Chapter 60: Harvest and Transformation

"Zero," H'el commanded through his suit, summoning Zero.

He placed Brainiac 7's head on a circular platform and started a detailed examination, disassembling Brainiac's technology.

Unlike Kryptonian technology that focused primarily on genetic manipulation, Brainiac's technology encompassed almost all aspects of progressive technological systems in various civilizations. He had even developed personalized miniaturization technology.

H'el and Brainiac were polar opposites.

One went mad with genetic experimentation, creating monsters like Doomsday and manipulating innate genetic talents. The other roamed the cosmos, destroying countless civilizations and amassing a vast array of technologies—comprehensive, extensive, and unrivaled by most civilizations in the universe.

Fortunately, Brainiac 7's operation of the Stellar Engine and military base wasn't too far beyond H'el's understanding. The commonality between different technologies still fell within H'el's grasp.

With H'el's current thinking and computational speed, although it required considerable effort, he was able to fully inherit Brainiac 7's legacy.

The gains from this were beyond H'el's imagination.

While the stellar-level engine was only halfway complete and missing most of its modules, the energy it possessed, even at just 9%, far exceeded that of the Crystal Core Engine of his ship.

The entire unmanned mechanized military base, which Brainiac 7 controlled from the central hub in his brain, was now under H'el's influence.

Brainiac 7 was the commander of the military base and its central control.

The moment Brainiac 7's brain core was damaged, multiple sections of the base lost control and exploded, leaving the base in an unmanned, destroyed state.

As a result, the base in space was encased in a glass shield, and black smoke billowed from various parts, seeping out through the holes created by H'el.

Zero controlled H'el's ship and entered through the hole created by H'el. It passed through the smoke-filled opening and found a landing pad where he parked the spacecraft.

H'el emerged from the central command room and glanced at his ship. He saw that Sylvia was still immersed in the nutrient tank, and strangely, small octopus-like tentacles had sprouted from her head, wriggling energetically.

"???"

H'el scratched his head with curiosity, not entirely sure what kind of form Seril wanted to adopt. He had no specific expectations for her appearance, and he didn't intend to restrict her. As long as she was safe, it was fine.

However, seeing her in this strange state did raise some questions. After a brief glance to confirm that Sylvia was safe, H'el moved on, knowing that Sylvia would reveal her new form when she emerged from the tank.

He instructed Zero to set up Sylvia's protection program on his ship, the Stellar Probe. Once that was done, he removed the primary key from Zero and left the ship, returning to the central hub of the base.

Brainiac 7's brain was disassembled thread by thread by H'el. Each wire and circuit was laid out neatly on a table. After confirming that Brainiac couldn't control the base through any programs, H'el systematically organized and connected the wires throughout the base. In the end, a dense network of wires connected to the primary key port, linking it to the base.

"Connecting..."

"Accessing control system—successful analysis—entry successful."

"Testing base functionality, assessing damage..."

"Main propulsion engine, Stellar Engine, normal, remaining energy 9%."

"Circulation system, damaged 78%."

"Three auxiliary propulsion engines, damaged 100%."

"Production primary system, damaged 60%."

"Communication channels, damaged 40%, creating new communication channels based on old data."

"Unmanned drones, no response—establishing connections—connection failed—switching frequency—connection failed—switching frequency... connection successful."

The remaining 281,012 unmanned drones, suspended in space, suddenly came to life. Blue flames shot from their rear thrusters as they formed into neat formations, responding to Zero's control and returning to the base, ready for duty.

Inside the base, a multitude of multi-limbed engineering machines, which didn't resemble human designs but were practical, scuttled around. They were busy repairing everything that was damaged.

"Zero, gradually change the main control system code."

"Modify the base, abandon systems unsuitable for biological life, transform it into a mothership suitable for biological survival, equip it with nutritional systems for biological needs, and provide me with a detailed timeframe and plan."

Brainiac, unlike true biological beings, had a body mostly composed of machinery. He didn't require various atmospheric, water, or nutritional elements that biological life did. He considered these things burdensome. Therefore, the atmospheric circulation system and nutritional synthesis in the base were essentially nonexistent and needed to be rebuilt.

"Understood, gradually changing the main control system code."

"Calculating, presenting specific plans."

Immediately, five holographic images were projected in front of H'el. They displayed the design plans for the transformation of the mothership, based on the base's existing resources. H'el examined them from left to right.

On the left was a spherical design for the transformation of the mothership, resembling a planet. With the support of the Stellar Engine, this mothership could even house an entire ecosystem, complete with clouds, rain, land, trees, rivers, sun, and moon—everything needed for life. However, the main drawback was that constructing a full ecological system to protect life would severely limit the speed of the mothership's journey.

H'el furrowed his brow, realizing that building a mothership resembling an entire planet was not necessary at this stage. It was too slow, and the construction time was far too long. H'el promptly rejected this option.

He turned his attention to the second design.

The second design depicted a futuristic space battleship as imagined by humans. It was massive, imposing, with steel armor and a towering three-dimensional bow. It measured approximately 8,403 kilometers in length, 4,520 kilometers in width, and 3,211 kilometers in height. The ship had various adjustable modules and nearly twenty-seven auxiliary engines arranged throughout the ship. This design, derived from the military base, significantly reduced construction time.

However, the drawback was that this space battleship was designed for warfare and lacked the comfort of an ecological system.

Considering his current situation, H'el was satisfied with this option. A combat-oriented, fast mothership was more appropriate for his needs, especially for traveling through the Milky Way to reach Earth.

He briefly reviewed the remaining three designs, but none matched the speed and efficiency of the second one. H'el instructed Zero to proceed with the construction based on the second design.

"How long will it take?" H'el inquired.

"Seventeen years," Ho-L responded.

Seventeen years... H'el couldn't help but feel that it was too long. With the additional time required to travel to Earth, would Superman have already become the Golden Superman by the time he arrived?

However, considering the colossal size of the mothership and the continuous work of the engineering machines day and night, this timeframe was already remarkably fast.

H'el nodded in contemplation and waved his hand to authorize Zero to begin the construction process.

Turning his attention, he looked at the canister containing Kandor City.

Kandor City housed up to 7 million Kryptonians, and H'el was eager to have this power under his control. He found himself quite lonely as a lone ruler without even a single being to command. The 7 million Kryptonians from Kandor City would be a valuable addition to his forces, helping him manage and build his future empire.

The only obstacle was that when Brainiac-7's central brain was destroyed, all the miniaturization technology was lost. H'el didn't obtain Blaineiac's miniaturization technology, which he needed to restore the Kryptonians from Kandor City to their normal size.

However, H'el had the power to change his own size, thanks to his size-altering superpower. By basking in the sun and awakening this power during his next transformation, he could potentially restore the 7 million Kryptonians.

With the immense fleet of drones and engineering machines at the base, he didn't need to venture outside to gather resources. Seventeen years of time was almost inconsequential when it came to the tasks of preparing the spacecraft and the Kryptonians.

H'el was ready to begin his interdimensional travels. After returning from the Pacific Rim Universe through the vortex, he could immediately continue his journey. He could sense that entering different worlds through the vortex would take about two years to return. As he grew more experienced with interdimensional travel and his own powers continued to strengthen, he would be able to adjust the time gap accordingly.

After making arrangements for Zero and checking on Sylvia, H'el sought out a room to start his interdimensional travels.

"I want to go to a world where I can bask in the sun, regain my size-altering superpower, and restore the Kryptonians," he declared. "I also need to find a world where I can learn how to counter Brainiac for future confrontations, so I can crush him. Finally, I need to find a world where I can obtain help to expedite the spacecraft's transformation. Seventeen years is too long; if I can return in two or three years, that would be ideal."

H'el conveyed his intentions and stepped into the vortex, disappearing from the base.

°°°

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