Nick followed the tendril leading away from the flesh cave for several kilometers.
During his journey, he was extremely careful not to enter the perception of anything.
Luckily, Star Energy wasn't as corruptive as Prephyx, which meant the insides of the moon were not covered in it.
Prephyx was present even inside Earth, which was why it was such a big problem on a galactic scale.
Prephyx penetrated matter without issues, and beings working with Pure Energy were not fond of that.
While Prephyx was amazing for Extractors, it was not amazing for others.
In a way, a high presence of Prephyx could be likened to pollution for normal humans.
Sadly, or luckily, depending on the viewpoint, there was also no Prephyx inside the moon.
The aliens had most likely gotten rid of all of the Prephyx inside the moon.
After a while of traveling, Nick stopped.
The next moment, he approached the surface.
According to what he had read in the aliens' memories, there was no base nearby.
A little bit below the surface, Nick started to use his ability, which gave him control over biology.
Several huge tubes and fleshy muscles were created.
Nick was making a biological machine.
Naturally, during the thousands of years of preparation, he hadn't been idle.
He had sampled all the different biological machines that the aliens used on Earth, and thanks to Nick's ability, he could see how they worked.
After some minutes, Nick finished the machine.
It was over ten meters wide and looked just as alien as the aliens.
'It's a bit risky, but I don't really have another option,' Nick thought.
The next moment, several of the machine's tendrils extended out of it and broke past the moon's surface.
The moon's surface was filled with a dense layer of Star Energy, and there was more than enough for what Nick wanted to do.
The machine absorbed all the Star Energy in the surroundings and transformed it.
During the creation of a product, there was always the product and a side-product, also called waste.
Usually, the aliens' machines used Star Energy to create Pure Energy by mixing it with Zephyx.
But the product Nick was creating with this machine was just biological energy, which was infused back into the machine.
The biological energy made the machine run even faster, which meant it was absorbing even more Star Energy.
In essence, this machine's intended purpose was just to run faster.
Of course, when Star Energy was used up, a low-energy side-product was created.
Star Energy without much energy.
Prephyx.
The machine released the Prephyx, and Nick absorbed all of it.
Outside of Earth, it wasn't possible for Nick to refill his Zephyx without access to Prephyx or stored Zephyx.
For the next 25 days, Nick would have to refill his Zephyx storage in this way.
It took a couple of hours for Nick to refill his Zephyx.
After all, he didn't want the machine to be too strong, or the powerful members of the aliens might notice the pull of Star Energy.
When his Zephyx storage was refilled, Nick deactivated the machine.
It pulled its tendrils back underground and entered a quasi-hibernation.
'Chances are that some aliens noticed the machine,' Nick thought. 'However, this is their technology, and they probably don't question it. Luckily, almost all individuals of the Amorphous Race don't question things and just follow orders.'
'They are not truly individuals. As far as I have read, they do not even really make their own decisions.'
'They are more like neurons.'
'One neuron sends a signal to another neuron, which sends a signal to another one.'
'From what I've read, only six individuals are capable of making decisions.'
'The two Strategists, since they are the decision makers, the two Representatives, since they represent the Mother, and the two Generals, since battle requires flexibility and adaptability.'
'Even the Chief Engineers and Chief Illusionists are just followers. They just do whatever they are told without questioning it.'
'As long as the Strategists don't notice what I'm doing, everything should work out.'
After refilling his Zephyx storage, Nick continued following the tendril.
Based on his sense of direction, Nick was already approaching the surface of the dark side of the moon.
This was where the primary base of the aliens was located.
Since there was no Star Energy underground, Nick's perception had become much stronger.
His abilities still worked with Zephyx, and as long as Nick could send his Zephyx out, they worked.
He didn't exactly need the presence of Prephyx for his ability to work. He simply needed the absence of Star Energy.
The Zephyx of his abilities would simply fill the energy vacuum.
That made the abilities use more Zephyx, but the drain was bearable.
Nick quickly found the aliens' primary base.
It was a fleshy cave that was nearly ten kilometers wide.
'That's smaller than expected,' Nick thought.
'This small cave is controlling three entire planets.'
When Nick saw the cave, he wanted to release a sigh of relief.
'It's only at the Seventh Realm. That's still within my power to manipulate.'
'The Amorphous Race's need for resources has saved me more than once before.'
'Creating a lifeform in the Eighth Realm is tens of times more expensive than creating one in the Seventh Realm. Since the Amorphous Race is so desperate for energy, they are only using as much as is necessary to keep things running.'
Nick's mind entered the mind of the fleshy cave.
As expected, it was barely smarter than the other fleshy cave.
However, Nick noticed something unpleasant but not unexpected.
'There are security measures,' Nick thought. 'Changing the cave will send an alarm to the Strategists and Generals. Asking for certain bits of information leads to the same thing.'
'Since any change will alert the Strategists, I have to make do with the basic functions.'
'At least, until I know where the Strategists are.'
The next moment, Nick sent a simple request to the cave.
"Where is the entrance?"
It was a very basic command, and this command wouldn't elicit any attention. After all, sometimes, the weaker members needed to know where to go to fulfill an order.
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