Sovereign of the Ashes

Nexon was an azure-colored mechanical planet.

From space, it appeared blue not because of oceans or any special terrain, but simply due to the sheer number of pale blue lighthouses scattered across its surface.

On top of that, the planet was packed with specialized factories that operated year-round.

The atmosphere of this artificial, metallic world, saturated with advanced technology, was not exactly friendly to most creatures of flesh and blood.

But for intelligent robots like Titanfang and Skyhold, Nexon was home.

Nearly every robot that had gained self-awareness held a special fondness for it.

After spending more time working with the Titanfangs, Sein learned that while Nexon and its neighbors had produced countless standard robots, the number of self-aware ones like Titanfang had never even reached a million.

A million—that was less than the population of a single microplane.

To this day, none of them, not even Titanfang, fully understood how they had gained self-awareness.

They all had a hunch it was connected to the BHR678 space station, but no solid proof had ever been found.

Even Michaelis Bell, the space station’s chief scientist whom Titanfang and the others regarded as a father figure, probably had not figured it out either.

Keeping the whole matter under wraps was partly a way to protect these awakened robots, but it was also likely that Bell wanted to focus entirely on solving the scientific puzzle behind it.

And if he ever did, there was no doubt he would be celebrated as one of the top minds in the Gallant Federation’s scientific community, standing alongside figures like Samaret, Illo, and Syphen.

Scientists had desires too, and they chased fame and fortune just like anyone else.

Samaret founded the federation’s modern “matrix particle cannon theory”. His work led to a 2.71% increase in the firepower of nearly every medium and large ship’s main cannon.

That might sound small, but it applied across almost every model in the fleet. Achieving something like that in the Gallant Federation meant making a true breakthrough in fundamental science.

And breakthroughs in the fundamentals were often a lot harder than anything in the flashy, cutting-edge fields!

Thanks to his groundbreaking theoretical research, Samaret had become a leading figure in the scientific community of the modern Gallant Federation.

Many overlord-class warships and interstellar fortresses had also been constructed based on his design concepts.

Within the federation, Samaret was considered nothing short of a national treasure.

Illo’s reputation was a little lower than Samaret’s, and he rose to fame a bit later. He was a federal scientist who had only come into the spotlight within the past ten thousand years.

His main contributions lay in the field of mobile suit manufacturing.

Illo was the first to propose the “Brain Interconnection Theory”. He not only proposed it but also turned it into a functional technology, giving the Gallant Federation an entirely new class of combat units and a military-industrial system to support them.

Earlier projections from the federation’s quantum computer had estimated the Magus Civilization’s chance of victory at nearly 48%.

It was at that critical time that Illo’s mobile suit systems had matured and entered full-scale military deployment, including overlord-class units.

Syphen, by contrast, was not as well-known across the federation as the other two, but he had also built a strong reputation in recent years.

After accepting an invitation to join the Icarus Group and becoming its chief scientist, his academic breakthroughs—such as Nanobioregeneration Technology, Angel Blueprint Cloning Technology, and the Theory of Humanoid Combat Weapons—brought him a level of fame and wealth that far surpassed that of Michaelis Bell, who had remained quietly on Nexon all these years.

There was something almost ironic, perhaps even fateful, about the fact that Samaret, Illo, Syphen, and Michaelis had once been classmates.

All four had served as assistants in Pavlov’s Laboratory, where they helped decrypt and analyze the research materials and experimental notes left behind by the legendary scientist.

In the technologically advanced Gallant Federation, Pavlov was revered as a godlike figure for being the visionary who laid the foundations for the federation’s rise to a top-tier civilization.

Even Samaret, the brightest academic star of the current era, was still far from reaching the height that Pavlov once stood upon.

The four former classmates had each gone down entirely different paths!

And yet, after hundreds, or even thousands, of years, they were about to reunite.

Michaelis Bell, who had been keeping a low profile, felt a quiet surge of confidence as he looked back on the accomplishments of his old friends.

The secrets hidden within the intelligent robots of Nexon might finally become his moment to shine.

***

Nexon left Sein both amazed and full of wonder.

Although Titanfang had mentioned that there were fewer than one million awakened intelligent robots, these beings—capable of independent thought and judgment—were far more efficient at commanding ordinary units.

On Nexon, it was not uncommon to see lower-tier intelligent robots giving orders to higher-tier models.

That was why Nexon’s overall strength could not be measured by conventional standards.

At the very least, the Phantom Crow World that Sein had visited before was clearly weaker than Nexon in terms of raw power.

Even Titanfang was far stronger than the Phantom Crow King.

After arriving on Nexon, Titanfang led Sein to meet one high-level intelligent robot after another.

Everyone Titanfang introduced was at least Rank Four or above.

During these meetings, Sein used the light orb in his hand to lift the deepest layers of code restrictions embedded within these robots.

Titanfang had brought Sein to Nexon in secret, carefully avoiding both the federation’s surveillance systems and the faction of intelligent robots led by Skyhold.

As for those below Rank Four, Titanfang did not bother introducing them to Sein. Once they reached Nexon’s core control room deep within the planet’s crust, those lower-tier intelligent robots would naturally attain their own form of “freedom”.

Over the course of this process, Sein interacted with seventy-one intelligent robots of Rank Four or above, giving him a fairly accurate sense of Nexon’s military capabilities.

And that was only within the Titanfangs. If Skyhold’s faction were included, Nexon’s overall strength would be even more staggering.

But just as they were about to reach the core control room, an uninvited guest appeared in their way.

It was Skyhold, the Rank Six leader of another faction!

And it brought news that made both Sein and Titanfang uneasy.

“Why is a federal fleet approaching Nexon? What have you done, Titanfang?!” Skyhold demanded angrily in front of the core control room.