The Vajra Fortress's Mushroom-Bug Sword had lost the purpose it was originally made for, and Shen Cong hadn't yet found time to remodel it. He used it instead as an extension of his perception, driving it straight into the thunderbolt giant fir's trunk and then releasing Activity waves through the sword to jam the burning growth rings and observe the rough Superbrain.

He himself, meanwhile, turned over the problem of the brain gradation while also puzzling out the uses of the Head Wave.

The Head Wave, taken from the Slimes, was in Shen Cong's judgment the key to solving the Vajra Fortress's devouring of his body. For now he was applying it mainly to the iron lion.

"If the Vajra Fortress devours me mainly because the Firestarter grains in my body and the Firestarter grains in the Vajra Fortress come from the same source and share the same nature—then to stop the devouring, I'll certainly need a line of defense between myself and the Vajra Fortress, one that can still communicate across it."

The Head Wave was the best line of defense and the best bridge alike.

Using the fluctuation of Firestarter energy to build a connection with the Firestarter grains—that was Shen Cong's answer to being devoured.

Under his Head Wave control, the iron lion could now fuse with the Vajra Fortress quickly, and the rate at which Firestarter energy condensed into Firestarter grains had slowed, greatly lengthening the fusion time.

With the nature of the particle laid bare to him, the Head Wave's effect was stronger still: fusing with the iron lion now took him very little time at all, under thirty seconds.

The fusion began.

The Head Wave spread out, the Firestarter energy was stirred by radiative fluctuation, and connections formed between it and the Firestarter grains. The Vajra Fortress and the iron lion bound into one, with Firestarter energy as the tie. Shen Cong could then work the iron lion as easily as his own arm and set about remaking it—he already had a rough conception for the iron lion's overall design.

Mechanical joints to reinforce…