The months passed quickly.

Luna boarded the Celestial Palace.

The new ship felt unfamiliar.

Due to its focus on propulsion, the Celestial Palace was more cramped than the Hope, but excluding the production areas, it was still quite large.

The bridge retained the Hope's design—bright and spacious, almost blindingly white.

Space was dark enough; Luna didn't want to spend her time in a cramped, dark room.

Amidst farewells and cheers, the Celestial Palace, accompanied by 80% of the Multi-eyed fleet, departed from the Multi-eyed planet.

The fleet consisted of the Celestial Palace and 302 warships.

Thanks to technological advancements, Ayla had built larger warships; even the smallest now exceeded 2000 meters in length.

The focus on size rather than speed was deliberate.

Smaller ships meant less cargo space, fewer energy sources, and less firepower.

Small ships were essentially sitting ducks.

Returning to space, Luna experienced a sense of novelty she hadn't felt in a long time.

"A new civilization means new experiences. My time on the Multi-eyed planet, while marked by continuous technological advancements, eventually led to a certain degree of aesthetic fatigue."

Luna no longer felt the need to enter the Divine Revelation virtual world during hibernation; she had spent almost 2000 years there.

Playing a game for 2000 years isn't a testament to the game's quality but to the player's incredible perseverance.

Perhaps Luna's inherent human nature made her crave novelty.

Ayla, surprisingly, agreed with Luna's assessment.

"Isn't humanity's exploration of the cosmos driven by a yearning for the unknown?"

"Every civilization's discovery is like a lone wanderer finding a good book."

"Right, how's the tachyon research coming along?" Luna asked.

Ayla had been exploring new scientific frontiers.

After discovering strings, they naturally delved deeper into string theory.

String theory posits ten dimensions—nine spatial dimensions and one time dimension.

Ayla, using string theory, had been exploring the six higher spatial dimensions beyond our three-dimensional space and time—the so-called Calabi-Yau manifolds.

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Calabi-Yau manifolds encompass six higher spatial dimensions. However, contrary to common understanding, higher dimensions aren't necessarily larger than our three-dimensional space.

Space is a complex concept.

In string theory, our universe is embedded within a higher-dimensional membrane. Imagine a four-dimensional hypercube; our universe would be one of its faces.

While our universe is one of its faces, the fourth and higher dimensions are actually curled up into a tiny space.

They're like beads on a string, connected by strings.

The theory is complex, but Ayla's task was simply to find the Calabi-Yau manifolds.

In our three-dimensional space, or perhaps 3+1 spacetime, the speed of light is the physical limit.

But in higher dimensions, that might not be the case.

Like the Purple Thorns' quantum coordinate anchor, which used quantum entanglement to transmit information faster than light.

Ayla was searching for tachyons—hypothetical particles that travel faster than light.

The theory posits another universe composed of tachyons.

In this universe, massless particles travel at infinite speed. The more energy they gain, the slower they become, until their speed drops to the speed of light.

If their energy approaches zero, their speed would approach infinity.

Mathematically, tachyons are possible.

Therefore, Ayla believed tachyons might exist within the Calabi-Yau manifolds.

This was her current focus.

However, Calabi-Yau manifolds aren't composed of strings, which are the fundamental building blocks of matter, but are a type of space. Their exploration requires theoretical, not observational, methods.

As three-dimensional beings, they couldn't perceive higher dimensions. Even harnessing the entire universe's energy wouldn't allow them to transition from three to four dimensions, or even two.

This would require a Type 4 civilization or higher, capable of controlling a universe or even transcending it.

This was far beyond Ayla's capabilities.

But closed strings could potentially traverse membranes into other spacetimes, making them an ideal reconnaissance tool.

Imagine throwing a transparent ball through an object. If the ball passes through, the object is non-existent. If the ball disappears, an object exists.

Beyond this, Ayla aimed to discover the tenth dimension.

String theory had numerous variations, including M-theory, which added a fundamental dimension to the original 9+1 dimensions, simplifying all existing theories under a single framework.

Only after exploring this dimension could Ayla fully understand the other dimensions.

This was an incredibly complex undertaking.

M-theory was still a nascent concept on Earth, a hypothesis, not a verified theory.

Ayla had to explore it independently.

Luna, after listening for ten minutes, decided to hibernate for another thousand years to recover her brain cells.

Fortunately, Ayla had already begun exploring the Calabi-Yau manifolds.

"So, tachyons actually exist?"

Luna was surprised by the results.

Ayla responded honestly. "Indeed, although higher dimensions can't be directly observed."

"But through string manipulation, I've explored higher dimensions."

"By inducing a change in string vibrations on one side and observing the change on the other, I've recorded speeds up to 173 times the speed of light."

"Unfortunately, this is only a basic observation, like throwing a stone, not transmitting complex information—strength, direction, details—only a basic change. It can only be used for basic detection, similar to the Purple Thorn's quantum coordinate anchor."

Tachyon communication could address interstellar communication issues.

This was crucial for warfare and governing a vast interstellar federation.

Luna realized tachyons had far greater potential than quantum entanglement, as quantum movement is random, while tachyons are potentially controllable.

She decided to prioritize resources for tachyon research.

She hoped Ayla could achieve a breakthrough, propelling their technology to new heights.

Gazing at the vast universe.

Luna hoped to reach its farthest corners.

But they were still insignificant, their knowledge limited.

But they had begun.

As long as they continued to strive for progress, they would reach their goal.