The countdown ended, and the match began.
Both competitors sprang into action.
Tasitado's deployment position was an open area. He aimed his palm forward, and with a flash of light, a circular metal platform materialized out of thin air before him.
This was his exclusive item, the Universal Workbench. He busied himself at the platform for a while, and soon several drones took shape, flying off in different directions.
That wasn't all. After another busy moment, a large swarm of spider-type ground robots was manufactured, crawling out in all directions.
"Wow, hand-crafted drones!"
"And spider robots for ground reconnaissance?"
"So his exclusive item's effect is manufacturing all kinds of mechanical objects? No wonder his nickname is 'Mechanical Pioneer.'"
Human spectators actually didn't know much about the participants, especially regarding their abilities.
After all, before representing their civilization in the competition, every participant faced competitive pressure from other humans. For safety's sake, they all kept their abilities and items secret.
This was different from other traditional competitions. In traditional events, the audience mostly understood the participants' techniques and tactics, and could even predict the outcome in advance based on them.
Now, since human spectators didn't understand their own participants' detailed abilities, and knew even less about the enemy participants, the outcome of the match became exceptionally unpredictable.
Some people enjoyed this unknown, but others feared it.
It was like how many people didn't dare watch live broadcasts of their favorite team's matches, only waiting until the match ended and the result was out before deciding whether to watch the replay based on the outcome.
Many Ascendants on Tianshui Star also didn't enter the Myriad Sense Net Bubble to watch the live stream. Instead, they gathered on various forums, discussing while waiting for the result.
"Being able to manufacture so much reconnaissance equipment, the urban terrain should be an advantage for him. Our chances of winning this one are high!"
"What is that silicon-based guy doing?!"
The spectators had a god's-eye view, able to ignore terrain obstructions and see each competitor's real-time movements.
So when K-17739 acted, people immediately discovered its purpose.
They saw its liquefied metal body first transform into a wheel shape, quickly rolling to a large intersection.
Then it dissolved again, climbing up along the pole of a traffic signal. After climbing up, it used part of its liquefied metal to drill into the camera!
"Can this guy control the surveillance?!"
"Damn, if it can connect to all the surveillance, Tasitado will be discovered very quickly!"
"Despicable, silicon-based life's mastery of mechanical electronics is definitely stronger than us humans, carbon-based life!"
K-17739's actions made the human spectators anxious and uneasy, and they began to sweat for Tasitado.
They didn't know whether Tasitado was aware of this. If he was, he should avoid all places with surveillance cameras.
It's over!
When the human spectators saw Tasitado walk beneath a surveillance camera, they all felt things were going badly.
Yet the very next moment, Tasitado summoned his workbench again, and in just a few seconds, manufactured a large magnetic absorption device.
He tossed this magnetic absorption device under the surveillance probe, and then actually manufactured a tablet-like electronic device from the workbench.
When the viewing camera switched to a close-up, the spectators could clearly see that the tablet in Tasitado's hand displayed the surveillance feed.
Only then did the spectators realize he could also hack the surveillance. No wonder he had actively approached the camera.
"This workbench is pretty useful."
Guan Tong watched the various mechanical creations Tasitado manufactured, and rather felt that the latter's workbench was remarkably similar in function to his Wordless Book.
Of course, when it came to the resistance of manufactured products against the Doomsday Rules, Tasitado's Universal Workbench simply couldn't compare to the Wordless Book.
If one were to say where the workbench's advantage lay, Guan Tong thought it was diversity.
He noticed that when Tasitado manufactured things, he didn't simply craft them out of thin air, but would rapidly draw blueprints on the workbench surface.
In other words, if Tasitado prepared enough blueprints in advance and had guaranteed Mind Power, then he could manufacture as many mechanical creations as he wanted.
In contrast, that silicon-based life K-17739...
Guan Tong turned to the enemy competitor's side. The latter had currently only displayed the traits of liquefied metal being freely deformable and merging into electronic devices to complete manipulation.
From this point of view, if both sides came into direct contact, it was hard to say who would gain the advantage.
However...
Guan Tong vaguely felt worried for Tasitado.
If K-17739's liquefied metal body could break through the Mind Power limit and merge into Tasitado's mechanical creations, then Tasitado would fall into an extremely passive position.
"Wow, we can see both competitors have recognized the importance of reconnaissance in urban terrain!"
The commentator's voice rang out continuously as the camera switched.
"Both sides are now fighting over control of the surveillance cameras! Oh dear, has the Tianshui Star Civilization's competitor not realized that fighting a silicon-based life for control of electronic devices is nearly impossible to win?"
The commentator's words were also what the human spectators worried about.
Silicon-based life far surpassed humans in electronic warfare. This had nothing to do with technological level, it was entirely an innate advantage brought by their life form.
"Commentator, you underestimate this kid too much." Manchidon's Tilar, watching the battle, had a gloomy expression, very displeased with the commentary he heard.
"Tasitado has been playing with electronic devices since he was a few years old. He's very clear that in electronic warfare, humans can hardly defeat a silicon-based life similar to an AI... but he still did this, so he must have his reasons."
Tilar's words were soon proven true. On the tablet in Tasitado's hand, a flashing red dot suddenly appeared.
After seeing the red dot, he immediately stepped onto a scooter he had manufactured with the workbench and began moving.
This turn of events surprised even the commentator.
"Oh? I didn't expect the Tianshui Star Civilization's competitor to be the first to discover the Intelligent Crystal Civilization's competitor. This really is a surprise. Let me see what happened...
...
Ah, I see. He didn't try to take over the surveillance system. Instead, he implanted a tracking program into the device. When a target accesses this camera, the program records the visitor's location. Truly a smart approach!"
Tasitado was very clear that he could hardly win electronic warfare against a silicon-based life, so from the very beginning he intended to find K-17739 as quickly as possible and eliminate it through physical means.
And he knew the enemy would definitely take over the surveillance at the first opportunity, so through reverse tracking he could find it as quickly as possible.
After locking onto K-17739's position, all the drones and spider robots Tasitado controlled turned direction, heading toward K-17739's location.
Tasitado himself also quickly rushed over. The distance between the two sides was about three kilometers. He glanced at the time, twenty-six minutes until the city exploded.
K-17739, having been reverse-tracked, seemed to realize by now that it had been located, and left the signal pole to return to the ground.
Its liquefied metal body began to flatten, spreading out in all directions like a basin of water poured onto the ground.
Guan Tong saw this scene and immediately formed a judgment in his mind: it couldn't split itself.
Yes, although this silicon-based life's liquefied metal body could deform and spread out at will, it couldn't split into multiple pieces and reassemble.
This meant its body was very likely extremely important. Perhaps the "body" itself was part of the "chip."
Just like the Nano Swarm intelligence entity back then, only the entire swarm aggregated possessed intelligence. A split-off portion only had devouring instincts.
At this moment, after K-17739 completed its large-area spread, Tasitado and the many mechanical creations he controlled had already arrived at the scene.
Without any words or communication, both sides immediately launched into attack and defense.
With a single command from Tasitado, all the drones and spider robots switched to attack mode, raining bombardment upon the liquefied metal spread across the ground.
This scene left countless spectators shocked. They hadn't expected these small things to carry weapon systems inside.
The attacked K-17739's spread-out metal body showed dents, but they didn't penetrate. Clearly the attack power wasn't enough.
Seeing this, Tasitado immediately summoned the workbench, both hands rapidly sketching blueprints to manufacture something new.
By this time K-17739 had launched its counterattack. Its liquefied body deformed into multiple thin, long "antennae," piercing into the drones and spider robots Tasitado had manufactured.
After a brief shake, they were all seized control and turned to attack Tasitado!
The situation many had feared most still occurred. As a silicon-based life, K-17739 could actually control even mechanical and electronic creations manufactured by Mind Power! This undoubtedly rendered most of Tasitado's ability useless.
Buzz—
The attacks were temporarily blocked by the defensive items Tasitado carried, but this couldn't go on. Either the items would run out, or the Mind Power would run out.
"Tasitado..."
Tilar clenched his fists. At this critical moment, he saw a new creation born from the workbench.
It was a beast of peculiar design, looking like a cheetah but with wings on its back. But what shocked him most was that this beast was not a mechanical creation! It was...
"A wooden beast?!"
The spectators were all greatly astonished. The beast Tasitado manufactured had not a trace of mechanical structure on its body. It was entirely made of various complex materials, looking like a work of art.
"Although I love mechanical electronics, woodworking is also one of my hobbies." Tasitado pushed up his glasses and revealed a confident smile. "Silicon-based life, huh? Let me show you my Wooden Flying Leopard!"