Astral Cockroach

The sky was gloomy, and a strong wind whipped up the sea, creating towering waves.

Banbu lay on the deck, silently watching the coastline ahead. Manipulating his metal ability, he kept the hundred-ton small boat steady despite the waves, preventing it from moving even a bit.

White Bamboo and six other Bamboo Rat warriors followed behind him, harboring ulterior motives and unable to shake off their nervousness, appearing restless.

Suddenly, the sea waves became chaotic.

A pitch-black, disc-shaped spaceship slowly rose from the sea surface.

"Wow!"

Gazing at the behemoth ahead, White Bamboo exclaimed, then quickly covered his mouth.

"So this is the Twin Dragons? The scale isn't that impressive," Banbu muttered.

The spaceship was approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. Compared to the Luan-K704 transport spaceship he had once boarded, it was "exquisitely small." A sweep of his psychic power revealed the extraordinary nature of this spaceship, shocking him deeply: the outer shell was made of Silverfang-grade alloy material, one of the materials with the highest known comprehensive strength. Its Force conduction performance was excellent, and after infusing it with Force, its strength was comparable to a Dominator-realm metal core. The related synthetic materials were priced by the gram, and even a Silverfang blade was a lifelong luxury for countless warriors.

A Silverfang spaceship… and there were a total of 55 such spaceships. It must have been built by pooling all the wealth plundered by humanity in their conquest of the stars.

No wonder Dulong was so confident in the "Twin Dragons'" safety performance. Normal-intensity spatial turbulence wouldn't be a problem as the hull could directly withstand it.

...

Half of the spaceship's hull emerged from the sea, and the hatch for loading and unloading large cargo slowly opened, extending the landing platform.

Banbu quickly maneuvered the small boat closer.

Dulong stood guard in front of the hatch, his emerald eyes scanning around, and asked, "Only Force food and 6 Bamboo Rats?"

"Entering the starry sky, the most important thing is Force food. I can't touch electronic devices, so I escorted it separately. There were too many other things, so they were transported by a larger ship. It's already on the way, but the storm is probably too big, causing a slight delay."

"What's so important about Force food? It's unnecessary," Dulong said with some dissatisfaction, then continued, "Move everything in. Send it to the 5th floor. Rooms A201 to 209 are all vacant and can be used for temporary storage."

"Understood." Banbu waved his antennae and instructed, "White Bamboo, Ma Bamboo, carry the stuff, and follow me!"

After speaking, he manipulated the small boat with his metal ability, forcibly driving it onto the landing platform.

Dulong inquired, "What about the SSS-grade Force plants?"

Banbu replied, "The Force plants have condensed tree hearts and are being transported together with the giant ship."

Dulong further asked, "How many warriors are accompanying us? How is the plant and Divine race sample collection going?"

Banbu said, "The warriors leaving with us include Red Roach, Narrow Butterfly, ants, Ghost Mantis, Iridescent Flame Spider, and beast tribes, totaling 40 warriors. Among them, 10 are beast warriors who have cultivated gene martial arts, so there's no need to worry too much about Force food consumption along the way. There are as many as 100,000 types of plants and over 1,000 Divine race tribes, all in one go."

"30 insect warriors? That's alright. The spaceship's reserve of Force food is basically enough," Dulong said, "Quickly pack up your things, the storm is coming."

The storm arrived immediately.

Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed across the darkness.

On the sea, the waves surged.

A giant ship slowly approached, and many L9 King-level peak warriors who had awakened metal abilities worked together to activate their metal abilities, manipulating the ship to accurately dock in front of the spaceship's landing hatch.

Banbu, Rat Overlord, and Dulong were waiting.

"Banbu!" White Bamboo stood at the bow of the ship, stirring his psychic power to shout.

Baba took off directly, landed on the landing platform, and exclaimed repeatedly.

"Wow! Wow! Wow! This spaceship is amazing!"

"Another Bamboo Rat! Eight Bamboo Rat warriors?" Dulong asked strangely.

"Baba, you guys are half a day late," Banbu lightly mocked, stirring his mental power and scolding, "Move quickly, unload the things quickly, and follow White Bamboo and Ma Bamboo to send them into the corresponding cabins, refrigerating and storing them as required."

Banbu then explained humbly to Dulong, "My territory mainly cultivates bamboo, so there are many Bamboo Rats, so I adopted eight Bamboo Rat warriors, as well as a Stone-patterned Cat warrior and a Black Bear warrior."

While explaining, various warriors jumped into the landing cabin with a thud.

Big Bear carried a spider silk bag and trotted to Banbu.

Dulong's eyes swept over, and he said in surprise, "SSS-grade Force plant! Lotus seed form, lotus flower?"

"Yes," Banbu replied, "The Nine-leaf Red Lotus is relatively special, condensing a lotus seed-shaped tree heart."

"Banbu, is this the Dulong senior you mentioned?" the Nine-leaf Red Lotus asked.

"Yes," Banbu replied.

"Dulong senior. Hello." The Nine-leaf Red Lotus took the initiative to greet him.

"Good, hello! Haha! You are the most amazing SSS-grade Force plant I have ever seen, almost breaking through to the Stellar level under the suppression of the power of the gods! Following us is a wise choice, you have unlimited potential!" Dulong was extremely satisfied.

Big Bear asked, "Banbu, where should I put the Nine-leaf Red Lotus?"

"Send it to the cultivation cabin," Banbu asked, "What about the other SSS-grade Force plants?"

Big Bear widened his eyes, scratched his head, and replied, "Didn't you tell me to keep a close eye on them? I hid them all on the ship."

Banbu shook his antennae, beckoned and urged, "Rat Overlord, you are familiar with the spaceship, you lead Big Bear and settle the Nine-leaf Red Lotus and other divine-grade, god-bestowed seeds according to the method taught by Senior Dulong. Hurry, move faster."

"Understood!" Rat Overlord responded, and hurriedly left with Big Bear.

"Banbu Roach King, Banbu Roach King…"

Another large group of warriors surrounded him, greeting Banbu one after another.

"What race is this?" Dulong's emerald eye locked onto the Thunder Bamboo Ghost King and asked.

"Ghost Mantis tribe, also a small tribe…" Banbu smiled and said, "Senior Dulong, their tribe also sent an SSS-grade Force plant, would you like to take a look?"

Dulong was pleasantly surprised and asked, "There's another SSS-grade Force plant? How many are there in total? 6?"

"Yes," Banbu replied with a chuckle, while stirring his mental power to convey information, saying, "Thunder Bamboo Ghost King, please show Senior Dulong your divine-grade, god-bestowed seed."

"Okay!" Thunder Bamboo Ghost King opened his mouth.

The other three Ghost Kings beside the Thunder Bamboo Ghost King followed suit.

Instantly, different shapes of natal weapons were spat out.

"Freeze!"

The Thunder Bamboo Ghost King roared in a low voice.

Earth and stone abilities erupted, disrupting natural gravity.

"Illusion!" Xue Mai, mixed in the team, shouted loudly, and a colorful mist rose from his body, instantly covering the entire landing hatch.

"Rise!"

Banbu roared lowly, and his metal ability followed suit.

Surrounding him, there were also 2 Crimson Crow Ghost Kings who had also awakened metal abilities, following suit.

In addition, there were four Butterfly Kings, activating lightning abilities.

In just an instant, Dulong lost his ability to move and was forcibly moved horizontally, thrown out of the landing hatch, and in the midst of the impact, the tip of the sword was straightly nailed to the giant ship.

"You…"

The sudden siege caught him off guard, and before a roar could be uttered, wisps of black mist rose, and there was no more sound.

"Is that it?" the Thunder Bamboo Ghost King asked.

"That's it," Banbu replied, feigning ease, secretly breathing a sigh of relief and flying forward.

Baba followed up to check and said, "Sure enough, there are remnants of the soul, hidden in this blue-green eyeball. He cultivated the Soul-devouring Secret Technique, so he could live so long. His identity is not simple, he should be one of the federal council veterans."

"It should be. Hehe, he's used to being condescending, he really thinks I'm stupid," Banbu sneered, and activated the Soul-devouring Secret Technique, sweeping away the overflowing soul power.

He controlled the sword with his metal ability, and it flew up and fell on the giant ship's deck.

Red Rice, carrying a device on his back, boarded the deck, swept his mental power, and asked, "Is it done? Banbu, is this the… sword you said could take our lives?"

"Yes," Banbu replied, urging, "You guys move faster."

Baba urged, "Quick, hold it down, it's not completely dead, there's still a low-intelligence electronic program running, it should be a partially datafied soul memory, it's an auxiliary program."

Indeed, the Dulong Sword's anti-gravity engine was activated, still trying to break free.

Banbu tightly gripped the hilt of the sword with one forelimb and pressed down on the blade with the other, controlling it.

Du Bamboo, Red Rice, Dragon Bamboo, and Crown Pear emerged one after another, and various equipment were moved out and placed on the deck.

Little White Bamboo acted quickly, moving nimbly, connecting the instruments together, and finally, the wire connector threaded through the sword hilt's data interface.

Often, electronic lifeforms need to copy large amounts of information directly from other storage devices, and they all have data interfaces. The electronic entertainment cabin has corresponding connectors, so warriors can bring their electronic lifeforms with them into the virtual battlefield.

Banbu opened its mouth and spat out a golden bamboo fruit the size of a chicken egg – the seed-form tree heart transformed from the seed bestowed by the Dragon Bamboo God.

"Banbu, is that it? The sword?"

"That's it."

Banbu said, "Great Dragon, implant a virus to interfere with and destroy its electronic intelligence program, deleting everything. But be careful to protect important information and try not to lose it."

"Understood."

The Great Dragon Tree Spirit skillfully manipulated the equipment, injecting the pre-written virus program into the Lone Dragon Sword.

The sword body suddenly stopped struggling, changing to terrified screams: "Don't kill me! I'm not Lone Dragon! I'm just an electronic lifeform, I'm not a threat to you…"

Banbu didn't speak.

Baba asked with a giggle, "If you don't die, how can I live?"

"You, you…"

The sword body fell silent.

The many Ghost Kings and Butterfly Kings of Chiwu Mountain jumped onto the deck, curiously watching.

Thunder Bamboo Ghost King asked, "Banbu, is it done? No problem?"

Banbu said, "No problem."

Thunder Bamboo Ghost King asked, "We've just taken over the spaceship?"

"That's right. This sword is the key to controlling the spaceship. Control it, and you control the spaceship. Thunder Bamboo Ghost King, pay attention to observing the material of the spaceship's outer shell. This is the strongest Silver Edge Alloy in the entire universe. I can't imagine what dangers could threaten a spaceship like this during deep space travel."

Banbu introduced proudly, and finally asked again: "Thunder Bamboo Ghost King, how about we leave together?"

"I think I'll pass."

Thunder Bamboo Ghost King shook its antennae and said, "We, Chiwu Mountain, will still follow the guidance of the Natural True God to leave."

"Then I won't force it."

Banbu said, "I hope that one day, we can meet in the starry sky."

Banbu felt a slight sense of loss. Most insect races are superstitious about the Natural True God, especially large territories like Chiwu Mountain with a long heritage. They have very strong opinions and always believe that seizing a human spaceship to leave is too risky, trusting more in the arrangements of the Natural True God.

Thunder Bamboo Ghost King asked, "Banbu, are you leaving so rashly because you don't plan to come back?"

Banbu smiled and said, "I will definitely come back, but that will be tens of thousands of years from now."

Just as he was speaking, the Great Dragon Tree Spirit reminded, "Banbu, the original electronic intelligence program has been erased. Baba, it's your turn."

"Okay!"

Baba shouted impatiently, "Little idiot, hurry up."

Little White Bamboo acted quickly, connecting a connector to Baba.

The data was imported, and Baba's database information, through a specific program relay conversion in the chassis, was transferred to the Lone Dragon Sword database.

The Great Dragon Tree Spirit explained, "Due to the large amount of information and limited data processing capabilities, the speed is relatively slow, it will probably take 15 hours."

"Understood."

Banbu turned to look at the landing module.

After waiting for half a day, the seven Bamboo Rat warriors led by the Rat King, and Big Bear, came out.

Big Bear carried a silver box with sides of about 0.5 meters northward, jumping directly from the landing module opening and landing heavily on the giant ship's deck.

The Rat King followed and jumped up, saying, "Fortunately, I did not fail my mission. The storage device where the main control system of the spaceship resides has been found and successfully removed. Now the spaceship's command cabin is completely paralyzed."

Little White Bamboo acted nimbly, immediately bringing another wire connector to connect to the box.

Without being instructed, Nine Leaf Red Lotus and the Great Dragon Tree Spirit cooperated. The Great Dragon Tree Spirit erased the original intelligence program, and Nine Leaf Red Lotus read the information and temporarily wrote a new intelligent control program.

Another half a day passed.

The rain stopped and the wind calmed.

A ray of golden light appeared on the eastern horizon.

"Okay! It's ready! Banbu, let go of me."

Baba's childish girl's voice came from inside the Lone Dragon Sword.

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The information transfer was complete.

Banbu released its claws.

The sword body took off, wobbling for a while, quickly stabilized its shape, and with a whoosh, soared into the sky, cruising around before speeding down and hovering in front of Banbu.

"Banbu, am I awesome?"

"Awesome."

"It's a pity, without a soul, I can't launch attack abilities."

Baba explained, "I don't know what material and bionic technology the blue-green eyes are made of. Similar to a brain, a soul can reside in them. The crimson eyes are disguised from the martial arts core, hiding the original force. The combination of the two eyeballs can launch attacks with a certain degree of Dominator Realm strength."

"I guessed that when I first saw it."

Banbu said, "The soul can be digitized. Conversely, data should also be able to transform into a soul. Baba, I will help you find a way to have a soul in the future."

"Haha, with a soul, I will be invincible."

Baba laughed, turning the sword body and tapping Little White Bamboo's head, asking, "Idiot, what are you all standing there for? Hurry up and move things."

The Rat King said, "The core intelligent control system has been removed, and most of the spaceship's functions are paralyzed."

"Then you'll have to rely on me."

Baba said proudly, "Follow me!"

…

Baba's capture of the Lone Dragon Sword also meant capturing the most important control authority of the spaceship.

On the spaceship, some important areas still have independent identification systems, gene recognition, only allowing human warriors to pass. The Rat King led the way, Baba used her authority to open them all, while Banbu dug out the information storage devices of the identification systems one by one, sent them to the deck, and had Nine Leaf Red Lotus and the Great Dragon Tree Spirit delete and modify the programs before reinstalling them.

After working continuously for more than ten days, everything was completed, and the insect warriors could walk freely inside the spaceship, unimpeded.

The robbery was successful!

The Thunder Bamboo Ghost King couldn't help but be curious and followed along, watching Banbu complete the spaceship modification skillfully under the leadership of Baba and the Rat King, before finally bidding farewell and leaving.

They said goodbye and wished each other well.

The giant ship slowly sailed away.

Banbu ordered the landing platform to be retracted and the hatch to be closed.

The Rat King, having studied with Lone Dragon for a hundred years, clearly knew the structure of the spaceship and had learned the functions and operating methods of each cabin. Together with Baba, they directed the warriors to store the various items they carried in separate categories.

It was not advisable to stay for too long. With everything arranged, Banbu ordered the departure.

The spaceship used an anti-gravity engine, without any loud noises, directly shedding the planet's gravity, quietly leaving the planet's atmosphere, entering space, the propulsion engine started, beginning the acceleration phase, stabilizing after half a day, and sailing at a constant speed.

In the control cabin, in the co-pilot's seat, Banbu was surrounded by eight three-dimensional screens, only one of which showed the sun and the home planet Earth, while the other seven were completely dark.

Baba's sword body was inserted into a cylinder, calculating and reading the route information, controlling the spaceship's navigation, while explaining, "Lone Dragon's database information shows that the divine power barrier laid down by the Insect Gods is about 0.5 light-years thick, spatially blocked, unable to warp, and can only travel at a speed less than 0.1 times the speed of light."

The Rat King, sitting in the pilot's seat, interjected, "Half a year later, we will be able to leave the Yuan Star Realm and enter the Semi-Void Realm, where the spatial particle distribution is sparse and there is no other matter. The spaceship can accelerate to a thousand times the speed of light, sailing at a constant speed for 300,000 light-years, gradually entering the main universe with a higher density of spatial particles. The spaceship will decelerate and switch to space warp navigation mode…"

Baba interrupted, "Warping for 100 years to reach the first stop, the star route information aggregation base set up by humans, to obtain the route, and we will officially embark on the journey back to the main universe."

Banbu asked, "It will take 400 years to reach the first stop?"

Baba said, "It will take 400 years of sailing to enter the main universe space where dark matter exists. Continuing to sail, it will take at least a thousand years to reach the universe space where positive matter exists. Continuing to sail, we need to find a galaxy rich in positive matter as soon as possible to replenish fuel."

Closer to the center of the universe, fuel will no longer be a problem, the greatest danger is spatial turbulence.

In the vast starry sky, distance and time are also deadly enemies.

Space is vast, and stars and planets are like sand in the ocean, distributed extremely sparsely.

The members who followed were Flame Cluster Ban Mao, Red Rice, Belly Bamboo, Red Rice, Fire Thorn, Dragon Bamboo, Crown Pear, Fire Bamboo, Light Bamboo, Hollow Bamboo, Nightingale, Qinggang, Brown Chestnut, Tortoiseshell Tendon Vine, Bitao, Cattail, Big Head, Wedge Thorn, Snow Wheat, Big Bear, Oil Tea, White Bamboo, Little White Bamboo, and the six Bamboo Rat warriors led by the Rat King.

Including Banbu, the number of insect warriors was as high as 20, all of whom could only grow by consuming large amounts of primal force food.

On the spaceship, the reserves of Origin Power food were ultimately limited, thus, the achievable strength was limited, and lifespan was limited. Therefore, everyone had to find a habitable planet before their lifespan ran out.

The ability to terraform planets was limited, so a habitable planet had to meet three conditions: moderate temperature and light, moderate size and gravity, and most importantly, abundant natural Origin Power.

"Baba, calculate the spaceship's Origin Power food reserves and estimate the highest level everyone can reach."

"I already checked and calculated it. With reasonable arrangements, everyone can advance to the Planet Destroyer level. There's even a surplus, Banbu, you can try to advance to the Star Constellation level."

Planetary level is considered the initial entry into the ranks of cosmic lifeforms, with a lifespan of about 2,000 years. This lifespan, placed in the vast universe, is but a fleeting moment. Everyone must also utilize the resources on the spaceship to advance to Stellar, and even Planet Destroyer levels.

A Planet Destroyer level lifespan of 5,000 years is not enough to guarantee finding a habitable planet alive. The safest option is still to advance to the Star Constellation level.

"Understood." Banbu left the co-pilot seat and instructed, "Baba, you are responsible for piloting the spaceship. Rat King, you also need to seize the time to grow and first break through to advance to the Planetary level."

The human spaceship was originally planned to carry 1,000 human warriors, in teams of 5, residing in a single cabin. Therefore, there were as many as 200 living cabins.

The partition material used internally was not so extravagant. Banbu unceremoniously dismantled everything, merging three adjacent cabins into a spacious and comfortable single room.

After tossing and turning for nearly half a month, without even taking the time to sleep and rest, his mind was exhausted. After a simple meal, he entered the cabin to rest.

In a daze, a ball of emerald green mist rolled before him, condensing into a tree heart. Clearly, it was a tree, but Banbu felt as if it had eyes, silently watching him.

Banbu's whole body jolted, and the Celestial Eye on his forehead instinctively activated. When he looked, he still saw an emerald green sapling.

A manifestation of soul consciousness?

"You are... the True God of Nature!"

"Indeed.", Consciousness information without the slightest emotional fluctuation.

"You... I can't hide it from you after all."

"It was my arrangement in the first place, so how can you say hide."

"Yes, I knew it would be like this." Banbu smiled wryly and asked, "Is this the soul consciousness of a Level 10 lifeform? So, the True God of Nature's true form is a tree."

"Indeed."

Banbu felt that the other party had no malice, but he couldn't understand the intention of the sudden appearance, and he didn't dare to ask too many questions rashly.

A long silence.

The True God of Nature finally broke the silence and said, "You seem to have misunderstood something."

"What is it?"

"In the beginning, we were moving the Meta-Star Realm, and a human transport spaceship returning from plundering inadvertently got caught in the wormhole we constructed. More surprisingly, I discovered that the spaceship was carrying the life core of a fallen Level 10 lifeform. And coincidentally, I discovered that a large number of soul fragments were miraculously attached to a metal core, and the weak souls could actually gather without dissipating."

"So, I did it conveniently, dataizing and reorganizing this human soul's fragmented memories and recording them in the metal core. At the appropriate time, I converted the data information into genetic information and injected it into the genes of a newborn cockroach egg. At the same time, I also endowed this Protoss warrior with several special abilities."

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"I... I've always wondered how a Planetary level soul could exist for so long without dissipating."

"Indeed, a weak soul cannot exist independently from the body for more than a thousand years, but the storage time of data information can exist indefinitely depending on the carrier material. Your essence is Protoss and not Human, you only obtained the memories of that Human warrior. You have been mistakenly believing that you are Human because of preconceived notions."

"Protoss... why me?"

"I needed to choose a Protoss warrior to inherit that Level 10 life core, random selection, you, are very lucky."

"You endowed me with the ability to fuse the life core?"

"Indeed."

"Why didn't you fuse it yourself?"

"No need."

No need? Banbu was speechless at this reason.

Another silence.

The True God of Nature took the lead in breaking the silence again, and asked leisurely, "Since you inherited the memories of humans and know more knowledge, I ask you, where is the ultimate goal of genetic evolution?"

"Becoming a God?" Banbu was completely calmed down from the shock at this time. As he spoke, he shook his antennae and said, "A Level 10 True God is already an unimaginable supreme existence..."

"It seems you still don't understand." The True God of Nature said: "Level 8 lifeforms are 'Demigods', Level 9 lifeforms are 'Gods', Level 10 lifeforms call themselves 'True Gods'. These names are all my early ignorant title settings."

"Level 10 is indeed the top existence in this universe, free from the limitations of lifespan, but unable to get rid of the limitations of matter. I still need to consume matter to replenish my physical strength and consume Origin Power to maintain the vitality of Origin Power genes."

Banbu interjected: "I understand, Origin Power is a kind of substance between existence and non-existence, between reality and illusion. The ultimate goal of life evolution, in a nutshell, is to get rid of the constraints of matter. The universe is constantly being born and dying, and life is evolving. Only by getting rid of the limitations of matter can it be possible to travel through the Void Realm and transcend the universe, like escaping from a cage, like gaining freedom."

"It seems you are not that stupid." The True God of Nature said: "So far, your growth has been arranged by me, but my remaining abilities are now limited to the Meta-Star Realm. Once out of the Divine Power Barrier and back to the main universe, you must rely on your own abilities to survive."

"This spaceship was also arranged by me for you. There are human inheritance genes on the spaceship, don't discard them. Find a habitable planet and choose the appropriate time to activate them... I gave you the fusion of human memories because I found that simply absorbing Origin Power, gene evolution to Level 10 is the limit that cannot be broken through. Technological civilization may be a way out."

Banbu said: "I fused a Level 10 life core, does that mean that a Level 10 lifeform has fallen?"

The True God of Nature said: "That should be an ancient existence from the universe era before the last one, or even longer ago. Level 10 lifeforms are not omnipotent, let alone immortal. On the contrary, there are too many powerlessness and countless possibilities of falling."

"I was also born in the Meta-Star Realm, that is, the Earth mother star, because the location where I took root happened to have a Level 10 life core from an unknown era, which ultimately allowed me to become the 'True God of Nature'. The essence is still a lifeform that constantly strengthens by absorbing Origin Power. You will also hopefully reach the same Level 10 life level as me in the future, and you will be as trapped in Level 10 as I am."

Banbu asked: "After Level 10, can't you continue to absorb Origin Power to grow?"

The True God of Nature said: "You can. But it's like an endless abyss, you can never see the end, you can't see hope. Perhaps, it's because I'm a plant, and the essence of life is limited. You, as a Protoss, with the essence of life being a Zerg, may be different."

Banbu didn't know how to respond again.

Plants can directly absorb Origin Power to grow.

Zerg warriors need to eat Origin Power food condensed from Origin Power plants to grow. Upon careful consideration, genetic evolution is clearly one step behind the backward plants.

Banbu was full of doubts and didn't know where to start asking for a while.

"You can't follow the same path as me, so I can't tell you too much. Go, before you find the answer, don't come back again, and don't come looking for me. Now, you are independent of the Natural God system, learn to think for yourself, explore for yourself... the mysteries of life..."

The emerald green sapling turned into a phantom, blurred, and disappeared.

Banbu shook his head vigorously, dazed, as if waking up from a dream, the fatigue of the past few days swept away, and he felt refreshed.

Looking around again, he was indeed on the spaceship.

It was not a dream.

The spaceship was sailing at a uniform speed, crossing the Divine Power Barrier.

The light behind him disappeared little by little, and ahead was endless darkness.

The first step of the journey to the stars is to seek that little bit of light in the darkness.

(End of the book)