The portable grandfathers that appear are all problematic.

“Confirmed. You can check the hilt of my short sword; it’s made of the same material.” The old man handed the short sword to Xue Dinglu again.

Xue Lude cut open the anti-slip sleeve on the hilt of the short sword, and inside the deepest part of the hilt, there was indeed a smooth, polished dead branch of a divine tree serving as the hilt.

Xue's law fell silent for a moment.

He stared blankly at the old man. At that moment, he realized that the original purpose of the divine trees was to improve the environment of wild planets during interstellar pioneering and to protect all life. But now, they had become bizarre and distorted products that required the absorption of billions of lives to bear fruit.

Besides...

"You mean this is the tip of the King's hair...?" Xue Dinglu looked at the branch in his hand.

"It's just a legend, I don't know the specifics, but let's just assume it is." The old man smiled and handed the branch to Xue Dinglu, "Use this as the hilt of your sword."

Xue Dinglu let out a long breath, looking at the branch in his hand, and suddenly felt very uncomfortable for some reason.

Why has this sacred tree, originally meant to nurture life, become a monster that harvests life in this era?

They even transformed into greedy, insatiable monsters, becoming the most terrifying natural disasters on every planet.

How long has it been since the First Age? And what exactly happened that caused the Divine Tree to transform from the World Tree, which nurtured life, into the terrifying and bizarre man-eating tree it is today?

And when exactly was the Mist Council established? In the First Era? Or in a later period?

One question after another swept over Xue Dinglu in an instant. He seemed to have grasped something in the dark, but he was still shrouded in a fog of confusion.

The Divine Tree... The World Tree... The Mist Council... The Starship...

Xue Dinglu closed his eyes. The existing information was still too little, and he could not draw conclusions based solely on the available data.

In any case, he did realize that the divine tree itself was neither good nor evil. If someone used the divine tree in the right place, it would become the world tree that gathers water and atmosphere to nurture life.

However, if the sacred tree is used for evil, it will become a demon that devours billions of living beings and creates terrifying plant monsters.

The first era in which the old man lived seemed to be in the age of interstellar pioneering. Just as the old man did not know that the divine tree could eat people, he only thought that it was a good thing that could nurture life.

Without further thought, Xue Dinglu silently picked up the branch of the divine tree and began to gradually craft it into a hilt and guard suitable for the holy sword.

After some time, Xue Luding turned the forked branches into handguards and the entire branch into a sword hilt. After fixing it in place, he shaped it to fit the grip and finally wrapped it with fairytale-like silk threads for a non-slip finish.

The final step is infusion.

This is what the old man told Xue: the way to turn a magical weapon into a treasure is to infuse the weapon with "great achievements".

Normally, a weapon needs to be used to accomplish a corresponding great feat in order to form a Noble Phantasm. However, the old man and his group of veteran Starfleet members discovered this infusion method, which requires the infusion of past great feats into a brand-new weapon under the witness of a world consciousness, in order to upgrade the Noble Phantasm.

However, each great achievement can only be infused once, and the quality of the Noble Phantasm created by this infusion method is somewhat inferior to that of a proper Noble Phantasm.

In fact, the dagger that pierced Zeus's second brother was already very close to becoming a Noble Phantasm. It's just a pity that its raw material was only an ordinary dagger, so it was still one step short in the end. However, the traces of Zeus's blood and the mystery surrounding it made up for this.

But this time, Xue Luding didn't plan to do it himself. He handed the sword to Fafnir and said encouragingly, "Fafnir, follow the method I taught you and infuse it with the great deeds of the brave uncle and us in facing the Zerg together."

Fafnir looked at the longsword with feather patterns in her hand. Although it was completely different now, she could still faintly sense that it had a similar aura to her father's holy sword.

However, this sword is no longer the beloved holy sword it once was, but it will be a brand new weapon, forged by myself and my teacher together.

She gripped the sword hilt tightly, the spell unfolding beneath her. She recalled the time she met her teacher, the grand escape into the rain, everything that followed, and the final moment of recognizing her real father…

In that instant, the sword burst forth with unparalleled light, which shot out of the earth. The aura of lava and earth caused the surrounding magma and molten fire to boil and cheer.

At this moment, the holy sword is complete!

……

"According to our reporter, two unusual beams of light appeared at the crater of Mount Fuji this afternoon, followed by a large amount of thick smoke and a small amount of lava. Is this a sign of an impending eruption? Please watch our follow-up interview with a geology expert..."

In the living room, the television was playing the news.

Meanwhile, Xue Dinglu and Fafner, who were having dinner, looked at the news with guilty consciences, especially when they saw that the octogenarian geologist was preparing to personally explore Mount Fuji.

"Is the volcano about to erupt? How far away is it from us?" Aunt asked, watching TV.

"It's nearly two thousand kilometers away, so it might be affected, but I've already given the word that at least it won't erupt right now..." Xue Dinglu said.

"Oh."

After a hurried meal, Xue Dinglu took Fafnir and prepared to go to the headquarters of the Starfleet.

At this moment, he looked at the newly forged holy sword.

[Molten Holy Sword (Rank B): Enemies struck by this weapon who possess divinity will experience unbearable pain and will have their reproductive abilities stripped to a certain extent. It has additional lethality against insectoid enemies. Furthermore, this Noble Phantasm can store the expectations and hopes of others and transform them into an even more powerful attack, the maximum of which depends on the user.]

It's a little less impressive than the full version of the Beloved Holy Sword, but it's still hand-crafted and basically captures the essence of the Beloved Holy Sword. The only difference is that instead of the Beloved Holy Sword absorbing love and converting it into attack power, it now absorbs expectation and hope.

But actually, Xue was already quite satisfied. If the brave uncle were still alive, he would gladly accept and use the sword if it were given to him.

At that moment, Fafnir said, "Teacher, the portal is ready."

"Oh!" Xue Dinglu responded.

During the last mission, the young general invited Xue Lude to visit the Starfleet, but he was in a hurry to go home and attend the Mist Council, so he declined. This time, after repairing the Holy Sword, he also took the old man back to the Starfleet with him.

When Xue Lude and Fafnir entered the portal at the same time, they opened their eyes to find themselves inside a metal-covered base. Through the glass, they could see the desolate, crimson rock formations outside.

Is this not a life-bearing planet, but a dead one?

In the distance, three main towers with silver-gray alloy shells pierced the rust-colored sky in a triangular shape, and the compound eye-like thing on the top of the towers slowly rotated. Xue Luding was stunned for a moment.

Isn't that an evil eye?

Oh, the Evil Eye has become the world consciousness of the fairy tale world. This thing should just be the outer shell of the Evil Eye, that is, part of the King. Is that thing on the top of the tower used as radar?

Looking out the window, Xue Luding felt a sense of disbelief. He thought that the people of the interstellar column should be on a life-bearing planet, most likely a planet where no civilization had yet emerged, similar to the environment of Earth in the Permian period.

Seemingly noticing Xue's doubts, Fafnir said, "I was also shocked when I first came here. I never imagined that the place where my father lived would be like this."

Xue Dinglu recalled the memories of the brave uncle, and it seemed that the brave uncle really didn't show much in this regard; he completely ignored the outside environment at the time.

This wasn't Fafnir's first time here. After he left with Xue Lude, registered, and took back the invitation from Xue Lude's hand, the magic guard said, "Welcome, Second Great Sage."

Xue Dinglu was stunned for a moment.

“Your teacher is our lifelong partner. Your information was registered when we first made contact. By the way, the Starship also has a piece of your teacher’s belongings stored there. You can retrieve it.” The magic guard bowed respectfully.

"The second generation... the sage..." Xue Dinglu murmured the title, smiled and nodded, and stepped out of the light gate.

In an instant, he felt as if he had arrived in a completely unfamiliar place: a beach, the sea, strange plants and aquatic animals, and people buried in the sand not far away.

Xue Law: “???”

"Spatial simulation technology. No one can stand living on the Death Star all the time, so the theme here changes every now and then. Last week it was a mountain stream theme, and now it's a beach theme. Would you like an ice cream?" A familiar female voice rang in my ears.

Xue Dinglu turned around, and Olivia, wearing a jacket, handed him an ice cream, saying, "Little Fafnir, you have one too!"

“Okay, Grandma Olivia!” Fafnir took the ice cream.

Xue Law: “???”

No, Grandma?

“I took that boy, Lott, in as I was looking after him,” Olivia said, but then a hint of sadness crept in her voice. “It’s a shame he died before me.”

Chapter 304 Interstellar Squadron 27

Xue Dinglu hadn't expected that his senior was of such a high generation. He had always thought that Senior Olivia was someone of the same generation as Uncle Hero.

Olivia quickly changed the subject and stopped talking about the brave uncle.

"This is our fifth squad's base, located on the edge of the M87 system. The main base is not here, but all the functions here are the same as the main base."

Senior Olivia seemed to have arrived at her home turf, and began to introduce everything about the base to Xue Lude.

"Can this base handle the matters of the Mimic King and the Tomb of Heroes?" Xue Dinglu continued to ask.

"Yes, brother, I can do it." Olivia patted her chest, the throbbing of her chest stunning Fafnir, who was still licking her ice cream.

"The essence of the Mimic King is actually a materialized inner world universe. That is, through the power of the King, another inner universe plane is created, which is twinned with this world. Although that inner universe is still illusory now, with our efforts, it will gradually become a real new universe."

"And in each branch base, there is a device that can connect to the Mimic King." After the senior finished speaking, he looked at Xue Dinglu, hesitating to speak, yet still wanting to.

Finally, she seemed to have made up her mind and said to Xue Lude, "Actually, the virtual universe of the Mimic King has another plan, which is to transfer all the limited sparks to another safe house when the disordered entropy of this universe cannot be solved."

Xue's Law remained silent.

A safe house...

He didn't know if this decision was correct, but at least for now, the Mimic King was far from a real safe house; it was more like a sanctuary for preserving souls.

However, it is possible that in the distant future, that place will be able to completely transform into a physical entity and become a true universe.

Perhaps, even the brave uncle and the great sage are in that world.

Thinking of this, Xue Dinglu closed his eyes and then took out the holy sword he had just forged.

"I apologize. I accidentally damaged Uncle Lotte's holy sword before. This is a Noble Phantasm that I repaired based on the original holy sword. Now this Noble Phantasm should be returned to where it belongs." Xue Dinglu handed over the holy sword in his hand.

Olivia's expression also turned slightly serious. With a wave of her hand, she transformed from a beach jacket into a proper work uniform. She solemnly accepted the holy sword from Xue Luding and said, "We will definitely take good care of this treasure."

"Hmm." Xue Dinglu nodded, and then this time, he came to the consciousness space and said to the old man from the First Era, "Uncle, I'm taking you back to the Starfleet."

The old man's figure slowly appeared behind Xue Luding. Upon seeing this soul entity, Senior Olivia was also stunned.

“This is an old man I met by chance. He said he was a member of the First Era Starfleet named Kleber. This time, I brought his soul back to the Starfleet,” Xue Dinglu introduced the old man behind him.

The old man didn't say much, but smiled, took off his hat, bowed, and said, "Could you please help me check? I am Kleber from the first era 91211. See if you can still find any records of me."

Senior Olivia seemed shocked. She immediately said to Xue Dinglu, "I'll take care of these things right away. You just stay here and have some fun. Wait a moment, I'll come find you as soon as I'm done here."

The senior didn't even finish his ice cream, throwing it directly into the trash can. Then, leading Fafnir and the old man's spirit, he said as he walked, "I'm taking little Fafnir with me. Wait a moment, I'll be right back..."

Soon, the portal opened in front of Senior Olivia and disappeared into it.

Xue Dinglu suddenly felt a little stunned. He even had the illusion that the old man was some important figure. Now that he had accidentally saved the old man and brought him back to his family, the three-year period had come to an end. He was now ready to welcome the Dragon King back to his throne!

Actually, you're overthinking it. The old man doesn't have much strength. His soul is probably at... level 4.

This level of strength is similar to that of ordinary interstellar column members, so it is unlikely to be the situation Xue Law thought. It is more likely that the old man's identity in the first era is a predecessor that is difficult to trace back to in the current interstellar column, so it is highly valued.

Therefore, Xue Luding wasn't too worried, and he began to wander around the Starfleet's branch base.

The beach, the seaside, and the strange creatures Xue Daolu had never seen before flying in the sky—all of these things felt real to him.

But in reality, this is a simulated place, meaning that the fine sand and the boundless sea are all created by illusion. However, the illusion you created is so realistic that it is indistinguishable from the real thing.

Perhaps the interior of the Mimic King is actually quite similar to this place; the two should be based on the same technology.

Stepping onto the sand, feeling the rising tide filling my shoes, felt exactly like when Xue Law actually played at the beach.

Not far away, it seemed that members of the Starfleet were having a surfing competition, charging against the waves.

After wandering around for a while, he saw a house called "Confession Room".

Xue Law: “?”

He became genuinely curious about the place, so he opened the door and went inside.

"Sister, I want to confess; I have sinned."

A familiar voice rang out; it was another acquaintance, the young general.

"What's the matter?"

"Last time I was on a mission, I was with a fish...you know, and now that fish is pregnant with my babies..." The young man hesitated, but finally said, "She's pregnant with 1145 babies in one pregnancy...what am I going to do..."

The nun: "..."

Xue Law: "..."

At this moment, the nun's expression was as if she had seen a ghost, and she had to exert all her strength to keep it in place.

A single pregnancy costs over a thousand. Does that mean the mermaid was carrying a belly full of fish eggs when she was pregnant?

……

"You've finally arrived, please sit down..." The young general looked much more haggard than he had a few days ago.

It's estimated that the birth of over a thousand mermaids in one pregnancy was devastating for him. When he confessed to the nun, he was trying to determine whether he should have aborted those over a thousand children.

After all, the number was too astonishing. He hadn't expected that the mermaids in that world weren't viviparous or oviparous, but rather gave birth to fish eggs! It's said that a pregnancy with a litter of a little over a thousand eggs is considered low, and some can have a litter with a litter of several thousand eggs!

Damn it!

Xue Dinglu could only offer a comforting look, adding fuel to the fire: "As a father, you can't be so cruel! Let her give birth, let her give birth!"

"Then you'll raise over a thousand children for me?"

"Farewell!"