The Wizard of Truth: Starting with Analyzing All Things

"Charge in!"

Rowe's command rang out clearly amidst the roars of the undead and the shrieks of energy. Barton roared, his greatsword sweeping across the room. The blazing starlight energy exploded like a celestial body, turning several stitched monsters in front of him into ashes and forcibly carving out a brief path. Lina pressed her hands to the ground, causing the thorny barrier to grow wildly, temporarily blocking the tide of undead from both sides. Rowe, on the other hand, exerted all his strength to create a "Starlight Barrier," protecting the three of them, while his fingertips flashed with starlight, constantly sniping the skeletal vultures swooping down from the sky.

Like arrows shooting against the current, the three charged towards the fracture in the ship's hull, which was constantly rippling with spatial distortion. The closer they got, the stronger the spatial distortion became, and the turbulent energy currents in the air cut through the shield like blades. Lina's face grew paler and paler; her natural senses were severely interfered with and backfired in this extremely chaotic energy field.

"Hold on tight!" Lowe hissed, pulling Lina with his left hand while the Star Key in his right hand shone brightly, creating a peculiar resonance with the chaotic spatial fluctuations at the fracture point ahead. He attempted to guide this power to stabilize a temporary passage.

Just then, the Abyssal Abomination, radiating the aura of a formal wizard, broke through the Thorn Barrier. Its enormous fist, composed of rotting flesh and bone spurs, carrying destructive dark energy, slammed down on the three of them!

"Don't even think about it!" Barton's eyes were bloodshot, his fighting spirit burning to its limit. His greatsword swelled in the wind, transforming into a giant blade of fire, and he fiercely met the attack!

boom--!!!

With a deafening roar, Barton coughed up blood, staggered backward, and his hand split open, but he had successfully blocked the fatal blow! Flames and dark energy raged, clearing away the surrounding low-level undead.

Taking advantage of this precious gap, Luo Wei's eyes flashed with starlight as he unleashed "Astral Projection" to its fullest extent, taking Barton and Lina with him. They transformed into a twisted stream of light and narrowly escaped into the spatial rift!

The dizzying sensation returned, but this time it was more intense and dangerous than the previous teleportation. It was as if they were passing through an energy tunnel filled with spikes; the starlight barrier fluctuated violently, groaning under its strain. Luo Wei gripped the Key of Star Language tightly, using it as an anchor point to maintain his directional stability with great difficulty.

It's unclear how much time passed, or perhaps just a moment, but the three of them crashed heavily onto the hard metal ground. A deathly silence fell instantly, broken only by their heavy breathing and the cold touch of the metal.

They successfully broke into the starship wreckage!

Lowe quickly surveyed his surroundings. It appeared to be a spacious main passageway, but it was severely twisted and deformed, the walls riddled with charred burn marks and gaping rips revealing a complex network of pipes inside. The air was thick with ozone, the rust of metal, and a faint, stellar dust-like aura. Most of the lighting was malfunctioning; only a few emergency lights flickered with a ghostly green or pale glow, illuminating a gruesome scene reminiscent of a monstrous beast's entrails. The energy concentration in the air was extremely high, yet it was filled with a deathly stillness and chaos, far less serene and orderly than the Stargazer.

"We're in..." Lina leaned weakly against the wall, the journey and the sustained senses had taken a heavy toll on her. Barton wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, gripped his greatsword warily, and surveyed the endless darkness at both ends of the passage.

"Star Core, can you contact Mentor Verna?" Rowe tried to communicate through the spirit emblem.

[Signal is under severe interference... Connection unstable... Attempting to establish a weak connection...] The Star Core's response was intermittent. [Mentor Verna's message: The external spatial rift is extremely unstable and is expected to last no more than thirty minutes. The undead army is showing signs of gathering; you must act quickly and evacuate. She is attempting to remotely analyze the wreckage structure to guide you.]

Time is of the essence!

Luo Wei extended his stellar perception to its limit, carefully sensing the surroundings. The remaining energy traces within the passage were extremely chaotic, containing stellar power, the corrosive aura of the abyss, and the remnants of a violent explosion. He struggled to discern directions, attempting to locate the energy source he had previously detected.

"This way." Luo Wei pointed to a downward-sloping fork in the path on the left side of the passage, where the residual stellar energy was relatively "fresher," although it was mixed with ominous fluctuations.

The three proceeded cautiously. The interior of the wreckage was like a maze, with many passages blocked by collapsed metal structures, forcing them to frequently detour. Occasionally, translucent energy entities emanating sorrow and fear drifted through the air—the lingering echoes of the starship crew's spirits after their deaths. Lina could vaguely perceive fragments of information contained within these echoes: terrified screams, desperate battles, and… a vast, indescribable horror.

Suddenly, Patton, who was walking at the front, stopped abruptly and raised his fist as a warning. From around the corner of the passage ahead, a faint, metallic "click" sound came.

Luo Wei held his breath, extending his senses. Around the corner, three humanoid constructs lingered! Their outer shells were severely damaged, revealing intricate internal components and flickering energy cores. Their movements were stiff and eerie, their eyes flashing with a dangerous red light. They were the starship's automated defense units! But they seemed to have been corrupted by abyssal energy, transformed into hostile and out-of-control guards!

"It's the 'Stardust Guardian'," came the fragmented message from the star core. "Basic defense unit, contaminated... Threat level: Medium. Weak point is the energy core on its back."

"Barton, hold them off head-on. Lena, disrupt their senses. I'll take care of the core." Rowe quickly devised a strategy.

Barton growled, drawing the guards' attention. Lina scattered a handful of glowing pollen, radiating a calming aura, temporarily disrupting the guards' energy sensing systems. Lowe moved with ghostly speed, his fingertip beams of starlight precisely aimed!

puff!puff!puff!

The cores of the three out-of-control guards were successively pierced, emitting a plume of black smoke, and they collapsed to the ground.

Having dealt with the guards without serious incident, the three continued deeper. The further they went, the lower the temperature became, strange frost crystals began to appear on the walls, and the abyssal aura in the air grew increasingly intense. Clearly, this starship had undergone a devastating internal intrusion before its crash.

Finally, after passing through a heavy gate that had been violently torn open and was engraved with complex star runes, they arrived at their destination—a relatively intact circular hall.

In the center of the hall stood the complex crystal-encased device the reconnaissance robot had previously observed! It was composed of countless intricate crystal conduits and metal rune plates, with a fist-sized, dark purple crystal suspended at its center, constantly emitting faint arcs of electricity. Powerful spatial fluctuations emanated from this crystal. Scattered on the ground around the device were several corpses dressed in tattered stargazer attire, covered in a layer of black, writhing fungal carpet that exuded a strong abyssal aura of contamination.

Behind the device, there is a relatively intact wall with a huge, cracked crystal screen embedded in it, and below the screen is a control panel.

"That's it!" Luo Wei's heart tightened. He could sense that the dark purple crystal contained astonishing energy, but it was extremely unstable and severely corrupted by the power of the abyss.

[A highly dangerous contaminated energy source has been detected... confirmed as a core component of the 'Dimensional Beacon,' but it is severely distorted, its function is unknown, and it is extremely dangerous! Stay away!] The star core issued an urgent warning.

At the same time, Lina pointed to the fungal carpet on the ground, her voice trembling, "Those...things are alive! They're absorbing...absorbing the energy here!"

As if to prove her words, the black fungal carpet on the ground suddenly began to writhe violently! Several viscous, tentacle-like black substances shot out from the fungal carpet and wrapped around Barton, who was closest to her!

"Watch out!" Barton swung his greatsword, unleashing a burst of fiery battle aura that burned off the tentacles. However, the severed tentacles immediately reintegrated into the fungal carpet after hitting the ground, and the spread of the fungal carpet accelerated significantly!

"We can't stay here any longer! Lowe, try to get information from that control panel!" Barton shouted while fending off the relentless onslaught of tentacles.

Luo Wei dashed to the control panel. It was covered in dust, but several key rune buttons still glowed faintly. He tried channeling star power into it; the screen flickered a few times, then lit up, displaying an ancient interface composed of star runes.

[Low-privilege Star Speaker energy detected... Attempting to access backup database... Success. Retrieving last recorded log...] The console emitted a harsh response.

The screen began scrolling rapidly through a large number of fragmented images and text records, written in an ancient Star Speaker script, which the Star Key automatically translated and sent into Lowei's mind:

Log Fragment 1 (Astral Calendar 74, 321): "...The 'Eye of the Distant Land' fleet was ordered to execute the 'Silent Surveillance' protocol, anchoring to the K-77 plane (i.e., the continent of Chilva) to monitor the activity of the 'Sleeping Eye' (Abyssal Rift)... Everything is normal."

Log Fragment 2 (Astrology 74, 335): "An unusual high-dimensional energy disturbance has been detected... The source points to the 'Sleeping Eye'... The disturbance level continues to escalate... The highest alert has been sent to the 'Stargazer Council'... No response has been received..."

Log Fragment 3 (Astrological Calendar 74, 336): "Confirmed! Large-scale abyssal rift eruption! The 'Tide of Corruption' has arrived! The K-77 plane's defenders have collapsed... Our fleet has been ambushed by an unknown type of abyssal fleet! It's a trap!"

Log Fragment 4 (Video Recording, Extremely Chaotic): Against a starry backdrop, a massive Stargazer warship engages in a fierce battle with twisted, living abyssal monsters. Beams fly, and the warship explodes repeatedly. A frantic voice shouts, "...Their target is the 'Star Core Resonator'! We can't let it fall into enemy hands! Initiate self-destruct..."

Log Fragment 5 (Last record, weak signal): "'Eye in the Distance' is heavily damaged... crashing towards K-77... successfully detonated the engine, severely damaging the pursuers... but the 'Resonator' core is contaminated... coordinates... data... must... be transmitted back..." The recording ends here.

The truth, like a cold flood, washed over Luo Wei's understanding! This starship of the "Observer" series was sent to monitor the abyssal rift beneath the Tower of Slumber! They discovered abnormal activity in the abyss and issued a warning, only to be ambushed and ultimately crash-landed here! And the "Star Core Resonator" they desperately protected was this contaminated device before them! This thing seems to resonate with other Stargazer facilities (such as the "Stargazer")?

Just then, something unexpected happened!

It seemed that Luo Wei's access to the control panel, or the retrieval of the logs, stimulated the contaminated "Star Core Resonator"! The dark purple crystal at the center suddenly burst forth with blinding light, and the entire hall shook violently! The black fungal carpet wrapped around the corpse seemed to come alive, rushing frantically towards the resonator and attempting to spread outwards along the energy lines!

[Warning! High concentration of Abyssal Will fragments detected! The contamination is attempting to assimilate the Resonator and is tracing the signal source in reverse! Danger!] The star core's alarm blared sharply.

At the same time, a series of footsteps and roars came from the entrance of the hall—the undead army outside seemed to be attracted by the commotion and was pouring in!

Ahead lay the awakened fragments of the Abyss's will and the contaminated creep, behind them swarmed an army of undead! They were in dire straits!

"Love! What do we do?!" Barton roared, his greatsword whipping around like a whirlwind as he fended off the creep tentacles and the swarming undead.

Lowe's mind raced. Forcibly seizing or destroying the resonator was nearly impossible, and might even trigger an explosion. He had to cut off its energy supply, or… use it?

He suddenly looked at the control panel, a crazy idea flashing through his mind! The log mentioned "Star Core Resonator", and the core of the "Stargazer" was the "Heart of the Starry Sky"!

"Star Core!" Luo Wei roared through his spirit emblem. "Can we analyze the structure of this resonator? Can we use its unstable spatial fluctuations to perform a super-short-distance, directional, random teleportation? To send us back to the vicinity of the starship, even if it's off-coordinate! At the same time, try using a one-time high-energy pulse to overload its core in reverse; perhaps that can temporarily purify or paralyze this creep!"

This is a gamble! Using the resonator's own power for transmission is extremely risky, but it may be the only way to escape being attacked from both inside and outside!

[The plan is under analysis... It is theoretically feasible, but the success rate is less than 15%, the teleportation coordinates cannot be guaranteed, and the strong energy pulse may completely detonate the resonator...] The star core responded quickly.

"No time to hesitate! Execute!" Luo Wei roared, slamming his hands on the control panel and frantically pouring all his star power into it, forcibly guiding the chaotic energy flow within the resonator!

Verna's voice came through intermittently: "The spatial rift is about to close! I... guide... cooperate... with... you..."

The dazzling starlight and the filthy, purplish-black light clashed and intertwined wildly on the resonator! The entire hall seemed on the verge of disintegration! The tide of the undead had already surged before them!

At this critical moment—

Buzz!

A dazzling beam of pure white starlight, like a sword of divine punishment, suddenly pierced through the hole torn open at the top of the wreckage! It struck the "Star Core Resonator" with perfect precision!

It was Instructor Verna! She had gathered powerful stellar energy from the outside and launched a precise long-range strike!

The pure white purifying power of the stars reacted violently with the abyssal pollution within the resonator! The dark purple crystals shattered under the strain! A powerful energy storm swept through the entire hall!

"Now!" Lo Wei seized this brief moment of energy balance, fully activating the teleportation function of the Star Language Key and utilizing the spatial turbulence erupted by the resonator!

Swish!

The three figures blurred and disappeared in the energy storm.

The next second, a massive explosion engulfed the entire hall...

……

When Rowe regained consciousness, he found himself lying on cold rocks, with Barton and Lena beside him, both seemingly suffering from concussions but otherwise unharmed. He looked around; they appeared to have been teleported to a ravine not far from the edge of the ancient battlefield ruins. In the distance, a mushroom cloud, a mixture of starlight and black smoke, rose from the direction of the starship wreckage.

They managed to escape.

Luo Wei struggled to sit up and examined himself. His injuries were serious, and his star power was exhausted, but it seemed... under the impact of that final energy storm, the nascent form of the star rune core deep within his soul had become clearer and more stable? As if it had undergone a tempering process.

He raised his hand and found that besides the Star Key emblem, there was a tiny crystal fragment, like condensed starlight, in his palm—was it a fragment of the core that wasn't completely contaminated when the "Star Core Resonator" exploded, which had inadvertently merged into his palm during transmission, forming some kind of symbiotic connection with the Star Key? Within the fragment, there seemed to be some extremely incomplete…coordinate information?

At the same time, new information came from the star core in his mind:

[Detection indicates the candidate has undergone high-energy environment tempering, increasing soul compatibility... The opportunity for Star Speaker advancement is approaching...]

[Received fragmented data stream... parsing in progress... keywords: 'final signal of observer sequence', 'Starfall Pact', 'coordinate fragments'...]

[Warning: A faint trace of the Abyss's will has been detected. Attempts to block it have been unsuccessful in eradicating it...]

They brought back vital information, but also new troubles and...opportunities. The exploration of the starship wreckage has come to a temporary halt, but where will the secrets of the "Observer Sequence" and the coordinate fragments in their hands lead them?