Looking at the changes on the system panel, David poked around the ashes left behind by the vanquished demon.
The panel remained unchanged, but David managed to pull something else from the remains.
[Bridge (Fragment)]
Looking at the shining silver patch in his palm, David hesitated for a moment before deciding to tuck it into his Warp pocket.
The Warp was a mystical place; as long as one had the intent and sufficient psionic power, any absurd wish could become reality here. He had a faint feeling that this item might be related to Ding Yi. He vaguely remembered that in Ball Lightning, the critical equipment for creating macro-fusion—the string acceleration rails—were referred to as "Bridge No. 1" and "Bridge No. 2."
After confirming the goat-headed demon had no other drops, David pushed another two hundred kilometers due east, following the possible human tracks. Unfortunately, aside from hunting a few wandering demons in the jungle, he found no further clues.
[Remaining Warp Salvage Attempts: 0 (74%)]
A few hours of gains had almost earned David a single "pull." He was privately shocked by the profitability of the Warp and decided to visit as often as time permitted.
However—
"Hm?"
In the depths of the jungle, David heard a scream.
He looked down and saw several creatures shaped like hyenas—but nearly double the size—scavenging a bizarre-looking entity. Faint phosphorous fire exploded around the mangled creature. Several tentacle-like limbs were being gnawed on by the demon hounds. White foam bubbled from its harp-like mouthparts—perhaps this race expressed pain differently than humans.
But in the Warp, a world constructed entirely of emotion and psionic energy, all pain and joy were universal. When the soul of the alien race emitted its dying lament, David heard a piercing howl like that of a human woman.
As David emerged from the trees, the demon hounds dropped their food and backed away warily. Unlike the goat-headed demon, these hounds felt much more threatening. They didn't turn to run; instead, they opened their black maws, exhaling foul gas and baring pale fangs.
David stood his ground, coldly watching the hounds surrounding him in a semi-circle. There were five in total: two on the far left with reddish manes, and three on the right that appeared blue. The two on the left leaned forward while the others fanned out, attempting to move behind him. Their hunting tactics still followed the laws of the physical world; David had yet to encounter a Warp creature that used psionics as he did.
"Cyan Light," David whispered.
He calmly watched the two hounds in front pounce, because the real attack came from behind. A wolf king, twice the size of the others, lunged from his rear. It was so fast that the moment it launched, David could smell the stench from its mouth.
Seeing David standing motionless, a cunning glint flashed in the wolf's eyes.
But in the next second, the wolf lunged into empty air. David was gone.
"..."
Fists wrapped in cyan light smashed into the heads of the two pouncing hounds. Their alloy-hard skulls shattered instantly. Broken bones pierced deep into their rotting brains, and in the next second, rot and maggots sprayed out from the holes in their heads.
Cyan light flashed around David. Anything that came close was shredded into ash by ten thousand psionic blades.
[Remaining Warp Salvage Attempts: 1 (11%)]
The wolf king froze, staring at David. Seeing its subordinates turned into piles of mangled meat in two punches, it let out a terrified howl. A cyan glow flashed across the pustules on its head.
This beast knows magic!
Realizing this, David went into full alert. The giant wolf raised its head and howled at the moon—which looked identical to Earth's moon—and a crescent-shaped white blade of light shot toward David.
To be safe, David stacked all his psionic energy in front of him.
But—
As the spell failed to even scratch his shield, let alone break the first layer of his barrier, both the wolf king and David fell into a brief silence. David recovered much faster than the confused wolf. He raised a hand, and the psionic energy gathered as a shield surged forward toward the wolf.
The wolf king only had time to let out a pained whimper before being sliced into bits of red and white flesh by the chaotic psionic blades. David walked over to the pile of meat and picked up a white stone, significantly larger than any he had found so far.
[Remaining Warp Salvage Attempts: 3 (2%)]
[Spell Detected: Half-Moon Slash / Learn?]
[New Warp Coordinate Discovered: Moon]
The harvest from this battle was staggering. Even though the three smaller hounds had fled in terror, the gains from this single wolf king far exceeded the total of all his previous hunting.
"Learn."
After reading the wolf king's memories and learning to construct refined crescent blades, David looked at the new coordinate.
"The Moon? Since Earth is no longer safe, building a Lunar Base might be an option."
David thought for a moment. Hundreds of light blades, much brighter than the wolf's, materialized behind him. He then approached the mangled remains of the unlucky alien and began searching the body.
[Two-Vector Foil (Incomplete)]
David's hand paused. The shock of finding this on the "giant squid" was no less than a "Villager has shared Nuclear Fusion technology with you" pop-up in a game. But his hands didn't stop. He could feel that the limits of the Singer Civilization were far beyond this.
[Light-speed Travel (Incomplete)]
[Light-speed Ship Manufacturing (Incomplete)]
[Short-membrane Transportation (Incomplete)]
[Time Stasis (Incomplete)]
[Pure Energy Conversion (Incomplete)]
"..."
After a long period of looting, David reluctantly pulled his hand away from the body of the "Singer" squid. He had been debating whether to build a Lunar lab. But now, looking at these near-god-level technologies marked as "Usable" despite being incomplete, David made up his mind.
"I'll head to the Moon to scout first. I'll have the AI set up more servers and start attempting to restore Singer technology using Earth's industrial capacity."