Light Banquet's eyes flickered as she said:
"This was once our most closely guarded secret-but there is no harm in telling you now-the reason our technology made such a qualitative leap during the War of Vengeance-and even propelled us into the ranks of the top powers capable of rivaling the Gods after the war-was largely because of its gifts to us-"
"Knowledge-technology-even mechanical ascension-"
Lynn raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
Light Banquet lowered her voice, a faint rasp creeping into it as she said:
"Exactly what I said-in a sense, it could also be considered a mechanical life-form-at least, that was how it presented itself-when we first discovered it-it was inside an aging star-and as we continued harvesting energy-we collected more and more of this substance-until, at a certain point-they developed wills of their own-"
The system's introduction earlier had also mentioned what she was describing.
Light Banquet looked up and said warily:
"At first, the Star Embracers only studied them as an unknown substance-but once they developed wills-that research was quickly terminated-and that was when we learned this substance existed-by then-in a very short span of time, they had already taken control of one of our galaxy-class motherships-"
They were like flowing mercury, yet also like bizarre, shifting phantoms.
They were unlike any substance that existed in this universe, without shape or form. Only after learning everything from the Star Embracers did they begin to dimly realize that their fledgling civilization might have inadvertently released an ancient and terrifying existence from within those countless stars.
Lynn asked uncertainly:
"Did war break out between you?"
Light Banquet shook her head. "No-but war was indeed on the verge of breaking out-they had taken control of the Star Embracers' mothership-but at the last moment before the attack order was issued-we