Seventeen years later.
In an underground laboratory near Ash Holy Tower.
An incomparably vast subspace had appeared here, specially opened up by Saine for conducting certain large-scale experiments.
Though he was not short of money, he did not want to keep paying fines to the Guardian Organization because of experimental accidents.
That would only cause trouble for both sides.
The experiment Saine was conducting at this moment was the primary result of his work over the past several decades.
On the empty experimental platform within the subspace, a Federation warship roughly two thousand meters long floated silently.
The fleet lights still flickering across it indicated that the Federation warship remained activated.
There was not a single Federation soldier inside, however. It was in "Auto-Pilot" mode, controlled by Saine's Magic Cube.
Saine was not wearing his Faceless Mask at the moment. The Magic Cube floated quietly in front of him, and beneath the radiance of blue-purple laws, Saine's expression appeared extremely grave.
After a brief chant, a silver-white flame with a faint flesh-colored tint appeared between Saine's palms.
Watching the firelight in his hand, Saine slowly pushed it toward the Federation warship before him.
The instant the silver flames touched the Federation warship, a mutation occurred.
The Galente Federation metal ship, originally a complete whole, rapidly began to melt and disintegrate after being corroded by Saine's silver flames.
If it had merely smelted the warship's outer alloy deck, that would have been one thing.
What was most astonishing was that, as Saine's silver flames continued to burn and seep inward, the silver molten metal that had originally been smelted actually reshaped itself amid a series of tremors into entirely new "devices."
The appearance of these brand-new devices no longer matched the technological weapon design style of the Galente Federation. Instead, they