(Kids, the new book has already gone through twenty revival rounds, mostly because it keeps failing the contract evaluation. It'll be a long time before Xi Hai and his New United Nations of Earth get to meet you.)
(I'm in a bad mood, so I'll write a side story.)
(The usual disclaimer armor: everything below is fictional. I'm a Masked Fool and a Fictional Historian. If you have any complaints about the plot, go take a flying leap.)
Something seemed to have gone slightly wrong with the ascension plan.
When Jadiga built the Eternal Throne, he had not anticipated that it would later become the centerpiece of the ascension plan.
The Eternal Throne's defenses were insufficient to withstand the violent upheaval caused by the universe's dimensional ascension. After a world-shattering surge, Xi Yan, who was operating the Throne, noticed that their universe's position had shifted considerably.
The old universe, which had just collapsed into a singularity, was hurtling through a vast cluster of universe bubbles. As though pulled by some mysterious force, it was heading straight toward another large universe in the distance.
Everything happened too quickly. The Throne stalled on the spot, but fortunately, the Horizon Needle was still linked to the newly formed cosmic singularity.
And so the Needle was dragged into the new universe by the singularity with a howl.
Streams of data flooded the sensors like a tide and appeared on the screens.
The Throne indicated that this universe was neither higher-dimensional nor the lower-dimensional space they had occupied before. Instead, it lay somewhere between the two, exhibiting a strange dimensionality.
Oh, for fuck's sake, where the hell did I end up?!
Is this still Stellaris?
To be precise, they had entered an egg case. Before the Needle stood a gigantic tree and a tranquil