Published at 25th of October 2026 7:50 am

Chapter 7606: Convenient Gadget

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Ves understood the point that the Farseer tried to make.

She explained the Red Collective’s speculations concerning the strategy and methods employed by the deathborn civilization.

"We have great reasons to believe that the deathborn race is a major power in Messier 87." She continued to say even as they arrived in front of a highly secure checkpoint. "Their racial characteristics bestow far too much of an advantage. New deathborn can arrive in any area where intelligent beings have perished. It is possible that the native alien species of Messier 87 have developed a rigorous set of rules and customs to treat the bodies of their deceased to prevent the rise of undead apparitions, but you should be well aware of how difficult it is to maintain order on a battlefield."

Ves could easily imagine it. M87 was much larger in volume than an ’ordinary’ galaxy like the Milky Way, let alone a dwarf galaxy like the Red Ocean.

How many spacefaring races occupied the stars? How much territory could they cover? How much devastation could they wreak in a true high-energy environment?

Whatever the specifics, the quantity of slaughter taking place in this resource-rich galaxy was bound to be at least a hundred times if not a thousand times greater than in the old galaxy!

"A supermassive galaxy as large as this must be hosting billions if not trillions of conflicts across its enormous span." Andrea Vos apparently held the same thoughts. "Deathborn will continuously spawn wherever exotic radiation can reach. In fact, the much higher concentration of E energy radiation will not only speed up the process, but also empower a substantial proportion of them beyond the level of cannon fodder. Such favorable conditions make it difficult for us to imagine that the deathborn cannot rise to the level of a major race. They may even rank in the top 10."

Though he agreed with her assumptions, Ves did not think it was that simple.

"The deathborn are a rather disgusting existence, though. They emerge from the dead bodies of other intelligent alien species. As far as we know, these newborn entities retain no semblance of personality or identity from their prior incarnations. That means that every sapient organic being is nothing more than fertilizer to the deathborn. The undead ghosts are unquestionably parasitic in nature. They are diseases, one that is nearly impossible to get rid of. Much like the voribugs of the Red Ocean, the deathborn exist as an everpresent plague on galactic society. If you do not take proactive measures to suppress their propagation, they can easily multiply to the point of taking over an entire galaxy. Such threats always evoke universal hostility. I cannot imagine that the deathborn are able to live comfortably back in M87."

The female cultivator nodded in agreement. "There are many of us who believe that to be the case. The deathborn likely possess very few allies in their home galaxy. That may also be a reason why they are so eager to be the first to invade the Red Ocean. Not only do they possess an unparalleled advantage in doing so, but the temptation to conquer an entire galaxy and turn it into a safe and unopposed breeding ground for their race is too much to resist."

If that was true, then the major setback the deathborn had suffered back in Hypeh-Tekas II would not slow them down for too long. Their leaders would definitely invest a lot more resources into rebuilding their temple complex!

"It is possible that at least some of the other dwarf galaxies orbiting M87 have already fallen to the deathborn." Ves boldly theorized. "Perhaps the other races that are more conventional in nature recognize the threat and are attempting to invade them, but that is difficult to accomplish when they have crossed hundreds of thousands of light-years just to reach their destination. Even their God Kings require at least decades of time just to traverse the distance."

Though he did not know whether this was the case, it certainly raised the importance of the Red Ocean.

As long as the aliens of M87 got ahold of phasewater and superdimensional matter, they could develop all kinds of new technologies that could help them travel to other galaxies!

Even inferior versions of beyonder gates could already help these powerful aliens travel a lot faster inside Messier 87 itself. They could set up their own form of a galactic gate network to centralize their civilizations and set off an unprecedented economic boom!

Once they managed to establish a reliable and cost-effective means to travel from M87 to one of its many dwarf galaxies, the barriers to trade and conquest would plummet even further.

The deathborn would also come under much greater pressure if their exclusive galaxies became a lot easier to invade!

In short, the bounty of the Red Ocean represented a game changer to any decently competent race or civilization. Those who mastered the power of transphasic or superdimensional technology could bring the entire galactic neighborhood within their reach!

Of course, that also made life a lot harder for the civilizations that currently resided in the Red Ocean.

No matter whether it was the native races or red humanity, they all had to contend with each other while at the same time guard against outside intrusions.

At this time, the group had finally passed through the last checks.

The security verification was deliberately made to be as strict and rigorous as possible due to the incredible sensitivity of the goods placed within the most confidential labs and vault.

Even a tier 2 galactic citizen like Ves had to go through the whole process without skipping a single step!

"The Blackwater Summoner is clearly playing with fire." Ves grumbled. "I don’t know what he is thinking by bargaining with such an obviously dangerous race. The deathborn have no inherent interest in helping the phase whales and the Red Cabal. They will become enemies sooner or later. That stupid phase whale may have very well doomed the entire new frontier to a wasteland of death."

The Farseer briefly grinned. "What is good for the Blackwater Summoner is not necessarily good for the rest of his alien peers. His words during the battle suggest that he is turning into a rogue operator within the Red Cabal. He no longer cares about the good of the whole. His influence is on the wane now that he no longer enjoys the direct protection and patronage of his dead god of a father. In this regard, his collaboration with the deathborn is rational. He is seeking to gain more power, and if he has to work together with an invader from a much more powerful galaxy to do so, then that is entirely acceptable as long as he is shameless enough to abandon the principles and ideals of his race."

Ves would have wanted to claim that humans could never be so depraved as to surrender all of their racial loyalty just so that they could bend the knee to an entirely different alien race, but he knew better.

The Blackwater Summoner would probably fit right in with the loathsome cosmopolitans!

What was it with people and suicidal treachery?

"If the Blackwater Summoner is such a bad guy, we should kill him." Little Andraste said.

"Meow meow." Lucky echoed as he rested on her slender shoulders.

Ves sighed in regret. "It is not that easy. We had our best chance during the previous battle, but he managed to get away. I doubt he will make himself vulnerable going forward. It is out of our hands, now. I am sure that the Red Three has become apprised of his elevated threat. It will be up to them to assassinate him. Our clan simply doesn’t have the means."

"Oh."

They fell silent for a time as they entered a sterilizing chamber. A brief gust of wind and a bright flash of light later, they finally entered one of the hottest labs in the entire combined fleet.

A dozen or so figures garbed in bright white or yellow hazard suits were working in their own individual chambers.

The transparent walls and barely visible energy shields helped to prevent any activities taking place inside from contaminating other stuff.

Ves took note that the researchers of the Red Cabal had even taken the time to develop a small defensive array that was specifically designed to isolate the propagation of death energy!

"Your precautions are quite thorough."

"We have to be, sir. We are working with completely new and foreign pieces of alien technology. Accidents have already occurred in the first days. Nothing has happened after that, but that was because we revised our safety protocols and implemented more safeguards."

The Farseer guided them to an empty chamber. Once they passed through a secure hatch, they approached a plain metal worktable.

Several small devices rested on the surface.

Some of them were made of the same black stone that was used as the main material as the temple complex.

Others were made of a weird metal alloy that possessed a distinctly unpleasant aura.

The final object consisted of a relatively intact small green crystal.

"Normally, we do our best to keep the samples as separate from each other as possible, but we have already tested these objects. These are small, low-powered gadgets that are highly unlikely to pose a threat to us. They do possess a number of peculiar properties that may be of greater interest."

The woman picked up a badge-like object made out of stone and offered it up to Ves.

Ves paused for a moment as he looked at Andrea’s bare hand.

The other lab researchers always made sure to handle alien samples with robotic arms, gravitic manipulators or the gauntlets of their hazard suits.

That was why he found it odd that the Farseer was brave enough to come into direct physical contact with an alien device.

"Is it safe?"

"Probably, but we cannot rule out every possibility."

"..."

Ves eventually shrugged and simply plucked the stone badge from her hands.

Nothing dangerous happened.

He sensed no immediate threat from the small alien object. It produced no concerning spiritual fluctuations nor underwent any physical changes. It behaved no different from a random piece of rock that he could pick up on any random terrestrial planet or asteroid.

"So what is so special about this thing?"

He tried to go over the black object with his spatial senses as well as his spiritual senses, yet he still failed to find anything beyond the usual.

Not even Blinky managed to detect anything suspicious!

"Meow... meow!"

Lucky meanwhile curiously floated closer to take a sniff at it. The gem cat quickly backed off while reacting in disgust.

Whatever qualities the shaped rock might possess, it clearly fell outside the category of Lucky’s food!

"The object holds no value in our hands." The Farseer admitted. "However, that does not remain the case if it ends up in the grasp of a more qualified individual. Would you please pass it on to your daughter?"

Though Ves hesitated for a second, he still chose to trust in the formation master’s judgment and offered the stone badge to his energetic girl.

Andraste eagerly took hold of it, seemingly heedless of any threat the alien creation might pose!

Just a few seconds after she took hold of it, the black stone object abruptly began to show activity!

"Careful with that, Andraste!"

Strange green energy lines lit up on its surface. Their patterns were as alien and unfamiliar as other examples of deathborn technology!

Yet aside from lighting up, the stone badge did not do anything else. It simply became content to act as an unconventional light source for the time being.

"This is...?"

"We may be looking at one of the prerequisites to activating and accessing other forms of deathborn technology." The Farseer readily explained with a smile. "The temple complex was not staffed by the deathborn alone. It used to host at least tens of thousands of living subordinates of the Blackwater Summoner for whatever reasons. In order to enable them to make use of some of the devices and facilities of the temple complex, they have all received badges like this recovered specimen. It is not the most secure means of solving this problem, but it was likely developed as a temporary stopgap measure. The deathborn likely intended to introduce a more elaborate security system or get rid of native alien labor entirely in the future. We were just lucky enough to interrupt them before this could take place."

As Andraste wondrously waved the glowing stone badge around, Ves couldn’t help but feel lucky that they managed to assault Hypeh-Tekas II fast enough. They wouldn’t have been able to get their hands on such a convenient gadget otherwise!

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