Wormholes were a natural phenomenon in the universe. They could be seen as coincidences caused by disturbances in spacetime, naturally connecting two regions of spacetime. The two ends of a wormhole could lie at any two points in the universe.
Most wormholes existed for only a very short time, perhaps just a few seconds or even less, making them difficult to detect. But occasionally, one would remain stable. Those were natural stargates.
Soon, there was movement on the other side of the passage. A standard starship quickly passed through and entered the empire's territory.
Clearly, this merchant ship, barely a kilometer long, was a scout ship from the Merchant Group. Its purpose was to check whether the passage was safe. After exploring the area around the exit, the ship quickly released an unmanned probe back through the passage.
A moment later, merchant ships poured through in a steady stream, soon forming a vast fleet.
At that point, the imperial Guide Ship stationed nearby quickly moved forward, directing the merchant fleet away from the area and toward the center of the star system.
"So this is the territory of the Dragon Soul Empire~ Ah~ A civilization full of mysteries~" An alien who looked much like an upright garfish crocodile stood before a Holographic Projection device, watching the projected star system. Cunning and contemplation glinted in his cold gaze.
"I heard that when they first entered the Gaia World, they hadn't even advanced to Super Civilization through the Galactic Arm conquest tournament. How did they become a Super Civilization occupying five hundred Galactic Arms in just five hundred years?" the garfish-crocodile-like alien commander murmured to himself.
The Enrique Empire was one of the Kuris Merchant Group's only twenty-seven high-ranking member states. It was itself a Super Civilization that occupied more than a