Age of Cosmic Exploration Chapter 405

Before Yao Yuan's eyes was a large hall the size of a football field. However, when compared to the openness of the universe, it was extremely small.

The hall even felt more cramped thanks to the various mechanical paraphernalia like cogs, parts, gears, and wheels that covered the four walls. It gives the impression that they were inside some kind of mechanical structure. Yao Yuan could feel his eyes getting blurry, following the different turning motions of the many different gears in the room.

The one true eye-grabbing feature though was a small tower situated in the middle of the room. The tower was only four to five meters tall, its width about the size of three to five grown men standing side by side. The whole tower was made up of complicated cogs and gears. Yao Yuan used his Seeker power to study the construction of this tiny tower from afar. When he used his power to look in closer, he was shocked to realize that even the cogs were made up of millions of tiny cogs. However, all of the cogs formed a structure that turned harmoniously as if they were each obediently following each of their own rules.

This little tower gave the sensation that the hall itself was alive, capturing Yao Yuan's attention fully.

"Hey, have you seen enough?"

Suddenly, a female voice said to bring Yao Yuan out of his reverie. Yao Yuan's heart jumped. He was a specially trained soldier, so his focus wouldn't be moved under any circumstances, but he had indeed lost his focus examining a bunch of wheels and cogs. If not for the voice that had brought him to attention, he probably would have kept on examining it, and he wouldn't have realized that a knife was heading towards his body. How scary was that thought!?

Yao Yuan turned towards the voice and saw ZERO and the rest of his group. Then he heard ZERO say, "Stop looking at it. I know you're an Immortal, but everything here is real. Furthermore, you're just a level 2 Immortal, you wouldn't have been able to see the truth of a god-tier space civilization anyway… But I'm surprised. Even though a mechanical civilization is the most common among god-tier space civilizations, this is of the rarest Gear Technological Branch. The overall power is still weak, but this means that it is an opening for us, which explains why a high tier space civilization was able to operate the power of this illusory space…"

Yao Yuan waited until the trio walked to his side to ask, "You all have seen the messages, right? Also, ZERO, I want to ask, how is this god-tier space civilization compared to the god-tier space civilization inside the Hope's UFO?"

ZERO huffed with derision. "There isn't even a match, the difference between the two is unbridgeable. Regardless, for humanity, both of them are a standards that cannot be reached. However, you should be thankful that this god-tier space civilization is so much weaker than the one on the Hope, because now at least you have a chance to acquire it."

Yao Yuan agreed with ZERO. The UFO inside the Hope still baffled the Academy and it even managed to maintain its three dimensional form in the fourth dimension, this was something way beyond humanity's scientific comprehension. In comparison, the god-tier space civilization that was responsible for this illusory space was much better. If anything, Yao Yuan wished that this illusory space wasn't a god-tier space civilization's technology. He would have settled for it being a high tier space civilization's technology, or better yet, the technology of a middle tier space civilization because at least that way, the Hope could adapt it into its system seamlessly. After all, one bird in hand was better than two in the bushes.

Yao Yuan didn't answer but turned once more to look at the tiny tower. This time, he asked as he observed the construct, "Then, what shall we do now? How do we take control of this illusory space? Is this small tower the central control?"

"Nope," ZERO shook her head as she answered, "This hall we're in is the central control. The hall is merely one of its forms. After you've taken control of this illusory space, this can be anything you want it to be. Regarding this small tower, I'm not familiar with the technology of a Gear-based civilization, but if I have to guess…

"This is probably the prison for the high-ranking demon!"

Just as ZERO finished that statement, the voice again began in everyone's minds. "This here is the control center of the thing we found. This thing is incredibly weird, its interior seems like it grew naturally, since there is no sign of mechanical forging or creations. However, it is filled to the brim with high-end technology. This is something even a level 9 space civilization couldn't master, much less create…"

After the voice finished, under everyone's gazes, multiple green vines grew out of every corner of the hall. The vines climbed all over the place like little green snakes. In barely a second, the hall was covered with plant-life, giving the hall a weird look. The retro-looking gears' surfaces ware curled with tiny yet sprawling green vines. It had a feeling of great technology being swallowed up by nature.

However, in this scene that looked right out of steampunk movie, after the green vines appeared, some of the gears started to glow in indeterminate colors and brightness. While the group was blinded by the sudden glow, the hall and the tower started to expand in size. Starting from the initial several meters, the tower grew to several ten metres, then finally stopped at several hundred meters.

Before the group recovered from the shock, the scenery started to change again. The vines that covered the hall started to congregate, forming into a tree that was several hundred meters tall. The group looked on as it fell upon the tower, creating a giant glow. The glow was so sharp that they could barely open their eyes. Thankfully, the glow soon disappeared. When they opened their eyes again, the big tree had already wilted. It started to crumble into dust before disappearing altogether.

On the other hand, the tower started to operate. The gears all around it started to move and several seconds later, the tower split into two, revealing the thing within…

It was a giant blue robot with red equipment. Its height was at about 120 meters. It looked heavy and impressive, not unlike the mecha robot those pilots operated in the sci-fi anime "Gundam."

Yao Yuan frowned with confusion because he didn't see any demon. There was only this robot. Was the demon sealed away somewhere else? Was this robot the real reward of the level 8 space civilization and not the whole illusory space as he thought?

While it was merely a normal robot in Yao Yuan's eyes, for others in his group, including ZERO, they saw a ball of light with the colors red and blue clashing within itself. There was even occasional roaring. They merely took a few glimpses at it before a mounting headache assaulted their brains. ZERO collapsed to the floor with a scream and the ball of light on her shoulder blinked in and out of existence, like it could be extinguished at any moment.

When Yao Yuan noticed their reactions, he asked immediately, "What's wrong? Are we being attacked? What's happening?"

When the sound of Yao Yuan's questions drifted into the group's ears, the headache disappeared instantly and the blue-red thing trapped inside the tower changed into the thing Yao Yuan had been seeing all along, a giant blue robot with red accessories.

"That was too close…" ZERO said with great relief. "I've not personally seen a high-ranking demon, I've merely heard of them. I didn't expect them to be so powerful. I believe he knows your existence is his biggest threat, so he aimed to dispose of us first. However, according to my understanding of high-ranking demons, it is very rare for them to expose themselves so openly. Once they are trapped inside an illusory space, they often choose the battle tactic of slow corruption and not direct assault like what happened just now…"

"High-ranking demon?" Yao Yuan looked around with alarm, but he didn't see anything, he didn't even see anyone else. He once again turned to the giant robot in shock and said, "Is this one of the creations of the level 8 space civilization? But it's sealed behind a pool of dark matter, how were they going to access it?"

"No, this robot is the high-ranking demon, or I should say, a demon that is in the middle of modification!" ZERO explained.

At the same time, the voice appeared in everyone's minds again, "…Granzon, Mecha God Granzon!

"This is an existence of a higher plane that was sealed within this curious space. When our race obtained this illusory space, we also gained access to the information that was stored within, including information about this ancient presence…

"He is one of most powerful demons; he destroyed 3 god-tier space civilizations. However, he has also betrayed the demon race, betrayed Chaos, and became a target for millions of demons. It was the only reason he would end up being captured, his name is…

"Mecha God! Granzon!"

Chapter end