"Sky Corridor!? How has it beco like this?"
Milia looked on with an expression of shock at the holographic projection in mid-air, muttering in disbelief. Right beside her, equally astonished by the spectacle, were Sandora and .
"Sky Corridor?" A few seconds later, I called out to bring Milia, who seed to be lost in thought, back to attention. "Are you sure? Is this the Sky Corridor of your world?"
"Of course, I could never mistake it!" Milia vigorously nodded her head, as if she had realized that the fragntary, broken ring structure before her was not the one from her holand. "The Sky Corridor is the most magical of the Holy Relics. Ever since the beginning of human civilization, it has always hung over the Mobra sky, shining down on the whole world along with the sun and the moon. And it is also one of the most complete Holy Relics of the Mobra world, having operated continuously, protecting us from enemies from deep space several tis... Could this... could this be another Sky Corridor?"
Milia eagerly looked at Sandora and . After knowing that we were the long-disappeared ’Holy Sages’ from her own world, this girl had begun to view Sandora and I, the rulers of the Xyrin Empire, as idols. Since all the Holy Relics of the Mobra world are the property of the Xyrin Empire, the Sky Corridor was naturally no exception. This was her judgnt.
"If you insist on calling the Star Ring the Sky Corridor, then yes, this indeed is one," I replied, suppressing the tumult in my heart, and exchanging a glance with Sandora. "Moreover, it is a twin to the one in your world, this one is called the Inner Ring."
"Amazing..." Milia’s eyes seed to twinkle like little stars. "So there’s more than one Sky Corridor! You truly deserve to be called ’Holy Sages’, far more formidable than I imagined! Even the most learned scholars wouldn’t dare to conceive of such a thing. They always believed the Sky Corridor to be the most mysterious and powerful creation by the Holy Sages... um, Mr. Chen Jun..."
"Haven’t I already said there’s no need to address as ’sir’?" I quickly interjected.
Milia almost bit her tongue but managed to nod uneasily in the end. "Ah, Chen... Brother, how did the Sky Corridor end up like this? It looks... so battered."
I understood Milia’s astonishnt. In Mobra, the Sky Corridor had always been considered a mysterious wonder at the pinnacle of the world. For a civilization confined within a constant star system and yet to venture into deep space, no one could imagine anything more advanced than the Sky Corridor, nor could they dare to envision what a mass-produced Sky Corridor would look like. Milia probably hadn’t seen Pandora’s recruitnt advertisents or the occasional Imperial war docuntaries in Shadow City in the past few days, so her understanding of the Xyrin Empire’s power was still superficial. I wondered what expression she would wear when she saw the planet battleships or even the Celestial System Fleet.
As for her question, Sandora answered before I did: "Because it was destroyed."
"Destroyed?" Milia was taken aback, her words nearly tripping up. "Destroyed? The Sky Corridor can be destroyed?"
"Did you think it was indestructible?"
"I..." Milia was at a loss for words in front of Sandora’s curious counter-question. "I don’t know. Everyone in Mobra has this common belief that the Sky Corridor is everlasting, and various churches and societies claim the sa. Scholars and monks say the Sky Corridor will exist forever, and it will bless the world even at doomsday. They’ve used all kinds of theories to prove it... You’re joking, right? An everlasting Sky Corridor should be a universal truth!"
The girl with short golden hair spoke eagerly. Although it was a fact affird by the ’Holy Sages’ themselves, she seed sowhat skeptical, almost as if the beliefs and faith she had always upheld were on the verge of collapsing.
"I don’t know to what extent this Star Ring is revered in your world," Sandora replied calmly. "But nothing in the world is impregnable, not even the world itself, which is but a fragile system set to collapse if the key laws are removed. The Star Ring is indeed a sturdy creation forged by laws, but when it exists in a perceivable form in the world, it is destined to be destructible. Of course, considering the level of civilization in the Mobra world, what you say isn’t wrong; at least within the scope of a constant star system civilization, there’s nothing in the universe that could destroy the Star Ring. Its law-based structural integrity can withstand the temperatures at the core of a constant star and the tearing forces within a black hole’s event horizon, and even resist the annihilation of giant class stars. Only power from the origin or next to the origin, such as Ghost Energy, can destroy the Star Ring, but that already surpasses the cosmic power limit understood by ordinary civilizations."
Sandora’s explanation must have sounded like gibberish to Milia, because I didn’t understand it either.
"So it is because of the limitations of our perception that we believe the Star Ring to be eternal," Milia said after a mont of Silence, sounding sowhat resigned and looking rather disheartened. The impact of Sandora’s answer on her seed to be even greater than expected.
...Well, she actually understood!
Milia must have just happened to be out for a walk and stumbled upon us, only to inadvertently provide both sides with so significant intelligence. She then eagerly bombarded us with a slew of questions about the Star Ring, bringing up the Holy Sage’s departure once more, "Why did you leave?" That was the question she asked us most. Unfortunately, the disparity in understanding of the sa question between the two parties was too great, and even Sandora didn’t know how to match so of the things Milia ntioned with Xyrin creations. To put it simply, Sandora spoke and Milia didn’t understand; Milia spoke and Sandora didn’t understand; and I, the individual with rely mortal intelligence, chose not to understand either. After an enthusiastic discussion, Sandora seed a bit helpless, Milia a bit confused, and I, the re mortal, felt utterly devastated.
In the end, Sandora and I confidently told Milia that we might soon find her holand, but that was contingent upon the Imperial Technicians fixing that Star Ring. Thanks to Visca’s work on "Twin Sensing" years ago, we might already have found a shortcut to the Mobra World.
After seeing Milia off, I imdiately contacted Taville to confirm the progress of the Star Ring assembly. We didn’t know how much the Inner Star Ring needed to be repaired before it could once again resonate with the Outer Star Ring through Twin Sensing. Taville showed trendous excitent at Sandora’s and my personal push for the project, declaring that he would work his staff around the clock to at least start welding the Star Ring back together—it seed scientists were easily excitable. Then we imdiately went to find Visca.
At that ti, Visca was engaged in an activity very beneficial for her ntal and physical health at ho: comparing heights with Little Baobao. While asuring up, she also chuckled foolishly, with Pandora expressing silent contempt by the side. The innocent Little Baobao didn’t understand what the two sisters were up to, and simply held on to the lollipop Visca had given her, laughing happily while standing straight as Visca had instructed and providing her with a continuous supply of comfort with her own height of one ter and ten.
I had to admit, upon seeing this scene, I felt a sincere sympathy for my one ter twenty siblings at ho.
So, had it co down to seeking a sense of superiority only in front of the most gullible girl at ho?
The sudden appearance of "Big Brother" sent Visca into a panic, coupled with a bit of embarrassnt, but Little Baobao didn’t mind that, and after turning into a streak of white light and tackling , she launched into a series of babbling in Baobao language, probably recounting the ga they were playing: for her, playing with anyone at ho was a joyous occasion.
"Girl, no need to hide, I need to tell you sothing," I said, prying Little Baobao off my neck while gesturing for Visca, who was trying to burrow away, to co over, "We’ve found another Star Ring."
Visca imdiately jumped in surprise, "Ah? Star Ring?"
: "..."
You, girl, go and give a proper apology to the exhaustively diligent Taville and his scientific research team!
After a light knock on Visca’s head, I filled her in about the Sky Corridor. She blinked, "So, my Star Ring is in the Mobra World?"
"We haven’t scanned the coordinates for Mobra World yet; who knows when that will be possible. We plan to use the Twin Sensing between the two Star Rings to locate it," I explained while rubbing Visca’s head. Pandora listened attentively at the side, deeply concerned about matters involving her sister, "The assembly of the Star Ring is completed, and now Taville is trying to activate its functions. I wanted to ask what minimum conditions are necessary for your Star Ring to perform Twin Sensing."
Visca bowed his head, his body made several beeping noises inside, and then he dumped a heap of data and terms on . After thinking for a while, I figured I might not have understood...
"Enough, enough, go and talk to Taville about it. We need to restore the twin sensing function of the Star Ring as soon as possible. We must hurry to check the status of the other Star Ring; it’s not sothing ordinary races should be toying with."
Visca agreed and ran off to upload the information to Taville, while Pandora stared at woodenly before suddenly popping the question, "Brother, are we going on an expedition?"
"Why are you suddenly thinking about warfare again?" I looked at this Shorty, who could think of nothing else but fighting and growing taller, sowhat confused about her thought process.
"Low-level civilization, stealing Empire property, must be punished." Pandora succinctly summarized the cris of the Mobra world, and I imdiately facepald, "I should’ve known... But you have a point, Xyrin Weapons are not safe playthings for ordinary civilizations to research at will. But we still need to go look at the situation before deciding anything. I always feel that no ordinary civilization, no matter how special, should be able to use Imperial Weapons like a Xyrin Apostle could—As for warfare, haven’t you fought enough in these past two years!?"
I rubbed Pandora’s head harder in an attempt to punish her, but the girl actually leaned into the comfort instead. However, my mind was occupied with another matter: as just ntioned, the chance of an ordinary civilization acquiring the ans to use Xyrin Technology in the normal course of evolution is virtually zero. Milia’s spirit mutation skill was acquired through training, but who was the creator of this training thod?
For a new technology to erge, there must be an accumulation of foundational theories, and to control Xyrin Equipnt with spirit mutation, the pioneer of this technology must at least know what the soul of a Xyrin Apostle looks like. However, based on my conversations with Milia, the information she revealed shows that the world of Mobra has no mature Soul Studies technology. Their understanding of the human soul is still stuck in the rudintary stage of "wave-field-energy turbulence." With their highest Soul Studies understanding at this level, could they possibly have created a training thod that simulates the souls of Xyrin Apostles?
Milia recognized many of the Xyrin facilities in Shadow City, or at least seed to have heard of them, and she could also skillfully use so of the most common Imperial Equipnt, such as information terminals. However, her knowledge of them was purely superficial, and she claims to be a clergywoman from the Mobra world—one of the most knowledgeable groups there. It seems that everyone in Mobra is only at this level. So, is half of their knowledge system sothing that fell from the sky?
These ssy speculations had slowly accumulated during my interactions with Milia in the last two days, and they would probably continue to trouble us until we found the Mobra world. However, later that evening, so good news arrived:
Taville received more targeted Star Ring principle data uploaded by Visca and compared it with the Star Ring Fragnts we had already collected. He found that in terms of structural integrity, the current Inner Ring already had the conditions necessary to produce twin sensing. If we activated its main structure according to a certain pattern, we could make it "appear intact in form." Taville expressed with confidence that this would take no more than two or three days.
So, today I began to prepare the personnel for this operation.
Since the matter was unusual and involved still-operational Imperial Heritage, Sandora and I both decided to take the field personally, and Qianqian, with her "I’m in if it’s fun" mindset, also signed up. Pandora and Visca also wanted to co along, thinking there might be fights on the trip. To my surprise, Big Sister insisted on joining us on this occasion—apart from those few major events, she usually preferred to stay at ho to look after our flock of little ones.
"It gets boring always staying at ho, and it’s quite interesting to go out with my brother," Big Sister said.
Considering that reconnecting the relics to the network might require massive information processing, Bubbles also needed to co along. By my count, our whole family was gearing up for an outing again.
In the afternoon, when I heard that so many people wanted to join in on the adventure, I thought this trip was going to be another lively and troubleso excursion, potentially with too many people. However, after Lin Xue ca over in the evening, she brought explosive news that made realize there might need to be even more people going on this trip.
"Wood, get your fleet and servant army ready," Miss Lin burst through the door and flopped onto the sofa without even a sip of water, brandishing a playing card and announcing loudly, "There’s a battle to fight!"
At that mont, I could feel waves of heat emanating from behind : Pandora and Visca were buzzing incessantly.
Big Sister and I exchanged glances, and I could see surprise in her eyes.
"A battle? With the indigenous people of Mobra?" I said, baffled, as I took the card with strange symbols from Lin Xue, noticing it was adorned with abstract designs of gears and swords, "Because we’re going after ’their’ holy relics?"
"It’s not the people of Mobra," Lin Xue shook her head, "The war cos after them—a very powerful enemy, but not the Fallen Apostles. Prepare the fleet, the enemy possesses power that rivals our own."
Lin Xue took a sip of water to let us digest this piece of news, then continued, "The specific situation is still very unclear, but I saw many planets burning, and Mobra is just the beginning. The war will soon spread to the deep space. The prophecy has an unprecedented number of branches appearing at the sa ti, each branch with nearly identical chances of occurring. I suspect there is a key point determining the future that is in an unstable state, its constant shifting is causing the visions I see to be blurred and unclear."
This wasn’t the first ti Lin Xue had co running to us with a sudden warning like this. I always suspected she watched over everyone’s future without rest, and despite my teasing her as a high-dinsional voyeur, Lin Xue never admitted it, but her dedication was beyond doubt—and I never took her warnings lightly.
The possibility of going to war with an enemy whose identity was still unknown confird Lin Xue’s intuition, ntioned when she predicted the source of supernatural phenona, that these could ultimately spark a war. As the situation developed, what was once rely "possible" had beco an undisputed certainty.
"Shall we take the fleet there?"
Sandora no longer wore her lazy deanor but asked with a serious expression, like a queen consulting her chief court advisor.
"No, we can’t reveal the fleet directly, that would send the future into chaos, and we would lose our reaction ti," Lin Xue answered firmly, "The enemy is triggered by a certain event, and before it happens, we need to slowly assemble the fleet in secret..."
We listened intently to Lin Xue’s hints. Because of the instability of the future, she could only disclose so much when describing the content of the prophecy, which made it necessary for everyone to pay close attention. Noticing everyone’s seriousness, Lin Xue nodded solemnly, "That’s all."
Everyone: "..."
That girl is definitely doing this on purpose!
I resisted the urge to karate-chop Lin Xue’s head because I knew that when it ca to a fistfight, not considering skill, I probably couldn’t beat her; my Wang Ba Fist couldn’t even beat Bingdisi. Then I waved the card in my hand: "Speaking of which, Girl Lin, what’s with these little paper cards you’ve been fussing with these past few days? What are these actually for?"
I’d been wanting to ask about the special cards that had appeared in Lin Xue’s hands these past few days. They weren’t playing cards, nor were they tarot cards, and certainly not Ultraman collectible cards. Was this Demi Immortal planning to go prop-heavy and stand on Erli Bridge telling fortunes with a big stack of divination slips?
"This?" Lin Xue pulled out more cards, joining them with the one I held that depicted gears and swords to form a full deck, "Haven’t nad them yet, but they’re definitely more useful than tarot cards—these are prophecy cards imbued with Prophet Power!" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to give recomndation tickets and monthly votes on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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