The moment a person grows up is not when they discover they are alone, but when they can endure solitude.
I hate the world fabricated by language, so, from beginning to end, I only live in my own world.
Enduring the solitude...
...
"Guests from Beyond the Sky, information obtained from communication with them is as above."
Kevin projected the data onto the conference room screen. His stern face appeared even more solemn under the pale screen light, conveying an overall sense of eerie indifference.
Elysia also dropped her frivolous attitude at this moment and began to seriously examine the information, which seemed sparse, but every point was deeply troubling.
"The race name is... Starlight?" Elysia felt a strange, unspeakable sensation when she saw this simple name. "Has it been confirmed that they are an alien race?"
"All information was given to us by them, so we cannot verify its authenticity, but they voluntarily provided a method, which I will explain to you after you finish reading the information." Kevin's emotions showed little change, either having recovered from the initial shock or simply having no extra emotions left for such things.
"..."
Elysia continued reading, but with every point she read, her brow furrowed further.
This race called Starlight came from a galaxy at least 500,000 light-years away from Earth. They were a species very similar to humans. Their planetary civilization development was comparable to Earth's, but their technological level was higher than humanity's.
They, too, had encountered the Honkai.
After their planet's surface was saturated with Honkai energy, the Starlight could no longer survive on their homeworld. Thus, they transformed the surviving individuals of their race into mechanical life forms to conduct research on the Honkai, ultimately developing vessels capable of interstellar travel and space traversal. However, they had difficulty controlling the direction and distance of the ship's traversal, forced to drift in the universe until they coincidentally arrived at Earth.
This coincidence was like finding a needle in a haystack. An alien race that started its voyage 500,000 light-years away just happened to arrive at the life-bearing planet Earth?
"...So, now they want to settle on Earth?" Elysia asked Kevin after reviewing the brief document.
"To be precise, only a portion of the Starlight," Kevin began to recount the results of his prior contact with the Starlight in Shenzhou after she grasped the general information. "They are willing to offer technology and experience in combating the Honkai, provided that a territory, roughly the size of a province or city, is allocated for the Starlight to inhabit."
"A portion. Does that mean the next issue concerns the other portion?"
"Just as human political parties have doves and hawks, a segment of the Starlight does not wish to coexist peacefully with humanity. They want the entire Earth; they want to invade human society and destroy humanity," Kevin said expressionlessly. "Two-thirds of the Starlight that landed in Shenzhou are the Hawk faction, and the remaining one-third are the group we have been in contact with."
"Sounds like a cliché alien invasion story," Elysia smiled. "Killing the indigenous inhabitants to occupy the planet—it's both absurd and logical."
"The Starlight who contacted us are also willing to help us resist the Hawk faction's invasion and attempt to persuade the other Starlight to coexist with humanity."
"Let me guess, this is the fundamental reason they came to us, and the condition they set must also be very interesting."
"They want to study the Herrscher Cores."
...
"Kosma, prepare yourself."
Kevin instructed Kosma, then left. He also needed to prepare his gear. Next, First Squad and Thirteenth Squad were to conduct a second contact with the Starlight.
He and Mei had discussed the Starlight's request, and Elysia seemed to have analyzed it herself already.
Studying the Herrscher Cores.
This request was intriguing, not in terms of benefit, but in terms of the "Honkai" on the Starlight's planet, as they mentioned.
Their first contact was with Immel and Hua. After a Starlight infiltrated Immel's computer, it learned human language from the files and read most of the knowledge within, including information about the Honkai and Fire Moth.
Therefore, their desire to study the Herrscher Cores highly suggested that they discovered the Herrscher Cores stored at Fire Moth, and they had never encountered Herrscher Cores before.
This pointed to one possibility:
The Honkai on the Starlight planet has no Herrscher Cores, or perhaps... no Herrschers.
This conjecture then raised more questions:
Is the Honkai on the Starlight planet unique, or is the Honkai on Earth unique, or is the Honkai itself an entity that triggers different phenomena depending on the civilization it encounters?
...
"Hello, Earthlings."
A mechanical-like life form, almost transparent in material, extended a friendly voice to the arriving Kevin and Elysia.
This was a secluded jungle area where three Starlight were waiting for their arrival.
Even without a formal negotiation atmosphere, both civilizations understood that this meeting represented the opening of negotiations. Thus, after minimal pleasantries, Kevin stated the purpose directly: "We want to know the total number of 'individuals' among the Starlight. This will affect humanity's assessment of you."
It was unclear which Starlight answered: "1432 bodies. This is the total number of Starlight that embarked on interstellar travel."
Was this truly the total number of Starlight that survived the Honkai that destroyed their planet?
Kevin's gaze sharpened, and he continued: "Humanity can agree to your demands, but similarly, we have corresponding demands. Before this transaction is finalized, you must fulfill a portion of it."
"..."
The Starlight suddenly fell silent. They didn't seem to communicate verbally, but as mechanical life forms, they should be able to transmit information without dialogue.
So, were they discussing right now?
After a moment, they replied: "What are your demands?"
"We want information about the Honkai. Not too much. You have already reviewed Earth's past Honkai records, so what you need to provide is the part we 'do not know' yet."
"Understood. Then, we will tell you about the 'Honkai' phenomena we encountered during interstellar travel."
"Wait," Kevin frowned, stopping him. "Interstellar travel? Wasn't Earth the first civilization you encountered? Why did you encounter other Honkai phenomena during your journey?"
The appearance of the Honkai is tailored to a civilization. Therefore, it is naturally assumed that the Honkai is born from and appears to destroy a civilization.
"Yes, because, under that 'phenomenon,' the planet's original civilization had already been destroyed."
"..."
"Do you have any more questions?"
"No, continue."
Kevin confirmed that his equipment was recording this crucial conversation. What the Starlight said next exceeded the expectations of everyone, including Elysia.
"During our interstellar journey, we briefly paused for one minute and twenty-one seconds on a planet whose civilization had been destroyed."
"After thirty-seven seconds of stagnation, we detected Honkai energy."
"After one minute and thirteen seconds, the Honkai energy level rose to exceed the combined total of all Honkai beasts we have ever detected."
"At one minute and twenty seconds, a Honkai beast appeared on that planet."
"In the final second, the image we captured was of a Honkai beast of unimaginably large size."
A Honkai beast?
Both Kevin and Elysia were momentarily stunned.
"It occupied one-fifth of the planet's surface."
"We classified it as a Planetary-class Honkai Beast."