First Warp

According to the information on the construction panel, the Crystal Tower required a considerable amount of space. With the Housing Cluster needing to be laid out as well, warping it in within the jungle was definitely impossible.

After scanning the surrounding area, Rohana discovered a vast clearing more than ten kilometers south of the cave. There was no problem building a small town there.

Shen Jun walked through the dense forest at an unhurried pace. Not far behind him lay several small Alien Beast corpses, each mangled beyond recognition, with hardly an intact body among them. Although they were among the smallest Alien Beasts in this jungle, they were still as large as water buffalo and would have been dangerous animals even back in Shen Jun's hometown.

The effects of psionic energy exceeded Shen Jun's expectations. Perhaps it had something to do with his talent, but with psionic energy enhancing him, his strength increased dramatically, allowing him to tear apart these water-buffalo-sized Alien Beasts with ease.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, a Tentacle Beast drawn by the scent of blood blocked Shen Jun's path. He noticed a wound across its abdomen, as well as numerous bite marks all over its body.

"Yo, what a small world."

That was right. This was the Tentacle Beast that had chased Shen Jun down yesterday.

Shen Jun took out a wristguard-shaped device. It was entirely white, forged from psionic materials, and brimming with a sense of advanced technology.

The Psionic Concentrator was the symbol of a Templar's status and the true standard equipment of the Protoss. It could condense the powerful, violent psionic energy of the Protoss into a Psionic Blade sharp enough to cut through any known material.

Rohana's beginner's gift to Shen Jun naturally consisted of more than just Crystal Minerals and Vespene Gas. It also included a complete set of High Templar equipment, modified to fit Shen Jun's size.

Protoss generally stood around three meters tall. If it had been normal-sized, Shen Jun, who was only one meter eighty, might have been able to wear the wristguard as a helmet.

Although the equipment had been reduced in size, its power had not diminished. It was even lighter and more flexible. However, Shen Jun's psionic ability was still only half-baked, and producing a Psionic Blade was already his limit.

As for activating the Crystal Array embedded in the Energy Heavy Armor, that was out of the question. A Psionic Shield was certainly tempting, but Shen Jun simply could not control psionic energy of that level yet.

Whether it was the Psionic Concentrator or other psionic equipment, they only provided output functions. Whether condensing a blade or a shield, the amount of psionic energy supplied depended on the Protoss's own control.

Thus, a skilled Templar could even precisely maintain a Psionic Blade around the clock for twenty-four hours, while a low-level Zealot could only keep it up for a few hours.

Once the input exceeded the psionic energy one could control, it could easily cause a psionic backlash. Destroying the equipment would be considered fortunate; more likely, it would create a miniature Psionic Storm and devastate everything around it.

"Today, I'll use you for a test run."

Shen Jun strapped the Psionic Concentrator onto his right wrist and fed psionic energy into it. A half-meter-long azure blade of light extended from its front end.

For some reason, the Tentacle Beast did not attack Shen Jun for a long time. It vaguely sensed that this human was different from yesterday, that he now gave off a deadly feeling of threat.

Its instincts urged it to flee, but the corpses behind Shen Jun also made it salivate.

Shen Jun did not care why the Tentacle Beast was not attacking. He only remembered how miserably this thing had chased him yesterday. Now was the perfect chance for revenge. He charged forward, closed the distance, then leaped up and slashed his Psionic Blade straight at the Tentacle Beast's eye.

"Rooaargh!"

Pain stirred the Tentacle Beast's savagery. Yesterday's little prey actually dared to hurt me?

How could it tolerate that?!

After cutting a long gash across the Tentacle Beast's face, Shen Jun did not linger. The instant he landed, he rolled to the right, and one of the Tentacle Beast's claws smashed down where he had just been.

"Yo, you're quite ferocious for a beast."

Shen Jun was far more agile than the Tentacle Beast. After several swift feints, he circled to its side. Fixing his eyes on the wound on its abdomen, his gaze sharpened. He drove the Psionic Blade in with all his strength, then dragged it downward along the old wound, ripping open a gash. Before its intestines could spill out, Shen Jun quickly retreated from the Tentacle Beast.

"Rooaargh! Rooaargh! Rooaargh!"

The agonizing pain drove the Tentacle Beast into a frenzy. Purple-black blood gushed out, and a heavy stench of blood filled the air.

The Tentacle Beast rapidly lost strength, its movements becoming increasingly sluggish. Shen Jun slashed it several more times, and before long, it collapsed to the ground without moving, dead from blood loss.

"Awoo! Awoo!"

At that moment, two small black figures darted out from the woods behind the Tentacle Beast. They were two juvenile Tentacle Beasts, each about half the size of a person. The two little beasts cried around the corpse, and when they realized they could not awaken their mother, they bared their fangs at Shen Jun.

Seeing this, Shen Jun could not help feeling moved. How cruel was he to make such young lives lose their mother?

Then, with a swift swing of his blade, he sent the two little ones to reunite with their mother.

After arranging the corpses of the three Tentacle Beasts together, Shen Jun nodded in satisfaction. A family should be together, neat and whole.

"Rohana, open the panel. Let me see how much Biological Essence I've collected."

Biological Essence: 1550 (one adult Tentacle Beast: 350, one juvenile: 50, the other three Alien Beasts: 200 each)

Shen Jun said with satisfaction, "Not a bad haul."

Putting away the Psionic Blade, Shen Jun continued toward his destination. He did not encounter any more Alien Beasts along the way. He did not know whether that was good luck or bad luck...

Upon reaching the center of the clearing, Shen Jun looked around and found that the north was entirely forest and hills, stretching endlessly in both directions, while a lake lay to the south.

It had to be said that this planet's ecology was truly excellent. If not for those Alien Beasts, it would have been an ideal place for humans to live.

Shen Jun opened the construction panel and immediately selected the Crystal Tower. The Nexus was important too, but there was not even a trace of Crystal Mineral veins or Gas Geysers, and there might not even be any on this planet. Two hundred adult Protoss were far more appealing.

After all, they could easily hunt Alien Beasts and collect Biological Essence as a substitute for energy. The Protoss had lived by hunting in ancient times, so the Protoss Nexus was not quite so urgently needed.

The Crystal Tower was placed directly in the center of the clearing. At Rohana's "As you command, Commander," a massive pillar of light appeared out of thin air. Within it, the vague outline of a building could be seen, both illusory and tangible.

The moment it transformed from illusion into reality, the pillar of light vanished. A magnificent Crystal Tower now stood in the clearing. A crystalline Khaydarin Crystal floated above a base forged from Psionic Alloy. This tower was far larger than those in the game, nearly twenty meters tall and covering almost thirty square meters.

Then, the Khaydarin Crystal emitted a blinding radiance. Two hundred small pillars of light descended around the Crystal Tower. Shen Jun knew that his first batch of Protoss troops was about to arrive!