The Wizard of Truth: Starting with Analyzing All Things

The "Stargazer" broke free from the pale golden mist of Twilight's Remnant and plunged back into the pure darkness of the "Eternal Night Zone," a darkness that seemed to absorb all life. Unlike the aimless groping of its arrival, the voyage now had a clear destination—the unknown coordinates of the "Desolate Beyond," shimmering with interwoven pale gold and dark purple lights. However, a clear destination did not guarantee an easy journey. Star charts indicated that even with the optimal route, reaching that region would require at least 180 standard days of travel, traversing several known interstellar treacherous areas, incompletely mapped gravitational anomalies, and potentially distorted paths due to the "Eternal Night" environment.

Inside the bridge, after the brief moment of exhilaration following the resolution, a more pragmatic and urgent atmosphere of "preparation for war" prevailed. Everyone understood that this voyage would be a valuable, and perhaps only, "buffer period," for them to digest the legacy of Twilight, enhance their strength, and prepare for the ultimate danger they might encounter.

The voyage plan was meticulously devised by Elder Anderson, selecting several secondary routes (though with slim chances) for resource gathering while ensuring concealment and avoidance of known large-scale space disasters. Meanwhile, Mentor Verna began a new round of systematic enhancements and modifications to the starship. Inspired by the *Observatory Psionic Technology Core Summary* and parts of the *Order Lock Reverse Analysis Notes*, she focused the modifications on several key areas.

First, there was a deep integration and upgrade of the concealment and anti-tracking systems. The original "full-band wave jammer" was redesigned, with the core incorporating a "phase weaving" algorithm derived from the structure of the Twilight Remnant altar, capable of dynamically simulating background psionic ripples. The new system, named "Shadow Cloak," no longer simply interferes with or shields the Star Key Crack and ship signals, but instead attempts to "weave" the entire energy and matter of the "Stargazer" into the background psionic field of the navigation environment, simulating a slightly denser cloud of cosmic dust or a harmless spatial ripple. This system is energy-intensive and requires specific psionic environments; its effectiveness is reduced in psionic inert regions like "Eternal Night," but it represents the current technological limit.

Secondly, the defense system was specifically reinforced. Based on the understanding of the energy erosion characteristics of the "Crystal-Eating Bacteria" and the "Order" attack pattern of the Static Court, Verna integrated a psionic resonance frequency derived by Lilith from the "Principles of Order Suppression Psionic Potion" into the starship shield generator. This frequency can neutralize some of the "Order" erosion. Furthermore, utilizing the principles of energy structure stability from Barton's newly acquired "Psionic Resonance Body Tempering Method," the energy node distribution of the shield was optimized, giving it greater resilience and dispersion capabilities when facing high-frequency oscillations or disturbances at the rule level. Although it cannot withstand attacks of the level of "Shadow of Libra," its protective power is expected to be increased by more than 20% against the conventional erosion of secondary "Eyes of Order" or "Crystal-Eating Bacteria" clusters.

Finally, there was the optimization of the internal training and survival environment. Using the high-purity inert psionic energy extracted and purified from the altar's "Psionic Essence Pool," Verna set up simplified versions of "Psionic Immersion Matrix" in the main cabin, gravity training room, medical bay, and the core crew's rest area. These matrices slowly release gentle psionic particles that resonate with the "Primordial" environment, providing continuous, low-intensity training assistance and mental comfort to the crew. This is especially helpful for Lovi nurturing his Star Key, Lilith treating Airi, and others absorbing new knowledge and consolidating their realms.

The modification work proceeded in parallel with the long voyage. The "Stargazer" was like a mobile, self-evolving steel ark, quietly transforming itself in the silent darkness.

Luo Wei's life entered an extremely regular cycle. Every day, he spent a great deal of time, aided by psionic energy, using the "Initial Understanding of Source Seed Nurturing and Rift Suppression" to continuously and meticulously guide and buffer the Star Key. This work was tedious and painful, like walking a tightrope on the edge of an abyss, having to stabilize the essence of the "Source Seed" while guiding and diluting the erosion of the "Order" rifts. Progress was slow, but the effects continued to accumulate. After nearly a month of effort, the "blinding" light and the intensity of the rule fluctuations emanating from the silvery-white rifts on the surface of the Star Key had been weakened by about 5%. More importantly, Luo Wei's own mid-stage Second Ring Star Speaker realm had been tempered like never before in this high-precision, high-intensity practice. His microscopic manipulation of stellar power had reached a new level, and his understanding of the conflict between the forces of "Order" and "Evolution" had become increasingly profound. He even began to try to incorporate his experience in "guiding" the cracks into the improvement of "Star Vortex Resonance," attempting to give the defensive shield a buffering and deflecting property against the erosion of "order." At the same time, he did not give up his research on "A Preliminary Exploration of the Interaction between Star Laws and Source Codexes." The mid-range attack star technique model he conceived, which combined "traction" and "explosion," gradually took on a clear outline through his repeated deductions and minimal safety experiments. He tentatively named it "Star Vortex Strangulation." Although it was still far from actual combat, the theoretical framework had already taken shape.

Current status: Luo Wei (Mid-stage Second Ring Star Speaker, refined realm, significantly improved control)

Key advancements: Continuous use of the Crack Suppression Method significantly slows down the erosion of the Star Key, enhancing self-control and understanding of the nature of power.

Capability enhancement: "Star Vortex Resonance" is incorporated into the concept of buffering the erosion of "order"; the theoretical model of "Star Vortex Strangulation" is under construction.

Potential direction: Try to apply the experience of crack suppression to self-defense and deepen the understanding of rules.

Combat capability assessment: Defensive targeting and survivability continue to improve, offensive methods are being developed, and overall strength is steadily increasing.

Barton completely immersed himself in the upgraded gravity training room. No longer content with simple strength training, he, with Verna's assistance, transformed the room into an "all-around training ground" capable of simulating various energy environments (low psionic energy, inert psionic energy, micro-order interference, high-frequency oscillation background, etc.). The "Psionic Resonance Body Tempering Method" became his main course. He attempted to guide his stellar battle aura to resonate with the various "unfriendly" psionic environments simulated in the training ground. In the process of resisting environmental pressure and adapting to energy conflicts, he tempered the cohesion, explosive power, and resistance to foreign energies of his battle aura. This process was ten times more painful than simple weight training; his battle aura often went berserk, and his body suffered numerous injuries, but with Lilith's special potions and his own indomitable will, he persevered. His battle aura gradually shifted from a mixture of fiery white and dark gold to a more restrained, molten platinum-like quality. His aura became as solid as a mountain, and every movement carried a chilling sense of oppression. His Star Warrior (early first ring) realm was completely solidified, even touching the threshold of the mid-first ring. He also consulted Anderson about the basic knowledge of starship external armor structures and began to try to integrate his understanding of power into the simple enchantment of those alloy battle swords—not complex runes, but an attempt to solidify a trace of "high-frequency oscillation" characteristics within the blades in a more stable way, enhancing their ability to penetrate armor and destroy energy structures.

Lilith's work focused on two main areas. One was to continue in-depth research into Airy's case. Guided by the *Silicon-Based-Spirit-Based Life Harmony Medical Canon*, her monitoring and treatment of Airy's body entered a more scientific phase. She began regularly collecting trace amounts of tissue fluid from Airy's metabolism, containing information about the conflict between "order suppression" and "evolutionary" forces. Combining this with purified substances from the "Psionic Essence Pool," she attempted to synthesize more complex "awakening agents" designed to "induce" and "strengthen" Airy's own life system's resistance to "order suppression." Simultaneously, she began systematically studying the *Principles of Order Suppression Psionic Pharmacology*. Although it was only an introductory course, it had already given her a revolutionary understanding of how "order" power worked. She began experimenting with concocting extremely simple "purifying dust" and "neutralizing mist" that could temporarily weaken the activity of low-concentration "order" energy or interfere with its binding with matter, preparing for potential future encounters with enemies carrying "order" attributes.

Verna is the busiest member of the team. She not only leads the starship's modification but also continues to deepen her research into the "Notes on Reverse Analysis of the Order Lock Structure," attempting to understand the construction logic of its energy loops and possible "backdoors," crucial for their future response to the Silent Court's blockade. Simultaneously, she guides Annie, gradually applying the knowledge from "Fundamentals of Primal Psionic Runes (Complete)" to the starship's localized optimization and the creation of portable devices. Under her guidance, Annie successfully crafted several simple "Psionic Amulets" based on Primal Runes. Although their functions were limited (such as slightly increasing mental energy recovery speed and providing weak resistance to psionic erosion), their craftsmanship was exquisite, demonstrating exceptional talent. Annie's Star Speaker Apprentice (Peak Initial Stage) level has reached perfection through systematic learning and extensive practice; she only lacks an opportunity to attempt building a core ring and officially enter the ranks of Star Speakers.

Lena's transformation was subtle yet profound. She spent countless hours daily practicing the "Deep Space Rhythm Listening Method," gradually learning to actively "tune" her frequency, filtering out most of the meaningless stellar "noise" and focusing on capturing specific "rhythms" that might be related to herself, the Star Key, Airi, and even the legacy of the "Cradle." Her intuition became more "sensitive" and "quiet." While the range of her warnings didn't increase dramatically, its accuracy and ability to judge the nature of potential threats improved significantly. She began to vaguely distinguish between the "malice" of natural space disasters and the "malice" emanating from man-made objects or life forms, and could even occasionally capture fragments of extremely ancient "historical echoes" left behind in passing star systems. These fragmented pieces of information were scattered and useless, but they gave her a more intuitive understanding of the "vastness" and "ancient" nature of the universe. Her mind became calmer and more transparent with each listening session, and the essence of her intuition seemed to continue evolving in a more mysterious direction.

Elder Anderson became an indispensable "glue" and "intelligence officer" for the team. He was responsible not only for navigation monitoring, resource allocation, and daily maintenance, but also for systematically organizing and archiving all textual, image, and data materials acquired since leaving the continent of Chilva, attempting cross-analysis and correlation studies. He created a massive "Dark Side of the Stars Map," marking known territories, key event nodes, ruin locations, and various mysteries and hypotheses, which hung in a corner of the bridge and was continuously updated as new information emerged. This map became a crucial reference for the team to understand their situation and plan their future direction.

Two months passed quietly amidst the regular busyness and focused improvement.

The voyage has reached its sixty-third day.

The Stargazer is traversing the edge of a sparse asteroid belt marked "Broken Star Corridor." Far from the stars, the celestial bodies here are ancient and cold, making it a relatively "lively" area within the "perpetual night" environment, occasionally containing some inert minerals or ice resources. According to their plan, they intend to make a brief stop here to attempt to collect some raw materials that might be used for manufacturing or replenishment.

Lina's spiritual warning came first: "Deep in the asteroid belt ahead, there is a faint energy reaction... It doesn't seem to be minerals, nor is it a natural phenomenon... It's more like... a periodic dormant pulse from some kind of device? Very faint, very ancient, but still running. No obvious hostility or life signs."

This discovery immediately caught the team's attention. Could there be ancient equipment still functioning in such a remote, perpetually dark region?

"Stay hidden, approach slowly. Scan and analyze," Rowe ordered.

Like a ghost, the "Stargazer" glided into the asteroid belt, following Lena's guidance, and finally discovered a spindle-shaped metallic structure, about the size of a house and covered in thick cosmic dust, half-embedded in rock on the back of a gray-black asteroid about ten kilometers in diameter and covered with impact craters. The structure had an archaic style and rigid lines, unlike the "Stargazer" or the known Stargazer and Silent Court asteroids. There were some blurry etchings on the surface, resembling the logos of some engineering or research institution, but they were severely weathered. A heat sink located at the tail, half-hidden by dust, was releasing extremely weak energy pulses at a frequency of about once per standard time, almost indistinguishable from background radiation.

"Weak antimatter decay energy signature detected... Device type unidentified, no matching record in database. External structure severely aged, but internally appears to have a very minimal life support system or storage unit functioning," Verna analyzed. "Could it be a probe, beacon, or... an escape pod from some long-extinct ancient civilization?"

"Is there any risk?" Anderson asked.

"The energy response is extremely low, and there are no signs of weapons or defense systems. However, the internal situation is unknown, and there may be risks of radiation leakage, gas escape, or unknown pathogens," Verna assessed cautiously.

"Barton, you and I put on protective suits and conduct an initial external check. Instructor Verna, Lilith, provide remote support. The rest of you, remain on guard." Rowe decided to risk exploring. Discovering ancient equipment still functioning in this place was an extremely valuable source of information in itself, perhaps revealing the unknown history of this star system, or even finding useful supplies.

Soon, Rowe and Patton hovered beside the shuttle-shaped structure in their small engineering boat. A closer look revealed its weathered appearance. The metal hull was chillingly cold in the perpetual night, covered in centimeters of thick dust. They carefully cleared away some of the dust, revealing what appeared to be a hatch, next to which was a dimly lit touchscreen panel composed of intricate geometric patterns.

"There's no physical lock; it seems to be some kind of energy or biometric lock," Rowe observed. "The panel is completely malfunctioning, but the lock cylinder structure doesn't seem to be a single piece from the outer casing; there are gaps."

"I'll do it." Barton stepped forward, his hand, clad in heavy engineering gloves, pressed against the edge of the hatch. A subtle flow of molten platinum-like battle aura emanated from him—not brute force, but rather the controlled "high-frequency oscillation" characteristic, refined to an extremely fine degree, like the most precise vibrating blade, slowly cutting and vibrating along the perceived structural gaps. A few minutes later, accompanied by a soft metallic cracking sound, the hatch lock cylinder was shattered from the inside. Barton and Lowe worked together to slowly pull the heavy hatch open a crack.

No gas escaped; the interior was a near-absolute vacuum and darkness. The engineering vessel's searchlight shone in, illuminating a small, dust- and frozen condensation-covered compartment. The furnishings were simple: in the center was a seat encased in multiple layers of transparent (now broken) protective shields, upon which rested a desiccated corpse, clad in a heavy, ancient spacesuit. On the control panel, several indicator lights were extinguished; only a palm-sized hexagonal crystal panel, embedded in the panel and covered with spiderweb-like cracks, flickered a faint red light at an extremely slow frequency—the source of the pulse detected externally.

"It was a single-person escape pod...the pilot didn't receive any rescue," Patton whispered.

Lowe's attention was drawn to the shimmering crystal panel. He carefully avoided the wreckage and approached the control panel. The cracks in the crystal panel were fresh, seemingly caused by the final impact of the escape pod on the asteroid. Through the cracks, he could see extremely fine, almost liquid-like light slowly flowing inside, accompanied by a faint shimmering stream of data.

"This could be a black box, or some kind of recording device," Lowe said over the communication channel. "Professor Verna, could you try to read the data inside without loss of quality? It might record the survivor's origins, experiences, or even the history of this star system."

"You can try. Use the engineering vessel's universal data interface to make a trial connection in the lowest power and most compatible mode. Be careful, the equipment is extremely old and fragile, and could be completely damaged at any time," Verna instructed.

Following the instructions, Lowe connected the engineering vessel's data cable to an exposed interface next to the crystal panel, conforming to some ancient standard. A few seconds later, Verna's voice came through: "Connection established! Parsing data format... very old, but clearly structured, like a combination of some kind of log and voyage record. Attempting to translate and read... there is image and text data!"

On the main screen, blurry, frame-skipping static images and fragmented text messages began to appear intermittently:

Scene 1: A beautiful, emerald-green planet surrounded by a pale purple ring, with bustling spaceports and ships visible in orbit. Text excerpt: "...Home... 'The Emerald Ring'... The final evacuation..."

Scene 2: Against a starry backdrop, several sleek, white-glowing spaceships are battling twisted, dark purple, seemingly living shadows. Text: "...They've come...devouring everything...'Light Devourers'...unstoppable..."

Scene 3: Escape pod view, violent shaking, alarm flashing, with explosion flames and spreading dark purple "tides" in the background. Text: "...Main ship destroyed...Coordinates lost...Only...random warp..."

Scene 4: An endless, dark starry sky, the readings on the dial representing energy and life steadily declining. Text: "...drifting...unknown years...hope...where lies..."

Scene 5: The final scene shows the blurred outline of the asteroid belt, and on the control panel, a heavily gloved hand tremblingly caresses a holographic image on a pendant—the image depicting a smiling woman and child. The text freezes, filled with endless longing and despair: "...Lin...Ka...I'm sorry...I can't go back..."

The recording ended abruptly there. The light from the crystal plate went out completely, turning into a lifeless gray stone.

Silence fell over the bridge. A tragedy from the distant past, from another strange civilization, involving an encounter with "Crystal-Eating Bacteria" (recorded as "Light-Eating Bodies"?) and their ultimate destruction, was presented to them in such a direct and brutal way.

"Another civilization 'devoured' and destroyed... This may have happened even earlier than the 'Cradle of Glimmer,' or in another star system." Verna's voice was heavy. "'Light-devouring organisms'... are highly similar in characteristics to 'Crystal-devouring bacteria.' The 'scavengers' of the Stasis Court have probably already been spread and tested many times throughout the universe."

"This escape pod has been adrift for at least several thousand years, or even longer..." Elder Anderson sighed, "until we found it."

Luo Wei silently removed the completely malfunctioning crystal plate and carefully put it away. This was not just a data storage device, but also the last, silent tombstone of a civilization.

"Patton, check inside the cabin for any other valuables, or... the pilot's identification. Then, let's give him a proper burial," Rowe ordered.

Patton meticulously searched the cramped compartment, finding nothing of value beyond the pilot's personal belongings: an alloy identification tag engraved with unreadable text and symbols; a personal terminal long since depleted of power; and several strange metal coins that may have been currency or souvenirs. They placed the pilot's remains and his precious personal items together inside the escape pod, then used the engineering vessel's robotic arm to move several massive rocks, completely sealing the pod's hatch and the impact breach, thus constructing a makeshift stone tomb for this exile from ancient times in this eternal darkness.

Back aboard the Stargazer, the atmosphere was heavy. This unexpected discovery brought not tangible resources, but a deeper historical weight and a more urgent sense of crisis. The origins of the Crystal-Eating Bacteria and the conspiracy of the Stasis Court, which they were pursuing, were far darker and more ancient than they had imagined.

"Continue sailing." Luo Wei looked at the reset course on the main screen, pointing to the "Desolate Other Shore," his voice calm yet firm. "This ancient traveler, through his end, tells us that there is no way out by running away and waiting. Only by finding the source and uncovering the truth can we truly stop such tragedies from repeating themselves again and again in the sea of ​​stars."

The Stargazer set sail once more, leaving behind the silent stone tomb and the millennia-old sorrow that slumbered within it, amidst the cold rubble. The darkness ahead remained profound, but in the eyes of everyone on board, the flames of "pursuit" and "resistance" burned even more fiercely and resolutely because of this interlude.

The voyage continues. Forging, learning, and preparing. For the truly decisive clash that may soon arrive on that "desolate other side."