This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 328: Final Control and Repair of Materials

"Star Thief? This name is quite childish..." Li Ming looked at the dialog box that popped up, which showed that the other party had accepted his bounty.

Although the name sounds a bit silly, Li Ming was quite excited. The bounty posted in the Black Hole Hall was not something that could be accepted casually.

If you apply for arbitration without a clear reason, the other party will pay a heavy price.

After establishing a conversation connection, the Phantom Thief was quite direct, "Sir Shadow, could you please give me more details about the generous reward you mentioned in your bounty?"

Li Ming's eyes flickered, and he clicked on the other party's information and took a look. He found that this guy was a senior member, at least a B-level life form, who had completed more than a hundred bounty or rescue missions and had never violated the hall's regulations.

There are also more than a dozen thumbs-up marks, which are the evaluations of its mission partners.

After the task is completed, there is only one evaluation option, which is praise, either praise or not praise. If you can get more than ten praises, it means that your overall quality and reputation are very good.

The paper information looked very good and seemed trustworthy. Li Ming pondered in his heart and did not ask what level of information the other party had. He answered directly:

"If it's just some crude information or hearsay, if there's relevant evidence to support it, I'll give you a C-level weapon that can be customized."

"If you have detailed coordinates or information about its origin, I can give you a B-level weapon that can be customized."

"Wow, they are really rich..." Robin looked at the information on the screen and was amazed: "Just the coordinates and origin, and you can customize a B-level weapon."

"It seems that this thing is really valuable." He looked at the stone in his hand and quickly replied: "If there is a real object, can I get an A-level weapon?"

Li Ming frowned, quite surprised, "The real thing?"

He thought for a moment and typed two words: "Okay."

"A-level weapons, all given to..." Robin sat up straighter, looking quite serious.

He placed the black stone in the palm of his hand and looked at it carefully. Apart from feeling warm to the touch, he couldn't see anything special about it.

Then two more words popped up on the screen: "Cannot be customized."

Robin didn't care about this. He thought about it, and hesitated in his heart. He looked at the skull and asked, "Butler, throw this thing away. I won't regret it in the future, right?"

"No." The butler said briefly.

Robin heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that. Without saying anything more, he took a photo and went over.

"It really exists..." Li Ming's eyes lit up as he looked at the photo on the screen. Although the shapes were slightly different, the colors and materials were very similar.

At least you can't tell any difference from the photos.

Then, the Black Hole Hall kindly popped up a reminder, "In order to avoid unnecessary losses, it is recommended to meet offline for barter transactions."

"I'm in the Chaos Star Gap, where are you?" the other party asked.

This kind of thing must be verified in person to ensure that there is no problem.

It is unrealistic for him to send the items first or for the other party to send the payment first.

"I'm also in the Chaos Star Gap." Li Ming replied.

"That's great, it saves time." Robin didn't care much, "You come to my place, or I go to your place."

"Come to my place. I have some things to do and may not be able to leave for the time being." Li Ming sent the coordinates to the other party.

"It will probably take about ten days to arrive." Robin glanced at the star map and replied, "Change the content of the bounty first, and I will accept it again and let the palace act as the arbitrator."

The reason why Robin was relieved was that he relied on the Black Hole Hall to allow Li Ming to make a more advanced arbitration reward.

The Black Hole Hall will contact both parties when the bounty ends to ensure the transaction is completed.

The process went smoothly and without any incidents. What surprised Li Ming was that after confirming that the item in his hand was indeed valuable, the other party did not ask for an exorbitant price and bargained further.

"Value only exists in the hands of people who can make good use of it." Robin was quite emotional as he held the black stone.

Even if he knew that there was a secret here, it would be useless. In his hands, it was just an ordinary stone.

After accepting the bounty again, Robin glanced at the skull beside him, his heart moved slightly, and then he sent another message:
"If I have more relevant intelligence and information, what will be the reward?"

"That depends on what the specific information is and whether I know it, but I shouldn't disappoint you." Li Ming sighed in his heart. There are indeed capable people in the Black Hole Hall. Those S-level life forms don't even know what this thing is.

But this senior member actually knew, and seemed to know a lot.

After turning off the screen, Li Ming was looking forward to the arrival of this star thief, who seemed to be able to solve many of his doubts.

With this feeling, a few more days passed, and the alloy material that I had been longing for finally arrived.

Rumble!
The wind was howling, and heavy transport spaceships were hovering in the sky, nearly a hundred of them, along with a large number of escort warships, blocking out the sky and the sun.

The battleship's surface was spewing the symbol of a giant golden shield, and the anti-gravity ring at the bottom was emitting a bright blue light as it gradually landed on the vast plain.

A group of people came down from the largest battleship and came in front of Li Ming. There was a metal box under his feet. Ulrich and others stood behind him, their eyes frequently falling on the box.

"Hello, you must be Lord Shadow." The leader was thin and respectful. "I am the transportation manager of Xinggong Heavy Mining - Moro, and this is the escort specialist of Giant Shield Company."

He pointed to the burly figure in combat armor beside him and introduced him.

The two sides exchanged a few pleasantries, and Moro pointed to the heavy transport spaceship behind him and said, "The refined alloy steel worth 24 billion star coins is all here. Please inspect the goods first."

Li Ming nodded. After all, this group of people was not a black hole network, so they still had to be tested.

Theo's men were already on full alert and quickly boarded the boat, moving and checking as they went.

Alloy steel is a universal material with low value, which also resulted in the huge size of this batch of goods. It took most of the day to completely move all these materials down.

On the vast plain before us, there were piles of alloy blocks arranged in rows at regular intervals.

"Total weight—800,200 tons."

A captain under Theo came to report that not only was there not a lot of cargo, but there were 200 tons more. This company knows how to do things.

Li Ming was very satisfied. He signed the receipt, paid the balance in the Black Hole Hall, and said to Moro, "I look forward to working with you again in the future."

Moro nodded repeatedly. This was a top client and the company had already checked it out. With Qinglong, a star-casting-level mechanic, behind him, it was natural for them to build a good relationship with him.

The other party left in a hurry with his men.

"Let's prepare to block the vision from space." Li Ming said.

Ulrich nodded and raised his hand slightly. Layers of soil flew up to the sky and condensed into a sky curtain, completely sealing off the area. Then, in full view of everyone, Li Ming took out a broken metal cube from his briefcase.

When he saw this thing, Ulrich's breathing stagnated slightly, and then he smiled bitterly.

Although he had guessed many times that this thing might be in Qinglong's hands, when he really saw this scene, he really had an indescribable feeling.

Sandro scratched his head, and Monroe's mechanical pupils turned.

"This is the matter reorganization device..." Theo looked at it. He had never seen this thing before, even when it was in Monroe's hands.

"Not bad." Monroe nodded and said thoughtfully, "With this thing, our plan will be twice as effective with half the effort."

"I just don't know when Lord Qinglong sent it to him."

"You didn't notice it either?" Theo was quite surprised. Ulrich couldn't help but look at him, but he felt relieved in his heart.

The matter reorganization device cannot be placed in the folding space, so it must have been delivered by Lord Qinglong himself.

This means that the other party is indeed following Li Ming all the time, in a way that they cannot detect at all.

Could he be hiding in the shadows? He muttered, scanning the shadows on the ground.

At the same time, Li Ming had already obtained the material reorganization device and walked in front of those alloy steel blocks, with the two pressed closely together.

Soon, those alloy steel blocks disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"He is..." Ulrich was surprised and looked at Monroe, "The Matter Reorganization Machine has this ability?"

"The Matter Reorganization Device has always had this ability to absorb metal materials and directly create objects." Monroe frowned, "But after it was damaged, I don't know if it still has this ability."

"Hasn't it been in your hands all along?" Monroe's mechanical pupils swept across Ulrich.

Ulrich felt a chill in his heart and said awkwardly, "I couldn't activate it after I got it."

"Maybe it's Lord Qinglong's trick." Monroe said, not caring.

Everyone just watched quietly.

Of course, Li Ming was not using the [Matter Reorganization Device] to absorb metal materials, but he was absorbing the metal energy himself.

The scale of the incident this time is so huge, and under the watchful eyes of the public, we have to find a plausible reason.

For three whole days and three nights, Li Ming worked non-stop and only absorbed two-thirds of it. But even so, his metal energy balance reached a huge amount of more than 220 million.

If all of it is absorbed, it will probably exceed 300 million metal energies. The cost-effectiveness is much higher than buying on the black hole network.

"Huh..." He breathed a sigh of relief. If it was specifically used for metal energy absorption, he would definitely not buy this kind of ordinary material.

But this time it is not only used as metal energy, but also as raw materials for building bases and production lines. If it is purchased in batches, not only will the preparation time be extended, but the delivery time will also be longer.

"Everyone wait a moment..." Li Ming greeted a few people and returned to the spaceship.

"He..." Ulrich was puzzled, "After absorbing so much metal material, how could he go back again?"

"Maybe it was repaired." Monroe guessed.

In the spaceship room, he couldn't help rubbing his hands as he adjusted his mood.

The first thing is to control the [Sublimation Source Crystal], and 60 million metal energies will be lost.

This crystal clear special crystal disappeared in his palm.

He couldn't wait to switch the evolution system and put the sublimation source crystal in the vacant slot unlocked by the promotion to A-level life form.

With his ability activated, he tried to develop the gene seed, and in an instant, elemental light suddenly burst out around his body.

The cells in the body have swept away their previous silence and become cheerful and active as if stimulated by something.

With the blessing of the sublimation source crystal, the development speed has been increased by 224 times, which has reached a terrifying level.

The body became warm and active again, and he almost moaned. After a moment, he calmed down a little and couldn't help smacking his lips.

"Sure enough, indulgence after restraint is the most joyful. This development rate is far from reaching the peak of the past, but it gives me an indescribable satisfaction."

The contrast of this direct increase of more than a hundred times is too obvious. It originally took nearly twenty days to develop to 1%.

Now, it only takes eight or nine days, which is a qualitative leap compared to not long ago.

"At this level, it's not realistic to expect a 1% increase a day. I don't know if I can return to the peak when all are upgraded to S-level evolution source essence." Li Ming pondered in his heart.

Seven S-level gene essences are needed to complete the transformation of the evolutionary system. The time to absorb S-level gene essences is too long. Unless there is an unexpected situation like Fusi, one can basically only grab it and absorb it later.

Capturing an S-level life form alive is even more difficult than killing it.

Putting this matter aside for the moment, he took out the [Matter Reorganization Fabricator]. This thing was also in a damaged state and could basically only be used in a controlled form. If taken out alone, it could only make some small gadgets.

"I don't know how much metal energy is needed to repair it..." Li Ming muttered. This thing is an investment. There will be no return in the short term, but it will definitely not be a loss.

He took the cube-shaped metal block and injected metal energy into it. The damaged edge soon began to glow and slowly grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Soon, 30 million metal energies were consumed, and the missing part of the [Matter Reorganization Manufacturer] was also replenished.

"Thirty million is not too bad..." Li Ming breathed a sigh of relief and looked at it carefully. After the restoration was completed, the patterns on the surface became more complex.

I don’t know what switch Li Ming pressed, but every face of the cube began to rotate, and a clicking sound similar to that of mechanical gears was heard.

After the repair was completed, the [Matter Reconstruction Fabricator] returned to S-level rating.

It can produce up to A-level items, but the materials consumed are enormous and it takes several months, so it is obviously not designed for producing cutting-edge technological creations.

This is its limit. The greatest use of this thing is to manufacture low- and medium-level items. The synthesis speed and efficiency of more precious and rare materials will be greatly reduced, which is not worth the cost.

Unless Li Ming upgrades it again, it will consume 4 billion metal energies and unknown special energy. Just one look at it gives Li Ming a headache.

"It's enough for now." Li Ming thought. There were still 110 million metal energies left. He also thought of a piece of Terrax Stone that would arrive soon.

The materials are there and the metal energy is sufficient.

"Hmm..." He murmured, hesitant, and flipped through the controls.

(End of this chapter)