Finally, the Imperial Army arrived at its destination.
There wasn't a large-scale rebel army like we had expected, nor was there an overwhelming amount of energy beams. In fact, there wasn't even a single defensive turret. After the jump was complete, we entered an inconceivably silent space soup.
Space soup … it was a strange term, but when Tawil coined it, we realized that it was the only term that could fit the situation at the core of the nebula, even if it sounded contradictory.
"The density of the space gas cloud outside the barrier is approaching the critical point of liquid, but it still maintains the form of a scattered dust mist. It is like a gel-like substance in a state of evaporation. The gel-like substance is the crystallization of pure random atoms. Theoretically, all the basic substances that can be born can be found in those atoms. But what is confusing is that the substances have lost all their properties. They do not react, do not decay, and do not even produce any electromagnetic force or any other force. It is as if every atom is floating in an independent absolute vacuum and maintained at absolute zero."
Tawil stood behind us, his voice filled with confusion.
"A snapshot of the matter in the universe." Sandora tucked a few strands of disobedient blonde hair behind her ear. "Don't you think it looks like it? All the matter in the universe is gathered here, but they are as quiet as a portrait. The original soup of the universe, the core of the nebula. So this is what it looks like. "
My sister, Qian Qian, and I couldn't be bothered to understand the jargon that Shadora spouted out. However, the magical scenery around us was really novel.
The space where the Death Star fleet was located was filled with infinite, dark red "fog", which was estimated to be 0.35 lightyears away from a conservative area. Just as Tawil had described, the fog had the texture of a liquid, yet it had the lightness of fog. It was filled with all sorts of strange properties, such as the elusive unattenuated permeability. Logically speaking, a fog of uniform density would affect visibility, and the fog known as space soup was so dense. But in fact, when we looked into the distance, we could still clearly see the massive planetary fortress and the aircraft carrier battle fleet that resembled a swarm of bees. Regardless of the distance, they appeared with the same clarity in our eyes, which meant that some of the properties of light were ineffective here.
A bright energy lightning streaked across the sky above the Empire Admiral, illuminating a large area of the sky. The churning thick red fog trembled, spreading countless ripples outwards. It was a soundless thunder, and similar energy lightning could be seen from time to time as far as the eye could see. It was another wonder near the core of the nebula. The crisscrossing lightning would erupt at any moment, but we could not find its source. The energy seemed to be generated out of thin air, completely defying any known laws of physics. When it streaked through the red fog, it would create a violent shockwave that could boil the "space soup" with a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers, but there was no transmission of sound. With such an abundant medium, light did not diffuse, refract, and sound did not transmit. Only heaven knew how much the laws of the universe had been distorted in this godforsaken place.
And what was up with that thing that was blocking our way.
A barrier had stopped the advance of the Death Star Fleet, but it still stood firmly over hundreds of millions of kilometers away. It was as good as new and immeasurably clean. The Emperor's Breath and psionic cannon attacks did not leave a scratch on it, and the images sent back by the frontline probes revealed the true face of the barrier.
It was a spherical defensive barrier with a radius of about sixty thousand kilometers. Its surface was absolutely smooth, resembling a rainbow mirror, with beautiful colors constantly wafting over the smooth surface like a dream. It was this colorful barrier that looked as exquisite as a work of art that had already blocked two attacks from the Death Star Fleet — the first was the close-range Emperor's Breath, and the second was the concentrated bombardment of the entire mobile fleet and a planetary fortress. But both attacks had no effect — the target was still there, and there was not even a forced HP deduction.
Tawil had already used a special method to determine the form of this thing. It was a beautiful layer of thin film, and that was all. The only thing worth noting was that it did not belong to any kind of substance. This thin film was an absolute single body, it had no structure, and it was not composed of smaller elementary particles, atoms, or molecules. This thin film was its most basic substance structure, and its sturdiness had already reached the Law level.
After confirming the form of this barrier, Sandora immediately stopped the Death Star Fortress from launching its final attack, and then told me a term very gloomily: "Indestructible Structure."
This was one of the most popular Law defense methods during the Empire's heyday. Its defensive power was not the strongest, but it was widely used in places where all kinds of confidential records were kept. The principle was difficult to explain in words, but everyone should understand: in any world, there was a fundamental structure that could not be split again.
Was there an end to matter when it was split to the limit? This philosophical proposition had troubled generations after generations of white-bearded old men, including Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Mozi. These great and annoying figures in human history had come up with experiment after experiment to verify this question. For example, the Chinese version of the theory stated that if you chopped a piece of wood from the middle every day with an ax, as long as your knife skills were good enough and you had enough patience, you could have endless children and grandchildren, even if the unlucky piece of wood had already been chopped into nano-scale thin pieces. The old men in ancient Greece believed that matter was composed of a kind of "little ball" when it was extremely small, and that it was the smallest, most basic, and most original substance structure in the world. They were the bricks that God used to build this universe, and mortals would never be able to split them. At most, they would be able to separate them. Here, let us sigh at God's pain in the ass. If Genesis was so troublesome, Jingle would not have dared to apply for Creation in the first place.
Through generations of hard work, later generations of scientists finally proved that the above two theories were almost nonsense.
Thanks to the continuous development of modern physics, humans gradually discovered molecules, atoms, neutrons, electrons … Whenever a theory pointed out that humans had mastered the world's most basic bricks and tiles, there would always be new discoveries to prove that the so-called bricks and tiles were but smaller prefabricated boards, and matter was still being dissected by humans under ever-deepening microscopic conditions. Now, even human scientists had studied up to the level of neutrinos — the tiniest elementary particles known and measured. But it seemed that it was not over yet. Though still unmeasured, the smaller matter structures that existed in theory were not far away, beckoning those scientists who liked to challenge their limits. Humans had begun to doubt whether matter could really be dissected infinitely, even though this conjecture could not be proved.
Human scientists still had a long way to go on the road of dissecting the world, but now they had glimpsed some wonderful scenery on this road. A well-known truth applied to all matter, from the microscopic to the macroscopic. That was, the smaller the elementary particle, the higher the energy level. Breaking a chopstick required the strength of a bicep, but splitting a carbon atom required a nuclear temperature of billions of degrees. The process of splitting a proton required an acceleration orbit that could circle the Kyoto Ring three times to gather enough energy to feed a hundred thousand video game nerds. To perform surgery on elementary particles below the neutrino level, it was currently believed that the energy at the beginning of the Big Bang was needed. This was the true meaning of matter. The ferocity of the microscopic world. Their indestructible structure gradually approached invincibility as they approached the origin. When they became microscopic to the extreme, they became the most basic element that formed the world — a fuzzy state between matter, energy, and information. After that, these little things became immune to all external factors that were not natural laws.
In Jingle's collection of books, Chapter 3, Section 7, Paragraph 7 of the Introduction to Basic Creation — Theurgical Edition spent most of the class to instill this iron law into the novice Creator Gods:
Unless you think that your creation skills have already surpassed God Father, you should just obediently follow this material grading method to create a new era!
Thus, as far as the eye could see, the microscopic world in the multiverse was uniformly mighty and domineering.
The "Indestructible Structure" was something that Schilling's scientists created according to this basic law that even the gods had to abide by. In various senses, it did not have any structure, because … this thing was the basic structure.
Although this thing had been brought from the microscopic world to the macroscopic universe under the research of the cruel Empire scientists, and its size could expand to a maximum of a few tenths of a light year, it was still the simplest, most perfect, and purest "absolute elementary" particle, an absolute "one." This was a pure structure that could not be further dissected. You would not find any traces of connection or fusion on it, and it could be said to be the best explanation of seamlessness. And it was easy to come to the conclusion that something without structure could not be dissected.
Because it could not be dissected. The surface of the "Indestructible Structure" was absolutely "complete", and it did not have the structural conditions to be dissected. We might be able to easily break open a carbon crystal, because even the purest and hardest carbon crystal was composed of countless atoms, and it also had a structural form that could be dissected. But if you were facing a carbon atom, then regrettably, to cut it open, you would have to apply for a saturation nuclear strike — and that might not work. As for the magnificent structure in front of us that had a radius of about sixty thousand kilometers, you might need a Big Bang.
"A Law-class defense system. The difference between a Law-class and a non-Law-class is so huge. I can't believe they even used this thing."
Sandora sighed.
"Pfft. Since we have such a powerful shield, why would the rebel fleet fight us for hours?" Lina pouted. "There are so many undead to appease. The priestess must have a lot of work to do." "That's right.
"Because although the Imperial Army can't break through this barrier, it still threatens to destroy it along with the nebula's core." Sandora's face was gloomy. "'Indestructible Structure' is definitely not an invincible shield. Compared to the true invincibility of 'seconds gap', the former is just a super sturdy wall. A wall can collapse, but it needs enough external force, and the Psionic Death Star's supernova attack should be enough to reach that threshold. After all, it's called the Imperial Army's current ultimate weapon, and its power is not to be underestimated … Ah Jun, don't be too happy. That's what gives me a headache, and why I stopped you from launching the supernova attack just now. Since it's a fundamental particle that can't be separated, there are only two states after it's activated. The first is its current complete state, and the second is that it instantly 'evaporates' from the physical realm after suffering an attack that far exceeds its ability to withstand. This process is similar to nuclear annihilation, but the energy produced is even more astonishing, and it will destroy the secrets it's protected inside. It's the ultimate self-destruct safe, and without a password, it can either not be opened or blown to smithereens along with the treasures inside. You can think of it as a switch that only has two states, '0' and '1'. Under normal circumstances, the things that are stored in such a structure are extremely confidential information, and when it could be stolen, the depositor would not hesitate to destroy it. "
Would you believe me if I wanted to curse now?
Of all the things that Schilling people do, why do they keep drilling holes in the laws of the world? Aren't they afraid that the world will collapse one day?
I understood what Shadora meant. Even though the barrier in front of us was incredibly sturdy, it could still be broken if the Psionic Death Star attacked it with full force. However, the result would be that everything inside the barrier would be destroyed. Silvia was still inside, so we had to be careful not to harm her.
"Err … If that's the case, how did Sylvia get in?"
"I don't know," Sandora shook her head dejectedly. "I just realized how little we know about Sylvia. No one cares what she does usually …"
"Wait, Ah Jun," Big Sis suddenly thought of something. "Could it have something to do with the mysterious summoning that Sylvia received that night?"
Mysterious summoning … With Big Sis' reminder, I finally connected the dots. So, I quickly told Sandora about how Sylvia was attracted by the core of the nebula and ran out in the middle of the night, saying that she wanted to go to outer space. The latter thought for a while and said decisively, "It's highly possible … Where are the Ravens? Gather all the Raven troops on the ship. "
There were more than a thousand Ravens on duty on the Admiral of the Empire. All of them were elite officers among the lower-level Ravens. Under Sandora's personal summons, they quickly gathered in front of us. As far as the eye could see, there were more than a thousand silver-haired Ravens in front of us, ready to go.
"Can you sense the position of the Mother?"
"I can't sense it. The Mother has actively concealed her own energy," Raven 001, the leader of the Raven army who had been promoted to a senior commander, immediately replied.
"Then, the last backup of Sylvia's soul before she left, you should have a record of it, right?"
The leader of the Ravens nodded her head. Her face was half a beat slow, but she was not slow at all.
Sandora pointed at the magnificent fortress that was hidden in the thick fog for hundreds of millions of kilometers. "Lead your people there. I think you will know what to do when you get there."
There was a flash of confusion in the leader of the Ravens' eyes, but she still accepted the mission without hesitation. She led the thousands of smart Arcana Masters and disappeared in front of us in an instant. Teleporting hundreds of millions of kilometers away using spatial magic, they really had no limit.
"And then?"
I looked at Sandora confusedly. When she was assigning the mission, she didn't even make sense of it. It was even more impossible for me to guess what this lass was planning. Forgive my mortal level of intelligence.
"Wait," Sandora exhaled. "An indestructible structure is used as a safe. Of course, there must be a way for its creator to open it. Sylvia … No, Belavilla is an expert in the manipulation of mysterious energy. This means that this structure can be temporarily closed by arcane spells. The Ravens, as the mass produced replicas, would usually record snapshots of Sylvia's soul. If the latter left any traces of magic near the barrier, the Ravens would be able to use the recorded soul ripples of Sylvia to recreate the magic without needing to know the theory behind it. After all, the magic used by the Raven King is far beyond the comprehension of a normal Raven."
"Look over there!" Just as Sandora finished her sentence, Shallow Shallow had already noticed something. She immediately tugged on my sleeve and shook it violently. "There was a flash! Just a flash! "
I looked in the direction where she was pointing and saw the damned structure flash again. The magnificent surface that was floating with a large amount of colors was like a neon light that was not connected properly. It flickered on and off. Finally, it completely dimmed. The beautiful colors disappeared and it became a gray sphere with a radius of sixty thousand kilometers, covered in bright yellow grids.
The Ravens had succeeded!
The core ruins of the Great Nebula had a radius of sixty thousand kilometers. Of course, the Death Star fleet wouldn't be able to enter it. And if there was a super defense force inside, sending several Eternal-class motherships to accompany them wouldn't be of much use. At such a time, it was only natural for the leaders to go out. After a brief discussion, Sandora, Shallow Shallow, the Pandora sisters, and myself formed the team for this operation. (Jingle, who had been reduced to a non-combat pet, and Alaya, who had been expanding her inventory, naturally came with us. However, in theory, I felt that apart from acting cute, they shouldn't be considered part of our team …) My older sister had to stay on the spaceship and watch over Liliana, Mercury Lamp, and all sorts of other troublesome little fellows. For example, those Three-headed Boas who insisted on following my older brother to the Great Nebula.
Please, looking at that Titan Mercury Lamp, who was more than a hundred meters tall, being treated as a mothership, with hundreds of Three-headed Boas crawling out of the folds of her clothes, looking as if she was going to carry out the Mercury Lamp's plan to descend, I reckon that I would lose all my combat strength except for the ability to retort!
Ah, that's right, apart from us five combat job classes, there was one more additional member — the bespectacled Tawil, who had been so excited by the possible treasure trove of knowledge in the ruins. This fellow was even more fanatical than Liliana, who insisted on tagging along. I was unable to reject the pure passion of an explorer who was diligently seeking knowledge — this was nonsense. To be honest, I was unable to bear the serious expression of "If you don't agree, I'll repay you with my body on the spot" from Tawil. Even though I might have been imagining things, my instincts told me that if I didn't agree with this research maniac, she would probably cry and commit suicide on the spot.
Considering that we were exploring an ancient Schilling ruins, a knowledgeable researcher like Tawil might be of help. Not to mention, in her projection form, she wasn't afraid of death, so we agreed to let her accompany us.
"You brat, you're going to personally take the risk again. You're such an idiot." When I carried Mercury Lamp off my shoulder and placed her on the ground, the little puppet was obviously a little worried. However, she still had a stubborn expression. "Don't die in there, otherwise it'll be very troublesome to remember your name."
… What a bold and unconstrained farewell speech. Just as he finished saying this, Mercury Lamp was dragged away by his elder sister to be disciplined.
Liliana's farewell speech was even more vicious. The moment she opened her mouth, I was stunned for three seconds: "Remember, the Goddess is in your left pocket. If you encounter any danger, you must use it immediately!"
It felt like a wife seriously telling her careless husband before leaving: "Put the cold medicine in the inner pocket of the suitcase and remember to take the medicine before going to bed." Bastard!
Hearing Liliana's words, Jingle came out of my pocket with a face full of curiosity. Then, with a cheeky smile, she mischievously flew to the right pocket and slipped into it.
"Ah, boss, it's the right now. Remember to use it in time … Ah, it hurts …"
"Alright, stop talking nonsense. No matter how dangerous it is, it's not like it can hurt me. At most, I'll just transform into the void. " I forcefully rubbed Liliana's head. Then, I confidently stood up and waved goodbye to the three-headed demons on the deck. "Everyone, don't worry. I'll be safe … Wuuuu …"
Sandora covered my mouth and dragged me backwards. "Even I know that you can't say that!"
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