Chapter 297 The First Wisp of Controllable Stellar Origin Energy is Born

In the pitch-black depths of space, thirty-six newly awakened array nodes resonated silently at a specific frequency imperceptible to the human eye.

At the very center of their surroundings, a nearly transparent mass of dark blue cold mist is suspended in the vacuum.

It is no longer as turbulent and chaotic as the ruins of Tianyan-04, nor as desolate as the remnants surrounding the Chang Geng. In this man-made prototype of the "Star Gathering Platform," its most deadly edge has been shaving off layer by layer, its flow rate has been reduced to a minimum, and it presents a strange state of being viscous, heavy, and like liquid moonlight.

But this is not the end.

On the truss outside the main platform of the high-speed rail, the breathing of Qin Lie, Lin Feng, and Lao Liu could be clearly heard through the internal circulation channel of their pressure suits.

"The wave peak has stabilized, and the cold pressure has dropped to a usable range."

Lin Feng stared intently at the tactical terminal hanging on his forearm, the mask reflecting the pulsating data stream. "But the structure of this cold mist is extremely fragile. The 'roof' composed of thirty-six nodes can only temporarily slow its flow. Once the node frequency deviates even slightly, or is stimulated by external factors, it can easily dissipate back into background radiation."

Seeing it doesn't mean you own it.

The key now is how to completely capture this fragile yet deadly starlight and put it into our pocket.

"Old Liu, take over the plate," Lin Feng ordered in a deep voice. "Move slowly, let it fall down on its own."

"clear."

Old Liu took a deep breath and slowly pushed out a precision engineering robotic arm that extended from the main platform.

The front end of the robotic arm was no longer the heavy, sealed titanium crystal container of before. Instead, it was an open titanium crystal receiving plate, no more than thirty centimeters in diameter and shaped like a shallow dish. At the center of the plate, concentric circles of the [Spirit Sinking Array] were engraved, spreading outwards like water ripples.

This is an extremely gentle guiding array. It does not provide any forced pulling force, but only creates an extremely small "spiritual pressure trough" in a localized area.

Pushed by the robotic arm, the receiving plate slid little by little into the central area composed of thirty-six nodes, and finally hovered precisely below the dark blue cold mist.

ten meters.

five meters.

one meter.

"Activate the sinking array." Lin Feng's finger hovered over the Enter key on the terminal, his fingertips turning slightly white from the excessive force.

As the command was given, a faint bluish light appeared on the surface of the receiving plate.

In the vacuum, the suspended dark blue mist seemed to sense the "lower reaches" below. It stretched and deformed extremely slowly, like a heavy drop of mercury about to fall, extending a slender tentacle toward the center of the titanium crystal receiving plate.

The moment that wisp of cold mist touched the titanium crystal surface.

"drop--!"

On Lin Feng's terminal, the red warning light, indicating localized cold pressure, lit up instantly.

"The temperature at the connection point has plummeted! The flow rate of the array patterns has decreased by 60%!" Old Liu's voice changed over the communication channel.

Even after being processed by the Star Gathering Platform, the quality of the stellar energy itself remained terrifyingly high. The moment it actually entered a man-made object, its domineering properties were immediately and unmistakably revealed.

The cyan aura on the surface of the receiving plate dimmed instantly, and a layer of deep dark blue frost spread wildly along the array patterns, threatening to freeze and solidify the entire guiding circuit!

Once the circuits become solidified and the spiritual pressure trough disappears, the primordial energy that has been painstakingly gathered will dissipate on the spot.

"It's showing signs of a counterattack! The formation of the support plate is about to be crushed!" Old Liu's hand holding the control lever began to tremble.

"We can't get it out! If we withdraw the robotic arm now, the disturbed airflow will just shred it!" Cold sweat beaded on Lin Feng's forehead.

At this critical moment.

"I'll do it!"

Qin Lie's cold, hard voice suddenly rang out.

He strode to the very front of the truss, aimed his hands at the frosty receiving plate, and unleashed his pure, late-stage Foundation Establishment true essence without reservation.

However, he did not pour his true essence into the receiving plate, nor did he touch that ball of stellar energy.

Qin Lie transformed his true essence into an invisible, thick ceiling, firmly covering the cold mist above it!

"Sink...!"

Qin Lie gritted his teeth, the muscles in his arms bulging beneath his pressure suit. He used the combined pressure of pure physical force and true energy to force the upward-spreading counterattack back into the plate.

The upper layer was Qin Lie's immense pressure of true essence, regardless of the cost; the lower layer was the weak spiritual pressure trough of the receiving plate.

Under the combined attack of these two forces, the turbulent dark blue cold mist finally stopped struggling.

As if resigned to its fate, it sank completely down along the texture of the titanium crystal surface, perfectly settling in the center of the receiving plate, becoming a deep, dense, and faintly glowing thin liquid layer.

"The shield has stabilized! The peak cooling pressure has dropped!" Lin Feng seized the opportunity and pressed the lock button.

The mechanical latches around the receiving plate closed instantly, sealing it into a secure black box.

"Retract your arm."

The robotic arm slowly retracted, steadily returning the black box to the isolation chamber of the main platform.

Qin Lie withdrew his true energy, his body swayed violently, and he leaned against the truss, panting heavily. His hands were slightly spasming from the prolonged high-intensity output, but his eyes under the mask shone with an astonishing brightness.

They caught it.

This is not a remnant scraped from the ruins, nor is it a ferocious beast that was risked to snatch back.

This is the first truly "controllable" wisp of stellar energy that humanity has managed to gradually sort out, slow down, and safely receive using its own array base stations.

Twenty minutes later.

Inside the main platform, in the temporary core experimental area.

The black box containing the receiving tray was sent to the highest-level testing station.

In the ground-based joint control room, Wang Mingyuan and all the core engineers held their breath, watching the real-time images transmitted back synchronously from the high orbit.

"No need for all that fancy stuff."

Wang Mingyuan's voice echoed in the laboratory, carrying a crisp, incisive quality: "Based on the deduced conclusions, proceed directly to the composite pressure test."

Lin Feng nodded. He skillfully manipulated the miniature robotic arm, precisely channeling the small patch of stable dark blue light from the receiving plate into a tiny experimental device no bigger than a walnut.

This prototype is a scaled-down version of the "sandwich" model, which was hastily produced overnight:

The innermost layer is a superconducting titanium crystal framework, the middle layer is a companion spirit gold buffer layer, and the outermost layer is a conventional spirit energy circuit used to simulate the power of a spaceship.

"Injecting stellar energy. Anchoring the inner framework."

"Outer layer conventional spiritual energy circuit, activated."

Lin Feng pressed the Enter key.

If it were the same kind of violent source energy as before, the middle layer of the test piece would be torn apart the moment it was injected, and the outer layer would be directly hardened.

But this time, a miracle happened.

The outer layer of the miniature test piece glowed with a warm, cyan aura without any obstruction. Regular spiritual energy circulated rapidly in the circuit, emitting a healthy hum.

And deep within this active system.

That wisp of tamed stellar energy lay dormant within the titanium crystal framework. Instead of freezing the surrounding spiritual energy, it acted like an incredibly sturdy anchor, firmly securing the strength of the entire structure.

"Pressure resistance threshold test, begin pressurization."

Lin Feng pushes the virtual lever.

The external pressure in the simulated high-orbit pressure turbulence began to rise rapidly.

100%...300%...500%!

The spiritual energy shield on the outer layer of the test piece fluctuated violently under the heavy pressure, but this small "walnut" did not deform at all, and did not even tremble physically!

ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

One minute.

"It held up..." The head of the materials team stared at the stable curve on the screen, his voice trembling.

It did not harden or die, nor did it burst or collapse.

The inner layer is cold, forged bone; the outer layer is warm, raw flesh. These two energies, which were originally absolutely repulsive, have achieved perfect coexistence for the first time on an extremely small scale, thanks to the guidance of the Star Gathering Platform and the ingenious design of humankind.

The test automatically ended at the first minute and forty-seven seconds, when the outermost layer of regular spiritual energy was exhausted and the middle layer of symbiotic spiritual metal developed minute cracks due to reaching its fatigue limit.

However, a high-orbit ultimate compressive strength of one minute and forty-seven seconds is already an extremely impressive figure for this miniature component.

Inside the main control room on the ground.

Wang Mingyuan slowly took off his glasses and rubbed his dry eyes. Looking at the undeniable green test data on the screen, his back, which had been tense for several days and nights, finally relaxed little by little.

"This is just a prototype the size of a walnut. This wisp of stellar energy isn't even enough to complete the core framework tempering of a flying sword."

But in this era, every grand and magnificent ship begins with the first successful underlying logic.

Today, they successfully completed the entire process.

"Seal the data and classify it as top secret." Wang Mingyuan put his glasses back on, his voice regaining its commander-in-chief's composure. "Notify the Coordination Bureau to prepare to allocate the second batch of supplies to the high orbit. We need to activate all the remaining 108 nodes on the perimeter."

Two hundred kilometers away, at high altitude.

Qin Lie and Lin Feng stood side by side in front of the huge porthole, looking out at the dark and silent universe. In the depths of that darkness, the first star-gathering platform was operating silently, like an invisible net.

What they brought back was not a mature product, but merely a newly lit spark.

But from this moment on...

That cold, violent background radiation from the starry sky is no longer the sword of Damocles hanging over humanity's head.