This is really not mechanical ascension
Chapter 376 - 202: Enter the Treasury, Repair! A-level [Philos Battle General Armor]

Chapter 376: Chapter 202: Enter the Treasury, Repair! A-level [Philos Battle General Armor]

Huo Tan’s vision gradually blurred, and the confident look of the Collector when he ordered the vault appeared in his mind, with every aspect of the current situation screaming eeriness.

"Not bad in power," Li Ming admired, hidden by his upgraded "Soul Mask." Huo Tan was merely a Class B life form; it would have been surprising if he had noticed him.

Then, his expression changed slightly; he looked down and said with a cold voice, "Why don’t you just die quietly?"

While talking, he was not idle: he crouched down and, with a swiftness that conquered sound itself, he ripped open his abdomen.

The functioning Mechanical Auxiliary Heart emitted a weak buzzing sound, its surface flickering incessantly with a red light, as if it would explode any moment.

"Self-destruct..." Li Ming’s expression darkened, another advantage of the Mechanical Transformation, to die with an equally matched yet defeated foe.

Huo Tan was surprised; he hadn’t expected such a minute movement to be noticed by his opponent.

But immediately, he let out a miserable cold laugh. In such a narrow space, where could his opponent run?

His Mechanical Auxiliary Heart, already functioning as an energy engine and specially modified, released a power in reverse operation far exceeding that of limb self-destructions.

Even for a Class B life form with over 90% developmental progress, it was certain death to withstand this in such a confined space.

He had kept a small chance of survival for his opponent only because he was a Great Mechanic.

But to his knowledge, his opponent had no thoughts of escape, his palm already resting on his Mechanical Auxiliary Heart.

Huo Tan didn’t care and let out a "hehe" laugh; if his opponent thought of crushing it, it would only explode prematurely.

However, the next moment, he felt a looseness underneath him, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his body surged with strength as if rejuvenated, barely allowing him to shift his head, full of bafflement.

His Mechanical Auxiliary Heart had suddenly vanished without a trace.

"How... how could this be!?" Huo Tan murmured softly, an astonishing guess emerging in his mind—Spatial ability?

Bang!

Li Ming unleashed a bolt of lightning, shattering Huo Tan’s skull.

Naturally, he had taken control of the Mechanical Auxiliary Heart by placing it into his control page.

[Z-2 Mountable Mechanical Auxiliary Heart--Class B: An extra mounted energy engine for semi-mechanically transformed bodies.

Control Conditions: 500,000 metal energy

Control Effect: Physical Strengthening--300%

Control Ability--Mechanization: Gains 600% physical strengthening.]

Impressed by the robust physical strengthening, Li Ming’s mind raced, now was not the time to study it in detail.

He quickly approached the elevator shaft, found the elevator’s control panel had gone dark, and it was inoperable, his fingertips emitting a fine electromagnetic beam, cutting a small opening at the top of the elevator.

He found the path above covered by a metal plate.

"Did he initiate some kind of blockade?" Li Ming pondered silently, looking down again.

Breaking through upwards would likely take quite some time.

However, he did not want to leave now.

Flipping open the elevator’s bottom revealed a thick metal plate, he tried to cut through with energy, but it remained immovable.

After all, this was the Collector’s lair, especially these core-area blockades, made not from ordinary materials; even a Class B life form couldn’t break through in a short time.

Old rules, still, absorb the metal energy, cutting out a circle.

Bang!

He plunged deeper, dust rising yet barely obscuring those green-glowing eyes, like a demon in the smoke.

The vault’s door was within reach, stirring Li Ming’s heart with anticipation; after such a long wait, it was finally time to reap the rewards.

The reason he had stayed in the laboratory wasn’t that he couldn’t leave, really waiting for Rob to rescue him.

What he needed was an opportunity to catch fish in troubled waters, a chance when the Collector was not in the fortress.

And this chance had finally come.

Arriving before the vault door, which was not yet fully locked, not a makeshift lab constructed in haste but only substitutable by a vault.

There was obviously an additional power supply here, still operational.

Li Ming didn’t care; his fingers touched it, beginning to extract metal energy from above.

"Huh, the metal energy density is actually lower than that of cold-core abyssal gold." Li Ming was surprised to find that this vault’s specification was inferior to the laboratory above.

In Ulrich’s eyes, the entire vault seemed less important than the "Material Reorganization Machine."

Li Ming considered this a boon as it would take him less time; within a few minutes, he cut a very small semi-circular hole in the bottom,

then ungracefully crawled through, unaware of the exact situation outside, nor knowing the reason Rob used to lure Ulrich out.

But every minute was precious, not allowing any waste, and a bit of discomfort mattered little.

Upon crawling in, he was immediately enveloped by the fantastical colors formed by the Mother Ore housed within the crystal display cabinets.

One thousand three hundred and forty-seven pieces; he had counted them during his last visit.

Given his current absorption rate, even if absorbing one piece took only half a minute, it would still take over ten hours to absorb them all, not to mention the Star Core Fragments.

The time was too long, making it nearly impossible to absorb everything completely.

As his thoughts raced, Thunder and Taipo emerged from his body, along with several scattered mechanical bodies; he swiftly issued commands—

"Select pieces smaller than 1 cubic decimeter, smaller than 10 cubic decimeters, and larger than 10 cubic decimeters respectively."