Chapter 186 - 185: Metamorphosis

Li Qingsong knew that the Quantum Supercomputer he had just built was far from perfect.

It was too large, consumed too much energy, generated excessive heat, and its computing power wasn’t even that high. Furthermore, it had only achieved a quantum advantage in specific fields like AI training, data searching, and physical simulations. In many other areas, its processing power still lagged behind traditional electronic computers.

Quantum advantage simply meant that in a given field, a quantum computer outperformed an electronic one.

Clearly, quantum computers couldn’t operate independently—at least not yet.

They needed to be integrated with electronic computers to offset their weaknesses while leveraging their strengths.

Li Qingsong had known this for a long time. The Blutuk Civilization’s path to developing quantum computers had been the same.

By now, Li Qingsong’s quantum computing technology had caught up to that of the Blutuk Civilization, though the number of fields where he had achieved a quantum advantage was still limited.

But...

’For now, it’s enough!’

’As long as it’s enough for now, that’s all that matters! Future upgrades and refinements can wait. At the very least, it can now handle the tasks I need it to!’

Once the technology was finalized, Li Qingsong wasted no time and immediately initiated massive construction projects across the various planets of the Oriental Star System.

For the first batch, Li Qingsong planned to build ten thousand hybrid quantum-electronic supercomputers!

The AI training and processing that Li Qingsong prioritized would be handled by the quantum computing modules, allowing every AI under his command to receive a massive performance boost. Other tasks could be offloaded to the 2-nanometer electronic computing modules. By combining the two, the overall performance would increase more than tenfold!

With the most mentally taxing phase of quantum computer research temporarily concluded, a vast amount of his mental capacity was immediately redirected toward construction and production.

In just a few short months, the ten thousand Quantum Supercomputing Bases—a new foundational infrastructure—were completed.

Prior to this, Li Qingsong had already used a newly developed quantum programming language to completely refactor the entire codebase of the Divine Craft AI.

Now, the Divine Craft AI—completely transformed, as if reborn from the ashes—possessed a new "body" specifically designed and built to match its new form.

Powered by dedicated supply lines, the colossal Quantum Supercomputers began to whir to life.

In that instant, Li Qingsong viscerally felt the Divine Craft AI’s metamorphosis.

Within the countless factories, the intelligent machines—which had previously required constant, real-time monitoring and decision-making from the Clones to function—suddenly seemed to gain minds of their own. They began to collaborate autonomously, deciding their next steps without needing any commands from the Clones, as if they truly possessed their own intelligence.

Even when faced with unprecedented accidents, the system no longer simply reported the issue and awaited a decision from the Clones. Instead, it learned to think and reason on its own, drawing upon its existing theoretical knowledge to find solutions.

For complex systems engineering—such as running an entire factory, managing a massive construction site, optimizing the overall power grid, or coordinating the docking, unloading, connecting, and maneuvering of tens of thousands of heavy transport ships within the Oriental Star System—the number of Clones required plummeted. The Divine Craft AI could now resolve the vast majority of these problems on its own.

At this moment, the Divine Craft AI no longer seemed like a mere artificial intelligence. It was now like a true, self-aware life form, brimming with wisdom.

Of course, Li Qingsong knew this was merely an illusion. Even if the Divine Craft AI’s capabilities were to increase a thousandfold, it would never become a true, strong AI. It could never possess genuine consciousness.

Every decision it made, every calculation it performed, was still rooted in the underlying mathematics, following a clear and discernible computational logic.

Fundamentally, it was still just a program.

But the massive leap in its degree of intelligence was an undeniable fact.

And this increased intelligence meant it could take on more varied and complex tasks, which in turn meant it could save him even more mental energy!

From Li Qingsong’s perspective, intelligent programs acted as a multiplier, amplifying his own capabilities.

If his one billion Clones initially possessed an industrial strength of, say, 10, the previous version of the Divine Craft AI, which ran on electronic computers, had already amplified that strength a hundredfold to 1,000.

But now, the introduction of Quantum Computers could cause the Divine Craft AI’s multiplication factor to skyrocket to ten thousand, or even higher!

Compared to before, the deployment of Quantum Computers alone had increased his overall industrial strength by more than tenfold!

Li Qingsong knew that this kind of multiplicative amplification was, in fact, true for any civilization in the Cosmos.

It had been true for the former Human Civilization, and it was true for the Blutuk Civilization as well.

The Blutuk Civilization had also experienced a surge of rapid development after they began using Quantum Computers.

This, in itself, was nothing special.

However, Li Qingsong held a unique advantage within this paradigm.

With a given level of technology, the introduction of Quantum Computers provides a fixed multiplier for industrial strength.

For example, if the current enhancement multiplier from quantum computers was ten thousand, it would be ten thousand for Li Qingsong, and it would also be ten thousand for the Blutuk Civilization.

But one must not forget that Li Qingsong’s own foundational industrial strength—built on factors like zero internal friction, cost-free communication, and real-time coordination—was already far beyond that of an ordinary civilization.

Disregarding the multiplier from Quantum Computers, if an ordinary Electroweak Civilization had a base industrial strength of 10, Li Qingsong’s base was at least 100.

Magnifying 10 by ten thousand equals one hundred thousand. Magnifying 100 by ten thousand equals one million.

An ordinary Electroweak Civilization, after introducing Quantum Computers, would see its industrial strength increase by ninety thousand. Li Qingsong, however, would see an increase of nine hundred thousand. With the same technology and the same multiplier, Li Qingsong achieved a far greater absolute gain.

Right now, Li Qingsong’s maximum number of connected consciousnesses hadn’t increased in the slightest, yet his industrial strength had skyrocketed more than tenfold out of thin air.

Because the Divine Craft AI’s intelligence had been upgraded, the amount of work a single Clone could accomplish for the same amount of effort had also increased more than tenfold. This was naturally reflected in his overall industrial strength.

Now, the monumental construction task that had once seemed daunting even to Li Qingsong no longer felt so unattainable.

’Then... let the construction begin! Within twenty-five years, I will build an interstellar migration fleet twenty times larger than the last one! After that, we’ll take sufficient resources, bring all the major scientific apparatus, and continue our research while we flee!’