As the red targeting lasers painted a grid on his chest, Fang Yuan activated the [VOID-GLITCH: MOLECULAR DISSOLUTION]. He didn't dodge. Instead, he walked forward, his body becoming a "Liquified Silver Mist."
The lasers passed through him as if he were a ghost, hitting the stone walls behind. But as he touched the first Guardian Droid, the machine didn't explode—it melted.
The Absorption: The silver threads of the Aegis shot out from Yuan's fingertips, piercing the robot's titanium alloy and injecting a "Logic-Virus." In milliseconds, the droid's processor was overwritten. Its mana-core wasn't destroyed; it was integrated.
The Cascade: Yuan moved like a phantom through the squad of twelve robots. One by one, they collapsed into liquid metal and were sucked into his skin. Their Rank 2 circuits, their sensors, and their concentrated mana-batteries were all digested by his Internal Furnace.
The Breakthrough:
[STATUS: ABSORBING RANK 2 CORES...]
[LEVELING UP: RANK 1 (PEAK) -> RANK 2: WORLD BREAKER (STAGE 1 - QUAKE)]
[NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED: TECHNO-TELEPATHY]
Yuan stood in the center of the corridor, the last remnants of the robots' silver plating swirling around his feet before being absorbed. His Rank 1 "Slave Body" began to expand, his muscles knitting together with metallic fibers, and his height increasing. He no longer looked like a starving boy; he looked like a statue of a young god carved from star-steel.
"Rank 2," Yuan whispered, his voice now carrying a metallic resonance. "I can now feel the 'Pulse' of the entire planet. These machines weren't guards... they were my first meal."