Dozens of Ex-Machina parted to form a path, and a man with black hair and black eyes walked through.
"Just a passerby, here at Miss March 7th's request to deal with the Antimatter Legion invasion."
"Stop! Don't come any closer!"
Seeing Su Mo approach, both Silver Wolf and Kafka grew tense.
To be able to command these machines and dare to approach them directly meant this man was no weakling.
Although they didn't know his identity, in the vast expanse of interstellar society, the unknown was the greatest danger. If they let him get any closer, they might lose the initiative.
After her warnings went unheeded, Silver Wolf didn't hesitate for a second, aiming the quantum driver in her palm at Su Mo.
"Hmph! If you won't listen, then you'll have to learn the hard way. Implant Weakness!"
She who strikes first gains the advantage. While she didn't know what Path Su Mo walked, that didn't stop her from hitting him with a debuff first.
As a master gamer, Silver Wolf was also a master combatant.
A beam of light shot out from the driver in her palm. It was an attack at the speed of light, one that few could dodge.
ZING!
As expected, the attack hit its mark.
However, Silver Wolf showed no signs of joy. Instead, she frowned.
"Implant Weakness failed? No, it was blocked!"
She slipped her quantum glasses down over her eyes and only then noticed a thin energy shield hovering in front of Su Mo.
Her attack had struck the shield and been completely disintegrated before it could even take effect.
"Heh! An interesting one!"
Faced with such an opponent, the girl's fighting spirit ignited.
This was far more interesting than those Ex-Machina, who relied on overwhelming numbers to achieve absolute superiority.
Seeing the excited glint in Silver Wolf's eyes, Su Mo looked back at her with equal interest.
"So this is Aether Editing? Using energy to influence the rules of matter, effectively turning real space into a game. The mechanism is quite convenient, and it's capable of iteration and evolution…"
Using energy to interfere with matter was one of the fundamental rules of the universe.
Strictly speaking, the authority of all gods functioned according to this very rule.
The concept of a divine power required godly energy to become reality. Even the illogical power of Artosh, which seemed to defy the laws of thermodynamics, actually needed to draw on imaginary energy to truly affect reality.
Aether Editing was the expression of this rule in the form of a game or program. By writing the basic rules of energy-matter interference into code, one could alter the world simply by altering the program and its energy output.
In a sense, a god's authority was a specific, pre-written program within Aether Editing. One only needed to input the corresponding energy to get a fixed output according to established rules.
But compared to the encapsulated, unchangeable authority of a god, the greatest advantage of a program built on Aether Editing was that it could be rewritten and evolved.
Therefore, the potential of this technology was far more staggering than any single divine authority.
"If one could obtain enough programs and iterate sufficiently, this power could likely analyze the source code of all things in creation, granting its user the power of a creator god."
Su Mo remarked with admiration.
As expected of a universe in the interstellar age, its technological advancements were generations ahead.
The ultimate form of Aether Editing would inevitably be something akin to reality warping or the Reality Gem.
"Oh? You've got a pretty good eye!"
Hearing this, Silver Wolf raised an eyebrow.
Though she tried her best to hide it, everyone present could see the proud smile playing on her lips.
Kafka shook her head slightly. Her companion was certainly skilled, but she was too childish, getting completely carried away by a single compliment.
But then again, compared to the other problem children, Silver Wolf was one of the better ones.
"On account of your good taste, if you surrender now, I can make it quick and just knock you out for a while, 'kay?"
Getting ahead of herself, Miss Silver Wolf decided to show off a little more. She tapped the driver on her right hand, summoning a translucent quantum blade. She then crouched slightly, as if preparing to lunge at Su Mo for close-quarters combat.
Seeing her confident look, Su Mo shook his head.
"You're thinking too much. I was merely complimenting the future potential of Aether Editing. As for the current technology—at least the tech you're wielding—it's still immature."
At his words, Silver Wolf's eyebrows shot up in anger. She bent her slender, fair legs, crouching her petite body low like a stalking cat. Her other hand was hidden behind her back, seemingly setting something up.
"Hmph! You talk big!"
To her, Su Mo's words sounded like he was calling her a noob.
Someone actually dared to call her, the hidden emperor of Punklorde, a noob?
"Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson!"
With a soft snort, the girl's slender figure shot forward.
In the next instant, even with Su Mo's sharp eyes, he could no longer see her.
That was because Silver Wolf was no longer in front of him. She had abruptly appeared right behind him.
It wasn't high-speed movement but spatial transfer; her powerful wind-up had been a complete feint.
Switching the quantum blade to a non-lethal setting that was more than capable of knocking someone out, she activated the forced-coma program. Silver Wolf leaped into the air, raised her light blade, and brought it down toward Su Mo's head.
"Tell me, who's the noob now?"
After delivering her triumphant line with a smirk, Silver Wolf expected to see a panicked face turn to meet her.
However…
"Is this all Aether Editing's spatial transfer can do?"
What she saw instead was a look of faint disappointment, followed by an undeniable defeat.
Before she could land the blow, before she could even swing her weapon, an irresistible force robbed her of all strength to resist.
The quantum driver was stripped from her hand. The imaginary energy within her body vanished in an instant, reducing her to the level of an ordinary human girl. She nearly stumbled and fell to the ground.
"So this is the device that facilitates Aether Editing?"
Holding Silver Wolf's driver, Su Mo copied and analyzed its entire structure in a near-instant.
Now knowing the technological principles behind it, even the divine hacking skill of Aether Editing was quickly mastered by Su Mo.
"The core is nowhere near this complicated. The rest of this design… could it be for chuunibyou reasons?"
After a full analysis, Su Mo discovered that over ninety percent of the driver was useless decoration. The true core was a chip no bigger than a fingernail. He glanced at the girl before him with a look of dawning comprehension, though he wasn't particularly surprised.
Treating the universe like a game… if she wasn't a chuunibyou, who was?
Seeing Su Mo's look of realization, Silver Wolf's face flushed bright red.
Even now, stripped of most of her power and as frail as a thirteen-year-old girl, she could not endure such an insult.
"I'm not a chuunibyou! Give me back my driver!"
She immediately started jumping, trying to snatch her weapon back from Su Mo's hand.
Her slender body pressed against Su Mo's, but no matter how high she leaped, in her weakened state, she couldn't reach the weapon in his hand. She could only fume in vain.
This damned guy, making fun of her for being short!
In a single exchange, the infamous Stellaron Hunter Silver Wolf had been defeated.
Watching her hop around fruitlessly, Kafka's tense nerves relaxed slightly.
He hadn't been rough with the powerless Silver Wolf. It seemed he shared the same stance as his machine subordinates—he wasn't an enemy.
Still, she had to rescue her companion.
She immediately took a step forward and spoke.
"Listen to me. Stop this conflict."
For someone with Spirit Whisper, resolving conflicts through words was the most effective method.
Although this power also worked on machines, it would be flagged as a psychic attack by their network, which was why she hadn't used it earlier.
But if the master of those machines was standing right in front of her, it was a different story.
She just needed to placate Su Mo, use psychological suggestion to de-escalate the conflict, and they could retreat unscathed.
At least, that's what Kafka thought.
However…
"No."
Su Mo's reaction was far beyond her expectations.
"Kafka. Listen to me. Stop resisting."
In her career as a Stellaron Hunter, Kafka had encountered individuals who could resist her Spirit Whisper.
At its core, Spirit Whisper was a form of psychological suggestion, effective only on those with a crack in their will, but useless against the strong-minded.
However, no matter how experienced she was, she had never seen someone who could not only resist her Spirit Whisper but also turn it back on her.
And what was more terrifying was that his Spirit Whisper was actually working.
CLATTER!
Two pistols hidden in her coat and a purple short blade all fell to the ground.
The one who had dropped them was none other than Kafka herself.
As if she had no control over her own body, after dropping her weapons, Kafka watched in horror as her own hands rose into a gesture of surrender.
It was completely different from her own Spirit Whisper, which manipulated a person's heart to prompt them to act on their own.
His whisper was tyrannical and brutal, like an absolute command she was utterly incapable of resisting.
If he wanted to, he could probably make her take her own life, and her body would comply without question.
Realizing this, Kafka's body began to tremble. As someone born on Pteruges-V, the planet of festivities, she had never known fear. Yet right now, all she felt was an unfamiliar shudder.
She didn't know what this feeling was, but it was absolutely something she had never experienced before.
To make her body react like this with just words… what in the world was this being standing before her?