561 Surprise Discovery
The thickest part of the oval scale that was more than ten kilometers long and wide was over 800 meters thick, and this was only after it was suppressed and shrunk.
Xu Jingming inspected the minute composition of the scale. He couldn’t see the core Force basic life structure and could only see some superficial ones.
It’s perfect. Xu Jingming watched. The shallowest structure of the scales is already so perfect.
This superficial structure was much more perfect than the life structure of the Lv. 10 Origin lifeform he had been studying.
Its structure was like a huge regimental army! The perfect combination of countless parts made Xu Jingming a little stifled. He looked up and knew… that these were some characteristics of high-dimensional lifeforms.
From his foot, we can measure Hercules.
Xu Jingming also understood that he had only probed the tip of the iceberg. From this, it could be seen how complicated the life structure of high-dimensional lifeforms was. It was no wonder it was so rare for humans to reach the Paramount realm in history.
As time passed, Xu Jingming gathered more and more information. He even probed deeper beyond the superficial layers.
Chi! Chi! Chi!
Xu Jingming’s eyes turned vertical, and a layer of black scales began to appear on his skin.
Huh? Xu Jingming immediately jolted awake and controlled his life structure. The black scales on his skin dissipated, and his eyes returned to normal.
Xu Jingming thought nothing of it because it was already recorded in the Primordial Research Institute’s database: one would be affected by high-dimensional space when coming into contact with it. The source of Xu Jingming’s evolutionary method was the high-dimensional lifeform, Heavenly Python, so it was naturally very easy for him to be affected by the Heavenly Python Scale.
I was influenced just by being engrossed in observation. Hellion Sovereigns fuse high-dimensional objects into their bodies. Xu Jingming sighed with emotion. No matter how crazy he was, he didn’t dare to fuse the Heavenly Python Scale into his body.
If he really fused with it, he would probably lose control.
Time to put it away. Xu Jingming waved his hand and put the Heavenly Python Scale into the miniature auxiliary space carried by Primordial Battle Armor #9.
The miniature auxiliary space was a spherical space with a diameter of more than 30,000 kilometers; it could contain the Heavenly Python Scale in its uncompressed state. Of course, very few Lv. 10 Origin lifeforms had such a huge auxiliary space.
By hiding it in the Primordial Battle Armor’s auxiliary space. I can observe and comprehend it at any time. Xu Jingming’s psychic force could easily seep in.
Time to return.
Xu Jingming took a step and traversed spacetime, returning to the distant Black Iron.
Black Iron was his, Jane’s, and Yijiu’s garrison. It needed to be kept a secret, so it wasn’t suitable to inform Senior Brother Sakar and Mr. Lancel of the location.
******
The Primestar civilization—one of the cosmic humans’ three advanced civilizations—was one of the planets in the royal family’s vast territory, and this planet was also one of the planets the royal family had bestowed upon Lunarstar.
Lunarstar lived here in seclusion.
He was young, and he was still building up his foundation after reaching Lv. 10. He wasn’t sent to the front line.
I’ve finally gotten it. Lunarstar was in a large laboratory deep within the planet. He looked at the black mask in front of him excitedly.
There was an inlaid notch on the mask’s forehead.
I actually found this mask carrier.
A strange crystal slowly appeared between Lunarstar’s brows. The black mask flew up and automatically moved toward the crystal.
When the crystal flew into the inlaid groove, the black light on the entire mask increased greatly, emitting a dense dark aura.
Whoosh.
The black mask melded into Lunarstar’s face.
“Master, I’ve finally found the mask carrier. My auxiliary abilities have completely recovered.” A pleasantly surprised voice sounded in Lunarstar’s mind.
I actually obtained a complete Mask of Darkness. Lunarstar revealed an excited expression. Legend has it that a Paramount realm human in the distant past, the Mother of Darkness, wanted to nurture an Origin lifeform, so she created the 12 masks. The 12 masks each have magical effects. It’s just that humans have gone through many calamities, causing breaks in history several times. Paramounts from ancient times have died, and only two of the 12 masks are still in existence. One is on Spacetime Island, and the other is in the royal family of the Abyss civilization.
I never expected to chance upon the opportunity to complete a Mask of Darkness.
Lunarstar was thrilled.
He was talented on the evolutionary path, but he could achieve his current achievements thanks to a fortuitous encounter when he was young—he obtained the primary component of the mask through an opportunity on an aborigine planet. It was just that without the mask carrier, the core could only unleash less than 10% of its full potential.
Only with a carrier could it be fully operational.
“With a complete Mask of Darkness, I have a chance of borrowing high-dimensional powers, right?” Lunarstar asked.
“Master, I’m best at the dark side. That makes me most compatible with the Dark volume of the Primordial Star Conjecture’s core volumes. With what you have built on after reaching Lv. 10, I believe you will be able to borrow my high-dimensional powers very soon,” the Mask of Darkness replied.
Of the Primordial Star Conjecture’s nine core volumes, Xu Jingming had received the Light Rays legacy! Lunarstar had received the Darkness legacy!
Other than the light side, the Primordial Star had a darker side. Xu Jingming had long comprehended it as a Lv. 8 cosmic lifeform.
The Mother of Darkness is just a first-level high-dimensional lifeform after all. She’s far inferior to the dean, Lunarstar thought. The 12 Masks of Darkness are also a level inferior to the numbered Primordial Battle Armor created by the dean. However, a complete Mask of Darkness is worth at least 500 million credits.
With it, I have a higher chance of ascending the throne. After ascending the throne, I will have more resources and a chance of becoming a cosmic legend. Lunarstar was also ambitious.
He appeared very talented, but he was far inferior to Xu Jingming and Redmond. This was also all thanks to him acquiring the core component of the Mask of Darkness early on. Without its help, it would probably take him several times longer to become a Lv. 10 Origin lifeform.
Therefore, Lunarstar knew himself very well. He had to rely on external forces to propel him forward.
…
On this day, Eternal Academy delivered items one after another. The three strongest factions and the Cosmic Human Alliance regularly did credit exchanges and distributed items, giving human experts a chance of grasping greater strength and going further on the evolutionary path.
But even with the help of many external objects, very few cosmic legends were born in the human race.
Years passed.
Xu Jingming focused on every aspect of the evolutionary path. He only immediately set off to carry out issued missions.
Due to his deterrence, the Hellions only occasionally plundered on a small scale in remote areas. Those places were too remote, and it took Xu Jingming a long time to rush over.
Medium to large-scale plundering was the Hellion’s primary strategy.
Dozens of teams attack hundreds of places simultaneously during the medium to large-scale plundering, but I can only intercept one spot.
Thirty-six years after the Eternal Academy exchange, Xu Jingming was standing above a ruined habitable planet. His light enveloped the planet, decimating the Hellion Overlord to death.
The Hellions usually acted alone, so Xu Jingming could only kill one at a time. He seldom encountered two or three in action.
The Hellions have also become more cunning, and the plundering time is shorter. They only take away the most precious items before fleeing, Xu Jingming thought. I only have time to intercept and kill once in every wave.
After understanding Xu Jingming’s means, the Hellions naturally tweaked their strategy.
Xu Jingming could only intercept one spot when hundreds of places were plundered at the same time, so the impact was much smaller.
The Hellions became even more cautious, dropping the interception efficiency of human Lv. 10 Origin lifeforms and Lv. 9 Origin lifeform teams. Thankfully, there were many human Origin lifeforms, and they were scattered everywhere. They could successfully intercept and kill those nearby.
Whoosh.
First wave, second wave, third wave, fourth wave, fifth wave…
As they suffered few losses, the Hellions continued their plundering. The teams that suffered a certain loss withdrew, and the teams that didn’t suffer any losses continued their plundering.
The humans also intercepted, but they would also encounter Hellion Sovereigns, so casualties would naturally arise.
The 79th wave.
Xu Jingming waited patiently in space for the next wave of orders.
This has gone on for 79 waves. This means that some Hellion teams have plundered 79 times, but they have suffered very small losses and are still continuing the plundering. Xu Jingming couldn’t do anything about it—this was how it was with medium and large-scale plundering.
Although having over a thousand habitable planets plundered is like a drop of water in the sea for the entire Heavenly Python Cosmic Sector, it’s a calamity for those planets. Xu Jingming still worked very hard. He did his best in every mission and rushed over as quickly as possible.
He had thought of a way to deter the Hellions, and it had achieved some success. The three cosmic sectors bordering the Hellions had their plunderings reduced by a third after Xu Jingming’s arrival.
Another mission. Xu Jingming waited for more than an hour before he suddenly received another mission.
The Hellions were carrying out their 80th wave of plundering.
Every wave of plundering happened after some time. On the one hand, the Hellions had to travel. On the other hand, they had to let the spaceship cool down so that they could escape faster.
Whoosh.
After all, Xu Jingming was very proficient after intercepting at the border for more than 100 years.
First, he used Spacetime Travel to arrive a few light-years away from his destination. Then, he used high-dimensional traveling to descend close to his target. Xu Jingming used high-dimensional traveling every time out of caution so as to prevent the Hellions from ambushing him.
In fact…
The Hellions had already ambushed Xu Jingming many times, hoping to remove the thorn—him—in their side! However, they failed every time. Xu Jingming was very cautious, and high-dimensional traveling allowed him to turn around and leave whenever he discovered danger.
Huh?
During this high-dimensional travel, Xu Jingming’s high-dimensional observation made space spanning 15.2 light-years a model. Xu Jingming didn’t discover the Hellions’ ambush but discovered a strange scene.
Whoosh.
He descended while enveloped by Infinite Light and skillfully incinerated a Hellion Overlord to death before collecting the spoils of war. Then, Xu Jingming immediately used high-dimensional traveling to escape the restraints of spacetime and enter high-dimensional space.
What’s that?
Xu Jingming stared at a spot.
Space spanning an area of 15.2 light-years was like a model, but this model was vaguely connected to spacetime. Xu Jingming could only see the connection from high-dimensional observations. As for the connected spacetime, it was blurry.
“Normal cosmic spacetime is connected to a small spacetime?” Xu Jingming was surprised. “Only high-dimensional observations can see the connection?”
“Master, that’s an auxiliary universe,” Nine said in pleasant surprise. “Moreover, I don’t see any high-dimensional doors. It should be an ownerless auxiliary universe.”