During the mech's high-speed flight, Chu Tian grew increasingly puzzled.
Five minutes had passed since they began their return journey, and he still hadn't seen any sign of Xiao Hei and the others.
"Damn it, could this be another illusion?"
He halted the Smashed Star's advance and expanded his divine sense.
As he gradually widened the range of his divine sense, he found no anomalies.
If it were an illusion, it was an incredibly powerful one.
However, Chu Tian didn't believe he was trapped in an illusion.
"Smashed Star, activate radar detection!"
[Detecting...! No anomalies found!]
Soon, the latest feedback data also indicated normalcy.
But it was precisely this normalcy that felt abnormal.
With no other options, Chu Tian set his course for the return direction and continued flying.
This time, ten minutes passed.
His flight speed had increased, and under normal circumstances, they could have even returned from the Northern Region to the Central Region.
Yet, all around him, there was still only a vast expanse of white ice plains.
"Something's not right!" Chu Tian stopped again.
The scenery around him was identical. Had he encountered a ghost wall?
After a moment's thought, Chu Tian commanded, "Activate... Close Combat Weapon System!"
*Kaka-kaka...*
Mechanisms whirred within the latest mech's back.
A massive hangar door opened.
A rod-shaped object dozens of meters long emerged.
The mech raised its arm and pulled it out from behind its back.
[Close Combat Weapon System activated...]
"Holy hell, are you using a toothpick as a weapon?" This was Chu Tian's first time using the Smashed Star mech's close combat system.
He was astonished to see it produce a rod only about ten meters long.
Compared to the Smashed Star's towering, thousand-meter frame, it truly resembled a toothpick.
[Combat mode not yet activated...]
The mech responded to Chu Tian.
"Alright... activate combat mode!"
Chu Tian was speechless and decided to see what its combat mode entailed.
*Voom... Kaka-kaka...*
Chu Tian stared in shock as the toothpick-like rod was grasped by the Smashed Star's hands.
The next moment, it began to extend, much like the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
In the blink of an eye, it reached a thousand meters in length.
Just as Chu Tian thought it was finished, the rod extended another five to six hundred meters.
But that wasn't the end. At the tip of the rod, a transformation began.
Crescent moon-shaped blades, resembling wings, appeared on either side.
The entire tip then extended another three to four hundred meters upwards.
"Holy hell, a Fangtian Huaji!" As the weapon in the Smashed Star's hand took shape, Chu Tian finally recognized what kind of weapon it was.
He was now merged with the Smashed Star mech, and this Fangtian Huaji felt as if it were held in Chu Tian's own hands.
Chu Tian controlled the mech to heft it with its hands. The Fangtian Huaji felt weightless in the mech's manipulation.
Curious, he tried to pry it with both hands.
*Creak...*
With just a gentle pry, the Fangtian Huaji in his hands instantly bent.
This startled Chu Tian.
He turned to the power readout on the control panel and discovered that the force exerted by the mech had only been 0.1%.
"Hmm? Why is this weapon so trashy!" Chu Tian had initially thought he had used too much force.
But upon seeing the percentage of force used, he confirmed that this weapon was indeed terrible!
However, as soon as he released his grip, the bent section of the Fangtian Huaji gradually returned to its original shape.
"Holy hell, is this thing made of plastic?"
[This is the latest memory metal developed by the First Universe, and it has not yet undergone the shaping process. HK3106 had also not yet had time to shape this Fangtian Huaji when it materialized it, so it still retains the flexibility of memory metal!]
"You mean, it won't be so floppy once it's shaped?"
Chu Tian held the Fangtian Huaji and controlled the mech to twirl it like a spear.
He performed a few flourishings, and the entire Fangtian Huaji was swung into a noodle-like state.
Carrying the twisted, noodle-like Fangtian Huaji, Chu Tian was left speechless, caught between laughter and tears.
[Yes!] Smashed Star provided a definitive answer.
Hearing this, Chu Tian's expression flickered.
With a thought, he instantly communicated with Yue Yue in his mind!
*Ching...*
A white light shot out, and the Wrath of the Moon God materialized before Chu Tian. More precisely, it materialized before the Smashed Star mech.
However, this caused Chu Tian to freeze.
The Wrath of the Moon God did not appear from his physical body.
Instead, it shot directly out from the mech's head, from the position of its brow!
"It can do that?" Chu Tian had never imagined that after merging with the Smashed Star mech, even his divine platform would be integrated with it.
He had to admit, products from the First Universe were truly amazing.
Chu Tian was unaware that the initial purpose of this mech's creation was far more than simply traversing the universe for aid.
Instead, it was designed to enhance the combat power of the great deities of Blue Star.
Having collected data for billions of years, how could the First Universe's database not know that cultivators all possessed divine platforms!
And divine senses...
In fact, the Smashed Star's most formidable capability was amplifying a cultivator's power through energy output.
In other words, the stronger the controller's own strength, the stronger the Smashed Star's power would become.
As for how much it could amplify, no one knew.
At this moment, Chu Tian had only just begun to glimpse some of the Smashed Star's functionalities.
He handed the Fangtian Huaji to his left hand and extended his right.
"Yue Yue, grow bigger..."
Chu Tian issued the command in his mind.
*Ching...*
In the blink of an eye, the Wrath of the Moon God, which had been at a normal human-usable size, expanded to two thousand meters.
This transformation wasn't like the gradual extension of the Fangtian Huaji.
It happened instantaneously... reaching that magnitude.
"Still, our Yue Yue is amazing!"
Chu Tian rejoiced in his heart. If weapons took time to transform during combat, like the Fangtian Huaji, wouldn't they be sitting ducks?
The mech's right hand perfectly grasped the Wrath of the Moon God as it enlarged.
He hefted it, noting that holding the Wrath of the Moon God consumed 3.4% of the power.
The Wrath of the Moon God was significantly heavier than the floppy, noodle-like weapon.
He immediately looked at the Fangtian Huaji in his left hand with a hint of disdain.
Just as he was about to put it away, a flash of inspiration struck him.
"Smashed Star, transform this weapon into a shield!"
Chu Tian issued the command within the system.
[Please select shield style!]
Following that, countless shield templates appeared on the screen before him.
Chu Tian scrolled through them, but none appealed to him.
All of these shield styles were incredibly high-tech.
They clashed completely with the Wrath of the Moon God.
"Can I customize the style?" Chu Tian inquired.
[Yes!]
As Smashed Star replied, the drawing interface that Chu Tian had used to create weapons before popped up on the screen.
He had used it previously to craft weapons for Xiao Hei, so he skillfully began to draw on it.
A shield with a wild design gradually took shape.
Chu Tian based its design on a shield from a game he used to play, named: Scale of the Earth Guardian.