As Minos positioned himself over the alien robot corpse, everyone involved in the experiment took their positions, raising their guard in case anything strange happened.
At the same time, no one unrelated to the experiment stayed near them, aware that what Minos was about to do could somehow trigger a Lightning Tribulation.
The vast majority of the robot corpses left over from Minos' final battle against the aliens in the North Sea had not been opened to extract their essences. Since Emperor Stuart's group had experience with this before, they didn't dare to obtain such essences casually.
Other powers in the Spiritual World had experimented with it; while some had succeeded, many had failed. However, the Black Plain Empire did not try because Minos wanted to test something first.
He had only reached the necessary level after his breakthrough to level 90 about eight years ago. But only now did he have the time and inclination to do it.
Considering how little the people there had studied about the experiment he wanted to do, no one wanted to be near this creature at the moment.
The only one who risked it was Emperor Stuart, while the scholars hid behind their defenses but were full of curiosity about what was about to happen.
Amidst the growing tension in the background, Minos' cultivation rose to level 93, reaching the highest level that everyone there had ever felt from him.
With the help of one of the mid-level Demigods in his group, he gradually began to manipulate the chaotic energy of the giant bones around him.
Doing basically the same thing he did when he forced the evolution of his guinea pigs in other experiments, Minos infused chaotic energy into the essence of this metallic creature.
The moment he began to do so, the entire armor trembled as if it were a body of bone and flesh, its muscles in an alternating state of tension and relaxation.
"That..."
"It looks like we're going to get results from this attempt."
The surrounding scholars commented among themselves while the more distant observers, such as Abby and Ruth, watched anxiously.
If they succeeded, the empire would gain much after today. If they failed, they would lose nothing or almost nothing. In a way, this experiment could only be good for them.
Even if they didn't achieve anything very positive, the discoveries from a failure would be good enough for them!
Minos ignored the murmurs and the many glances in his direction, feeling as if the body of that being, which was like a starless, motionless sky, had suddenly taken on a glow of its own.
Its non-existent aura suddenly rose while its fingers strangely moved as if it was no longer dead but dreaming.
"Stand by. I feel it might be demonstrating some kind of pre-written command for a situation like this. Maybe it'll explode or even attack us." Minos said to his group as he watched with his eyes as the inside of this body more or less returned to the way it was when the robot was alive.
The essence in the robot's head began to pulsate while the level 94 aura of it became more and more stable as if it had only been in a state of waiting until this moment.
Suddenly, the robot creature opened its eyes, revealing metallic eyes, but very similar to those of living beings, which adjusted to the ambient light before focusing on Minos.
Minos looked back at the creature, and even without hearing or feeling any other signals, he understood what was on the creature's mind.
'You want to let me continue despite the fear and the desire to attack me, huh?' Minos saw how the energy inside the armor was moving, a clear sign that the robot would attack at any moment.
While Minos thought this, the robot really thought it should attack the person above it, but a part of it didn't allow it to do so. Feeling that it would fall if it attacked the human, the robot held back from attacking the being.
'Where am I? Who are these organisms? Who is this man?' The creature asked itself as it tried to understand its situation.
But it soon came up with even more frightening questions.
'Who am I? What am I?' It realized that it remembered almost nothing about itself, although it realized it needed the energy that such a small being was giving it.
'My instincts tell me to attack everyone around me, but I also sense something familiar about this individual... Is he my creator?' The creature quickly came to this doubt, sensing that this being was not entirely unfamiliar to it.
"Who are you?" It asked, but Minos and the surrounding group didn't understand anything, muttering incomprehensible things to it.
But as it watched the lips of the people in that particular place, the robot became deeply aware of many things, from facial expressions, heart and breathing rates, tone of voice, and body temperature, and associated all of this with the words coming out of the mouths of the people around it.
It gradually began to understand what the beings were saying without understanding how. Rapidly, it mastered their language.
"Who are you?" It repeated its question to Minos, still lying on the ground, while the brown-haired man hovered above it.
Minos understood the robot's question this time and saw that this robot was not only alive but also able to reason.
That was both very good and very bad!
It was good because he and his group could get answers from the enemy. But it was bad because there was a possibility that the enemy could also get answers from them through the robot.
"I am Minos Stuart, the Emperor of the Black Plain Empire of the Spiritual World. I am the one who defeated you and claimed your body, robot. In other words, I am your current owner." Minos said in an authoritative tone as he released his cultivation pressure, Dragon's Eye, and Dark Sea, revealing an aura as terrifying as that of a peak level 97 being.
Even without using his fusions, Minos could scare creatures as strong as that level 94 robot!
By associating the words, tone of voice, and sensations coming from Minos' body, this creature had no trouble understanding its situation.
"Robot? Is that what I am? Do you own me?" The creature asked in a strange tone, making the surrounding people feel uncertain about the next moment.
