“Yes, I’ve arrived,” Xiao Yu responded after receiving the message from the Micron Specter.

“Then settle here and develop well,” the Specter said. “Although I am a member of the Specter Race and cannot offer much guidance in scientific matters, my knowledge and experience far exceed what you can imagine. Perhaps, among my remaining memories, there are still pieces of information you might need. So, if you ever encounter questions about larger strategic directions, you may come to me for advice.”

“Elder, thank you for your selfless help. I will not let you down. In the future, I will rise to heights even beyond yours and uncover the answers to all that plagues us. The Sweepers and the Guardian Civilization will be destroyed by my hand, as vengeance for you,” Xiao Yu said with heartfelt sincerity.

“Vengeance… let that go,” the Specter replied. “In the universe, hatred is meaningless. Only interests reign supreme. But sooner or later, you will face the Neutron War Star. On that matter, I can give you a piece of advice, the terror of the Neutron War Star surpasses your imagination. Until you have complete confidence that you can defeat it, do not provoke the Sweeper Civilization.”

A heavy feeling settled over Xiao Yu’s heart.

This wasn’t the first time he had heard such a warning. The now-destroyed Taihao Civilization had also said something similar to him.

“Could you… tell me what happened back then? And what exactly makes the Neutron War Star so terrifying? I once spoke with that deceased Taihao Civilization, and they told me the same thing.”

“At that time, I joined forces with my Main Civilization. We hoped to use the window when the Neutron War Star was being delayed by another powerful entity to destroy the core of the Sweeper Civilization. But the plan deviated. The Guardian Civilization intervened, and we were unable to complete our objective within the expected time frame. Once the Neutron War Star returned, everything fell apart, you know the rest,” the Specter said, his tone heavy with regret. “As for what makes the Neutron War Star so terrifying… I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Xiao Yu asked in surprise. “You fought it yourself. How could you not know?”

“Not knowing is exactly what makes it terrifying,” the Specter answered. “It is precisely because we don’t know why it’s so frightening that it is frightening… After our defeat, we didn’t even understand why we had failed.”

Xiao Yu fell into deep thought. After a while, he had to admit that the Specter was right.

“You just mentioned that the Neutron War Star was fighting against another powerful civilization… what civilization was that? In the Milky Way, aside from the Taihao Civilization, the Guardians, and yourself, is there any other civilization worth the Neutron War Star’s attention?”

“I don’t know,” the Specter replied. “I only know that the civilization was extremely powerful, stronger even than me. It managed to delay the Neutron War Star for more than three thousand years. And yet, the Neutron War Star defeated us in just thirty. One more thing I can tell you about the Neutron War Star, it is not a technology that should exist in a Level 6 Civilization. I suspect that the Sweeper Civilization obtained the technology to construct the Neutron War Star from a dangerous ruin left behind by a mysterious Level 7 Civilization. So, once you’re strong enough, you might consider exploring those ruins. Perhaps you’ll find a way to defeat the Neutron War Star.”

“I see… I understand now…”

“I’m too weak now,” the Specter said. “Dwelling too much on the past will accelerate my decay. Go focus on your own work for now, I need to rest for a while. If you need to contact me, just transmit radio signals directly at the star. I’ll be able to sense them.”

“Alright, thank you very much, elder,” Xiao Yu said, then severed the connection with the Specter.

At this moment, Xiao Yu was still more than twenty billion kilometers away from the strange star. Judging by the star’s mass and level of activity, this distance should already place him well within its stellar sphere. Yet, even after traveling this far, Xiao Yu had detected no stellar radiation at all.

This meant that the star’s stellar sphere only extended across half of its surface.

“It seems the elder Specter attached to this star has completely and thoroughly blocked half of the star’s radiation. Half of a star’s emitted energy, far more than all the energy consumed by my entire fleet combined, and even in his current weakened state, the Specter is still this powerful?”

Xiao Yu pondered silently, a bit awed.

“Such a mighty existence was still defeated by the Neutron War Star and in the end couldn’t escape a lonely death, vanishing into the sea of stars. And me? What kind of secret lies hidden behind my own existence?”

“If the elder Specter and the Micron Civilization could develop to such an extraordinary degree, then it means that, for now, before I grow stronger, the unknown force lurking behind all this likely won’t interfere with me. That’s a good thing. At least for the time being, one of my biggest concerns is alleviated.”

Xiao Yu quietly reflected.

“These matters can wait. It’s likely I won’t be able to approach them until I reach Level 7 Civilization. The current task is to develop science and technology under the protection of the elder Specter and defeat the Molian Civilization’s fleet!”

The stellar system inhabited by the Specter was, overall, fairly favorable. It contained two planets, one gaseous, one solid. The rocky planet already had a primitive atmosphere. Xiao Yu intended to construct his main base there.

When it came to building up a planet, Xiao Yu was already well-practiced. Under his command, tens of thousands of village-class ships entered low orbit of the planet, selecting geologically stable sites. There, they released large numbers of robots and supplies, beginning the construction of various large-scale bases.

Building a base was much simpler than constructing a spaceship, so Xiao Yu could provide comfortable and safe accommodations for the scientists in a relatively short time. The environment within the base was vastly superior to that inside the ships.

Beyond the research and residential bases came the construction of mining and forging bases. During exploration, Xiao Yu discovered that the planet was incredibly rich in various elemental resources, more than sufficient to meet his needs, though extraction would be somewhat troublesome.

Because… this planet was still in the early stages of geological evolution. Its tectonic activity, earthquakes, volcanism, plate collisions, mountain formation, was all extremely intense. This meant that Xiao Yu had to account for many factors while building each base. Due to these complications, he even had to abandon a highly promising tungsten mine, as it was too close to an active volcano.

This was the overwhelming might of nature, and at this stage, not something Xiao Yu could contend with.

With the technology currently at his disposal, Xiao Yu could shatter an entire planet using antimatter bombs, but he still had no way to calm that planet down.

The planet’s environment was highly reminiscent of Earth’s primitive conditions, raging magma flows, frequent orogenic events. It even had a primordial ocean. Xiao Yu conducted detailed surveys beneath its waters but, to his disappointment, found no life, not even the simplest or most primitive organisms.

“This planet lies right in the habitable zone of its star. Its temperature allows for liquid water, and it has its own magnetic field to shield it from stellar and interstellar radiation. Unfortunately, this system lacks any massive gas giants to protect it, and it doesn’t have a large enough moon to slow its wild rotation. Taking all this into account, whether life will eventually evolve here remains an open question.”

What lay before Xiao Yu was a truly primordial world. Across its surface, more than thirty thousand volcanoes were violently erupting, spewing dense ash that continually replenished the atmosphere’s elemental composition. Over twenty thousand mountain peaks were rising at a rate of more than one millimeter per day. Due to frequent asteroid impacts, the planet’s water reserves were increasing by over five hundred thousand tons daily.

Xiao Yu estimated that at least one to ten million asteroids were striking the planet every day. Most of these asteroids were no larger than a cubic meter, some even invisible to the naked eye. While enriching the planet’s elemental diversity and delivering water, any one of them could carry primitive life elements, eventually adapting and evolving to the environment here, potentially developing into a rich biosphere like Earth’s.

Perhaps, even the various microbes carried by Xiao Yu’s own scientists might accidentally leak into the environment. If they managed to adapt to the planet’s natural conditions, they might slowly evolve, possibly even giving rise to intelligent life in the distant future.

Just imagining such a storyline filled Xiao Yu with quiet longing. Without a doubt, it would be a great epic.

Amid this setting, Xiao Yu’s massive construction teams were hard at work. Under their labor, towering structures rose from the ground one after another, and vast bases gradually began to take shape…

“Now, the time has come for us to begin our true struggle… All scientists from all species, begin assembling. I will pilot the ships to transport you to the surface bases, where I’ve already prepared ample experimental equipment and built comfortable, superior living quarters for you… Let us begin working together toward that war in eighty years, the one that will decide our fate!”