Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 297
Professor Mo Xuan continued speaking. "Then, the black sky was torn by something, through which countless gold rays beamed in. Bathed in the brightness, I immediately remembered who I was.
"My soul was consolidated, but my head was still in a mess. I didn't have any clue where I was. I merely swam toward the gold rays out of instinct.
"These gold rays seemed to boast endless attraction force; they pulled me into the hole in the sky effortlessly.
"Later, my soul suddenly felt heavier than before, as if it had been stuffed into a new body. Abundant spiritual energy and electromagnetic waves of weird attributes were dashing and dancing from my soul to my new shell.
"After a long time, I finally realized that I had melded with the mustard-level maintainers, or rather, the warship, into one!
"Gao Yang and the rest of them had similar experiences.
"We discussed it for a long time. Based on the mottled memories pieces, we inferred that we'd been existing as Phantom Entities over the past few years, until we were discovered and brought away by you. In the end, for reasons we didn't know, we were caught in the middle of an overwhelming cosmic storm and meteor shower.
"With the boost of your soaring fighting will and the countless kinds of foreign electromagnetic waves inside the cosmic storm, our self-awareness was restored, but with additional qualities that are not present in common ghosts.
"It may sound unbelievable, but the unfolding of Phantom Entities is an extremely rare event that might only happen once in a thousand years due to billions of favorable coincidences.
"Maybe, some sort of special energy contained inside the cosmic storm and the meteor shower made us what we are right now. Haha. Maybe we shouldn't call ourselves spectral Cultivators, but 'Star Spirits'; we are the spirits wandering among the stars!
"At first, we had almost a hundred companions. But most of them have dissipated due to corrosion of time. Many of them didn't survive the great outbreak of the cosmic storm and were obliterated in the dark sea of stars.
"However, the way that Phantom Entities exist is quite different from that of humans or ghosts. The most precious thing for us is the computational ability and the thinking patterns.
"Before other Phantom Entities perished, they copied their computational and thinking ability to our thinking models in a way that we can't comprehend.
"You may understand that they have handed over their ember of wisdom to us so that their will and mission could be passed on in such a way!"
"Yes, indeed. I feel that my computational ability is dozens of times higher than before. Many complicated problems can be solved easily. The optimized solution of many algorithms that I used to spend hours thinking about can be calculated within several seconds right now!"
Gao Yang condensed two arms that looked like matches with the liquid metal and danced airily.
"Me too, me too! Before I turned into a Phantom Entity, I'd been reflecting on the optimization of the structure of 253 commonly-seen power rune arrays. But just now, ha, I devised more than 325 brand new optimization plans for 74 of them in only ten minutes!"
Shi Tengfei twisted in excitement, too.
Li Yao took a long breath in relief. He finally realized what had happened. "So, it was you who repaired Sparkle?"
The cosmic storm had passed. It was peaceful outside. Although the cockpit was still riddled with holes, at least it had stopped trembling and was sealed again. The temperature and oxygen concentration were in an acceptable range, too.
Countless runes were jumping on several light beams, indicating that more than fifty components and units were being examined at the same time.
Sparkle had stabilized, however dangerously.
Mo Xuan smiled. "Correct. Death is indeed scary. But when we discovered that we had been melded with a powerful starship from the Star Ocean Imperium and had become its 'soul', we were immediately grabbed by excitement. As a refiner, you must understand the feeling as well!
"We wasted no time investigating every corner of the starship and discovered that it was on the verge of collapse. Therefore, crazy maintenance work was immediately initiated. Based on the amazing computational ability that we accumulated when we were Phantom Entities, we managed to make it survive the cosmic storm and the bombardment of the meteor shower!
"Right, we have been very curious. What exactly happened to the Heaven's Origin Sector after we 'died'? Where did you find the starship? Why are you steering the empty starship without a second crew member?
"You are a refiner and an Exo of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. But in any case, you shouldn't be the one that is piloting a starship. Aren't there a lot of seasoned Warship Connoisseurs in the military?
"Where are we right now? A new world?
"Although we don't know how far away we have moved, our observation is that the star here is ten times dimmer than the sun of the Heaven's Origin Sector, which is far from enough to support a world of Cultivators. Therefore, this area should be a barren wasteland. What are we doing in a wasteland?"
The senses of Phantom Entities were quite different from those of human beings. When Mo Xuan and the rest of them were in the state of Phantom Entities, they could only perceive Li Yao's intense spiritual waves and his calculations, creations, and questions concerning the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
They had no idea what was happening in the outside world just as much as Li Yao had no idea what was happening to them.
Li Yao thought for a while and told them the most important events after the explosion of the Refining Department as briefly as possible, including the invasion of the Blood Demon Sector, the competition of MP crystal suits, Occult Orbs Fellowship, and the exploration of Boneyard.
Although he had left many enticing details, the five spectral Cultivators were still greatly impressed.
Xiong Qili, one of the 'Four Kings', extended one narrow, long arm of liquid metal and patted Li Yao's shoulder. "In order to extinguish Skeleton Dragon, you decided to jump into the depths of the sea of stars? Mr. Li Yao, that was awesome!"
Hua Yuanjia also smiled. "When I was told that a freshman set up his goal as challenging the Refining Department of Deep Sea University and taking their title of 'Holy Land of Refiners', I thought that he must've been another big-mouthed idiot. But as it turns out, he was a… real hero!"
Li Yao coughed in embarrassment.
A hero?
He had no idea that he would be connected with the word one day.
But it felt truly incredible thinking about the changes that had happened to him over the past few years.
When he was in high school, Fiend Blade Peng Hai's visit to the No. 2 Crimson Nimbus High School taught him the first lesson about the formidability of Cultivators.
At that time, he had wanted to be Cultivators. But his biggest motivation had been the rumors that Cultivators such as Peng Hai all lived in villas, drove limos, and earned tens of millions every year easily.
Then, on the crystal train north to the Grand Desolate Plateau, the picture of the seven Cultivators who fought side by side and sacrificed themselves without hesitation had been etched in his memory and allowed him to awaken his spiritual root the next day and embark on the path of Cultivation.
Later, he'd trained himself continuously with the success of Project Mystic Skeleton as his target. But his ultimate desire had still been fame. He had never planned to be a hero one day.
Nevertheless, after the Battle of Verdant Tarn City, the War of Seven Cities, and the countless missions in Occult Orbs Fellowship, after witnessing Cultivators and ordinary people who had dedicated themselves to the bloodshed battlefields together and their choices between life and death, his personality had been gradually altered.
Then, on Boneyard…
Reading Senior Gao Xingce's journal and envisioning the future catastrophe descending upon the Heaven's Origin Sector due to Skeleton Dragon's mental attack, he didn't have a second thought.
Li Yao was sure that he was not a hero, and he didn't want to become any hero.
He simply wanted to be what he had always tried to be, a Cultivator!
A Cultivator just like Ding Yin, Wei Qingqing, Guan Xiong, Gao Xingce, and so on. Nothing else!
Li Yao's eyes glittered. He said, "Now you have learnt everything: the six of us are floating god knows where in the sea of stars in a boat that is close to garbage.
"What can we do to find our way home?"
Chapter 437: Stride Forward! |
The five spectral Cultivators, including Mo Xuan, were silent for a long time. The liquid metal was rolling with bubbles popping up nonstop as if it were boiling, indicating that they were in the middle of high-intensity thinking and computation.
Ten minutes later, Professor Mo Xuan finally spoke again.
"No matter where we are right now, the most important issue at hand is to repair Sparkle and make it able to perform space jumps once or twice.
"This is a gaunt wasteland. We will be hopeless if we are stuck here."
Li Yao nodded his head and said somewhat worriedly, "What is the situation of Sparkle?"
"Very terrible."
Professor Mo Xuan added, "According to what you said just now, Sparkle suffered serious damage seven thousand years ago and was locked in an undersea rock stratum until recently. Although the mustard-level maintainers have been repairing the warship slowly, they are only able to fix the external components and units that are relatively simple in structure. As for the core magical equipment that is more precise, such as the mainframe crystal processor, they can't fix it without the manipulation of a refiner.
"After thousands of years, Sparkle was finally fixed to the extent that it was functional. But then, it was engaged in a fierce battle against Skeleton Dragon, before it performed an insane, aimless space jump. 99% of the units on board were already on the verge of collapse at that time.
"After that, Sparkle encountered a cosmic storm and a meteor shower. Even its shell is battered now.
"Had we not woken up in time, I'm afraid Sparkle would've broken down and ended up as dust in the universe.
"Although we maintained the warship as quickly and thoroughly as possible, we only ensured that its structure remained intact. Right now, Sparkle has lost most of the impetus and abilities; it is no better than an empty shell!
"Therefore, whatever our future plan is, we need to fix up Sparkle first.
"The refining level of Sparkle is far beyond the knowledge of the Heaven's Origin Sector. It's impossible to restore it to one hundred percent with just the few of us.
"Thankfully, the Heaven's Origin Sector has abundant experience in refining crystal warships, too. We can modify Sparkle, however primitively, and make it regain thirty percent of its abilities. That shouldn't be a problem. Then, we will be able to perform one to two space jumps and leap out of this doomed wasteland.
"The biggest problem we are faced with right now is the lack of materials and spiritual energy. A cook cannot make food without ingredients, however skilled they are. Without sufficient Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and spiritual energy, we will not be able to conduct the maintenance work."
It was indeed a tricky problem. Li Yao started pondering.
Since they were in a wasteland, there were not too many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures or spiritual energy available for them.
Even if there were, the desired items were most likely to be buried in the planets and stone belts that were close to the star.
With Sparkle's current status, it was impossible to fly to the nearby of a star. When they came too close, they might be consumed by a stellar storm instantly because of the debilitated spiritual shield.
After remaining silent for a while, Li Yao suddenly thought of something and exclaimed excitedly, "Wait, how are we lacking Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and spiritual energy? Isn't Skeleton Dragon's dead body scattered around us? We can make the best use of whatever's left of it, even though most of it has been swept away from the cosmic storm and the meteorite cascade!
"Skeleton Dragon's strengthened bones were all created through secret arts forty thousand years ago based on the bones of the most formidable demon beasts at that time. They are extremely hard!
"Although most of the ancient magical equipment inside its body has been drilled to dust with their abilities gone, the scraps can be used to fill up the cracks and holes of Sparkle!
"Its transparent flesh is extremely elastic; it can be stretched from ten meters to a hundred meters momentarily. It can also offset the enemy's attack like jelly. Such an excellent material is bound to improve the defensive ability and agility when it is applied to the key structure of Sparkle after we fully grasped its mysteries!
"When its demonic soul was annihilated, a lot of demonic energy was left, which can be transformed into spiritual energy that Sparkle can use through purification procedures. The spiritual energy can be used for our training, too!
"Anyway, Skeleton Dragon has offered us an enormous treasury. With its body's remnants, it's definitely possible to repair Sparkle and restore its space jump ability!"
Li Yao's words excited Mo Xuan and the others. Their membranes were pulsating quickly.
"Correct. Building magical equipment with the flesh and bones of demon beasts is a regular method in the art of refining. We are all experienced at this. The odds of success are not slim at all!
"As long as Sparkle is repaired, we will be able to perform a space jump again and land in a new world. So long as it is not as barren as this one, we will definitely be able to collect new materials and spiritual energy.
"Space jump after space jump, we will definitely meet other Cultivators in other human civilizations in the sea of stars one day!"
"A new world of Cultivators…"
Li Yao was fascinated by the idea. Confidence and determination brewed in his chest, as he mumbled to himself, "Yes. The Heaven's Origin Sector is on the edge of the sea of stars. Since we arrived at this place randomly, it's very unlikely we'll be teleported back with just one space jump.
"Now that we are not going to find the way home any time soon, we might as well stride forward confidently!
"To the new world of Cultivators! To the center of universe! To the end of the infinite stars!
"The worlds in the center of the universe are very likely to possess technology, magical equipment, and secret arts that are more advanced than those of the Heaven's Origin Sector. I can learn from them and train myself crazily so that I can be stronger!
"I'm still too weak at this moment. Middle level of the Building Foundation Stage is absolutely nothing in front of the real experts! Skeleton Dragon would've slain me effortlessly if it had regained 5% of its peak capability when I faced it!
"The previous captain of Sparkle was a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, too. Sparkle could function at the 100% level in his hands.
"But the acting captain right now is only in the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage, who can only bring out 10% of Sparkle's potential. Senior Gao Xingce would be ashamed of me if he knew this!
"It's officially decided then. I will traverse the sea of stars and advance into at least the Core Formation Stage in the coming few years. In the meantime, I will try to collect a few pieces of planetary magical equipment, if not stellar magical equipment, along the way. Then I will return to the Heaven's Origin Sector!"
According to the astrologists of the Star Glory Federation, the final melding of the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector would take place in twenty to thirty years.
Until then, neither of the two worlds had an overwhelming advantage against the other one.
Therefore, Li Yao set a ten-year limit for himself.
In the next ten years, he would try to build up himself, excavate powerful magical equipment, and then announce his grand return!
Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators agreed unanimously.
Professor Mo Xuan chuckled in satisfaction.
"Cultivators of the Heaven's Origin Sector have always yearned to reach out to other Cultivators in the center of the sea of stars. But our starships are still too underdeveloped. Even the stars around the Heaven's Origin Sector are not entirely clear to us yet.
"Now that we have jumped out of the Heaven's Origin Sector by accident, of course we need to make best use of the opportunity to travel, train, and take in as much knowledge as possible. We will not go home empty-handed, but with a huge amount of magical equipment and Cultivation arts!"
Xiong Qili was a war maniac. He shouted, "In my opinion, we should establish our own forces in the sea of stars and bring a fleet of starships home with us!"
Everybody was amused.
Professor Mo Xuan then said, "Establishing our own forces may be unnecessary. But since Sparkle, as a multipurpose exploration starship, boasts a lot of labs, refining workshops, and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures analysis chambers, I think it is quite feasible that we can establish a 'Space Branch of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution' on this ship!
"Mr. Li Yao, hasn't your dream always been to defeat the Refining Department of Deep Sea University and take over their title of 'Holy Land of Refiners'?
"It is also a dream of mine, as well as the rest of the professors and students in our department, which has never to been forgotten.
"However, to be completely honest, it's hardly likely for us to realize the dream within the Star Glory Federation.
"But now, everything is different!
"Right now, we are in possession of a multipurpose exploration starship from the Star Ocean Imperium. With its amazing space jump system, we are blessed with the opportunity to get in touch with hundreds of new constellations, other human civilizations and worlds of Cultivators, and previously-unseen magical equipment, Cultivation arts, and refining techniques!
"Let's make Sparkle our base as we will explore, research, and study the best magical equipment in the universe. We can even recruit the prodigies with potential in refining from other worlds in the name of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution!
"My soul was consolidated, but my head was still in a mess. I didn't have any clue where I was. I merely swam toward the gold rays out of instinct.
"These gold rays seemed to boast endless attraction force; they pulled me into the hole in the sky effortlessly.
"Later, my soul suddenly felt heavier than before, as if it had been stuffed into a new body. Abundant spiritual energy and electromagnetic waves of weird attributes were dashing and dancing from my soul to my new shell.
"After a long time, I finally realized that I had melded with the mustard-level maintainers, or rather, the warship, into one!
"Gao Yang and the rest of them had similar experiences.
"We discussed it for a long time. Based on the mottled memories pieces, we inferred that we'd been existing as Phantom Entities over the past few years, until we were discovered and brought away by you. In the end, for reasons we didn't know, we were caught in the middle of an overwhelming cosmic storm and meteor shower.
"With the boost of your soaring fighting will and the countless kinds of foreign electromagnetic waves inside the cosmic storm, our self-awareness was restored, but with additional qualities that are not present in common ghosts.
"It may sound unbelievable, but the unfolding of Phantom Entities is an extremely rare event that might only happen once in a thousand years due to billions of favorable coincidences.
"Maybe, some sort of special energy contained inside the cosmic storm and the meteor shower made us what we are right now. Haha. Maybe we shouldn't call ourselves spectral Cultivators, but 'Star Spirits'; we are the spirits wandering among the stars!
"At first, we had almost a hundred companions. But most of them have dissipated due to corrosion of time. Many of them didn't survive the great outbreak of the cosmic storm and were obliterated in the dark sea of stars.
"However, the way that Phantom Entities exist is quite different from that of humans or ghosts. The most precious thing for us is the computational ability and the thinking patterns.
"Before other Phantom Entities perished, they copied their computational and thinking ability to our thinking models in a way that we can't comprehend.
"You may understand that they have handed over their ember of wisdom to us so that their will and mission could be passed on in such a way!"
"Yes, indeed. I feel that my computational ability is dozens of times higher than before. Many complicated problems can be solved easily. The optimized solution of many algorithms that I used to spend hours thinking about can be calculated within several seconds right now!"
Gao Yang condensed two arms that looked like matches with the liquid metal and danced airily.
"Me too, me too! Before I turned into a Phantom Entity, I'd been reflecting on the optimization of the structure of 253 commonly-seen power rune arrays. But just now, ha, I devised more than 325 brand new optimization plans for 74 of them in only ten minutes!"
Shi Tengfei twisted in excitement, too.
Li Yao took a long breath in relief. He finally realized what had happened. "So, it was you who repaired Sparkle?"
The cosmic storm had passed. It was peaceful outside. Although the cockpit was still riddled with holes, at least it had stopped trembling and was sealed again. The temperature and oxygen concentration were in an acceptable range, too.
Countless runes were jumping on several light beams, indicating that more than fifty components and units were being examined at the same time.
Sparkle had stabilized, however dangerously.
Mo Xuan smiled. "Correct. Death is indeed scary. But when we discovered that we had been melded with a powerful starship from the Star Ocean Imperium and had become its 'soul', we were immediately grabbed by excitement. As a refiner, you must understand the feeling as well!
"We wasted no time investigating every corner of the starship and discovered that it was on the verge of collapse. Therefore, crazy maintenance work was immediately initiated. Based on the amazing computational ability that we accumulated when we were Phantom Entities, we managed to make it survive the cosmic storm and the bombardment of the meteor shower!
"Right, we have been very curious. What exactly happened to the Heaven's Origin Sector after we 'died'? Where did you find the starship? Why are you steering the empty starship without a second crew member?
"You are a refiner and an Exo of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. But in any case, you shouldn't be the one that is piloting a starship. Aren't there a lot of seasoned Warship Connoisseurs in the military?
"Where are we right now? A new world?
"Although we don't know how far away we have moved, our observation is that the star here is ten times dimmer than the sun of the Heaven's Origin Sector, which is far from enough to support a world of Cultivators. Therefore, this area should be a barren wasteland. What are we doing in a wasteland?"
The senses of Phantom Entities were quite different from those of human beings. When Mo Xuan and the rest of them were in the state of Phantom Entities, they could only perceive Li Yao's intense spiritual waves and his calculations, creations, and questions concerning the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
They had no idea what was happening in the outside world just as much as Li Yao had no idea what was happening to them.
Li Yao thought for a while and told them the most important events after the explosion of the Refining Department as briefly as possible, including the invasion of the Blood Demon Sector, the competition of MP crystal suits, Occult Orbs Fellowship, and the exploration of Boneyard.
Although he had left many enticing details, the five spectral Cultivators were still greatly impressed.
Xiong Qili, one of the 'Four Kings', extended one narrow, long arm of liquid metal and patted Li Yao's shoulder. "In order to extinguish Skeleton Dragon, you decided to jump into the depths of the sea of stars? Mr. Li Yao, that was awesome!"
Hua Yuanjia also smiled. "When I was told that a freshman set up his goal as challenging the Refining Department of Deep Sea University and taking their title of 'Holy Land of Refiners', I thought that he must've been another big-mouthed idiot. But as it turns out, he was a… real hero!"
Li Yao coughed in embarrassment.
A hero?
He had no idea that he would be connected with the word one day.
But it felt truly incredible thinking about the changes that had happened to him over the past few years.
When he was in high school, Fiend Blade Peng Hai's visit to the No. 2 Crimson Nimbus High School taught him the first lesson about the formidability of Cultivators.
At that time, he had wanted to be Cultivators. But his biggest motivation had been the rumors that Cultivators such as Peng Hai all lived in villas, drove limos, and earned tens of millions every year easily.
Then, on the crystal train north to the Grand Desolate Plateau, the picture of the seven Cultivators who fought side by side and sacrificed themselves without hesitation had been etched in his memory and allowed him to awaken his spiritual root the next day and embark on the path of Cultivation.
Later, he'd trained himself continuously with the success of Project Mystic Skeleton as his target. But his ultimate desire had still been fame. He had never planned to be a hero one day.
Nevertheless, after the Battle of Verdant Tarn City, the War of Seven Cities, and the countless missions in Occult Orbs Fellowship, after witnessing Cultivators and ordinary people who had dedicated themselves to the bloodshed battlefields together and their choices between life and death, his personality had been gradually altered.
Then, on Boneyard…
Reading Senior Gao Xingce's journal and envisioning the future catastrophe descending upon the Heaven's Origin Sector due to Skeleton Dragon's mental attack, he didn't have a second thought.
Li Yao was sure that he was not a hero, and he didn't want to become any hero.
He simply wanted to be what he had always tried to be, a Cultivator!
A Cultivator just like Ding Yin, Wei Qingqing, Guan Xiong, Gao Xingce, and so on. Nothing else!
Li Yao's eyes glittered. He said, "Now you have learnt everything: the six of us are floating god knows where in the sea of stars in a boat that is close to garbage.
"What can we do to find our way home?"
Chapter 437: Stride Forward! |
The five spectral Cultivators, including Mo Xuan, were silent for a long time. The liquid metal was rolling with bubbles popping up nonstop as if it were boiling, indicating that they were in the middle of high-intensity thinking and computation.
Ten minutes later, Professor Mo Xuan finally spoke again.
"No matter where we are right now, the most important issue at hand is to repair Sparkle and make it able to perform space jumps once or twice.
"This is a gaunt wasteland. We will be hopeless if we are stuck here."
Li Yao nodded his head and said somewhat worriedly, "What is the situation of Sparkle?"
"Very terrible."
Professor Mo Xuan added, "According to what you said just now, Sparkle suffered serious damage seven thousand years ago and was locked in an undersea rock stratum until recently. Although the mustard-level maintainers have been repairing the warship slowly, they are only able to fix the external components and units that are relatively simple in structure. As for the core magical equipment that is more precise, such as the mainframe crystal processor, they can't fix it without the manipulation of a refiner.
"After thousands of years, Sparkle was finally fixed to the extent that it was functional. But then, it was engaged in a fierce battle against Skeleton Dragon, before it performed an insane, aimless space jump. 99% of the units on board were already on the verge of collapse at that time.
"After that, Sparkle encountered a cosmic storm and a meteor shower. Even its shell is battered now.
"Had we not woken up in time, I'm afraid Sparkle would've broken down and ended up as dust in the universe.
"Although we maintained the warship as quickly and thoroughly as possible, we only ensured that its structure remained intact. Right now, Sparkle has lost most of the impetus and abilities; it is no better than an empty shell!
"Therefore, whatever our future plan is, we need to fix up Sparkle first.
"The refining level of Sparkle is far beyond the knowledge of the Heaven's Origin Sector. It's impossible to restore it to one hundred percent with just the few of us.
"Thankfully, the Heaven's Origin Sector has abundant experience in refining crystal warships, too. We can modify Sparkle, however primitively, and make it regain thirty percent of its abilities. That shouldn't be a problem. Then, we will be able to perform one to two space jumps and leap out of this doomed wasteland.
"The biggest problem we are faced with right now is the lack of materials and spiritual energy. A cook cannot make food without ingredients, however skilled they are. Without sufficient Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and spiritual energy, we will not be able to conduct the maintenance work."
It was indeed a tricky problem. Li Yao started pondering.
Since they were in a wasteland, there were not too many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures or spiritual energy available for them.
Even if there were, the desired items were most likely to be buried in the planets and stone belts that were close to the star.
With Sparkle's current status, it was impossible to fly to the nearby of a star. When they came too close, they might be consumed by a stellar storm instantly because of the debilitated spiritual shield.
After remaining silent for a while, Li Yao suddenly thought of something and exclaimed excitedly, "Wait, how are we lacking Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and spiritual energy? Isn't Skeleton Dragon's dead body scattered around us? We can make the best use of whatever's left of it, even though most of it has been swept away from the cosmic storm and the meteorite cascade!
"Skeleton Dragon's strengthened bones were all created through secret arts forty thousand years ago based on the bones of the most formidable demon beasts at that time. They are extremely hard!
"Although most of the ancient magical equipment inside its body has been drilled to dust with their abilities gone, the scraps can be used to fill up the cracks and holes of Sparkle!
"Its transparent flesh is extremely elastic; it can be stretched from ten meters to a hundred meters momentarily. It can also offset the enemy's attack like jelly. Such an excellent material is bound to improve the defensive ability and agility when it is applied to the key structure of Sparkle after we fully grasped its mysteries!
"When its demonic soul was annihilated, a lot of demonic energy was left, which can be transformed into spiritual energy that Sparkle can use through purification procedures. The spiritual energy can be used for our training, too!
"Anyway, Skeleton Dragon has offered us an enormous treasury. With its body's remnants, it's definitely possible to repair Sparkle and restore its space jump ability!"
Li Yao's words excited Mo Xuan and the others. Their membranes were pulsating quickly.
"Correct. Building magical equipment with the flesh and bones of demon beasts is a regular method in the art of refining. We are all experienced at this. The odds of success are not slim at all!
"As long as Sparkle is repaired, we will be able to perform a space jump again and land in a new world. So long as it is not as barren as this one, we will definitely be able to collect new materials and spiritual energy.
"Space jump after space jump, we will definitely meet other Cultivators in other human civilizations in the sea of stars one day!"
"A new world of Cultivators…"
Li Yao was fascinated by the idea. Confidence and determination brewed in his chest, as he mumbled to himself, "Yes. The Heaven's Origin Sector is on the edge of the sea of stars. Since we arrived at this place randomly, it's very unlikely we'll be teleported back with just one space jump.
"Now that we are not going to find the way home any time soon, we might as well stride forward confidently!
"To the new world of Cultivators! To the center of universe! To the end of the infinite stars!
"The worlds in the center of the universe are very likely to possess technology, magical equipment, and secret arts that are more advanced than those of the Heaven's Origin Sector. I can learn from them and train myself crazily so that I can be stronger!
"I'm still too weak at this moment. Middle level of the Building Foundation Stage is absolutely nothing in front of the real experts! Skeleton Dragon would've slain me effortlessly if it had regained 5% of its peak capability when I faced it!
"The previous captain of Sparkle was a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, too. Sparkle could function at the 100% level in his hands.
"But the acting captain right now is only in the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage, who can only bring out 10% of Sparkle's potential. Senior Gao Xingce would be ashamed of me if he knew this!
"It's officially decided then. I will traverse the sea of stars and advance into at least the Core Formation Stage in the coming few years. In the meantime, I will try to collect a few pieces of planetary magical equipment, if not stellar magical equipment, along the way. Then I will return to the Heaven's Origin Sector!"
According to the astrologists of the Star Glory Federation, the final melding of the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector would take place in twenty to thirty years.
Until then, neither of the two worlds had an overwhelming advantage against the other one.
Therefore, Li Yao set a ten-year limit for himself.
In the next ten years, he would try to build up himself, excavate powerful magical equipment, and then announce his grand return!
Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators agreed unanimously.
Professor Mo Xuan chuckled in satisfaction.
"Cultivators of the Heaven's Origin Sector have always yearned to reach out to other Cultivators in the center of the sea of stars. But our starships are still too underdeveloped. Even the stars around the Heaven's Origin Sector are not entirely clear to us yet.
"Now that we have jumped out of the Heaven's Origin Sector by accident, of course we need to make best use of the opportunity to travel, train, and take in as much knowledge as possible. We will not go home empty-handed, but with a huge amount of magical equipment and Cultivation arts!"
Xiong Qili was a war maniac. He shouted, "In my opinion, we should establish our own forces in the sea of stars and bring a fleet of starships home with us!"
Everybody was amused.
Professor Mo Xuan then said, "Establishing our own forces may be unnecessary. But since Sparkle, as a multipurpose exploration starship, boasts a lot of labs, refining workshops, and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures analysis chambers, I think it is quite feasible that we can establish a 'Space Branch of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution' on this ship!
"Mr. Li Yao, hasn't your dream always been to defeat the Refining Department of Deep Sea University and take over their title of 'Holy Land of Refiners'?
"It is also a dream of mine, as well as the rest of the professors and students in our department, which has never to been forgotten.
"However, to be completely honest, it's hardly likely for us to realize the dream within the Star Glory Federation.
"But now, everything is different!
"Right now, we are in possession of a multipurpose exploration starship from the Star Ocean Imperium. With its amazing space jump system, we are blessed with the opportunity to get in touch with hundreds of new constellations, other human civilizations and worlds of Cultivators, and previously-unseen magical equipment, Cultivation arts, and refining techniques!
"Let's make Sparkle our base as we will explore, research, and study the best magical equipment in the universe. We can even recruit the prodigies with potential in refining from other worlds in the name of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution!
