Robbing Me?

Lucian and Lumina had both benefited from the status quo. Of course they did not want their positions threatened.

In theory, they would not welcome the Spirit Network.

But the changes it brought reached into every aspect of life.

"Some time ago, the empire received word that something called the Spirit Network had appeared in the Thirty-Sixth District. It had spread in from beyond Tianyu, possessed many capabilities, and could even connect to the outside world.

"The empire sent several detachments to investigate. Ours was one of them," Lucian explained slowly.

He was lying. The two of them had actually sneaked out on their own.

Even the most poorly equipped imperial detachment would have had more than one guardship, but he was betting Anse did not know that.

Anse noticed the hole in his story but did not press him.

"The Spirit Network has only just crossed the Outer Asteroid Belt. It's expanding slowly; it'll probably take another thousand years to reach the central star," he said evenly. Cluster Tianyu was a little larger than Realm Tianyu and was said to still be expanding outward at a slow pace.

The Spirit Network was expanding faster by the day, but covering all of Cluster Tianyu would probably take more than a few decades. "It'll take that long?" Lucian breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's too long. I want to go see it now." Lumina looked up at Anse.

"The Crystal Warship can't get there," Lucian cut in.

The Outer Asteroid Belt was not entirely a Dead Magic Zone, but anyone who strayed into one would have a hard time coming out alive.

He had originally planned to follow the star chart to a relatively safe region. After several failed attempts to fix their position, though, his confidence had worn away. Interstellar