Chapter 491: Space Travel & Alpha’s Arrival

"Student Liora Augustus, please follow me."

Outside a sleek interstellar vessel that remained invisible to everyone else, a middle-aged man wearing a black suit was bowing respectfully at Liora, gesturing to step inside.

Liora did not keep him waiting.

After nodding in acknowledgement, she stepped forward and entered the spacecraft with Elena following closely behind her.

As soon as the two stepped inside, a faint hum echoed, followed by the spacecraft’s gates closing shut.

The floor and the walls trembled violently for only a brief moment before everything turned back to normal.

This change was almost impossible to notice. At least, Elena hadn’t.

Yet, with Liora’s strength and the World of Heart constantly monitoring her surroundings, she noticed the difference.

She understood the reason:

The spacecraft had already taken off! And it was moving at an absurd pace nonetheless!

Its silver body streaked through the atmosphere and entered the space outside, only to accelerate even further like a fish returning to water.

Within moments, the Nova Terra Planet was left behind them, becoming a tiny black dot on the faraway horizon.

The middle-aged man smiled faintly as he looked at the two women.

"Student Liora, don’t worry. The spacecraft has entered the prearranged route. It is currently on autopilot. Our destination: the War Academy.", he announced.

"We are currently in the Milky Way Galaxy, belonging to the Ostradeus Cluster. The War Academy is located near the edge of the Human Federation, at the Baelstorm Cluster. The expected arrival time is one week later."

While the man was speaking, Liora noticed that the space in front of the spacecraft shattered like glass. A gap appeared before it could mend, which the spacecraft lunged into headfirst.

Only a split second later, the spacecraft reappeared countless kilometers away. Shortly after, this happened again.

Clearly, the spacecraft was not only extremely fast but also possessed mysterious abilities such as teleportation.

It was no wonder that the man announced they would reach their destination so soon despite the massive distance between the two galaxy clusters.

"I’m afraid the five Super-Grade Academies are the only forces willing to expend so much effort to transport ’ordinary’ students like me."

"Even if only a few hundred students are admitted each College Examination, the War Academy alone will have to employ hundreds of such spacecraft each year."

Upon that thought, Liora raised her head and looked at the middle-aged man from the corner of her eye.

She could sense that the other party was no ordinary person. He was a Rank 5 Awakener!

Moreover, unlike the Dean, whose strength had been accumulated slowly through time and resources, this man’s aura carried the brutality of countless life-and-death battles.

This man must have experienced thousands of battles, forging his strength amidst life-and-death situations.

Perhaps sensing her gaze, the man smiled.

"During this time, you will be tasked with learning some basic information regarding War Academy and the Human Federation as a whole."

"I know you might be unwilling and wonder why Awakeners should waste their precious time like this, but such information will be vital in the future.", he advised, surprisingly patient with her despite his identity being a soldier.

Liora didn’t know whether the other party knew the results of her assessment and wanted to get closer, or if this was the way that War Academy members acted.

Either way, she didn’t try to argue or show any displeasure. She simply nodded her head to show her agreement.

The representative breathed a sigh of relief, thanking his luck for not meeting a troublemaker this time.

After giving a few more instructions to Liora and informing her about what their following journey would entail, he led her and Elena to their respective rooms.

--

The structure of this world was considerably different from any other world Liora had ever been in before.

Whether it was the world of Knights or the Demon Weapon World, these worlds both possessed the form of colossal floating continents.

Even the Demon World, despite its horrifying and inexplicable structure, appeared to be an amalgamation of countless continents stacked on top of each other—at least on the surface.

Yet this Cosmic World did not follow this route.

It was divided into planets, galaxies, and galaxy clusters, working together to form an intricate universe.

If it were not for the existence of Awakeners and space travel, Liora would almost think she had returned to Earth.

"The advantages of such a structure are relatively clear. Not only does this world have a far bigger population, but the existence of separated planets can give birth to distinct, unique civilizations. Though they all live under the rule of the Human Federation, the humans of this world are not the same."

Liora subconsciously looked at the spacecraft’s screen, simulating the outside environment.

Her gaze fell on the colorful planet a few thousand kilometers away that was surrounded by a nebula.

Giant cities were built on its surface, with buildings tall enough to pierce through the atmosphere and extend into the space outside.

There were no ordinary humans, let alone Awakeners. All the humans of this planet wore strange equipment made of machinery, which they referred to as mechas.

Liora looked at this scene with faint amazement.

Just then, her eyes narrowed. A blue light fired out of her head and settled in front of her, coalescing into a beautiful female figure.

The figure did not grow large in size but remained the size of a human palm, floating in the air in front of her eyes.

"My Lord, according to the integrated database, this land is the Mecha Planet X19h97.", the AI Assistant bowed respectfully and reported, its gaze also landing at the screen simulating the spacecraft’s exterior.

As an artificial intelligence, the AI Assistant could rapidly sift through information, analyze it, and integrate it into its own database.

The more information it obtained and the higher its value was, the more its intelligence and thinking capabilities would be enhanced.

The speed of this process was truly terrifying, enough to make even Ancient Devils jealous.

However, the "erudition" of the AI Assistant was not the most important change in it. At least, not in Liora’s eyes.

Other people might not have noticed any difference, but Liora immediately did.

A trace of intelligence and vitality flashed in the AI Assistant’s otherwise indifferent eyes, which used to stare at her with respect but no real emotion.

That was because this was no longer a mere replica of Alpha created through her memories.

Following Liora’s advancement to Rank 4, the condition agreed upon with the Demon World had finally been satisfied.

The real Alpha had finally descended into this world.