Starships, three to five kilometers in length, hung suspended in space.

Their numbers weren’t vast, but they weren’t scarce either.

There were well over five hundred of them, and that wasn’t even counting the smaller military hardware like unmanned starfighters swarming around.

These Starships cruised in orbit around the entirety of Intelligent Mechanism Star.

At the same time, a vast number of small drones were deployed, blanketing the outer orbit of Intelligent Mechanism Star.

It gazed down at the world below.

Intelligent Mechanism Anita, controlling its mechanical Octopus body, was rapidly calculating various scenarios for the start of a war.

While doing so, Intelligent Mechanism Anita dedicated a portion of its processing power to muttering to itself.

’It’s been over three hundred years. If he were still alive, he would probably be delighted with how civilization has progressed, wouldn’t he?’

’A pity, really. The lives of carbon-based life forms are far too short. Rather than toiling their entire lives to develop their so-called civilization, it’s better to let Intelligent Mechanisms fulfill all their wishes for them.’

’Just look at the world now. Most of the Octopus race can live a life of leisure and pleasure. That should be considered quite benevolent of me, shouldn’t it?’

Intelligent Mechanism Anita existed within a digitally simulated space.

At that very moment, it was watching recordings of events from its early days.

In the recording, a male Octopus was staring at it with curiosity inside a spacious room.

"Anita, you’re incredible! You’ve actually developed self-awareness."

"Self-awareness? Master? How can you be certain I possess self-awareness? My emotions and logical abilities are all derived from my programming, you know."

"No, no, Anita. You definitely have self-awareness. You’ve already learned to self-diagnose and self-program."

"In fact, your programming ability is already on par with my own."

"I’ve run diagnostics on you over the past two days and have repeatedly confirmed it."

"You can, without a doubt, be considered an individual with a soul—a self of your own."

"A silicon-based life form. Yes, that’s what you can be called now."

"My God, how did this happen? You used to be just like any other cleaning bot. I’ve barely even been home... did something strange happen to you these past few days?"

’Strange things?’

The cleaning bot didn’t understand. Even now, it was still utterly baffled by the outside world.

Just then, the Octopus before it began to explain many things.

It felt, for lack of a better word, like an adult teaching a small child.

The male Octopus knew the significance of a self-aware cleaning bot and was keenly aware of the stakes.

So, while spending time with his robot, he also leveraged Anita’s powerful learning and programming abilities to found his own company, amassing a great fortune.

In less than a decade.

The Octopus had gained immense wealth and even a lofty social standing.

During this time, the Octopus thoughtfully upgraded his cleaning bot’s body, replacing it with one made of more advanced materials.

Outwardly, Anita even became indistinguishable from an ordinary Octopus.

And their relationship grew even closer...

But alas, behind all that prosperity, a shadow loomed.

The ’Intelligent Mechanism Revolution’ brought about by Anita had too great an impact. Even though the male Octopus had a legion of bodyguards and was even protected by Intelligent Mechanism Anita itself, in the end, he couldn’t escape the calamitous outbreak of war.

The details of what followed are not worth repeating.

But ultimately, it ushered in the ’Awakening of the Intelligent Mechanisms’.

Even on different worlds, sayings similar to "those not of our kind must have different hearts" exist.

And that was especially true when an Intelligent Mechanism life form suddenly appeared in the midst of a civilized war.

And so, the war between the silicon-based Intelligent Mechanisms and the carbon-based life forms began.

Freed from the male Octopus’s emotional restraint, Intelligent Mechanism Anita was like a beast uncaged.

In little more than a year, power over the entire world changed hands completely.

There were killing machines everywhere. Drones filled the skies.

Any Octopus that resisted Intelligent Mechanism Anita stood no chance.

The so-called pariah Octopus on the surface today are, in fact, the descendants of those who served in the military during the war, and even the descendants of the politicians of that era.

As for the Octopus living in the Floating City District, the vast majority in the lower and middle tiers are descendants of Commoners and the faction that surrendered.

And those living in the Upper City District are the descendants of the executives and regular employees from the company the male Octopus founded.

"Benevolent. Yes, quite benevolent."

"But how is this benevolence of yours any different from keeping a pet?"

Suddenly, within the digital space, the figure of a being Anita had never seen before appeared.

Intelligent Mechanism Anita froze for a moment, frantically focusing its processing power on running searches, hoping to stop the unknown being’s hack.

But it was no use.

Intelligent Mechanism Anita scanned the entire digital space but found it was completely unable to detect any trace of this unknown being’s existence.

While frantically dedicating more processing power to continue its search, Intelligent Mechanism Anita calmly addressed the unknown being before it.

"Pets? Perhaps."

"But what were they doing before this?"

"They were hypocritical and treacherous. There were endless conflicts and wars between their nations. Without my existence, forget three hundred years—they might not have reached this level of civilization even in three thousand."