There were still many things Takumi hadn't figured out yet.
Those massive starships surely contained a trove of knowledge. He'd need time to sort through it all later.
After all, when he initially collected them, he hadn't checked them one by one.
Even if one ship turned out empty, the others were bound to hold valuable tech.
After eating his fill, Takumi headed out with Bronya.
By the time they arrived at the Academy of Sciences, Velvi was already waiting.
Seeing Takumi, she couldn't contain herself.
"Bring it out!!"
She was bursting with anticipation. Now that Takumi was back, she wanted what he promised.
Seeing how eager she was, Takumi rolled his eyes.
"Why are you in such a rush?"
"You want me to unpack a starship here? Are you serious?"
Velvi paused, then realized he had a point.
She promptly dragged Takumi to the rear courtyard of the research facility.
There, they had a massive open space. It should be large enough to fit the ships.
But before they walked far, Takumi opened a space portal in front of her.
Velvi blinked, but without hesitation stepped in.
Bronya followed right behind.
The three of them arrived on another continent.
No one lived here. It was just open plains and scattered trees. Mostly wild beasts.
Once there, Takumi opened a massive space rift.
Starships began flying out one after another.
As they emerged, Takumi issued a command:
"Prometheus, take over the ships."
Instantly, the ships powered up.
Prometheus began interfacing with them.
They flew off to locate landing zones.
Some ships were enormous. Keeping them here would take up too much space.
That's why Takumi had Prometheus manage their deployment.
Watching the ships, Velvi was ecstatic.
"Yes, yes, yes! This is amazing!!"
She was completely thrilled.
These ships belonged to a totally different technological lineage.
She absolutely had to study them.
Especially the main cannon.
From the outside, it resembled a particle cannon, but she could tell it wasn't ordinary.
Takumi had retrieved at least a hundred intact ships.
They flew in all directions to find suitable docking zones.
Prometheus started extracting their onboard data, uploading everything to the network.
Takumi no longer had to do anything himself.
Prometheus would handle the rest.
After all the ships were released, Takumi stopped one and had it land in front of them.
He opened the hatch.
Without hesitation, Velvi ran inside.
Takumi followed with Bronya.
Inside the ship, Velvi bolted ahead toward the bridgeonly to get lost shortly after.
"Which way to the bridge?" she asked, bewildered.
Takumi sighed.
"Follow me."
He took the lead.
Honestly, if you didn't know the layout, don't rush off like that.
You'd think she was a seasoned crew member the way she sprinted in.
With Takumi guiding them, they eventually reached the bridge.
Velvi quickly issued instructions:
"Prometheus, compile all ship data. Move the ships to other facilities. Let the mechanoids handle retrofits and present upgrade proposals."
Takumi had already assigned those tasks.
There had to be plenty of useful information in the ships.
And the ships themselves were definitely reusable.
He left it all to Prometheus.
While Takumi was issuing commands, Velvi had already started reviewing the data.
Strange text? That didn't slow her down one bit.
Once she got a grip on the systems, she immediately began dismantling components.
Bronya joined in.
Meanwhile, Lala messaged Takumi through the group chat:
Lala: [@takumi Where did you guys go? Where is everyone?]
She had planned to check out what Takumi brought back, only to find him missing.
Seeing her message, Takumi opened a portal.
Lala stood on the other end, looking confused.
"Come on over," he called.
Lala ran through eagerly.
"Are these the ships you brought back? Let me see!!"
She darted over to Velvi and joined in the dismantling.
Both were beyond fascinated by the ships.
To Lala, they were priceless.
These ships were more advanced than anything she'd ever seencapable of world-hopping.
Of course they had to study them.
Seeing this, Takumi spoke:
"I'll set up a research facility for you here. If you need anything, just have Prometheus arrange it. Call your assistants, too. The ship is all yours to take apart."
He assigned the task on the spot.
Since they were so eager, he'd let them go wild with it.
Velvi replied without even looking up:
"Do as you please. We might not be heading back for a while."
She was totally on board.
This was too good an opportunity.
As for her assistant?
She'd bring her along for the experience.
She was quite fond of Shinonono Tabane.
Takumi didn't say more.
He stepped outside and began construction.
First, he set up a massive landing pad.
Then he built offices and other facilities.
This area would become a major research base.
Within minutes, ships were landing under Prometheus's control.
In no time, the grassy plains had transformed into a massive starport.
Chapter 410: That Was the World Will
After Takumi had arranged everything on-site, he began transferring people over.
He had Prometheus coordinate the relocation of several researchers from the Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Mei and Mobius also arrived upon receiving the message.
Led by mechanoids, they emerged from the void and arrived at the site. Upon seeing the array of parked starships, Dr. Mei's curiosity was piqued.
"These are the new ones you found? From that ruined world?"
She already knew that Takumi had gone off to explore other worlds. Now that she saw the results, she was intrigued.
"Yes," Takumi replied.
"But unfortunately, that world was completely destroyed. Not a single living being survived. All the planets with civilization were torn apart by black holes. In the end, all I brought back were these ships. But these ships are the crystallization of their civilization. Let's see what data we can extract. I've already tasked Prometheus with sorting through it."
Dr. Mei sighed. "That's a shame. Still, these ships alone are more than enough. The technology in them is far beyond ours."
She glanced at Velvi and the others, already immersed in dismantling the ships, and couldn't help but smile. Having worked with Velvi for years, she knew her welland it was clear just how passionate Velvi was about these ships.
"You should assemble a working group to analyze all of these, especially the weapons. We need to have control over that tech. Once we've fully explored our own universe, we can begin venturing into others. I've already launched several probes on my return. If any data comes back, we might be ready for that next step."
Takumi had no intention of lingering here.
With those words, he turned to leave, leaving everything in Dr. Mei's hands.
Hearing about the probes, Dr. Mei paused and asked, "Probes? You didn't broadcast our coordinates, did you?"
Takumi shook his head.
"No. If they're detected, they'll self-destruct. The explosion will be strong enough to destroy a world."
He spoke with no emotion.
He understood her concernsif the probes were discovered, they might attract unwanted attention.
Dr. Mei nodded. "Good."
With that, she got to work. The ships in front of her needed thorough examination, and she was just as curious about the tech.
Seeing them all busy, Takumi left quietly.
He flashed back home and began reading the materials Prometheus had uploaded.
Following his commands, Prometheus had already organized most of the data.
Takumi browsed through the content.
The starships carried extensive records about the history of that world's civilization.
From what was described, their species resembled humanshumanoid, but not quite human. Their technology was highly advanced.
Once they entered the interstellar era, they began conquering other civilizations, integrating them, and rapidly advancing their technology.
Eventually, they unified the entire universe.
But then they ran out of resources. Every usable area had been mined dry.
Scientists discovered their universe was within a kind of world bubble. Leaving it meant entering dimensional rifts.
This discovery shocked their entire world.
The population became ecstatic and unanimously supported expansion into other worlds.
Their home universe was exhaustedthere was nothing left to extract.
If they wanted to continue advancing, they had to abandon their world and move on.
This decision was universally accepted.
They began exploiting every last ounce of resource from their world, all in preparation to migrate.
Once they drained the final drop, they set out.
But at the threshold of the dimensional rift, they encountered a terrifying enemy.
A battle broke out.
No one knew where the enemy came from. It was enormous, and it appeared out of nowhere.
They hadn't seen it during their observations of the rift.
Reading the data compiled by Prometheus, Takumi was shocked.
What was this creature that stopped them?
And how could they so heartlessly abandon their world after draining it dry?
Takumi was appalled. They showed zero attachment to their homeland. No sentimentality.
They'd used up their civilization's potential and discarded it without hesitation.
He sighed. In his heart, he felt they deserved their fate.
He sent the data to the group chat.
No one responded immediately.
Ten minutes later, replies began to trickle in.
shiroyasha: [Those entities? Likely the manifestation of the world's will. They tried to leave, and the world resisted. That clash led to mutual destruction. In an instant, all life in that world was wiped out.]
shiroyasha offered this conclusion after reading the data.
Those creatures had to be the world's will.
They'd drained the world and tried to flee. The world had stayed silent until the last momentbut when they tried to escape, it retaliated.
"You're leaving? What happens to me then? Am I supposed to just die?"
So the world chose mutual destruction.
Takumi was stunned.
Takumi: [The world's will? It really was that, huh. It never showed itselfuntil the end.]
Every world had a will. Takumi knew that much.
His world did too. But when he bonded with it, its will came under his control.
He never expected that the downfall of that other civilization had been caused by its own world's will.
It had destroyed itself.
Chapter 411: You Saw It Again?
Takumi and Shiroyasha were chatting in the group chat about the concept of the world's will.
A world that could be destroyed by its own world willnow that was something bizarre.
Takumi: [You probably don't get to see worlds like that often, huh?] [Getting wiped out by your own big boss.]
Takumi couldn't help but joke about it in the chat.
To take the entire world's living beings down in mutual destructionimagine just how much the world will must have hated them.
Shiroyasha: [Overexploitation only causes the world will to grow hostile.] [If you stay and help it recover, it's one thing.] [But!!!] [If you plan to just leave, damn right it'll kill you.] [The world will normally doesn't have much power and can't interfere with much.] [But if it chooses mutual destruction, it's totally doable.] [That might explain why their entire population was wiped out instantly.]
Was it someone else's doing?
Unlikely. There was no grudge or reason. Who would care if they left their world? The void outside was dangerous enough. Even if they made it out, there was no guarantee they'd survive. They might even die en route to another world.
Takumi understood better than anyone how desolate the outer void was.
If this civilization had really left, they'd likely have spent a long, long time adrift in the void. Eventually, they might even have destroyed themselves. After all, no one knows where their destination lies. By the time they found another world, generations might have passed.
After their brief exchange in the chat, Takumi exited and resumed organizing the data that Prometheus had uploaded.
There was still a lot of tech to go through.
As Takumi scrolled through the files, Prometheus appeared.
"These technologies aren't immediately usable. They require too many resources. If we follow their model, we might not have enough resources in our entire universe."
Takumi frowned.
"Yeah... I figured. But the resource issue isn't a concern. Besides, I'm not planning to follow their path. Just picking out the useful parts is enough. The rest, we discard. Dr. Mei and Velvi both understand that."
"And resources? We can generate them with Honkai energy. You don't need to worry."
With access to Herrscher abilities, resource management wasn't a problem for Takumi.
"Overextraction is unwise," Prometheus warned, then fell silent.
She'd said her piece.
After reading about that ruined civilization, she became more cautious. She genuinely liked Takumi's world. After she was created, Pardo had hacked her into the Herrscher of the End's domain. There, she had seen muchwitnessed the fall of the previous civilization, and countless deaths.
So now, in Takumi's world, she felt deeply attached.
She didn't want to see his world go down the wrong path.
Though the previous civilization's tech was powerful, it was unsuitableit consumed too much.
But since Takumi understood that, she was reassured.
After a brief exchange, Prometheus vanished.
Once she was gone, Takumi resumed studying the remaining technology.
If someone else had acquired this knowledge instead of him, they might have ended up the sameresource depletion, then collapse.
The level of tech created from a world's entire resource base was no joke.
Besides spatial collapse cannons, Takumi also found weapons similar to two-dimensional foilscapable of flattening space into a 2D plane.
Their method of breaching world barriers? Brutally simple.
They blasted them open with spatial cannons.
But world barriers, once broken, were almost impossible to repairif they could even be repaired at all.
Takumi's world had such barriers tooor rather, they were the world's gateways.
If he could fix them, he would've done so already. But it was far from that easy.
Apart from advanced tech, the civilization also had various life-extending and body-enhancing drugs. Not true immortality, but hundreds or thousands of extra years weren't uncommon.
