"From the superweapon of an ancient Empire-level Civilization, domination of the Land of Stars is just within reach after obtaining it!"
"The corpse of a fallen Class A Life Form can easily reveal the secrets of evolution."
The regional network of the Land of Stars flooded with non-stop updates, bustling in the aftermath of the Red River Starfall.
From it, a vast amount of unrecognizable broken items wildly circulated throughout the Land of Stars.
Meanwhile, agents of collectors from various civilizations also came to acquire items during this period.
Many raiders would thus make a fortune, not needing to work for months, hence the headlines being incredibly exaggerated, though the items in the pictures were mostly unrecognizable.
Li Ming had also thought about seeing if he could snag a bargain, but he soon gave up that idea because the circulating items were too numerous, and he didn’t have time to identify them.
Floating Island 113 had dramatically changed, spontaneously stacking up numerous metal warehouses, about two meters high, with blue and white metal casings created by precise mechanical structures.
Most of them had multifunctional robotic arms; these tool arms could swiftly transition from laser cutters to powerful lifting devices to handle various complex work scenarios.
[Heavenly Crafts Series—Basic], this was a piece of engineering machinery that Li Ming had designed himself, not very sophisticated—still hydraulic-driven, and almost devoid of offensive capabilities.
Therefore, it only had an E-class rating. In designing it, Li Ming had directed it towards the development of complete mechanical bodies.
Therefore, the metal energy required for [Mechanical Construction] wasn’t much, just about double what was needed for control.
As for why to reconstruct those already mechanical bodies.
It was because Li Ming found that mechanical bodies constructed with professional abilities felt more like life forms than those programmed by designs.
No need for bottom-layer coding or commands, just vocal orders would suffice, possessing advanced data processing and strategic analysis capabilities, extremely high understanding ability, and immune to hacking.
Truly perfect tool beings, for which the consumption of some metal energy was worthwhile.
Two days later, Li Ming’s development progress had reached 25%, the forty-two-fold speed of development was quite significant as he had only improved 7% in nearly a month, and in this half a month, he had increased by 8%.
By mid-afternoon, the nebula coalesced, and the Land of Stars was enveloped in thin red stardust. Cassis arrived, this captain of the guard was brisk and efficient, coming to retrieve three things that Li Ming had repaired.
After carefully placing these three items into a box, Cassis then said, "Lord Azure Dragon, the Collector has instructed me to bring you to meet him, please pack up and leave with me."
"Hmm?" Li Ming was initially puzzled why Cassis hadn’t brought the next batch of items to be repaired, but then he suddenly understood.
"What’s the matter?" He inquired, "Why suddenly see me?"
Cassis’s expression was emotionless, "I’m not quite sure of the details either, just conveying the Collector’s orders. Please hurry up and don’t keep the Collector waiting."
Li Ming shook his head, "I have nothing to pack, let’s go."
Cassis hesitated slightly, and Li Ming followed him aboard a small flying craft, with two rows of guards closely following behind them.
Ulrich’s stronghold was in the center of Trading Island, covering an enormous area, it was a massive metal castle.
The glossy black shell reflected the sunlight, and its shape resembled numerous steel towers pieced together.
Tall metal spires pointed to the sky, architecture stark and angular with a precise and tight mechanical sense.
Beyond the large expanses of iron-gray, black and red paint along the edges extended, adding faint aesthetic touches to this solid castle.
Entering through a side door, the metal corridor was incredibly long, lined on both sides with many exquisite decorations, and even hung with large paintings or holographic projections.
Li Ming had already activated [Intelligent Assistance], memorizing every corner of this building.
They reached a large door deep in the castle, the slender and tall Huo Tan was already waiting there, taking three metal boxes from Cassis and nodding to Li Ming, "Follow me."
The massive metal door cracked open, immediately followed by a voice—
"Are you sure this item was obtained from the Red River Starfall?"
As they entered the great hall, Huo Tan gently waved his hand, signaling to stop for a moment, and the two stood in the corner.
Not far off, a figure stood with his back to them, clearly styled as a raider, dressed in a worn leather jacket with repeatedly repaired light armor underneath, a bald man.
"Collector, how could I deceive you? I indeed obtained this item from the Red River Starfall," the bald man repeatedly assured.
On the steps, a Mechanic stood next to Ulrich, extensively mechanically modified, with limbs consisting of mechanics, only the chest still flesh, more precisely, half-flesh.
Its heart part featured some kind of hexagram power engine, shimmering with blue light.
The opponent didn’t use mimicry skin, its surface reflecting a chilly metal luster, as if liquid metal solidified.
Above the neck, however, remained unmodified, his appearance stern, blue hair combed back, but his eyes were a pale blue, obviously modified too.
Li Ming felt a faint gaze sweep over him, his slender mechanical arms holding a rusty face mask that looked thoroughly corroded and red-brown in color.
"Such junk has no value," Ulrich spoke indifferently, his tone languidly unique.