Chapter 544 Space Vessel Fleet
After that conversation with Remilia, three more days passed by in a blink.
At this point, we've been out of Earth for more than a week.
I was receiving updates from my father and the sly old man about what's happening there and through me, I was relaying it to my Companions and the dragon couple. Sometimes, the other Rank 4 Transcendents who had their own roles were also relaying news to me since the World's Will went silent again to continue recuperating.
The most notable news that I got from them was what's happening in Pathways Online.
It took the world like a storm that every part of the world was already immersed in the game.
Although the World of Meta continued producing units of Full Immersion Chamber, the EDA hired professionals to also start producing units on Earth.
It's having a shortage after all. With the population of Earth, even if the World of Meta could produce one million units per day, it would take years to reach one billion. Besides, there's also the problem of resources. That world needed to progress as well.
Although Lexie wasn't saying it straight, she's slightly frustrated that those who took up the Researcher roles were too busy providing for Earth.
That's why when I also told her the news the Earth would soon begin their own production of Full Immersion Chambers, she heaved a sigh of relief.
They're still trying to improve the Metagens and with the data I brought back from Atlantis, the World of Meta and Earth's technology had begun to progress faster than before.
Perhaps when we returned, both worlds would be too different than we remembered. By then, we could use our Metagens to stomp those trying to encroach upon Earth and the worlds connected to it.
Back to the Pathways Online, although no one reached the point of graduating in it yet, those who discovered that they could absorb Level 3 Earth Energy and start on their Mortal Pathways had begun bloating in numbers.
Nonetheless, most of them still chose to play the game. Their reason is kind of simple. Inside the game, they could experience adventuring into different scenarios, different events and different situations.
Polaris even increased the difficulty of the game because nations started building up their own country in the game and they're having their own virtual war in there. The enemies raiding them would prevent the development of a huge territory.
Moreover, he increased the harshness of the penalty for dying. Apart from not being able to play for five days, they would find themselves respawned in a random place. Moreover, if they're part of a guild, they would automatically leave it if they respawned far away from the Guild Master.
Even if it gave them negative feedback, Polaris never changed his stance.
It's for regulation after all. It's not a game that they needed to take seriously. It's just a way to kickstart their journey to tread on the Earth's Mortal Pathway.
"Monster, look here! What's that?" Erin, who was on duty to look after the helm of the Space Vessel, called out to me. Her voice carried a hint of urgency.
As soon as I heard that, I shelved what's in my mind and immediately went near her, checking what she's pertaining to.
At this point, they're now familiar with the interface of the World Zone Navigator but if there's something that they're seeing for the first time, they would always call me and ask.
"Hmm? That's a fleet of Space Vessels. They're shown as a big dot because of how close they are to each other."
"Eh? Fleet? Shouldn't we stop them?"
"Do you want to fight all of them? Based on how large the dot is, there are at least 50 Space Vessels in that fleet. As to how many Transcendents they carried in each Space Vessel, we could only gauge that if they appeared in our monitoring range. Moreover, we had no idea of their affiliation and they're not going in the direction of Earth."
"Uh... That's a lot. But Daisuke, didn't you say that most Invasive Worlds weren't using Portals like the Dark World? Do you think they're going to...?"
As her voice trailed, it's easy to pick up that she's worried. Worried that the fleet of Space Vessels' target is one of the Mortal Worlds connected to Earth or specifically, the World of Meta where Old Man Reol stayed or the World of Barbarian, their homeworld.
"The possibility is high. However, since we can see them in our navigator, they're the same. If we try following them, it's a definite possibility for them to detect us."
Upon hearing my answer, the worry that was only at her voice earlier finally revealed on her face. Even there's only a small chance that
When we reached this Zone Density days ago, encountering Space Vessels from those Invasive Worlds became less and less. And most of the time, only those brave enough would try and attack us.
That's why even for me, detecting a fleet like that was simply alarming.
According to my father, the first wave of Space Vessels from the Invasive World also sent a fleet of Space Vessels but without any Rank 4 Transcendents on the enemies' side, my father and the other old fossils guarding the vicinity of Earth took care of them without letting any Space Vessels land on Earth's surface.
"Don't make that face. Where's my aggressive Erin? We just need to sail parallel to them and outside their scanning range. But first, we need to predict their destination."
"Uh... What face? And I'm not aggressive!" Erin puffed her cheeks but that only made her more adorable. "Predict their destination... How do we do that?"
"Come here. Sit on my lap and I'll teach you how." I tapped my lap after sitting down next to her.
Obviously, sitting on my lap wasn't truly needed in teaching her. In fact, I already predicted the Space Vessel fleet's course and I could do it by myself. This is just me making use of the situation to bond with her.
Erin understood what I was trying to do. While sporting a slightly annoyed expression, she comfortably sat on my lap and even pulled on my arm to wrap it around her navel.
Despite the situation that could be considered a serious issue if seen by others, we're finding ways to make every moment worthwhile.
With Erin on my lap, I began fiddling with the World Zone Navigator and the Kingfisher's interface, letting her learn the intricacies of it. Next time, she would know what to do without my instruction anymore.
A few minutes later, our Space Vessel switched directions twice. The first one was to let the fleet disappear from our radar and the other was to begin sailing parallel to them.
At the moment, we're exploring this World Zone to search for the Mortal Worlds connected to Earth so a little change in direction like this was manageable. Furthermore, we could certainly find a Mortal World if we followed the fleet.
The only problem this time was that I had no idea how many Rank 3 Transcendents or if there were any Rank 4 Transcendents in that fleet.
Besides, that felt overkill if they're only going to conquer a Mortal World.
That's why... I had a hunch that there's more to it than what I initially observed.
If that's not from a single world then there's a high chance that they're from that organization... It's about time to know more about them and their motives.