Chapter 43: Voyage and Arrival
Within the vast void shrouded by a dark canopy, a gleaming point of light, like the morning star, sped swiftly across this dim, silent sea.
The Mycroft Joint Expedition Fleet sailed in silence. A translucent, bubble-like, massive spindle-shaped spacetime stabilization field operated at full capacity, emitting a starlike glow that concealed and protected the fleet's safety. Within the churning spacetime, purely optical means could not discern the fleet's true form.
Of course, this did not apply to high-level technologies, super-individuals, and massive detection structures like star-domain-scale advanced guidance arrays; living subspace harmonic sensing beasts, thousands of kilometers long, resembling living continents; micro-mana detectors; and negative entropy source tracking observation arrays.
"Is this never going to end?"
After Joshua kicked apart yet another spacetime detection tunnel that appeared from nowhere and confirmed no prying eyes remained in the vicinity, he raised his hand impatiently. A silver radiance, erupting like a volcano, sprayed from his palm, transformed midway, and finally erected an immense black shield at the fleet's center, enveloping the outside of the spacetime stabilization field.
The 'Black Body Defense,' learned from the Black Mist Mother Entity, was now mastered by Joshua. By releasing a large number of micro-autonomous units, the 'Black Body Barrier' he erected could absorb all electromagnetic waves, thermal energy, and kinetic energy within a certain range, converging all of its own energy emission characteristics like a black hole.
Thus, the entire Joint Expedition Fleet could no longer be observed remotely by any means. Peepers couldn't even find accurate coordinates, at best discerning the fleet's true form by detecting the degree of spacetime distortion in the surrounding space and the influence on ambient light. This method worked within a star river, but in the silent absolute void, such conditions didn't exist. So from now on, the Joint Expedition Fleet would be effectively invisible to other star rivers until they reached the outer frontier of the Multiverse Star River.
Now, over half a year had passed since the Joint Expedition Fleet departed from the Mycroft World.
The current time was July 12th, Year 842 of the Falling Stars Era.
The Star Shepherds, who once rode Void Behemoths, were never fast in the dark star domain. They needed extra time to rest, to discern if they had strayed in the darkness, or if they were still on the correct path to their target.
Thanks to their exploration and experience, the Joint Fleet could traverse the dark zone faster. Ultimately, Void Behemoths were not creatures known for speed. Compared to the almost drifting voyage of the Star Shepherds in the past, the 'Super-Void Channel Engine,' invented by the Legendary Space-Time Mage Nostradamus, drawing on the Unified Grand Database's Dominant Will and the Psionic Leap engine, was at least eighty times faster than the Star Shepherds' top speed.
After the initial three-month acceleration phase, the Joint Expedition Fleet had now entered full-speed void cruising. According to the experienced eight-legged fungal king who had traveled this path before, they had covered nearly one-fifth of the distance.
Thus, even accounting for rest, placing communication beacons, and re-acceleration, Joshua believed the Joint Fleet would reach the Multiverse Star River within three years.
After shielding all external prying, Joshua returned to the bridge. Amidst the respectful gazes of the crew, he sat back in his seat and began to meditate with closed eyes.
"Over half a year has passed... It seems things are going well back in Mycroft."
Through the connection transcending spacetime between his main body and his avatar, Joshua sensed that his mental deviation value had dropped to only 35%. For his will, a 35% deviation was essentially negligible. His main body should have entered a state of deep hibernation, beginning to study and suppress the divinity.
But the remaining 35% of chaotic memories and divinity were the most stubborn and difficult to eradicate. Even with the 'Continent of Strife' in Mycroft, which clearly had many new players joining, Joshua estimated that the purification wouldn't be fully complete until the Expedition Fleet reached the Multiverse Star River.
"Take it slow. I'm not in a hurry anyway."
After confirming the state of his main body, Joshua opened his eyes. The mental deviation value could no longer affect his normal combat ability, at most causing minor differences in choices occasionally, which was inconsequential.
I wonder how Ying and Lin are doing... And Number 3. I hope they're taking care of themselves and completing the tasks I assigned...
Compared to the Mycroft World, which should be developing better and better, the Expedition Fleet was also running smoothly.
Overall, everything was under control. Even the Demon Fleet, which logically should have caused some trouble, was very well-behaved, probably because they were all elites and had the Demon King Goliath overseeing them. When they went to the ecological ships to collect supplies and return materials, they followed the rules perfectly.
As for the Salters, the Star Shepherds, and the Mycroft people themselves, there was no need to mention them. Whether out of respect for the power of the Legendary experts or because they were carefully selected elites from the military, they were all willing to abide by the rules.
Nothing much to say. Because of this excessive order, the voyage of the Expedition Fleet through the absolute void was rather dull.
For the many Legendary leaders, led by Joshua, a dull and uneventful voyage was the best news. For most of the Transcendent beings on board who didn't need to be on guard daily, and the off-duty crew, their way to deal with boredom was playing Fae Cards. But without new expansion packs, cards could get boring too. It was fine as an occasional pastime, but it couldn't solve the problem of the crew's lack of spiritual entertainment.
To address this, the Nature Mentor's solution was to have the crew grow vegetables.
Of course, some grew flowers... Actually, most people chose to keep a few potted plants. Very few actually went to the ecological ships to grow vegetables, but such people did exist. The dwarf Nick from the First Squad, in his spare time from training, grew a giant cabbage in the zero-gravity area that was as tall as three dwarves, becoming a talking point for the entire fleet.
Now, next to Joshua's seat in the office area of the *Dreadnought* Void Battlecruiser's bridge, there were a few small flowers and cabbages. These flowers and vegetables were gifts from his students. Among them, the largest was naturally Nick's proud void cabbage, which, if not careful, could grow to the height of two people. The most beautiful, however, was a very special magical flower cultivated by Ivan and Amira.
The color of this flower's petals changed with the surrounding elemental fluctuations. When placed beside Joshua, it showed a flowing, shifting sky-blue and a star-like golden-orange on a silver-white base. At a glance, it was dreamy, magnificent, and very beautiful.
Joshua personally felt he wasn't the type of refined person to place potted plants beside his seat. These flowers were too beautiful, too gaudy. To be honest, he didn't really like them... Well, it wasn't that he disliked them... Ah, it was a token of his students' respect anyway.
In any case, aside from his initial comment of "Not bad," Joshua didn't say he didn't want them. He silently accepted the gifts, occasionally watering them himself, and the days passed like that.
Speaking of these things, one had to mention the batch of students Joshua had specifically brought along. They were all doing their jobs very well.
The five members of the First Squad, led by Ivan, were currently in the Magic Puppet Department of the *Dreadnought*. As the youngest high-level engineer, Ivan was responsible for the maintenance and modification of giant combat units. For the Expedition Fleet, which was severely lacking in combat personnel, puppets had to be used for ground descent operations or boarding actions. This was an exceptionally important position. Although Ivan was young, he had an advantage that other mages lacked: rich experience in magical combat and using magic for close-quarters combat. He was proficient in both magic and martial arts. This experience could be directly applied to the combat memory modules of the combat units.
Amira, on the other hand, was leading the work in the central control department of a battle cruiser. Using her powerful talent for fine mana manipulation, she was active as the main pilot of the warship. She had leadership talent. The Winged Human Legend from the Era of Radiance, Yarnamilo, thought highly of Amira's future, believing she could become an excellent fleet commander.
The dwarves Nick and Kaelin were both working in the *Dreadnought*'s energy department. They possessed excellent control over Transcendent power and were responsible for the daily maintenance of the engines of multiple ships, occasionally also repairing some overloaded equipment. Of course, this was just the official story. Joshua knew clearly that Nick was currently in a confidential research group working on the development of the 'Elemental Annihilation Cannon,' and Kaelin was in a research group under the Legendary expert Faina, working on the practical application of 'Mass-Energy Conversion Shells.'
As for the most special crew member... the Seventh Prince of the Diamond Imperial Family, Alva. Having witnessed his father's ascension to godhood at the time of departure, Alva was now full of enthusiasm and exceptionally hardworking. He trained daily in the shipboard Transcendent training camp until the scheduled end time. The secret inheritance Joshua had imparted to him last time was so powerful that if he didn't vent all his energy, Alva feared his leaking power would affect the daily work of others on his ship.
Overall, as the result of Joshua's first attempt at teaching students and experimenting with Transcendent power, the warrior hadn't actually invested much thought in them. Their current achievements were basically the fruits of their own hard work. Of course, Joshua had provided them with convenience, but no matter what, it wasn't as dedicated and serious as the teaching he later gave to Lisa and Priest.
Seeing the seeds he had casually sown grow strong, he was gratified.
As for the five members of the Elite Squad, which included Priest, they weren't as spread out as the First Squad. They were all in the *Dreadnought*'s vanguard reconnaissance team, acting as experienced otherworld explorers to teach other Transcendents. This time, it was their turn to give others hellish training. They were surely willing to impart all their knowledge.
Lisa, Syndicate, and Number 3 were in the fleet patrol, responsible for inspecting various ships and rectifying unruly behavior... Speaking of which, Number 3's main body was also present. It was on the outer layer of the *Dreadnought* battlecruiser, mimicking a large escort ship, docked in the temporary void port.
Compared to the First Squad, whose main profession was mage, Priest, as a direct inheritor of the warrior's path, was advancing towards the Gold Peak. Lisa's strength was even beginning to touch the barrier of the Ultimate Realm. It must be remembered that the Dragon Girl was not yet eighteen years old. Reaching such a realm at such a young age was considered by many to surpass even Joshua.
The purified Ancient Dragon blood, mixed with the inheritance of what was arguably the strongest Legendary of the era, had long allowed her to comprehend the power of Magnetic Field Rotation. During her adventures in the Abyss, she had demonstrated city-level electromagnetic destructive capabilities, able to single-handedly destroy an entire nest of Abyss monsters, leaving semi-permanent destructive marks on the surface.
Other than these, there was really nothing much to say.
Things like the Nature Mentor using vegetable growing as an excuse to cultivate semi-intelligent combat plants, Baniel's experiments with rune stagnation field effects in the void environment, Faina's mass-energy conversion shells, and the recent discussion the Holy Sword Bearer had with the warrior about the low-end popularization technology of 'Space Compression Techniques'... None of these were major events. Under Joshua's influence, all the Legends felt they had found a new path. When they left their original Sea World Star River and witnessed the vastness of the Multiverse, the experts, having broken through their cognitive barriers, felt an endless stream of inspiration bursting forth from their minds.
Relatively speaking, elemental annihilation weapons that used elemental annihilation phenomena to create massive explosions were as conventional as ordinary bombs. After all, they were just high temperatures and shockwaves, with some light radiation and elemental radiation, capable of destroying 95% of the material structures in this world, destroying the bloodline genes of humans and the basic runes of elemental lifeforms. It wasn't such a remarkable design.
"We are becoming sharper in fang and claw... That's at least not a bad thing."
Joshua casually touched the petals of the magical flower beside him, watching its colors change. The sky-blue and orange light mingled, then separated again. Watching this scene, he couldn't help but smile. "I really look forward to the civilizations and experts of other world star rivers... Hmm?"
Noticing a problem with his thoughts, the warrior shook his head and muttered softly, "The mental deviation value is still a bit high... We are going for peace and the truth."
"Time to rest."
...
The Mycroft Joint Fleet sailed on, ordinary and mundane, through the absolute void. Neither the Star Shepherds nor the Abyss Demons made any unusual moves. The meticulously designed fleet itself had no major malfunctions or equipment damage. During the voyage, Joshua also found no trace of the Metal Dragon God's passage. It seemed the Astral Dragon's home world was not on the direct line of this route, likely having deviated midway.
Since the Metal Dragon was so eager to return to its homeland, willing to maintain a non-interference policy with the Mycroft people, Joshua had no reason to stop it or interfere. He could only hope that the Lord of Ten Thousand Steel Dragons could fulfill its wish, at least to pay respects to its homeland, from which it had been separated for who knows how long.
In any case, the voyage would not stop. The fleet sped through the void, stirring up ripples in the calm, silent emptiness.
Time flew by. Two years passed.
In the blink of an eye, it was time to arrive.