The Appearance

In fact, there is another major difference between Rowan's Warp Skill and the Epoch Clan's wormhole. That is, unlike the Epoch Clan's wormhole, which requires fixed energy parameters based on the distance between the two locations and the size of the wormhole, Rowan's Warp Skill is a growth-type ability.

As Rowan's connection with this universe becomes closer, and as Rowan's own strength increases, the energy required for Rowan to open a hole in this universe becomes lower and lower. Moreover, because there is no concept of distance outside of dimensions, the energy required to warp one kilometer and one light-year in this universe is almost the same.

The current limitation on Rowan's ability is energy. Although Rowan no longer needs to detonate a Zerg Megastructure to use Warp, the energy required is still enormous.

Fortunately, the Zerg have now entered the Dark Energy system, and Rowan has also allocated personnel to related research. With the joint efforts of countless scientific geniuses, some theoretical results have been achieved, and it is only a matter of time before they can be realized.

After passing through the Star Gate, the Epoch Clan Node Unit, having already undergone repairs, did not linger but instead moved to a safe distance before entering warp drive mode.

Their target location was some distance from the Star Gate. Although the spaceship was very fast, it still took them nearly five years to escape warp drive and begin to decelerate.

At this very moment, far from the Swarm's territory, there existed a Node Unit. It stood there all alone, disconnected, until the arrival of the Anchor Unit, which reintegrated it into the Swarm Network.

Because Rowan had spared a sliver of his attention to this Anchor Unit deep within the Star Sea Alliance, he discovered the Node Unit immediately.

Most of the Node Unit within the Star Sea Alliance are concentrated on the Swarm borders, with very few located within the Star Sea Alliance itself, let alone those thousands of light-years away from the Swarm territory.

How it got here, and what it's doing here, piqued Rowan's interest, Rowan began to examine it with great interest.

However, Rowan quickly frowned. This Node Unit was a Biological Armor produced by the Swarm. This result was not unexpected for Rowan. Within the Star Sea Alliance, apart from the Swarm and the Riken Race researchers, the other Node Unit were mostly modified versions of Life-Extending Serum and Biological Armor.

The items that can penetrate deep into the nooks and crannies of the Star Sea Alliance are probably the Life-Extending Serum and Biological Armor that have been sold. The Life-Extending Serum transform normal organisms into Node Unit, but the Biological Armor itself, even without a host, is a Node Unit in itself.

This makes it more likely that Biological Armor will appear here, since as a more valuable high-end custom-made item, merchants would prefer to sell it to distant places.

To avoid causing unnecessary trouble, the Biological Armor has no visual organs; it only hides an auditory system inside to record information.

After retrieving the records, Rowan quickly browsed through their contents. Most of them were just boring accounts of interstellar travel, nothing worth noting.

However, after it was sold, a name appeared that caught Rowan's attention: Cecil, the elder of the Epoch Clan who had spoken with Humins and then disappeared.

Based on subsequent audio recordings, many of which were in unique languages, Rowan quickly retrieved relevant information from the Swarm Network to help decipher these recordings.

Soon, he figured out some things, such as how Cecil had overcome numerous obstacles and paid a considerable price to obtain this Biological Armor at an auction in another star system.

Rowan couldn't help but sigh at the strangeness of life. Humins had tried every means to contact Cecil and send her a set of Biological Armor, but he had never succeeded.

Unexpectedly, a glimmer of hope appeared: Cecil had actually obtained a set of Biological Armor through an auction. Rowan quickly continued reading and analyzing the records, wanting to know what Cecil had done and why he had severed contact with Humins.

After all, Rowan was still very curious about why his initial plan and manipulation had turned out this way.

Strangely, Cecil didn't use the Biological Armor after obtaining it. This is quite illogical, since while the Swarm are portrayed as cunning, ferocious, and rude, Swarm Biological Armor is universally praised. It's one of the few products in the Star Sea Alliance with zero negative reviews.

Because of its bloodline-bound nature, most people who acquire it will use it immediately unless they intend to resell it. But Cecil's situation? Does she intend to become a middleman?

Rowan frowned slightly. Due to its immense value, the Biological Armor was stored by Cecil in a highly secure location.

While this is indeed the safest way to handle truly high-value items, for Rowan, a highly secure location meant absolute security. Since the Biological Armor was stored away, there had been no more useful information, which left Rowan somewhat disappointed.

However, since the Biological Armor hasn't been moved yet, Cecil is most likely still here, and he still has a chance to figure out what happened.

Although he didn't know the layout of the Biological Armor's location, Rowan could imagine the security measures for areas storing valuables. Any unusual changes to the Biological Armor would likely trigger an alarm.

Therefore, the Biological Armor itself is incapable of performing any operations, so let it continue to quietly serve as an item that conforms to its definition.

In the past, if this situation had occurred, things would likely have reached a stalemate, but fortunately, now not only the Anchor Unit, but also several other nodes have arrived here together.

Within this area spanning several light-years, there are few places to settle down. Therefore, as long as Cecil doesn't leave, there is still a chance.

The location of the Biological Armor has been determined by the Intellect; it is the only habitable planet in the vicinity. However, unfortunately, perhaps because the Epoch Clan spaceship at the Anchor Unit is carrying researchers in the field of biological sciences, the location is not habitable.

These studies are often dangerous, so the spacecraft did not dock directly on the habitable planet, but instead docked on a large artificial satellite in its orbit.

This artificial satellite is very large, with a diameter of over 500 kilometers. Its enormous size can even cause tidal effects on habitable planets. In addition to serving as Star Port, the satellite also houses many laboratories, most of which are in the field of biological sciences.

Around the artificial satellites, there are many space stations of various sizes, where research is conducted on highly dangerous topics, requiring a separate location to isolate them in case of safety hazards.