Chapter Sixty-Six: Within and Without the Star Gate

Yulian and everyone in the 101st Company boarded a military armed transport ship and finally arrived at the L8 Enlightener Star Gate on December 24, 829 of the Common Era. This was the only star gate controlled by the Earth-Stellar Commonwealth, also known as the "Southern Heavenly Gate."

As previously introduced, among the "three major culprits that destroyed the civilization's technology tree and history," we have already covered two: psionic energy and zero elements.

Then comes the third: the so-called Enlightener legacy.

Let us think of it this way. What would happen if a group of Watts, who were still studying how much water to put into a steam engine, what temperature to burn the furnace, and what shape made it most efficient, suddenly learned that a group of archaeologists had dug up a complete nuclear reactor from the ground complete with a full set of operating instructions?

During this process, how many stages of technological development would be bypassed and ignored by people? How many social transformations and advancements derived from these fruits would be nipped in the bud?

The faster-than-light engines utilizing stellar gravity wells, the Ansible-constructed nebula communication networks, and the collection and application of dark matter all belonged to parts of those "nuclear reactors."

Of course, some visionary scholars have now realized this and are trying to catch up. But as we all know, learning step-by-step is already painful enough, let alone having to go back to catch up on missed foundations.

The so-called Enlightener Star Gate is the grandest, most mysterious, and most indestructible creation among all Enlightener legacies.

We have already mentioned that faster-than-light travel in the major civilizations of the galaxy relies on subspace channels formed by gravity wells between stars, also known as "stellar highways." This technology was obtained from ancient ruins during an expedition a thousand years ago. Because of these "stellar highways" connecting stars, the interstellar map of the galaxy appeared flat.

So, the question arises. The Milky Way is more than two million light-years away from that "New World," the Andromeda Galaxy, and there are no stellar gravity wells to utilize in between. How is one supposed to get across?

Forget the "New World"; even the dwarf galaxies scattered like isolated islands in the ocean between the two galaxies were unreachable.

The Enlighteners effectively said: Praise (and worship) me! I have left everything behind for you!

And thus, the star gate suddenly activated.

As the commander-in-chief of the Enlightener ruins—one of the "three major culprits that destroyed the civilization's technology tree and history"—the star gate was naturally the most practical and religious. From its appearance, it truly evoked a sense of mysterious, metaphysical awe.

We all know that natural wormholes are generally ominous, dark, glowing spheres. The star gate was naturally a sphere as well, but its appearance was far superior to the former.

Through the ship's porthole, Yulian saw from afar a translucent sphere the size of a prime star. Its transparent outer layer was engraved with subtle, elegant patterns, emitting a gentle, warm silver halo. That mysterious silver light washed over the entire stellar system, allowing almost everyone to bathe in its quiet warmth, yet one could stare directly into the core of the light source with the naked eye.

Inside the inner layer wrapped by the silver sphere was a golden object resembling a classical armillary sphere, roughly the size of a terrestrial planet, constantly rotating and tracing mysterious and profound orbits.

This is the space age! Can we not have these mystical, flashy attachments? Just because the legacy you left behind is always like this, the ideological iron stamps of the idealist fools are impossible to shake! Yulian spat inwardly. He had witnessed such magnificent sights too many times, yet every time he still wanted to spit.

However, probably the entire universe was the only one who wanted to spit.

Scholars from various major nations believed it represented some of the universe's most mysterious knowledge, so they mobilized the best manpower and material resources for centralized observation, yet after staring at it for decades, they gained nothing at all.

Naturally, many people's passion faded, and they gradually withdrew, but there were still many who persevered, even building semi-permanent scientific research space stations near the star gate.

The Commonwealth's Morning Star Gate, numbered L8 by the Galactic Civilization Council and called the "Southern Heavenly Gate" by the Commonwealth itself, was precisely like this. In the stellar system where this star gate was located, two probe stations had already been built, and a large research station capable of accommodating thousands of researchers was currently under construction. It had broken ground last year, but was reportedly set for completion next year.

There was also a large military fortress under construction here, which reportedly, upon completion, would be able to provide berths, routine maintenance, and emergency repairs for hundreds of warships, including dreadnoughts.

However, five years after construction began, not even one-third of it was finished.

This was understandable. The military fortress was a project of the Commonwealth military, but those probe stations and research institutes were joint ventures between the Commonwealth and the Alliance.

Yes, regarding the research on the star gate, the Commonwealth government indeed displayed the selfless, boundless internationalist spirit of great love. After a prolonged period of discussion (and bitter bickering), the parliament ultimately decided to share this legacy of the previous civilization with the two "most responsible" major powers in the galaxy, inviting them to join in the research. The difference was that the Alliance was responsible for the Andromeda Galaxy side, while the Empire handled the Milky Way domestic side.

In this way, everyone received a share of the benefits. How perfect!

Even so, Yulian knew that even fifty years later, everyone still wouldn't have researched anything substantial. The "researchers" on this side of the star gate and the other side would instead end up fighting fiercely, while the little transparent Earth "collaborators" shivered nervously on the sidelines.

And the star gate remained as steadfast as ever.

The transport ship slowly approached the silver-white, ripple-like gentle surface of the sphere, plunging headfirst into it like a small pebble swallowed by the ocean.

The starry sky outside the window transformed into a breathtakingly tranquil silver light, as if wrapped in the brightest moonlight. Yulian wanted to close his eyes and doze off for a moment, but a voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

"Go seek your destiny!"

"Go grow up!"

"Then, find me."

Yulian sprang up, searching everywhere for the source of the voice. He looked around the surroundings, only to find the interior's utterly tasteless metal cabin.

A single bed, one meter wide and two meters long, with a very thin quilt and a very hard mattress. A desk with a built-in folding chair, plus a private washroom. The total usable area was probably no more than five square meters, but this was already considered quite good treatment.

He was a (reserve) officer, a "Mooner," and possessed a dazzling and flamboyant resume in Xinyumen with a bright future ahead of him, which was why he was assigned an empty junior officer's bedroom.

For ordinary soldiers, seven or eight people could have been crammed into this small room.

However, none of the above was the main point.

Yulian searched the entire room and found no sound source at all. He then instinctively expanded his spiritual perception, yet still found nothing. His thoughts instantly became blocked again, and he thought to himself that so-called "monks" were absolute trash; compared to "Star Hunters" and "Explorers," their perception and spirituality were far inferior.

He even wondered if it was just an illusion, but memories of later times told him that a psionic's "illusions" should never be ignored.

Some renowned psionics in history had mentioned that they would occasionally hear voices from the unknown. Those were surely the teachings and guidance of the Enlightener mentors, and also the most crucial reason enabling them to achieve "Sanctity" or even attain "Mythical" status.

These whispers were known as the "Enlightener Whispers," which were one of the most important protagonist auras for psionics.

In other words, I might also be one of them. Yulian happily daydreamed for a single second.

...What an idiot. One of the greatest illusions in this world is thinking "I am the protagonist."

The history of the psionic domain had seen the Shura-ending "Astral Swordsman," the limit-driving "Firmament Mentor," the "Falling Star Envoy," the "Star Planter," the "Integration Sovereign," and the "Truth Saint." However, there was never any mention of anyone from the two branches of the "Monk" path—"Balance" and "Eternity"—reaching the absolute peak.

The Seventh Ring, and an incomplete Seventh Ring at that, was the known terminal point of these two stellar ring paths.

Yulian felt that if he were still the lawless, unburdened ranger of his past life, he might actually ponder perfecting the "Balance" or "Eternity" paths.

However, he was now eating the emperor's rations! He now had an identity, family, friends, too many ties, and had just set a small goal. Yulian covered his head and squatted down, apologizing to the owner of that mysterious voice in the void. Whether the other party was the precursors of the Enlighteners or an even more formidable cosmic spirit, they surely had to be reasonable, right?

At this moment, the room communicator chime sounded, automatically connecting after three rings. The screen unfolding on the wall revealed the figure of Captain Winter.

"......Is this some kind of psionic prayer ritual?"

"Ah, yes, I am praying to the cosmic spirit to bless us with a bountiful harvest and peace under heaven!" Yulian stood up without changing his expression, straightened his collar, and remained as handsome and dashing as ever.

Captain Winter smiled nonchalantly and casually said, "We have arrived in the Milky Way proper; it's time to say goodbye."

Only then did Yulian notice that the scenery outside the ship's porthole had changed from a gentle, understated silver glow back to the vast river of stars. The dark vault of heaven was strewn with brilliant stars like gems, deep yet magnificent.

However, this magnificent scenery seemed veiled by an ominous color, making it impossible to appreciate. A massive amount of artificial light beamed from the sweeping artificial creations, converging in the space around the star gate and forming a thick, viscous mist that obscured the light of the distant stars entirely.

Yulian looked toward the cluster of artificial objects emitting ominous light and quickly found the behemoth surrounded by the stars.

It was the Outer Ring Fleet flagship, the Ouroboros-class battlecruiser, Hyperion—one of the most powerful war machines in the Earth-Stellar Commonwealth and a renowned legendary ship across the galaxy.

"Yes, the main force of the Outer Ring Fleet is gathering. I have no idea what is going on..." Captain Winter said with a wry smile.