Age of Cosmic Exploration

The many exciting items practically blinded everyone’s eyes. Under Blue 6’s recommendations, they bought the supplies the Hope needed. This included the not-that-expensive sub-molecular solid water and gases that were processed using similar technology. Other than that, they also purchased the hydrogen and heavy water needed for polymerized reactors. They bought the type that had large volume and small size.

Then, also with Blue 6’s recommendation, they went to the food section of the market. There was also plenty of selection there. The people on the Hope had at least been to two life-preserving planets, one was Earth and the other was the new planet, so they had seen two distinct ecosystems.

However, the 3D images of the food materials shown there really opened their eyes to the wealth of food types in space. There were all sorts of unique food, including edible minerals that grew naturally in the ground and parts of sentient organisms...

Most of the food looked new, but there were human equivalents. For example, there was an interesting-looking ingredient that looked like delicious wheat, but there was nothing impressive about its nutrient contents. Such food items dominated 90 percent of the food sold there.

The remaining little percentage was priced really high because they had unique effects. Just like Earth’s spice trade, due to their rarity, their prices were really not different than gold... Although, since gold was a common metal in space, using it to trade for these unique food items was impossible.

For example, there was an extremely rare condiment. It was a powder formed from grinding some sort of fungus. The spore of this fungus was sold there. They could be bought and reared on the Hope. The fungus contained a type of special amino-acid that could change to the taster’s favorite taste once it made contact with human saliva. In other words, the fungus was a tasteless condiment but would change into different flavors according to the taster’s palette.

Furthermore, the amino-acid was beneficial to the human body. According to the computer analysis, constant consumption of this fungus would help improve the human body’s immune system and general health. However, there was always a small chance of it causing addiction. Therefore, regarding the purchase of this extremely rare condiment, Guang Zhen decided to purchase a small amount after hesitating for a long time. However, the price was indeed high.

There was also an interesting legume-type food. It contained a great amount of carbohydrates and protein. However, most importantly, it contained a special stimulin that could activate a human’s growth hormones, inducing a second growth in intelligence, body, and fitness. It was a super food that had no downsides to the human body.

However, this kind of legume required a large amount of feeding... Yes, this legume was what they called a carnivorous planet in space. It was a type of vine, and its vines could move very fast through the ground. It hunted animals like a predator and sucked the nutrients from the animals after curling itself tight around its prey. It was only during the harvest period that its carnivorous nature would hibernate to reveal itself as a safe, green-leafed plant.

According to legend, this legume’s legacy could be traced back to the Pa Race. That would explain its aggressive nature. There was anecdotal evidence that for certain species of this legume, they would still continue to attack the harvester even during harvest period. Of course, this unique growth meant that the fruits they produced were extremely nutritious and their effects were ten times greater than normal legumes. They could be called the superfood among superfoods.

According to Guang Zhen’s calculations, the Hope could set up a room to specially grow this kind of carnivorous plant. After all, the Hope was not lacking in soul. Most animals grew almost too fast on the Hope. They had slaughtered groups of animals to lower their population a few times to clear up space. If there was such a carnivorous plant on the Hope, it could solve many issues.

In the end, they purchased about ten of such plants...

When the humans left the supply market, they had already purchased at least 100 species of food items. When they were shopping, they did not feel like they had bought too much, but when they returned to the vehicle and took inventory, everyone had a drawn face. Why? Because the Hope was running out of space. Even though it had undergone plenty of upgrades, the Hope currently had a population of 200,000 plus and had to set up special rooms to accommodate Earth and the new planet’s ecosystem. Now they also had the new tech center and military square, so there was not much space left on the Hope. These 100 species could not be mixed with Earth’s and the new planet’s ecosystem, and thus they had to open at least another 100 new farming areas. Where would they find so much space on the Hope?

Let’s not fuss over these issues for now, let’s lust leave them for Ol’ Yao to worry about... But seriously... Our new mothership, Kun Lun... It’s time to start building it since we’re soon going to become a level 3 space civilization.

This thought was on Guang Zhen’s mind as he sat down and closed his eyes to rest. It was going to take several hours to get to their next stop, so they used this free time to have dinner or sleep. The next day, when they woke up, the vehicle had already arrived at the mineral trading depot.

The structure was not dissimilar to the supply market, the only difference was the appearance of some civilization’s security unit. They were either on patrol or on guard duty. In terms of general security, this place was tighter than supply market.

The trade sequence here was similar to the one at the supply market, the only difference was that this time, Guang Zhen was carrying a safe. After some questions, the group moved to a depot manned by a level 3 space civilization. After they stated their intentions, they were invited to go inside for appraisal and trade. Soon, about 10 members of the level 3 space civilization arrived to greet them.

The trade went smoothly. Even though Star Dust Gold was expensive, it was not so valuable that it would cause a level 3 space civilization to shamelessly rob them. After all, Star Dust God was only used to create products from level 3 space civilizations, and twenty kilograms of its purified form was not valuable enough to incite these people’s greed.

Therefore, after the appraisal, Guang Zhen’s group left the place safely with the Shelter’s currency value. After checking the accounts, Guang Zhen realized that they had only spent one-tenth of the large amount of money they got from the trade. They were planning to find a way to spend the rest of the money, because it was unlikely that they would return to this Shelter in the future.

The rest was simple. The credit issue was solved after using the Shelter’s internal server system to clear the debt. The feeling of being debt free was indeed wonderful. They still had plenty of money left to purchase a large amount of supplies, technologies, and information.

Their first stop was the mineral trading depot. Naturally, they started with purchasing the stuff that the Hope needed. They skipped super rare minerals like Star Dust Gold because the fact that humanity already had a large amount of it aside, they did not have enough money to buy it and humans had no use for it at the moment.

The group had a list that was given by the Academy before they left the Hope. The various big scientists had named their purchasing needs. For example, there was equipment and parts for something called the super large hedron collider, the sensitive technologies, mineral processors, large equipment, and the additional parts to the second generation mesomeric resonator that the Hope desperately needed. Those were all on the list.

This trading depot had once again opened their eyes. There were many minerals that they had not heard of before. For example, they saw someone auctioning a mineral called plasmatic light absorbent ore. Its actual usage was unknown to level 3 space civilizations as well. This type of material could absorb all light and energy to increase its own mass. It looked incredible and sounded rare, but since they did not know its purpose or benefits, it might be a natural ticking time bomb, so Guang Zhen’s group did not bid for it.

Just like that, the journey at the mineral trading depot came to a close. The group spent another night on the vehicle, and on the third day, they arrived at the machine factory for level 2 and 3 space civilizations.

This place was much greater in scale than the two previous trading centers because of the scale of the items that were traded there, which included the blueprints of a civilization’s mothership.

The things being traded here were the various products of level 2 and 3 space civilizations, from everyday goods to technological products and weapons, including space battleships, patrol ships, and various other ships. The most exaggerated was definitely the mothership that was parked there...

Once again, the choices blinded everyone’s eyes. Many things were beyond their wildest imagination.

For example, they sold plasma weapons here. Simple guns that looked like normal pistols but fired plasma bullets. Of course, the trading procedure here was much more complicated than at the two previous trading centers. The products here could not be purchased by normal civilizations, they had to refer to another number, and that number was the so-called Shelter reputation points. These reputation points did not matter when one was purchasing the products of level 2 space civilizations, but when purchasing a level 3 space civilization’s products, especially the weapons and battleships, it mattered. Purchasing them required a high amount of reputation, and it was not something the Hope could afford currently.

Regardless, the many products from level 2 space civilizations and the limited options of level 3 space civilization products that did not need Shelter reputation were already enough to confuse Guang Zhen’s group...

And just like that, the third day passed without incident...

Translator’s Thoughts

Lonelytree Lonelytree

Compensation for the chapter I’ve missed earlier.