New Skill

Seeing Rowan open his eyes, Sarah, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly asked, "My Overlord, did the plan go smoothly?"

Rowan didn't answer, but frowned and shook his head, then fell into thought. Sarah knew that the Overlord was not to be disturbed at this moment, so she quietly stood by his side.

Suddenly, Rowan raised an eyebrow and said, "The plan failed. The tunnel appeared for too short a time; the Seed didn't have time to enter. But the good news is that my previous theory was correct. The plan is entirely feasible, and we still have one more chance."

"So when do we start?"

"Let's make the arrangements now; delaying might cause unforeseen problems. Don't disturb me until the Megastructure reaches its designated location; I need to think things through."

"Yes, Overlord Majesty."

There is an extremely powerful force in this star system, many times stronger than the Swarm. Although the Swarm has enormous potential, it needs time. Rowan doesn't know if there's enough time, or whether the Swarm can handle an opponent of this caliber.

However, at present, if a war were to break out between the Star Sea Alliance and the Epoch Clan, they would certainly be no match for them. Moreover, even escape would be a pipe dream after such a defeat. This is because, by conventional means, the Swarm's speed is inferior to that of the Epoch Clan. Not to mention that they are currently far behind, even if they are only slightly behind, they will eventually be overtaken.

Given Rowan's personality, this situation is unacceptable. When he was still a tiny insect the size of a fingernail, he would leave seven or eight escape routes when digging a nest. Even now, though he is many times stronger, he would not be so arrogant as to leave no way out.

What he is doing now is to dig a "way out" for himself and for the Swarm.

Over the years, through various means, the Swarm's Node Unit have spread throughout the Star Sea Alliance. Whenever they grow to a certain size, Rowan can locate them, incorporate them into the Swarm Network, and incidentally obtain a lot of information.

One piece of information caught Rowan's attention: within the Star Sea Alliance's territory, there existed a passage connecting extremely long distances, allowing units entering it to travel at speeds far exceeding the speed of light. Conceptually, it was remarkably similar to the wormholes Rowan was familiar with.

According to records, these wormholes connect black holes and white holes. Theoretically, the extremely strong force of a wormhole could tear apart anything that enters it. However, the Epoch Clan discovered a strange property and substance: Negative Energy. Through research, they found that enveloping a spaceship in Negative Energy could stabilize and neutralize the wormhole's energy field, allowing it to pass through smoothly.

However, this energy collection is not easy, and the spaceship also requires special manufacturing. Therefore, even the Epoch Clan cannot use wormholes recklessly.

Although those wormholes were quite far from the Swarm, and the Swarm wouldn't be able to reach them for a while, the concept of wormholes provided Rowan with a lot of inspiration.

Through brainstorming, the formation and operational mechanisms of wormholes quickly gained theoretical support with the help of Intellect. However, the Swarm's technological level is far from being able to translate theory into reality through conventional means.

But it's okay, Rowan used cheat codes.

During that period, Rowan devoted almost all his energy to the research of wormholes. Since it was difficult to catch up with the Epoch Clan in a short time through conventional means, he had to use unconventional methods to achieve a leapfrog development.

To open and maintain a wormhole one kilometer in diameter would require the energy equivalent to the entire energy of a medium-sized star system, something the Swarm certainly couldn't achieve with its current strength. Fortunately, Rowan didn't need such a wormhole; he only needed a small, fleeting one, just enough to teleport the Seed away.

Even so, the amount of energy required is still terrifying, and such a large-scale energy accumulation is bound to attract attention. The Swarm is currently in a precarious situation; if they are discovered to be conducting any dangerous experiments, the mastermind behind them might launch an attack ahead of schedule.

However, there's always a way. Through brainstorming, a self-destruction plan for the Megastructure in the Riken Star System was devised. Under the cover of a legitimate reason, Rowan could collect enough energy during the process. Although there were some anomalies in the self-destruction steps, it was hard to associate them with wormholes.

With the energy issue resolved, the remaining challenge was how to utilize that energy to open a wormhole. The Swarm lacked the ability to create black holes, but Rowan discovered a clever workaround.

In theory, wormholes are two dimensions higher than the normal observable world, which is why they can connect two distant places. However, they still exist in this universe. Perhaps there are even higher-dimensional wormholes that can connect spacetime and even other universes, but for now, Rowan doesn't need them.

Rowan's relationship with this universe is difficult to describe, but at least they intersect in a higher dimension, and this intersection allows Rowan to interfere with this universe to a limited extent.

Initially, Rowan attempted to simulate the effect of a black hole in a higher dimension in order to try and form a wormhole, but he overestimated himself. He was like a newborn; perhaps he could do it in the future, but for now, it was far beyond his capabilities.

After his attempts failed, he was somewhat frustrated, but he didn't give up. He thought of the familiar Swarm Network. In another dimension, the concept of distance doesn't exist; therefore, the Swarm Network can connect two locations seamlessly and facilitate communication without barriers.

But this only applies within the Swarm Network.

If the world within this universe is "reality," then the Swarm Network is "virtual." Can "reality" and "virtual" intersect, or even communicate?

The answer is yes. At first, Rowan tried to bring objects from the "real world" into the "virtual world," but he didn't succeed. Undeterred, he experimented repeatedly and gradually found some of the problems.

His idea of bringing "reality" into the "virtual" is flawed, at least at this stage. With his current capabilities, "reality" and "virtual" can only intersect briefly.

For example, if his pocket is "virtual," then the pocket cannot store "real" beans for a long time, but he can put the beans into the pocket and then take them out the instant they are put in.

In other words, items from this universe can enter the Swarm Network, but they cannot remain within it. This creates a certain degree of room for manipulation.

After repeated attempts, finally, a beetle suddenly disappeared right in front of Rowan and then reappeared out of thin air ten meters away.