Published at 19th of July 2026 7:35 am

Chapter 4322: Love at First Sight

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It was love at first sight as far as Ria was concerned. From the moment she laid eyes on the beautiful surveyor stealth ship, she was enamored by how it actually turned up in real life. No simulation or hologram could adequately convey just how amazing the ship was, and none of them could prepare her for how much she was going to like the real deal.

"It looks incredibly good," Misha couldn’t help but remark with a rare tone of amazement. Her cybernetic eyes were fixed intensely on the ship, unable to move away.

"So this is our ship..." Sternon murmured with a stunned expression. He had never even contemplated the possibility that he would one day come to have partial ownership over a ship as extravagant as the stealth surveyor that hovered in the hollow space of the fabricator.

"Will this really keep us safe when we’re far from human civilization?" Siliscia was the only one among them who appeared not to be completely hypnotized by the spaceship. As an elf, her tastes were entirely different from the kind of thing that others might get excited about. At the very least, it was far too detached from the kinds of environments that she truly enjoyed spending time in for her to appreciate the ship the way her teammates did.

"It’ll do as good a job as you could expect from the best of what human civilization has to deliver," the Esoterist remarked with a proud expression as he studied the ship. "The reality is that the Stellarch was custom-tailored to suit your specific needs. It was literally created for that purpose, and we went all out with the resources and the budget on this thing and got in the best of the best. It would be impossible to acquire through normal circumstances, but you are among the few people who managed to go through abnormal channels."

He pointed to himself. "Namely me. You should thank me for getting you such an incredible finished product."

"I am grateful, but I want to explore the insides of the ship immediately! What are we waiting for?!" Ria insisted with an impatient tone.

The Esoterist simply heaved an exasperated sigh, snapping his fingers.

WHOOSH

They teleported from the frigate they were in to an entirely new environment.

It was the command room of the spaceship. Ria’s amber eyes lit up as they spread across the entire command room, across the empty seats right before terminals, manning different sections and systems of the frigate.

There were a total of thirty six different seats in the command room needed to operate the ship, meaning that they would require a hundred and eight personnel, at all times, to rotate on shift, plus some extra for unforeseen circumstances.

Beyond the crew, there were also rows of seats before computer terminals for analysts and technicians.

Then, at the top of the helm in the command center were five seats dedicated to the five owners of EsoQuest Solutions, where they could oversee the operation of the ship.

THUD

Ria fell into her seat, enjoying the thrilling sense of overlooking the empty command room. She wondered how much more fun it would be when the ship was active and being operated with a full-capacity crew.

"I love it," she declared once more. "I love it so much."

The Esoterist grinned. "Those chairs are the same kind I reserve for myself. They’re ergonomic chairs with tension distributors and temperature regulation systems. You could never get tired of sitting on them. But there’s more to the ship than just this command room, you know? Well, of course you do. But come on, I’ll take you on a tour."

The four of them eagerly followed him as he showed them the rest of the ship. Ria, having been most involved with the design of the ship, was familiar with everything he was going to show her, but she nonetheless enjoyed every single moment aboard the ship.

Whether it was their personal quarters, which, while very cozy and comfortable, weren’t large or extravagant, just as she preferred, or the entertainment center that would ensure that they didn’t get bored while traveling through outer space outside human civilization.

Her eyes lit up when the Esoterist guided her through the energy generator chamber.

At the very center of the chamber was a massive sphere that floated midair, connected to a massive variety of tubes and wiring. The sphere had a rippling surface, as if it were made of a liquid.

"What’s that?" Ria asked with a curious expression.

"That’s the dark energy reactor," the Esoterist remarked with a serious tone. "The way that it functions is that it functions is that essentially ’hooks’ onto space using some quantum infrastructure, and as dark energy expands the universe, it pushes against these hooks, converting into kinetic energy, which can then be converted into electricity and electromagnetic energy and harnessed with the rest of the ship."

"The universe expanding fuels this ship?" Sternon asked with a stunned expression.

"A portion of it, certainly," the Esoterist replied. "The expansion of the universe possesses the most energy out of any other phenomenon that we are aware of, and we are tapping into just a portion of it. It’s one of the most advanced forms of energy, but it’s very difficult to build. But I managed to get some highly esteemed dwarves to work on it."

"With this, we have no energy constraints." Ria’s eyes lit up. "We can go anywhere and return from anywhere without issue."

"Well, yes, but as you know, you do have innate constraints on how continuously this reactor can run. You will also need to conduct check-ups on it because the infrastructure of the space-time hooks is very delicate and will suffer wear and tear over time. This isn’t meant to be an infinite pass for never returning to civilization, it just means you don’t need to frequently refuel."

"That is more than enough for our purposes," Ria remarked. "As I hunt more and more infected worlds, I will go further and further away from the frontier, and I cannot do so if I’m burdened by refueling needs.

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