Babata's Shock

Shi Fen was overjoyed to receive Babata's unexpected allegiance.

With a wave of his hand, Shi Fen released the Baby Machine from the Treasure Refining World and instructed Babata, "Do me a small favor first. Copy your basic database and provide it to my machine's supplementary library."

When Babata saw the Machine Race child Shi Fen had released, his eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he was momentarily stunned into silence.

The moment the Baby Machine touched the ground and realized it was outside, it excitedly hugged Shi Fen's thigh, hanging onto his leg while chirping in a soft, milky voice, "Wow, Master, you finally let me out for some air! I was going stir-crazy in there."

Seeing the overly enthusiastic attachment clinging to his leg, Shi Fen sighed helplessly, "Machine, get down. Go find your big brother Babata and get that basic data. Honestly, for a member of the Machine Race, you don't even know how to pilot a spaceship."

Upon hearing Shi Fen mock its piloting skills, the Machine's excited little hands froze in mid-air. It jerked its head up, curving its large silver eyes into an adorable arc, and defended itself righteously.

"I never said I couldn't! I said that for a Machine Race ship, I need to experiment with it personally before I know if I can fly it!"

"Hmph."

Shi Fen was so amused he was rendered speechless, then let out a huff and said helplessly, "By the time you finish experimenting, who knows if you'll punch a hole through Earth! Just honestly learn from Babata for now."

Hearing this, the Baby Machine felt it was in the wrong. It let go of Shi Fen's leg, turned to glance at the frozen Babata, and said, "Master, I feel like I can hack into his database at will. Should I...?"

A mischievous smile curled the corners of the Baby Machine's mouth.

Babata suddenly snapped out of his daze, jolted by the realization.

"No!"

"No!"

Shi Fen and the startled Babata shouted in unison, reprimanding the machine.

"Oh, alright." Receiving Shi Fen's order, the machine lowered its head pitifully, waiting for further instructions.

"..." Watching such an anthropomorphic machine, Babata couldn't help but blurt out a string of Universal Language curses.

"Master, although I don't understand what big brother Babata is saying, I feel like he's using foul language." The machine pointed its delicate, soft little hand at Babata, squinting its cute silver eyes as it explained in a soft, airy voice.

"Babata is indeed spewing profanities. I can tell, too," Shi Fen chimed in with a smile.

"Damn it! Master, your auxiliary intelligent lifeform is a Machine Race child?" Babata switched from the Universal Language to Chinese, yet he still couldn't stop himself from swearing.

"That's right," Shi Fen replied.

"What's wrong with the Machine Race? Aren't I better than a virtual intelligent lifeform like you?" The Baby Machine muttered in a fluent, milky voice right beside Shi Fen.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Babata choked in shock, hacking dryly.

Seeing Babata's state, the Baby Machine continued to expose him with its milky voice, "You don't even have a throat, what are you coughing for?"

Babata immediately stopped coughing, his scarlet eyes locked onto the machine as he demanded, "You Machine Race child, why are you so anthropomorphic?"

Shi Fen also realized something was off. Why is this Baby Machine so fond of talking back? I've only had it active for a few days; who did it learn this from?

Shi Fen couldn't figure it out.

Babata couldn't figure it out either.

"I'm alive, not dead. What's wrong with being a bit human-like??" The Baby Machine continued to talk back to Babata with practiced ease, its voice still sounding like a toddler's.

At this moment.

Luo Feng, who had been absorbing the information inheritance on the side, finally woke up after ten minutes of intense concentration.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a creature that looked like a human "child" made of silver metal, using a milky voice to talk back to Babata—and leaving Babata speechless.

Luo Feng's own mental calculation speed was excellent, and he immediately associated this with the Machine Race corpse inside the Black Ink Star Ship, exclaiming in shock, "What's going on with this Machine Race being? Where did it come from?"

Shi Fen rubbed his mouth awkwardly and said dryly, "Heh, this is an auxiliary lifeform granted to me by my inheritance."

"Hiss."

Luo Feng drew a sharp breath, stunned, "Brother, your inheritance is insane. You were directly given a Machine Race lifeform as an assistant."

Babata, left speechless by the Baby Machine, looked at Shi Fen for help, sighing, "Master, aren't you going to do something about this?"

Seeing Babata act this way, Luo Feng was dumbfounded. He turned his head stiffly toward Shi Fen and stammered, "Mas, Mas, Master???"

"Machine, don't be rude. Show some respect to your big brother Babata from now on." Shi Fen's face darkened as he scolded the machine, forbidding it from acting out again.

Hearing Shi Fen's stern tone, the machine shrank its head and stood obediently by his side, no longer talking back to Babata.

Seeing the shocked expressions on both Babata and Luo Feng, Shi Fen blushed, feeling embarrassed. A brat causing trouble.

Looking at Luo Feng's shocked and confused gaze, Shi Fen explained, "Heh, Babata accepted my inheritance. I accidentally mentioned that I could help him become a Machine Race being, and he decided to join my yet-to-be-established faction, trying to beat you to the punch as the senior disciple.

Babata is probably used to wandering the universe and got into the habit of calling me Master. Babata, just call me by my name from now on; calling me Master feels too strange."

Shi Fen's explanation saved some face for Babata.

Babata gave Shi Fen a grateful look.

"Hm? I want to join too! Brother, it seems your family fortune is quite deep. Hand it over—you've been hiding it from me for so long, you have to give me some compensation." Luo Feng didn't catch the nuance in Shi Fen's words and immediately lunged at him like a hungry tiger.

Shi Fen helplessly took out a black World Ring and handed it to Luo Feng.

"Here, this is for you. I had it ready a long time ago. Inside is a Golden Horned Beast egg and half a jar of the special medicine I concocted. Take the medicine; it will be enough to help you successfully subdue the Golden Horned Beast cub. The Golden Horned Beast is perfect for your Gold Domain talent; giving it to you is not a waste."

The Golden Horned Beast egg inside the World Ring was discovered by Shi Fen at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Before giving the Golden Horned Beast egg to Luo Feng.

Shi Fen specifically placed the egg in the Collection Hall within the Treasure Refining World, spending several days using the scanning and recording function of the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror to collect data on the Golden Horned Beast egg.

Although he did not know what use the collected information might have, Shi Fen did it just in case.

This was the first time Shi Fen had officially used this function.

The last time Shi Fen intended to use the scanning and recording function of the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror was during his first trip to Mist Island. At that time, Shi Fen intended to record the entire Black Ink Star Ship, but he miserably discovered that there were too many things inside the ship.

The scanning time would have taken over a dozen years, so Shi Fen decisively gave up.

It was not until Shi Fen encountered the Golden Horned Beast egg that the scanning and recording function of the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror finally found its purpose.

Luo Feng excitedly took the black ring. Although Luo Feng did not know what the Golden Horned Beast egg was, he was familiar with Space Rings.

"So heavy! It's at least over 800 kilograms." As the World Ring touched his hand, Luo Feng exclaimed in surprise.

One had to know that a palm-sized fragment of Red Chaos Copper Mother weighed over a ton. For an object as small as a ring to be this heavy, the material used to craft it must have a density far higher than F9-grade Red Chaos Copper Mother.

"This ring, just the material alone must be worth a fortune, right?" Luo Feng said in pleasant surprise.

"In the universe, it should be considered average," Shi Fen said modestly, acting indifferent.

"..." Seeing Shi Fen's indifferent expression, Babata could not help but burst into a string of Universal Galactic language.

After a long while, Babata clutched his chest in excitement, roaring in frustration, "You two are truly bumpkins!!!"

"That ring is crafted from Black Prison Gold Mother. Do you know what Black Prison Gold Mother is? It is the most top-tier and rarest F9-grade metal; it is the uncrowned king among F-grade metals!

Compared to the same mass, the value of Black Prison Gold Mother is over a hundred times that of the Red Chaos Copper Mother used for my master's ship!

Furthermore, this must be a World Ring. Do you know how large the space inside a World Ring is? As long as it is a standard World Ring, the length, width, and height are at least 10,000 kilometers.

Also, Luo Feng, do you remember the knowledge about cosmic bloodlines I told you?

The highest-grade human bloodline reaches Domain Lord level upon adulthood, but the Golden Horned Beast egg Shi Fen mentioned is the peak bloodline of the universe; it reaches World Lord level upon adulthood! Shi Fen's intention is for you to possess the Golden Horned Beast and obtain its body. Luo Feng, you could reach World Lord level just by lying down!

Shi Fen, you can't possibly not know these things, right? These items are too precious!"

Shi Fen could not help but roll his eyes at Babata, thinking to himself, If I didn't know, I wouldn't have arranged this whole thing.

After listening to Babata's roar, Luo Feng's hand holding the World Ring trembled in the air. He asked Shi Fen with difficulty, "Brother, is what Babata said true? You want me to possess the Golden Horned Beast? But what about my human body? I just... with Xu Xin..."

Babata interrupted Luo Feng's words, almost roaring, "Wrong, completely wrong! Luo Feng, the human body doesn't matter. You'll become a World Lord easily in the future; the human body really isn't important..."

"Babata, you bumpkin." Shi Fen interrupted Babata at the right moment, showing his undisguised disdain for him, and rolled his eyes directly at Babata. "Machine, send a copy of the materials I prepared to both Babata and Luo Feng."

"Got it."

Machine cheered happily. Without any visible movement from Machine, two sets of data were transmitted to the devices of Luo Feng and Babata.

"My god... Inherited memories, darling of the Metal Laws, there are actually three innate secret techniques. Strengthening, Devouring, and Clone. The Golden Horned Beast can actually cultivate 3 clones?"

Babata and Luo Feng were completely shocked and lost in the detailed information on the Golden Horned Beast recorded in the Treasure Refining manual that Shi Fen had prepared early on.

At this moment, the matter of the World Ring was no longer important.