"""
More than half an hour quickly passed, and the brilliance in Song Chi's eyes gradually dimmed, his face turning blue.
"Could I really be this unlucky, getting thrown into the Starry Sea Hollow Zone on my first Star Domain exploration?"
*Millions of years ago, during the massive collapse of the Multiverse, innumerable cosmic fragments were left behind. While the Shattered Starry Sea is indeed vast—so vast that its size defies measurement in light-years—these scattered fragments can never completely fill it, leaving behind gaps known as the Starry Sea Hollow Zone under such circumstances.*
Typically, Starry Sea civilizations designate Star Domains over ten thousand light-years in diameter, with few or no Floating Lands, asteroid belts, or small fragment belts, as part of the Starry Sea Hollow Zone.
Such regions are often avoided by all Starry Sea civilizations, as the lack of celestial structures also signifies extreme resource scarcity.
If Song Chi had truly been thrown into such a domain, he'd have to accept his misfortune.
But that wasn't actually the case. As the Cang Qiong raced ahead at lightspeed for over an hour, its sky patrol radar finally detected a sizeable fragment belt.
Seeing this, Song Chi hurriedly adjusted the shuttle's course, heading straight for the fragment belt.
*Even though small fragment belts hold the least value among various resource zones—not even close to Floating Lands and far worse than asteroid belts—Song Chi was already excited.*
According to the official statistical data from the Torch Human Civilization, of all Torch Warships conducting their first exploration of Alien Star Domains, the mortality rate was only 5%. But within this minimal mortality rate, more than 70% of the warships that successfully returned did so empty-handed.
*So Song Chi understood perfectly well just how precious this fragment belt he had discovered truly was.*
*Even though he was keenly aware that wherever fragment belts emerge, there is always an associated Starry Sea Floating Land nearby, he had no intention of searching for that unknown Floating Land. His objective was crystal clear—directly targeting the fragment belt.*
As a newly integrated Torch Warship, even with his parents' prior assistance in enhancing and upgrading it, it was little more than a drop in the ocean when placed in the Starry Sea, where light-years are just the starting point.
*One thing had to be clearly understood: the conventional wisdom that "a Floating Land is bound to exist near small fragment belts" is relative at best. In actuality, the "nearby" often refers to distances that cannot be covered by a Spectral Shuttle within twenty-four hours.*
The likely outcome of venturing in search of the unknown Floating Land would be running out of exploration time before even pinpointing its coordinates.
*Even if he miraculously reached the unknown Floating Land, the delay would leave him with barely any time to gather resources. Staying with the immediate fragment belt for exploration was undoubtedly a better option.*
*Even though the resources within the fragment belt were undeniably inferior in rarity compared to those on asteroid belts or Floating Lands, these were tangible resources Song Chi could actually obtain.*
*And let's not forget that the Ruins Market also had Furious Tiger mining carts available. Even if their unit price wasn't of the highest quality, he could make up for it with sheer quantity.*
Soon, the Cang Qiong successfully arrived at the edge of the fragment belt, confirming it was indeed the kind of small fragment belt described in textbooks. Song Chi suppressed his excitement.
First, he retrieved the "Basic Duchy Civilian Exoskeleton" stored in the shuttle's warehouse, equipped it, and then activated the only special component on the Cang Qiong, the "Fire Peony Soldier Effigy Tree."
By consuming a full 1,000 spectral energy points from the spectral energy pool, ten soldier figurines, standing over two meters tall and entirely scarlet, were summoned.
Looking at the ten soldier figurines standing in an orderly formation in front of him, radiating an intense aura akin to fire, a hint of satisfaction flickered in Song Chi's eyes.
These ten First Rank Fire Peony Soldier Figurines would be his backbone for exploring the fragment belt ahead. Although they had just entered the First Rank, even encountering up to five First Rank alien species would be sufficient to ensure the safety of the Cang Qiong.
[Name: Fire Peony Soldier Figurine]
[Quality: White]
[Rank: First Rank (Maximum Second Rank)]
[Level: lv10]
[Active Ability: None]
[Passive Ability: Blazing Flame (As fire-attribute soldier figurines, their attacks deal additional burn damage.)]
[Description: An artifact of a forgotten civilization, its quality is fairly mediocre.]
Commanding the ten Fire Peony Soldier Figurines to form a protective circle around him, the ghostly light in Song Chi's brow flashed. In the next instant, the Cang Qiong vanished abruptly, absorbed into the Ancestral Torch within his brow.
In another instant, Song Chi and the ten Fire Peony Soldier Figurines were exposed to the outer void, a wave of discomfort instantly sweeping through his body as he instinctively held his breath.
*As a Starry Sea Human Race explorer with only lv4 Guidance Technique proficiency and a Life Hierarchy of Zero Rank, Song Chi couldn't adapt to the unique environment of the starry void. Only those with a Life Hierarchy exceeding First Rank could stay in the void for extended periods.*
Fortunately, there was no gravity in the starry void, and prior scans showed no special spores or floating viruses existed. The eleven figures thus hovered quietly in the stillness.
Commanding the Fire Peony Soldier Figurines to remain in position, Song Chi's figure suddenly vanished. Two minutes later, he reappeared, summoning the Cang Qiong back into existence.
But this time, the cabin of the Cang Qiong had several new bulk items inside.
Together with two Fire Peony Soldier Figurines, Song Chi mounted the "Mining Cart Specialized Prospecting Instrument" onto the "Furious Tiger Type ① Floating Land Mining Cart," then piloted the Cang Qiong slowly into the fragment belt ahead.
The fragment belt stretched tens of thousands of kilometers, containing a mix of myriad celestial debris. Any careless maneuver could lead to collisions, making lightspeed cruising like before out of the question.
Fortunately, he didn't need to inspect fragments one by one. The car-mounted AI within the fully outfitted mining cart would automatically perform scans. As long as there were special mineral resources within ten kilometers of the Cang Qiong, the AI would instantly notify them.
While creeping forward, intermittent alerts from the car-mounted AI sounded, but Song Chi held off from halting the Cang Qiong just yet.
"Detected radiation signature of 'Black Copper' on the fragment at coordinates XXXXX to the left. Initial estimate: approximately 100 kilograms."
"Detected radiation signature of 'Fine Iron' on the medium-sized fragment at coordinates XXXXX ahead. Initial estimate: approximately 50 kilograms."
"Detected radiation signature of 'Gold' on the fragment at coordinates XXXXX to the left. Initial estimate: approximately 200 kilograms."
…
*Though the car-mounted AI's alerts came frequently, the resources were mostly ordinary and lacked significant quantities. There wasn't even a single fragment containing over 300 kilograms, never mind reaching a ton-scale reserve—hardly worth the effort to mine.*
*One vital point to remember: each docking of the Spectral Shuttle for Furious Tiger mining cart deployment typically takes at least half an hour, often exceeding an hour. Spending such a lengthy interval to mine barely 200 kilograms of basic mineral resources—far short of the value of even 1 unit of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin—is simply not cost-efficient.*
*As for the idea of towing an entire fragment containing the minerals back to the shuttle—unfortunately, that feature is exclusive to Spectral Warships and higher-class Torch Warships.*
*(Spectral Shuttle, Spectral Airship, Spectral Warship…)*
"""