This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 459 Undercurrent (Happy New Year's Day, Happy New Year!)
After the mechanical body was enlightened, Ulrich no longer needed to follow him, but he cherished every opportunity to meet Li Ming.

Seeing Li Ming coming out, Ulrich stepped forward and said, "The latest batch of purchased metal materials has been stored in the small warehouse of the core base."

Li Ming couldn't help but nodded when he heard that. Ulrich reported along the way until he saw Li Ming walk into the core base, and then he left reluctantly.

He looked down at the smart terminal and his expression suddenly changed, "There is an S-class mechanical body this time?"

……

The Damenles Stargate Node is a small stargate transit node belonging to the Barendit civilization. It has been in operation for more than three hundred years, and its various facilities are seriously outdated.

Buzz--
The unstable stargate spit out a dark dagger-shaped spaceship.

“It’s right here…” In front of the porthole, a white-haired old man held a translucent crystal ball, with energy flowing in it, presenting a scene.

“Master Spiritual Leader, this star field is quite amazing…” Behind them, two people were flipping through the virtual screen, secretly amazed.

"There can't be a weak civilization near the River of Eternal Silence." The spirit leader reacted calmly, staring at the crystal sphere in his hand, "According to the guidance, the bloodline of Saint King Terrax should pass by here."

"The Eternal Holy Throne is fluctuating frequently. It seems that someone has started the trial to become a king. Only the blood of Holy King Terax can do this. Go down and make the arrangements."

"Yes!"

.........

In a certain star gate node, in the inconspicuous queue for space coating, Clyde looked away from the porthole and asked puzzledly: "Teacher, where are we going?"

Florian, who was suspended in mid-air in the distance, said calmly: "Red River Star Stream."

"Red River Star Stream?" Clyde was bewildered. "We're going on an adventure?"

"No, go to a place that is very important to you." Florian's voice came, and Clyde became more and more confused. He continued to ask, but there was no response. He could only look out the porthole helplessly.

.........

After Li Ming returned to the core warehouse and absorbed the latest batch of metal energy, his accumulated metal energy had once again exceeded one billion.

After returning to the room, he immediately upgraded the mechanical guards. This time it was King Tai. The four sturdy mechanical arms became six, and various functions were greatly improved.

With a wave of his hand, four upgraded mechanical guards stood in front of him in an orderly manner. They were the Four Heavenly Kings Zhen, Yu, Heng and Tai.

They all exude a fierce aura, and their functions are greatly improved.

That’s right, this is not the third mechanical guard that King Tai has upgraded, but the fourth one.

After the Mechanical King Court cooperated with Stargate Corporation, the expansion of the Mechanical King Court was faster than he had imagined, and the speed of capital return was greatly improved.

There are also more resources that can be squeezed out, and the metal energy provided each month even reaches nearly 500 million.

With four mechanical guards in hand and armed with guards, the strength leaps to a new level, the combat energy level approaches 500X, and the sense of security is greatly improved.

He contentedly put away the four mechanical guards.

He was preparing to develop gene seeds intensively. In four months, plus the scattered time before, his development progress had risen to 8%. The normal energy level was close to 30S.

Buzz--
At this moment, the smart terminal in the middle of the desktop suddenly rang. It was Qinglong's account.

The contacts were two master craftsmen who jointly initiated the communication request.

Well... I guess it’s about time.

After clicking, Reynolds and Mikhail's big faces each occupied half of the screen.

Reynolds said familiarly: "Old Dragon, it's almost time, it's time to set off."

"The stargate can only jump to the Kamendar node. If you want to go deeper into the storm zone, you will need to sail for a long time."

Li Ming nodded, "I understand."

Reynolds nodded and continued, "Then we will meet in Red River Star City. We'd better hurry up and not lose the opportunity."

Red River Star City is located on the outskirts of the Red River Star Stream. It is almost the largest gathering place and belongs to a certain X-level life form.

Li Ming's eyes flickered and he said, "No problem, but I plan to let Li Ming go first on my behalf."

"Let Li Ming go on your behalf first?"

His words surprised Reynolds and Mikhail.

Reynolds was even more outspoken, "Old Dragon, you let Li Ming go for such a big thing? If something goes wrong with such a good precious seed, you will be heartbroken."

Mikhail couldn't understand it either. Li Ming obviously didn't have the ability to get involved in such a thing, and the risk was too high.

"You have to think carefully about the potential for development at level 60. You are a Class A life form in your twenties." Reynolds couldn't help but emphasize, "You can't guarantee that someone will do something shady during the process."

Li Ming replied casually: "Don't worry, I know my limits, and it's not a bad thing to hone my skills."

Reynolds smacked his lips when he saw this and said, "If you don't want this student, you might as well give it to me."

Some people need training, some people don't.

He had paid attention to Li Ming during the incident of Tongzhu Shengxiang. He was calm and steady in his work, not arrogant or impatient, and clearly had the style of Qinglong.

There is no need to hone anything, just develop genetic seeds and learn the technology honestly.

Li Ming was too lazy to pay attention to him, and Mikhail added at the right time: "The situation this time is special. I'm afraid we need to bring out some of our resources in case of emergency."

"Hmm..." Li Ming seemed to be thinking about something, and Reynolds added quite directly: "To put it bluntly, it is possible to fight with the three major civilizations."

In the exploration of similar ruins, there is bound to be no shortage of mutual attacks. The various civilizations have long reached a consensus that the frictions that occur among them will not be brought to the outside world unless certain respected figures die.

"How many mechanical bodies do you plan to bring?" Li Ming asked tentatively with a flicker in his eyes.

Reynolds glanced at him and estimated, "Not to mention the top-level machines, an ordinary combat machine would cost at least 300 to 400 million."

Li Ming's heart twitched, and he asked for three or four hundred million... He was really generous.

"Don't worry, the scale of the battle will be controlled at a certain level and the losses won't be too great." Reynolds also deliberately comforted.

"Don't worry." Li Mingyun said calmly. Although he didn't have so many mechanical bodies under his command, he was good at bragging.

After briefly informing him, the two ended their correspondence, and Reynolds finally urged him to set off as soon as possible.

Li Ming put down the smart terminal and counted the number of mechanical bodies under his control, which had initially exceeded five million.

The starting point is the D-class mechanical body, there are more than 200,000 C-class mechanical bodies, there are nearly 10,000 B-class mechanical bodies, there are thirteen A-class mechanical bodies, and there is one S-class mechanical body.

To be honest, the overall number is not large, but the mid-to-high-end combat power is not small.

He didn't intend to touch any of this secret, and would be sad if any of them died.

"Hmm... I'd better take some with me..." After thinking about it, he lightly selected a thousand B-class robots and two A-class robots. As for the newly evolved S-class robots, he decided to let them guard the house first.

After waiting for another two or three days, Anduin hurriedly arrived, riding a small spaceship, cautiously and without attracting anyone's attention. It is worth mentioning that he was not the only one who came, but also a girl who was also an interstellar human.

"My youngest student - Lux."

Li Ming led him into the reception room, and Anduin introduced him seemingly casually.

Lux nodded slightly to Li Ming. He had a small face and short hair that reached his ears, looking neat and capable.

Li Ming simply said hello, and then the tank guard possessed him and smoothly switched to the Qinglong vest.

"I'm sorry, Lord Anduin, I'm already on my way and can't greet you in person." Li Ming said apologetically.

Lux's eyes were filled with curiosity as he looked at the mecha secretly.

"It's okay..." Anduin didn't care and said meaningfully, "Are you planning to go to the Red River Star Stream?"

"There really is no impenetrable wall in the interstellar space." Li Ming couldn't help but shake his head.

"You are more informed..." Anduin smiled. He only knew that something might happen in the Red River Star Stream, but he was not sure about the details. "Then I wish His Excellency Qinglong a successful start."

He didn't want to get involved because there were already enough people involved.

As far as he knew, the three major civilizations had all taken action, including the Mechanics Association. It seemed that they were targeting a certain civilization ruin that had always been controlled by the Mechanics Association. He was not very interested in this.

Li Ming smiled faintly, but saw Anduin's expression change slightly, his eyes fell on the display case on the wall of the room, and he couldn't help but say: "You received it too."

"Twilight Banquet?" Li Ming followed his gaze and saw the box containing Anatoly's invitation. "It was personally delivered by the Twilight believers. This Lord Anatoly is quite unique."

"The Dusk Hermit is very famous." Anduin also sighed, and then asked, "So, are you going?"

Under normal circumstances, Li Ming would definitely ask the other party whether he wants to go or not.

However, Anduin came to help him, so Li Ming felt that he should be more sincere, so he said: "I don't really want to go to the tasting meeting. As for the dusk banquet, we will talk about it later."

"Tasting session? What tasting session?" Anduin's expression changed slightly, and his tone was puzzled.

Li Ming's eyes flickered slightly. "It's the advance tasting session for the Dusk Banquet. They said there are some rare cosmic ingredients that are hard to come by in hundreds of years. They asked me to go over and taste them first."

"I didn't receive an invitation." Anduin took the initiative to say, looking quite emotional: "It seems that His Excellency Qinglong has a very high status in Anatoly's heart."

"Who knows what the other party is thinking." Li Ming's words were incomprehensible.

Anduin thought that Qinglong was being cautious, and said with a smile: "Before the establishment of the United Organization of Higher Life Forms, the combined power of the Lord of the Black Hole Hall and the Dusk Hermit should be the greatest."

"Do you know why this evening banquet is so popular among so many people?"

"Hmm?" Li Ming asked, "Apart from those strange ingredients, is there anything else?"

"X-level gene seed..." Anduin uttered a few words, "There must be an X-level gene seed at the Dusk Banquet."

X-level gene seed? Li Ming was shocked when he heard this.

In the known universe, S-level star beasts still occasionally appear in the wild, but X-level star beasts are extremely rare.

Therefore, at the level of X-level life forms, genetic evolution is not the mainstream.

People like Barbaro basically have close ties with the three major civilizations, which is why they can get X-level gene seeds.

Otherwise, like Anduin, he did not follow the path of genetic evolution.

Anatoly can take out a portion of genetic seed every hundred years. You can imagine how tempting this is.

"It is known that the Dusk Banquet has been held for twenty-two times. Could it be that twenty-two people have become X-level life forms through his hands?"

Li Ming couldn't help but be surprised. This number was close to the number of X-level life forms on the surface of the empire.

"Of course not that many people." Anduin explained: "Currently, there are only nine people who have become X-level life forms through Anatoly's gene seeds. The other thirteen all died during the evolution."

"More than 50% mortality rate? There's something wrong with his seeds." Li Ming noticed something was wrong at the first moment.

Evolution to X-level life form is bound to be accompanied by extremely drastic transformation.

However, the genetic evolution system is almost the most complete evolution system with the most reference data, and there are many ways to reduce the mortality rate.

"Yes, but there are still many S-level life forms flocking to it." Anduin nodded and said with emotion:

"Even if someone like Barbaroel has already become an X-level life form and intends to go further on the path to the Ultimate, he still needs more X-level gene seeds.

Anatoly's methods are quite attractive, and the momentum is getting more and more terrifying.

No wonder they were jointly suppressed. If this continues, it will happen forty or fifty times. It will be more terrifying than the joint organization of higher life forms.

"But even if he is suppressed, if he can steadily produce gene seeds and cultivate them in secret, it seems like it should be okay, right?" Li Ming asked again in confusion.

Anduin's eyes deepened. "This involves another matter, the Law of Twilight. In the hundred years between the Twilight Banquets, there will inevitably be an X-level genetic evolutionary being who dies a violent death."

Li Ming's heart was slightly moved, "His gene seeds were extracted from those dead X-level life forms?"

"This is very likely." Anduin nodded. Gene seeds cannot be reused, but there is always a chance of something happening, especially when the benefits are huge.

"So, the mortality rate of his gene seeds is so high." Li Ming couldn't help but sigh. These old guys who have been famous for a long time, each of them has his own signature.

The two exchanged a brief conversation about this, and Anduin revealed a lot of interstellar secrets and mentioned a person - the Dark Emperor.

It is said that this person's level of evolution and the "Superpower Alliance" under his command are almost as powerful as Gust and Anatoly.

But strangely enough, he died without a burial place. It is said that it was the joint work of three major civilizations.

After arranging the two of them, Anduin secretly asked Li Ming to take Lux around.

Li Ming finally understood what Anduin meant. He was speechless and declined.

In the corridor, Li Ming's mind was full of mixed thoughts, which finally settled on the X-level gene seed.

He would definitely need Class X gene-seed as well, though.

There is no need to rush for now. After all, the development progress is only 8%. Even if we prepare for a rainy day, it is too early.

With his strength, as long as he finds an X-level star beast, he can defeat it easily.

But on second thought, he muttered to himself, wondering if there would be any ultimate path for X-level star beasts.

He really didn't know much about this, and relevant information at this level was almost impossible to find.

He forgot to ask Anduin just now, so he thought about it and put the matter aside for the time being.

One must eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time. The most important thing at the moment is the ruins of the Holy Spirit Civilization that are right before our eyes.

(End of this chapter)