Chapter Five: The Celestial Bazaar — The Skyward Vessel (Seeking Continued Readership)
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The reason was simple: it was already afternoon, less than twenty hours remained until the assembly time tomorrow morning, and once the spatial gate deployment platform was activated, the deployed spatial gate would remain open for twenty-four hours. In other words, if he were to activate the marketplace now, it would overlap with the timeframe for tomorrow morning’s exploration of the alien star domain.
As the master of the marketplace, he had absolute control over it; as long as no first-tier or higher beings appeared, the order within the marketplace could be perfectly maintained. But the prerequisite was that he himself had to remain inside the marketplace. If he left midway, who knew what chaos might ensue within the marketplace space.
Besides that, he still had a lot to prepare. Tomorrow marked the first exploration of the alien star sea, so thorough preparation was essential. Moreover, he had numerous ideas about the marketplace beneath his feet that he needed to test one by one.
Without hesitation, Song Chi repeatedly entered and exited the marketplace several times with the marketplace token in hand, each time carrying different items: a water bottle, a backpack, a chair... Ten minutes later, he reached his first conclusion: anything he could pick up and hold in his hand could be brought into the marketplace space. Conversely, items beyond his ability to carry could not be brought in.
Having reached this conclusion, he hurried to the stall area he had passed earlier. This was one of the few vacant spots in the marketplace. Though only about 10 by 10 in size, it was more than enough for a spectral energy shuttle no longer than seven meters.
Indeed, what Song Chi aimed to do now was to see if he could summon the spectral energy shuttle inside the marketplace. Under his full control, spectral energy rapidly converged toward the center of his forehead.
“Hm?”
Feeling the stirring at his brow, Song Chi’s heart leapt with joy — he had truly succeeded in opening the Ancestral Spark Channel.
Soon, a ray of light shot forth from his forehead, and then the compact spectral energy shuttle appeared out of thin air in the vacant space before him.
“To be able to summon the spectral energy shuttle inside the marketplace!!”
Overwhelmed with excitement, Song Chi realized that beyond using the marketplace as a refuge in times of crisis, many of his earlier ideas also had considerable operational potential.
Generally speaking, what troubled the captains of Ancestral Spark starships the most during alien star sea explorations? Many might say “alien civilizations,” since encountering formidable alien beings usually meant destruction for both ship and crew.
However, the truth was quite different. The real headache for every captain was the limited storage space aboard the starship. The ship’s size was fixed, so the amount of equipment it could carry was naturally limited.
Because of this constraint, captains had to carefully plan and ration every inch of the ship’s cabin space before and after every exploration, trying to maximize its use.
This made it nearly impossible to carry large mechanical devices, such as the Fury Tiger Model I amphibious mining vehicle, Hornet-class combat drones, or Land Battle Model IV exploration robots.
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Even if these heavy machines were brought along, once successful returns were made from the alien star sea, it became a dilemma: should they bring these bulky machines back or abandon them to make room for the gathered resources?
These pieces of equipment were not cheap. If simply discarded, it might be tolerable if the value of the gathered resources was high enough — at worst, earnings would be halved. But if the mined resources ended up being worth less than the equipment, it would be a huge loss.
On the other hand, if they kept the equipment, the starship’s limited space meant they could only bring back a small amount of resources.
This contradiction had long been an intractable problem, causing endless headaches for all captains of Ancestral Spark starships.
Because of this, space-folding and expansion-type starship components had been marked up to astronomical prices. Even white-quality spatial components often sold for the price of blue or even purple components, and some were priceless in the market.
Earlier, on his way home, Song Chi had been meticulously reallocating the already limited space inside the spectral energy shuttle, aiming to create the perfect plan before tomorrow’s alien star domain deployment. But now, it seemed all these worries were unnecessary.
The marketplace space, capable of freely summoning the Ancestral Spark starship, was almost a perfect auxiliary storage space — an extra-large one at that.
Although it had limitations on what objects could be brought in—large objects couldn’t be carried in by an individual—starships were different. They could be stored inside the Ancestral Spark Channel, vastly expanding operational possibilities.
He could first store the required large machinery inside the starship, then store the starship inside the Ancestral Spark Channel. When he entered the marketplace, he could summon the starship, thereby perfectly circumventing the limitation on personal item carriage.
Moreover, in future alien star domain explorations, he could use the starship as a carrier to transport resources that otherwise couldn’t be carried, significantly increasing the yield of each expedition.
Of course, all these ideas depended on one premise: after being deployed to the alien star domain, he would still be able to freely open and enter the marketplace. Otherwise, all would be in vain.
As his mind raced, a sudden prompt snapped Song Chi back to reality.
[Please name your marketplace as soon as possible!]
Hearing this, he suddenly remembered this task. Not only did the marketplace beneath him lack a name, but neither did the spectral energy shuttle before him.
Shaking his head to suppress the flood of ideas, Song Chi focused on naming the marketplace and the shuttle.
After pondering for about ten seconds, two words popped into his mind.
“Celestial Realms.”
Having read many cultivation novels in his previous life, and since the marketplace could randomly connect to the fractured star seas in various star domains, “Celestial Realms Marketplace” seemed the most fitting name.
[Celestial Realms Marketplace – Name successfully registered.]
Next was the spectral energy shuttle, but this proved a trial for Song Chi.
“Star Sea!”
[Sorry, this name is already taken. Please choose another.]
“Voyager!”
[Sorry, this name is already taken...]
“Milky Way.”
[Sorry...]
...
Due to the vast number of Ancestral Spark starships in human civilization, many names had already been registered.
“Divine Land!”
[Sorry...]
“Firmament.”
[Firmament is currently unused. Confirm naming as "Firmament"?]
“Kunlun…”
“Hm? Accepted?”
His tone faltered, then he immediately confirmed.
With the name successfully registered, he shifted his gaze to examine the spectral energy shuttle’s detailed attributes.
Previously interrupted by the elder Yang Minghui, he had yet to review the shuttle’s full specifications.
[Name: Firmament]
[Model: Ancestral Spark – Spectral Energy Shuttle]
[Level: lv0]
[Basic Components: Colorless Ancestral Spark Hull lv0, Spectral Energy Main Cannon lv0, Spectral Energy Secondary Cannon lv0, Hull Armor lv0, Spectral Energy Engine lv0, Spectral Energy Shield lv0, Air Patrol Radar lv0, Spectral Energy Training Chamber lv0 (8/8)]
[Special Components: None (0/2)]
...
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