This is really not mechanical ascension-Chapter 1408 - 718: Wandering Era—Continuous Enhancement
"Even faster than predicted, it’s only been half a year..."
Alves stood in front of the massive virtual screen, observing the scene. It appeared to be a star system outside, gradually shrouded by gray-black fog, rapidly expanding outward.
Various strange warships could be vaguely seen among them.
Before evacuating, civilizations left observation stations along the way to determine the situation thereafter.
"Based on this time estimate, it won’t be long before it spreads to our former territories." Alves sighed, turning to the three beside him: "Are you sure the Abyss Fog won’t expand to every corner of the Universe?"
"That’s certain." Char nodded firmly, "In the clear records, the Abyss Fog only spread to at most one-tenth of the known Universe’s territory."
"Even though many things have happened in this Evolution Era that don’t follow the rules, the Main Universe won’t allow it to expand too much; it would cause instinctive resistance."
"That’s good." Malcolm nodded beside him, with Abel and Antigo present. This was an interstellar high-level meeting.
Char reminded: "I suggest you dispatch a pioneering team to the designated area to open a Star Gate, then use the Star Gate for long-distance jumps; otherwise, such a large fleet would travel too slowly."
"We’re already doing that." Malcolm nodded, but Antigo couldn’t help but sigh, looking at the screen.
The scene had zoomed out, presenting an abstract map of interstellar territory, and he couldn’t help but say: "I wonder if there’s any chance to return."
Return?
Char couldn’t help but look at the three, who seemed quite unwilling.
He had long believed they should evacuate; now it’s somewhat late.
Still hoping to return, such... foolishness.
"By the way, Lord Char, are there any remnants of earlier evolutionary civilizations at the Universe’s edge?" Malcolm inquired.
"This..." Char pondered, "I’m not too sure. The Universe is constantly expanding, and no one knows where the edge is, as for other evolutionary civilization remnants..."
His voice gradually drifted away, like the vast, unbounded wandering fleet advancing toward further distances in the Universe.
In the desolate Starfield, time seemed almost imperceptible as it passed; the Wandering Fleet wasn’t unified, with many civilizations departing to avoid being swallowed by the Three Great Civilizations and only engaging in routine communication.
Eventually, even routine communication diminished. From the start of the interstellar wandering era, they adopted a new era algorithm.
Since the issuance of a joint announcement, it was marked as the first year of the Wandering Era.
It was now the fourth year of the Wandering Era, and the massive fleet carrying interstellar citizens had undergone a long voyage, gradually forming a new ecosystem.
"Please note--the artificial sun is about to extinguish. To conserve energy, all citizens please return to your cabins."
The cold voice resonated in the fortress space, with life forms traversing the crisscrossing metal corridors, their expressions not too pleasant.
Thick trees grew from the lower space, being the only greenery.
"Damn it, shortening the artificial sun from twelve hours to eight is one thing, but now not even giving moonlight?" a young man cursed, but could only reluctantly return to his living cabin.
As an ordinary citizen, he only lived in a bunk cabin with less than fifty centimeters in height, equipped with an LCD screen embedded in the ceiling for entertainment.
Out of the twenty-four hours a day, at least sixteen hours were filled with advertisements, leaving only eight hours for personal use.
"...According to the pioneering team, a new habitable planet has been discovered ahead. If you wish to disembark, please submit your application promptly..."
The screen was broadcasting the news, and he couldn’t help but snort coldly: "Applying, the application numbers are TM queued up to dozens of digits later."
Despite saying so, he couldn’t resist clicking the application button.
Though it’s only the fourth year of the Wandering Era, the days living under a blue sky had already become a blur.
Perhaps soon, they won’t even appear in dreams.
...
Meanwhile, aboard a drifting starship in the unknown starry sky.
Li Ming’s body surged with boiling energy particles, gradually swallowed by his skin and hidden within.
He slowly opened his eyes, with a fleeting stir of hidden tension in them.
Taking a deep breath, Li Ming calmed his mood; his heart rate gradually accelerated, even he couldn’t help but feel a bit excited at the moment.
Feeling the familiar swelling sensation from his cells, even without any device for detection, Li Ming could confirm his development progress had reached 100%.
"Finally, it’s this day..." Li Ming stood up and stretched his limbs, deep in his flesh echoed with crackling muffled sounds since the Wandering Era began.
He consistently developed his Genetic Seed, racing against the Eternal Abyss, up to this moment.
Switching Controlled Objects, he sensed the activity level of the Eternal Abyss a bit.
"80%..." Li Ming couldn’t help but grin.
This activity level had long entered the "high" level of activity.
In theory, the Abyss Lord can already augment the Dominator within the Main Universe.
But according to the information he gathered, this activity level only supports the Abyss Lord in augmenting the Eternal Abyss Dominator within the Abyss Fog.
If he wants to augment the Eternal Abyss Dominator in any corner of the Universe, more activity level is needed.
"Tsk tsk, looks like I’ve won a bit." Li Ming wasn’t surprised, the activity level of the Eternal Abyss isn’t speeding up, but slowing down, because the Main Universe suppresses it.
Especially since the Eternal Abyss began to become active, Li Ming hasn’t allowed even one Ultimate Life Form to be born in this interstellar region.
The current situation is that the Main Universe doesn’t need the Eternal Abyss to step in, but the Abyss Lord insists, so even at all costs, the speed can’t increase.
Of course, this victory only means the Abyss Lord can’t do anything about him completely, as to whether he can resolve the Abyss Lord, it’s still unknown.
Thinking deeply, his figure flashed, and he had already disappeared from the spaceship, arriving at the Maviras Realm.
The former Mechanical Court has been completely moved in, still operating here, albeit due to interstellar wandering.
Leading to a significant weakening in the collection of Metal Materials, in the past three years, the balance of Metal Energy barely returned to two trillion.
Arriving at the Dominator Laboratory, Shepherd and others are still immersed in researching the Ultimate Gene Seed with great intensity.
"Pause your work for a moment..." Li Ming’s voice suddenly sounded, startling Shepherd and others, who swiftly regained their senses.
Seeing several people had stood up, Li Ming then asked: "To what extent is the research on the Ultimate Gene Seed?"
"Currently, still in the encapsulation stage, there are several issues yet unresolved..." Shepherd couldn’t help but feel somewhat ashamed.
"Hmm, for now, give me a copy..." Li Ming slightly moved his heart and said: "Hmm, three copies then..."
"Three copies?" Shepherd was surprised, unable to resist saying: "The Ultimate Gene Seed hasn’t entered the stage of fusion yet, if used, there will be unpredictable consequences."
Currently, with Shepherd and others’ research, they no longer need to be isolated from the outside world, they’ve all already known that interstellar has entered the Wandering Era.
Back then, Li Ming even moved their families, subordinates, and company here.
Shepherd thought Li Ming wanted to create several Ultimate Life Forms to handle the crisis of the Eternal Abyss.
"I know, just hand me three copies." Li Ming slightly frowned.
Seeing Li Ming somewhat displeased, Shepherd didn’t dare to say more, quickly retrieved three embryos sealed in special glass jars from the custom storage cabinet, and handed them to Li Ming.
"Alright, you all continue." Li Ming took them and turned around, disappearing, leaving Shepherd and others speechless.
Returning to the spaceship, Li Ming stepped out of the cabin, looked around, "This place is not bad, let it be here."
He first put away his small spaceship and casually waved his hand, seven syringes appeared before him, each different and marked with names--
[Thorn Thunder Leopard], [Purple Electric Bear]...
They are the names of Genetic Seeds he fused from F Level to S Level, precisely Genetic Essence.
He himself can extract X Level Genetic Essence from others to compensate for genetic defects, but after weighing his options, Li Ming ultimately chose this original evolution route.
After all, it involves the Ultimate Genetic Essence, which should be stronger than using X Level Genetic Essence.
With his sight fixed on the [Thorn Thunder Leopard Genetic Essence] on the far left, everything was prepared, and without hesitation, he reached for it.
A fissure of flesh split open at his elbow, and the needle plunged straight into the blood vessel, pushing the pale golden substance inside.
In an instant, his body emitted fierce electric arc light, rushing out from the pores of his skin, with cellular activity within rapidly increasing.
Boom!
His heart beat intensely, as if something in his body was being torn apart, cells ravenously devouring nutrients from within.
His physique was swiftly upgrading, cellular activity soaring, and the Thorn Thunder Leopard Genetic Seed, long negligible in significance due to his constant evolution, quickly gained presence.
However, although this enhancement was drastic, it wasn’t a transformation in Life Level, and soon ended.
Li Ming’s body continually emitted electric arcs, with a surge in energy intensity and concentration, gaining a new ability.
With slight exertion, a layer of Thunder Armor enveloped his surface, akin to protective armor, difficult to breach.
Experiencing it briefly, Li Ming’s eyes gleamed, "Leaping from F Level directly to X Level, the enhancement is indeed substantial, the Energy Level directly soared to 370X, increased by a full 150X."
Development progress reached 100%, his regular Energy Level hit 220X, and this time’s enhancement is indeed significant.
He looked at the remaining Genetic Essence, increasingly impatient.
Next, this cosmic expanse was nearly engulfed by rampant energy, thunder, fire, even gales, seething endlessly.
The energy intensity kept rising, with void vaguely shaking, fissures gradually emerging.
But suddenly, the void stirred like mercury ripples, silver chains appeared, with nodes surfacing hexagonal light spots, each containing miniature stabilized force fields.
The intersection of chains exploded with silver-blue arcs, welding the straying energy flow to fixed coordinates, the originally vibrating space folds forcibly flattened.
