Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1078 The Maxwellist Church and the Mechanical Race
The Ocean of Ether.

The Geller Field sailed in the Aether Ocean, the bridge silent except for the ever-burning Aether subspace storm roaring silently outside the porthole.

The Geller Force Field is like a black anchor, nailed to the edge of this abyss of distorted reality.

Since its launch, three full standard Terra days have passed, and the boundary between reality and unreality is like a thin film on the verge of tearing, constantly rippling with eerie colors.

There are no stars or directions in the Etheric Path; the entire voyage is as if one is immersed in a pool of overflowing consciousness.

The Geller force field, like an eggshell constructed of cold light, separated the ship from this madness, forcibly suppressing the true laws of physics within a constantly collapsing bubble.

During the time spent traversing subspace, the ship's force field projection needs to be recalibrated every unit clock cycle to prevent overturning, i.e., non-causal oscillation.

Arrival occurred at the 23rd standard time of the third Terra Day.

As the ship's main engines withdrew from the ether, the Geller force field, like peeling an eggshell, hurled the ship back into reality. Space was violently compressed, first instantly plunging into a depression of absolute zero, then being filled with starlight—all parameters returned to stable physical norms in one go, and outside the portholes, a scene unfolded that seemed like a miracle.

Xia Xiu stood quietly on the high platform of the main control area of ​​the bridge, his gaze fixed on the projection of the main control camera on the bow of the ship.

The camera slowly zooms out, entering a panoramic capture mode.

The Dyson sphere hovers in the center of your field of vision.

It was so enormous that no scale could be defined, and the outermost lens could not capture its entirety.

The sphere's surface is composed of numerous massive, square-shaped components, their straight lines creating a texture that blends cold metal with a deep, fiery red hue, resembling a star cage woven by a deity. The opening at the bottom of the sphere is pitch black, resembling some kind of energy engine or transmission belt, from which a blazing plasma slit stretches out, radiating a deep red glow.

Eden's data reports kept flashing on the screens on both sides of the bridge, while the main camera continued to zoom in.

Scattered around the sphere are faintly shimmering structural bands, the active gravity layer that supports the stable operation of the Dyson system. Through this, the Dyson sphere can regulate the gravitational output of the star's core while stabilizing its own structure to prevent tearing or collapse. Each component slowly rotates, its trajectory precise to the twelfth decimal place.

Beyond the distant view, the camera slightly pans to capture Aldebaran and its two accompanying satellites.

It was a terrestrial planet with a bluish-black hue, its surface covered with vast stretches of cold, sedimentary rock that shimmered with a bluish sheen under the starlight. The right hemisphere was engulfed by large, vivid streaks of purplish-red light, as if some unknown pollution was quietly spreading from a crack in the star.

The two celestial bodies in the satellite's orbit are both irregularly shaped natural satellites, their surfaces covered with impact craters and dried magma fissures, with almost no signs of an atmosphere. They slowly rotate around Crystallis, their orbits stable, maintaining a precise 63-degree angle between them, like some kind of calculated geometry.

Xia Xiu's gaze pierced through the lens, fixed on the slowly rotating planet.

Beneath that mesmerizing night sky, woven from starlight and crimson flames, the Dyson Sphere resembled the iris of a deity, while Aurelia resembled the tear stain beneath that iris.

He sighed softly:
"This is truly a miracle. Armand, is this where you forged the 'Ophiuchus Protocol'?"

He turned to look at the Demon King, his tone tinged with a hint of astonishment that he couldn't quite conceal.

"By the way, didn't you ever consider colonizing this planet in the first place?"

Armand stood behind him, his figure blending into the crisscrossing light and shadow in the corner of the bridge. After a moment of silence, he shifted his gaze from the holographic image to the planet in the camera lens, his tone indifferent:

"A planet exposed in the ocean of ether."

He gave a soft hum, his tone completely flat.

"What do you think the Four Lords, the Stars... and the Supreme Gods will do after humanity colonizes the land?"

The cold light from the bridge illuminated his sharp eyes.

“Besides—” He raised his chin, gesturing for Xia Xiu to zoom in further, “that Dyson sphere in front of you is a creation of the God of Machines. It’s long been inhabited by His people. The Machine God race of the Maxwellist Church lives on this planet; they are another branch of the Mechanical Church on Mars.”

"Not to mention, the entire Crystal Alpha is permeated with a high concentration of black mold spores."

As he finished speaking, Eden executed the order, adjusting the main camera view of the bridge to a lower orbital angle. The scene zoomed in.

The surface of Crystal Star II finally appeared clearly before their eyes.

It was a vast urban ruin, or rather, a mysterious colonial city that was still in operation.

Hundreds upon hundreds of towering skyscrapers pierce the night sky, their entire structures made of an unknown metal, their surfaces flowing with energy patterns of alternating pale purple and deep blue, as if the city itself were some kind of unreconstructed functional entity. Some of the towers appear to have been invaded by organic life, with root-like pipes clinging to them and extending all the way into the clouds.

Three near-orbital satellites float above the city, operating in asynchronous orbits, resembling a low-gravity interference field stabilization system.

The sky was covered with eerie purplish-red clouds, like a surging neural network—without any trace of natural phenomena, as if the entire celestial dome was exchanging some kind of information with the planets.

There was no sign of human habitation between the cities, but occasionally one could see metal shuttles slowly cruising in the air. Their outer shells were covered with symbols that resembled scriptures, and they emitted low-frequency vibrations as energy lines flowed, as if chanting mechanical prayers.

At the top of one of the main towers, a faint beam of signal light flickered intermittently, as if it were transmitting some kind of ancient communication code.

The bridge was dimly lit, and the main view controlled by Eden continued to advance, the camera sweeping over the high-altitude clouds and energy towers above Crystal Star II, slowly fixing on the top of a main tower.

It was a complex building about 600 meters high, with its outer shell covered by heavy titanium-nickel alloy, which had a dark purple color due to erosion and weathering. A hexagonal beacon structure stood atop the spire.

At that moment, the beacon suddenly lit up, emitting an irregularly flashing beam of light—an electromagnetic communication signal with a special encoding format.

The beam of light pulsed intermittently, its frequency constantly adjusting, seemingly attempting to capture a distant target signal source.

Xia Xiu's eyes narrowed, but before he could speak, Eden immediately took action.

[Warning: Active scanning pulse detected on the surface of Crystal Star II.]

[Detection source: Tower beacon array; estimated purpose: radar-type high-frequency detection; target: Geller Force Field.]

Countermeasures are being implemented.

The ship instantly activated its emergency response mechanism, and the energy ripples around the bridge abruptly contracted. The entire Geller Force Field was as if it had been pushed into the shadows from reality. Its reflection profile, radiation frequency band, and heat projection were all taken over and erased by the Eden System, as if the entire ship had completely disappeared from reality.

[Stealth protocol activated: Silent mode loading complete.]

[Ship Status: Undetectable.] Meanwhile, Eden continued tracking the signal chain. Seconds later, the holographic layer directly in front of the bridge changed again. A data map composed of hundreds of interwoven secondary signals appeared in the air, resembling a complex neural circuit.

[The signal cluster of the God of Myriad Machines has been detected.]

[Signal source confirmed: Maxwellist Church - Crystal Star II Colony Node]

The light screen magnifies, and the image penetrates the outer wall of the tower, extending deep into the ground.

Xia Xiu finally met the Mech God race that Amund had mentioned.

They were a group of non-carbon-based life forms, constructed from high-density silicon crystals and a self-organizing metal skeleton. Their bodies were roughly humanoid, ranging in size from two to five meters. Their joints were embedded with magnetic levitation stabilization modules, and their bodies were covered with composite metal scales, with logical patterns and energy signal lights covering their surfaces, resembling a constantly pulsating matrix of runes.

Their heads are mostly flat, without eyes or mouths, but instead have rows of embedded sensor arrays that emit a faint blue light when they are working.

One of the machines, which is nearly five meters tall, is carrying a whole disc-shaped energy module on its back and is connecting pipeline interfaces on one side of the tower. Each insertion and removal is accompanied by energy flashes and magnetic field resonance.

At the city's lower levels, even smaller units move between these areas.

These machines, less than a meter in size, are disc-shaped or multi-wheeled, equipped with telescopic tool arms, constantly traversing street cracks, building interiors, and overhead rail maintenance lines. Some resemble cleaning devices, while others appear to be maintenance-type automated machines, moving in a predictable and precise manner.

The entire city resembled a giant, still-functioning machine, while these Machine God races were the metallic white blood cells that maintained its operation.

Xia Xiu stood in front of the control panel, his gaze fixed on the cityscape woven from silicon metal lifeforms outside the porthole.

Purple clouds slowly churned above the city. Beneath rows of towers, countless individual members of the Mech God race were performing their duties and moving continuously within the gridded city system, like the self-regulating contraction of a giant neural network.

He reached up and stroked his chin, gazed for a long time, and then spoke softly:
"This planet has been completely transformed and even colonized by the Marxist church, and it appears to be a highly civilized place."

Upon hearing this, Armand's lips curled slightly, and his tone was calm and indifferent:
"Yes. This place has become their mechanical mecca."

He stood beside Xia Xiu, gazing at the still-busy individual machine gods, and then said:

"However, they are a little different from the mechanical cult on Mars."

"The Maxwellist Church has never mastered the complete mechanical spark structure. Their operational logic is based on the stacking of standard algorithms and evolutionary driving forces, rather than true self-awakening. Their civilization's architecture appears complex, and its technology is extremely advanced, but this is only the surface. The upper limit of this civilization has actually been locked by invisible particles..."

"From the perspective of power units alone, their information authority is completely insufficient to piece together a complete miracle entity."

Xia Xiu tilted his head slightly upon hearing this.

"They can't break through the limits of the crown?"

"Not only that, they even find it incredibly difficult to awaken true intelligence."

Armand added:

"Most of their races use deformable metal structures, a nearly living, fluid metal material that can mimic any shape and any physical property—internally, it possesses self-replicating units similar to cells, as well as a gene-level material coding system."

He looked toward the lower part of the city and pointed to a giant machine that was growing out of the building wall—metallic liquid surged from its shoulder, gradually forming a brand new power arm. Its movement was smooth and fluid, without the slightest jamming, just like real muscle tissue contracting.

"These metals can not only deform, but can also reconstruct their own structure according to changes in the mission. Even if they are blown to pieces, as long as the core data is still there, the outer shell can be quickly reassembled. Their repair does not rely on welding, but on growth."

Amund continued:

"You should know about the Broken Church's Machine God collection project, right?"

Xia Xiu nodded:

“I once killed one of the builders of the Broken Church and learned of the Broken Church’s plans for a Brave New World in order to fight against Terra Overload.”

"Before Overload Day arrives, they will use the neurons and cells of the Machine God to create a beautiful new world of technological prosperity, composed of a highly developed network (software) and a super-construction (hardware) that serves as its physical carrier. They will build a unified kingdom here, creating a unique—Brave New World!"

"To this end, in addition to needing many mechanical organs, they also need to retrieve the following numerous miscellaneous items:"

They need the neurons of the machine god—[network terminal genetic factors];

They need the blood cells of the Machine God—[the unlimited self-replicating machine];

They need the embodiment of the Machine God's thoughts—[the Sacred Network Sphere];

They need the muscle fiber structure of the Machine God—[The Builder];

They need the skin and mucous membranes of the machine god—[intelligent micro-dust], etc…”

At this point, Xia Xiu said thoughtfully:

"So that's how it is. The network terminal genetic material and the unlimited self-replication machine are in the hands of the Marxist Church... No wonder the Broken Church has been unable to find Terra."

Amund nodded and continued:

"The Maxwellist Church has its own core mechanical philosophy—the belief in the Trinity of mechanics."

"According to the records of the Maxwellist Church, a truly complete mechanical life must possess three core structures simultaneously: a mechanical spark, a brain module, and a transforming gear."

He slowly raised three fingers.

"The spark is will, the module is cognition, and the gear is form."

"Only when all three coexist can they be called a complete intelligent machine. Otherwise, no matter how intelligent or sophisticated they are, they are essentially just the shell of a complex program."

"Unfortunately, they only have modules and gears, that is, network terminal genetic factors and unlimited self-replicating machines."

"As for the spark, they only have a very basic grasp of it."

(End of this chapter)