paying attention to this year's Mechanical Spirit Cup."

"After all, the biggest, most important thing in Coastal City is making money."

"Imagine how many business opportunities are involved, how much asset movement between countries, contract signings; such magnitude of wealth circulation and aggregation, I hear it even yields considerable benefits for the System."

"You should know, mechanical spiritual artifacts are best for mass-produced spiritual artifacts, especially those with strong interference resistance, they shine brightly on the Outer Battlefield, next comes orders for exporting mechanical spirit beasts, related industries."

"Comparatively, what we did before, though somewhat related, is just a prelude of prelude."

"By right, such a large-scale wave, someone like us who hasn't reached Six-Star Peak, neither too low nor high, can't do too much."

"...But Lin Guang brother, give me a hint, are you planning to participate?"

"Tower of Babel: How did you figure it out?"

"Your recent flow of spiritual materials and funds, quite substantial, when I use mystical techniques to observe Coastal City's trends, I can see quite clearly."

"Did you acquire Senran Studio?"