"Maybe a good portion of it has already reached deep into the mantle," Yu Lian murmured.
Little Gray said, "You can drop the 'maybe.' It's drawing energy from this planet, but in a benign way. Or, to put it another way, it's fallen asleep and made itself part of the planet's energy cycle."
Yu Lian examined the giant object from top to bottom again, hoping to send his spirit sight through its outer shell and catch the finer currents of energy within. But even with his strength as a peak Saint, just half a step from demigodhood, he could detect nothing but emptiness.
At the very limit of his spirit sight, there seemed to be nothing at all.
And yet, under his gaze, its purplish-blue outer shell gleamed with a metallic sheen, while dark golden, vein-like patterns raised across its surface.
In short, it was indeed a magnificent giant—a divine behemoth, an immense relic that perfectly matched the stereotypical image of an Enlightener artifact.
At that thought, Yu Lian couldn't help glancing at Little Gray again, then gave a thoroughly unsurprised "heh."
"What are you looking at me for? Is this the Forbidden Knowledge School's taste? What does that have to do with me, a civilization-guidance AI?"
Yu Lian fiddled with his terminal, ready to scrape off a little powder and upload it to the Silent for analysis, but Little Gray answered outright, "A carbon-silicon composite structure, with a boron nitride coating."
"If it's made of that, it's not as hard as I imagined."
"So that's only the most superficial analysis. To understand its true nature, you'll have to—"
"Father called it the 'Nest Mother.'" Shali's bony wings twitched nervously. Her chitinous shell tapped lightly against the enormous egg, producing a surprisingly rhythmic, crisp sound.
"She's called the Nest Mother?"