Three Months Later

Stellaris World, three months later.

Inside a Gravity Training Room deep within Ember Base.

Tiandao sat bare-chested and alone at the center of the empty Gravity Chamber.

Despite the gravity being a full five times stronger, Tiandao breathed steadily and evenly, as though he were in a normal environment.

Over the past three months, Tiandao had visibly grown quite a bit taller, and even his figure had begun to grow increasingly straight and upright.

Unlike three months ago, when he wore little sunglasses at all times.

Tiandao had now completely taken them off and replaced them with a pitch-black blindfold.

The reason he was so obsessed with the "blindfolded look" was not because he truly liked that style of dress.

It was simply because the Stellar Eclipse Heavenly Eye—those "special eyes" capable of seeing the flow paths of all star energy—could certainly provide Tiandao with enormous help in battle.

But they also had a tremendous impact on his daily life.

In this Stellaris World, where star energy was everywhere, star energy was as ubiquitous as air.

As a result, Tiandao, who could see that star energy, was like someone living in an "oil-painting world" of ever-changing, wildly complicated colors.

If he did not want those chaotic, dazzling "star energy flow paths" to make his head spin.

Then he had to use a few "noise reducers" when appropriate.

And sunglasses had been the "noise reducer" Tiandao had specifically chosen before.

As long as he put them on, he could filter out some of those brilliant, eye-piercing star energy colors.

Making both his eyes and brain feel more comfortable.

Otherwise, what normal person wore sunglasses indoors?

"Tiandao, Doctor asked me to bring you over. He wants to see you."

Caroline knocked on the glass window in the Gravity Chamber door, then called out to Tiandao inside.

Hearing the voice outside, Tiandao immediately ended his training and let out a long breath.

"Got it."

Tiandao stood up, then headed straight into the shower room.

A moment later, Tiandao emerged from the Gravity Chamber, already dressed.

As he dried his wet hair with a towel, he asked Caroline by the door, "Caroline, did Doctor say what he wanted with me?"

Caroline shook her head, indicating that she did not know why Doctor wanted to see him either.

Seeing that Caroline could not give him the answer he wanted, Tiandao simply stopped asking.

"Let's go. Take me to Doctor."

"Mm."

Before long, the two left the Gravity Chamber one after the other.

Not long after Tiandao left, the ordinary-looking Ember Organization member in charge of the Gravity Chamber subconsciously glanced at the timer outside the chamber Tiandao had been using.

The timer clearly displayed the words: "18 hours."

"Eighteen hours under five times gravity... Tiandao Siming, you really are a terrifying monster."

"After all, everyone else measures their time in the Gravity Chamber by the minute."

"And if you can hold out this long under five times gravity, then even without counting Star Source development, your basic star energy levels should already be about on par with veteran Rank 1 Star Envoys."

"A monster like you must never be allowed to grow up. Otherwise... the Association will be in trouble."

With that thought, the Ember member immediately looked at the wristwatch on his hand and muttered to himself, "I wonder how preparations are going on the Association's side. If they do not act soon, these cunning people may notice something is wrong."

"And once it reaches that point, it will not be so easy to wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

Inside a meeting room at Ember Base.

"Doctor, you wanted to see me?"

"Mm."

Doctor nodded, then gestured for Tiandao and Caroline not to remain standing and to find seats wherever they liked.

"Wait a moment. Yun Meng and the others will be here soon. Once everyone arrives, I'll tell you about the arrangements going forward."

Hearing this, the calm and steady Caroline promptly sat upright on the meeting room sofa, perfectly demonstrating what it meant to be a good child who followed the organization's rules.

In contrast, Tiandao was rather lacking in manners.

Not only was he sitting in a loose, slouching posture, but one hand had already begun rummaging through the fruit basket on the table, constantly making irritating noises.

A textbook case of hyperactivity.

After carefully picking through it, Tiandao finally selected something he wanted to eat from the fruit basket full of snacks.

Without the slightest hesitation, he tore open the plastic packaging of the "dried fruit" in his hand with a loud rip, then began eating without a care.

Listening to the nonstop noise beside her, Caroline endured it for a while before finally being unable to hold back.

She shot Tiandao, whose cheeks were currently puffed out, a dissatisfied glare.

Signaling that the meeting was about to begin, so could he please be a little more serious?

Tiandao, wearing his blindfold, had clearly misunderstood her.

That glare not only failed to make him behave.

He even shook the dried fruit in his hand in front of Caroline, signaling for her to stop sitting there foolishly and come eat with him.

After hesitating for a moment, Caroline still took a piece of dried fruit and placed it in her mouth, chewing gently with quiet, polite movements.

Watching one of them bustle about while the other remained still, Doctor, seated at the head of the meeting room, smiled and waved his hand. "It's fine, Caroline. You do not need to be so restrained. Those fruit baskets were prepared specifically for Tiandao in the first place."

"If this child Tiandao does not have something to eat, I'm afraid he cannot sit still for even five minutes."

Hearing this, Tiandao immediately looked as though he had received an imperial decree and said smugly, "See, Caroline? I told you Doctor wouldn't mind."

"You're always holding yourself too stiffly. If you ask me, you should be more like me—more casual, more relaxed. That's the only way to live happily."

As Tiandao spoke, he childishly tossed a piece of dried fruit into the air and opened his mouth to catch it.

But before it could fall into his mouth, a slender, jade-white hand appeared first and caught the piece of dried fruit in midair.

"Little Tian Dao, eating snacks during a meeting? You're getting more and more unruly."

Yun Meng pinched the dried fruit between her fingers and tossed it into her mouth right in front of Tiandao.

The distinct sweetness in her mouth made Yun Meng's eyes light up at once.

Then, whether Tiandao was willing or not, she directly snatched the half bag of premium dried fruit still in his hand.

"Confiscated, confiscated. Focus on the meeting."

Faced with Yun Meng's overbearing behavior, Tiandao voiced his strong dissatisfaction.

"No, Sister Yun, why are you stealing my snacks? Doctor allowed me to eat these."

"What do you mean, your snacks? Now that they're in my hands, they're mine. At worst, just go grab more from the fruit basket."

"But there's only one bag of premium dried fruit in there! Where am I supposed to get more? Give it back!"

"Give it back? Since when have things that fall into my hands ever been returned? Move, move!"

With one hand, Yun Meng held down Tiandao as he tried to reach over and snatch back the dried fruit, while with the other she quickly poured all the remaining dried fruit into her mouth, swiftly destroying the evidence.

Watching Tiandao fool around with Yun Meng, Chen Xing and Chen Kong, who had entered the meeting room together with Yun Meng, could only find seats for themselves first.

Seeing Yun Meng hold up the snacks while using one hand to "suppress" Tiandao, Doctor spoke up in time.

"Alright, Yun Meng, Tiandao, stop fooling around. Sit down and let's begin the meeting."

Hearing Doctor's words, Yun Meng immediately stuffed the now completely empty dried fruit bag into Tiandao's arms.

"Here, take it back. It's just a bag of premium dried fruit. It's not like I care that much. So stingy."

Tiandao looked at the completely empty dried fruit bag in his hand, and the anger in his heart boiled over.

Yes, yes, of course you do not care. But could you explain where my bag of premium dried fruit, which was still more than half full just now, went?

They could not have grown wings and flown away by themselves, right?!

However, before Tiandao could question Yun Meng about why the premium dried fruit had mysteriously vanished, Doctor, seated at the head of the table, spoke first and explained why he had gathered everyone.

"Everyone, after these past few months of training, I believe you have all become initially familiar with your Star Sources. You have also grasped the use of Dual Star to a certain degree, and your strength has improved by leaps and bounds."

"However, training without end is not necessarily a good thing for you. After all, some things can only truly be remembered after being experienced firsthand."

"Therefore... it is time for you to see the world outside the base."

"To see exactly what the cruel world called 'reality' truly looks like."

Hearing this, the four Starborn, Tiandao included, all straightened up and sat properly.

After all, they had been in the base for nearly two and a half years, and it had indeed been a long time since they had seen what the outside world looked like.

Of all of them, Tiandao was the most curious about the outside world.

Ever since he had arrived in this world, he had remained inside the base.

Although he had learned something about the world beyond the base by reading the original work, seeing it and experiencing it firsthand were entirely different matters.

Naturally, Tiandao very much wanted to know what the Stellaris World outside was truly like.

Beyond his curiosity about the real world, Doctor's words also signified something else of great importance to Tiandao.

That was that the final chapter of Season 1 of "Stellaris Prequel: Embers" was about to arrive.

Because according to Tiandao's understanding of the original work.

After this "outbound mission" ended, the plot that followed would be the cruel great battle that led to Ember's destruction.

The difference was that, unlike the outbound mission in the original work.

Only the Chen Xing siblings and Caroline, those three Starborn, had participated in the original outbound mission.

But this time, Tiandao Siming had been added to the outbound mission.

Still, his addition would not affect the original mission's plot.

Because this mission was, in essence, a simulated combat exercise meticulously arranged by the Ember Organization.

Therefore, whether they succeeded or failed would not actually affect the result of this mission.

Members of the Ember Organization would come to clean things up for them afterward.

So compared with the mission itself, Tiandao was actually more concerned about something else.

That was Caroline's birthday, which happened to fall during the mission.

In the original work, in order to highlight Caroline's calmness and maturity as a Mechanical type Starborn.

Although Caroline knew her birthday had arrived during the mission, she still turned down the Chen Xing siblings' kind offer to hold a birthday celebration for her.

But now that Tiandao was also participating in this mission's plot, he clearly would not let Caroline do that.

Because Tiandao felt that a precious memory as meaningful as a birthday should not be treated so perfunctorily by Caroline.

After all, the time the two of them had left together was not much.

So... what special gift should I choose for Caroline?

Tiandao sat in his seat, lost in deep thought.

Because this gift carried not only the surprise he wanted to give Caroline, but also the last beautiful memory he and Caroline would share in this first Season.

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