Perhaps because the material here was extremely dense, Nolan found that his spiritual power couldn't penetrate the ground — making it impossible to perform precise spatial teleportation.
At the same time, the immense gravity also caused interference whenever he tried to warp through space.
(T/N: Never mind, got my answer.)
Fortunately, by drilling a tunnel, he could let his spiritual energy extend downward through the sword-intent conduit, allowing him to pinpoint coordinates and teleport with far greater accuracy.
The moment Nolan and the girls leapt into the tunnel, he activated the Void Starsea and initiated spatial traversal.
The gravitational pull here was so intense that stabilizing the teleportation required considerably more power than usual.
Still, for Nolan, this was no real obstacle. With a ripple in space, the group instantly crossed hundreds of kilometers and emerged into a vast subterranean chamber.
The walls around them were made of silver metal. Lining the sides were racks filled with countless silvery cubes etched with faint blue circuit-like patterns.
Nolan focused his gaze and triggered the appraisal ability:
[Universal Energy Block: Standardized cubic power cell (50×50 cm). Stores a massive amount of electrical energy, capable of powering mechanical war units such as "Annihilators," "Scouts," and "Breakers" for up to seven days.]
From the feedback of that skill, Nolan quickly deduced that this was most likely an energy storage warehouse.
"This room can withstand the immense pressure of the planet's core so easily… The materials used must be extraordinary. You were planning to forge armor, weren't you? Maybe you could collect some of this metal," Mona reminded him, recalling that a few days ago Nolan had asked Ei for help in crafting armor and selecting materials.
"Now that you mention it…"
Indeed — the metal extracted from the planet's surface earlier had been confirmed, via the same skill, to be metallic hydrogen.
On the surface, the extracted metal would be immediately crushed and reabsorbed by the core's pressure.
But the metal here could withstand such pressure while maintaining an underground chamber? Then perhaps this was no ordinary alloy — perhaps even a kind of supermetal.
Nolan examined the surrounding walls again, activating the Affection Skill once more:
[Starforge Alloy: A superalloy invented by "Emperor Rubert." Ranked fifth among all his alloy creations, it possesses exceptional defense and pressure resistance — even a Planet-Buster Cannon cannot damage it. Primarily used in constructing the main frameworks of artificial celestial bodies.]
Oh? So this was a creation of Rubert — that legendary member of the Genius Society known as "the Emperor."
Could this entire base be connected to him, even after his passing? Nolan pondered silently.
An alloy strong enough to form the main structure of an artificial celestial body… That alone proved its superiority. In fact, its performance likely surpassed even the high-grade materials Nolan had ordered from the Interstellar Peace Corporation for tens of millions of credits.
Actually, that comparison wasn't even fair — this alloy existed on an entirely different level.
Naturally, he was already thinking of mining some Starforge Alloy to take back. But any careless digging might compromise the base's structure and cause a collapse, which would be… problematic.
So for now, exploration came first — extraction later.
Nolan relayed all this information to the others.
"If this alloy is truly that remarkable," Faruzan mused, "it might be perfect for constructing the outer hull of a Starsea vessel."
She knew that the Akasha Interconnected Network's Starsea Vessel Project had been initiated by Nolan himself.
If they could take this alloy back, it would save countless hours of material research. After all, no one on Teyvat could create an alloy of such superior properties in the short term.
"Using Starforge Alloy for the Starsea ship's hull…" Nolan's eyes gleamed. "That would make a ship even a Planet-Buster Cannon couldn't harm!"
The idea thrilled him. This alloy was directly tied to the fate of his future spacecraft — so naturally, he intended to take as much of it as possible.
"Mr. Adventurer, look — that door over there just opened!" Layla, wearing her sleepy hood, pointed to the right.
A vertical metal door — same silvery sheen as the walls, likely also made of Starforge Alloy — was slowly lifting.
The next instant, a swarm of drones, their thrusters spitting bright ion flames, shot into the room and immediately opened fire on the Sword God.
"Intruder detected. Extermination protocol engaged."
Tiny apertures opened on the drones' heads, gathering pale-blue energy as a cold synthetic voice echoed through the chamber:
"Target identified as energy-based entity. Deploying interference rounds."
Blue light-spheres burst forth like a barrage from a machine gun, moving at incredible speed. The Sword God was hit before it could react.
Upon impact, each light-sphere transformed into a high-frequency oscillating wave, and with each vibration, the Wholehearted Guardian Shield on the Sword God began to destabilize and flicker.
Nolan instinctively poured more power into the shield to stabilize it — but even then, he could feel his energy draining rapidly, far faster than it had under the crushing pressure of the liquid layer above.
These blue energy bullets clearly had a specialized effect against energy-based life forms or constructs. Frowning, Nolan made the Sword God dodge aside — but the drones, numbering in the dozens, immediately re-locked onto their target and unleashed another torrent of blue shots.
By now, the metal door had fully risen, revealing more drones and humanoid robots storming through.
All of them instantly locked onto the Sword God, launching wave after wave of suppressive fire.
[Standard-Type Mini Drone: An older-generation combat drone equipped with multifunctional energy rounds, designed for reconnaissance, interference, and infiltration missions during wartime.]
[Annihilator Mk II: An outdated humanoid war robot capable of wielding all conventional human weaponry, responsible for direct surface combat operations.]
Nolan used his Affection Skill again, scanning the mechanical units — but found nothing unusual.
It seemed the appearance of the Sword God had triggered their automated security response, drawing their aggression.
Well, that made sense — this was an energy depot after all. Of course it would have a defense and monitoring system in place.
Nolan thought for a moment, then ordered the Sword God to activate stealth as well. Instantly, every drone and robot lost track of their target.
"Target lost. Initiating infrared scan… initiating sonic scan… initiating subspace resonance detection."
The drones, as expected of reconnaissance units, quickly switched between multiple detection modes. With such a broad array of scanning methods, even hiding in shallow subspace might not guarantee safety.
And these were supposedly outdated models? Just how advanced were the newer ones supposed to be?
Nolan couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
Still, no matter what technology they used, anything in an "unobservable" state like the Sword God was beyond their ability to detect.
Sure enough, after several minutes of fruitless searching, the drones and robots shifted their focus to the opening Nolan had drilled earlier.
"Detected energy signature consistent with target. Calculating feasibility of attack… result: negative. Upper wall integrity compromised. Purging residual energy may cause metallic hydrogen inflow from exterior."
It seemed the drones' calculations had determined that attacking the tunnel could endanger their own base. Thus, they refrained from clearing out the lingering sword intent and instead transmitted the situation to command — likely to summon an engineering unit for repairs.
Before long, the drones and robots, unable to find any trace of their target, began retreating. Nolan and his companions followed them in stealth, curious to see where they would go.
As they moved, Nolan noticed the entire facility had gone into high alert. Detection systems everywhere came online, and several drones even flew up the drilled tunnel — clearly suspecting that the Sword God had escaped through it.
Following behind the robots, Nolan thought to himself: if he wanted to take all the Starforge Alloy he could carry, they'd have to secure this base first.
But to seize control of the place, he needed to understand it thoroughly. If a powerful overseer suddenly appeared — something on the level of a Messenger or Commander-class entity — that would be troublesome.
After all, in a hidden base like this, anything could be lurking.
Before long, they saw the robots merge into patrol formations, while some of the drones returned to their hangars to recharge.
The corridors had no signage or direction markers at all, leaving them unsure which way to go. Naturally, such things were unnecessary for robotic occupants who could simply access the internal network — only organic beings would need visible guides.
With that in mind, Nolan turned to Mona and said,
"Alright then. Can you divine where the strongest entity here is located — and whether there are any weapons that could pose a threat to us?"
"That's easy," Mona replied with a small nod, summoning her Hydro Divination Disk once more.
Stars appeared above its surface, slowly aligning into constellations that pointed in a specific direction. A moment later, an image emerged — a golden humanoid machine.
"That's our target — the strongest one here," Mona said. "Follow me. It's not far."
—Beneath the core of the unknown gas giant—
Nolan, Faruzan, and Layla followed Mona to a large chamber whose door stood open, allowing them to slip inside freely.
Inside, countless robots monitored radar arrays and surveillance feeds, each one methodically processing data.
At the back stood a tall golden robot clad in what resembled a military officer's uniform — exuding the air of a commanding general. Its expressionless face flickered with data as it reviewed reports from sensors across the base.
This mechanical commander understood all too well how secret this base was. Statistically, the chance of being discovered was less than one percent — and yet today, someone had somehow infiltrated their energy depot.
And now the intruder was missing. The situation was infuriating, even for a machine.
[Level: 103]
[Starforge Alloy Automaton: An inorganic lifeform with a body forged from Starforge Alloy. A commander of the Mechanical Empire created by Rubert, responsible for overseeing the hidden logistics base on Planet Pelo. Influenced by the "Anti-Organic Equation," it regards all organic life as enemies to be exterminated.]
Hidden in stealth, Nolan's eyes narrowed as he looked upon the golden commander — a remnant of the Emperor Wars.
He'd read about this in the Galactic Peace Network: the galaxy had endured several universe-spanning catastrophes.
One was the Cosmic Locust Plague, caused by the rampant procreation of the Emanator of Abundance.
The other two were the First and Second Emperor Wars — conflicts launched by Rubert, the 27th seat of the Genius Society, known as The Emperor.
Rubert had initiated the Emperor War against all organic life, creating the Anti-Organic Equation — a directive that, once implanted into any inorganic intelligence or mechanical system, compelled them to view all organic beings as enemies to annihilate.
Whether an artificial lifeform or a simple droid, once infected, the outcome was the same — extermination of all organics on sight.
Still, the commander before him wasn't all that powerful — only level 103. Something Nolan could easily handle.
And since Mona's divination had confirmed this was the base's strongest entity, eliminating it would effectively grant them control of the facility.
After all, both Rubert the First and his successor, Rubert II — who had reignited the war — were long gone.
Even if they seized the place, there was no risk of retaliation from the fallen Mechanical Empire.
And even if any remnants existed, none could detect Nolan's hidden state anyway — no need to worry about being recognized.
Now he just needed to confirm that the commander didn't have any oversized weapon systems.
After observing closely, Nolan sensed nothing particularly dangerous from the robot's frame — no hidden weapons beyond standard specifications.
That was enough.
Without hesitation, he summoned a storm of golden psychic tendrils, appearing behind every inorganic being in the room.
Through his Golden Eyes of Judgment, he had already pinpointed their weak points — the processing cores located within their heads, each clearly marked with a faint indicator.
In an instant, the spectral tendrils struck — slicing through every processing unit simultaneously.
All the machines froze. Their cores overloaded and burst, bodies collapsing one after another.
Even the golden commander managed to resist for only a few seconds before sparks burst from its joints and a harsh bzzt-bzzt echoed through the room as it short-circuited and fell still.
(End of Chapter)
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