The rift in space shimmered, revealing a breathtaking view of the starry sky beyond—so close it almost felt like one could reach out and touch it.
Faruzan glanced at the protective barrier surrounding her and tentatively pressed her hand against it. The surface was warm and smooth, with no discernible texture.
Precisely because it felt so ordinary, she couldn't tell if it actually had any function at all.
"Follow me." Nolan gestured to the girls and stepped through the rift.
The space around them shifted—then, in the next instant, they stood within the Void Starsea.
That enormous creature, the All-Devouring Narwhal, was still there. But now it lay docile under Nolan's control, unable to stir.
The sight of such a colossal being made both Layla and Faruzan widen their eyes in astonishment.
"This is a unique lifeform that roams the cosmic sea," Nolan explained casually. "It caused quite a bit of trouble in Fontaine recently, but it's been subdued now."
He then continued, "Next, we'll head to a special location. From there, we can emerge at a random point somewhere in the starry sea."
Neither the Herta Space Station nor the Flagship he's avatar has were suitable for casually bringing others along, so Nolan decided to use the same method he'd once used himself to travel into space.
Since they were merely observing celestial bodies, the exact destination didn't really matter.
By now, Faruzan was beginning to believe he truly could reach the stars.
Between the mysterious whale, the personal sub-space, and his calm confidence, the whole thing somehow fit together in a way that felt… credible.
Even if Teyvat's current level of technology made space travel impossible, that didn't rule out Nolan possessing a special kind of power that could achieve similar results.
In fact, she realized—what he was doing might be beyond even the power of the gods themselves… and he was doing it so effortlessly.
Faruzan's bright blue eyes lingered on him, now tinged with genuine curiosity.
Nolan gave a brief command, and the Void Starsea began to sink.
First, they descended to the shallow layer, where faint glimpses of reality could still be seen.
Then deeper—into the deep layer, where everything turned pitch-black.
A second later, the darkness peeled away, and all around them appeared countless shimmering projections, floating like reflections of distant worlds.
"This place is a little different," Nolan said. "When I first reached a certain level of power, I accidentally stumbled into it. I call it the Projection Space."
He gave a brief introduction to the area—though, in truth, he didn't know much more about it himself, and couldn't explain it in detail.
"The coordinates here are constantly shifting," Faruzan observed softly. "And every projection we see is likely real… Teyvat is far too small. For someone to realize that hidden spaces like this exist—most would live their whole lives never knowing."
Her voice carried a faint sense of awe.
To witness something that even she—one of Sumeru's most brilliant scholars—might never have touched in a lifetime, stirred something within her.
[Faruzan Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 380 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.3 (80/300)]
Seeing the prompt on his panel, Nolan smiled inwardly.
"We've been here for over a minute already," he continued. "Our original coordinates have long since drifted who-knows-where. Once we leave this place, we'll probably appear somewhere random in the cosmos.
"At that point, we can observe whatever celestial body we like—anywhere we wish."
Mona and Layla both nodded eagerly, eyes shining with anticipation.
Faruzan, though not outwardly excited, no longer carried a trace of doubt.
But just as Nolan was about to ascend back toward the upper layer of the Void Starsea, the ever-shifting coordinates of the Projection Space suddenly warped—and something appeared before them.
It looked like a giant bubble, tens of meters wide.
Of course, in a place like this where size and distance constantly changed, such measurements were meaningless—but even so, it was the first distinct object Nolan had ever seen here apart from the endless projections themselves.
Without hesitation, he used the Void Starsea's power to anchor the bubble's location, ensuring he could return later to explore it again. If he let it drift away, who knew when—or if—he'd ever encounter it again?
"What is that?" Mona asked, her gaze transfixed.
All of them were drawn to it, peering through its translucent membrane. There seemed to be something inside, but it was too hazy to make out.
"This is my first time encountering something like this here," Nolan admitted. "I don't know if it's dangerous. I'll need to send a avatar to investigate first—it could take some time. For now, let's stick to our original goal and explore the stars."
"That makes sense," Mona agreed with a nod. "As curious as we all are, we should finish what we came here for first."
"Mm," Layla murmured softly, her golden eyes glimmering with agreement.
Faruzan, being more interested in runes and mechanisms than general exploration, wasn't particularly bothered either. Unless the bubble contained something with arcane significance, she had no reason to pursue it.
After confirming that the strange bubble had indeed been anchored within the Void Starsea, Nolan guided the space upward once more.
They passed again through the deep and shallow layers—until, moments later, they re-emerged into reality.
Perhaps luck was on their side, for the first thing they saw ahead was a red planet.
Without an atmosphere to obscure it, the view was crystal clear—even from space, they could see its surface.
It looked like a vast red desert, barren and lifeless, with not a single trace of vegetation. Whether it had always been this way, or had suffered some catastrophe, was impossible to tell.
But on a cosmic scale, such worlds were usually naturally barren—any other explanation would be an astronomical coincidence.
Nolan teleported several hundred thousand kilometers away, finding an ideal vantage point for observation.
Once he confirmed the area was stable and free of anomalies, he dispelled the Void Starsea's influence.
The girls—each shielded by the Wholehearted Guardian Shields—floated freely in open space, realizing with amazement that their bodies truly behaved just as theoretical models had predicted.
After entering space, gravity vanished completely—everyone began to drift weightlessly, unable to control their movements at all.
At that moment, even Faruzan had no choice but to admit that Nolan truly did have the power to bring others into space to see the stars. It seemed she had misunderstood them after all.
Feeling a bit reluctant but still honest, she offered an apology:
"...Sorry. I misjudged you."
Yet right after apologizing, she caught sight of Mona's smug expression and, for some reason, couldn't help feeling slightly irritated.
"It's alright," Nolan said with a calm smile. "Anyone would be skeptical hearing something like that."
"Hmph." Faruzan crossed her arms, pretending not to care.
[Faruzan Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 320 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.4 (100/400)]
Seeing the notification pop up on his character panel, Nolan realized his gentle response had worked perfectly.
"Alright," he said, "for now, let's focus on observing this red planet. Once you've seen enough, we'll move on to the next location."
He sat cross-legged, using his spiritual power to fix the girls gently in place so they wouldn't drift around uncontrollably while studying.
"Thank you," Layla said gratefully.
[Layla Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 380 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.9 (500/900)]
Judging by how much her affection had increased, that gratitude clearly included her amazement that he had actually taken her into outer space to observe celestial bodies—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any scholar of the stars.
After all, no matter how many times one calculated orbital trajectories or drew star charts, it all remained theoretical. To verify with one's own eyes what reality truly looked like—such a chance was priceless.
While the girls busied themselves recording their observations on their Akasha Terminals, the temporarily idle Nolan shifted his focus to the "Lumine's Sword God" avatar he had left on Baihuang Star.
Several days had passed since the attack by the Xianzhou's "Abundance Faction," and things had finally calmed down again.
He could clearly see that the number of patrol fleets orbiting Baihuang Star had increased significantly—they were now circling the planet in constant vigilance.
It seemed they had learned from the last incident. To prevent another surprise assault, they had adjusted the ratio between surface and orbital troops.
That meant the garrison on the planet's surface had probably been reduced.
Having stationed forces here for decades, the Xianzhou Alliance knew Baihuang Star inside and out. They wouldn't dare to thin their ground troops unless they were confident the surface was secure.
To Nolan, that meant the timing was perfect—to quietly take down the remaining Louyue Behemoths.
Night had fallen on Baihuang Star. The enormous creatures had withdrawn their limbs into their massive bodies, resembling titanic mountains slumbering on the plains.
If he could knock them out gently enough that they woke up naturally later, he could earn EXP silently without anyone noticing.
They weren't intelligent anyway—none of them would report being attacked.
Moving swiftly, Nolan made the Sword God take action.
To avoid detection by Xianzhou surveillance, he guided the clone into the Void Starsea, hiding her presence completely before emerging right beside a sleeping behemoth.
To knock out such a massive creature without a sound, a direct spiritual attack was the only option—fortunately, that was one of his specialties.
In fact, even if it hadn't been, the level gap alone made it easy.
After all, sword intent itself could directly strike at the mind. Knocking out a weaker opponent was practically effortless.
With a thought, the Sword God infused a pulse of sword intent into the behemoth's head. A faint tremor—then, even in its sleep, the giant beast slumped unconscious without a sound.
Its posture remained unchanged, as if still peacefully asleep—no one would ever notice anything amiss.
[Defeated A Powerful Enemy, Obtained 162,741 Adventure EXP.]
Seeing the notification, Nolan nodded in satisfaction. Quite a decent amount—but still a bit short of leveling up.
With the first one down, he continued operating the Sword God to strike the next target.
Silently, she approached another slumbering Louyue Behemoth and released another surge of sword intent.
[Defeated A Powerful Enemy, Obtained 161,322 Adventure EXP.]
Another success. Tens of thousands of Adventure EXP in mere moments—the efficiency was excellent.
Meanwhile, time passed, and Mona and Layla seemed to have made a discovery of their own.
By studying the orbital path of the red desert planet, they'd deduced the gravitational influences of several nearby celestial bodies.
What they found was astonishing—this region formed a massive planetary system. Several barren worlds were orbiting around an enormous gas giant at the center.
The red desert planet before them was one of those satellites.
And this entire system, in turn, revolved around a great star—a vast, intricate dance of cosmic motion.
It was a remarkably complex structure. Seeing it firsthand, it was hard to imagine how such a system could remain stable.
Logically, the star's gravitational pull should vastly outweigh that of the gas giant. Those planets should be drawn directly to the star instead.
Nor was it anything like the Earth–Moon relationship in the solar system—their relative masses and distances were on an entirely different scale.
Even Nolan, who wasn't particularly versed in astronomy, found the whole thing rather puzzling.
Still, if it existed, it must have its own logic. There had to be some special factor behind it—perhaps something within that gas giant that amplified its gravitational pull.
"Let's go take a look inside that planet!" Mona said, her eyes gleaming as she looked at him, her tone playful and coaxing.
For an astrologer like her, finding something that defied known theory made her itch with curiosity.
Layla turned her golden eyes toward Nolan as well, silently expressing the same desire to investigate.
Faruzan, on the other hand, didn't mind either way—this wasn't her field of study.
Nolan thought for a moment. By now, the Sword God had already subdued dozens of behemoths, earning over seven million Adventure EXP.
It was a good time to pause—continuing would only increase the risk of discovery. Exploring that mysterious gas giant for a while sounded like a fine change of pace.
He nodded lightly.
"Alright then—let's go take a closer look and find out what's going on."
(End of Chapter)
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