Chapter 38: Share Increases Sharply
The army returned to the Main Base, where all combat equipment was immediately sealed away, and the Clones who had been on combat duty once again returned to their respective homes, each finding their own mother.
The Clones that could not yet be controlled returned to the collective dormitory to rest, while the 21,000 controllable Clones immediately began resuming production.
Although the Monster Birds war yielded immense gains, it also caused Tom heavy losses.
Out of hundreds of peripheral bases, only 10 core bases survived; all the remaining bases were completely destroyed beyond recognition.
Of the original total of 150,000 Clones, more than half were lost in this war. Now, besides the 21,000 controllable Clones, only about 40,000 Clones remain as reserves.
Not only that, but all the supplies Tom had painstakingly accumulated over decades by controlling Clones for mining, smelting, planting, and breeding—supplies he had intended to save for when his control strengthened and Clone numbers further increased—were completely depleted in this war.
Though Tom had fought exhilaratingly before, the giant warehouses at the Main Base were now almost empty.
It was fortunate that there were no rats on Loshen Star. Otherwise, even rats would weep.
What Tom needed most urgently now was to immediately resume production.
Repairing peripheral bases, repairing railway lines, repairing the power grid, restarting mining, starting planting, starting breeding, stockpiling food...
At this point, the disadvantage of insufficient manpower became apparent once again.
It wasn’t that there weren’t enough Clones.
No matter how many Clones were lost, there were still 40,000 Clones available as reserves.
The problem was that Tom couldn’t control that many Clones simultaneously. Therefore, large-scale production recovery could only proceed at a slow pace that Tom found somewhat unbearable.
Tens of thousands of Clones were scattered across hundreds of sub-bases centered around the Main Base, toiling day and night without rest. Yet, Tom was filled with sighs.
"Alas, it’s still too slow... it will take at least one to two years to restore production to its original level. And before production is restored, developing technology will be impossible."
Tom felt helpless but could only endure this situation.
After enduring for one or two months, Tom gradually began to anticipate something.
The first batch of Clones, cultivated with Monster Birds body fluid as an additive, was about to be born!
At this moment, in the reproductive laboratory, dozens of Clones were on high alert.
Under Tom’s control, they meticulously monitored the instrument panels on the cultivation tanks, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.
Any abnormal reading would immediately trigger Tom’s direct intervention, with adjustments made at the fastest possible speed.
The sole objective was to ensure the embryos could grow successfully.
Under these circumstances, the day of the Clones’ birth finally arrived.
The culture fluid was carefully drained, and the Clones, still unconscious, were transported to the resting room.
After waiting for several hours, the first Clone slowly opened its eyes and regained consciousness.
Tom, already impatient, immediately extended his consciousness connection.
A wondrous sensation was instantly perceived by Tom.
It was a truly marvelous feeling, like a nearsighted person suddenly putting on glasses and the entire world becoming clear, or like someone with a severe cold whose mind was always foggy suddenly recovering their health and their brain’s operational capacity.
In just that instant, Tom clearly perceived that after "entering" this body, his basic brain functions such as thought processing speed, logical reasoning ability, mathematical calculation ability, and spatial perception ability had increased by at least 10%!
Although it was only 10%, this meant an increase in consciousness connection share of at least four times!
Based on previous experience, Tom carefully sensed and discovered that his current consciousness connection share had surged to at least 90,000 units!
It was at least 90,000! How much exactly, Tom couldn’t test it now due to the lack of sufficient Clones.
But even if it was only 90,000, that was completely enough!
At this very moment, he only had a total of just over 60,000 Clones in his hands.
These more than 60,000 Clones could finally all be put to use!
Tom was overjoyed and immediately extended the extra consciousness connection share to the Clones resting in the collective dormitory.
The next moment, the Clones, who had been lying blankly on their beds, simultaneously rose with renewed vigor, lined up in neat formations, and proceeded to the dormitory building exit, where they received their various equipment, then exited the building like a surging torrent.
Afterward, they divided into different teams and headed in various directions.
Wheat planting bases, rapeseed planting bases, rice planting bases, pig farms, cattle farms, aquaculture bases, Steel Plants, copper refineries, foundries, engine factories, power plants...
At this moment, all the Clones on Loshen Star were fully engaged in production recovery, with not a single Clone idle.
Even so, Tom could clearly feel that he still had at least 30,000 units of consciousness connection share vacant!
"Good stuff, truly good stuff..."
Tom looked with joy at the Monster Birds body fluid ice blocks, scavenged from the battlefield, in the giant warehouse, and at the captive Monster Birds, caged and recovering from their injuries...
"Limited by my current purification and separation technology, the Monster Birds body fluid I’m using is not pure.
Once I improve my technology in this area, or even make some active adjustments, the quality of the Clones will undoubtedly improve further. By then, I might be able to control 150,000, or even 200,000 Clones simultaneously!
In that case, factoring in Clones on rotation and reserve Clones, I would need at least a total of 1,000,000 Clones.
So... after restoring current production levels, I must immediately build a larger-scale Clone cultivation factory! With a cultivation cycle of half a year, each cycle must produce at least 50,000 Clones!"
The sheer size of a cultivation factory producing 100,000 Clones annually is unimaginable. Its area alone would probably need at least 100,000 square meters, and that’s even with multi-story construction.
The total land area for other necessary new supporting facilities, such as nutrient solution factories, power plants, power grids, food, drinking water, oxygen, and other factories, would likely exceed 10 million square meters, or 10 square kilometers.
A large square with sides of approximately 3.2 kilometers, entirely filled with buildings related to the Clone cultivation factory, would be needed to support such a factory.
But it doesn’t matter!
At this moment, Tom, simultaneously controlling over 60,000 Clones, was full of confidence.