Chapter 1941: Chapter 1935: Super Machine

Reality is not a game; defeating monsters rarely drops equipment… but PK killing can indeed expose the whole set.

A large number of Foreign Domain stone men became the main spoils of this battle, but figuring out how to utilize them requires the work of professionals.

The Extraordinary Clans inevitably carry some “treasures,” yet Intelligent creatures seem relatively weak in this regard. In contrast, those Magic Monster species that rely on innate talents can indeed “drop materials.”

In fact, many of the auxiliary materials needed for the advancement of Extraordinary Occupations are specific Extraordinary Magic Plants and Demons, even necessitating a professional Magic Alchemist to mix and blend them.

Materials in each world are different, requiring professionals to conduct repeated tests.

For this reason, Magic Alchemists are better at analyzing the properties and uses of Extraordinary Materials compared to material science experts.

“These stone men are quite high-quality construction and weapon materials…”

This life form seems to lack previous records, but there’s an Upper Divine God associated with them, likely their source.

Even after engaging in battle till now, these entities have not demonstrated any language ability, making communication impossible…. The middle-high-tier ones among them should possess intelligence, and not low intelligence at that, but there’s simply no record of communication.

Someone suggested that these stone men might be cells of that Upper Divine God above… but this has been ruled out since those life forms lack the expected “commonality,” and the high-tier stone men and metal creatures have a distinct sense of self, suggesting they are individual and unique beings.

Lu Ping’an himself has encountered many similar metal life forms, and even within his courtyard, there are the metallic humanoid and Animated Armor clans.

But what left the greatest impression on him were two examples.

One is the powerful cosmic race Luka people. Due to their metallic shells, they are also called Hammer-men. They glorify their ethnic group by claiming to be descendants of the “Lord of Myriad Changes (Twelve-Pillar)”… but considering that figure is more likely the source of countless Energy Creature clans, this claim seems quite inflated.

The other is Elder Liu, who, sometimes recalled with a sigh, merged with an entire island, transformed into a Giant Beast, and became the vanguard in that Plane War, undoubtedly the most commendable defender.

“This life form is completely different from our previous records…”

After a quick perusal of materials, Lu Ping’an understood the differences in such an existence.

Elder Liu reached the peak of the Gardener’s path, ultimately able to merge “Spirit” with external objects, essentially, his soul remained unchanged despite the replacement of external objects, and the metal shell of the Luka Hammer-man is just a shell, their true essence is an “Energy existence.”

The Animated Armor and metallic humanoid with Lu Ping’an are no different, essentially certain “formless entities” hovering over metal and stone, fundamentally they are “spirit bodies.”

This is the normal structure of life forms, with the body as the foundation and the soul born from it, the latter being fundamental.

“This is just a big rock, with no Spiritual Power fluctuations…”

According to past beliefs, a lack of Spiritual Power signified a nonliving object, yet those stones clearly moved.

Numerous research departments are very interested in this entity, trying to uncover its mysteries. Although everything can be explained with the “Upper Divine God’s” might, if any findings are uncovered, they could yield very intriguing results.

“Is there any record of Extraordinary Life without soul fluctuations and Spiritual Power?”

“No, even elemental creatures have Spiritual fluctuations, and indeed, even the dead retain subtle Spiritual Power fluctuations, with the shell having soul fragments.”

Chris’s judgment was authoritative, and she was very curious about this life form… but the most enthusiastic was still Fang Wen, keen on expanding her “metal life family.”

The researchers on Lu Ping’an’s side were quite skilled, and when enough people are involved, anything is imaginable.

Soon, an “answer” emerged.

“Perhaps, they are not life…”

It sounds far-fetched, but if considered as a hypothetical premise, it seemingly stands up.

“AI? Or perhaps a logic judgment machine?”

Though this answer was somewhat subtle, testing it was quite straightforward.

And since the report reached Lu Ping’an’s level, this possibility had seemingly been confirmed.

“Indeed, they’re all ‘Fake Men’….”

These metal life forms are genuinely Logic-based lifeforms, with a basic logical decision-making cycle of “kill — build a nest — reproduce.”

What puzzled Lu Ping’an was that the local “Pollution Source” could also mass-produce these stone life forms.

“They… can convert souls into entities or energy. This… is very troubling.”

The answer was worse than expected.

A long sword was crafted and tested, revealing rather vile characteristics.

[Soul-devouring Stone Sword (Black Iron Lower Level): A soul-absorbing Demon Sword that can strengthen itself by hunting life…]

Testing showed that it increased not only in size but also in hardness and resilience.

This is a constantly augmenting “stone virus,” transforming life into construction materials for expanding its ethnic group.

“An autonomous biological extinction device? Uh, why does this feel eerily familiar, could it be that another civilization’s biological weapon went awry and became sentient?”

Although speculative, Lu Ping’an felt this possibility was indeed not low.

The entire ethnic group is a biological weapon; they were never truly alive, yet they could turn “souls” into their material.

“Those extraordinary powers are probably created by external soul materials… quite interesting, we use metals to manufacture armor and shape weapons, whereas they utilize souls to reinforce their bodies and shape offensive weapons.”

In the records, these monsters are merciless predators, appearing to be genuine “Soul Hunters.”

Soul-devouring Fake Man, as someone named them, quickly gained recognition for closely matching their essence.

“Nonetheless, they are also excellent materials; after eliminating the logic components, they become very high-quality construction materials…”

Most of the materials were used to strengthen the walls of Silver City, naturally employed once identified as self-repairing construction materials.

Another portion was used as weapon materials for “Soul Devouring Demon Sword” and such armaments, always a high-profit venture, given this sort of mass-producible weapon material, though generally too heavy and lacking in extraordinary traits for potent impact, yet quite cost-effective.

“Uh, seems like they are our nemesis…”

Just gaining the “Undying” trait, yet it appears they encountered their nemesis here.

Death, even with “Life Insurance,” results in a significant loss of spirit bodies, and if struck by a Soul-devouring weapon, resurrection might leave only a residual soul… according to some esoteric beliefs, lack of three souls and seven spirits makes one lethargic.

“The bad news is, high-level Soul-devouring weapons, post our processing, should be capable of damaging our Undying-nature. The good news is those rock demon monsters actually can’t; they have no exposure to soul devouring abilities, only destroying and consuming flesh to extract the soul.”

“However, the middle-high-tier stone men are a different story… seems we must respond with caution.”