Chapter 446 - 430: Treasure Star Grotto
"Today’s Headlines:"
"Another Massive Spatial Rupture Event in the Unfastened Boat Star Realm! Countless Adventurers Killed and Injured! The Great Cosmic Sovereign Personally Arrived on Scene, Instantly Stabilizing the Situation!"
"..."
Bold, heavy text took up half the front page of today’s tabloid.
This was to be expected.
For an Intermediate Civilization Star Realm, the lofty Cosmic Sovereign, who controlled an unknown number of star realms, was a great figure as distant as endless light-years away. Ordinary people could live their entire lives without the slightest involvement with such a person; they didn’t even have the right to get a chance to bask in their glory.
And yesterday, the Sovereign had actually gone to the Unmoored Boat personally to stabilize the rifts in this star realm?
It was more than worthy of being the front-page headline!
If nothing else, the Azure Star’s Hub Assembly forum was in an uproar! The level of excitement was among the highest it had been since the assembly was established!
Shi Ming casually browsed a few posts. They were either praising the majesty of the Cosmic Sovereign’s divine body, speculating about what treasure had emerged in the Unmoored Boat, or itching to follow the crowd and go treasure hunting there...
The level of fervor made the rulers of Azure Star, the lofty Sixteen Saints, jealous. Compared to Azure Star’s Sixteen Saints, the Sovereign was an ethereal being on a higher plane. Their title alone commanded absolute reverence. Some people even wanted to pay a great price to travel to the patch of space where the Sovereign had stopped, just to take photos and breathe the air they had left behind!
Of course, they didn’t know that under most circumstances, a "Sovereign" had no need to breathe.
The Hub Assembly forum was abuzz, and some people turned their attention to the treasure.
"To be able to move the Sovereign, that treasure’s value must be immeasurable!"
"You’re really slow on the uptake. Isn’t that an obvious conclusion? The Treasure Hunting Unmoored Boat mission description said the treasure is extremely dangerous, which is why just finding a clue gets you 100 Cosmic Crystals and an internal internship... If you actually found the treasure, you could probably use it to directly enter the Hub Tower’s upper echelons and save yourself thousands, even tens of thousands of years of struggle!"
"Dream on."
"A treasure of that caliber... finding a clue is slightly possible. But if you actually got your hands on it, it would probably be a disaster! Besides, the Sovereign personally went there, so the treasure was probably taken away."
"Very likely..."
"Sigh, another chance to reach the heavens in a single bound is gone."
"Count your blessings, kid. If you’d gone earlier, you might have died in that wave of spatial rifts. I heard those rifts stretched across nearly half the Unfastened Boat Star Realm. Countless adventurers exploring inside were caught in it, and not even their bodies could be found!"
...
The turmoil in the Unfastened Boat Star Realm was inevitable.
The only key to the Tomb Star System was tied to a god’s entire legacy, enough to drive even pseudo-gods mad...
Everything happening now was merely a prelude.
The Sovereign of the Thirty-Seventh Cosmic Country had already returned to his Royal Hall. He was using his Nirvana skill, "Destiny," along with several ultimate treasures of the Destiny Domain to try and divine the events of the past week in that star realm. The Tower King had lost the ultimate treasure, the "Heart of the Star Spirit," but could neither publicize the loss nor seek revenge. His only hope was that the Dark Star Race people who stole it would use the treasure soon, allowing the Sovereign to detect the fluctuations in destiny and use his power to turn the tables.
As for Shi Ming...
He, of course, understood this as well.
’I have a clear idea of which trump cards can be revealed and which can’t be exposed in the slightest. For example, with my current foundation, if I expose the fact that I possess a Divine Rune and the Eye of the Divine, I’ll surely become the target of numerous Old Dengs in the Star Sea and attract endless trouble.’
’Bide my time and build my strength.’
’Get more trump cards!’
’If I can close the gap in my foundation and treasures, I’ll have enough strategies to face even a true Pillar Stone. By then, the Endless Star Sea will truly be a place where I can roam free!’
After browsing the Hub Assembly for a while, Shi Ming logged out of the channel.
’The Tower King isn’t much of a threat, but he will definitely tell the Sovereign everything he knows.’
’That Sovereign has a Nirvana skill called [Destiny]. Skills of destiny are bizarre and varied... It seems it’s best to use the form of Rui Liang of the Dark Star Race as little as possible from now on.’
’I wonder which Cosmic Country the Dark Star Race’s lair is in.’
The Dayun sailed rapidly through the Dark Cosmos. Shi Ming and Ah Jian took turns piloting the Stellar-class drifting ship, heading toward the Advanced Civilization Star Realm, [Star Cave].
Intermediate civilizations, which didn’t even have Nirvana Powerhouses, were just a transition.
True advanced civilizations were the stage for the powerhouses of the Star Sea.
...
...
...
The Star Cave Star Realm was one of the Thirty-Seventh Cosmic Country’s Advanced Civilization Star Realms. The entire realm spanned 270,000 light-years. It had a total of 102 primordial life-bearing planets and 8,911 subsequently developed ones, which existed only in the outer regions, arranged in a ring.
The farther one went into the star realm’s interior, the fewer life-bearing planets there were.
Its capital planet was named "Treasure Star."
True to its name, Treasure Star was home to a multitude of treasures. It could be called a museum of artifacts from across the Star Sea, and it was also the Thirty-Seventh Cosmic Country’s largest treasure exchange. Countless Saints and Nirvana Powerhouses spent money there like water; many would spend a lifetime’s fortune to purchase a single item.
Curios, ultimate treasures, medicines, essences...
It had everything.
This was mainly thanks to the existence of the unique celestial bodies known as "Star Caves."
The deeper one went into the Star Cave Star Realm’s Core Area, the fewer planets there were. In the very center, a region of three thousand light-years, there were no celestial bodies in the conventional sense. Instead, like caverns on a high mountain, there were strange and varied Star Caves. Each Star Cave connected to a peculiar space that nurtured either treasures or crises.
Although they were sitting on a treasure trove, it was extremely difficult to develop.
All methods of detection were useless in the Star Caves. To hunt for treasure, one could only pilot a ship out of the Dark Cosmos and try their luck in the three-thousand-light-year expanse of the Star Sea.
According to incomplete statistics, there were at least three million Star Caves in the Star Cave Star Realm, with new ones constantly forming. Less than one percent of them had been explored.
The realm-suppressing ultimate treasure, the "Dark Crystal," was found in one such Star Cave.
It was precisely this unique environment of the Star Cave Star Realm that attracted a large number of adventurers from across the Star Sea to hunt for treasure. However, although the "Star Caves" were difficult to develop, they were still under the control of Treasure Star and the Cosmic Country. Even if their own development capabilities were insufficient, they would not allow adventurers to treasure hunt on their territory for free.
They offered a "pay-to-hunt" service.
For a fee of just 10 Cosmic Crystals, one could hunt for treasure in the Star Cave core for 30 days.
Within those thirty days, whatever treasures one found in the Star Caves could be taken away, as long as one paid the "treasure tax."