Chapter 637

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 637: Tehen (2)

‘No, what the hell are these bastards….’

Another covenant.

For a moment, Yeongwoo felt as if his vision was going blurry.

Making one more covenant right now wasn’t a huge problem in itself, but judging by the situation, it seemed like every black hole he met from now on would demand one.

“Sir, we already have four agreements. Isn’t this enough?”

【Black Accord】

| Opening new paths gradually becomes easier.

| Secured Agreements: 4

Yeongwoo pushed forward the tooltip for Great Exploration as he requested, but Serdai was firm.

● No.

“You’re saying no…?”

● Are we not of the same stature as Tesache as well? Then we deserve the same treatment.

“…No, I mean….”

Yeongwoo found himself speechless.

At this rate, future Planet Shipmasters might end up dying while touring black holes for their entire lives.

And to make matters worse, Serdai wasn’t wrong.

“F-for now… understood. I’ll come visit you every hundred years.”

In the end, deciding to put out the urgent fire first, Yeongwoo reluctantly agreed to Serdai’s demand.

He was passing a heavy burden onto future generations in order to open the ‘passage.’

‘Still, as long as we’re not opening tens of thousands of passages, it won’t be that serious of a problem. I mean… we can just set something like a Black Hole Day and make a tour, right?’

Of course, the moment the number of black holes he had to visit exceeded the hundreds, it would no longer be something that could be finished in a few days.

‘Still, it’s once every hundred years. For the price of enabling cosmic leaps, it’s cheap.’

While Yeongwoo was thinking this, Serdai shaped the covenant with the tip of his long claw.

● Sign. You will return here every hundred years.

“…….”

Yeongwoo reached out and touched the black substance that had formed in midair.

Srrp.

Just like before, the unidentified material briefly wrapped around Yeongwoo’s fingers before activating the covenant.

Now the head of the Renaissance would have to visit the black holes Tesache and Serdai every 100 years.

● Good. The passage is open now. Come back with stories for us.

Serdai spoke in a voice that sounded slightly excited for some reason, and soon white light began filling the surroundings.

The Earthship was being sucked into the passage between black holes.

And shortly after—

Flaaash!

His vision cleared in an instant, and the scenery of the helm reappeared.

They had passed through the black hole Serdai.

“D-did it work?”

As Yeongwoo looked around and asked, Mantero quickly checked their current coordinates.

—Yes. We are currently in the Ryuupa Galaxy. Twenty minutes from Tehen.

Being twenty minutes from Tehen also meant they were twenty minutes from the Salzeo fleet.

“We’re still not within their radar range yet, right?”

—If we consider only the Earthship itself, yes. But as you know, planets are orbiting along the outer boundary of our territorial zone.

“Ah, right.”

—Because the orbital intervals are so wide, it will be difficult for them to notice that a new celestial body has intruded. Still, we need to be cautious.

Truly cautious in every matter, befitting someone of royal lineage.

He was accounting for even the one-in-ten-thousand scenarios.

“So unless our luck is absolutely terrible, they won’t notice our approach for now.”

—Considering the Earthship’s maximum speed, unless there are variables, we won’t be detected until we’re within six minutes of distance.

“So they’ll have about six minutes to prepare once they notice us.”

—That is correct.

“Then let’s move immediately.”

At Yeongwoo’s command, the Earthship began moving toward Tehen, and the expressions of everyone on board gradually stiffened.

Even though this was a ‘rescue operation,’ a clash with the Salzeo fleet during the process was unavoidable.

There was no way they wouldn’t be tense.

『Ah, it looks like Salzeo is only surrounding Tehen for now. Tehen has sent coordinates for evacuation points.』

“Really? That means Tehen can still relocate its residents at will.”

It was a silver lining amid misfortune.

The Salzeo forces weren’t directly stationed on Tehen itself.

“Figures. For them, they can just fire their cannons and blow Tehen apart, so they probably didn’t feel the need to land.”

While saying this, something occurred to Yeongwoo and he asked Earth.

“Hey, by the way. Earth.”

『What?』

“Tehen’s a planet too, right?”

『…Yeah?』

At Yeongwoo’s sudden question, Earth showed a slightly uneasy sign.

And as expected, Yeongwoo continued with a very Planet-Shipmaster-like question.

“Then can’t we just steal Tehen whole? If we do that, we wouldn’t even need to bring the residents onto the Earthship.”

『Ah… well.』

Earth pressed a finger to its brow.

Of course, considering execution ability, it was a question only Yeongwoo—the number one in the universe—would ask.

『As you said, Tehen is also a planet, so it has a personality.』

“Right? So if we meet it and persuade it…”

『And naturally, it also belongs to a planetary system.』

“Ah.”

Only after hearing that did many things return to Yeongwoo’s mind.

Even when launching the Earthship, hadn’t they needed permission from the Sun, the center of the solar system?

Before needing a power source to move the Earthship, Earth leaving its natural orbit itself was a huge issue from the planetary system’s perspective.

In other words, for Tehen to leave its orbit and be incorporated into the Earthship system, they would first have to speak with the star of the planetary system Tehen belonged to.

“Come to think of it, it’s not that simple.”

『When would you even hold a celestial summit and reach an agreement with that star? The Salzeo fleet might be firing dozens of cannon shots per second in the meantime.』

“True. Dragging Tehen away right now would be difficult.”

Yeongwoo quickly accepted it.

Then Earth added an afterthought.

『Of course, it’s not like there’s absolutely no way to forcibly bring Tehen.』

“Really? What method?”

『We can incorporate wandering planets that no longer belong to any planetary system as much as we want. So if Tehen became a wandering planet…』

“What?”

Yeongwoo’s mouth fell open as he immediately understood.

“So if we destroy Tehen’s star, it becomes possible? We turn Tehen into a drifter!”

『…Of course, Moro would never permit that, so it’s just something you should know in theory.』

“…….”

At that, Yeongwoo had nothing more to say.

In truth, he never intended to go that far just to take Tehen anyway, and the old solar system currently held one-third of the shares in the Earthship system.

So anything Moro did not permit was something even a Planet Shipmaster could not dare to do.

Besides, she was his mother-in-law.

“Then we’ll just have to save the residents as planned.”

At Yeongwoo’s words, this time Mantero added on.

—Even if we win against the Salzeo fleet, we can’t remain on Tehen. Their reinforcements are already on the way.

“Ah, you said the fleet there isn’t their main force, right?”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

—That’s correct. Since they already know the opponent is a Planet Ship, they would naturally have sent a force equivalent to their main army separately. And above all…

“Above all, what?”

—They wouldn’t have expected us to arrive at Tehen this quickly.

That was Mantero’s claim—that there was a high chance Salzeo didn’t currently have sufficient troops at Tehen.

In other words, if they barged in now, defeating the Salzeo fleet wasn’t impossible.

—Our first fleet battle being against Salzeo… truly befitting a Planet Ship.

Koatu shivered and muttered with a horrified nuance, and then Jiseon added.

—Yeongwoo, don’t forget. The primary objective of this battle is rescuing Tehen’s residents. Don’t overdo it. Once you save them, it’s best to leave immediately.

“But bringing the residents aboard will also take quite some time, so in the end, to save Tehen we’ll have to clear out the Salzeo fleet first. Of course, after that we’ll run as fast as we can.”

Yeongwoo fully agreed that they had to leave before the Salzeo main force arrived.

“Deputy, how much time until Tehen?”

When Yeongwoo asked while looking at the captain’s seat, Mantero soon checked the radar and replied.

—Eight minutes remaining.

“Eight minutes?”

Since they’d said Salzeo would notice them starting at the six-minute mark, it was practically already here.

—The small dot you see over there is Tehen. And the little lights near it are probably…

The ships Salzeo had brought.

But the problem was—

“…That’s quite a lot, isn’t it? Is the vanguard really that big?”

—…As expected of Salzeo.

Mantero looked out the window with a stiff expression.

“No, if the vanguard is that size, how big is the main force supposed to be?”

Just as Yeongwoo exclaimed in shock, a short signal sound came from the captain’s seat where Mantero was.

Beep.

—We’ve entered radar detection range. They now know our exact coordinates.

In practical terms, the battle was starting now.

—We still cannot fully detect the scale of Salzeo’s fleet. Once we get closer, we’ll begin engagement by firing ‘Volcano’ at their key ships.

Volcano.

A kind of ultimate cannon that can only be fired once while charging, but if it hits, a chain explosion can be expected.

“Then they’re probably planning their own attack methods by now too.”

—They already have some prior information about us, and they’re experienced in combat. Their attack methods would have been decided long ago.

And no sooner had those words ended than the Salzeo formation began stretching long to the left and right.

—They likely think we don’t have secondary guns, so they’re trying to target our flanks and rear first.

Mantero giving real-time briefings.

In the meantime, Yeongwoo was looking at Tehen, which was gradually growing larger in his view.

Because Tehen’s round outer boundary was shining in gold.

“…What is that?”

Even though Yeongwoo muttered this, no one noticed anything strange, and soon Yeongwoo openly pointed at Tehen.

“Can’t you all see that?”

『See what?』

Earth, who reacted first, looked at Tehen following Yeongwoo’s gaze.

Then she tilted her head.

『…What exactly are you talking about?』

“Tehen is covered in gold light right now. You’re telling me you can’t see that?”

Earth only blinked its eyes.

『I don’t know… I can’t see anything at all.』

At that, Yeongwoo realized instinctively.

That this was an abnormal phenomenon visible only to him.

“Golden light… why is Tehen glowing gold?”

Yeongwoo’s contemplation didn’t last long.

Because there was only one ‘golden light’ he knew.

‘…Golden Rain.’

Reflexively, Yeongwoo took out the Golden Nebula Command from his chest.

「Golden Nebula Command Rod」 – Legendary Relic

【The Golden Nebula follows your will.】

【Golden Journey】

【Blessing of the Nebula】

【Monsoon】

【Golden Journey】

| You can generate Golden Spheres even on non-qualified planets.

【Blessing of the Nebula】

| During golden rainfall, you gain a 50% reduction in all damage taken.

【Monsoon】

| Golden rainfall lasts longer in areas where this divine artifact is present.

Sure enough, the Golden Nebula Command was shining brilliantly in gold just like its name, and soon a system message appeared before Yeongwoo’s eyes.

「A Golden Journey has opened on Tehen. Save the planet and obtain the Golden Sphere.」

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]