Chapter 240-1: Initial Contact, I Am a Calamity (1) |
Lunar Eclipse City, Matrix Laboratory.
The floating behemoth’s remains were segmented and suspended within the laboratory’s energy field.
On the central holographic projection screen, data streams scrolled continuously, displaying an in-depth analysis of the floating behemoth’s bodily structure.
A piece of gelatinous material taken from the behemoth was placed on the test bench. A nanoscale probe slowly pierced the sample’s surface.
A set of data instantly popped up on the holographic screen.
It showed the self-directed absorption efficiency of the gelatinous material when it came into contact with pure energy. On the light screen, a dotted image of energy conduction automatically appeared.
Through the chain reaction on this diagram, the ripples of energy spreading across the gelatinous surface could be seen at a glance.
The displayed figures made the faces of the three Lunar Eclipse race governors present grow grave.
“Continue testing,” the leading No. 1 Governor spoke at this moment.
This test focused on energy endurance values and compressive strength values.
The data showed that the skeletal material’s destructive energy cancellation rate far exceeded any known spiritual material on Earth.
As one test after another proceeded, the answers obtained left the Lunar Eclipse race governors present in silence.
It could basically be confirmed that the appearance of the floating behemoth was more like a probing attack.
The goal was to understand the combat strength of Earth’s forces.
This behavior was not friendly in nature and essentially served as preparation for invasion.
The reason was simple. Before invasion began, the force on the other side of the spatial fissure could not determine Earth’s combat strength and worried that they might encounter a civilization they could not contend with.
This is the necessary preparation of any normal race prior to an invasion.
After all, entities like the terrifying Black Tide or the Battle Swarm that ignore a target world’s strength and strike directly are ultimately very few.
Probing is the most correct choice before an invasion.
In essence, it was like a carefully designed ‘stress test,’ primarily to collect combat strength information.
Like an engineer testing a new machine’s performance limits, gradually increasing the load and observing its responses.
Once it was clear that Earth’s combat strength was insufficient to pose a threat, or that their own side could certainly win, they would launch a devastating invasion.
The floating behemoth was like a stone tossed to test the path.
Through its performance, they could estimate Earth’s preliminary combat situation and then formulate precise strategies for subsequent actions.
Before fully understanding Earth’s situation, the other side would obviously not expose their full power easily, much less rashly initiate total war.
So the floating behemoth was merely the first step in this game of war. The real contest might have only just begun.
And the Matrix Laboratory’s materials testing was also a preliminary investigation by the Lunar Eclipse race into the potential invading force.
They sought to glimpse, from the microscopic level, the opposing civilization’s technological level and the developmental direction of its system.
The strength characteristics of materials can also reflect a civilization’s capacity for resource utilization.
For example, the energy absorption efficiency and energy reflectivity exhibited by the floating behemoth’s gelatinous material directly reflected the opposing civilization’s technological height in energy conversion and utilization.
In addition, the exoskeleton’s compressive strength and thermal conductivity also reflected that civilization’s capability to apply materials in extreme environments.
A material that could remain stable under high-energy particle-beam bombardment while continuing to conduct energy efficiently proved the other side had strong war potential.
These capabilities directly reflect a civilization’s degree of industrialization and accumulation of technology.
A preliminary analysis could judge that the opposing civilization followed a biotechnology route rather than traditional mechanical or pure energy technology.
This model was somewhat similar to the Battle Swarm.
But it clearly could not be compared to the Battle Swarm.
The Battle Swarm’s advances in biotechnology were simply a snap adaptation and growth.
Such growth even lacked a reasonable logical chain of technological development.
For example, for a technology to go from discovery to maturity, it needs to undergo multiple steps.
Each stage requires large investments of time, resources, and knowledge accumulation. It is a gradual process.
You cannot skip the intermediate stages and reach the final form directly.
But the Swarm’s growth by collecting pheromones starts from the final form.
It is like how the Skyfire hierophant king’s race researched Skyfire Rune Technology for over a thousand years, while the Swarm’s adaptation had no initial stage at all and directly entered the ultimate stage of progressively exempting damage.
After dozens of rounds of testing, a three-dimensional image of the floating behemoth was projected in the center of the room, rotating slowly.
Various indicator datasets hovered as light screens around the floating behemoth.
According to the test results, the floating behemoth was a species generated by the combination of a basic lifeform.
It was somewhat similar to the player camp’s vehicle system.
By combining different modules, they assembled a vehicle system.
The results of this testing made the Lunar Eclipse race governors present somewhat nervous.
Data showed that the materials on the floating behemoth were stronger in all aspects than Earth-produced spiritual resources by a factor of 1 to 3.
As for the corrosive mucus it spat, none of the existing materials could withstand it.
It could easily penetrate various spiritual materials. For example, upon contact with the mucus, a combat robot was dissolved completely in an instant, and even energy barriers could not fully stop its erosion.
At this time, the No. 1 Governor brought up the war statistics imagery.
In the battle against the floating behemoth, three ocean war platforms were damaged.
Platform A: completely destroyed. The main structure was dissolved by corrosive mucus, and the core energy device exploded, causing severe ecological pollution in the surrounding seas.
Platform B: 78.72 percent of the area was destroyed. Major functions were paralyzed, and estimated repair costs exceeded those of building a new platform.
Platform C: 58.28 percent of the area was damaged. Key equipment was destroyed, and combat capability could not be restored in the short term.
As for losses in combat units.
The number of combat robots lost reached 112. Most were completely dissolved after contacting the corrosive mucus. The remainder, upon contact with the mucus during battle, decisively chose to ram the floating behemoth, self-destructing to exert residual value before dissolution.
Among aerial support units, 37 drones were destroyed by energy light waves released by the floating behemoth.
In the naval fleet, 3 main warships were damaged. One returned safely. Two were forced to withdraw due to corrosion from the mucus but sank to the seabed before approaching port due to rapid corrosion.
In terms of energy consumption, it totaled almost a week’s worth of power for Lunar Eclipse City.
Most importantly, this initial engagement caused considerable damage to Earth’s ecology.
The corrosive mucus led to severe imbalance in the surrounding marine ecosystem, with a large number of marine organisms in nearby areas dying. It was estimated that a year of cleanup would be needed for recovery.
The energy released by the floating behemoth also triggered local climate anomalies, causing sustained rainstorms and lightning in nearby regions.
All of this data proved that the race behind the spatial fissure possessed very powerful strength.
It was just impossible to determine what combat tier a unit like the floating behemoth represented within the invading force.
The only relief was that the probing attack did not come from the Battle Swarm.
This conclusion did not come from the materials.
It came from behavior.
If it were the Battle Swarm, a probing action would be a joke. They would inevitably open with total war to invade Earth.
After reviewing the data, the No. 1 Governor issued orders.
He required Earth’s cities to continue maintaining a state of war, to be ready to initiate total war at any time, and for all weapons systems to enter combat readiness.
This battle might be the most difficult challenge since the establishment of the Earth Alliance.
Its intensity might be no weaker than during the Mechanical War period and could even be higher.
The best outcome would be that the race behind the spatial fissure, upon discovering the floating behemoth had been destroyed, chose to abandon the invasion.
But the future cannot be pinned on illusory hopes. The Earth Alliance must prepare for war.
That same day, the Earth Alliance convened an emergency meeting in the central council chamber of Lunar Eclipse City.
Governors of all races attended in bodily projection form. Their holographic images appeared one after another in the silver-white circular hall, vivid as if real.
Suspended at the center of the council chamber was a massive holographic projection platform. On it were displayed the floating behemoth’s combat data, loss statistics, and the range of the sea pollution’s impact.
On the surrounding ring seats.
Seeing the data, the expressions of the governors present became incomparably solemn.
They had all experienced invasion wars in their lifetimes.
In fact, there was basically an invasion war every ten years or so.
Most were alien forces that could not maintain a spatial passage and simply descended directly.
The characteristic of such forces is weak spatial technology. They cannot conduct detailed surveys of the world on the other side before descending and usually take the world’s spiritual energy content as a reference indicator for a civilization’s strength after arrival.
This method is indeed practical.
Without a high-spiritual-energy environment, it is truly difficult to nurture a powerful civilization.
A civilization can be compared to a tree, and spiritual energy is the soil and water that nourish it.
Without fertile soil and sufficient water, a tree cannot grow robustly. Even if it barely survives, it will appear small and fragile.
Similarly, lacking a high-spiritual-energy environment, a civilization finds it difficult to nurture powerful warriors or advanced technology. Overall strength is constrained by the environment.
Conversely, an environment rich in spiritual energy is like fertile soil, providing abundant nutrients for a civilization’s growth.
In such an environment, individuals easily break through their limits, and the civilization can more quickly develop powerful technology and culture, ultimately growing into a towering tree.
Take the Monster World and Earth as examples.
Suppose two groups of people, identical in physical aptitude, intellect, and all other aspects, were sent to Earth and the Monster World to grow up in two completely different environments.
Even without a generational turnover, significant differences would appear after ten years.
Those sent to the Monster World would be like superhumans upon returning to Earth, able to trounce the other group in all aspects such as physical aptitude.
And this is only the difference in individual growth.
The gap is even harder to bridge in weapons forged from materials.
Weapons forged from spiritual materials can slice apart Earth-metal weapons like tofu.
So aliens using a world’s spiritual energy content to judge the strength of its native forces is a relatively reliable method.