Chapter 1226
[Glass Cannon 3]
Chapter 267: [Glass Cannon 3]
Xia Xiu soon arrived at Blackrock Fortress.
Guided by the outer beam of light from the fortress, the 1.6-kilometer-long Sword-class frigate slowly entered one of the main docks. When its silver-gray hull disappeared into the enormous, almost exaggerated, berthing space, it even looked a little small.
The heavy cranes, power supply rails, armored gates, and dock walls stretch into the distance, making the interior of Blackrock Fortress truly vast.
Xia Xiu himself did not stay in the shipyard for long.
He went straight into the core area of the fortress, and soon he arrived at the fortress's central hub.
It was an extremely spacious circular hall with a dome so high that it seemed to have no end. The surrounding walls were composed of layers of black crystal surfaces and gold-white connecting rails. All the rails, runes, information flows, and authority circuits eventually converged on the etheric throne suspended at the very center at the end of the steps.
Xia Xiu did not hesitate. He stepped onto the steps, walked to the throne, and sat down directly.
Almost at the same moment he settled in, the entire fortress trembled slightly.
The golden-white information strands that were originally contained within the seat rose up along the armrests, backrest, and underlying structure, and soon, like nerves, completed the first round of connection with Xia Xiu's own lineage aura.
Immediately afterwards, messages began to pop up in front of him.
[Life signs detected]
[High-level spiritual circuit detected]
[Detection of active embedding by the outer layer permission holder]
[Mimosa vaccination confirmed, cognitive hazard spectrum ruled out, divine contamination threshold calibration in progress]
[Information completeness confirmed]
[War sequence permission verification in progress—]
[The individual has been identified as belonging to the Heavenly Kingdom's lineage hierarchy; their access level has been confirmed.]
Welcome, Level Three Angel.
[The Throne Order—Hugh Abraham.]
As the last word was uttered, a soft and steady light slowly illuminated the area in front of the throne.
It was a small ball of light.
It hovered in front of Xia Xiu, its surface shimmering with a very fine layer of golden-white light, and its overall outline was extremely similar to the sphere of light that was the main body of Eden in [The Unknown Land, Fourth Layer - Azlut].
However, this one is smaller and more condensed, like a miniature core that has been specially cut off.
It simply hovered quietly in front of Xia Xiu, then flickered slightly, instantly taking over the entire view of the central hall. A completely new interface unfolded from the air, and the Heavenly Armory began loading data.
-
【warn! ! ! 】
[You are about to log in to the database as a member of the temporary resolution assembly.]
This ID is held by a high-ranking official of Heaven (a member of the resolution assembly).
If you attempt to access this account without the appropriate permissions, you will be immediately located and dealt with.
[Please enter the command: Is the curtain still there?]
[Instruction: The sun rises as usual.]
[Verification passed. Biometric testing will proceed shortly...]
[Biometrics test passed.]
Welcome back, members of the resolution assembly—
[Start reviewing authorized message queries——]
——【01 Series - The Wailing Wall】
——【01 Series - Stairway to Heaven/Rainbow Bridge】
——【Series 01 - Jormungandr (Doomsday Train)】
——【01 Series - The Eight Highest Heavens (██)】
——【01 Series - Eden: Echoes of Destiny】
——【Series 01 - Yahweh (Authorized) - Gospel Throne】
—[…]
[You are authorized to load this into the 02 series - Glass Cannon (this series is a continuation of the 01 series Planet Cannon)]
-
As the last line of text appeared, the interface in front of Xia Xiu suddenly clicked softly, as if some ancient system had been officially activated. Then, an extremely retro game screen unfolded directly in front of him.
The screen was a pure black, with a dense grid of squares in the background, like the electronic coordinate board in an old-fashioned monitor. At first glance, it had a very old-fashioned feel, very much like a handheld game from the last era.
At the top right of the screen, three small circular icons are neatly arranged.
The icon was clearly three pixelated planets, with land and ocean made up of blue-green blocks enclosed by white borders. They were arranged side by side in the corner, looking like some kind of display bar for remaining ammunition or lives.
However, compared to the life bar, Xia Xiu felt that they were more like three loaded...planetary shells that could be fired at any time.
In the very center of the image, there is a bright green crosshair.
At the very bottom of the screen stands a pixelated cannon.
That thing was clearly not a real weapon, but more like a turret that had been gamified. It was composed of four colors: black, white, red, and green. The main barrel was thick and straight, with a bright red energy rail extending upwards from the center. The base was supported by green light strips and white armor on both sides, making it look like an ultimate weapon from an old arcade game.
Xia Xiu leaned back on the psionic throne, looking at the strange interface in front of him—a black grid, a green crosshair, three planetary ammunition, and a cannon on standby at the bottom—his expression was somewhat subtle.
"..."
Just as Lao Xia was muttering to himself, the small ball of light floated forward slightly.
It made no sound, offered no explanation, and didn't pop up any extra instructions. It simply hung quietly in front of Xia Xiu, positioned just out of his reach. The entire ball even swayed gently up and down, its meaning as simple as it could be—put your hand in and use me as a handle.
Xia Xiu looked at the small ball of light suspended in mid-air, then at the [02 Series - Glass Cannon] set in front of him that looked exactly like a game console interface, raised his hand, and slowly reached out towards the small ball of light.
Just as his finger was about to touch it, the pixel cannon in front of him, which had been quietly waiting, seemed to have finally found its true operator, and the red energy track in the center of the cannon suddenly lit up.
The moment Xia Xiu reached in, he realized something was wrong.
"This thing consumes so much mana?"
The ball of light floating in front of him was like a high-speed access interface. The moment he finished grasping it, it opened up like a deep well and began frantically extracting EVE particles from his body along his arm.
The feeling was very direct; it wasn't suction, but rather an almost violent sweeping away, eagerly testing whether the operator could withstand its underlying power consumption.
Xia Xiu frowned slightly, and his gaze darkened.
Because besides the EVE particles, he could clearly feel that the great spirituality within him, which was already highly resonant with the spectrum, was also being consumed. Xia Xiu sat on the psionic throne, not immediately pulling his hand out, but instead sensing the increasingly exaggerated suction force for a moment before calmly connecting it to the [World Bubble] within his body.
You can eat a lot, right? Then I'll let you eat your fill!
The next moment, the world bubble structure that was originally flowing smoothly within Xia Xiu's body slowly lit up, and his vast carrying capacity, which was almost a world of its own, began to be mobilized. The EVE particle flow and great spirituality that had been somewhat strained were instantly replenished to a higher level.
The small ball of light paused noticeably for a moment.
Immediately afterwards, as if it had finally confirmed that the operator's power supply specifications were ridiculously high, the glow on the surface quickly stabilized, and the loading speed of the entire interface also skyrocketed. The pixel cannon core, which had only lit up one bar before, jumped up several bars in succession, and the red and green light strip around the bottom cannon base also lit up completely.
At the same time, new information began to rapidly unfold before Xia Xiu.
[Series 02 - Weapon for attacking the physical entities of stars/celestial beings: Glass Cannon]
[Data summary access authorized]
The 01 series "Planet Cannon" is one of the Heavenly Kingdom's special strategic weapons. Its core logic is not a simple orbital strike, but rather, with the assistance of a supreme program, it accelerates a specially modified celestial body to faster-than-light speeds, and then delivers it in a destructive manner through a three-pronged approach of target lock, narrative penetration, and real-world impact.
[This weapon activation permission is only available to decision-makers from 0-01.]
[Currently known: Only 0-01 possesses the official launcher and knows the complete inventory and deployment locations of planetary cannons.]
Xia Xiu's eyes flickered, and he continued reading.
The 02 series glass cannon is a replica of the 01 series planetary cannon.
This series abandons the unsustainable, energy-intensive planetary terraforming method of "faster-than-light impact," instead adopting a strike mode that simultaneously accelerates small to medium-sized celestial bodies, guides them with advanced programming, and corrects their orbits.
The glass cannon may not reach the ultimate impact specifications of a planetary cannon, but it still possesses devastating delivery capabilities.
Seeing this, Xia Xiu suddenly realized that if "Operation Kick-Off" had failed and they hadn't managed to get the female star goddess away from Terra, would 0-01 have simply activated the planetary cannon and blasted the female star goddess to smithereens...?
Like the planetary cannon, the glass cannon must be activated, calibrated, accelerated, and launched with the assistance of a supreme program.
[Do not attempt to ignite the engine without accessing the Supreme program.]
[Unauthorized locking is prohibited without obtaining high-level access to track mapping.]
[Unauthorized delivery is prohibited if operator biometric binding has not been completed.]
[Explanation of this authorization]
[Special Approval 0-01: Three modified Glass Cannon planets are temporarily allocated to the Fourth Swordholder, Hugh Abraham.]
Current status: Loaded.
Current quantity: 3.
[Current use: to be determined by the fourth sword wielder.]
Xia Xiu leaned against the psionic throne, maintaining the power supply from the World Bubble to the small orb and the entire glass cannon interface, while staring at the pixelated launch interface in front of him for a few seconds.
"Three glass cannons... The resolution meeting is really generous, but the planetary cannonballs displayed look so much like Terra."
He paused, his gaze falling again on the old-school arcade-style cannon and the three pixelated planets in the upper right corner, his expression becoming somewhat subtle.
"Moreover, I don't know which genius took something that can launch celestial bodies like cannonballs and turned it into an arcade interface. This thing is ridiculously brutal, but the startup screen is so simple..."
At this point, Xia Xiu finally pulled his hand out of the small ball of light.
The feeling of being continuously drained of EVE particles and great spirituality quickly lessened, but the interface in front did not close immediately. Instead, it remained stable and suspended, except that the cannon at the bottom returned to a state of being ready to fire but not activated.
Xia Xiu raised his head and looked at the small, quietly floating ball of light in front of him, his tone returning to seriousness.
"Besides the glass cannon, what else did this resolution rally prepare for me?"
The small ball of light hovered silently for a moment.
The next moment, the radiance on its surface trembled slightly, and then a system response that was longer, denser, and more professional than before unfolded layer by layer in front of Xia Xiu.
[Reply: The currently authorized content is not limited to the 02 series - Glass Cannon.]
[In accordance with Annex VII, Supplement IX, and the Supreme Procedure Cooperative Operations Agreement of the Resolution Assembly's Wartime Authorization, you have currently been granted the following auxiliary privileges—]
[The Supreme Program will activate fleet projection capabilities within the existing framework of the Orphim Fortress. Based on high-level computing and wartime templates, it will temporarily construct multiple groups of special battleships, heavy gunboats, void interceptors, and standardized auxiliary ships to perform battlefield suppression, dimensional blockade, firepower containment, shield chain coverage, and localized saturation bombardment.]
This projection fleet is not a product of traditional shipbuilding processes, but rather a temporary war construct built upon supreme program calculations, the Holy See circuit, the Orphic Fortress dock matrix, and wartime arsenal templates.
Its advantages include: fast forming speed, high heat output, acceptable losses, and extremely high efficiency in weaving and reassembly.
Its drawback is that the stability of the projected ship is highly dependent on the continuous operation of the Supreme Program; if it is removed from the central coverage, it will gradually lose its combat capability.
The following projection templates are now available to you in the Supreme Program:
[—The Holy Throne Hammer-class battleship group: responsible for frontal fire suppression and breaching dimensional shields.]
[—The Evangelical Judgment-class heavy artillery flotilla: responsible for ultra-long-range saturation strikes and celestial-class firepower calibration.]
[—The Gate of Suffering-class Void Interceptor Squadron: Responsible for cutting through contaminated shipping lanes, isolating womb offspring, and blocking escape routes.]
[—The Blazing Prayer-class auxiliary ship group: responsible for shield recharging, data correction, battlefield relay, and high-level signal translation.]
[—The Ashesong-class cleanup fleet: responsible for post-war wreckage incineration, contamination collection, and information fragment recovery.]
[All energy, computational, and arsenal consumption of the aforementioned fleet will be shared by the Supreme Program and the main hub of the Orpheum Fortress.]
You do not need to provide it with primary energy.
However, you will need to take on another responsibility.
[That is: to perform data correction on the entire projected fleet with great spirituality.]
"Okay, I think I understand."
Xia Xiu, seated on the psychic throne, stroked his chin and asked the orb of light:
"How do you think I should use the fortress to break through the dark domain created by the womb of the Great Old Ones?"
Based on the Supreme Program and the current battlefield model, it is not recommended that you introduce too many variables or simultaneously launch large-scale, multi-threaded miracle operations in the first phase of this operation.
The final recommendation is as follows:
[Phase One Mission Objective: Blow open the outer barrier of the Old Ones' womb.]
[Recommended execution method: You complete target locking, the Orpheum Fortress provides the orbital projection window, the Supreme Program handles launch transmission and calculation, and the 02 Series - Glass Cannon executes the first wall-breaking strike.]
[Conclusion: You don't need to do much else in the first phase. Just aim the glass cannon at the womb of the Great Old Ones and fire it.]
As expected of the Supreme Programmer, his speech is concise and clear.
Xia Xiu leaned back on the throne, tapping his fingers lightly on the armrest. He then turned his gaze back to the pixelated glass cannon interface in front of him. When he saw the three quiet, ready-to-launch pixelated planets in the upper right corner, he felt inexplicably better.
To be honest, the more he looked at the interface, the more pleasing it became. For some reason, his hands suddenly felt a little itchy.
(End of this chapter)