Chapter 713: Truth Floating Continent

Chapter 713: Truth Floating Continent

When Song Chi first learned that Veritas Mechanica possessed three Ninth-Rank Truth Mechanical Beasts, he felt as if a massive boulder had settled heavily on his heart.

Even though he had prepared himself beforehand, the pressure of facing four official Ninth-Rank combatants, including the three Ninth-Rank Truth Mechanical Beasts and the Patriarch of Veritas, was far from something that could be described by the word "great" alone.

Fortunately, he soon saw the more critical information that followed. While the all-out war between two top-tier advanced civilizations was far from the level of the Flamekind Human Civilization and the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization, which were true dominion-level first-tier advanced civilizations, the key point was not in these comparisons.

A battlefield with nearly ten Ninth-Rank units, even with the fallback of the Pantheon Market projection, was far beyond what he, currently only at the Seventh Rank, could easily intervene in. Song Chi's focus was only on one point: in this Civilization War that had already lasted for hundreds of thousands of years, Veritas Mechanica had long been at an absolute disadvantage.

Considering this, and the fact that Veritas Mechanica's civilizational front lines had not yet completely collapsed, it was not difficult to infer that over 90% of Veritas Mechanica's mechanical armies were likely deployed on the front lines.

'It looks like the risk of subsequent operations will be significantly reduced...'

He chuckled to himself.

Then, without lingering, the Skygale of Tianxu, in its mirage state, reactivated its jump charge and quickly vanished from the Fourth-Rank Floating Continent.

If he wished, he could easily complete the search and plunder of a Fourth-Rank Floating Continent.

Through the "Spiritual Detection" feature of the Heavenly Eye, he had already detected that the strongest mechanical beings on this Floating Continent were only at the Fifth Rank, posing no threat to the Skygale of Tianxu.

The reason he did not act was that he did not want to alarm anyone.

Based on his speculation, the Patriarch of Veritas was likely on the front lines of the civilizational battlefield, personally confronting the stellar giant ape civilization.

Therefore, he could move freely through Veritas Mechanica's rear without restraint. However, if he were to act rashly, the mechanical beings' peculiar maternal and child intelligence brains and chips could potentially alert the Patriarch of Veritas, who could then relay the information across tens of millions of light-years.

If the Patriarch of Veritas became vigilant, with the power of the colorful high-tier Eye of Veritas, Song Chi feared that even with the golden-quality Mirage Dragon Pearl and Void Membrane, he would be unable to remain hidden.

...

After a single jump, the Skygale of Tianxu reappeared in a desolate stretch of space.

Following the final jump using the Crimson Sky Warp Device, this location was already over ten thousand light-years away from the previous Fourth-Rank Floating Continent. However, this was also the last jump the Skygale of Tianxu could make today, as both the Spatial Jumper and the Crimson Sky Warp Device had exhausted their jump counts and needed to cool down before they could continue the journey.

As for the "Crimson Sky Warp" feature, Song Chi did not intend to use it. Although it allowed for a sufficiently long jump distance, it was highly unpredictable. If it collided with a stellar floating continent or an asteroid belt, the resulting disturbance could be significant, potentially drawing the attention and vigilance of the Patriarch of Veritas.

In the main control room of the warship, Song Chi shook his head.

'What a pity about those mid-to-low-level intelligence brains...'

While the Fourth-Rank Floating Continent did not contain any particularly rare resources, it was filled with various ranks of intelligent chips, including a significant number of mid-to-low-level intelligence brains. The Skybrain system had shown a strong reaction to this.

Song Chi knew that this was the Skybrain System's instinct to devour other intelligent minds. Previously, when it devoured the mechanical magic cube AI left behind by the Lord of Truth, it showed signs of evolution. If it could devour more mid-to-low-level Ais, or even high-level Ais, this silver component would have a high probability of evolving on its own.

'No rush. Advanced mechanical civilizations at the pinnacle of high-level civilizations are never short of intelligent minds. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future...'

...

Time passed, and before he knew it, over a year had gone by.

On this day, in the pitch-black starry sky, the Skygale of Tianxu was speeding along at full throttle.

Because it could only travel during the duration of the "mirage" state, this significantly slowed down the Skygale of Tianxu's progress, which is why it took over a year to cover the distance.

'Sigh, almost there...'

Looking straight ahead, through the display screen at the front of the warship, he could faintly see the outline of the super-giant Floating Continent at the horizon, spanning over a million light-years.

Staring at the massive Floating Continent's silhouette stretching across the starry sky, Song Chi's eyes gleamed, his thoughts racing.

Over the past year, he had gathered information about the Veritas Mechanica multiple times. By now, he had a comprehensive understanding of the entire Veritas Mechanica.

As he gazed at the outline at the horizon, several pieces of information flashed through his mind.

The [Truth Floating Continent], the only Level 9 Floating Continent of the Veritas Mechanica, currently has a diameter of about 1.2 million light-years, making it an initial Level 9 Floating Continent.

With another jump, the Skygale of Tianxu closed the distance to the [Truth Floating Continent] by several tens of thousands of light-years, and the blurry outline became a bit clearer.

However, this did not bring him joy; instead, his brows furrowed.

Because he saw the energy shield surrounding the outer layer of the Truth Floating Continent.

It was the Floating Continent's own shield.

'Due to the intensifying Civilization War, it seems they have been maintaining the Floating Continent shield in an active state...'

After this thought, the Skygale of Tianxu, which had been steadily advancing, came to a halt. Under Song Chi's control, it quickly turned around and headed back the way it came.

Now that he had confirmed that the [Truth Floating Continent]'s shield was active, it was almost impossible for him to enter it.

There were only three ways to break through a Level 9 Floating Continent's shield:

1. A Mythical Being personally intervening
2. A fleet of starships numbering in the billions conducting a prolonged activation and erosion
3. Ten or more Ninth-Rank Sovereigns focusing their full power on a single area to attempt to tear a small crack

Song Chi knew he couldn't achieve any of these, so there was no point in continuing toward the [Truth Floating Continent].

'Looks like I'll have to find another way...'

...

Millions of light-years away from the Truth Floating Continent, in the Minestar Galaxy, on the Minestar Continent.

The Minestar Galaxy was one of the top three most important galaxies among the dozens under the jurisdiction of the Veritas Mechanica. As the name suggests, this galaxy was extremely rich in mineral resources, with all its Floating Continents containing large amounts of rare minerals.

Song Chi speculated that this galaxy might have formed from the residual mineral essence of a small part of a universe left over from the Multiverse Era.

The land was crisscrossed with deep gorges and towering mountains. Countless mechanical mining ships rose and fell, flying up from the mountains and hills to the giant mechanical transport ships hovering in the sky. After delivering their mined resources to these transport ships, they would land again and resume their mining work, repeating this cycle endlessly, as if they never grew tired.

Buzz!

With a roar of the engine, Song Chi, aboard the Skygale of Tianxu hidden deep within a giant earth fissure, lifted his head and gazed upward through the holographic exterior view of the ship.

High above, a massive mechanical transport ship, seemingly fully loaded, activated its engines to their maximum capacity. The ship's body suddenly began to ascend, quickly breaking through the mineral-rich continent and heading toward the Truth Floating Continent, millions of light-years away.

Witnessing the entire process, Song Chi's eyes lit up, and an idea came to mind.

...

The mineral-rich continent is the capital Floating Continent of the Minstar System. As an eighth-level stellar Floating Continent, the value of the mineral-rich continent is self-evident. If it were in the hands of other Star Sea civilizations, its value might be somewhat discounted.

This is because the mineral-rich continent is not a life-supporting Floating Continent but an eighth-level resource-type Floating Continent.

However, in Veritas Mechanica, the situation is quite the opposite. The value of the mineral-rich continent far exceeds that of the other eighth-level life-supporting Floating Continents in the civilization.

The mechanical civilization, unlike ordinary carbon-based civilizations, is silicon-based. They do not require any so-called life environments; they only need the resources necessary for manufacturing mechanical constructs to grow infinitely. Therefore, resource-type Floating Continents are far more valuable to them than life-supporting Floating Continents of the same level.

For this reason, the mineral-rich continent is the most coveted place in the entire Veritas Mechanica for the mechanical race. Whether it is for mining or transportation, there are ample opportunities to acquire various mineral resources here.

For the mechanical race, various mineral resources are the universal currency. With enough resources, they can continuously upgrade their configurations, which is the most direct way for them to enhance their strength.

Hoz, a mechanical race member from a humble background, is one of the countless mechanical beings.

Unlike ordinary mechanical beings, Hoz has possessed consciousness for several millennia. Thousands of years ago, it had already reached the rank of a sixth-level mechanical warlord. Through its own strength, it spent considerable effort acquiring an old mechanical transport ship and securing a channel for transporting minerals to the mineral-rich continent.

To gain this opportunity, it almost mortgaged all its accumulated wealth from tens of thousands of years. Fortunately, the subsequent returns did not disappoint. Now, it is a veteran transporter on the mineral-rich continent, earning a substantial income with each shipment, equivalent to what it would have earned over several hundred years in the past.

"Lord Hoz, the cargo is fully loaded, we can depart now..."

Inside the massive cargo hold of the mechanical transport ship, a small mechanical mining vessel, only a few dozen meters in size, had just unloaded all its minerals. A mechanical voice sounded from the control room.

Upon hearing this, in the control room at the front of the transport ship, a humanoid mechanical being with a metallic sheen emitted red light from its eyes.

In the next second, it turned its head symbolically toward the rear cargo hold, and a pair of mechanical eyes shot out a scanning beam, quickly scanning the heap of minerals filling the hold.

Below, in the depths of the earth fissure, Song Chi's heart tightened.

He then focused his mind, ensuring the brainwave imprint attached to the puppet did not move a muscle.

After forming his idea, he immediately took action.

Using the golden [Void Shadow Assassin Puppet Tree] enhanced to level 80, along with the silver-quality [Brainwave Remote Control System], he easily and silently attached a brainwave imprint to an eighth-level Void Shadow Assassin puppet and smuggled it onto a mechanical mining vessel, mixing it in with the minerals.

Through that mining vessel, the eighth-level Void Shadow Assassin puppet was successfully transported to a mechanical transport ship in the sky.

Just now, it had sensed the scan from the transport Captain, Hoz.

Fortunately, the level 80 Void Shadow Assassin puppet was powerful enough to temporarily enter the void and avoid detection by the sixth-level mechanical being.

"Phew, it worked out..."

Seeing that he had successfully slipped past, Song Chi's heart eased slightly, but he quickly refocused his thoughts, activating the [Mirage Dragon Pearl] component at the right moment.

Entering the mirage state, the Skygale of Tianxu's engine roared, and in the next second, it burst out of the underground fissure.

At the same time, the mechanical transport ship carrying the Void Shadow Assassin puppet began its rapid ascent, speeding away from the mineral-rich continent into the starry sky.

Song Chi did not dare to relax for a moment, controlling the Skygale of Tianxu to closely follow the transport ship.

The Brainwave Remote Control System has already been enhanced to silver quality, but at its current level 70, the maximum control distance is only a few hundred light-years. Once it exceeds this distance, the Void Shadow Assassin puppet immediately falls into a state of stupor.

However, he cannot replace the puppet or enslave other creatures. Among the forces at his disposal, the level 80 Void Shadow Assassin puppet has the best stealth capabilities, even surpassing the sixth-rank Void Demon. If he were to infiltrate the Truth Floating Continent, the Void Shadow Assassin puppet clearly has the highest chance of success.

In the starry expanse, the Skygale of Tianxu, in its mirage state, closely followed behind the mechanical transport ship. When the mechanical transport ship began its warp charging, Song Chi immediately performed the same operation.

As for controlling the warp distance, through observations over the past few months, he had already gained a detailed understanding of these mechanical transport ships. The one under Hoz's command was an old model from tens of thousands of years ago, equipped with a warp engine of average performance. Its maximum single-warp distance was only a few thousand light-years.

In such a situation, each journey took several years.

After some time, the brainwave imprint on the Void Shadow Assassin puppet reached its limit.

Song Chi, of course, had been well-prepared for this.

Before the level 80 Void Shadow Assassin puppet was completely lost in the void, he controlled it to take out the Dimensional Space Stone that had been handed to it in advance.

Soon, the veteran sixth-rank Void Demon within the Dimensional Space Stone was summoned.

The Void Demon, like the Void Shadow Assassin, is a spatial prodigy. Although a sixth-rank Void Demon has a certain probability of being detected by the high-end scanners of sixth-rank mechanical beings, this does not mean that the latter has such strong perception when fully focused on operating the transport ship.

Indeed, under the unsuspecting Hoz, the Void Shadow Assassin puppet was successfully replaced by the Void Demon.

This eliminated the previous complications. The Void Demon is a creature enslaved by Song Chi, and the two can communicate through telepathy, without the need for a brainwave imprint.

As for the Void Shadow Assassin puppet that had been lost in the void, Song Chi had already canceled its summoning.

Of course, this wasn't the end. There was still one final and crucial step.

The Floating Continent shield of the Truth Floating Continent.

Only by passing through the Floating Continent shield of the Truth Floating Continent would Song Chi have the opportunity to let the Skygale of Tianxu enter the Truth Floating Continent undetected.

Time passed, and after four days.

Thanks to Hoz's relentless efforts, the mechanical transport ship finally approached the Truth Floating Continent.

Before its final warp, Song Chi issued an instruction to the Void Demon via telepathy.

The Void Demon then took out a silver token—the Market Passage Token—from the Dimensional Space Stone.

Pantheon Market, third floor.

In a room of the Market of All Heavens, the moment the sixth-rank Void Demon appeared, the Dimensional Space Stone in its hand was reactivated. Song Chi, who had been waiting, immediately sensed a strong pulling force.

This force did not affect him but rather the level 80 Void Shadow Assassin puppet at his side.

With Song Chi's command, the Void Shadow Assassin puppet did not resist and was quickly absorbed back into the Dimensional Space Stone.

Outside the Floating Continent shield of the Truth Floating Continent, the mechanical transport ship, having exited warp, began to decelerate significantly. Even though it had made this journey multiple times, each entry into the Truth Floating Continent still required a thorough screening.

In the cockpit of the mechanical transport ship, after the Void Demon exited the Market of All Heavens, it reactivated the Dimensional Space Stone and summoned a new Void Shadow Assassin puppet, then entered the stone again.

This new Void Shadow Assassin puppet also carried a strand of Song Chi's brainwave imprint. Taking the Dimensional Space Stone, the Void Shadow Assassin puppet once again vanished into the void.

Completing this series of operations, Song Chi, far away in the Skygale of Tianxu, clenched his fist. The success or failure of the mission now hinged on this final step.

Outside the Truth Floating Continent, as the mechanical transport ship came to a complete halt, two Eighth-Rank mechanical titans emerged from the Floating Continent's shield. At their signal, Hozi quickly opened the transport ship's hatch.

A series of scanning red beams shot from the eyes of the two Eighth-Rank mechanical titans, sweeping over the large piles of minerals.

Perhaps it was just a routine inspection by the two Eighth-Rank mechanical titans, or perhaps the position where Song Chi had the Void Shadow Killers conceal themselves was in a corner of the transport ship, or it could be that the Void Shadow Killers' concealment abilities were truly formidable. In any case, the two Eighth-Rank mechanical titans did not detect any abnormalities.

In the depths of the void, within the mirage state of the Skygale of Tianxu, Song Chi watched as the mechanical transport ship successfully passed through the Truth Floating Continent's shield and officially entered the Floating Continent's interior. He lightly clapped his hands.

With this, his first objective had been perfectly achieved.

Of course, he did not let himself get carried away and quickly regained his composure.

Before the mechanical transport ship exceeded the effective control range of the [Brainwave Remote Control System], the Void Shadow Killers once again emerged from the void and repeated the previous operation, summoning the Sixth-Rank Void Demon once more.

The Truth Floating Continent is a Ninth-Rank Floating Continent, and the distance from outside the Floating Continent to its surface is far more than just a few hundred light-years. If he didn't take this opportunity to summon the Void Demon in advance, by the time the mechanical transport ship made another jump, he would lose control over the Void Shadow Killers, rendering all his efforts futile.

Without external guidance, the beings inside the [Dimensional Space Stone] couldn't come out on their own.

Fortunately, Song Chi was quick enough. The Void Demon successfully appeared just as the mechanical transport ship initiated another jump, hurtling toward the Floating Continent's surface.

...

The Truth Mountains, on the Truth Floating Continent.

The Truth Mountains are the largest mountain range on the Floating Continent, stretching from the eastern part of the Truth Floating Continent and spanning its entire length, dividing it into northern and southern halves.

The Truth Mountains extend nearly a million light-years, making them a truly colossal mountain range.

In this giant mountain range, peaks over a light-year high are commonplace, and the dense primeval forests make it difficult even for the powerful Ninth-Rank mechanical life form, the [Patriarch of Veritas], to monitor the entire vast mountain range.

Given this, this place naturally became the perfect hiding spot for Song Chi.

Of course, for now, he still needed to add "later" to that, as Song Chi had yet to personally enter the Truth Floating Continent.

In the western part of the Truth Mountains, deep within the dense forest, a black shadow was swiftly moving through the trees.

The black shadow was the Sixth-Rank Void Demon. Since successfully entering the Floating Continent's interior, Song Chi had instructed it to find an opportunity to leave the mechanical transport ship. The Void Demon then headed straight for the Truth Mountains.

"Found a vast underground cave in a deep valley?"

Through telepathic communication, Song Chi had been remotely controlling the Void Demon to find a suitable location for the next phase of his plan.

Upon hearing that the Void Demon had found a very secluded and spacious underground cave, Song Chi quickly issued new instructions.

"Then let's choose this place. First, search the cave secretly to make sure there are no other beings or mechanical life forms inside..."

Half an hour later, after confirming that there were no other creatures in the cave, the Void Demon, at Song Chi's signal, retrieved three items from the [Dimensional Space Stone].

If any other members of the Song Family were present, they would have recognized these three items.

The True Spirit Tower's power source

The golden artifact [Illusion Array Stone]

The Void Sea Projection Imperial Stone

These three items were crucial for Song Chi's next plan.

"Alright, set up as I previously instructed!"

Upon receiving Song Chi's new command, the Void Demon quickly began the task.

PS: Requesting votes at the beginning of the month. Thank you for your support, everyone!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end