In the dense gas resembling liquid rcury, Xiao Yu watched as the lightning’s extre heat caused the gas to boil. The uneven distribution of heat created a powerful convection effect, throwing all the surrounding gas into chaotic turbulence within hundreds of ters. The movents resembled the ferocious undercurrents of the deep ocean.
“This place is incredibly dangerous,” Xiao Yu thought, deeply alard. If the lightning were to strike his spaceship, even with the Energy Shield at maximum capacity, the ship would undoubtedly be destroyed.
And this was only 200 kiloters into the interior of Aquila A. With a radius of 60,000 kiloters, Xiao Yu’s current position was rely the “skin” of the gas giant.
With lingering fear, Xiao Yu glanced back at the spot where the lightning had struck before carefully continuing the descent.
However, Xiao Yu soon realized a significant miscalculation.
The pressure within the planet’s interior was far greater than anticipated. Originally, the Prospecting-Type 1 spaceship was designed to descend to depths of 5,000 kiloters, but now it seed optimistic to reach even 1,000 kiloters.
The gas giant’s environnt was far too extre, complex, and perilous. And this was just the interior of a gas giant—no nuclear fusion, relatively low temperatures. Xiao Yu could scarcely imagine the conditions inside a star’s core.
Still, Xiao Yu had no intention of giving up. After all, it was just a spaceship; losing it would not be a major loss. If he happened to discover Liquid Gold deposits here, it would be an incredible find.
The deeper he descended, the greater the pressure on the ship. Each seven-ter descent added another atmosphere of pressure. The buoyant forces here were also imnse; if Xiao Yu hadn’t pushed the spaceship’s engines to their limits, the craft would have been forced upward by the overwhelming pressure.
Despite the odds, Xiao Yu’s descent continued, reaching depths of 300 kiloters, then 400 kiloters…
At 500 kiloters, Xiao Yu decided against descending further. The extre conditions of the planet’s interior were beyond his expectations. Massive undercurrents, combined with the dense and heavy atmosphere, created a force so imnse that even with the spaceship’s engines running at full power, it was nearly impossible to maintain stability. Any further descent risked losing control of the ship entirely—a death sentence.
Still, Xiao Yu wasn’t willing to leave empty-handed. Holding onto a glimr of hope, he activated the prospecting instrunts.
“Hydrogen… helium… hmm, iron, silicon… plenty of elents, but none of them useful,” Xiao Yu muttered, disappointed.
Five minutes into the exploration, the ship was swept by an undercurrent to another location. Suddenly, the prospecting instrunts reacted.
Xiao Yu’s spirits lifted as he closely examined the data.
The results were astonishing.
Here, Xiao Yu detected a high-density compound containing Liquid Gold. Each kilogram of the compound could potentially yield 30 grams of pure Liquid Gold. Elated, Xiao Yu imdiately piloted the spaceship to this region, opened the cargo hold, and began collecting the material.
The Prospecting-Type 1 spaceship had a maximum capacity of 700 tons. From this haul, Xiao Yu estimated a minimum yield of 20 tons of pure Liquid Gold—enough to construct ten Town-Class spaceships. However, this area was likely an unusually rich deposit, and the high material mobility within the planet ant that subsequent expeditions might not be as fortunate. Nonetheless, proving the existence of Liquid Gold deposits within planetary interiors was significant enough.
“The Luka scientists were correct. The cores of giant gas planets indeed have the conditions necessary for Liquid Gold production. Through the complex convection currents within the planet, so Liquid Gold is transported closer to the surface.”
Xiao Yu concluded his observations. Once the Prospecting-Type 1 spaceship was fully loaded, Xiao Yu imdiately piloted it out of the area.
After ten hours, the Prospecting-Type 1 spaceship returned to the main base. Xiao Yu reported the findings to the Luka scientists, eliciting a round of cheers. The 700 tons of Liquid Gold compounds were imdiately sent to the refinery, and after half an hour, 20 tons of Liquid Gold were successfully extracted.
The material technology barrier had finally been overco through the joint efforts of Xiao Yu and the Luka scientists. With the fuel efficiency problem as the next challenge, Xiao Yu felt confident in reaching the era of 10,000 kiloters per second travel.
Having proven the feasibility of mining within the interior of gas giants, Xiao Yu promptly began constructing specialized mining spaceships. These ships, further optimized for efficiency, were rapidly deployed in the first fleet of 500. On average, these ships were projected to extract over 500 tons of Liquid Gold compounds per day.
With this issue addressed, Xiao Yu simultaneously continued researching fuel efficiency while advancing the construction of the large particle collider around Aquila A.
At this point, over 500,000 large accelerator rings had been constructed. Each was equipped with its propulsion system and Energy Shield and positioned strategically in space to drive technological progress.
Everything was progressing in a flourishing direction.
Three years later, a significant breakthrough was achieved in fuel efficiency. Xiao Yu increased the efficiency to 40%, aning the sa amount of fuel could now release double the energy compared to before.
With the limitations of materials and fuel efficiency resolved, Xiao Yu began constructing a new fleet.
This fleet far surpassed the Luka Civilization’s technological capabilities. It consisted of one new City-Class spaceship, 500 County-Class spaceships, and over 9,000 Village- and Town-Class spaceships.
These ships boasted maneuverability, endurance, defense, and attack capabilities that far exceeded those of the Luka fleet Xiao Yu had encountered near Tianyuan IV. Unless the Luka Civilization used Level 4 Civilization superweapons, Xiao Yu now had the power to crush fleets of equal size. This indicated that Xiao Yu’s technological prowess had entirely surpassed that of the Luka Civilization at the ti of their encounter. As for how far the Luka Civilization had advanced over the millennia, Xiao Yu could only speculate.
However, Xiao Yu estimated the rate of technological progress across civilizations. Luka Two had once ntioned that 70 million years ago, the Sweepers obtained the Neutron War Star. For the subsequent 70 million years, the Neutron War Star road the galaxy undefeated. This suggested a critical truth.
Civilizations reaching a certain level of developnt tend to stagnate for reasons yet unknown, with minimal progress even over thousands or millions of years. Thus, Xiao Yu was not overly concerned about falling behind technologically.
It was unlikely for a civilization to remain an advanced cosmic power for thousands of years, then suddenly halt technological developnt and be overtaken by countless others.
Xiao Yu’s new spaceships, with maximum fuel capacity, could now continuously accelerate to a speed of 10,000 kiloters per second without endurance issues. This was approximately 3.3% of the speed of light, granting Xiao Yu true interstellar travel capability. He no longer had to rely solely on ti to cover vast distances.
If Xiao Yu were to embark on a 10-light-year journey now, it would take just 300 years—a staggering twentyfold reduction compared to his first interstellar voyage.
The joy of technological progress temporarily eased Xiao Yu’s burdens, and he felt that his journey was once again full of hope.
While Xiao Yu was busy, an unusual ssage suddenly arrived.
This ssage was neither sent via radio waves nor through quantum-entangled superluminal communication. Instead, it was transmitted in a manner resembling the Guardian Civilization’s spatial broadcasts, directly received by Xiao Yu’s equipnt.
“Hello, stranger from a technological civilization.”
The first sentence, translated into Xiao Yu’s language, contained only nine simple words.
Xiao Yu froze for a fraction of a second before reacting. The 100,000-plus spaceships stationed in orbit around Aquila A imdiately began assembling and entering ergency combat readiness. The newly built spaceships, stationed on Moon One since their completion, also launched into space and prepared for battle.
At that mont, a second sentence ca through.
“From the mont you arrived here, I have been observing you. Watching your gradual developnt over these five years reminded of the ti when my civilization was still young. Therefore, I’ve decided to offer you so help. Let ask you: do you wish to rapidly enhance your strength?”
The words were laden with a peculiar allure.
Xiao Yu wasn’t naive enough to trust the ssage imdiately. The dark universe had taught him to approach all unknowns with caution. He didn’t respond, and, naturally, he had no ans to. Instead, he pondered in silence.
“I know you lack the ability to broadcast via spatial communication and thus cannot reply to . But that’s fine. I am in a binary star system 1.4 light-years away from you. If you wish to advance your technology quickly, co and find . Rember, I will wait for you for only 50 years. If you fail to arrive within that ti, I will lose interest in guiding you, and you will miss this unique opportunity.”
That was the final ssage. No further transmissions followed.
Xiao Yu mulled over the situation and suddenly felt a chill.
“The binary star system 1.4 light-years away… That’s near the white dwarf…”
Through a high-precision optical telescope, Xiao Yu observed the white dwarf flickering in the distance like the eye of a demon.
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