The stars blurred into streaks as the Rusty Glider accelerated through the fractured void. Alarms flickered across the console, protesting every maneuver. Hull integrity: 62%. Energy reserves: low.
Li Feng exhaled slowly, eyes scanning the dying readouts. "You held together, old girl. Guess we both deserve a drink—if vacuum counted."
He coasted into the shadow of a massive Stellar Fragment—a broken continent drifting in silence, its surface scorched by plasma storms. Sensors showed no active signals, no lifeforms. Perfect.
The engines wound down with a groan. He floated in the cockpit, the vastness of the Nebula Seas stretching endlessly beyond the viewport.
Silence. For the first time since awakening, it felt like peace.
Then the Emporium pulsed again in his neural interface—soft at first, then insistently, like a heartbeat echoing through his skull.
"Persistent, aren't you?" Li Feng muttered, focusing his thoughts.
The void folded around him, and the familiar marketplace materialized in his mind: infinite aisles, drifting shelves, and ghostly figures bartering through dimensions. But this time, something was different.
At the far end of the hall, one presence stood apart—a silhouette cloaked in starlight, motionless amid the swirling currents of trade.
A message appeared in floating text:
[Invitation Detected: Entity 'Archivist of the Lost Node' Requests Private Link]
Li Feng hesitated. "Archivist? Sounds like trouble."
He accepted anyway.
Reality warped. The endless aisles dissolved into a chamber of floating data crystals and shifting light. A figure coalesced—a tall, androgynous being wrapped in fractal robes, face obscured by a lattice of runes.
"Welcome, new Warden of the Emporium," the voice said, melodic yet mechanical. "The Eternal Void stirs once more."
Li Feng blinked. "Warden? I think you've got the wrong guy. I'm just trying to not get shot out of the sky."
The figure tilted its head. "You inherited the Emporium through resonance transfer. The previous Warden—designation Epsilon-3—ceased function three cycles ago. Your neural pattern now anchors this dimensional node."
"So I'm… the new owner?"
"In part. The Emporium is bound to your soul print, but incomplete. Its systems remain fractured—its power, dormant. Rebuilding it requires energy, resources… and trades."
Li Feng frowned. "So leveling it up isn't just about buying and selling."
"Correct. Every successful trade strengthens the connection between realities. When the Emporium reaches higher synchronization tiers, new sectors unlock—technology, relics, even constructs lost to time."
Li Feng crossed his arms. "And what's your role in all this?"
The Archivist's runes flared faintly. "I am the Custodian of Records. I remember what you have forgotten."
Before Li Feng could reply, the chamber trembled. A distorted echo rippled through the Emporium—static, whispers, and then a flicker of something dark in the distance.
The Archivist turned sharply. "They found us."
"Who?"
"The Null Traders. Parasites that consume unstable Emporium nodes. You are marked now, Warden. They will hunt you through the void."
The marketplace dimmed, shelves flickering as if the entire dimension shuddered.
Li Feng's heart pounded. "Then tell me how to fight back."
A pause—then the Archivist extended a crystalline shard, glowing with silver-blue energy.
"Upload this to your ship's core. It will stabilize the Emporium link and unlock a subroutine: [Void Forge – Tier 1]. Use it to craft what you cannot buy."
The shard drifted toward him, dissolving into light as it touched his neural field.
[System Update: Void Forge Unlocked – Basic Item Synthesis Enabled]
Li Feng exhaled, a grin tugging at his lips. "Guess the grind just leveled up."
The Emporium faded, returning him to the cold silence of his cockpit. The shard's code was already integrating with the ship's system, holographic blueprints blooming across the console—schematics for weapons, armor, and reactor upgrades.
Outside, the Nebula shimmered faintly, as if watching.
He powered up the engines once more. "Alright, Archivist. Let's see what the universe is really hiding."
The Rusty Glider turned toward the glittering expanse, leaving behind the broken continent as distant signals began to stir in the dark.