The reason was simple. It was already afternoon, and there were less than 20 hours left until the assembly tomorrow morning. Once the Space Gate Deployment Station was activated, the deployed space gate would remain active for 24 hours.
This meant that if he activated the Ruins Market now, there would inevitably be some time conflict with tomorrow morning's exploration of the Alien Star Domain.
As the Lord of the Ruins Market, he had absolute control over it. As long as no First Rank or higher creatures appeared, the market's order could easily be maintained. However, this was predicated on him being physically present within the market.
If he left midway, the entire market space would likely descend into chaos.
Moreover, he still had many things to prepare. Tomorrow would mark the first exploration of the Alien Star Sea, and he had to ensure everything was ready.
Additionally, he had several ideas regarding this market beneath his feet that he needed to test one by one.
*He was determined to act.* Song Chi began by using the Ruins Market token in his hand to enter and exit multiple times in quick succession, each time bringing different items with him.
A water bottle, a backpack, a chair...
In just ten minutes, he had figured out one thing: as long as he could physically lift and hold an item in his hands, it could be brought into the Ruins Market space along with him. Conversely, items larger than his carrying capacity could not be brought in.
Armed with this conclusion, he quickly strode toward the stall area he had previously passed. This area was one of the few vacant spots in the market. Even with its modest 10x10 size, it was more than enough for the Spectral Shuttle, whose length was under seven meters.
Indeed, Song Chi planned to test whether he could summon the Spectral Shuttle within the Ruins Market.
*Concentrating with all his might, the spectral energy within his body surged toward his brow.*
"Hmm?"
*Feeling the activity at his brow, Song Chi's heart leapt with joy—he had successfully opened the Ancestral Torch aperture.*
Soon, a stream of radiance shot from his brow, and the compact Spectral Shuttle materialized out of thin air into the vacant area before him.
"Even in the Ruins Market, I can summon the Spectral Shuttle!!"
Song Chi couldn't contain his excitement at this revelation.
This meant that aside from using the market as a life-saving refuge during emergencies, the various ideas he had previously envisioned now also seemed more feasible.
Typically, what was the most vexing issue for Torch Warship captains during Alien Star Domain explorations?
For this question, many might instinctively answer, "Alien civilizations." After all, encountering powerful alien species often meant only one outcome: "ship destroyed, crew perished."
However, that was not the real crux of the problem. What truly troubled every Torch Warship captain was the ship's storage space. A warship's size was fixed, and the amount of cargo it could carry was naturally limited.
Due to these restrictions, every captain, whether before embarking on exploration or upon returning from it, had to meticulously maximize the utilization of the warship's cargo hold space.
As a result, bulky mechanical equipment like the Roaring Tiger Model ① Floating Land Mining Cart, Hornet-class combat drones, or Land Combat Model ④ exploration robots were challenging to bring along.
Even if such items were taken along, returning after a fruitful exploration posed another dilemma: should they transport these massive machines back or abandon them to free up space for the newly acquired resources?
These pieces of equipment weren't cheap. If discarded, the loss could only be begrudgingly accepted if the harvested resources held substantial value, effectively cutting profits in half. Worse still, if the collected resources ended up being less valuable than the equipment itself, it would be a catastrophic loss.
But if they refused to discard them, the limited space on the Torch Warship meant fewer resources could be brought back.
This longstanding conflict was an unsolvable pain point, frustrating all Torch Warship captains to no end.
Because of this, space-folding and expansion components for warships had been driven to astronomical prices. Even white-quality space components frequently fetched the prices of blue or even purple components—and were still in scarce supply.
High demand and exorbitant prices aside, Song Chi earlier had been painstakingly allocating the already cramped storage space on the Spectral Shuttle during his walk home, trying to devise the perfect plan for tomorrow's Alien Star Domain deployment. Now it appeared he wouldn't need to fret so much.
The Ruins Market space, which could freely summon a Torch Warship, was virtually a perfect backup storage—and an oversized one at that.
Although there was a limitation on carrying items directly into the market, large objects could be stored in the Torch aperture along with a warship, significantly expanding operational possibilities.
He could store bulky machinery in the Torch Warship first, load the warship into the Ancestral Torch aperture, then enter the market and summon the warship once inside. This would seamlessly bypass the personal carrying restrictions.
Moreover, the same approach could be applied during future Alien Star Domain explorations. By using the Torch Warship as a vessel, resources that couldn't normally be transported could be stored in the Ruins Market, drastically enhancing the haul of each exploration.
Of course, all these ideas hinged on one critical premise—that he could still access and enter the Ruins Market after being deployed to the Alien Star Domain. Otherwise, it would all amount to nothing.
*As his thoughts raced, a sudden alert pulled Song Chi back to reality.*
[Please provide a name for the Ruins Market promptly!]
Startled, he recalled the matter at hand. Not only did the market beneath his feet need a name, but the Spectral Shuttle before him was still nameless as well.
Shaking his head, he suppressed the flood of ideas in his mind and turned his focus to naming both the market and the shuttle.
After about ten seconds of deliberation, two characters emerged in his mind.
"Zhu Tian."
He had read many cultivation novels in his past life. Since the market was capable of connecting randomly to different star domains of the Shattered Starry Sea, "Zhu Tian Ruins Market" seemed like the perfect name.
[Zhu Tian Ruins Market, name successfully registered.]
After naming the Ruins Market, it was time to name the Spectral Shuttle, but this proved to be quite a challenge for Song Chi.
"Star Sea."
[Sorry, this name already exists. Please choose another.]
"Horizon."
[Sorry, this name…]
"Galaxy."
[Sorry…]
[…]
Because of the vast inventory of Torch Human Civilization warships, many names had already been registered.
"Shenzhou."
[Sorry…]
"Cang Qiong."
[Cang Qiong is currently unused. Would you like to register the name "Cang Qiong"?]
"Kunlun…" Huh? This name worked?
Cutting himself off mid-sentence, Song Chi immediately clicked confirm.
With the name successfully registered, his gaze shifted to inspecting the specific attributes of the Spectral Shuttle.
Earlier, his teacher Yang Minghui had interrupted him, and he hadn't yet reviewed all of the shuttle's attributes.
[Name: Cang Qiong]
[Model: Torch-Spectral Shuttle]
[Level: lv0]
[Basic Components: Colorless Torch hull lv0, Spectral Main Cannon lv0, Spectral Secondary Cannon lv0, Warship Armor lv0, Spectral Engine lv0, Spectral Shield lv0, Sky Patrol Radar lv0, Spectral Cultivation Room lv0 (8/8)]
[Special Components: None (0/2)]
[…]