Is Unlocking the Stellaris Tech Tree in Star Rail Really Okay? [111]

Chen Lin was in trouble—serious trouble. In fact, he had almost reached his limit.

The energy within the Stellaron seemed boundless. Relying on the fact that the Stellaron offered no resistance to his absorption and conversion methods, Chen Lin had been able to cultivate his psionic abilities while functioning as an emotionless energy conduit, continuously providing psionic shields to everyone around him.

However, now the Stellaron had generated countless Fragmentum Rifts and completely assimilated Cocolia's body. The energy demand was no longer as high as before. The Stellaron was expending all its effort controlling the marionette-like Cocolia while strategically relocating its position to reduce the influence of the "filth" targeting it.

"So... hungry..."

Chen Lin's energy output had far surpassed his intake. Other than maintaining the bare minimum of psionic energy to sustain his existence, he was utterly drained.

During this time as an unfeeling energy converter, the space in which he stored psionic energy had invisibly expanded dozens of times. It now resembled an empty stomach—desolate and giving him a profound sense of discomfort.

At this moment, filling his belly became an unshakable obsession in his mind.

Since the Stellaron had reined in its dispersed energy, he decided to devour the Fragmentum Rifts instead.

Previously, his absorption of the Stellaron's energy had been akin to using a household faucet. Now, it was as if hundreds of infuriated anglers had simultaneously whipped out water pumps to drain an entire pond—the speed was incomparable.

If his psionic reserves ran dry, his spirit, which had temporarily left his body, wouldn't be able to return. In other words, he'd be as good as dead.

"I can't take this anymore!"

Driven by hunger, Chen Lin stopped caring about anything else. He severed all psionic-consuming techniques and transformed into a ravenous wolf, pouncing on every Fragmentum Rift within sight.

Any Fragmentum Rift containing Stellaron energy was utterly drained under his relentless assault. Enormous Rifts, larger than several people combined, couldn't hold out for more than half a minute before collapsing.

Chen Lin had already instructed the supporting battleships to act at their discretion but to avoid unleashing excessive firepower. Otherwise, this mountain would be riddled with craters within seconds—not to mention that the Trailblazer team and Bronya were still up there.

Dying from friendly fire would be far too embarrassing.

Within moments, dozens of Fragmentum Rifts were devoured by Chen Lin. However, this meager amount of sustenance was a mere drop in the ocean for him. Even if he gathered it all and cast it into his sea of consciousness, it wouldn't make the slightest ripple.

He had also attempted to intercept the energy beams the Stellaron was directing toward Cocolia, but the efficiency was abysmal. Thus, Chen Lin set his sights on the Stellaron itself, currently suspended by the suppressive device.

The suppressive device had sustained severe damage, long losing its intended function. Aside from its hollow shell, it served no purpose—it was essentially a cozy nest where the Stellaron could come and go as it pleased.

Since the Stellaron was a mysterious creation of the Aeon of Destruction, even the Interastral Peace Corporation had yet to figure out how to control or harness its power. The most they could do was use devices to suppress its influence, devices that required substantial manpower and resources for maintenance.

Unfortunately for the Stellaron, it encountered Chen Lin. Psionic energy, by its very nature, was as inclusive as the sea—or, put bluntly, it welcomed all.

If I want to absorb it, I can definitely assimilate it.

Why? Because where there's a will, there's a way.

Besides, with the battleships assisting, if the Trailblazer team and Bronya still couldn't defeat Cocolia, then there was nothing more to say—they might as well offer their apologies and take responsibility.

As a passenger aboard the Astral Express, it was inconceivable to lose to a mere native leader despite external assistance.

At least from his perspective, Dan Heng and March 7 must still be hiding considerable strength. As for Stelle, she was too enigmatic for him to gauge.

Since he could entrust the real world to them, Chen Lin decided to focus on resolving his hunger. Thus, his gaze shifted to the Stellaron itself.

Hehehehe...

A subtle change flickered in Chen Lin's eyes as he stared at the Stellaron.

The Stellaron's core sensed a deep foreboding, as if it were a sheep grazing on a plain, suddenly surrounded by dozens of lions drooling over it.

Nope. Not today. Not this freak!

Its intuition was spot on. In the next moment, the Stellaron detected something bizarre attempting to burrow into it. While it couldn't discern what it was, it knew for certain—this was bad news!

The Stellaron immediately diverted much of its energy from controlling Cocolia to focus on self-defense.

The Stellaron, under threat? Ridiculous.

Chen Lin's psionic form slammed against the barrier surrounding the Stellaron. With little self-awareness left, his spiritual body instinctively attempted to breach it.

When punching didn't work, he kicked. When kicking failed, he bit.

No matter the method, he had to consume the delicious Stellaron.

Perseverance paid off. Who knew how much time had passed, but Chen Lin finally managed to gnaw a small hole into the barrier. Without hesitation, he dove inside, constructing a psionic fence on his way to prevent any energy from escaping.

Inside was a vast, endless space. The walls and ground gleamed pure white.

Multicolored energy floated in the air, radiating an intoxicating aroma that was no less tantalizing than a banquet.

Just before he fully transformed into a ravenous glutton, Chen Lin thought he heard numerous terrified, angry voices.

"He's inside! He's inside!!"
"An abyss! We're being sucked in!!!"
"It's a bottomless pit—we're doomed! Completely doomed!"

The Stellaron's consciousness seemed to consist of more than one entity. Rather, it was a mysterious collective, with a single main consciousness but countless independent ones. Each distinct energy cluster was its own unique individual.

To Chen Lin, this was like a table laden with a full-course feast. Every bite offered a new and distinct flavor, an entirely different experience.

"Hehehehe! Stellaron, here I come!" Chen Lin cackled gleefully, plunging into the chaos like a wolf among sheep.

The Stellaron's defenses were utterly powerless against Chen Lin's psionic form. All it could do was flee within itself, futilely running circles in an attempt to evade.

Some of the energy attempted to break through the seemingly fragile psionic shield, but it acted as if encountering its natural predator—any contact led to immediate consumption, rendering the attack completely ineffective.

As Chen Lin devoured more energy, his consciousness began to blur under the strain. Countless memories of those who perished within the Fragmentum Rifts flooded into his mind.

Anyone with a weaker will would have fallen into an inescapable abyss by now.

At best, their mind would be shattered by horrific images and whispers, leaving them insane. At worst, their spirit would disintegrate entirely, leading to death.

After replenishing just a sliver of his psionic reserves, Chen Lin immediately conjured a psionic construct resembling himself.

He gave the construct a simple directive: Devour as much as possible, recover the losses, break even, or go all-in for a win-win scenario. Then, he severed the majority of the link between his spirit and body, leaving just enough to maintain the construct’s operational functions.

A substantial portion of his soul detached from the construct and entered a semi-dormant state. Occasionally, the construct would transfer excess energy to him, which he would refine into Stellaron energy "candies" using his psionic abilities.

At least it's something, but I'm still exhausted.

After running the process for a while, Chen Lin noticed the efficiency remained low. The workload being passed to him grew heavier, almost returning to the level it was before using the construct. At this rate, it would take a decade or more to deplete the Stellaron's energy.

Frustrated, Chen Lin gritted his teeth and created dozens more psionic constructs, linking them together like nested dolls. With the Stellaron's seemingly infinite energy, he had no qualms about mass-producing constructs.

Chen Lin positioned himself at the top, watching his constructs labor tirelessly. Being simple energy beings without consciousness, they naturally didn't complain about overwork.

After observing for a few minutes, he saw that the constructs were efficiently managing the immense workload without sending anything back to him. Satisfied, he nodded.

Exploiting others is nothing special—I exploit myself!

Leaning back against the topmost construct, Chen Lin remarked lazily, "This isn't hard at all!"

While the battle outside raged on, the Stellaron's interior had become a fully automated assembly line. The constructs handled absorption, storage, conversion, processing, packaging, and delivery, transforming the Stellaron's vast energy into refined orbs that Chen Lin could leisurely consume.

If he had a whip, he might have cracked it at the constructs to assert his authority as their "boss."

"I wonder how things are going outside. Without the Stellaron's support, the most Cocolia can rely on is the strength inherited from the Architects. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?" Chen Lin muttered as he stuffed handfuls of energy orbs into his mouth.

As the vast emptiness of his consciousness began to fill, he found himself with enough leisure to study the Stellaron's internal structure.

The surroundings were shrouded in pure white mist. Despite consuming so many energy candies converted from the Stellaron, which replenished about one-fifth of his reserves, he still couldn't damage the Stellaron's shell.

When he punched it in his materialized form, it felt like striking cotton—completely ineffective. Even using his mind yielded no results. After careful examination, he discovered that the Stellaron's exterior was coated in a layer of energy.

"This thing is incredible! Too bad it doesn’t seem absorbable," he lamented.

As his gaze wandered, Chen Lin mused aloud, "If only my sea of consciousness had the capacity of a Stellaron… Wait, what?!"

He latched onto a single word in his thoughts, and a bold idea surged into his mind. Without hesitation, he began acting on it.

Chen Lin released a strand of psionic energy to interact with the white mist, focusing intensely on assimilating it. This method of using psionic energy could be described generously as intuitive—or less flatteringly, as borderline delusional.

A few minutes later, to his surprise, there was progress!

A fingernail-sized patch of the white mist began to transform into the faint purple hue of psionic energy. Slowly, it started assimilating the surrounding white mist.

As he approached the newly purple mist, Chen Lin felt an inexplicable sense of harmony between it and himself.

Was it just his imagination, or was the assimilated mist autonomously generating psionic energy?

If that were true, the Stellaron would be far more valuable than he initially thought.

With this discovery, Chen Lin envisioned a future where he wouldn’t need to cultivate painstakingly. Whenever the Stellaron filled up with energy, he could simply step in and consume it like an experience book.

The perfect foolproof… ahem, ideal employee!

Glancing at the constructs diligently delivering energy candies to him, Chen Lin thought that since he had nothing else to do, he might as well see if he could assimilate the entire Stellaron to confirm his theory.

As a self-proclaimed temporary metaphysical fanatic and aspiring pioneer of bio-enhancements, Chen Lin felt an inkling that the Stellaron's shell might also be edible.

Acting on his hunch, he refined his earlier method of assimilating the white mist and taught it to a psionic construct. The construct began imitating his technique to assimilate the mist.

To his delight, it worked!

Though he was small in this vast space, Chen Lin sacrificed all his remaining psionic energy to create more constructs. He passed on the assimilation technique to them, confident in his ability to reclaim the energy later without loss.

Patting the construct before him, Chen Lin smiled broadly as he stuffed more energy candies into his mouth. "Work hard, and I might give you a raise someday. If you don’t get one, it just means you weren’t grounded enough. Keep at it—life will only get sweeter!"

The constructs, of course, didn’t respond. They had no consciousness, no complaints, and no thoughts of rebellion.

That’s just how it should be, Chen Lin thought. After all, he’d heard of mechanical uprisings but never of a psionic mutiny.

Before him lay the perfect assembly line he’d created. The Stellaron’s energy was practically infinite.

If cultivating psionics were like playing a game, with the max level being 100, then the Stellaron was akin to a mountain of high-level experience books placed before a level-5 rookie like Chen Lin.

"When I get back, I’ll ask Herta if she knows Nanook. Maybe I can get another Stellaron to devour and ascend directly to a transcendent state! Wait... on second thought, can Aeons be eaten?"

Overjoyed, Chen Lin suddenly felt as though something was watching him.

He looked up sharply and saw a dozen or so eyes staring at him.

Each eye radiated distinct emotions—calm, approval, anger, indifference, mischief, admiration...

Thinking he was hallucinating, Chen Lin rubbed his eyes.

When he blinked again, the eyes were gone.

Above him, there was only endless white mist.

Chen Lin: "?"

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This is a fan translation of 在星穹铁道点群星科技树真的没问题吗? by 杏雨诗韵 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!