"The world is a building. This floor is for the guards, that floor is for the masters..."
"And us? Which floor are we on?"
"I don't know," Little Lina said.
Currently, she was being held by Ruo. The two of them sat beside a large-scale Star-Net signal transceiver that was currently under construction.
The rhythmic clanging of metal rang out. Under a golden radiance, metal refined, severed, reshaped, assembled, and bonded of its own accord. Super-energy converters were being mounted upon it...
"Why do you say that?" Ruo asked softly, looking at the transceiver. Its structure had clearly been specially optimized, designed to be completed using only various metals and transcendent power.
"I don't know," Little Lina murmured. Her speech always contained strange grammatical errors that betrayed a singular, eerie sense of unfamiliarity. "Mama said I don't understand many things. That I am stupid."
"Then sleep," Ruo said. "When you wake up, 'Sun Star' will have solved everything. Also, you aren't stupid."
"Okay," the thin, grey-eyed girl replied softly.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep within a few breaths.
Thus, she did not see the finished form of that towering signal tower. Nor did she see the dazzling brilliance in the sky above it.
...
Ten minutes after the explosion, the Star-Alloy barrier began to vanish from the top down, releasing intense light and heat.
Within that blinding glow, shards of transcendent crystal and fragments lucky enough to remain larger than a cubic centimeter erupted like a volcanic torrent, resembling a shattered crystal flower blooming in the depths of space.
But an energy akin to golden sunlight enveloped them, filtering them over and over, grinding everything into even finer dust.
Finally, under Valianna’s gaze—which shifted from horror to a resigned 'Oh, well, I'm not that surprised'—Rayting forcibly compressed the remaining crystal debris into a transparent giant sphere only slightly smaller than the Moon. It was colorless and flawless, devoid of impurities or off-colors, lustrously reflecting the light of the distant star.
Within this crystal sphere, thousands of pale phantoms lunged back and forth, yet they were utterly unable to break through the golden radiance flowing across the sphere's surface.
When those pale phantoms realized this fact, they ceased all movement.
A moment later, they abruptly merged into one, transforming into a massive phantom hundreds of meters tall that stood level with the floating Rayting.
"Greetings, 'Sun Star'." The massive 'Wraith' bowed to Rayting using Human Union etiquette, lowering its posture to the absolute limit. It spoke the Orion Human Union common tongue from an unknown source: "I am 'Wraith'. I apologize for offending you and your race..."
"'You'?" Rayting narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, 'I'," the Wraith said, bowing its head. "'Wraith' is me, and I am 'Wraith'."
"..." Rayting tilted his head noncommittally. "A gestalt consciousness similar to 'Comist'?"
"No. No gestalt. Every recorded 'Wraith' you have ever seen is me; the only difference is that some are the true body and others are avatars," the Wraith answered respectfully. "However, my memory resets every hundred and twenty years, so it appears as though a different individual appears in the starry sky each time."
Rayting did not believe the other party's words, nor was he led to believe that the 'true body' was present here. He simply said suddenly, "Then, do you know that 'Gah' intends to devour the galaxy?"
"..." The Wraith seemed not to have expected him to ask so directly, to the point that it actually froze for a moment. Valianna, who had kept the communication line open, was also stunned—devouring the galaxy??
"It seems you do know," Rayting said softly. Of course, these words were also meant for Valianna and the people who had forced her to initiate this call. "It and the crystals under its command believe the resources of the galaxy should belong to them. Therefore, there is no possibility of coexistence between them and current galactic civilizations..."
Simultaneously, he withdrew the portion of his mental power that had been attempting to sense the Wraith’s emotional fluctuations.
This giant Wraith indeed concentrated the mental power of that entire swarm; its current mental level had surpassed that of an ordinary 'S-rank'. Thus, Rayting had to probe deeply to see the other's true thoughts.
But within the other's mind, he saw a withered, cold world of endless wind and snow—a world devoid of light, heat, vitality, and life.
Above such a world, countless Wraiths wandered aimlessly inside and outside the planet, circling a frozen sphere of light within the planetary core. Meanwhile, the planet itself drifted through deep space, far from any star-forming regions.
Compared to the claim that 'all Wraiths are avatars of a single individual,' Rayting was more inclined to believe that these Wraiths of unknown origin had always existed, and that one or more powerful psychics specializing in mental power had simply taken advantage of their lack of self-awareness to seize control over them.
"As for you, you don't even dare to face me with your true appearance." Rayting’s expression was indifferent as he casually tossed out an arrogant provocation that he himself mocked internally—*as if any long-range Esper would get in an enemy's face when they could keep their distance.* "A rat who only knows how to steal a kingless throne is not worth my time."
With a wave of his hand, the crystal sphere—which contained no metallic elements—and the golden sphere of light upon it drifted apart like a pair of gold and silver moons. The former was encased by him within a giant Star-Alloy megastructure shaped like an 'eye' inlaid with golden decorative structures, while the latter began to contract rhythmically, pressing down on the Wraith within amidst an increasingly intense golden light.
"Sun Star!" Valianna blurted out a shout. "The one who wants to devour everything is only 'Gah'! If you kill the 'Wraith' as well..."
"Then we will possess an even greater external deterrent," Rayting said softly.
On a whim, he used 'Sun Alloy' to actually create lunar-style craters on that crystal sphere, and its raised radioactive structures resembled Rayting’s own currently glowing golden pupils and surrounding iris patterns.
In his life before transmigrating, he had loved looking at the moon during his childhood. Back then, the imaging of low-end civilian astronomical telescopes was still very blurry. He had run errands for nearly two years to save up enough money to buy one, staring at the moon until just before dawn.
At daybreak, with both the sun and moon in the sky, he would go to school with bloodshot eyes, thinking for an entire day: *So there's no Moon Palace up there; it's actually just full of pits...*
...Later, he sold that telescope.
But now, with a wave of his hand, he could create his own moon in space, or something even larger.
And then... he could engrave his own eye upon it in relief.
Rayting raised his hand and pushed, sending the eye-like, glowing space megastructure toward the Perseus Arm. The golden light gathered within the crystal moon naturally radiated its brilliance.
It would drift through the no-man's-lands, floating from one rich territory to another across the desolate starry sky. It would fly past those charred planets now overgrown with living crystals and stop at the border, destroying all those seemingly beautiful parasites on behalf of its creator while watching their source—until one day in the future, when all of this would no longer need its protection.
And now, behind it, the golden sphere of light contracted to its limit.
Before vanishing, the Wraith seemed to let out a shriek, attempting to counterattack with all its might, but it failed to budge even a fraction of the 'Immovable' power.
"Though 'Gah' is greedy, it is resourceful," Rayting said, not even sparing it a glance. "It is uniting with nearby neighbors to strike the Human Union, whose position is most suitable as a new springboard... and this 'union' perhaps already occurred when the Galactic Empire fell.
"Now, what we need to consider is not how to coexist peacefully with them, but rather... how many of the provocations launched against us by those small civilizations in the Perseus Arm over the years were at the behest of 'Gah'."
"..." Valianna certainly understood Rayting’s meaning. Since things had reached this point, she naturally followed the flow and changed her attitude: "I will report all of this and have the Complex investigate."
"The first half is fine; forget the second half," Rayting said softly. "I suggest the Federation make the Complex understand the principle that 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold'."
"What an archaic metaphor." Valianna’s lip twitched. "The age of that idiom confirms once again that you are a revivalist."
Rayting: "..."
Rayting: "?"
*Tsk, is this joke still going??*
He said helplessly, "...Fine. Anyway, if we let these crystal creatures go, they won't bring one bit less harm to the galaxy. As for secrets, there are plenty of ways to figure them out, Valianna."
"I know. When one possesses power and the events are closely tied to one's own interests, external compromise is never the best choice," Valianna sighed. "But, 'Sun Star', your reputation..."
"I never cared about that, just as I don't crave the understanding of others," Rayting said softly. "Go. I have a premonition..."
"Wait," Valianna suddenly seemed to see some information, and her eyes widened abruptly. "One hundred and seventy-eight border sectors have submitted sighting reports of 'Gah' and 'Wraith'! Oh... and in several places, massive white fungal mats have been found corroding parts of the fringe planets! It's 'Comist'!"
"...There's definitely more than just this one swarm," Rayting sighed.
As expected, 'Gah'—the kind of thing that must be completely uprooted before it snowballs—had appeared in other places, accompanied by Wraiths.
And...
"Have them check if those 'Gah' have grown tentacles or eyeballs or anything," Rayting said softly. "Also... 'Tianhe'."
【Tianhe: Greetings, respected 'Sun Star'. Please provide instructions.】
"Block all Star-Net users within the Federation from browsing information regarding the 'Ethereal Plane' and anything related to it, including the Federation Assembly Hall. However, retain browsing rights for the two Vice Speakers, the Speaker's Assistant, and myself."
Rayting spoke in a heavy voice.
"Also, intensify the filtering of Star-Net messages. Once information related to it appears, immediately purge the information itself and arrest the relevant personnel for identity checks. Especially the senders—if they are found to be spies or acting intentionally, execute them immediately!"
