Choo-choo! Clang-clang-clang!
A hundred-mile-long Void-Whale Express Train burst out of a spatial stomach-tunnel at the edge of System #21, its golden sword-beam tracks unrolling across the starry dark like a glowing iron highway.
At the front of the train, a colossal Rank 8 Void Whale wearing a bright orange “Dry-Well Sanitation Dept.” safety vest let out a cheerful water-spout of starlight, wagging its ten-mile tail as it towed forty armored passenger cars and sixty cargo wagons into orbit above a dusty, rust-red planet called Herb-Ash World #1.
On the open observation deck of the lead locomotive, Pei Xuan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing his simple gray mayor’s robe. Inside his lower belly, his Rank 8 Early Peak star-core hummed with warm, golden power, enhanced by the Star-Core Pearl he had just absorbed from the Ancient Void Whale King.
In front of Pei Xuan’s eyes, the translucent blue screen of his RTS Territory UI flickered as the Map Fog of War rolled back across ten brand-new star systems:
“Look at the sky over there, Young Master,” Old Wei rumbled, resting his right hand on the hilt of his planet-cracking black broadsword while pointing his chin toward the center of the star system. “Those suns don’t look right. Why are two stars spinning around each other so close without a single brass pipe on them?”
