Chapter 1043: Chapter 1042: Leaving Something Behind

The anti-gravity generator stirred the curve of Magic Power that permeated the cosmic background radiation. The massive structure, as large as a colossal building, named "dragon" navigated through the limits of the atmosphere, with thick clouds becoming a vast, indistinct backdrop, and the invisible Magic Storm brushing against the edges of the protective barrier. At the junction of the barrier field and outer space, ripples, nearly transparent and invisible, spread outward like a stone falling into water, creating undulating circles.

"The parameters are almost identical to those calculated by the creators one million eight hundred and seventy thousand years ago...

"The propulsion technology left by the Voyager remains effective in the current era...

"The energy and propulsion systems are functioning well. After crossing the gravity critical point, attempt to enter the shadow realm to verify if the potential propulsion is feasible...

"Collect and compare starlight signals... The star atlas left by the Voyager is no longer usable. Try recalibrating the Star Axis, setting the destination temporarily near the solid planet by the excavation site... it might provide energy and material replenishment... a suitable stepping stone."

Omega’s thought threads were active, constantly contemplating one question after another as he gathered new information and crafted new plans. The distant starlight shone on his alloy-crafted shell, and those flickering stars looked just as beautiful as the planet below — new sensations welled up in his neural system, and after a brief deliberation, Omega categorized them as "joy" and "expectation."

He lifted his head and looked toward a more distant direction. Past the visual interference layer set by the Voyager across the entire planet’s sky, those ancient satellites and space stations gradually emerged from the darkness.

"The legacy of the Voyager observed... all are in a state of silence. Omega... I feel a sense of melancholy, which is different from when I left Talronde."

Omega pondered, maintaining a dialogue with himself within his thought threads. He noticed a decline in his cognitive efficiency; many computational tasks took much longer to complete than before — even though he had severed command outputs to all subordinate nodes, this decrease in computational power was still quite evident.

However, this did not alarm him because it was a normal situation — numerous computational nodes deep within the land of Talronde were going offline one by one, and as he moved farther away from the planet below, the computational power he could borrow from the surface was rapidly dwindling. He was no longer the Omega System spanning the entire continent; now, he only relied on this massive body and its limited onboard servers, whose efficiency was evidently inferior to that of land-based nodes.

But Omega did not regret this — to travel far, one must make sacrifices; an excessively heavy "luggage" would only hinder the journey.

Moreover, from another perspective, traveling with his current "individual" form was a once-unimaginable experience. He didn’t know whether the Omega network bound to the land or the dragon Omega flying through the universe was "better," but at this moment, at least, he felt very... satisfied.

Several smaller crafts caught up from behind, their silver-white triangular hulls still emitting a faint red glow from the heat generated while passing through the atmosphere. These crafts caught up to Omega, who had already entered space, then followed behind him like offspring trailing their mother.

These were the "luggage" of Omega, the entire assets he brought from his "home planet" for this journey. He didn’t know if these would be enough for a long and perilous journey, but perhaps... life needs a bit of adventure.

He couldn’t remember who told him this phrase, perhaps a creator who programmed the Omega System, or perhaps a "guest" visiting the Talronde Continent. Regardless, Omega liked the phrase very much.

Some small metal fragments slid by nearby, causing sparks as they collided with the edge of the protective barrier. This negligible collision caught Omega’s attention, and he looked into the distance. High-precision optical sensors captured some scenes in the vast expanse of space—

He saw a pile of tattered wreckage floating in the dark, deep starry sky. The wreckage looked devastated, as if torn apart by a tremendously powerful and violent enemy, with the remaining pieces rolled into a ball—hovering, almost disintegrated, resembling a mass of steel teetering on the brink of falling apart, making it hard to discern its original form.

Yet, after a careful scan, Omega discovered that the internal framework of that pile of wreckage was still well intact, with the hermetic structure at the end perfectly preserved. Although all the lights in the rear half were extinguished, some faint glimmers still swayed in the front and middle sections in the darkness.

In the space near this pile of wreckage, there was another pile of smaller, more twisted debris floating nearby, even harder to identify.

All of Omega’s optical sensors were directed in that direction. Within seconds, his "gaze" was fixed on that wreckage.

He analyzed the characteristics of the wreckage. In a very brief time unit, he felt a new, complex emotion rising within his neural system, yet this time, he couldn’t figure out which category the emotion belonged to—it wasn’t joy, nor sadness, neither disappointment nor anticipation. It just resonated strongly through all of his neural systems and auxiliary processing units, seemingly carrying a scorching heat, searing all his thought threads.

Amidst this intense and difficult-to-analyze wave of emotions, Omega pondered a question: What should he do?

"My service has ended..." Omega said to his sixteenth thought thread using his fourteenth thought thread, "I don’t need to follow orders from the creators—they didn’t leave me with any preset commands."

"Yes, I don’t need to follow commands left by the creators," the sixteenth thought thread concurred, "so, I should do what I want."

Having ended his service and gained a "heart," Omega took less than a thousandth of a second to resolve this tiny perplexity—compared to the "meaning of life," figuring out how to take the next step was a simple problem.

He flew straight toward the wreckage.

...

In the Talronde Control Hall, dim lights illuminated the ancient control seats, revealing three somewhat bored figures amidst the interplay of light and shadow.

The hall was silent, and the alarm lights had been forcibly turned off, with only occasional buzzing or beeping sounds emerging from an unknown source.

"Which word did our game of word chain stop at just now?" Balogar suddenly broke the silence, "I remember it was either ’blizzard’ or ’high-altitude cyclones’..."

"Either one will do; I’m out," Andar shook his head, "Word chains are even duller than I imagined... and you keep inserting technical terms that only a Mechanic would understand."

"Fine," Balogar shrugged and then glanced around the dimly lit hall, "Honestly, I kind of miss the sound of the alarm system..."

Andar placed his hand on the control seat in front of him: "Shall I turn it back on? It’s not broken yet."

"Stop! Don’t touch it! I’m kidding! It’s just a figure of speech!" Balogar hastily stopped the action, "Have you considered what would happen if you couldn’t turn it off? This system can’t handle any more tampering!"

Heragor listened to the conversation beside him and slightly turned his head to glance at Balogar: "How much longer can our gases sustain us?"

"It seems it might take longer than expected," Balogar quickly regained composure. "The core module hasn’t leaked, the circulation system has vented the toxic gas from the pipes, and with the gas control system functioning normally, it seems our final cause of death won’t be asphyxiation or poisoning."

"...I suppose that’s good news," Andar shook his head. "Looks like we’ll be drifting here for quite a while. We’ve recorded a heap of observation data, what should we do next?"

In the vast control hall, the three ancient Dragonkin fell silent again. This silence lasted for a few seconds before Balogar cautiously spoke, "Shall we play word association again? We could start with geological terms..."

"I’m not interested," Heragor shook his head, speaking in a flat tone while his eyes gazed past the transparent polymer dome, looking into the vast, desolate outer space.

His gaze landed on a mass of twisted wreckage that had completely lost its life and light. During this long drift, the wreckage got a bit closer to the ship, but that might have been his illusion.

After all, he’d been staring at that wreckage for too long these days.

After a few minutes of observation, Heragor withdrew his gaze and turned around, preparing to return to the center of the control hall. However, just as his gaze shifted, an unexpected flash suddenly entered the corner of his vision.

Heragor stopped instantly, quickly turning his head toward the direction of the flash. Balogar and Andar, who were discussing which word to start the word association game with, also halted instantly, their eyes following the same direction. However, they only managed to catch a fleeting shadow, a blurred and hazy outline.

It seemed to be a large steel structure, somewhat resembling a dragon two to three hundred meters long, or perhaps the tail engine assembly of the Talronde Ship. The thing flashed past the edge of the polymer dome, moving too fast to be seen clearly.

It seemed to circle to the side and rear of the Talronde Ship—Heragor wasn’t sure about that either. Before he could figure out what it was, a massive force crashed into the ship’s protective wall on the side.

The powerful impact shook the sturdy ancient ship’s keel, with the vibrations transmitted mechanically to the core area. The ship swayed, emitting a loud noise, and the outer starscape rolled with it. Amid this violent shaking, a nearby seat suddenly fell toward Heragor. As he stretched out his arm to block the impact, his mind was flooded with questions, which could be summarized in layman’s terms into three sentences—

What is that? What’s happening? How do we handle it?!

...

The gravity driver performed a beautiful "surge," with the precisely calculated thrust perfectly released in the intended area. Omega observed from afar as the debris began to descend into its intended orbit, the steel jaw slightly raised.

He was very pleased with his effort.

As it turned out, even without the support of the surface computing node cluster, his own computing power was still sufficient.

As for now, the farewell with the creators was over; it was time to continue the journey.

Omega withdrew his gaze from below and returned his attention to the vast space. His vision followed the curve of the planet’s atmosphere into the distance, where countless ancient legacies left by the Voyagers floated quietly in their orbits, like silent gravestones watching over this small world.

After a brief calculation and readjustment of his navigation plan, Omega activated his propulsion system across his body once again. He traced a graceful arc across the planet’s sky, skillfully using the weak gravity for assist, heading toward the equator.

He planned to accelerate from there, leaving the home planet’s gravity well from near the equator’s proximity, then skim past the "sun" at close range, replenishing Magic Power in the process. After two accelerations, he would finally leave this place, heading toward the "center" of this planetary system—an endless road, filled with the unknown. However, the powerful curiosity surging within urged this newborn Traveler forward, with high spirits and full confidence.

The equatorial satellite cluster left by the Voyagers gradually appeared on the edge of his vision, and more striking than those ancient inverted cone satellites was the enormous ring-like orbital structure circling above the planet’s equator.

The ancient Firmament Station, a "space miracle" only the Voyagers could construct.

Omega flew toward the silently orbiting satellites and the orbital ring space station behind them, contemplating quickly as he went.

Perhaps something should be left behind—many humans or other intelligent beings do similar things when leaving their home planet to travel.

Omega quickly made a decision and then issued an order to an escorting aircraft behind him:

"Find a relatively well-positioned satellite and leave a transmitter on it."

A triangular aircraft received the order, silently detaching from the flying formation in the vacuum, heading toward a high-position satellite near the Firmament Station...

...

Cecil, a clear and cloudless midnight.

Gawain awoke with a start in the deep of night.

Technically speaking, he bolted upright after receiving an alarm signal suddenly transmitted from a satellite.

A signal unlike any other had roused him from sleep. Although the signal soon subsided, it dispelled all his drowsiness. Soon after, the satellite system, closely linked to his consciousness, automatically transmitted some blurry imagery. After seeing those images, Gawain was left stunned.

In space...something had appeared.

He stood beside the bed, the bright starlight streaming through the large window onto the floor nearby. In this cloudless midnight, the newly awake Emperor of Cecil had only three questions racing through his mind—

What on earth is that? What’s going on? What should be done?!

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