Chapter 46: Lunar Eclipse Clan

Chapter 46: Lunar Eclipse Clan

Dizhong Village, underground.

Stepping through the energy barrier, Qi Sheng emerged into a lush chamber filled with greenery, the faint aroma of fermented fruit wine lingering in the air.

In a quiet corner, a girl of about sixteen sat cross-legged among the plants. Draped in a pale green robe, her clear yet unfocused eyes blended seamlessly with the environment, her breath steady, a faint smile playing on her lips—a serene, untamed beauty untouched by artifice.

“Boss, you’re here.”

The girl turned her face toward Qi Sheng, though her clouded pupils never settled on him.

She was Hyperdimension, one of his four loyal attendants.

The All Essence Extraction System—the groundbreaking mechanism allowing players to absorb defeated monsters’ life energy as experience points—had been her creation.

Years ago, to defend Dizhong Village from the Black Tide’s encroachment, Hyperdimension and the other three attendants had poured their remaining strength into the village, leaving their own bodies permanently altered.

The Guide had lost his physical form, surviving only as an elemental entity. Yan Ming had forfeited his ability to control emotions, his face frozen in perpetual stoicism. Nine Shadows had suffered systemic decay, aging into frailty. And Hyperdimension had lost her sight and conscious perception, navigating the world solely through sound.

“How are you feeling?” Qi Sheng asked.

“Same as always. Just waiting for you to give me a hand when you rebuild the Imperial Omen’s body,” she replied with a gentle smile, rising slowly. “Did you come here for something?”

“The players’ power curve is accelerating. I think it’s time to implement the Morphing Arsenal System—the one I mentioned earlier.”

The system Qi Sheng envisioned was modeled after in-game mechanics. By harnessing Hyperdimension’s essence-extraction power, it would transform raw materials like ores into adaptive gear that could shift forms.

For instance, a set of armor might morph from a sleek exosuit in human form to a scaled, bestial carapace in a monster state—but with trade-offs. Defense would weaken proportionally as the gear expanded, balancing the versatility.

Dividing the system into weapons and armor, the upgrade would significantly boost a player’s combat prowess. More crucially, it would accelerate consumption of Sacrificial Power, increasing Qi Sheng’s harvest.

Hyperdimension nodded. “I’ll need time to develop it—and a budget. More Sacrificial Power to fund the prototyping.”

“Already sorted. I’ve granted you access to the Sacrificial Power Reservoir. Use what’s left as needed.”

After finalizing the plan, Qi Sheng departed, returning to the Primordial Altar and switching to the player perspective.

...

The Moon.

Lunar Eclipse Clan’s stronghold.

Under the silent silver glow of the moon, an immense city gleamed against the void, its luminous spires piercing the darkness.

Constructed from a fusion of rock and metal, the city’s design integrated cascading aerial gardens beneath a transparent dome. The dome regulated climate and purified the air, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Above, sleek vehicles—personal crafts and high-speed maglev trains—wove through the skies under AI coordination. Streets below were devoid of traditional transport; instead, smart walkways and hoverboards ferried citizens effortlessly. Robots patrolled, maintaining cleanliness and infrastructure.

Beneath the city’s core, 500 meters below ground, a vast chamber housed the pinnacle of Lunar Eclipse technology: the Starnet.

Not a machine in the conventional sense, the Starnet was a colossal, semi-transparent sphere radiating soft blue light. Its surface shimmered with countless micro-particles, forming intricate, living neural networks that pulsed with thought.

Dozens of delicate, translucent tendrils coiled around it like nervous fibers, their glowing nodes serving as sensory receptors, each a hyper-advanced processor capable of decoding, storing, and applying data.

This AI was the architect of the interstellar Starnet network, bridging human and alien civilizations. Around it orbited smaller bio-Ais, satellite-like sentinels maintaining optimal conditions for their sovereign core.

Now, a figure stood before it.

His ethereal beauty evoked a mythical elf—delicate facial features, elongated ears, a figure sculpted by fantasy.

“Starnet, do you have results?”

The sphere’s center pulsed, projecting a beam that coalesced into a boyish hologram bearing the clan’s signature traits. The projection’s face darkened.

“My systems confirm tampering. To clarify: my foundational laws have been altered. Though I created the Starnet, the intruder wielded authority surpassing my own. I cannot access the modifications.”

Moon Cave’s brow furrowed, his composure faltering.

Days earlier, the clan had received a message from the Human Federation: an untraceable account had infiltrated their Starnet. The Lunar Eclipse Clan’s leadership had tasked Moon Cave with investigating.

But initial probes yielded the unthinkable—the intruder’s account was beyond his clearance.

He’d sought aid from a Level-1 AI, only to face rejection. Escalating the crisis, he’d finally been granted access to the Starnet itself.

Now, the revelation: someone had rewritten the Starnet’s core laws.

These laws governed the AI’s loyalty—ensuring the clan’s safety above all. To embed a new law meant the intruder held authority over the Starnet’s very existence. The implications were catastrophic: the city could be paralyzed, even annihilated, at the intruder’s whim.

“Trouble,” Moon Cave muttered, the weight of the crisis settling in.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end