Star Forge Titan

"Is that so? That makes sense." Although he said this, Alvin's expression became a little speechless. He was a little bit of a germaphobe and couldn't stand the smell of smelly things.

However, the information received from the spirit particle terminal indicated that part of the star ring structure needed repair. However, on the map in Lucifer's hand, that area was marked as a black restricted area, adjacent to a red high-risk area.

This made things a bit tricky. Ivan didn't think the angels were fools. The black area they emphasized as a restricted area was obviously not a safe area that could be entered casually.

Then, first find a way to obtain senior administrator privileges. Then you should be able to access more information related to the black area, and then decide whether to enter.

Having made up his mind, Alvin no longer hesitated.

"If you don't have a place you want to go, how about we flip a coin to decide the next route?" As he said this, the black-haired boy casually took out a gold ecu, which was the local currency he exchanged when he was in Linde, the Central Empire.

"Huh?" Lucifer was stunned for a moment, then saw Ivan casually tossing the gold coins in his hand up.

"Heads to the left, tails to the right." The young man asked casually as the coin flipped.

"It's not impossible." A subtle expression appeared on the Seraph's face.

With her dynamic vision, she can easily determine which side the coin will land on before it falls.

The gold coin fell, hitting the back of Ivan's hand with unerring accuracy. However, the seemingly random outcome was actually completely within his control.

As a Sky Warrior, how could he not be able to control his muscle strength? Even if he flipped a coin ten thousand times, it would come out heads if he wanted it to, and tails if he wanted it to come out tails.

Lucifer hadn't considered that at all. Her original plan was just to wander around the shallow area, treating it as an outing. Seeing the coin's front side, indicating a leftward movement, the Seraphim immediately looked up to the left of the fork in the road.

"Wow, it's so dark in here." Lucifer said, but he did not use magic or other means to dispel the darkness in the passage ahead. Instead, he took out a very small storm-proof lamp from the package he was carrying.

After inserting a candle into the hurricane lantern, she began to try to light it with a match.

"Is this necessary?" Seeing that Seraph couldn't strike a match for a long time, Alvin couldn't help but look embarrassed.

Then again, you're a Seraph, right? How come you can't even light a match?

His golden pupils can easily penetrate the darkness, and the halo above the head of the angel lady next to him can also provide a certain amount of illumination. It seems that there is no need for this traditional old-fashioned lighting equipment, right?

"This is an indispensable environment for exploring the Gray Domain. Using magic is cheating." Lucifer's white fingers, which could tear demons into pieces, trembled as he pinched a piece of fire, and then he broke it cleanly in the subsequent attempt.

This made the halo on her head and her shiny hair dim, and she was obviously feeling frustrated.

"It seems understandable." Looking at the surrounding star ring ruins where ancient and advanced auras coexisted, Ivan's originally anxious mood suddenly calmed down.

He had also heard that traveling meant spending money and suffering, but if he calmed down and slowly experienced the process, he could also feel...

"Done!" An undetectable magical fluctuation came from behind him. Turning around, Alvin saw Lucifer holding a match that was finally lit.

However, the fluctuation of magic power just now seemed to indicate that the method of lighting this match was not very particular. So, under the calm gaze of the black-haired boy, Miss Seraph's face began to turn red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He lowered his head to light the candle in the hurricane-proof lampshade, and when Lucifer stood up again, there was no sign of abnormality on that beautiful face with perfect features.

As expected, the Space Seraph was created by the wise ancient god himself. It surpasses the ordinary fourth level and is specially used to fight against high-value elite units such as the big demon. It is really powerful in all aspects, including facial defense.

"Ahem." Lucifer coughed lightly and raised the hurricane lantern to let the limited candlelight illuminate the road ahead.

Here we have left the safe area marked in green on the map and entered the gray unexplored low-risk area.

The two of them simultaneously showed signs of increased vigilance, and then couldn't help but smile.

At this moment, the light from the hurricane lamp briefly illuminated the environment ahead.

Then, a hideous face, terrifying enough to haunt my childhood, suddenly emerged. It had two rows of protruding fangs, a black aura swirling around its body, and eyes with only whites and no pupils, making it look as twisted as a demon.

Just like a typical scene in horror movies, the owner of the hideous face quickly disappeared into the darkness at a speed that was difficult for ordinary people to catch, leaving the two people with less than a second to react.

But for Ivan and Lucifer...

One second, is it short?

"You saw it, right?" Although it was a question, Alvin's tone was very affirmative.

"Ah, I can see it clearly." Lucifer nodded seriously.

"What an ugly face, I mean what a scary one. We just left the safe zone and saw such a horrible monster. The exploration of the Gray Domain is indeed as thrilling and exciting as our predecessors said." The Seraph, whose hair turned red and bright with excitement, patted his chest repeatedly, looking eager to try.

"That's right." Alvin agreed repeatedly, with a wicked smile on his face without any intention of concealing it.

Just like that, the Titan and Seraph, with similar expressions, walked into the depths of the deep and dark passage carrying hurricane lanterns with very limited lighting power.

The two figures were illuminated by the very limited firelight, stretching very long on the wall behind them, as if some huge monster was stepping into the abyss.

Suddenly, the light from the hurricane lantern suddenly went out.

Immediately afterwards, a shrill scream, like a cat being hit by a mouse, resounded throughout the corridor.

For a brief moment, it looked as if a skinny, clawed limb was struggling to escape into the light.

But soon, the skinny limb was forcibly dragged back into the depths of darkness by an irresistible terrifying force, leaving only a few narrow scratches full of despair on the ground.

Chapter 31: The Little Kingdom

"Is this thing also considered elemental life?"

Ivan picked up the small, muscular thing in front of him like a piece of rag.

"The Shadow Element is an elemental life form that is occasionally born from the combination of turbid magic and the negative emotions in the hearts of intelligent beings. In essence, it is no different from the Fire Element and the Water Element, except that its form of existence is closer to that of a living being." Lucifer introduced while looking at the Shadow Element, which was now limp and unable to move, with interest.

This thing looked like an extremely thin and deformed human, with grayish-white skin all over its body, hands that reached the ground, and more than twice the number of fingers of an ordinary person, with extremely sharp curved claws at the end. It had a mouth full of protruding fangs, and cloudy eyes without pupils. It looked like a culmination of elements from a child's nightmare.

Just now, the shadow element in front of him appeared from the darkness and used its own spell-like ability to forcibly extinguish the candle in the hurricane lamp. Then, the next second before launching the attack, Ivan, who could still see clearly in the darkness, raised his hand to pinch his neck and shook it casually like hanging clothes to dry.

The master of boxing had a subtle control over strength, allowing him to easily shake off the shadow element's joints with just a simple movement, causing it to collapse to the ground like a piece of dough.

Unexpectedly, although this thing is an elemental creature, its body has a joint structure similar to that of flesh and blood life.

"Because the creation process requires absorbing negative emotions such as fear from intelligent life, some researchers believe that shadow elements are likely some kind of primitive demon, or that the Great Enemy used them as a reference prototype when designing demons."

"Interesting." A faint golden light flashed in Ivan's eyes. The further improved [Reshaping the World] allowed him to scan the composition structure of the elemental life in front of him without direct dissection.

The core is formed by fusing some soul-like things with magic power, while the flesh and blood tissues on the periphery that are similar to living things are unimportant and can be discarded at will.

Compared with the accumulation demons that he had encountered before, there were indeed some seemingly plausible similarities, but there was obviously a lack of strong enough evidence to prove this point.

If demons are man-made creations based on elemental life, then what about the angels and the hundreds of other celestial beings? Are they also man-made?

This is not impossible, given some of the characteristics displayed by angels.

"How do you usually deal with this kind of stuff?" After completing a rough inspection, Alvin clapped his hands, stood up and looked at Lucifer beside him.

"Burn it. This thing doesn't have a complete thinking structure, is not protected by relevant regulations, and has no possibility of developing civilization. So in most cases it will be treated as a pest and cleared away." After saying that, Miss Seraph exhaled a puff of white mist.

The gas that looked like water mist emitted a faint light in the air, and its brightness increased sharply the moment it came into contact with the shadow element. The latter didn't even have time to scream before it turned into ashes and scattered under the cover of the mist.

Obviously, it was not water mist at all, but gaseous plasma. The appearance of the mist was somewhat similar to the glow discharge phenomenon in nature, but the specific temperature was obviously much higher, otherwise it would not be possible to completely burn the shadow element at the moment of contact.

As expected of a high-ranking angel with the name "Seraphim", there must be special organs in his body similar to nuclear reactors. Even if he just inhales ordinary air, he can pressurize and heat it to a plasma state in a very short time.

Whether it's the corrupted Nurul demons or the melee-loving Terror demons, both are easily restrained by the high-temperature nature. The remaining two types of demons, skilled in magic, are also at a disadvantage due to the high-altitude and high-speed aerial maneuverability of the Seraphs. One can't help but sigh that the wise ancient gods are indeed adept at deciding victory before the battle.

After confirming that the shadow elements were completely burned, Lucifer took out the crystal tablet again and pointed at a corner of the map and said:

"Let's keep going. Remember, some seniors mentioned the existence of a primitive kingdom of small intelligent life nearby. We can observe them from afar and record their progress."

"Huh? There is actually an intelligent kingdom inside the star ring that can form life?" Alvin was a little surprised. He thought that in this environment full of cold metal, only creatures with tenacious vitality like cockroaches could survive.

"Yes, when they were first discovered, everyone was amazed. We even took turns forming groups to watch. Those little guys must be the feral descendants of ancient laboratory animals. It's quite surprising that they can develop complete intelligence."

As they chatted, they had already traveled hundreds of meters. The complex environment of the ruins presented no obstacle to them. Alvin could easily carry the fallen building debris, while Lucifer would easily step over it. However, stuck metal gates and other damage would only delay them for a moment.

Take the gate, for example. Simply prying it open would have been easy for Alvin, but the Titanborn, receiving numerous repair requests, opted to repair the broken door. The locking mechanism, with its built-in remote control, was quite complex, so simply repairing it to a point where it could open and close properly was within his capabilities.

Along the way, Lucifer watched patiently as Ivan repaired the various damages he encountered one by one, with an expression of exceptionally simple happiness on his face.

She is currently in a vacation state where she is happy to watch others changing horseshoes, or you could call it a slacking off state.

What's more, Ivan, who uses the talent [Reshape the World] to repair things, moves very smoothly and efficiently, often solving problems easily with just a few "bangs and bangs", which easily gives people a beautiful feeling of "powerfulness", just like watching a difficult game strategy video recorded by an expert.

After hammering and banging for about half an hour, the scene ahead suddenly became clear.

The corridor filled with metal and mechanical structures gradually showed signs of fresh green. Alvin saw all kinds of plants growing from unexpected places, and the originally cold ruins became as vibrant as a garden.

This deepened Alvin's understanding of the Star Ring Ruins. Unlike the giant ruins that combined elements of the Classical Kingdom, with their various pillared structures, this place generally displayed the same minimalist, sci-fi style as the interior of the New Logillas. However, the scene before him was different, more like a surface ecosystem full of natural atmosphere.

Pushing aside a vine that covered the front wall, Alvin saw some mottled words.

Although it was incomplete, he could still make out the words "XX Biological Laboratory" written in Uranus.

"We're here." Lucifer suddenly lowered her voice and pointed to the green explored area on the map and continued:

"Just a few dozen meters further, we should be at the primitive country that our predecessors mentioned. According to relevant regulations, it's best not to disturb their normal lives, so we have to hide a little."

"You mean?" Alvin raised his eyebrows, and then saw Lucifer take off his short cloak and throw it casually.

The cloak instantly expanded and became transparent. However, a closer look revealed that it wasn't actually becoming transparent, but rather activating a camouflage function similar to "complete optical camouflage."

"I only brought a phantom light cloak, but if we all shrink in size, it should be enough." As he spoke, Lucifer and the clothes he was wearing also shrank, from a tall Seraphim of 1.9 meters to a petite figure of only 1.5 meters.

"You Seraphim also have this function!?!" Alvin looked at the Seraphim in surprise, whose face had become much younger.

"It's just an energy-saving form, nothing to be surprised about." Lucifer's voice also changed, sounding more childish and crisp.

"Okay." Alvin shrugged, and he further shrank from his normal disguise of 1.9 meters, finally staying at the appearance of a teenager of 1.7 meters.

"It should be okay if we squeeze in a little." Lucifer raised his cloak helplessly, looking up at the black-haired boy who was still much taller than him.

So, the two of them half-knelt down, shrouded in the phantom cloak, and walked forward together.

"What are the characteristics of the pristine country you mentioned?" Alvin tried to open the topic somewhat awkwardly. There was a scent of sunlight shining on Miss Seraph's quilt that went straight into his nostrils. Although it was not sweet, it was surprisingly pleasant.

"Ah, it is said that they are a race that is very good at farming and construction. They transformed the small ecosystem composed of low shrubs and even built artificial buildings similar to cities." After becoming smaller, Lucifer seemed to be more active than usual, his steps became bounced and he looked very dishonest.

"Look, that thing in front should be the city they built?" Miss Seraph's voice was a little uncertain when she said the latter part.

When Alvin heard the sound, he looked and found that the so-called city in the distance was actually closer to a bird's nest.

A large number of slender branches are stacked and intertwined in a very reasonable manner, forming an artificial structure that looks like a low hill. At several entrances and exits, you can see many figures busy repairing their homes.

The builders' true bodies were extremely small, and they seemed to be...

"Hamster? No, beaver too?"

Chapter 32: The Rat's Danger

Hamster? Beaver? Sea otter?

Not far away, the small animals that are repairing their nests or cities have all three characteristics.

The bulging crop makes these furry mice look more like hamsters than rats. They have two incisors that are convenient for cutting wood, and their hair is shiny and oily, which is obviously waterproof and heat-insulating. Combined with their round and plump bodies, they look like long-haired dumplings, and they have a flat and wide tail behind them that is convenient for swimming.

"It's these little guys." Lucifer lowered his voice.

"Information recorded by our predecessors indicates that their official name is Jianchaoshi Cabin-Dwelling Rat, a species of rodent-like creature likely derived from ancient experimental animals. Investigations indicate that this species possesses rudimentary intelligence and a social consciousness superior to that of wild families."

"Indeed, they even have a certain legal system." Alvin nodded and pointed to a rat hanging not far away.

Just now, the cabin rat had darted out of a passageway, carrying a piece of food in its mouth, followed by three or four other cabin rats wearing black knitted clothing. Their clothing was distinctive, resembling a hollow cylinder with four holes. The area near the ground was noticeably thickened, likely to reduce friction between the abdomen and the ground, and also to conceal their modesty.

The cabin rat that stole the food was quickly pinned down because of its slippery feet. It was then beaten violently, bitten and kicked, and stuffed into a cage made of branches and hung outside the nest.

From time to time, you can see other cabin rats making "chirp" sounds at that guy, and it's unclear whether they are mocking or mocking him.

"The calls of this creature can be divided into six or seven different syllables. Depending on the pronunciation method, each syllable can be further divided into at least two readings. When combined with each other, it becomes a language with rich expressive ability." Lucifer continued to introduce.

Alvin noticed that Miss Seraphim's eyes were literally shining at this moment. Considering her previous reaction to the cat and bug, this guy really likes furry little animals.

The two found a bush to hide in, used branches to spread out and hold up the optical camouflage cloak, and then began to record the various ecological habits of cabin rats.

To be honest, this gave Alvin a subtle sense of déjà vu as if he was doing summer activities when he was in school, and Lucifer next to him was very serious.

Miss Angel held a shorthand notebook in her hand, her eyes shining as she drew various images of cabin rats with her hands at a speed comparable to that of a printer.

Some were mending their nests with branches in their mouths, others were sitting still, weaving cloth with their short, flexible forelimbs. On the top platform of the nest, you could see cabin rats lying on their backs or sprawled out, basking in the sun. Although this cabin was located within the star ring, a small amount of starlight could still be seen through the top window.

This group of cabin rats that developed a primitive civilization even mastered planting skills. They chewed branches into finer wood chips, then spread an unknown mushroom mycelium on them, and used the accumulated water leaking from the broken condenser pipes around them to irrigate them, artificially creating a humid and dark environment suitable for fungal growth.

In addition, Alvin also noticed that cabin rats would use the outermost hard skin of mushrooms mixed with sawdust to feed a kind of round, fat white worms.

However, it is common for cabin rats that are being fed to grab a bug and then slurp it up like noodles. I wonder how many rats can be slaughtered by the end of the year with this breeding method.

"They are omnivores, but because the internal ecosystem of the Star Ring Experiment is limited, their main food source is still crops that can be cultivated in a recyclable manner, such as mushrooms. Oh, if it is not an intelligent creature, I really want to catch one and raise it. Well, maybe I can try it secretly?" Lucifer said with a thoughtful look, as if he was really considering a specific method.

"Don't make criminal remarks casually." Alvin looked at the other party with a helpless smile.

"You're kidding. Even if I could really raise one, I can't. As a Seraph, I always have to go to the battlefield, and I don't have that much time to take care of small animals." Although he said that, there was a lonely look in Lucifer's eyes.

Seeing the other party's expression, Alvin couldn't help but sigh. Even the Seraph, who was born as a combat weapon, has a soft spot in his heart.