This is really not mechanical ascension
Chapter 874 - 452: The Azure Dragon’s Unfathomable Depths

Chapter 874: Chapter 452: The Azure Dragon’s Unfathomable Depths

"It’s nothing... thank you, sir." Li Ming steadies his body, exhales deeply, and hands the gun back to Barbaro, "The teacher said the materials will arrive sooner or later, you can familiarize yourself with them in the meantime."

Barbaro hesitated for a moment, but didn’t decline. He took it directly, gave it a casual twist, and clank-clank—the black gun barrel shrank inch by inch into a length of a palm, which he casually hung on his waist.

"Now that I’ve delivered the item, I won’t disturb the two of you. If you have any demands, you can call on the Vermilion Bird directly." Li Ming nodded and then exited the room.

After Li Ming left, Barbaro disgruntledly said, "Anduin, do you really need to? I tossed it casually; he could definitely catch it, and you still had to go out of your way to assist him?"

"It seems like I’m singling out a small guy."

Anduin glanced at him, his expression unprecedentedly grave, and conjured symbols to envelop the two of them before saying in a deep voice, "Li Ming... has already become an S Level life form."

Barbaro was momentarily stunned, then horrified as unstable energy erupted from him. Anduin, quick-eyed and fast-handed, hurriedly pressed him down, rebuking, "What are you doing!?"

"S Level life form? Are you sure you didn’t see wrong?" Barbaro was incredulous, his voice strained, more surprising than having his arm wiped clean just now.

"There’s no mistake. Although there’s a special energy masking his body’s surface, I took the chance to check." Anduin was equally unsettled.

"But, is this possible?" Barbaro still couldn’t believe it, "How old is he physiologically?"

"Possible or not, it’s reality, Azure Dragon..." Anduin slowly sat down, "Truly terrifying, Li Ming’s development potential is far from just Level Sixty."

Barbaro’s mouth was dry, suddenly saying, "This guy, could he become the Ultimate Life Form?"

Anduin suddenly looked over, his expression grave, but replied, "It’s not impossible."

"How can there be such a life form?" Barbaro sat down heavily, the shock from this visit was indeed substantial.

"Hard to say, it might be one of Azure Dragon’s experiments, unfathomable." Anduin speculated, then looked at Barbaro meaningfully:

"We’ve known each other for a long time; I don’t know who you’re secretly in contact with, but the people you reach may not be as formidable as Azure Dragon."

"Of course, I’m not just talking about strength; think it over. In the future interstellar dynamics, there’s an increasing trend towards alliance. Individual strength, all alone, is difficult to sustain."

Barbaro’s expression was dark and he remained silent.

...

"[Deceitful Human Skin] fooled Barbaro but did not deceive Anduin... hmm, but he used some method to see through my Life Level..." Li Ming looked at the control page.

Recently, he had upgraded the [Deceitful Human Skin] to S Level, greatly enhancing its concealment abilities and effectiveness.

With the uniqueness of this Mimicry equipment, even an X Level life form would find it impossible to discern his Life Level at a glance without special methods, even in contact-based inspections.

For the time being, it suffices.

Li Ming thought to himself, "Austin is quite a friend, actually didn’t tell his boss that I’ve become an S Level life form."

He quite agreed with Anduin’s talk of forming alliances; the Chaotic Star Gap was still rather special, accommodating several X Level life forms, who are natural allies to one another.

"Well, speaking of forming alliances, the Mechanic Association isn’t bad either. I’ve benefited a lot from their channels lately..." Li Ming pondered, "This is a mighty force, unfortunately preserving it is too difficult; let’s find a way to buy some time first..."

Back in the room, Li Ming finally had time to carefully examine the item he had, a red fragment that seemed unremarkable.

There was no sign that it could erupt with such terrifying energy, and its control condition was a staggering twenty billion.

Even for Li Ming at the present, it was an astronomical figure.

Moreover, this item was just a single piece. Controlling this one piece alone served no purpose; it must be combined with two other pieces.

Combined, they equate to sixty billion metal energy. Just thinking about that number made Li Ming secretly click his tongue.

Upon close inspection, its edges were uneven, without any pattern, with sharp protrusions and indentations interwoven.

It seemed to have been forcibly wrenched from some sturdy object with brute force by someone.

Every shattered break appeared so brutal, as Li Ming stroked it, he could vaguely feel the formidable and irresistible external force exerted back then.

He recalled the scene he witnessed in those brief moments, with just a fragment of information, he could roughly infer that this must be the so-called Zero Time Clan’s critical item manufactured at the final hour.

"... the Eternal Abyss will not let us off..."

He slightly frowned. The Eternal Abyss wasn’t a force or life form; how could it not let them off, could those people mean the Abyss Clan?

Intuitively speculating, considering its control requirement, it must be a top-level item at the Ultimate Life Form tier.

As he pondered, his face darkened again, unable to resist the impulse to curse out loud, "...Only female life forms can inherit, really..."

He estimated that if one could inherit it, they could obtain the Holy Mother Church’s similar reincarnation-like special abilities.

Though it wouldn’t be very useful to him, getting blown up was indeed unpleasant.

"But this thing only has the ability to blow up once." Li Ming shook his head, the Holy Mother Church’s characteristic of accepting only female life forms probably stemmed from this.

And because they only accepted female life forms, their development path veered onto this bizarre form, which, as they say, has its own destiny in its choices.