Age of Cosmic Exploration

"From this point onwards, it is a dust-free clean room. You’ll have to change into a special suit and go through the cleaning process before you can enter," Bo Li said expressionlessly.

Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen laughed awkwardly because only Bo Li dared to address them so nonchalantly. If this was anyone else on the Hope, they would explain the situation in a round-about way, probably putting on the special suit themselves to signal them, instead of ordering them around like Bo Li did.

There were about 20 people in the group, and all of them were high officials from the Barracks. After Bo Li’s order, everyone followed Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen to go through the necessary process before they tailed Bo Li deeper into the experiment lab.

The lab was filled with researchers walking about, busy with their work, but Bo Li ignored them all as she brought the group deeper into the lab. They passed a large door before finally reaching their destination.

This was the seventh day after the Hope reached the solar system. The Black Star Troopers had been split into five rotations to explore every corner of the solar system and the Hope was heading towards their destination planet. With the Hope’s current speed, they only needed 20 plus days to reach the planet, but these 20 days couldn’t be wasted. As the Hope ventured deeper into this solar system, more and more citizens confirmed that this was going to be the New Solar System.

The biggest reason was because the selected planet had 3 moons of varying sizes.

For prehistoric civilizations that still couldn’t explore space, having 3 moons was nothing spectacular, but for space civilizations, having a moon would greatly increase the planet’s value. If it had more than 2 moons, the planet would normally be transformed into a Shelter provided the planet wasn’t too barren.

The reason was because the moon would provide a natural defensive barrier. A moon could rival the defensive power of a spaceship 10 times its size. One moon might not be able to cover the whole planet, but having more than 2 moons meant that the planet was indestructible.

All this information was available in the store of information provided by the alien merchants. The validity of this information was proven by the defensive committee from the Barracks. If one transformed the moon, it would be greatly effective in increasing the planet’s natural defenses. Thus, a planet with 3 moons was truly a treasure, granted it was not better than a life-preserving planet, but could they give up such a good opportunity?

Therefore, this solar system had a great chance of being the New Solar System. The entirety of the Hope was focused deeply on the solar system and Yao Yuan was dealing with one of the important details. If they were going to settle there, then they had to defend it well. Humanity’s population was low, so losing one person was a great loss to the civilization. Furthermore, the main defensive force currently was the Black Star Troopers, and they were Homo Evolutis. At this point, humanity knew the value of Homo Evolutis, but since they were also the greatest fighting force, they had to be employed. Therefore, the best solution was to supply them with better equipment so they wouldn’t be defeated so easily.

"This is the new generation of Space Combat Jet... No, it is no longer a combat jet, this is the next generation of space transportation vehicle. I personally call it... the Steel Ball Prototype."

Before everyone’s eyes was a silvery-white metallic ball. Its surface was glowing like a mirror, and it had no front or back, no top or bottom. It was about 15 meters tall and wide, looking not unlike a normal metallic ball.

Everyone present looked at one another with confusion. The thing did fit the name of Steel Ball because it was truly a ball made of steel... but how could it be a space vehicle? Or was Bo Li just pulling their legs?

At this point, everyone’s gazes turned to Yao Yuan until the leader of humanity felt awkward under their scrutiny. Bo Lo then said expressionlessly like there was nothing out of the ordinary, "Now I will showcase the power of this Steel Ball Prototype. However, so far, the only suitable pilot is Yao Yuan; therefore, Chancellor, please take your seat. Send out 20 of your most trustworthy and powerful Homo Evolutis to pilot the Space Combat Jets, we’ll have a match of space paintball and the group to be hit first loses."

"Huh?" Yao Yuan was confused. Why must he be the pilot? With his position, he would not enter the battlefield unless it was a threat huge enough to cause human extinction. Even then, someone would advise him from doing so.

Granted a paintball friendly match was not going to be dangerous, they were toying with a new technology that had not been tested before, and they were going to be doing this beside the Hope, which was flying at full speed. What if the Steel Ball exploded or accidentally harmed the Hope or the other Homo Evolutis?

Bo Li seemed to notice Yao Yuan’s hesitation, because she turned to tell him, "This Steel Ball uses the latest control system. In fact, the shape and structure of the spaceship is such because it has to complement the control system. The control system is not my creation, its creator is someone else, but it is truly a genius design, so when I discovered it, I immediately added it to the Academy’s S-grade confidential information. You have the clearance to check it, but obviously you haven’t. In any case, you are the only person capable of piloting this control system... Don’t worry, the steel ball itself is perfectly safe because this is just an experimental control system. We have not added any new technology to it, it is currently only equipped with a level 2 space civilization’s technology. In fact, it’s technological level might be even lower than the Space Combat Jet’s. Regardless, it is your choice whether you want to do this or not, but if you don’t, then don’t blame me for a lack of progress in the future because I won’t have the data I need."

Yao Yuan was not really worried about the safety of the steel ball. After all, he doubted Bo Li would send him to his death considering their relationship, but he was just curious why it had to be him to pilot the thing...

After Bo Li activated the Steel Ball and opened the cockpit and Yao Yuan got into it, he realized how weird the interior of the cockpit was... It only had a chair and nothing else. This was beyond his expectations because the interior of the Space Combat Jet was filled with various devices.

"Yao Yuan, now do you understand? The interior structure of the Steel Ball is widely different from the Space Combat Jet, it is all related to the control system, and that is why I said you are the only person capable of piloting it. This is a space vehicle that is well beyond our years, so you’ll have to personally experience its impossible strength. In fact, I dare say, if we can build a batch of usable Steel Balls, we will win even if we face a level 3 space civilization 100 times our size!"

(It’s that good?)

Yao Yuan’s interest was piqued. He knew Bo Li was not one to entertain exaggeration. Furthermore, Bo Li had seen a real level 3 space civilization’s spaceship before, so she must be right, this Steel Ball must have some truly impressive system inside it.

"Now I will activate the control system. Yao Yuan..."

"Hmm?" Yao Yuan asked curiously, "What’s wrong? You sound hesitant."

"Be careful and don’t die out there."

"Huh?"

As he said that, the Steel Ball was bounced out of the Hope. The 20 Space Combat Jets who had been waiting immediately left the Hope to give chase. Soon, they caught up to the Steel Ball.

Yao Yuan, who was inside the cockpit, felt a sensation he had not experienced before. When the control system was activated, the electromagnetic resonance device inside the Steel Ball was activated as well. Yao Yuan felt like he had become one with the Steel Ball, as a wealth of information surged into his mind.

The sensation was too interesting; information like the Steel Ball’s speed, flying angle, coordinates in space, the remaining energy, and its distance from enemies appeared in Yao Yuan’s mind naturally. Even though he wasn’t looking at them with his naked eye, it was clearer than that.

It was then that Yao Yuan understood why the Steel Ball had to be made in a spherical shape. Only that way he could feel the surroundings in 360 degrees! The control system connected directly to the consciousness, and this meant that he could move about without a specific rhythm in space. It was much more flexible than the Space Combat Jet!

How could a hand-piloted Space Combat Jet be more flexible than a vehicle that was piloted by consciousness? This was a difference between heaven and earth!

With a thought, the Steel Ball stopped moving and several small cannon barrels appeared on its surface. When the Space Combat Jets got near, 4 of them were shot immediately. As the group of Space Combat Jets wanted to retaliate, the Steel Ball seemed to evolve into a silver light rushing through space, and the Space Combat Jets couldn’t even get a good aim...

In less than 10 seconds, the match between 1 Steel Ball Prototype and 20 Space Combat Jets...

Ended with a landslide victory for the Steel Ball Prototype!