A few days have passed. We haven’t found anything yet, but the general scope has been determined, so it’s likely that we’ll have so leads soon. Sandora, the crew, and I have tagged along with Yelsen’s divine servants or the Empire’s reconnaissance ships a few tis. Though we’ve found nothing, we treated it more like taking the kids and Qianqian out to play (why is it that every ti this happens, Qianqian has to be singled out from the adults and grouped with the kids?), so it hasn’t been entirely boring. Watching ti creep by and us getting stalled by this unclear incident, Sandora and I are feeling quite frustrated.
To alleviate this frustration, Sandora has already gone out to scavenge for food. She’ll probably return before nightfall or when she finishes cleaning out the church cafeteria.
It’s worth ntioning that Yelsen and Monina have finally gotten rare downti today. They’ve completed all the religious ceremonies and personally bestowed blessings upon the chosen saints. The siblings are enjoying their liberation and are in high spirits, telling about what happened during the believers’ gatherings and the blessing ceremonies. Despite finding the participation boring, their enthusiasm when recounting it to others is quite high.
Just then, we suddenly received a communication from the edge of the Constant Star System: it was sent by Captain Cocogina.
The Fifth Fleet is still stuck with us in this world. To maintain order on the Azure Star, the whole fleet shifted to the boundary of the Constant Star System a few days ago and is currently on standby. Cocogina’s communication surprised : Did they run into so trouble?
Once connected, I realized the fleet had no real issues. They just wanted to know when they’d be able to set out and rendezvous with the Fourth Fleet—the civilians of the Fifth Fleet were raising this call.
Cocogina’s translucent image floats on the holographic screen, with the tense and bustling command center behind him. His voice sounds deep and steady, suggesting it’s not very urgent: "We announced to the public that the Empire is investigating the cause of the fleet’s drift. However, without a specific wait ti, so people are growing anxious. The situation isn’t serious; the fleet can continue waiting. We just want to know a more definitive departure ti."
I understood what was going on. The Fifth Fleet is not very clear about the happenings here. They’re probably clueless about terms like Void Creature induced aberration, Void Domain distortion—and other unfamiliar terms—all while we’re busy searching the world for the source of induction. The Fifth Fleet has been kept hanging for days; anyone with poor ntal stability would be getting depressed by now. So after days of obliviousness, Cocogina and the fleet’s officers finally lost patience and want to know when they can depart. However, I couldn’t provide a definite ti.
"On the other hand," I pondered, asking Cocogina to hold on, and turned to Lin Xue, who was sitting in the corner of the room, "Could we send the Fifth Fleet off first?" Miss Lin was busy playing chess with the silver-armored female knight under Yelsen’s command. I don’t know how those two ended up together, but Lin Xue had shalessly beaten her in 27 consecutive gas already—the female knight seems to be a tenacious person, and with such ntal resilience, it’d be a waste not to beco a custor service manager.
"Send the fleet off?" Miss Lin finally paused her massacre of the female knight, tilting her head to think, "Indeed, the Fifth Fleet doesn’t have to be stuck here with you, but the issue is that this is not the Empire’s territory, so we can’t use the World Gate to teleport them. Moreover, there is a significant stretch of barren area between this world and the nearest Empire domain. Without your help, the fleet would have to leap through the Void bit by bit, potentially encountering dangers such as the Fallen Apostle. Unless you could mobilize our First Legion to escort the Fifth Fleet all the way back, I wouldn’t advise sending such a fragile remnant back alone."
They can’t use ultra-long-range jumping like when coming here. Without escort troops and lacking a World Gate, the Fifth Fleet starting on a journey to the Empire’s border is akin to recklessly charging a tower with low health and insufficient equipnt... Lin Xue’s logic is sound.
However, as I was about to tell Cocogina this regrettable news, my sister suddenly spoke up: "If you build a World Gate in this universe, you can send the fleet back, right?"
"Of course," I replied, "Traveling through the World Gate would bypass the barren zone, effectively jumping directly to the destination. But all the World Gates are built within the Empire’s territory, and this world belongs to the Divine Race..." saying this, I glanced at 123, who was whispering with his sister on the opposite end: "By the way, Yelsen, I need to discuss sothing with you."
"What?" Yelsen lifted his head, asking dumbfoundedly.
"Building a World Gate in your world. We want to send the Fifth Fleet back first." I stated straightforwardly. Strictly speaking, this is a sensitive topic: I’m aware of the World Gate’s military value, and a large World Gate capable of teleporting an entire fleet is classified as a strategic-level facility in the Imperial Military Equipnt Series. Placing such a device, capable of transmitting thousands of warships in an instant, in another nation’s heart? Star Domain and Xyrin are blood-sworn allies as brothers, but doing so still seems improper. Yet I asked directly because I know there’s no need for circumlocution with 123. Our relationship is close on one hand, and more importantly, if I were indirect, 123 likely wouldn’t grasp the point; his intelligence drops sharply when with his sister. Apparently, this phenonon arises because Monina is smarter and more attentive than Yelsen, so when Monina is around, Yelsen stops considering things independently, leading to a gradual decline in intelligence as a passive skill...
Indeed, it truly is a sensitive topic. Even soone as heedless as Yelsen—or soone who’s almost forgotten his Divine Race identity due to extensive ti with the First Family—upon hearing my words, couldn’t help but be stunned, then glanced up at the ceiling at a 45-degree angle: "The World Gate... well, Landlord—no, Chen, to be frank, we can open the gate. But given the sensitivity, you should know, the Divine Realm and the Empire do indeed have direct connection channels. However, these channels are jointly established with shared gate-opening permissions. Yet, there’s definitely not enough ti to build such mutually controlled gates now. Thus, the opening permissions of the World Gate would be entirely in your hands, and this gate would be for temporary use only. Would that bother you?"
Naturally, I wasn’t bothered. In fact, Yelsen’s straightforward consent was beyond my expectation, making suspect if he’s been with us so long that he’s considering joining the Empire as a citizen. As for the conditions he ntioned—it’s actually normal to think of them: regardless of his usual deanor, you can’t deny Yelsen bears the responsibility as a Guardian God for several worlds. He must consider issues beyond personal feelings, contemplating from a divine perspective. Thus, he can’t casually agree to everything we propose. However, his conditions align perfectly with my intentions: I never planned on creating a permanent World Gate. Our goal was rely to safely transfer the Fifth Fleet into the Empire’s realm. As for the remaining personnel and a few ships, they can transit back and forth using the teleportation gates between the temples.
Yelsen nodded, pulled out a scroll, saying: "Alright, I’ll sign a docunt for you. I’ll need this for filing in the Divine Realm later, given such large-scale data flow surely needs monitoring from above. Additionally, with this docunt, you can build a World Gate in this world, valid for three days—three days should be enough for the fleet transfer, right?"
I quickly nodded: "Certainly, a day would suffice."
Yelsen waved grandly, swiftly writing on the scroll: "Three days—writing less might look stingy, I’d be embarrassed at the filing counter... oh no, I left my divine seal in the Divine Realm!"
I burst into laughter: "Can’t you be reliable just once? Do you seriously stamp docunts even in the Divine Race?"
"Of course, we were the first in the Void to invent stamping," Yelsen said, standing up and looking around, his gaze falling on the female knight, Becki, who was being pumlled in the corner by Miss Lin, "Becki, give a chess piece!"
The female knight turned out to be Becki. Upon hearing Yelsen’s words, she hurried over with a round chess piece in her hand: "Master, you need this?"
"Oh, I’ll return it to you later—don’t worry, even with an extra piece, you won’t win; your opponent, unless voluntarily admitting defeat, is nearly unbeatable in chess throughout the Void. You’re just asking for it, playing chess with a Prophet?"
"Master, you said that we should temper our hearts, so even if we fail, it’s still delightful," the female knight answered earnestly, turning her head back to continue getting bested by Lin Xue. anwhile, 123 looked at his younger sister, "Did I really say that?"
Monina shrugged, "Two thousand three hundred years ago, your exact words were, ’If you get used to it, even getting beaten can be quite comfortable, you know.’"
I... I finally believe that Yelsen is indeed the life ntor of his divine servants. Look at how he’s twisted that strong-willed older sister knight’s worldview into such strange attributes!
"Close enough, close enough," Yelsen waved his hand nonchalantly, then, under my puzzled gaze, burned the underside of a chess piece with scorching Holy Light a few tis, dipped it in ink, and stamped it onto the scroll with a smack, "Done! Now you just need to scribble a couple of lines here, anything you leave behind can be recognized."
I: "...Can this actually work?" Can soone explain to why this guy openly used a chess piece to carve a seal as a divine seal right in front of everyone! The positive impression I finally built up toward this guy, can it now be tossed in a pot to be boiled and fed to Sandora?
Yelsen imdiately noticed my almost-manic gaze and the suddenly silent atmosphere around us, but he casually scratched his hair, "Relax, it works..."
"The issue probably isn’t about whether it works..." I accepted the scroll handed to with a cry-laughing expression.
"Don’t sweat the details," Yelsen argued confidently, "Think about it, why are divine artifacts called divine artifacts? It’s not because they inherently differ upon creation but because they’re used by gods. The divine seal is called a divine seal not because it’s a divine seal from the start but because it’s a seal used by gods. The issue isn’t what it’s carved with but who orders it to be carved. That’s the true essence of divine artifacts— I’ve even got an itching stick from back then that’s still enshrined in the temple."
I: "..." Alright, you win!
And Yelsen wasn’t finished yet, "Actually, I have to thank Sicaro. Although we’ve fought a few tis, the idea of carving stamps ca from him— in this respect, I can’t match that guy. He can use a radish to create the effect of an imperial jade seal while I at least need this..."
I: "..."
After signing this docunt, more symbolic than practical, Yelsen could give a satisfactory explanation to his superiors, while I relayed the good news to Cocogina and instructed Taville to temporarily set aside his current tasks and proceed to open the World Gate. We don’t plan on sending the Fifth Fleet directly to the Exile World. Instead, we want them to make a detour to the Universe of the Pan-Galactic Civilization Community first, as most ships in the Fifth Fleet require repairs. The Exile World is currently unable to be self-sustaining, and there’s definitely no extra productivity to maintain such a large fleet. So from the start, we had the Commonwealth ready to lend a hand. They are among the Empire’s vassals with the most complex technology and relatively strong, being a mix of various races and technologies, making them adept at handling mishmash fleets like the Fifth Fleet— the Fourth Fleet had also received considerable help from them in the past.
After arranging for the Fifth Fleet, I entered a state of idleness for a few days— playing with the kids, watching Monina beat up her brother, sticking with Sandora and the others, watching Monina beat up her brother, feeding Dingdang, watching Monina beat up her brother, teaching Little Crow and rcury Lamp how to write, watching Monina beat up her brother, going out to chat about the cosmos with Lei or Joe, and in a spiritual connection, watching live broadcasts of Monina beating up her brother remotely...
A lot of things around happen to be constantly in upheaval, but the daily interaction between Monina and her brother is as unshakable as Sandora’s al tis.
In fact, although Yelsen and Monina bicker and squabble every day, their relationship is exceptionally good— perhaps related to a lack of intelligence, Yelsen always abides by Monina’s words, while Monina tends to prioritize Yelsen’s matters. Their thousands of years of sibling rapport have given them a seemingly innate tacit understanding. Often, in our eyes, the siblings’ interaction appears non-linear: Yelsen just moves his eyes slightly, and Monina would unhesitatingly spring up and knock on his head. A simple smile from Monina and Yelsen could randomly pick out what the forr wanted from a pile of junk around, akin to the spiritual connection and understanding between and Sandora and the others, but evidently even more. Their bond runs deep, but despite this depth, their everyday life is filled with chaos, with Yelsen seemingly adept at ssing things up at critical monts and doing everything to get Monina angry, which sotis makes think he’s doing it on purpose, for the pleasures of a masochist?
This big courtyard is bustling with the comings and goings of Yelsen’s divine servants. Becki and Horn, the two captains of the divine servants, almost daily witness the codic scene of their master being chased by Monina wielding a kitchen knife from the kitchen to the door. I’m genuinely curious— how do these loyal divine servants maintain their composure to say, "The master is my life ntor" after witnessing this every day? Your life ntor demonstrates this to you? On how to be chased by a knife-wielding sister?
By the third day of such daily life, we finally received news from the War God’s divine servant.
A small reconnaissance team, at a distance of 3.13 light years from the Azure Star, and in a previously almost overlooked small cooling cloud, discovered sothing resembling the target.
We’ve been waiting a long ti for this news—except for those carefree and playful little girls living for pleasure—and except for Qianqian—so right away, Sandora, the others, and I, along with the Tiaozi Five, switched shuttles, hitching a ride on the scientific research ship headed to the "discovery site."
It happens to be within the zone determined during the prior system scan: a space gas cloud with a radius of nearly a million kiloters. Compared to most primitive space clouds, this is considered small. Such clouds generally tear off due to significant gravitational disturbances occurring during the formation of Constant Star Systems. They are thin in density, loosely structured, and their total mass does not reach the critical point to form stellar bodies, thus floating in space, not fostering stars within, but occasionally flashing due to isolated nuclear reactions in so areas. Our scientific research ship temporarily berthed on the edge of the cloud and connected with the divine servants stationed there. Yelsen’s divine servants had established an observation-station-like facility here... probably an observation station; I’m not very familiar with Divine Race things, but there’s an evidently newly created floating island here. The island not only has atmosphere and gravity but also boasts a small lake and a large house: what a peculiar ensemble to appear in outer space, the Divine Race being second-generation officials, rich, and army brats with the even more important divine lineage can modify worlds so arbitrarily, it’s just envy-inducing.
"Well, it looks almost like the illusions I’ve seen. This should be the place," Miss Lin adjusted the angles of the images gathered by the probe from the cloud’s panoramic view, eventually overlapping it with the image from her prophecy, "Let see... Hidden within the cloud, the places shining... damn, the whole cloud is flashing."
"It wasn’t like this when we first arrived; the entire cloud appeared dormant," said a divine servant from the observation station (or fantasy version space resort?), who was in charge of the small reconnaissance team that discovered the cloud, "About an hour ago, its activity began to increase, as if its energy balance had been disrupted."
"Sothing that entered this Universe many days ago, and only now is breaking the local energy balance?" Sandora narrowed her eyes, "I’m increasingly convinced it’s an artificial creation."
"For so reason..." I didn’t think as far as Sandora; I just had an instinctual urge to look towards the center of the cloud, "I feel... a need to go over there... it’s seeking ..." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian) to vote with recomndation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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