A Peaceful Travel

After flying into the space station the Carrier was moored to, Heian Ciemnosc and the Team landed their Fighters at a particular port inside the station, where their contractors were still moving thins inside and were waiting for them. Beto walked up and met with the person in charge, preceding over the moving of goods. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc and the rest remained at the side and looked at the ground port's people moving around. Finally, Beto met with a young woman with a disciplined appearance. Her hairstyle, suit, wearing pants, and tall and slender figure made her stern, strict, and beautiful face more impactful.

Beto walked with her towards them, where the young man studied their faces. When she looked at Heian Ciemnosc, her eyes glinted, seemingly surprised to see a 'known' face working for her. But that was when she arrived before them and stopped, changing her gaze towards the team leader. Beto introduced their contractor to the Team, "This is miss Rila. She will be boarding the middle-sized vessel and be in our care."

The Team nodded and bowed a little, receiving a nod from their contract at the end. Miss Rila spoke to them afterwards. Her voice was stable and a little serious. "It's good to have the Crimsons with my fleet. I will be considering having this trip successful already. I won't get into details. Just know that the goods being transported are meant for war. All we ask is they arrive safely onto the mobile Godly Space Station. Everyone in my fleet is from the same side, not other contracted personnel. You can rest assured. Any questions?"

Heian Ciemnosc raised his right hand and asked, while miss Rila looked at him with a bit of intrigue. "What forces can we expect from this mission? We're moving around stations holding more than enough Third Step cultivators to entrap us."

"You can rest assured there won't be possible enemies above the Second Step. Our enemies aren't backed by another organization, and if they were, my people would've found a patron, too. With your capabilities. It will be in your hands to protect the cargo." The contractor said, keeping her figure as straight as a spear, and talked in a professional, strict tone. Heian Ciemnosc nodded in response, and there were no more questions from the Team.

"Shall we move on? My Fighters will be randomly distributed among you. Come and check the stuff, if you will." Miss Rila said, inviting everyone into the spaceships. Beto nodded and gestured to his Team as he adamantly responded, "Yes, we will. Please, lead the way."

Miss Rila nodded and walked them towards the middle-sized vessel first. The Team got a look at the goods, using their Spirit Sense with the contractor at their side, watching them with her serious expression on her face. After they were finished checking things up, they moved to the other spaceships, where everyone confirmed their items and ensured the veracity and trust of the merchant fleet.

Walking to the middle of the spaceships and the other merchant Fighters, Beto and his Team faced the contractor and the merchant's pilots, including the teams from the spaceships. He nodded at them and proceeded, "Everything's in order. Now, let me get the Faction in communication. Then, we can go."

Miss Rila nodded and blinked her eyes in understanding. Beto took his Universal Conveyance out, connected it to the space station, and contacted the Crimsonbreaking Faction's Fleet's central command. A violet bout of energy flew from his left wrist and turned into a diagram of soundwaves, from which a voice came, "Central command has received Team #&!·)%!'s request. Permission granted. In this new Change's 31st year, 7th month, 2nd week, and 1st day, you are to set off to your mission."

The communication was cut off, and miss Rila visibly heaved a sigh of relief as her eyes turned hopeful. The little nervousness she was suffering dissipated at last, and she looked at Beto gratefully before sharing the notion with the rest of the Team.

"Okay, do we fly now?" Beto looked at the contractor and said with a well-humored face. Miss Rila nodded and pointed in 2's at his pilots, except for the piloting teams of the spaceships. "Yes. All of you, go to your temporary leaders. The Empire's counting on you."

"Yes, ma'am!" The Fighters' pilots responded, saluted her, and went to the Team's members. Heian Ciemnosc received his pilots at the same time as the other team members while the latter looked at him, like a ceremony where he was becoming one of them, even if it was from a tiny thing. Unlike in the Crimsonbreaking Faction, the merchant Fighters were piloted by at least 6 people. They didn't have the same qualities as the Faction, like the Blauw Empire and the Wrath Nihility Academy. Only advanced or peak Third Step cultivators can afford 1 person per Fighter in terms of resources and quality over quantity and vice versa when not in space stations or amphibious battles.

Thus, Heian Ciemnosc received a dozen people who walked towards him and stood half a step behind him. Beto looked at them, with 20 people behind him, and nodded at them. "Well, since everyone got their things ready. Let's go. Ma'am, we've notified you of the formations we'll use. Just go ahead and choose whichever traveling type. We will take care of the rest. And in case something happens, we'll command your fleet into a defensive stance. Understood?"

"Heard, thank you for the troubles." The contractor said, nodding solemnly and bowing at Beto. Beto nodded at her and stared at his Team, indicating them to go to their Fighters and start flying. Heian Ciemnosc abided by the silent orders and usual procedure before flying his Fighter up after saying a few rudimentary words to his temporary Fighters. His teammates did the same, with the other Fighters taking flight right behind them and positioning in a spread formation to form various squares surrounding the spaceships, which were already above the ground level and waiting for them.

The square formation was created with the merchant Fighters forming the corners. They were at the rear and front of the vessels, forming a ring-like cover that only took position at the corners. Meanwhile, the Team's Fighters were within the vessels' formation, surrounding the middle-sized spaceships as the small-sized ones formed a triangle with 2 of them to the left and right from the middle-sized spaceship.

Heian Ciemnosc was positioned in the rear again. This time with Cara, together forming a lateral position above the middle-sized vessel. Beto was at the front, with Moy and Ruo Wei by his sides, while the rest were at the lateral sides from the middle-sized spaceship, up and down. Like this, the mini-fleet moved towards one of the space station's hangars, where they could be boosted by one of the array formations and advance tens times their maximum speed for a couple hours.

Heian Ciemnosc directed his Fighters a little to align them better according to the Team's procedures. His teammates did the same but were more experienced and didn't need to wait for others to finish their preparations. Heian Ciemnosc had to change it a little every time he noticed a change but didn't have trouble following up, and the mini-fleet quickly arrived at the space station's hangar.

"... Alright, you were scheduled already. You may pass next." Heian Ciemnosc heard a voice speak into the mini-fleet's temporary communications channel, giving them a free pass to the array formation directly without being made to wait or pay extra like others. Heian Ciemnosc flew with the mini-fleet and watched as they overflew dozens of spaceships and a few other merchant fleets before descending onto the hangar.

The mini-fleet descended onto a platform, with half-gateways extending over 20 meters with a space of thousands of meters in between. The formation was enough to cover that distance, so they took less time being accommodated by the Craftspeople working around the platform. As things were about to become ready, Beto received a few notifications and messages to confirm. After reading through it all, Beto gave the clearance sign and spoke into the Team's coms. "Get ready. We'll advance nearly 30% of the distance needed in 2 hours. Prepare for any situation."

"Heard!!" The Team shouted, with Heian Ciemnosc speaking instead of shouting. Beto didn't respond, and Heian Ciemnosc started feeling something similar to the portals he usually went through in the Wrath Nihility Academy. He had missed them in the Blauw Empire, but neither he nor the Empire were in the position to get those things built with all the budget being spent on wars and arming up.

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Fwuoshhh~... Heian Ciemnosc saw black smoke appear from below the platform. There wasn't violet anywhere, so it meant one thing. This was no portal and had no teleportation. This was purely a transportation array formation. Heian Ciemnosc, who lacked enough Neutral Energy to create these things, looked down and inclined his Fighter slightly to take a better look with his naked eyesight. There was no problem with him doing that. Maybe tens of Changes ago, he would've been severely hurt if not mangled to death, but not nowadays. If the team leader or his teammates looked at him, they were probably mocking him a little. But that was alright.

VAYIUUUUMVVVP~~!

Heian Ciemnosc heard the sound of the space around his Fighter and the mini-fleet warp and shrinking as their spaceships and Fighters were covered by the boosting augment of flight, speed, and protection against the crushing heavyweight of laws. Rapidly, his body felt impulsed forwards. Just as he was analyzing below, the ground changed. In the blink of an eye, it was as if he had just been swept away by a sun-sized hand, leaving the space station behind despite millions of kilometers still left before the hangar and the farthest edge of the Godly Space Station.

It was replaced by the pure blackness of the universe, and Heian Ciemnosc was forced to look ahead, where he was astounded when he saw the 'colors' around them. Every imaginable color flashed past them like they were in the middle of a Sub-Space and crossing through Existences. However, that was obviously not the case. The colors twirled from the front to their rear, and Heian Ciemnosc saw what everyone else did but looked as if he was watching more than them from their position.

In reality, however, those colors were Kingdoms, space stations, stars, suns, and nebulae, to name a few. The scariest of them should be the hidden being or existence Fauna in the world, whose images flashed by and were projected by the transportation array formation. It was a 'side' effect of using it in the open world, with only the protection the space station had as the limit to send the vessels into far space. Everyone was seeing what even those outside the array formation's activation could see, so Heian Ciemnosc wasn't seeing more. He was merely seeing it for a little longer, perhaps a few 0.1 seconds at best.

... A couple hours passed. Heian Ciemnosc meditated to spend time while in the transportation array formation's bubble. They could be seen from the outside if close enough, but if someone was more than a hundred thousand kilometers away, they would only think it was a large-sized spaceship flying through space at maximum speed and one of at least the Third Step. From the inside, though, while it was beautiful, it didn't bring much to cultivators.

The Universal Conveyance art forums are always filled with civilians who watch from other cultivators or citizens who project their holographic screen into a digital one to let them see these images. But very few cultivators were interested in looking at them, as attaining some enlightening was as complicated and rare as finding a qilin's scale beside a phoenix's feather on top of a black turtle's shell.

Naturally, Heian Ciemnosc was one of them. After 15 minutes of looking at it, he felt inspired, and after 3 weeks of holding his cultivation base, he sat cross-legged above his pilot's seat and started meditating. His pale eyelids had been closed since then, but his Spirit Sense, accompanied by fluctuations of his dark Soul, ventured everywhere around the mini-fleet. He didn't try pulling it out of the array formation's bubble. Although it wasn't harmful, no one in their right mind wants to experience feeling sick for no reason.

Not even Alyona would be able to endure such speed while virtually not moving in space while inside a transportation array formation's bubble, let alone little Heian Ciemnosc, who isn't even at the later realms of the Second Step. Of course, he was just 1 realm away from becoming an expert in the Second Step. It was only a matter of time.

"... We're coming out, prepare to scout!" Beto's voice suddenly sounded, making Heian Ciemnosc calmly open his pale eyelids. When he did, his butt was back in his seat, and he opened coms with his Fighters. "You two go to the front and scan whatever's ahead."

"Understood, sir!" - "Yes, sir!" The Fighters responded, at least their team leaders did. Heian Ciemnosc didn't say something else but placed a fragment of his dark Soul into each of their Fighters. This wasn't separating parts of his dark Soul, but letting it stain the outside world to 'watch' beyond his naked eyesight without being detected by other Spirit Senses or radars, only other Souls. Heian Ciemnosc couldn't bother worrying about being detected and alerting any possible enemy, as his Soul was, most likely, one and only this advanced in the Second Step. Even though he didn't know its level just yet.

Fuuuuu~- toooomp!...

Heian Ciemnosc watched as the mini-fleet's transportation array formation's bubble dissipated from the front, with creaks and rifts ripping the bubble apart but softly letting them into open space. Everything was dark. But as they were still being pushed forth by the inertia, they rapidly came across a group of isolated asteroids. Nobody worried, though. Heian Ciemnosc looked at the readings his Ornament presented on the panels and set a fixated halting point that correlated with the rest of the mini-fleet with that information.

The Fighters under him were given the same calculations through coms, and they confirmed that they were following it, receiving Heian Ciemnosc's 'thumbs up' as ginormous asteroids appeared before them. Finally, the mini-fleet came to a sudden stop as the bubble broke apart 3 seconds prior to the sudden halt. Nothing went wrong, and they didn't receive any attack or a sudden apparition of obstacles, so they were fine. Of course, their weapons were ready to destroy any of them if they appeared.

"..." Heian Ciemnosc slightly frowned as he turned his head to the left and right, where he saw his Fighters forming different rear corners of squares not moving. He opened coms and ordered, "Go!"

"Heard!" - "At once, sir!" The Fighters' team leaders responded, and their Fighters streaked forwards. Heian Ciemnosc's Fighters didn't seem to be the only ones not responding on time, as his teammates' Fighters were also slow to react and advanced at the same time, more or less. Heian Ciemnosc shook his head a little and requested a chat with his team leader while keeping part of his attention on the dark Soul fragments he left behind them.

'Hmmm... now that I think about it, not even Manifestation Souls can place Soul fragments on anything their Spirit Sense can reach... I think. Maybe they do, but ah. I'm just not too sure.' Heian Ciemnosc thought before noticing the team leader accepted his request. Beto spoke first, "What is it, newbie? Are you afraid now~?"

"These people might know how to fight and sacrifice themselves, but they're dull. Is there any chance we can get them up to... 'date'? So to say." Heian Ciemnosc's words were heard only by Beto, so he only responded after a few seconds, "Yeah, sure. That's more or less the usual around here. Why. Did your beloved Academy never need to do something like this?"

"Well... oh. We never went to space missions like this." Heian Ciemnosc responded flatly. Beto became silent, but being as sharp as always, Heian Ciemnosc closed coms and let the team leader feel like he was answered without any hidden sassiness, or haughtiness, for that matter.

"Sigh..." Heian Ciemnosc placed his arms behind his head as everyone was set to stop for the moment. The dark Soul fragments he attached to his Fighters went unnoticed. Mainly because there was no one there. The Fighters did find an abandoned installation in one of the asteroids, though. After they returned, they reported to Heian Ciemnosc and the Team's contractor through the mini-fleet's coms.

"There's a message. This was a resourceful minefield, but it was depleted... A few years before the Great Sage Change ended. There's no one on our side."

"Return to position. The job isn't over yet." Heian Ciemnosc's words came before miss Rila's words could reach them. Miss Rila's voice followed suit, giving Heian Ciemnosc credit, "You heard your commander. Why are you still adhering to my vessel? Every time you're outside formation, you're putting everyone in danger. Get going!"

"Yes, ma-m- sir!" - "Sorry, m- sir! We'll return right away!"

"..." Heian Ciemnosc's darkest eyes went to the middle-sized vessel's central command. He silently thanked her a little, not wanting to open coms and be unnecessarily corny. When the Fighters returned to his side, his teammates' subordinate Fighters began reappearing. They also had the same letter left behind, coinciding in date and everything. After spending 20 minutes arranging everything, the mini-fleet turned their direction to avoid the massive asteroids and resumed their mobilization.

Whooooooooooooshhh~~!!

Although this was space when being so close together and forming an array formation to help the Team's and merchant Fighters travel at the same medium speed of the vessels utilizing at least a couple smallish engines at once. Although this wasn't as fast as the Fighters' maximum speed, it was close. This was just their medium speed. An array formation connecting to the Fighters was necessary to not waste too many Neutral Stones.

Heian Ciemnosc silently placed a part of his attention on controlling the Ornament while the rest was on the previous transportation array formation bubble the mini-fleet experienced for a little. They were costly but damnably helpful. It could be easily seen how vital these wares were. Now, even if Heian Ciemnosc placed the tiniest bit of his attention onto something, no matter what it was, if he wanted to learn and deepen his knowledge about something, he could do it as if he was paying his entire focus to the subject.

Meanwhile, the Fighters and Cara, in her Fighter, sensed something. Although they were in space, and not many wanted to send their Spirit Sense out unless they were in battle, as using it in space was at least 4 times more expensive in their fortitude than anywhere else, even inside an Elemental storm in space, they could feel a breakthrough from Heian Ciemnosc's Ornament!

"..." Heian Ciemnosc, in his Ornament, slowly opened his darkest eyes, revealing serenity, ultimate coldness, and adorableness. However, in his mind, he felt stupid. 'Oops. I broke into the 4th stage by mistake. This happened again, huh?'

...