Chapter 144 A Coordinate

In the control center of Nakdal Continent, Dou Dou was mingling with a group of enthusiastic sprites, playing a game that probably only sprites would find interesting—the sprites transformed themselves into bright light spheres, then their companions tossed them high into the air towards the little mermaid, who would flick her tail and send the light sphere flying away with a *splat*. Whether they were the ones being thrown or the ones throwing, they would burst into cheers, laughing like a group of kids weighing less than four *jin*… (one jin equals approximately 0.5 kilograms).

Well, judging from Dou Dou’s delighted appearance, the little guy seemed to find the game quite fun too…

Hao Ren and Vivian were going to space to handle those wreckage samples that could destroy the world with just their appearance, and considering the need for healthy growth of underage children, Hao Ren decided to leave Dou Dou on the ground. Coincidentally, the sprites were also very interested in this new friend who was about the same size as them, so the little mermaid quickly became one with this group of toddlers—judging by how wildly they were playing, a group of little ones had indeed become one (physically).

However, as soon as Hao Ren and Vivian, or rather Vivian, showed up, the little ones’ game immediately ended. A group of sprites rushed joyfully towards the vampire miss who was walking in from the gate, shouting, “The Queen is back! The Queen is back!” “Queen, have you eaten?” “Queen, do you want chopsticks?”

Hao Ren immediately fixed his gaze on the fish baby who was dodging and hiding in the pile of sprites, pretending to be very good at concealing himself: “What nonsense are you teaching them!”

Vivian flailed her hands, dealing with the sprites circling around her, her face almost the same as when she faced Hesperiana earlier: “To be honest, I really don’t want to be this ‘Queen’… What was the Goddess of Creation thinking when she arranged such a… mess for me? These sprites who can’t even take care of themselves are really supposed to help me save the world?”

“How would I know? Your old mom was already schizophrenic when she croaked; nothing she did would be surprising,” Hao Ren shrugged helplessly, but still stepped forward to help Vivian block those overly enthusiastic toddlers, while waving his hand with some authority, “Quiet, quiet! Have you forgotten what we agreed on earlier? The Queen can’t return to the throne yet, so you must fully cooperate with the two of us. The first thing to do is to be steady, do you understand steady?”

A group of sprites expressed that they didn’t understand, but standing still for a little while was still possible.

Anyway, they could chat with themselves…

Three sprite representatives emerged from the crowd again, their six eyes blinking as they looked at Hao Ren. Until now, Hao Ren and Vivian could only refer to these three as “long-haired sprite,” “small sprite,” and “boy sprite”—because the sprites didn’t have names at all!

The Goddess of Creation apparently used something like a mind network and implicit IP technology when designing this magical race. The sprites themselves knew how to distinguish each individual in the group, so they never had the concept of “names.” Hao Ren felt awkward about this at first, but soon he felt that not having names didn’t seem to affect his communication with these sprites…

Facing a group of neurotic creatures who were always talking at the same time, never communicating with you alone, and always making a chaotic racket, what good would it do to know what they were called individually!

“I’m here to check the navigation crystal,” Hao Ren nodded to the three sprites. “Seems like there’s been some progress?”

“Over here, over here!” “The machines you left behind suddenly lit up!” “The crystal is buzzing…” “It’s shaking and I want to sleep…”

Hao Ren followed the three bouncing sprites to the navigation crystal—the huge crystal had now been completely lowered to the ground, surrounded by a pile of brand new equipment that obviously didn’t match the style of the other facilities in the room. Various sensors and scanning beams were constantly checking the crystal’s condition, and between the equipment, one could see many sprites scurrying around busily: these sprites were here to help.

Of course, not to hinder, in fact, Hao Ren’s analysis of the navigation crystal was thanks to these sprites. This kind of “resonance crystal” created by the Goddess of Creation had a unique structure and operating principle. Hao Ren still hadn’t figured out what these things were, and in this case, forcibly using analysis equipment and the computing power of the data terminal to crack the data stored in the crystal would inevitably be twice the work for half the result. However, with these little sprites, the situation was different.

The sprites themselves were born from the crystal—in fact, they could still be said to be a special form of the crystal. Behind their chattering and noisy behavior hid the mechanism of resonance between the crystals. It was precisely by allowing these little sprites to act as surveyors and equipment amplifiers that Hao Ren’s analysis of the navigation crystal could make such rapid progress.

In other words, although these little sprites were noisy, muddle-headed, chaotic, and didn’t understand anything, they were the local natives, so what could you do…

The data terminal flew to the main control console of the analysis equipment and presented the data that had been read out on the holographic projection. The sprites busy around them were immediately attracted by the new image that appeared in mid-air, and they gathered around, chattering and gesticulating, expressing their whimsical opinions: fortunately, Hao Ren now knew how to forcibly shield these guys from interference, otherwise he would really be driven crazy.

“The navigation computer is just the surface function of this crystal. As we guessed before, the real secret of the crystal is deep inside, but it is completely sealed,” the terminal said while retrieving the data. “This is actually good news for us, because it means that its navigation data is actually not important, and its encryption level is lower…”

“Here, and here, the equipment has retrieved some regular space coordinate transformation records from the surface data of the crystal. These coordinate transformations occurred about three thousand years ago. According to the information provided by the sprites, this is exactly the time when Nakdal was torn apart and celestial fragments were thrown into another dimension.”

“So this unit speculates that this navigation crystal should have been operating when the Nakdal Fortress was first destroyed, and even after this continental fragment was thrown into this area and drifted for some time, it had not completely shut down. During this process, the crystal and the remaining hyperspace sensing module automatically recorded its drifting trajectory.”

“These coordinate transformation records can be reorganized. Based on the current direction and speed of the Nakdal Continent drifting in the universe, and statistically analyzing the factors of disturbance from surrounding celestial bodies during its drift, we can deduce the ‘exit point’ where it just escaped from the spatial turbulence, and then import the above coordinate transformation records to continue deducing, so we can obtain the spatial marker when this continental fragment was thrown into another dimension.”

“This unit has completed the calculation—here, this is the coordinate.”

The complex icons and data projected by the data terminal disappeared in an instant, and only a string of clean and concise symbols and numbers remained on the holographic projection.

A coordinate.

Vivian’s brow relaxed, and she said softly, “If I’m not mistaken, this should be the entrance to the battlefield… We finally found it.”

The sprites didn’t understand what everyone was doing at all, but when they saw the Queen speaking, they also started shouting, “We found the entrance to the battlefield! We found the entrance to the battlefield!”

Hao Ren had a little more knowledge of starship navigation than Vivian and the sprites, so he didn’t join in the cheering. Instead, he asked, “Is this coordinate a relative coordinate or an absolute coordinate?”

“Of course it’s a relative coordinate,” the data terminal replied. “This unit has specifically converted it—fortunately, a part of the transformation guidance data we obtained earlier describes the changes in celestial bodies within the X star cluster, otherwise it would be really difficult to guarantee accuracy.”

Relative coordinates and absolute coordinates are a common problem when facing hyperspace jumps, and this problem is especially obvious when the coordinate data you are using is not new enough and the jump distance is too far. Just like navigation star charts must be updated in real time due to changes in the positions of celestial bodies, the coordinates for direct space jumps are also constantly changing. On the one hand, celestial bodies in the universe are always changing their positions, and on the other hand, the entire universe itself is in constant evolution—

Some universes are expanding, some universes are contracting, and some universes will be distorted and bent over time. Fixed “absolute coordinates” can only describe a specific location in this universe at a specific time and in a specific form, and to find a spatial distortion point three thousand years ago, Hao Ren needed relative coordinates.

This coordinate could accurately locate the place where the Nakdal Fortress was originally drawn into the spatial turbulence.

“It’s easy to handle if it’s a relative coordinate,” Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief. “We’re preparing to go over.”

“We should make more preparations,” Vivian reminded from the side. “That’s where the Nakdal Fortress was destroyed. Considering that the guards near the nexus were at a disadvantage, it’s probably still a ‘fallen zone’ to this day. If we jump over, we might be directly exposed to the eyes of the Mad Lord’s minions.”

“And the Nakdal Continent is still a problem,” the data terminal added. “The power system of this continent is only eighty percent installed, and few of the air defense firepowers on the continent have been repaired so far. We still have to rely on the drone turrets. If our main force jumps over, there will be no one to take care of these sprites. Wouldn’t it be a disaster if those corrupted monsters come over for another wave?”

Vivian and the data terminal’s reminders were certainly reasonable, and Hao Ren himself was not an impulsive person. He understood that he must be fully prepared this time.

Because on the other side of that coordinate, there were likely millions of Mad Lord’s minions, and even another planetary fortress. The scale of the enemy there was far beyond what the previous battle could compare to.

This would be a war.

He had to gather superior forces in the shortest possible time, build rear positions, and find out the situation at the front line. And besides that, he also had an idea.

He wanted to reactivate the Nakdal Continent and turn it into a war fortress.