Pangea Realm, Celestial Belt
[SS Voyager, arriving at the destination in 3... 2... 1...]
[Destination reached. Hyperspace propulsion deactivated. Exiting hyperspace... Entering cruising mode... Activating cloaking...]
[Initiating preliminary scan... Detecting no signs of suspicious activity...]
[Rich mineral deposits located.... Small debris and space dust field detected ahead... Activating shield system...]
[Expanding search range... Detecting no signs of activity...]
[Rare resource deposit reached... Analysing resource composition... Resource composition analysed... Comncing resource extraction...]
After the SS Voyager took thirty minutes to reach the Celestial Belt, it was reconnected to the Pangea Network, and its live stream service went back online.
As such, the guests in the Observation Deck of Valhalla Station were able to view the situation in the Celestial Belt.
Everyone marveled at the spectacular sight revealed on the big screens.
Traces of the old Celestial Federation could be seen everywhere. Although ruined, its past glory could be felt like an artwork telling a story with just a single picture.
Divine energy crystals were abundantly found frozen in ice alongside fractured corpses, tools, and infrastructure.
As the SS Voyager ventured deeper into the Celestial Belt, frozen structures increased, taking up most of the screens and giving the viewers a sense of entering a gravity-free icy cave.
It did not seem like they were still in outer space but on an ice planet.
Thousands of androids with varying tasks were soon deployed from the SS Voyager. So served to expand the search range for life, anomalies, or suspicious activities in general, while others joined the resource extraction effort.
Such resources would then be used to establish living outposts, larger mining facilities, research centers, and fuel-generation plants.
Essentially, the SS Voyager prioritized the establishnt of a foothold for humans who would arrive in the future.
After all, the Celestial Belt was only the SS Voyager’s first destination, not its final one. It wasn’t permanently stationed to aid outer space developnt.
The SS Voyager had a grander mission. It was humanity’s eyes and vanguard in charge of detecting the Outer Beings beyond their star.
By discovering the location and movents of the Outer Beings, the SS Voyager could feed Pangea early warnings, allowing ti for evacuation.
Everything seed to be in order and going well for the SS Voyager. Despite that, people couldn’t help but feel anxious as they watched the live streams.
The androids’ point of view made it seem like they were there in person, in the dark, exploring a ruined civilization full of death.
People didn’t know if monsters, vengeful spirits, or even Outer Beings would suddenly appear right in front of their faces. However, the darkness of the place gave them such anxieties.
...
While the world’s attention was on the SS Voyager in the Celestial Belt, Vaan’s won were rarely gathered in his private cabin on the Valhalla Station, waiting for him to erge from his VR chamber.
Although many things had been entrusted to AI Pangea, they couldn’t completely trust that artificial intelligence wouldn’t betray them.
As such, they were there to ensure AI Pangea would not try to keep Vaan’s consciousness trapped in virtual space.
At that mont, Vaan was using the convenience of virtual space to upload his wealth of knowledge across all categories onto the Pangea Network.
The knowledge of cultivation, alchemy, potioneering, magic plants, herbs, beasts—everything was uploaded.
Before Vaan headed to the Myriad Sea God Palace to begin his great training, he wanted to leave behind a solid foundation that everyone could rely on for thousands of years.
He wanted to ensure that everyone would be fine, even without him.
Vaan didn’t hesitate to create more knowledge by inventing hundreds to thousands of new cultivation techniques and battle arts, divided into varying qualities.
The sheer amount of data copied from his brain nearly overloaded the servers.
Even AI Pangea was overwheld with surprise by his incomprehensible wealth of knowledge, which had transcended the world.
’Vaan, are you really human?’ She wondered.
Despite what Vaan was doing for everyone, none of his won could feel happy. After all, it seed like they would never see him again.
Click...
The VR chamber suddenly opened its glass panels, allowing a wave of cool air to escape.
Eniwse and Aeliana imdiately offered Vaan support, which he didn’t need but still welcod.
"It’s done?" Astoria softly asked.
"Un, it’s done." Vaan nodded and said, "Everything I know is now on the Pangea Network. Whatever you need, you can find it there. Pangea will help if needed."
"Do you really have to go far away?" Dahlia asked, full of reluctance.
Everyone had already been inford of Vaan’s plan to join the Myriad Sea God Palace.
"This is sothing I must do. We are like a small boat in the middle of a big storm, not knowing when we will capsize under the strong waves," Vaan sighed.
"The Outer Beings are just too strong and unreasonable. That’s why I have to make use of The Myriad Sea God Palace’s environnt and resources to raise my strength as much as possible. Only then can I carve out a brighter future for everyone."
"However, there’s no need to be sad. Even if I am not around, I will still be watching over everyone," Vaan promised.
He wasn’t lying.
Even if he wasn’t around, Valefor was. Moreover, the latter would hold onto the Profound Pearl of Life and the Sea God Temple while he was away.
That way, even if he couldn’t make it back in ti, Valefor would take everyone into the Profound Pearl of Life and Sea God Temple to keep them safe—should the Outer Beings arrive.
At the sa ti, Valefor was also Vaan’s revival point—should he die in the Myriad God Sea Palace’s competitive training environnt.
"I know, but... it still feels like we will be separated for a very long ti..." Linetta spoke the words everyone wanted to say.
"This isn’t an easy choice for Vaan either. C’mon, everyone. We should try to send our man off with smiles, not tears," Astoria said, doing her best to smile.
However, deep inside, she was also sad about Vaan leaving—but not for the sa reason as most won.
They were Vaan’s emotional shackles and burdens—things he needed to preserve his sanity and individuality.
Without them around to tie down his heart, would Vaan be able to keep his humanity while rapidly increasing his strength?
Nevertheless, Vaan did not leave right away after uploading his knowledge to the Pangea Network.
While the situation in the Celestial Belt was still being investigated, Vaan used this period to spend quality ti with all of his won.
Eniwse, Linetta, Lillias, Hester, Solana, Aeliana, Dahlia, Astoria, and Henrietta—Vaan spent a day with each of them.
In the following seven days, he also dual-cultivated with Sabrina, Cassandra, Alicia, and Louise per their exclusive contract and plucked the remaining flowers known as the Dreamcatchers.
Fourth Dream’s constant dazed and dreamy expressions had been like a contagious virus, infecting all the Dreamcatchers.
Their curiosity led them to learn more about her first experience with Vaan, and under her vivid description of their ti, they were left with a burning desire in their hearts since then.
Moreover, they convinced themselves that it was all part of their Lady’s intention to let them experience the wonders of a woman through Vaan so as to feel less guilt toward Fourth Dream.
As such, Vaan took all of their first-tis and gave them unforgettable experiences.
At the sa ti, Fourth Dream also laughed at their silly ideas and said, "Good sisters share everything."
Of course, Fourth Dream had not said this out of selflessness but to relieve the guilt of her own heart.
After all, she had always felt like she had stolen her Lady’s lover. Now that all of her sisters had also jumped into the sa ship, the burden on her heart and mind was greatly lifted.
Surprisingly, the SS Voyager did not discover a single Spirit Sentinel in the Celestial Belt during this ti.
Despite Vaan’s sense of danger regarding the deeper regions of the Celestial Belt, zero threat had been discovered since the beginning of SS Voyager’s mission.
Vaan figured the lack of biological life was the reason for the Spirit Sentinels’ inaction to reveal themselves.
As such, he made a personal trip and investigated the Celestial Belt himself. Surprisingly, the sense of danger was still there, but the Spirit Sentinels were nowhere to be found.
This led Vaan to look deeper into the source of the danger he sensed from the Celestial Belt.
"This is..."
Vaan wore a solemn expression upon discovering a large spherical ice formation within the depths of a frozen sea, pulsating with a weak heartbeat.
"...an egg?"
With each heartbeat, the unborn creature within the large ice sphere would fade in and out of reality like a ghostly entity
Undoubtedly, the sense of danger was coming from it, which was shocking.
After all, the creature wasn’t born yet, but it was already powerful enough to give others a sense of danger from so far away.
Once the creature hatched from its egg, it would, without a doubt, beco even more powerful.
What kind of creature would lay such a powerful egg?
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