The Wizard of Truth: Starting with Analyzing All Things

Like a grain of silver sand dropped into thick ink, the "Stargazer" glided silently through the desolate curtain of the shattered starfield. Outside the porthole, the stars were far sparser and dimmer than those around the continent of Chilva. Vast, strangely colored nebulae moved like slowly writhing creatures, and in the distance, tiny spatial rifts flashed like lightning before being swallowed by nothingness. The spatial structure here was fragile and chaotic, filled with invisible gravitational turbulence and energy currents, making conventional navigation impossible. Only by relying on the faint but stable "Resonance Path" guided by the "Star Key" could the starship find its way through this dangerous labyrinth.

Inside the ship, time seemed to stretch out. Deep space travel is the ultimate test of patience and willpower. The brief excitement of leaving familiar star systems had long since faded, replaced by a pervasive sense of loneliness and a lingering unease about the unknown.

Luo Wei spent most of his time in the control room, maintaining a deep connection with the Star Key floating in front of him. His consciousness seemed to extend outward, sensing the surging spatial currents and deadly energy vortexes beyond the channel together with the Star Key. This perception was not visual, but a more fundamental "touch," allowing him to "touch" the folds of space and the veins of energy. He needed to continuously fine-tune the resonance frequency of the Star Key to cope with the subtle fluctuations of the channel itself, ensuring that the starship always traveled on the safest route. This process was extremely mentally taxing, but it was an excellent tempering of his star field perception ability and the precision of his star power manipulation. He felt that his understanding of the rules of the stars was slowly deepening with the exploration of this unfamiliar star field, and his synchronization with the Star Key was becoming more and more tacit. The realm of a first-ring Star Speaker was subtly improving while remaining stable.

Current status: Luo Wei (First-ring Star Speaker, Mid-stage Consolidation)

Core training: Deeply resonate with the Star Key to guide the course and perceive and adapt to the rules of the shattered star field environment.

Capability Enhancement: Improved range and precision of stellar perception, enhanced micro-control capabilities of stellar power.

Potential gains: A deeper understanding of spatial structure and energy turbulence, laying the foundation for possible future spatial witchcraft.

Lilith became the busiest person. The effects of the deep-space environment on life were far greater than expected. Although the internal environment of the starship was stable, the prolonged exposure to high radiation, weak gravity anomalies, and complete isolation caused varying degrees of physical and psychological discomfort among the team members: sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, and inexplicable anxiety. Lilith tailored treatments and nutritional plans to each person's individual condition and regularly conducted deep relaxation therapy sessions using the medical unit's auxiliary equipment. She also began researching plant samples from the starship's inventory, attempting to create a small "healing garden" in a corner of the ecology module, hoping to alleviate everyone's mental stress through the vitality of the plants. Her meticulous care and concern acted as a glue, maintaining the team's cohesion during their solitary voyage.

Lina's condition was somewhat peculiar. Her natural intuition was severely suppressed in this lifeless, chaotic starfield, as if she had become deaf and blind, which greatly unsettled her. But her mentor, Verna, reminded her that true nature is not only vibrant with life; death, nothingness, and chaos are also part of the universe's "nature." Under Verna's guidance, Lina began to try to draw her intuition inward, to feel the rhythm of her own life, and gradually to try to "listen" to the "voice" of this desolate starfield itself—not the whispers of life, but the sighs of gravity, the sobs of energy, and the wailing of shattered space. This transformation was extremely difficult, but it might allow her to touch upon deeper levels of perception. Her perception of the "gaze" she had before her departure became even more blurred, sometimes present and sometimes absent, making it impossible to determine whether it was an illusion or a distant, real observation.

Annie's learning progress is astonishing. With Verna's systematic instruction and the vast knowledge support of the starship's database, she has mastered over a dozen basic astral runes and can successfully cast rudimentary spells such as "Glimmer" and "Soothing." She demonstrates an exceptional affinity for stellar energy, particularly in healing and soothing, making her a valuable assistant to Lilith. Her rapid growth has injected new vitality into the team.

Barton and Elder Anderson were responsible for the starship's daily patrols, equipment checks, and emergency drills. Barton focused training on combat skills in low-gravity environments and precision shooting with energy weapons. Elder Anderson, with his extensive experience, kept a close eye on the psychological state of each member and communicated with Rowe and Verna in a timely manner.

On the fifth day of the voyage, the star core issued a warning:

[Approaching the danger zone marked by the navigation channel: 'Void Currents'. Estimated transit time: 18 standard hours. The currents contain high-intensity spatial distortion and energy erosion. It is recommended to upgrade shield level, reduce speed, and maintain maximum vigilance.]

"Attention all personnel, enter Level 1 alert. Instructor Verna, assist in stabilizing the shield. Lina, focus all your attention on detecting abnormal energy within the dark current. Elder Barton, check the weapon systems. Lilith, prepare for a possible high-intensity radiation shock." Rowe immediately issued the orders.

The shields on the starship's surface solidified, and its speed gradually decreased as it cautiously entered a seemingly calm but actually turbulent void region.

Upon entering the Dark Current Zone, the view outside the portholes became bizarre and surreal. Space seemed to transform into a flowing liquid, producing subtle distortions and refractions, stretching distant stars into eerie lines. The starship began to experience slight, irregular turbulence, as if sailing on a sea strewn with reefs. Tiny ripples occasionally spread across the shields, the result of being struck by invisible energy fragments from the Dark Current.

Lina's eyes were tightly shut, cold sweat beading on her forehead, her hands gripping the armrests of the chair tightly: "So many... chaotic 'sounds'... like knives... scraping... to the left! Something... big... is getting closer!"

Almost at the same time as Lina's warning, the shield on the left side of the starship suddenly fluctuated violently! An invisible undercurrent of highly compressed void energy, like a crocodile hidden beneath a river, slammed into the starship!

Boom!

The starship tilted violently, and alarms blared!

[Port shield energy decreased by 12%! High-intensity spatial shear force detected!]

"Hold on!" Lowe shouted, his star power surging into the Star Key to stabilize the course and prevent the starship from being swayed by the undercurrents. Verna placed her hands on the control panel, her powerful star power bolstering the shield system and stabilizing the ship.

However, the attack had only just begun. More and more undercurrents surged in from all directions; they had no fixed shape, moved at incredible speeds, and were impossible to defend against. The starship, like a small boat in a storm, rocked violently.

"We can't just sit here and take the hits! Barton, use the ion cannon to clear the wave ahead! Lilith, fire 'energy neutralization dust' around the ship to disrupt the energy structure of the wave!" Lowe commanded calmly.

"Leave it to me!" Barton rushed to the weapon control position, maneuvering the side-mounted ion cannon, its blazing beams firing precisely to detonate several larger waves of energy ahead of time. Lilith, meanwhile, released specially made dust through the external launch port. This dust could briefly disrupt the stability of the void energy, causing some waves of energy to dissipate on their own before they even got close.

However, there were too many of these waves, and they appeared and disappeared unpredictably. On one occasion, an extremely stealthy wave bypassed the shields and grazed the hull, leaving a deep dent, from which came a piercing metallic tearing sound.

"This won't do! The shield won't last much longer!" Elder Anderson said anxiously as he watched the energy readings drop rapidly.

Luo Wei frowned. Through the Star Key, he could clearly sense that this undercurrent seemed to be alive, actively attacking them, this "foreign object." He had to find a way to deal with it. He took a deep breath, completely immersing his mind in the Star Key, no longer content with merely "guiding," but trying to "understand" the essence of this undercurrent.

His senses, resonating with the Star Key, extended like tentacles into the raging undercurrent. Chaos, tearing, annihilation… this was the main theme of the undercurrent. But beneath this chaos, he detected an extremely faint, familiar fluctuation—the vast and ancient will remaining on that scale of the "Stardust Whale"! A similar aura permeated this undercurrent, though countless times weaker, yet of the same origin!

A bold idea flashed through his mind. He stopped his antagonistic perception of the undercurrent and instead imitated the fluctuation frequency of the stardust whale recorded in the Star Key, adjusting his own consciousness fluctuations to be more grand, ancient, and imbued with a touch of indifferent majesty.

The next moment, something strange happened. When those previously raging undercurrents and latent waves came into contact with this simulated wave, they seemed to encounter a similar "aura," their offensive noticeably halting and becoming somewhat "hesitant," with the force and frequency of their impacts decreasing significantly. Although latent waves still attacked, they were no longer in the relentless, all-out assault they had before.

"It works!" Lowe was shocked and did his best to maintain the simulated fluctuations. The pressure on the starship decreased sharply.

"Love, what did you do?" Lilith asked in surprise, looking at the stabilized shield readings.

"It's... the aura of the Stardust Whale?" Verna was the first to react, her eyes flashing with surprise. "You simulated its fluctuations? These undercurrents... could they be related to that ancient being?"

"Not sure, but it seems to be working," Lowe replied briefly, not daring to get distracted.

Under the protection of simulated fluctuations, the starship navigated the dark currents for over ten hours without incident, finally breaking out of the most dangerous area. When the relatively "calm" broken starry sky returned to normal, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

[Successfully traversed the Void Current Belt. Shield energy consumption: 35%. Minor damage to the hull; repair robots have been dispatched.] Star Core reports.

Although the encounter was dangerous, it gave the team a deeper understanding of deep space travel and also verified the practicality of Luo Weixin's abilities.

However, just as everyone relaxed, Lina, who had been sensing with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them, her face showing extreme confusion and a hint of fear: "That 'gaze'... has appeared again... this time... it's closer... and... it seems... there's more than one... they... are 'whispering'... I can't understand... but it feels... very... ancient... very... sad..."

Her gaze drifted to the still turbulent depths of the void beyond the porthole, a void she had just emerged from.

It was as if something had been silently following them as they traversed that dangerous undercurrent.

The journey through the stars was far more unpredictable than they had imagined. And the call of the "Starry Sky Temple" still flickered silently in the distant future.