Chapter 41: Void Echoes
Far, far away, an endless cluster of worlds, the Multiverse Star River.
The Multiverse Star River is the largest cluster of star rivers within the currently observable multiverse. If a powerful being were to observe it from the void, they would see its shape is an extremely regular, perfect circular disk. Countless world star rivers are neatly arranged in sequence, forming this colossal structure of world clusters that defies imagination.
The closer a world star river is to the inner side of the Multiverse Star River, the higher its energy level, and the closer the world is to the molten form at the dawn of all creation. Although rich in resources, such worlds are not suitable for the reproduction and survival of most intelligent life. Instead, it is within the halo disk near the outer edge of the disk structure that numerous intelligent civilizations have been nurtured.
And at a protruding arm on the lower right side of the Multiverse Star River, within a peripheral world star river, a civilization that has risen and is flourishing over the last thousand years is expanding into the void.
The intelligent life that calls itself the Spirit Clan evolved from bee-like insects that gained self-awareness through their souls, thereby developing a civilization. They were originally a species of large, social, omnivorous insects on their 'Origin Homeworld,' with a social structure similar to bees. In each group, no individual possessed intelligence except for the Queen Mother. However, due to a large-scale geological shift on the Origin Homeworld, mana mineral veins buried deep underground were exposed on the surface. The resulting large-scale 'Mana Revival' phenomenon caused individuals within the swarm to gain souls and develop intelligence.
Surprisingly, despite being bee-like insects, after gaining intelligence, the Spirit Clan did not merge into a single hive mind. Instead, they formed a monarchy with the Queen Mother at its core, and through a series of social reforms, established their political system as a constitutional monarchy with a figurehead sovereign.
The Spirit Clan are naturally calm and adept at obeying order. They developed a complex but efficient bureaucratic system to manage their intricate, world-scale hive communities. Furthermore, since no other intelligent life forms awakened with souls existed on their Origin Homeworld, they have always harbored immense curiosity about life forms from other worlds.
In reality, the Spirit Clan are also fortunate. The world star river they inhabit is exceptionally remote. Due to the lack of high-energy environmental catalysts, no other high-level void civilizations exist within their star river. Those infamous calamity civilizations also rarely operate in this star river area due to insufficient resources and other reasons. The nearest dangerous high-level civilization to this world star river is a fleet civilization called the 'Knowledge Seizers,' which roams the entire scope of the Multiverse Star River.
The Spirit Clan civilization does not know that those Knowledge Collectors did indeed discover them, but because the Spirit Clan were too backward at the time, they didn't bother to approach.
So, the current Spirit Clan civilization essentially monopolizes an entire world star river. They have expanded aggressively over the last thousand years, their technological level has soared, and now they are beginning to resemble a large-scale interstellar empire. Everything has been smooth sailing.
Except for the sudden attack three hundred and fifty-one years ago.
It all started with an abnormal space-time fluctuation. The Central Hive received an urgent alert from a frontier star domain. A first-class mining world slated for development was suddenly attacked by an unknown race. Overnight, eighty percent of the world's mass was stripped away, leaving behind only worthless sand and gravel debris.
Most of the Spirit Clan individuals responsible for guarding the world perished in that massive upheaval. Only a few technical personnel stationed in a void observation station survived. They had all suffered immense trauma, as if they had witnessed some unimaginable entity. In their fragmented, incoherent words, one could only hear them repeatedly uttering the word 'Behemoth.'
But this was not the end; it was merely the beginning. Soon after the first alarm, a second, third, and even a dozen more alarms rang out in succession. One after another, worlds slated for development, under development, or already fully developed were suddenly attacked, their mass completely stripped away. Not only that, but many uninhabited, low-value worlds were also destroyed, and the water resources of several ocean worlds were drained dry.
If one were to look at a star chart, it would appear as a massive shadow continuously encroaching upon the Spirit Clan's territory from the edge of the star river, leaving desolation in its wake, like a grassland devoured by locusts.
In the time of crisis, the Spirit Clan gathered all their fleet strength. But because they had never faced external enemies, their fleet was pathetically weak relative to the scale of their entire civilization—less than a hundred small and medium-sized warships, mostly for show. Nevertheless, the Spirit Clan dispatched this sole fleet to the star domain perimeter where the shadow was about to invade, preparing to resist the unknown powerful enemy.
Then, they learned the true meaning of 'Behemoth.'
It was a mighty, nearly forty-strong cluster of Void Behemoths. Blotting out the sky and sun, even concealing the stars, the crab-shaped Void Behemoths advanced in silence. The combined Spirit Clan fleet was smaller than a single protrusion on one of these behemoths' limbs. The space-time turbulence caused by their advance was enough to affect the orbital paths of worlds.
They refused communication, refused interaction, refused resistance. The colossal behemoth fleet responded to all of the Spirit Clan's communications and combat attempts with silence. They didn't even acknowledge the Spirit Clan fleet's suicidal attacks. They simply plundered the resources of one world after another, then flew forward, destroying world after world.
That attack did not cause catastrophic destruction to the Spirit Clan civilization. All densely populated worlds along their trajectory were urgently evacuated. The Void Behemoth fleet simply advanced in a straight line, stockpiling all available resources, and did not pursue the Spirit Clan's evacuation fleet.
They weren't attacking; they were simply passing through. It was like a giant stepping on an anthill—the destruction caused was too immense for the ants. Fortunately, halfway through the Spirit Clan's civilization sphere, these behemoths seemed to have stockpiled enough resources. They stopped destroying worlds and simply flew towards the edge of the world star river.
That disaster led to the deaths of tens of millions of Spirit Clan individuals and had a profound impact on their civilization. They finally realized that other powerful civilizations existed within the vast world star river, and that sometimes these powerful civilizations couldn't be described by terms like 'friendly' or 'malicious.' Because if one hasn't reached a sufficient height, let alone communication, the strong cannot even perceive the desperate resistance of the weak.
'They' were just passing through, disappearing into the edge of the star river beyond the Spirit Clan's ability to observe. Whether the consequences were destruction or aid was none of 'their' concern.
Because of this, the current Spirit Clan civilization has heavily developed void technology, shifting national focus towards combat fleets. After centuries of continuous development, the Spirit Clan civilization hasn't encountered the powerful entities or enemies they were wary of, but the development of the fleet has become a deeply ingrained tradition. Now, the Spirit Clan's massive void fleet has taken shape. They firmly believe that even if they were to encounter the Void Behemoth legion of the past again, they would at least not be at a disadvantage, utterly powerless to fight back like before.
And due to the vigilance born from the sudden attack centuries ago, the Spirit Clan civilization has been diligently collecting information on surrounding star domains and world star rivers, hoping to avoid being caught off guard by a behemoth fleet's surprise attack like before... Of course, they have found nothing in the last few centuries. After all, isolated in their peripheral star river, the Spirit Clan is unaware of how tense the situation is in the entire Multiverse Star River cluster. Naturally, no civilization would waste time sending a fleet to explore this edge star river at the end of the world.
And just as the Spirit Clan themselves were beginning to slacken, losing interest in monitoring the information from surrounding star rivers...
A vague emergency report was sent from a monitoring station on the edge of the Spirit Clan Empire's territory to the Central Hive on the Origin Homeworld.
"...Respectfully, in the name of the Great Queen Mother, the 24th Awakener, Kaelloya, Frontier Monitoring Station No. 937 has detected an extremely faint mana fluctuation..."
"...Propagating in leaps and bounds deep within the Silent Void at an extraordinary energy level. Our technicians and instruments cannot trace the source of this fluctuation..."
"...This is not a misjudgment caused by aging instruments. It is indeed an abnormal mana fluctuation, mixed with some strange psionic currents. We request high-level detection equipment..."
Initially, this emergency report did not attract the attention of the entire empire. Although the local technicians repeatedly insisted it was not a misjudgment from faulty instruments, this vague report and nearly isolated data could not serve as evidence. Some high-ranking technical department officials even suspected it was an excuse fabricated by the local monitoring station to request more funding.
Ordinarily, this matter would have been like a pebble thrown into a lake, causing little stir. But to the surprise of the entire Spirit Clan high command, similar emergency reports began to arrive one after another from all the empire's frontier monitoring stations.
"...Our instruments have detected an extremely bizarre energy fluctuation, completely different from the systems we are familiar with..."
"...Our monitoring station has intercepted a strange subspace echo. The sound comes from an unknown depth within the Silent Void..."
"...It has been confirmed that the echo was initially very faint but is gradually growing stronger over time. It seems something is approaching our star river..."
"...Its source is deep within the Silent Void, but we cannot accurately determine its range. The current explanation is that the Silent Void is usually so calm that any abnormal energy fluctuation appearing in its depths will trigger a resonance wave over a vast area..."
"...Technicians cannot explain the cause. This strange phenomenon is unprecedented. However, we are still analyzing the existing data and hope to receive support from high-level equipment..."
The content of the reports from the various monitoring stations differed, but their essence was the same: all monitoring stations located on the edge of the world star river had detected corresponding strange fluctuations. The source of these fluctuations was unknown, occurring deep within the Silent Void, and their cause was also unknown.
For the Spirit Clan living on the edge of the Multiverse Star River, the void facing the inner side of the world star river is normal void, while the void facing the outer side is called the Silent Void. Because there are no other worlds outside, the Silent Void is perpetually calm, undisturbed by large-scale space-time fluctuations.
But now, the Silent Void was no longer silent. This immediately sparked heated discussions within the empire's technical departments.
Not only that, but news of these fluctuation signals also became fodder for various strange speculations in the media. For example, a brand new world star river was being born on the other side of the star river, or the behemoth fleet that had mysteriously disappeared long ago was returning from the silence... The peacefully developing Spirit Clan Empire was suddenly swept up in a craze of speculation about external signals.
Large amounts of high-level equipment were dispatched to these frontier monitoring stations. The Spirit Clan Empire began mobilizing its fleet and preparing for exercises, welcoming the arrival of new friends while also being on guard against potential future enemies. In short, they would be fully prepared for all forms of communication and threats.
However, the Spirit Clan was, after all, a fledgling empire. While their void warship technology might not be backward, they were somewhat too weak in the areas of information monitoring and supernatural power systems.
Across the Multiverse Star River, numerous other civilizations also located in peripheral regions, powerful transcendent individuals, and one prosperous super-civilization spanning multiple star rivers all detected the corresponding strange signals. They could all hear the energy fluctuations and subspace echoes coming from a distant star river.