Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1362: Chapter 1361: Breaking Through the Waves

The ancient space station’s door opened silently, just as Gawain had said. The locks on the doors inside this section had been removed. Cassandra cautiously entered a room directly connected to the main hall, her gaze sweeping the surroundings.

Bright lights illuminated the long-unvisited place, with silver-white, light gray, and touches of blue accents being its primary colors. She judged that this could be a monitoring room or operational area—against the wall were many holographic projection devices emitting faint glows, and in the center there was a column-like device with a slanted top fitted with a crystal-like control panel whose function was completely incomprehensible.

And on the wall opposite the door, a particularly wide window was embedded. Outside the high-strength transparent polymer "glass" was darkness; it did not appear to be outer space.

In this gigantic space station, Asharena always felt disoriented. She couldn’t make sense of the directions or understand the layout of the rooms and their relative positions within the entire station, making her ever more cautious with each step.

But Cassandra seemed unbothered by this confusion; she explored excitedly, poking at anything that piqued her interest—her curiosity unleashed to its fullest after receiving safety assurance from His Majesty Gawain Cecil. Now, she moved directly past Asharena, who was inspecting the device in the center of the room, to the wide window at the end and practically pressed her face against it before exclaiming dramatically, "Wow—take a look at this!"

Asharena walked over, curiously looking outside the window. At first, she saw a dreary space with a few faint lights adorning the darkness, but soon her eyes transformed into golden vertical pupils, revealing the view outside and almost making her gasp aloud—

She saw a "land," strictly speaking, a plot that had been abandoned for untold years. Through the polymer window, a vast expanse of plains and slopes like the Earth’s surface unfolded naturally, with man-made channels crisscrossing the plain, complemented by structures resembling bridges and docks. Sparse, dried, dead plant remains scattered across areas lit by light, perhaps indicating that this land once enjoyed a lush period.

Asharena took a gentle breath, instinctively directing her gaze further, seeing the land’s end rise abruptly into barriers submerged in darkness—these were the space station’s hull, confirming that this land is not on a planet’s surface but inside a manmade space facility.

"...Your Majesty Gawain, we’ve found something remarkable..." she began but did not receive an immediate response, "Your Majesty Gawain? Are you listening?"

"...Oh, I’m here," Gawain’s voice eventually came through. "Sorry, I was just thinking. What did you discover?"

"A..." Asharena started to describe but suddenly found herself at a loss for words to express what she had seen, for it was beyond her knowledge base. Luckily, Cassandra immediately chimed in: "We’ve discovered an ecological segment, incredibly large, with man-made land and rivers. Judging by the remains, it should be an ecosystem—but it appears to have been offline for many years. Moreover, we’ve observed dried but unrotted plant remains; I suspect the outside has depressurized and is in a vacuum state."

"A large-scale ecological segment?" Gawain’s voice sounded somewhat surprised, with a few seconds of silence apparently filled with contemplation. "This might be a ’primitive control copy’ developed in space during the monitoring of the planet’s ecosystem... most of these space facilities are for monitoring. I can see your location now; the segment in front of you isn’t in the space station’s damaged section, so it shouldn’t be depressurized due to outer hull breach. It’s possible the safety system actively evacuated the air there following the station’s malfunction."

"Really...spectacular," Cassandra whispered, gazing out the window, "Can you restart that place?"

"I should be able to; I can find the corresponding operational interface here. But I do not recommend that you explore the ecological segment right now—re-filling the air and raising the temperature will take a long time, and the segment has been inactive for so long I cannot assure there aren’t other dangers inside," Gawain said while checking the log reports for the respective area. "You’re interested in that offline ecological segment? There’s likely nothing left inside."

"Just curious," Asharena replied, "This might have stored ecological samples from 1.8 million years ago from the planet beneath our feet. Though they no longer exist now, such close encounters with antiquity are rare."

"There will be opportunities later. I’ve successfully taken control of the orbital elevator you used to come up here; its permissions have been vacant for many years," Gawain shared, and disclosed a thought that had just surfaced, "When the situation stabilizes, if possible—I also plan to arrange for more sea demons and Dragonkin to come up."

"Bringing more people up?" Asharena paused briefly, then gradually understood, "You plan... on a larger-scale restoration of the space station?"

"Just two people cannot restart a planet-orbiting megastructure—even just its most basic functions," Gawain explained slowly, "Sea demons aren’t restricted by Voyager certification rules and don’t need to fear divine calamities, while Dragonkin possess the power to overcome gravity. Now we’ve successfully opened the door to the Firmament, which could be an opportunity for our world—I believe it shouldn’t be missed."

"It seems you have some grand plans," Asharena appeared to grasp Gawain’s vision, looking upward towards the high-strength polymer window and the ecological segment plunged into darkness beyond. Imagining a future day, scenes of Dragonkin and sea demons embarking from the planet’s surface to explore, learn, and repair the space facility unfolded in her mind—a concept she hadn’t even considered just hours ago. A peculiar sensation of personally participating in history stirred within her, making her instinctively lick her lips, "But as you said, currently, only sea demons and dragons can enter this ’space station’; humans—the majority under your rule—cannot leave the planet. I’m not sure how to put it, but... you should understand my meaning, right?"

"I understand," Gawain was silent for two seconds before answering in a solemn tone, "Before addressing that issue, first we all live on the same planet—of the intelligent races on our world, sea demons and Dragonkin are now eligible to take the first step, and thus should proceed. Firmament Station will open its doors to you, and I believe that in the not-too-distant future, humans and other intelligent beings will take this step as well."

"...I will convey your intentions to Duke Balogar and the leaders of Talronde," Asharena withdrew her gaze from the window, answering formally, "I believe they will be very willing to assist you in restoring this space facility... if we can truly lend a hand."

"When I return, I’ll also discuss this with the queen—after the Loren Continent’s situation has settled," Cassandra promptly spoke up, "We have many excellent Space Engineers, even though their technology may not be compatible. However, they understand the fundamentals of large space facilities, and if you can assist them, I’m confident they can quickly grasp the details of this space station..."

Listening to Cassandra and Asharena’s responses, Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, as if a ray of sunlight had suddenly shone into a long-standing dilemma, giving him a sense of long-missed ease.

The damage to Firmament Station was more optimistic than he had anticipated, but actually repairing this advanced ancient relic seemed unlikely. After all, even at its peak, Talronde’s civilization couldn’t keep up with the Voyager’s pace, and the sea demons would need a long time to learn and study the technology from the Voyager’s legacy. But regardless, there’s now hope for an improvement in the situation. Cassandra and Asharena’s accidental exploration allowed him to gain more control over Firmament Station, and further access has enabled him to control the orbital elevator and restart sections, making it possible for more sea demons and Dragonkin to enter the space station.

He needs more help—in front of this massive space structure that can orbit a planet, relying solely on Asharena and Cassandra’s power isn’t enough. It’s already a great achievement for them to successfully check and activate all the equipment in the current section.

As for the fact that only sea demons and dragons can enter Firmament Station while humans, elves, and other races are unable to pass certification due to mental Steel Stamp constraints, Gawain isn’t too worried. In the current situation, having someone to help him repair Firmament Station, even slightly, is already a boon; he doesn’t have the luxury of being choosy. Moreover, if this task is executed smoothly and aptly, the sea demons and Dragonkin will forge stronger relations and alliances of interest with him and the Cecil Empire in the process, which is highly beneficial in the long term.

Following this, Cassandra and Asharena continued exploring Firmament Station’s "transport section." They activated all devices that could and should be activated and compiled a wealth of useful information to send to Gawain. This ancient facility, silent for three thousand years, began to awaken bit by bit during this process.

More system logs opened their doors to Gawain, and the long-dormant database resumed operation. Gawain was fully immersed in searching and browsing through these system logs, losing track of time. Meanwhile, night was gradually enveloping the land and sea, dazzling starlight emerging over the clear and serene waters. The imposing form of the Winter floated near the "huge tower" platform area’s waters, while further away were the silhouettes of over a dozen powerful ships. The sea’s reflected starlight and the distant sky blurred the boundaries, making the entire fleet appear as if floating in the Star Sea, presenting a rare beauty found neither on land nor in most regular sea areas.

However, for Byron Kirk, standing in a temporary camp on the "Steel Isle," the majestic scene on the sea could not calm his mind.

After entering the silver alloy "pillar," Asharena and Cassandra had lost contact, and now, after a whole day has passed since they went to the upper layers of the tower, night has fallen, and there’s still no sign of movement inside the tower, nor any response from the communication device.

The purpose of the silver alloy "pillar" is evident; it is undoubtedly some kind of lift leading to the upper levels of the tower. And on top of this tower, whose peak is unreachable... What is there?

Could there be danger? Out-of-control ancient machinery? Hostile guardians? Or perhaps a path leading to an irrecoverable foreign realm, a door hidden from mortals’ sight?

Byron had never thought that after surviving half his life amidst blood and storms, he would still feel such unease---even during the Crystal Cluster war, he hadn’t felt like this.

A figure walked past him, a sea demon with blue mid-length hair, and Byron immediately called out to her: "Lady Viola, you still can’t reach Lady Cassandra?"

"No contact," the blue-haired sea demon referred to as Viola stopped, "but I can confirm her presence. She’s well and living in a very safe environment, so there’s no need to worry---you’ve already asked me six times."

Byron shrugged his shoulders: "Not being able to contact them makes me feel uneasy, and I can’t show it in front of ordinary soldiers, so I end up bothering you, apologies."

"It’s quite alright, but I feel you don’t need to worry so much," Viola looked Byron up and down, "Cassandra is an experienced explorer, Lady Asharena is a powerful Dragonborn, and they’re exploring an ancient relic that we can’t even see the top of, far above the sea. They are more than capable of protecting themselves, but also need time to complete the exploration task. Besides, haven’t we confirmed that the tower holds no hostility towards ’visitors’?"

"...Alright, maybe I’m just a bit jumpy," Byron sighed, "but..."

He was mid-sentence when Viola suddenly looked up towards the sea, her expression suddenly filled with surprise and confusion, which made him tense up: "What’s happening? Lady Viola?"

"I feel..." Viola widened her eyes, gazing westward, "brethren? So many... strange, how can there be..."

"Your kin are coming?" Byron paused and looked towards the western sea, but under the calm night, the deep blue waters reflected starlight. Even with his Transcendent sight, he could only see the boundless ocean, no sign of any sea demons.

Yet moments later, just as he was about to avert his gaze, the distant sea suddenly began to sparkle, and an enormous wave and white foam surged across the horizon without warning, rapidly approaching the Steel Isle!

Soon afterward, countless figures emerged from the frothing waves, leaping through them. In the starlight, numerous beautiful women with shimmering fish tails rode the waves. The tranquility of the sea shattered, starlight was fragmented by the waves, and the fine starlight reflected on the sea demons’ glistening scales was like a starry glow breaking through the waves under the night sky!

Byron finally exclaimed in shock: "Whoa, it’s really happening!"