This wasn't actually the first time Xia Li had encountered a Star Eater. The last time, when she'd left her long-lost homeworld of Salna, the escape plan her father had prepared for her in advance had involved a Star Eater that had been sleeping for hundreds of years.
These cosmic leviathans were even rarer than dragons. They survived by devouring the rocks and metals inside planets. They bore no ill will toward life or civilization, and they had no desire for the flesh and blood of carbon-based organisms. They simply attacked and devoured nearby planets by instinct, sustaining their existence and equilibrium. They had a certain air of "What's destruction got to do with you?"
Thus, to any creature in the universe, they were walking natural disasters that had to be eliminated at once.
That said, you had to understand that these things were called Star Eaters for a reason. Their sheer size was enough to leave even the most monstrous creatures speechless. Wiping out such disasters before they could grow would require deploying a fleet's main force.
As for Xia Li, though she was practically drooling as she stared at the creature's winding, hundred-mile-long body, she managed to hold on to a basic level of composure after hesitating for a moment.
"Too bad you showed up so early! If you'd waited until I'd matured, eating just one of you would've let me build more than a dozen Leviathans and billions of troops."
Xia Li really did regret it, but she wasn't particularly worried. The universe was vast; she'd always find something to eat. If she couldn't eat a Star Eater here, maybe she'd come across a pod of sky whales or a star dragon instead.
The colossal creature made no effort to hide its presence—or perhaps it wasn't even