Scrambling to Be First

At the forefront of the Human fleet, two Astronomical Units from the target coordinates, a glimmer of light first appeared in the Void. Then, space centered on that light began to ripple.

The ripples spread outward from the point of light through the entire Three-Dimensional Space at the speed of light. Soon, that region of space trembled like the surface of water disturbed by ripples. The shaking grew increasingly violent, and the starry backdrop behind it distorted. Finally, the entire trembling region became a pitch-black hole.

It was not a black hole, yet its surroundings warped just like those around one. Light shining in from behind was bent around it, making it transparent from an optical perspective. However, it could still be detected as a three-dimensional passage based in Three-Dimensional Space.

From the perspective of Tachyon Detection, it was a pitch-black, twisted opening.

Clearly, the door to the Small Universe had appeared.

At that moment, the humans aboard the Lyra discovered that the rhomboid crystal key previously stored in the Collection Box had vanished without anyone noticing.

It seemed the key had activated on its own and automatically opened the passage to the Small Universe.

Humanity had not noticed at all how the key opened the Small Universe, but the recorded playback footage revealed how the rhomboid key had disappeared.

The rhomboid crystal key first began to fade. Then, dense cracks appeared across its surface, followed by countless lattice-like pixels emerging. The pixels became denser and denser until, in the end, it dissolved into nothingness and vanished from sight. It looked as though something had turned to ash, been scattered by a gust of wind, and then become specks of starlight that faded from reality.

Humanity remembered this method of disappearance vividly. It was identical to the scene when that