Chapter 296: Left Foot on Right Foot, Ascending?

Alert Star actually still retains a considerable portion of the Mechanical Church.

They are all descendants from Ustali; after the destruction of Huangquan No. 8, they turned underground.

Huangquan No. 8 is the place wholly controlled by Alert Star.

It can also be considered the Mechanical Church's main base on Alert Star.

Under the massive black stone Obelisk, Xisi, with Sakan and Taitus, crouched on the ground, asking where the Mechanical Church still exists.

Then, while listening to Taitus's introduction, Xisi silently stared at the Obelisks before him.

Even not far away, Xisi actually mimicked, turning a small Obelisk around to try an inversion.

But the result, well......

Seeing his own dwindling Divine Light and the black stone Obelisk fragments kicked away, Xisi knew this matter still required the Mechanical Church.

"In fact, the Mechanical Church remaining on Alert Star now belongs to the batch that had conditional early withdrawal but refused to leave."

"They seem to have long discovered the massive black stones underground on Alert Star, so they refuse to leave for any reason."

"Even many underground shelters on Alert Star were converted from the Mechanical Church's core excavation sites."

Sakan added beside him, saying that the Subspace nature of fire lizards, besides great regenerative ability and benevolence, also includes powerful forging craftsmanship.

Given how detailed Sakan's knowledge is, it's obvious that fire lizards have certainly been cooperating privately with the Mechanical Church.

"Then let's go, to find the Mechanical Church."

After hearing Taitus and Sakan's explanations, Xisi stood up directly and, pointing toward Taitus, walked toward a place where the Mechanical Church exists.

Sakan and Taitus exchanged a glance, then silently rose and followed behind Xisi.

Although they were curious about what Xisi intended to do with these black stones, given Alert Star's current situation, pondering that seemed useless.

Soon, Xisi's party arrived at the place where Taitus had previously encountered the Mechanical Church.

At the end of a narrow tunnel hidden deep within an abandoned shelter.

The shelter was littered with scattered disintegrated fly ash, and many Dead Spirits infantry wreckage left uncleaned after they fell.

As Xisi passed through the cramped tunnel that looked nothing like a proper passage, a rock wall appeared at the end.

Xisi hadn't had time to turn his head in puzzlement toward Taitus when a burst of scanning light swept over him.

Then that rock wall immediately dragged the heavy rocks across the ground with a screeching slide to both sides.

Just as Xisi turned back, a mechanical sage, whose body retained little organic matter—so depleted that even Dead Spirits would consider it a waste of energy for experiments—wiggled his dozens of mechanical legs and 'walked' out.

Before Xisi could speak, the mechanical sage raised a gear scepter, bowing his head respectfully toward Xisi.

"Lord First Saint, I never expected to see you again at this moment!"

Xisi looked at the unfamiliar mechanical sage, his eyes filled with complete unfamiliarity.

The mechanical sage probably also realized his evolution toward mechanization had gone too far, so he hurriedly projected an image.

It was a scene of Xisi departing Alert Star to rush to Terra for aid.

In the image, a Mechanical Priest was bringing Xisi a hundred ships and over a million Guardian Sect Army.

Seeing that the projection still showed a humanoid Mechanical Priest, and then looking at the mechanical sage before him, Xisi finally realized.

"So it's you!"

Xisi's expression softened a bit, while the mechanical sage, seeing Xisi recognize him, lowered his body even further, his face almost hidden, trying to muster some expression.

"Uskail, I've met Lord First Saint."

Xisi calmly accepted Uskail's salute, then waited for him to look up, walking with Uskail toward the hallway behind the door, and bluntly said:

"I need the technology to convert black stone from suppression to amplification; I wonder if you possess such technology here?"

Uskail, hearing this, did not answer immediately but continued leading forward; then at the end of the hallway, he turned to Xisi and made a respectful 'please' gesture.

Xisi was somewhat puzzled but kept looking ahead, and the scene before his eyes still left him stunned for a long time.

A massive underground world, with countless Servo Skulls fluttering continuously.

Mechanical servants wielded various devices to carve space, the clattering sounds accompanied by scattering sparks illuminating the vast underground.

In the central huge clearing, over a hundred ancient black stone Obelisks stood crookedly.

Why does Alert Star become the crucial node linking the Empire's Holy Frontier and the Dark Side?

Because Alert Star's underground contains massive amounts of such black stone, capable of isolating Subspace forces.

"These black stone Obelisks have histories that can even be traced back to the ancient Star God and Ancient Saint eras."

Uskail gently stood behind Xisi, speaking toward the massive construction site beneath his feet.

Then, in front of Xisi, Uskail answered Xisi's question with concrete action.

He raised his hand, summoned a Servo Skull, swiftly issued orders, and around the massive black stone Obelisks below, a gentle energy glow began to emanate.

The energy coated the black stone, activating it; though the black stone was meant to disperse souls, upon activation it not only failed to give living people a cold soul-level sensation, but instead imparted an unusual warmth.

Compared to others' simple soul changes, Xisi's already dim Divine Light finally received a noticeable boost.

Then, under Uskail's startled sideways glance, Xisi's Divine Power began to exponentially amplify at a wildly exaggerated speed!

After a Hundredfold increase, each further multiplication—even by just onefold—was absolutely terrifying.

At this moment, accompanied by the frantic alarm of Uskail's scanning device, Xisi's Divine Power and spiritual energy almost instantly reached his peak state.

And this was still only the beginning.

Without letting Xisi fully experience the power, the black stone that had just lit up below, amid a violent energy surge, 'snap'—suddenly went out.

The power Xisi had just amplified instantly receded.

Uskail's attention reluctantly shifted back from Xisi to his feet, then, looking at the black stone Obelisks dimming again below, he said helplessly:

"We indeed possess this technology, but we're not sure if these black stone artifacts are too ancient."

"Every experiment we conduct inexplicably fails."

Uskail's words were full of loneliness, then he turned back, looking seriously at Xisi:

"Sir, that is to say, regarding this technique, we haven't even succeeded even once so far."

It's a half‑finished technique; Wu Si Kaier wanted to tell Xisi that this thing is unsafe, better to drop it.

But Xisi showed no hesitation; he merely recalled the women and children in the shelter and the suffering citizens on Alert Star, and said calmly:

"Since we suspect the problem lies with these black‑stone constructs, then use the newly built black‑stone constructs on Alert Star."

Wu Si Kaier was startled; of course he thought so, but the problem is we can't kill them inside.

After Xisi finished speaking, he glanced at Sa Kan and Tai Tu Si behind him, flicked his eyes over the two, then turned back.

The three protagonists still can't seize a single black‑stone array?

"Should we go to the array we just captured earlier?"

Sa Kan asked, and Xisi, upon hearing it, directly shook his head:

"Those black stone Obelisks already have flaws; they're unsuitable as experimental subjects."

"Moreover, that black‑stone array..."

"Too small!"

Small???

Sa Kan and the other two were puzzled, not knowing what size had to do with it.

Xisi closed his eyes briefly to savor the ferocious boost from the defective item, then opened them, his gaze filled with absolute resolve.

"If we go, we go to the largest black‑stone array on Alert Star!"

I will make the entire Alert Star into my amplifier!