Age of Cosmic Exploration

Blue 6 was sitting in the VIP room of captain of the 7th assault fleet. Surrounding him were the influential players of the Blue Race. They were all members of the liberal party and thus could be considered comrades, even though they were all vying for their own goals. Regardless, since their goals happened to coincide, this meant that temporarily, they were friends.

As he drank the jade-green blood of the Mai Dong Race, his body was filled a sense of levity as the essence of "soul" passed through his body... Actually, other than Blue 6, who could sense the "soul", others were just playing along. Of course, Blue 6 wouldn’t expose them, since he was not born yesterday. He knew there were certain social agreements to uphold. However, these people kept skirting around the elephant in the room, which made him increasingly anxious.

Nevertheless, the officials didn’t seem to notice his anxiety, or rather they chose to not to respond to it even if they did. After all, as the emperor that would rule Blue Race for more than 1,000 years, his identity was powerful enough. When combined with his cosmic adapter role, Blue 6 was practically invincible. No matter what, even if he wanted to kill all the royals or even lead the Blue Race towards extinction or even on extreme occasion should Blue Race come under attack, Blue 6 would be spared simply because he was a cosmic adapter.

Because of that, a certain degree of suppression was the agreed upon by the royals when it came to their dealings with Blue 6. Since they would need to hand power over to Blue 6 in the future, in order to evolve his ability and intellect, a degree of oppression was necessary to ensure that his head didn’t get too big for his own sake. Therefore, this kind was contradictory behavior of being both respectful and insolent was common to Blue 6.

One of the officials took a small sip of the Mai Dong Race’s blood and said, "By the way, the Mai Dong Race has to be the most unique race in space. Their ‘souls’ are all collected in their blood, thus allowing for other races to directly extract their ‘souls’ by drinking their blood. This must be the most interesting talent there is."

The other person beside him said, with derision, "What good is that? Because of this talent, they are already a civilization reaching level 3 but have to sell their own people for the sake of survival and advancement. The Mai Dong’s Emperor should be sent into the ionic decomposition chamber for coming up with a policy like this!"

The earlier official took another graceful sip of the blood and said, with a smile, "It’s not bad compared to those level 2 space civilizations living in hell. From the perspective of trade, with the sale of one ‘soul’, they can have ten ‘soul’ products in return. There might be dispersion of ‘soul’ in the process, but as long as there is a net gain, in the next 100 to 200 years, they will have their own cosmic adapter, and for a race that was at the very edge of extinction, selling their people is the only option."

Someone might have said something, but the remaining officials still put up some expressions of derision or condescension. After all, for the Blue Race, the protection of their own race, be it the smallest normal Blue Race citizen, was the responsibility of the officials. Selling their people... this was something even the Blue Race’s Emperor wouldn’t dare to mention.

Blue 6’s anxiety had reached its limits. Even though he was still politely smiling and enjoying the blood like the other officials, he suddenly said, "Earlier, I heard the rumours that several level 2 space civilizations wish to be our vassals. I wonder what the Emperor and the royal committee will do about that."

It was here...

Everyone knew Blue 6 couldn’t be patient anymore. They all smiled inwardly because this meant that they had won. After all, the person who came up with the proposal had to be responsible for it; that was a common rule. Since this was brought up by Blue 6, if it failed, it would be on his shoulders. However, if the excavation of the ruin was a success, they would also be able to share in the glory...

One of them said, "No one dared to accept the offer. Since while it might sound nice on paper that we will be able to have full control over their culture, technology, military, and population, all of us know they are on their decline. Why would they agree to become our slaves, basically? The only reason is they know we have a handful of cosmic adapters among us. Your Honor is one of them... We all about ‘souls’’ underflow effect; in the dispersion and absorption of ‘soul’, measured in units of time and space, the lesser the ‘soul’ of a civilization, the greater the degree of ‘soul’ dispersion. Do you know why the Blue Race hasn’t received any vassals? This is because this policy of no outsider ensures that our race’s ‘soul’ density is always maintained at a high level, and with this density, the amount of cosmic adapters will never be lower than 3. An S grade cosmic adapter; I remember the last time our race had an S grade cosmic adapter was tens of thousands of years ago. So we are all clear about these civilizations’ purpose when they ask to become our vassals. Who in their right mind would accept that? Not even level 2 space civilizations are willing to do that."

Blue 6 knew all this already, as it was all taught in the Blue Race’s primary education. This was only to segue into his next topic.

"However, the historical records of these few civilizations are valuable." Blue 6 sighed. "They are all civilizations that have been around for tens of thousands of years already, especially the race by the name of Earth Race. Other than the fact that their facial features, body size, physical component, and thinking process are similar to ours, their historical records contain some really impossible things. Even though I don’t know the full story, I hear that in their history records, there are navigation charts for places beyond this galaxy. And before their race started to decline, about 10,000 years ago, their race invented a legendary super weapon, the thing that could cross time and space. It’s the ultimate Shelter created by their supreme leader. I think it was called..."

"Noah San Hao," a person beside him added. "Your Honor, it’s called Noah San Hao. This was a huge deal. I remember when the Earth Race initially revealed part of their history; it even got the attention of level 4 space civilizations. They even traded a few coordinates from their historical logs, and even though most of the coordinates were useless, one happened to lead to a hidden lost civilization’s ruin. This created a shockwave among the space community. News about the Noah San Hao spread through our galaxy like wildfire. The level 4 space civilization believed this was a lost and powerful antiquated technology and thus spent thousands of years going through the Earth Race’s history, but they ended up with nothing other than the earlier mentioned ruins that they seemed to have stumbled upon via pure luck... Your Honor, ruins are like four leaf clovers; they don’t just appear anywhere. Do you not know the nickname given to the Earth Race? They are also called the Liar Race."

Blue 6 was annoyed, but he didn’t voice it out loud, after all, this person did help him extend the conversation. He added quickly, "Yes, the Earth Race might not be believable, but doesn’t this prove the value of ruins? Even if it is a low level space civilization’s ruins, due to the difference in scientific progress, it might help introduce a push to our science that has stagnated, and right before our eyes, there is such a ruin!"

The officials lowered their glasses of blood and looked quietly at Blue 6. This was the height of respect in Blue Race’s culture. This meant that they were going to listen seriously and possibly adopt his proposal. This satisfied Blue 6 greatly. As if giving a speech, he stood up to continue in a grandiose manner, "Everyone, you all know my wish, or rather, my ambition... I’m an S-grade cosmic adapter, a Time Watcher that contains the royal blood in my veins. Give me a few hundred years to evolve and I might even become a Time Handler! Therefore, please believe in me. I will hand in the proposal to explore the ruins tomorrow and I will personally lead the party...

"Of course, do not worry about me playing with my own life. After all, this life is no longer mine but the whole Blue Race’s. However, as a Time Watcher, I don’t feel any danger. Yes, no danger at all. This ruin is like a ripe, blue apple sauce waiting for us to taste, and I need some support because the people from the conservative party are too strong. I cannot convince them with my power alone; therefore, I’m asking for allies, looking for friends that will support me. In return, I will offer victory and glory. I know everyone here has wanted a part in the royal committee for hundreds of years already. If this thing is victorious, I’m sure the Emperor won’t mind adding a few more royal committee members, right?"

The more Blue 6 continued, the more excited he got. He could see himself successfully finishing the exploration of the ruins, and these ruins could be of a civilization of an even higher level than the Blue Race could possibly imagine. He would end up mustering more military power than he could ever ask for, and his status in the Blue Race would become unmovable. His dreams were slowly coming true.

Yes, tomorrow he shall hand in the new proposal, and then....

Enter the ruins!