National Star Sea Era...

Chapter 923 Transcending Combat Power—The Bone Giant

Above the sky, the projection of the market city radiated a magnificent divine power. Song Chi's cold will was as tangible as it was, and it clashed fiercely with the wills of the four transcendent beings, including the God King of Rending Heaven, in the void.

"Our Expeditionary Force of the Torch of Civilization has suffered heavy losses, almost to the point of annihilation. The Allied Command must give me an explanation for this." Song Chi's voice was devoid of any emotion, yet it contained an undeniable pressure.

The will of the God-King of Rending Heaven was the first to respond, carrying a hint of appeasement:
"Emperor Songchi, the Abyss is powerful and the battle situation is constantly changing. All fleets under the Allied Forces have the responsibility to fight to the death. However, there were indeed some shortcomings in the previous deployment, which caused your side to suffer huge losses. But with a formidable enemy at hand, I hope you will prioritize the overall situation."

The will of the Eternal Ancestor also followed, even more directly: "Since Your Excellency has demonstrated transcendent power, you should naturally enjoy corresponding authority. The Allied Forces are willing to acknowledge that the Torch Civilization enjoys the same decision-making status as us. Subsequent battle plans can be discussed by all five parties."

The Origin Star God and the Mother of All Machines also expressed similar attitudes. Faced with an existence that wields true transcendent power, and at this most critical moment in the battle, they were able to set aside their pride and redefine the boundaries of interests and responsibilities.

Continuing to take a hard line will only push this powerful ally to the opposite side, and may even cause a split within the coalition, which is something they absolutely do not want to see.

Song Chi remained silent for a moment, seemingly weighing his options.

He knew full well that the weight of the so-called "equal decision-making status" in the long-established alliance of the four transcendent civilizations was still unknown.

But right now, his most important goal is to pass on the torch of civilization and to buy himself precious time to catch up.

[In that case, my Expeditionary Force needs a century of rest and recuperation to recover its strength. During this period, it will not participate in any frontal assault missions.]

Song Chi put forward the core conditions.

"Yes!" The God-King of Rending Heaven agreed readily.

A century is but a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of things, and even at this crucial moment in the battle, it would not affect the overall course of the war. Trading a century for the continued support of a transcendent-level combatant is entirely worthwhile.

Furthermore, Song Chi continued, "The Allied Forces must compensate our civilization for its losses this time, to console the souls of our fallen soldiers and to make up for the damage to our civilization."

This time, the four transcendent beings did not respond immediately. After a moment, the Eternal Ancestor spoke:

“We from all four directions will each contribute a seven-colored rare item, but you may only take one. What is the Emperor’s opinion?”

Trading a seven-colored artifact for the full support of a transcendent-level combatant is undoubtedly a worthwhile deal at this crucial moment in the conquest of the Abyss.

Song Chi's heart stirred slightly. This was exactly the result he wanted. He could obtain valuable resources while also clarifying the "price" of his actions, thus preventing unlimited demands on him later.

"Yes." He agreed succinctly.

Seeing that Song Chi agreed, four beams of light, radiating powerful energy fluctuations and profound rule aura, rose from the depths of the Allied Forces' headquarters, pierced through the void, and flew straight toward the city projection in the sky.

The ball of light stopped before the purple mist, revealing the strange object it contained.

The first item was a giant hammer burning with dark red flames. The hammerhead seemed to be forged from solidified lava stars, exuding a violent aura of destruction—the colorful, supreme-level artifact weapon, the [Fire Hell Hammer].

The second item is a silver-white furnace-shaped device with a precise and complex structure, constantly shimmering with spatial ripples—the convertible shipborne jump device, the "Space Rift Jump Furnace."

The third item is a massive, incredibly thick tower shield that gleams with a cold metallic sheen. The shield surface is engraved with patterns resembling the veins of the Origin Star—a convertible ship armor called the [Origin Star Alloy Armor Shield].

Song Chi's will swept over the three strange objects, but his heart was not greatly disturbed.

Although the [Fire Hammer] is incredibly powerful, it is not a shipboard component, so its appeal to him is limited.

Although the [Sky Rift Reactor] is of high quality, its usefulness is obviously limited compared to the final battle that is confined to the Bottomless Abyss region.

The 【Source Star Alloy Armor Shield】, as the ship's armor, has significantly worse attributes than his 【Neutron Star Nuclear Armor】, and therefore holds no appeal for him.

However, when his gaze fell upon the fourth strange object, a ripple of emotion stirred within him.

It was a stone about the size of a fist, with a seven-colored body and a surface covered with natural patterns.

It doesn't emit a dazzling light or have any violent energy fluctuations, but its interior seems to contain an energy universe, giving people a feeling of unfathomable depth and the ability to break all boundaries.

[Rare Item: Limit-Breaking Stone]

[Quality: Color/Extreme]

[Can be converted into: {Limit Breaking Seal}]

[Note: This is an ultimate energy core originating from a top-tier technological civilization in a multiverse era. It was formed over countless eons by absorbing fragments of the rules of the heavens and earth, and contains unimaginable, limitless energy.]

"The Stone that Breaks Limits..." Song Chi murmured to himself, an overwhelming surge of excitement welling up inside him.

Limit Break Seal lv0
Quality: Color/Extreme
Unique Feature: Forced Limit Break
……

{Forced Limit Break: Designates a specific artifact/component as the target, imbuing it with limit-breaking power, helping it break through its highest limits and allowing the artifact/component to exert greater effectiveness.}
……

Regarding this Limit-Breaking Stone, Song Chi's first guess was that it could allow a rare item of a certain quality to unleash power beyond its own rank limit. If this was true, then it would indeed be the best choice for him. However, if not, then its value would be greatly reduced.

Could you elaborate on the effects of this Limit-Breaking Stone?

Upon hearing his inquiry, the God-King of Rending Limits, who had taken out the Limit-Breaking Stone, quickly replied:

"This item can enable rare objects to unleash their limitless power. For example, when used on a five-colored rare object, it can enable it to unleash the power of a seven-colored rare object to a certain extent. However, its effect on a seven-colored rare object is limited, at most reaching a semi-high-dimensional level, and it cannot be compared with a true chaotic rare object at all."

Upon hearing this, Song Chi seemed to understand. Perhaps this was why the other party had brought out this [Limit-Breaking Stone] as one of their bargaining chips. However, this was not important to him. What he wanted was not to give a seven-colored artifact the full power of a chaotic artifact, but to strengthen a component to the thirteenth rank, even if it could only be maintained for a short time.

With that in mind, he no longer hesitated and directly chose the [Limit Breaking Stone].

"I will accept this Limit-Breaking Stone." Song Chi's voice remained calm, revealing no emotional fluctuation. He quickly continued:

A century from now, in the battle for the core of the abyss, I will personally intervene.

As soon as the words fell, the projection of the market in the sky swept up the [Limit Breaking Stone] and then slowly dissipated. The purple mist that filled the sky also receded like the tide, as if it had never appeared.

As Song Chi's will departed, the transcendent pressure that enveloped the entire area also disappeared.

After this interlude, the remaining Firefly Fleet, under the command of Jiang Yuan and other human emperor clones, began to orderly withdraw from the front line and head to the designated safe area for rest and recuperation. Throughout the entire process, no one dared to utter a word of obstruction.

All the captains of the Torch Ship breathed a sigh of relief, their hearts filled with the joy of surviving a disaster.

Inside the Allied Forces' headquarters, four transcendent wills silently communicated.

"A hundred years...that's fine too. This way, the gap in transcendent combat power between us and the Abyss will be further reduced." The God-King of Rending Heaven's thoughts were slightly relaxed.

"The Void of Heavens... the secret of transcendence... this child bears immense karma," the Eternal Ancestor said leisurely.

"In any case, a controllable Transcendent-level combatant is always better than an uncontrollable variable. We'll see the outcome a hundred years from now." The Origin Star God Lord's will was cold and rational.

The Mother of All Machines did not say anything more, but in its core algorithm, it had already elevated the threat and value of "Song Pool" and "All Heavens Market" to the same level as that of a group of transcendent civilizations.

After this battle, Song Chi and the Fire Civilization have truly stepped onto the highest stage of the game among all the stars.

However, Song Chi himself did not pay much attention to this. Instead, he took the crucial [Limit Breaking Stone] and returned to the Zhutianxu Market and the main body of the Tianxu Cangqiong.

He needed to personally test this [Limit Breaking Stone]. If it was as he had thought, then even if the market still failed to break through to the eleventh rank a hundred years later, he would still have the confidence to stand on equal footing with the four, including the Sky-Splitting God King. Otherwise, he would have to hurry up and promote the market's advancement.

Inside the main control room of the Sky Ruins, as Song Chi's thoughts flowed, the Seal of Limit Break, transformed from the Stone of Limit Break, was quickly loaded and immediately upgraded to level 129.

This wasn't the end. Song Chi didn't rush to activate the component. Before that, he also upgraded the [Skeleton Tomb] to level 129.

That's right, the component he had been thinking about was this [Skeleton Tomb].

{Summoning of the Skeleton Giant: By inputting a large number of bones, the component will automatically spawn a Skeleton Giant. Once spawned, the Skeleton Giant can be freely summoned by its direct captain for combat. This feature has no cooldown, but the Skeleton Giant's skeletal body must be 100% intact to be summoned. (Current Skeleton Giant's skeletal body integrity: 100%) Note: The Skeleton Giant's strength is always one major tier weaker than the component's enhancement level.}
Based on the unique characteristic of this component, once it can break through the limitations and be upgraded to level 130, its {Summoning of Skeleton Giant} characteristic can summon a transcendent-level skeletal giant of the twelfth rank, which is also Song Chi's ultimate goal.

He doesn't need the [Skeleton Tomb] component after its limit is broken to have a heaven-defying effect like a Chaos Artifact; he only needs it to allow the component to break through its limitations and be strengthened to the thirteenth tier.

I hope it won't disappoint me!

With that thought in mind, he no longer hesitated and directly activated the [Limit Breaking Seal], setting the target to the [Bone Tomb] component.

Soon, a dazzling seven-colored light began to appear throughout the entire cabin of the Sky Ruins Skyship. After an unknown amount of time, the seven-colored light finally dissipated, much to Song Chi's anxious anticipation.

However, when he looked at the attribute panel of the [Skeleton Tomb] component again, its attributes had not changed at all. Song Chi was not disappointed, but quickly took out the enhancement resources he had prepared.

Should we spend one Mythical Soul, one wisp of Tier 12 Floating Continent Origin, and 360 Titanium Crystals to further enhance the [Skeleton Tomb] component?

"Sure!"

Song Chi murmured a word, and the next second, a burst of colorful light appeared again in the control room.

Under Song Chi's delighted gaze, the [Skeleton Tomb] component was indeed upgraded from lv129 to lv130.

Although the enhancement section for that component dimmed after this enhancement, clearly indicating that it could no longer be enhanced, it did not diminish Song Chi's excitement.

His gaze shifted downwards, quickly settling once again on the unique trait of {Summoning of the Bone Giant}.

Sure enough, the properties of this characteristic are now quite different from before.

{Summoning of the Skeleton Giant: By inputting a large number of bones, the component will automatically spawn a Skeleton Giant. Once spawned, the Skeleton Giant can be freely summoned by its direct captain for combat. This feature has no cooldown, but the Skeleton Giant's skeletal body must be 100% intact to be summoned. (Current Skeleton Giant's skeletal body integrity: 28%) Note: The Skeleton Giant's strength is always one major tier weaker than the component's enhancement level.}
He knew all too well what it meant when the original 100% integrity of the skeleton body dropped to 28%.

With the components upgraded to the thirteenth tier, the summonable bone giants have obviously risen from the eleventh tier to the twelfth tier. Even if it is only the weakest twelfth tier, it is still a transcendent combat power. Moreover, don't forget that the mirror warship can replicate a second one. Two twelfth tier bone giants are enough to become the greatest source of confidence for the Torch Civilization a hundred years later.

As for the issue of the integrity of the skeleton, there is no need to worry about it at all. As early as after obtaining the [Skeleton Tomb] component, the entire Tianxu Song Clan had already issued the order to collect high-level biological skeletons to all members of the clan. In addition, with the continuous wars between various parties in the Broken Star Sea over the past few thousand years, the number of high-level skeletons hoarded by the clan has now reached an astonishing amount.

"We cannot be complacent. While the [Bone Giant] trump card has been successful, it would be even better if we could complete the advancement of the Celestial Ruins Market within the next hundred years..."

"In addition, the [Skeleton Tomb] has now been enhanced to level 130. It is unknown whether it is still within the scope of the seven-color parts. If it is not, then the [Mirror Image] will most likely not be able to replicate it. To be on the safe side, we still need to further upgrade the [Mirror Image] part to seven-color quality."

With his mind racing, Song Chi quickly set his goals for the next hundred years: in addition to collecting the essence blood of a 12th-tier transcendent being, he would try to acquire a 12th-tier [Golden Apple] or a component similar to the five-colored [Soul Devouring Altar].

Finally, there is one last point: to achieve a breakthrough in one's own guiding techniques.

Although the Sky Ruins and Azure Sky successfully advanced to the Myth Origin Ship, due to the short time frame, its own guiding technique has not yet broken through and remains at level 109. It must use the next hundred years to complete the breakthrough as soon as possible so that the Sky Ruins and Azure Sky can fully unleash its combat power.

(End of this chapter)