I Can Program My Body?-Chapter 575: Universal Scale Cosmic Competition (2)
"Other cosmic teams? Didn’t we already check, there was no one nearby." They asked in puzzlement.
Though they understood it was wise to stay cautious, Nash’s tone was heavier than usual.
"That was before. The longer time passes, the more the situation will shift. And furthermore..."
"Furthermore what? Is there something else?"
"Yes. This Cosmic Competition has evolved into a universal level." Nash sighed and began to explain what Torr had told him.
Over the past few days, while building the runic servers, Torr had managed to extract more information from the Ents Race.
The Cosmic Competition had expanded to a universal scale.
From every galactic territory, the top talents had been thrown into this place.
Nash wasn’t sure how many participants there were in total, but one thing was clear: this place had become a battleground unlike anything they had imagined.
Furthermore, the rules had changed somewhat.
Because they were inside a galactic-sized territory, the number of bridges needed to connect to the universe plane and the dark plane had been multiplied many times over.
From Sector Territory to Domain Territory, the more land one conquered, the greater one’s standing once this entire place was liberated.
Marking territory was straightforward enough.
Once they built a bridge and stabilized a connection to the dark plane, a sector radius around it would be recognized as their territory.
Do that enough times, and the territory claimed would grow to the size of a Domain.
Of course, during the process, they also had to protect every bridge they built, not just from dark beasts, but from other cosmic teams as well.
Against dark beasts, the Void Administrator would offer some protection; however, against other teams, they were on their own.
Once they were cut off from a bridge they had built, another team could waltz in and claim the surrounding area without resistance.
As for why anyone would want such a massive territory, beyond the burden of protecting, it came with large-scale blessings and a wealth of benefits.
It was similar to a shelter’s functions and buffs, but on a far grander, more powerful scale.
Even holding a single bridge and occupying a sector-sized territory was equivalent to having a Sun Star Void.
Of course, building a bridge was no easy feat either.
From the material cost alone to withstanding the pressure it generated, it wasn’t something they could manage right now.
As Nash’s words settled in, the words they were about to ask were stuck in their throats.
From confidence, they felt the future was full of darkness and thorns.
"Don’t worry too much. At worst, we run." Nash said calmly.
If things truly came to that, they didn’t need to build any bridges.
They could drift through space with the Sun Star Void as their anchor, bide their time, and let the competition run its course.
That time alone would be more than enough to build their strength and foundation to a level where they could actually compete.
Hearing that, their nerves settled.
Right. If everything fell apart, they could always retreat and wait it out.
"Alright, don’t be too pessimistic. That’s just our last resort. We’re still going for the top." Nash said. "And besides, aren’t I here?"
"Tsk, as arrogant as always~,"
Now calmer, they couldn’t help but laugh at his declaration.
"Here’s your blessing. May you find both the enemies hidden in shadow and the allies standing in plain sight."
With Elizabeth’s blessing in hand, they continued their journey toward the Sun Star Void.
This time, following his intuition, Nash had Atom lead the way.
---
A week later, after travelling so far without finding anything, everyone turned to Nash with the same unspoken question.
"It seems no one has discovered this place yet." Nash concluded.
Having already circled the area around the Sun Star Void, his intuition, sharpened by Elizabeth’s blessing, had remained steady throughout.
That meant the nearest cosmic team was still far out of range.
Within a month or two, there shouldn’t be any cause for concern.
"Let’s head back."
With no external threats to worry about, a quiet lightness settled over them.
As long as they moved fast enough, locked down the area around the Sun Star Void, and raised a proper defensive perimeter, there was nothing to fear.
Traveling back to the Sun Star Void, Nash asked for another blessing from Elizabeth to help them pinpoint each tier 8 dark beast.
In doing so, the Tier 6 and 7 battleships sweeping the area would have a much clearer and safer path to work with.
Finding a horde of tier 7 and 8 dark beasts, the Void Pulse tore through the pack like they were nothing.
"Tsuka, I’ll need you to handle the purification."
Without the purification granted by the Void Administrator’s authority, these dark beasts would simply regenerate after some time.
"Leave it to me, Master!" Tsuka relayed through their shared connection.
Because Tsuka could shrink its size, the Void Pulse could accommodate it with ease.
The other mysterious beasts and shelters, however, could only fly alongside the other battleships.
They were simply too large to fit inside even a Tier 8 battleship.
As a result, they flew in formation beside the battleship convoy, which slowed the fleet down.
Soon, after Tsuka purified every dark beast they killed, it turned into merits which could later be exchanged for void, elemental, or law energy.
Clearing one area, they moved to the next.
---
A month later.
After endless killing and purifying, all tier 8 dark beasts around the Sun Star Void had been cleared.
"That wasn’t easy." Nash sighed.
While the Void Pulse made it seem like tearing through tier 8 dark beasts was effortless, the process had been anything but cheap.
Each shot burned through billions of Chronos worth of void crystals.
Meaning, during their entire campaign, killing thousands of tier 8 dark beasts, they had spent at least tens of trillions of Chronos.
Powerful as it was, the Void Pulse’s energy consumption was wildly inefficient.
After all, it was a personal battleship, built to carry him during daily travel, not to grind through prolonged warfare.
"Don’t be stingy. Once we’ve taken this territory, we’ll have the Sun Star Void. We can extract every void crystal we spent and then some." Elizabeth muttered.
"I know..."
