After quite a bit of bustling about, everyone sat down to a Belobog-style dinner.
To be fair, the food tasted surprisingly good.
Who knew Natasha’s culinary skills were actually this impressive?
Su Yan, March 7th, and the others ate happily, while Bronya sat there wearing a look of sheer misery.
Having been bombarded non-stop by one earth-shattering revelation after another, she was in no mood to appreciate whether the cooking was delicious.
Persuading Bronya so easily had come down to two factors: the miserable state of living in the Underworld, and the fact that Svarog had stayed behind to play historical video records for her.
Under this two-pronged assault, Bronya had plunged straight into an agonizing dilemma.
*Sampo really didn’t pick the wrong people…* Oleg and Natasha thought to themselves.
About an hour later, as the clock reached 20:30, the three assigned to gather intelligence put on their Bamboo Copters and departed for the Overworld.
Su Yan took the night watch while March 7th and Stelle turned in to rest.
During his watch, Su Yan separated the automatons he had previously fused together, then used them to contact Svarog, requesting that he assemble his forces.
In the original storyline, there hadn’t been any Fragmentum monsters during the final battle against Cocolia.
However, a video game’s plot had to account for development workload and storage constraints.
Under normal circumstances, resources were conserved by keeping the narrative straightforward.
Because of that, Su Yan suspected the reality would more likely be Stellaron-empowered Cocolia backed by an endless horde of Fragmentum creatures.
At the very least, once the Stellaron sensed danger, Fragmentum creations would swarm the battlefield.
Considering the potential risks—such as being ambushed from the shadows—caution was paramount.
A good number of Fragmentum monsters possessed ranged attacks, after all.
Taking appropriate precautions was essential.
In terms of individual combat power, Belobog’s automatons had no trouble dealing with ordinary Fragmentum creations, but they fell short against the specialized varieties.
To prevent a scenario where the machines failed to hold the line, Su Yan planned to upgrade Svarog and his automatons.
As for the direction of the upgrades, it naturally had to combine style with raw combat capability.
About an hour later, when Su Yan met with Svarog again, he noticed an adorable little girl following beside him.
She had cascading, snow-white hair, crimson eyes clear as gemstones, and a thick, dark-red coat on top that looked exceptionally warm.
But down below…
Slender, snow-white legs and bare feet stained with dirt and grit.
With such distinctive features, she was undeniably Clara.
“I have a question.
Why aren’t you wearing shoes?”
In the Underworld, Clara was practically the daughter of the wealthiest entity around; there was no way she couldn’t afford a pair of shoes.
“When Clara wears shoes, it’s easy to twist an ankle,” Clara explained softly, looking up at Su Yan, who seemed to be Mr.
Svarog’s friend.
“Twist your ankle?” Without the slightest hesitation, Su Yan crafted a pair of Curio shoes through his system and handed them to Clara.
“Here, take these.
They’ll make sure you never twist an ankle.”
Meeting Clara’s bewildered gaze, Su Yan explained, “These are a Curio.
A Curio is an item with special properties, and never twisting your ankle is this one’s effect.”
Clara looked thoughtful, yet still thoroughly confused.
“Huh…?”
“Keywords added.
Searching database…” Svarog droned.
“Search complete.
Curios are special objects brought about by various phenomena, categorized as standard Curios, positive-effect Curios, and negative-effect Curios.
Analysis indicates the Curio gifted by Su Yan is of the positive-effect variety.
Clara, you may try them on.”
Svarog also agreed that Clara needed footwear; walking barefoot carried too many hazards.
“Okay, Mr.
Svarog.” Clara didn’t refuse.
She reached out to take the shoes from Su Yan to put them on.
“Hold on, wash your feet first,” Su Yan quickly stopped her.
To be honest, even if someone were a Pathstrider, walking around without shoes still got their feet dirty.
Hearing this, Svarog immediately dispatched an automaton to fetch a basin of warm water.
While Clara sat aside and waited, Su Yan and Svarog began discussing the automaton upgrades.
Considering the Underworld lacked production lines and manual upgrades would take far too long, Su Yan intended to employ some unconventional methods.
Curios were miraculous things!
In the cosmos, there existed a special phenomenon known as “Ascension.”
Emperor Rubert I had ascended from a pile of scrap computer parts into a machine emperor; sentient beings could ascend to become Aeons; ordinary Emanators could ascend into specialized Emanators dedicated to countering a specific Path’s Aeon… New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
All these cases illustrated a single truth: any living organism or machine that underwent Ascension would see its capabilities make a quantum leap.
Even without achieving identical heights, Su Yan only required them to gain a modest boost in tier.
“Acceptable,” Svarog agreed without hesitation.
As Su Yan had pointed out, sealing the Stellaron was best done in a single decisive strike to prevent unexpected variables.
To increase the probability of success, thorough preparation was vital.
With Svarog’s consent, Su Yan pulled out a Curio: Ascension Gun and began upgrading the automatons.
First was the Automaton Beetle.
After the upgrade, it transformed from a mobile metal box into a giant mech equipped with six mechanical legs and four arms.
Its defensive forcefield improved drastically—the combined field generated by all four arms was robust enough to withstand a full volley of Svarog’s heavy artillery.
Next was the Automaton Hound.
Its upgrade turned it into a mobile turret that doubled as an all-terrain vehicle capable of traversing any landscape.
Lastly, the Automaton Grizzly and Automaton Direwolf were upgraded into a long-range artillery platform and a close-quarters combat specialist, respectively.
As for the Automaton Spiders, self-destruct bots had limited utility, so they were left as they were.
Svarog received an upgrade as well.
Already hovering on the threshold, the upgrade elevated him directly from a standard robot into an Intellitron, doubling his overall combat effectiveness on the spot.
***
Meanwhile, at Qlipoth Fort in the Overworld.
With Bronya accompanying them, Dan Heng and Oleg had no trouble gathering intel.
As the Guardian Successor, Bronya could meet anyone in the Overworld without drawing suspicion.
The task of verifying whether Belobog’s high-ranking officials had been corrupted by the Stellaron fell entirely to her.
Oleg and Dan Heng obtained information through other channels, gathering records regarding Everwinter Hill, the Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone, and the events that had transpired in the Overworld since the two zones were blockaded and severed from each other.
“Cocolia really hasn’t done a single decent thing, has she?!”
Drawing on old contacts, Oleg pieced together Cocolia’s actions over recent years.
By the time he finished reading the reports, his face was contorted in frustration.
“None of these decisions look like something a sane person would make.”
Reviewing the endless list of directives that had inflicted blatant harm upon Belobog, the suspicion in Oleg’s heart solidified into absolute certainty: that woman had definitely fallen under the Stellaron’s sway.
Even if she hadn’t been bewitched, she was no longer fit to serve as the Supreme Guardian.
Rather than guarding, what she had brought was sheer destruction…