In front of the doorway stood two level 1500 mechanical golems, modeled after an ancient race of giants, at least according to Eve. Each stood nearly twenty feet tall with six appendages, four winding arms of coiled metal and two legs, but no discernible head. Each arm held massive cleaver-like blades. They appeared to be made out of a dark grey metal with a more stone-like texture. Similar to Sidestep, the entirety of their bodies were covered in tubing that pulsed green. In the center of each golem’s cylindrical torso was a large, mechanical eye that glowed blue. Unlike the other defenses, the golems were still active.

Nervously, Alan proceeded forwards. The two sentinels slowly turned to face him. Alan slowly took another step forwards, then another, until he was between the two. As they took no further action, Alan let out a sigh of relief before walking onwards. He noticed that each golem had a second eye on the opposite side of their torso. A small doorway opened up when Alan got close enough to the entrance.

Alan glanced inside, then froze. He immediately activated hypercognition mode, as well as his armor’s advanced stealth mode. Within the structure was a Predecessor.

The Predecessor stood in the middle of the structure, a lightly glowing collar around its neck. It wore a tightly woven chain mail vest made of the writhing black metal the other Predecessor’s knife had been made of, and wielded a massive two handed great sword made of the same material. The metal, which absorbed light, shrouded the Predecessor in darkness except for the collar. Alan discovered the metal absorbed every other type of radiation as well as he rapidly switched between types of vision to try to get a better look.

It is called soulsteel, Eve informed Alan, a physical manifestation of a Predecessor’s psionic abilities, the only known metal capable of cutting their skin. It is impossibly dense, yet light, with numerous other properties we don’t have the time for now. They forcibly draw out their psionic ability, through their blood, and it solidifies into the metal you see before you. A small ingot about the size of a mark is able to be produced about once a millennium by every Predecessor. That mark-sized ingot could easily be exchanged for a small spaceship worth billions of credits. The fact that it has so much…

That Predecessor is either very strong, or very old, quite possibly both. Predecessors often challenge each other, dueling for soulsteel, taking half of what the defeated party owns. A symbol of status, and strength. I am unable to determine its level, and it is an S class threat, if not higher. You are right to proceed with caution.

Alan stood still, staring at the Predecessor, continuing to test out his different types of vision. He almost gasped when he finally switched to gamma vision, noticing what was behind the Predecessor. Most of the structure was devoid of anything except for metal tiling on the floor, a large hall perfect for a massive raid boss. At the far end of the room the massive wall was adorned with metal cables stretching out of one central point, a cylindrical barrel with ten small slots, each containing a symmetrical cube crystal the size of a fist. All but one was devoid of color. This tenth crystal glowed softly in Alan eyes.