Into The Unknown!

Even though Erin managed to save several weeks of being in warp drive, that didn't mean he was anywhere near the coordinates that the tiny dragon hatchling gave him. Using a dimensional gate to the Rafold galaxy merely saved him half of the overall hassle. This half was the portion which involved getting out of the known universe.

Now, Erin was using a warp drive to travel through the unknown parts of the universe! These were all uncharted territories. No data about them was available on his device's star map application. Even the orb didn't have any information!

While the starship was in warp drive, the tiny dragon hatchling spent its time begging Erin for dimensional crystals. It was extremely regretful when it saw Erin toss away a Grade 9 Dimensional Crystal just to power a gate's portal!

Erin knew that the hatchling needed energy to grow. However, dimensional crystals of this grade were a rare treasure. He couldn't replenish them as he pleased. After several days of begging, Erin finally gave in and let the hatchling munch on a single Grade 9 Crystal.

With the immense amount of power in this crystal, it was enough to keep the tiny hatchling occupied for quite a while.

Unlike the light energy that the hatchling absorbed several days ago, this crystal was pure physically-condensed energy! It was like comparing fog to a large lake, with the crystal being the later.

Erin wasn't aware of this difference and was simply scared that the hatchling would absorb the crystal too fast.

Erin prepared food, supplies, weapons, armors, and even fuel! Yet he was careless and forgot that the hatchling didn't eat normal food. He set a mental note to acquire more lower-grade dimensional crystals the next time he was able to.

While the dragon hatchling spent its time slowly absorbing the crystal's energy, Erin relaxed and read the knowledge chips he acquired previously.

There were a total of 5 top-grade knowledge chips that had information on almost every standardized topic! When he inserted any of these knowledge chips into the reading device, he could project this information like a book.

The main reason why these knowledge chips were so expensive was because they contained valuable information that most people didn't have access to! It even had designs and schematics to common yet important inventions!

This result is partially thanks to Pearson's authority. Otherwise, Erin could have only bought a few high and medium grade knowledge chips at best.

Erin spent most of his time in the starship's command center. It was a huge, multi-level room. There was an enormous glass window that overlooked most of the room from the front to the ceiling. It was curved to allow a lot of airspace in the room and to let the people inside view the front exterior of the starship easily.

Throughout the lower floors of the room, there were many control panels and well-equipped seats. All of them were currently empty except for the biggest and centermost seat that was reserved for the starship's commander. The commander seat was located towards the top of the multi-level room.

Erin was comfortably lying down on the commander's chair. The tiny dragon hatchling was sleeping on a nearby chair while hugging a small crystal.

Erin stared outside the commander center's glass window with a smile. Countless flashes of light flowed past the starship's barriers. The sight of the warp drive in action was very mystical.

The starship's AI was focused entirely on assuring that the warp drive was stable and that the starship's path didn't have any obstacles. The amount of work that Erin needed to do was incredibly minimal.

To pass the time, other than glancing out the giant windows occasionally, Erin also took out his knowledge chips and started studying topics that interested him.

Even though he knew a lot more general things now, the universe was simply too vast. With more knowledge, he would increase his chances of survival and make his life a whole lot easier.

With that goal in mind, Erin studied things with an enthusiastic attitude. It was a great feeling.

Time passed as the starship continued traveling forward.

Two months went by in the blink of an eye. By the end of the second month, the hatchling finished absorbing the crystal. Erin gladly gave it a new crystal afterwards. With such a reasonable absorption rate, he wasn't going to be too stingy.

Aside from that minor interlude, Erin had spent almost all of his time studying every single day.

He learned a lot of new things and had a better understanding of the power balance throughout the galaxy.

The Imperial Academy, Intergalactic Armada, Intergalactic Imperial Senate acted as the core of the galaxy. The Ancient Families were like smaller cores. The Gaurdian's Guild was one out of five Intergalactic Guilds. There was also the Mages Guild, Knight's Guild, Tamer's Guild, and Mercenaries Guild. These guilds acted like shields for the cores.

There were countless clan's throughout the galaxy as well. Their power ranged greatly. Even the weakest clans controlled at least one planet; regardless of how backwater it may be. Whereas, the top clans, such as the Clover Clan, were on the cusp of entering the same status as weaker Ancient Families. Thanks to Erin, the Clover's might have actually succeeded by now.

Nobles were also common throughout the galaxy. Their titles were often granted by the Intergalactic Senate and Armada. Although the academy also had the power to grant noble titles, they rarely used it.

A vast majority of nobles came from the Ancient Families and the higher ranking clans. Some nobles were even officers in the armada or high-ranking members from one of the Intergalactic Guilds.

The sole purpose of a noble title was to grant the wielder the power to purchase or claim major territory. Thus, Noble's monopolized the purchase of planets, stars, galaxies, and even space itself! Cities and land within the planets themselves were governed at a different level. Often under the laws of the Intergalactic Senate. This was to prevent Noble's power from being overly abused.

Thus, although a Noble could take ownership of a planet, they couldn't simply demolish or change the existing cities inside the planet as they pleased. They would have to rightfully purchase the cities themselves too. Otherwise, the best that they could do is take control of the unused territory around these cities.

Exceptions were made if the planets were purchased as all-inclusive; although generous terms like this were very rare.

Power aside, Erin also learned about important technological inventions. He had access to diagrams, processes, and even the resource lists required to make these inventions a reality. This was the value of a top grade knowledge chip!

Although it wasn't useful to him now, Erin still considered this to be very important. He prioritized the designs of a starship fuel manufacturing device. It even listed all of the potential resources that could be converted to fuel along with their respective grades. To Erin, this was a necessary precaution since he was venturing outside the known universe.

This knowledge was merely the cusp of what Erin had learned over the last two months. His constant studying reached a point where he would even just fall asleep in the large, comfortable commander's chair.

As the starship neared the coordinates Erin originally set, many warning signals started blaring throughout the starship's command center. Erin was sound asleep on his chair until these warnings abruptly woke him up!

"What in the world?!"

Erin's eyes were stunned by all the red warning lights. The tiny dragon hatchling also woke up because of the loud noise.

"AI, what's the starship's current status!" When Erin received the high quality AI chip from Pearson, he merely installed it with customizing anything. Erin had never bothered naming the AI; so he simply referred to it with its default settings.

[Currently approaching the designated coordinates. The system has detected a very high-energy anomaly near the edges of these coordinates! The starship will now end warp-drive earlier to prevent potential damage.]

The countless streaks of light that covered the command center's front window started to fade quickly.

Soon enough, the starship exited warp space and what appeared before Erin was the sight of an enormous netherstorm!

"A netherstorm?!" Erin muttered out his confusion. It was so huge that Erin couldn't even see the end of it! It extended in every direction like a wall that separated the universe itself!

"Didn't you insist that the coordinates led to a safe planet?!" Erin directed his gaze to the seat where the dragon hatchling was resting. The hatchling also looked wronged and confused.

Previously, it's inherited memories projected a safe mega-planet with vast resources to Erin. That's why it was very hopeful with these coordinates. Now that the situation was different, both Erin and the tiny dragon hatchling had no idea what to do.

Unlike the netherstorm that the hatchling summoned, this netherstorm was on a completely different level!

If the netherstorm that the hatchling summoned was a drop of water, then the one before the starship was like an ocean! The hatchling didn't have the capabilities to control something so absurdly dangerous. Projecting these feelings, Erin quickly understood that this situation was basically out of their control.

"Damn." Erin sighed.

If they couldn't move forward, then the only other option was to return. He basically had to spend another two months just to reach the armada's outpost.

Fortunately, he spent his time productively. Otherwise, he would have felt like he wasted time.

Even though this situation didn't work out, he didn't put that much blame on the hatchling. The memories it inherited were based on the past anyways. If anything, Erin realized that he was blindly trying his luck by not thinking about those details sooner.

Before he could give out the orders to return, the netherstorm in front of them started changing dramatically! The hatchling sensed an incredible power glancing at it! Erin could feel this too!

Like an ocean being split at the center, the netherstorm suddenly opened up a path!

At the end of this path, there was a very obvious portal that looked similar to a dimensional gate's portal. However, the portal was so huge that even a mega-planet could fit in it!

The tiny dragon hatchling stared at this portal and was quickly enlighted! From the depths of its soul, it knew that their goal was on the other side of this portal! It immediately projected this knowledge to Erin, since the final decision rested on him.

'It's on the other side of this portal?' Erin's face twitched. These changes were abrupt and powerful! Never in his wildest dreams did he expect the netherstorm to actually make a path for his starship. He didn't like the weird gaze that he felt earlier either.

However, just as Erin was being indecisive, a mysterious feeling struck him from the inside!

It felt like if Erin decided not to enter the portal soon, he would regret for an eternity. This feeling came from the very depths of his soul. It was similar to the enlightened feeling that the dragon hatchling went through moments ago.

"AI, how stable is the portal before us?" The starship was equipped with some of the best technology available. Its detection abilities were top class. Erin wasn't just going to blindly trust his gut instinct.

[Interference from a netherstorm wouldn't allow our devices to work.] The AI responded in a monotone voice.

"Try it anyways." Erin ordered.

[Understood, Attempting a scan. No interference has been encountered.]

[Portal detected. Stability is extremely high. No harmful elements detected around this portal.]

Listening to this, Erin sighed in relief.

The tiny dragon hatchling flew near Erin and hovered near his face. It's eyes stared straight at Erin's eyes. The hatchling looked like it wanted Erin to trust it.

Projecting its feelings, the hatchling insisted that Erin moved the starship forward.

"Proceed to the portal." Erin said somberly. This was a major decision. After considering everything, he believed that the odds were in his favor.

The starship moved forward very smoothly. It was like there wasn't even an extremely lethal netherstorm surrounding them. In mere minutes, it finally reached the edges of the enormous portal.

As it entered, a bright light engulfed Erin's vision for a few minutes. For some odd reason, this light gave off a familiar energy. It reinvigorated Erin's senses and made his body very relaxed.

Once the light vanished, Erin, the hatchling, and their starship were now in an entirely different space!

Erin glanced at the star map application on his device and noticed that this area wasn't even within the uncharted limits on this map! He checked his orb and discovered the same thing there too!

Previously, even though the coordinates were in uncharted space, the map could still pinpoint an estimated location in correlation to the known space that Erin was at previously. In this case, it was estimating the starship's position ever since it launched from the Rafold Galaxy Space Station.

Now that he entered the portal, Erin truly had no idea where he was anymore.

As wishful as it might be, part of him was gambling on the chance that the portal would lead to a special space within the boundaries of the known universe. He slightly regretted taking this gamble.

The only thing that made him feel relief was the vast food, supplies, and fuel that he stockpiled prior to this trip. At the very least, it was enough for him to travel comfortably for an extremely long time. This prevented Erin from panicking.

"AI, have the starship continue forward at a steady pace. Utilize half of the warp drive's original speed." Erin adapted very quickly. He noticed that there were no planets around at all. This meant that they weren't truly at the end-goal.

"Scan the surrounding space. Directly upload the information to my orb. Inform me if you detect any life-filled planets."

It was not possible to scan the surroundings while having the warp drive activated at full power. However, at half power, the starship could still detect a general area. Although it wasn't in detail, Erin didn't need all the miniscule facts.

Since his current star map didn't work, he just had to start creating a new one. As his starship traveled, it could save data that it collected and start forming a star map that Erin could work with. This would help him get an idea of the surrounding galaxies.

[Understood. Scanning.]

The starship continued moving forward as it scanned its surroundings. Even though it didn't enter a full warp drive, half was enough for it to still be moving at an incredible pace! The speed alone was sufficient for it to travel between galaxies if given enough time.

Furthermore, the starship's scanning device extended quite far and started pinpointing a few empty planets. Although these planets didn't have life, it was still a relief for Erin to know that he wasn't in deep, empty space any longer.

Erin spent an additional five weeks like this.

After the first week, he noticed that most of the planets they passed were basically barren. Seeing this trend continue into the second, third, and fourth weeks, Erin felt even more concerned.

By the fifth week, he determined that his starship has traveled through four galaxies already.

Their speed was enough to traverse about one galaxy per week. To simplify everything, Erin marked these galaxies in the order that he discovered them in. Thus, the first galaxy was named exactly as such.

Now that he was entering the fifth galaxy, Erin still remained hopeful. He had both time and resources on his side.

As the starship began approaching the first planet in this fifth galaxy, an alert blared throughout the starship.

[Life-planet has been detected. Ongoing conflict has also been detected. Hostile figures detected!]

Erin was eating lunch when these alerts suddenly popped out. His fork fell to the ground.

[The starship has not yet been detected by hostile forces. Exiting half-warp speed now.]

Once the starship exited half-warp speed, Erin saw a bunch of flashing lights at the far distant space. The starship's main camera zoomed in on these lights. A clear projection of these scenes was quickly displayed at the front-center of the commander center.

Erin saw hundreds of objects invading a small planet. All of them had the shape of a small meteorite. If it weren't for the laser weapons firing from these 'meteorites', Erin would have believed that the planet was being struck by a meteor shower.

As the starship's camera focused more, it basically looked like circular starships composed of meteoric stone.

"AI, how close can we get to the planet without being detected?" Erin was cautious.

[The starship's detected appear to be low grade fighters ships. No higher grade starships have been detected within the planet's vicinity. It is possible to get closer and retrieve a view of the ground-level on the planet itself. The chances of detection are less than 0.01%]

Knowing the odds were extremely favorable, Erin ordered the starship to proceed accordingly. It moved forward without alerting anything!

The tiny dragon hatchling stared at the weirdly shaped meteorites carefully. An inherited memory slowly woke up inside of it.