Chapter 440: First Contact
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
Crack! Crack!
Five sharp talons stuck out of the left arm, which had been refined out of silver bones and scraps of the ancient magical equipment. It had an air of the brutality and bloodthirst of the demon beasts as well as a vintage and ancient aura.
Their hardness, strength, flexibility, and spiritual energy conductivity were dozens of times higher than those of common super alloys.
With a telepathic thought from Li Yao, the sharp talons started vibrating at a high frequency, triggering purple electric arcs and blue fire, whose brightness consolidated into almost a real thing. The damage of his attack would be five times stronger than before when he performed the Purple Electric Blue Fire Claw Art.
He unsheathed the Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber with his right hand. The crimson body of the saber seemed very similar to before. But there were rounds of ripples caused by runes on it right now.
Li Yao waved his saber. After a 'shua' sound, the body of the saber split into dozens of sections like a spine. Each section was connected to the next one by Skeleton Dragon's transparent flesh that was as thin as a hair. Under the surging spiritual energy, the saber extended to almost a hundred meters long, dancing and circling him like a bizarre boa that was baring its fangs.
The attack range of the strengthened Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber had been expanded to a hundred square meters. Multiple attack modes were added, and the attack angles were much more unpredictable!
As for Li Yao's favorite Triple-headed Six-barrel Vulcan Machine Gun, its barrels had been significantly improved, too. More importantly, since many silver bones and scraps of ancient magical equipment had been too broken to be reorganized, Li Yao had refined them into special silver bullets and sealed Skeleton Dragon's intense demonic energy into them, before performing the Blood Baptism by mixing the blood from his fingertip, the tip of his tongue, and from his heart with his telepathic thought!
Once the bullets were triggered, he would be able to control them fully at his will. They were like countless tiny flying swords that would go anywhere that he wanted.
The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit which had been comprehensively upgraded was both gruesome and murderous, and in every way intimidating. If it were in the Heaven's Origin Sector, its specifications would be as good as those of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators' super crystal suits, if not better.
Other than that, Mo Xuan had also conducted a lot of modifications on the crystal processor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and remotely docked it to the mainframe crystal processor of Sparkle.
Within a certain range, Li Yao could control Sparkle with his telepathic thoughts even if he was not in it.
Even though Li Yao was distances away from Sparkle, as long as they were on the same world without too much interference, they would be able to construct a communication channel and contact each other.
A silver brightness was flowing slowly among the gaps of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit which was part of the mustard-level maintainers. Li Yao carried them with him for the simple maintenance work.
Li Yao also stored a lot of silver bones, scraps of ancient magical equipment, and Skeleton Dragon's flesh inside his Cosmos Ring. He would be able to complete more complicated modifications when the actual situation demanded.
Li Yao, at this moment, was truly armed to the teeth.
Yet, he was not satisfied yet. He touched his forehead with his two fingers again. A lot of additional components appeared on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
These were the plug-ins that they had refined based on the mechanism of the Ares Extension, but they didn't provide any extra abilities at all; they were just a layer of camouflage.
In a moment, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was covered in a layer of ragged, broken plate armor. Many parts of it were rusted as if they had been deeply corroded by something.
Whoever saw the crystal suit would be given the impression that it would crumble in the very next second.
Li Yao scanned his appearance with crystal cameras and nodded in satisfaction. Then, he reached a cabin in the center of the starship.
A long-prepared oval escape capsule was waiting patiently. Its shell was full of dints that were clearly the result of a shower of small meteorites, indicating that it had gone through a protracted, perilous journey.
"After I take off, you just hide in the depths of the ancient battleground and cover the surface of Sparkle with the ragged remnants nearby. Try to conceal Sparkle and yourselves!
"There are thousands of remnants of starships in this place. Hiding here is like placing a pebble in a riverbed. Nobody will notice anything abnormal at all.
"You can also explore the ancient relics and search for valuable remnants, but take care of yourselves. Safety first!
"If there's anything wrong on my side, I will reach out to you and you can reinforce me as soon as possible."
Li Yao crawled into the escape capsule after issuing his instructions to Mo Xuan and the rest of them.
It was a plan they'd settled on after lengthy discussions. When they came across a new world of Cultivators, Li Yao and Sparkle would part with each other and start their respective operations until the details of the new world had been figured out.
Sparkle was too large in size, after all. The starship was two hundred meters long. It was but millet compared to the vast universe. However, it would be quite a conspicuous target within the atmosphere. Somebody would definitely notice it.
If strong forces that boasted one or even more Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators resided in the planet, Sparkle would be like walking right into a trap.
If Li Yao were alone, the target would be much smaller, and he would be able to do whatever he wanted freely.
Once he was caught in any danger, Sparkle would be his trump card to reverse the situation.
"Rest assured. We'll definitely make Sparkle stronger than now while you're away!"
Professor Mo Xuan grinned.
Li Yao smiled. Triggering his telepathic thoughts, he activated his escape capsule, which slid out of Sparkle and dived into the world fragment enveloped in the grey fog.
Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!
The sixteen miniature power rune arrays around the escape capsule spurted thin air currents. Steering the vehicle delicately, Li Yao avoided the remnants by a close margin.
However, he would crash into a remnant or two on purpose, leaving new hollows on the shell of the escape capsule to make it more like an authentic one.
When he approached the grey fog, he even crashed into an extremely sharp remnant, which produced a giant hole on the escape capsule and caused all the air to leak outside.
Therefore, he had a perfect reason to be wearing a crystal suit.
The escape capsule dashed into the grey fog and landed toward the world fragment.
…
Mu Ping grunted. He swallowed many times but finally failed to hold it in. A mouthful of black blood was vomited out.
His helmet was immediately filled with an intense stink of blood.
"We are screwed. Even the mercenary Exos that we hired have been killed miserably. What can the shrimps in town do?"
Mu Peng was desperate.
He was in his sixties. The interconnected scars on his haggard face were scary, but they also made apparent his seniority on the battlefield.
But right now, it was not the flames of determination that were burning in Mu Ping's eyes, but the deepest fear.
In front of him, in a continuous plateau of metal, more than ten Exos were besieging a big fellow dozens of meters long, launching futile attacks nonstop.
A few other Exos were crying wretchedly amongst the heap of garbage in broken crystal suits.
Several other Exos were dead quiet. Blood was flowing out of their crystal suits. There was no telling whether they were alive or dead.
The big fellow… looked like a crab, only countless times larger and completely made of rocks. Many key body parts were emitting dull, metallic lights.
Spiral stripes were growing on its shell. Traces of weird runes could still be found in the stripes.
It was even carrying a double-headed crystal cannons on its back.
The giant crab looked like a hybrid of a demon beast and a machine. It seemed to be a devil from the bloody hell appearing in the human world!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The crystal cannon on the back of the giant crab was apparently much more life-threatening than the long-range magical equipment of the Exos. Every time it opened fire, three to five people would be blown away.
In a flurry, many other Exos were snatched by the fearsome pincers of the craw. After cracking sounds, some of their body parts would be cut off from their bodies!
The town is doomed! Mu Ping thought painfully. But he opened his eyes wide and roared. Holding his chainsword which had run out of spiritual energy, he charged forward again.
Right then, a thunder rumbled in the sky. A cluster of brightness that was hundreds of times more dazzling than falling stars precisely hit the center of the battleground, resulting in a crater several meters deep and raising countless broken stones and metal scraps like blossom. The battlefield was immediately shrouded in smoke.
The Exos and the demon beast were all taken aback. The bloody battlefield was immediately caught in an awkward silence.
"What is this?"
"A broken escape capsule?"
Li Yao kicked open the door of the capsule which was already deformed. His crystal camera immediately captured the demon crab which was waving its enormous pincers. He frowned.
To pretend that he had been drifting in the sea of stars and only fell into the world fragment by accident, Li Yao gave up the control of power rune arrays after he broke into the grey fog and simply allowed the escape capsule to fall freely, driven by gravity.
He had not expected that he would end up in the center of a battleground.
The crystal camera of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit glanced over everyone on the spot.
Li Yao studied the crystal suits that the Exos were wearing with the eyes of a professional.
He discovered that, although the crystal suits were all different models, they were in an equally clumsy style. They were more than 2.5 meters, with too thick plate armor and too crudely-connected joints. They did not look like crystal suits specialized for combat, but suits that had been meddled with to add engineering magical equipment.
Are you kidding me? This world is so luxury as to equip the engineering workers with crystal suits?
Also, why can I not feel the tiniest hint of spiritual energy from those Exos? They can cover up their spiritual energy so skillfully that they are alike to ordinary people?
That can't be right. Quite a few of them are lying on the ground. This is the critical moment of a battle. It's time to burn one's soul and detonate one's spiritual seed. Who would conceal their capability at such time?
The demon beast behind him gave him a big surprise, too.
It was not because the demonic energy of the crab was too immense, but because of the double-headed crystal cannon on its back!
The crystal cannon had been refined in a style that was different to any piece of magical equipment Li Yao had ever seen. The barrel was narrow and long, surrounded by countless sharp thorns, giving out an air of doubtless evilness. One look at it was enough to filled one's heart with fear.
A hybrid of a demon beast and a piece of magical equipment? What is this?
Li Yao had been thinking of concealing his capability before he figured out what was going on.
But right now, it seemed impossible because the giant crab was greatly shocked by the suddenly appearance of the escape capsule. Apparently infuriated by the intruder, it charged at Li Yao and stabbed Li Yao with its pincers covered in sharp thorns, while layers of wave-like redness appeared on its iron shell!