Green Bull suddenly slammed the armrest of the Void Throne, not knowing whether it was in admiration or resentment, and exclaimed loudly:
"Lord Roya is truly formidable! While unraveling my spore miasma, you can still strategize and command the Star Spirits to resolve the crisis the pirate crew faces. Remarkable, truly remarkable!"
To Green Bull's taunting words, Roya remained utterly unmoved.
The entire process of the Star Spirit extracting the fungus from Magellan's body had already been relayed to Roya through the Poison Colossus.
Though the method was rough, it was undeniably effective.
More importantly, Roya had already deciphered the mechanism by which the spores and Imu exchanged life matter and seastone micro-particles.
By combining the two, Roya decisively devised a plan that would kill two birds with one stone — resolving both the spore crisis and the problem of Imu's beacon-like metamorphosis.
Without holding back any longer, his powerful spiritual sense surged directly toward Imu!
Before reaching Imu, his spiritual sense fragmented into countless particles, breaking down into individual units identical to the spores drifting in the miasma.
Even their shapes and traits became indistinguishable from the real spores. To anyone but Roya himself, there was no way to tell them apart.
In an instant, they replaced the spores that were in direct contact with Imu.
Meanwhile, the outer layers of spores remained oblivious, still following their programmed process of transmitting life matter and seastone particles inward.
In this way, Roya seized complete control over the most critical phase of Imu's transformation, while maintaining the delicate equilibrium of the process.
This maneuver was so exquisitely subtle that even Green Bull himself could not fully comprehend its brilliance.
All he could vaguely sense was that a portion of the spore miasma — which he regarded as part of his own body — seemed to have gone blank, as though whole swathes had slipped out of his grasp.
Try as he might, Green Bull could not make sense of it. In the end, he could only sigh in astonishment, revealing true shock for the first time.
Roya's move had completely surpassed his imagination.
Green Bull let out a nearly imperceptible grunt. With a thought, his main consciousness surged through the spore miasma, instantly flooding into the blank zone, preparing to wrest control back from Roya.
Yet, to his horror, the spores in that region gave no response to his main consciousness whatsoever!
Startled, Green Bull abandoned caution, no longer caring whether the beacon-mutant body might be damaged, and forcefully drove a massive cluster of outer spores crashing toward the blank zone.
But Roya's spiritual sense was already aware of every move.
In fact, to prevent interference from Green Bull, Roya had long since replaced every spore in the entire transport network with his own spiritual particles, seizing complete control of Imu's mutation!
While carrying out the transfer of life matter and seastone, these spiritual particles also possessed defensive power of astonishing magnitude.
Billions of spores surged in like a tidal wave, only to strike the transport channel like moths plunging into a blazing inferno — instantly annihilated, vaporized into pure energy.
Such a loss meant nothing to Green Bull, who had just slaughtered all fleshly life in Mary Geoise. Not even a drop in the bucket.
But Roya's sheer power finally snapped Green Bull out of his earlier arrogance.
His eyes flickered, and then he chuckled:
"Lord Roya, you are truly extraordinary. Such overwhelming spiritual force — I have only ever witnessed it in my master."
"When my master returns, he will surely delight in conversing with you about the countless wonders of this vast universe."
From his words, it seemed he was placing Roya on the same level as his master.
Roya, half amused, knew perfectly well the fellow was only stalling for time.
The situation had now become a race: each side rushing to complete their respective priorities, to see who would prevail first.
Since Green Bull wished to talk, Roya had no objection to extracting some intelligence about these alien harvesters.
He sneered:
"With your strength, had you not encountered me, destroying an entire planet would have been child's play."
"Yet here you are, bowing and scraping, calling another 'master.' Doesn't that shame you?"
For an instant, bewilderment flashed across Green Bull's eyes, then vanished. He sighed lightly and said:
"In truth, I too was once a Star Spirit of a planet. Now though I am called the Blue Fungus Lord, in reality I am nothing more than one of hundreds of slave knights under my master's command."
"We are assigned to guard countless resource stars, to monitor newly-born Star Spirits. At the same time, we are tasked with currying favor with beings such as yourself."
Roya mocked:
"Curry favor? The massacre you staged across the entire city hardly looks like an attempt at making friends."
Green Bull shrugged.
"Lord Roya, I am merely a slave knight. Surely you would not stoop to hold me accountable?
Besides, every lifeform on this planet was cultivated by my master according to the planet's traits. They exist only to refine its energy through life-and-death cycles. Sooner or later, they are destined to die. Why should one as exalted as you trouble yourself with such constructs?"
"They are not of the same order of existence. No matter how much you pity them, their end is inevitable. You and my master alike are fated to be sovereigns striding across the cosmos. These lifeforms? Nothing more than living tools."
Roya replied coldly:
"And what of your master's own kin on his homeworld? Might they not be but seed-life planted by an even higher civilization? Might he too once have been no more than a slave, just as you are now?"
Green Bull laughed.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Who can say?"
As their verbal sparring continued, Imu had already reached the very brink of exhaustion.
His consciousness was beginning to scatter, clinging only to the faintest spark of awareness.
His body, meanwhile, had completely transformed into living metal, blazing with green fire!
Green Bull pointed toward Imu and said:
"Lord Roya, are you mistaken? This fellow's assimilation seems nearly complete!"
Roya smiled faintly.
"And aren't you nearly complete as well?"
Green Bull froze, then suddenly burst out laughing:
"Lord Roya, I am certain my master will truly admire you!"
Roya scoffed:
"Admire me? Him? He's worthy?!"
With a sudden surge, Roya's spiritual particles rushed into Imu's body.
Every particle of living metal within Imu had already been purified under Roya's spiritual force.
The low-grade intelligences contained within them — not a single one remained. All had been replaced by Roya's highly mimetic spiritual particles.
Now, this living metal body was as pure as a computer host freshly assembled but lacking an operating system.
The final spiritual particle Roya sent forth was meant to reignite Imu's consciousness — making him the operating system of this machine!
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