515 Divine Disappearance
After Vaan put together Astoria's information, he figured out everything regarding Pangea and the moon megastructure.
Although there was also a chance that Astoria's information was inaccurate and made up, the puzzle pieces fit so well that he chose to believe it until proven wrong rather than deny its possibility.
After all, he had seen the Pangea continent from outer space - it indeed had some faint resemblance to a resting dragon.
The world of Pangea was a cage used to trap the Ancestral Golden Dragon Pangea, and the moon was a megastructure her enemies had built to monitor and enforce her captivity.
That was what Vaan had found inside the center of the moon.
It was the ruins of a large colony filled with mechanically-constructed buildings and devices that had been destroyed or damaged beyond recognition.
Reparations were impossible, let alone restoring any functionality it had to understand its history and purpose.
Fortunately, it still left behind a few hints, which, coupled with Astoria's information, formed a complete picture for him.
Although Vaan didn't understand who Pangea's enemies were, he at least understood that they were no longer around.
The planet Pangea might have been a prison world once, but now, the entire Pangea system was no different from a graveyard. Whatever war waged in the distant past had destroyed everything. That was also why there was such a large asteroid field in the Pangea system.
Even Vaan couldn't blindly guess how many planets had been shattered by the war to create such a large asteroid field.
However, he understood two things confidently.
Firstly, the enemies that trapped the Ancestral Golden Dragon Pangea belonged to a much more advanced and powerful civilization. To the current nations of Pangea, such foes were no different from a civilization of gods.
Secondly, whatever destroyed such an advanced civilization was equally powerful or even stronger.
These were two main points he understood confidently. He could only infer and guess the rest.
For example, the unknown force that destroyed the advanced civilization was most likely related to the Ancestral Golden Dragon Pangea. Furthermore, the Ancestral Golden Dragon Pangea must have held an important status in the unknown civilization.
The captivity and death of the Ancestral Golden Dragon Pangea sparked a great war between the two great civilizations, which ended in mutual destruction and left behind a star system of ruins.
Of course, Vaan couldn't be certain about this part.
Thus, there was still a chance that one or even both sides still existed. But even if they did, they must have long retreated somewhere in the sea of stars, away from this region of death.
Was the pure earth elemental worm born from the ruins of the great war? - Vaan wondered.
Nevertheless, he quickly shook his head and pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He could only find answers after he discovered more clues and information about the distant past.
More importantly, he had another matter for finding Henrietta.
"Did you discover the source of the spacequakes, Vaan? Also, you didn't encounter any dangerous foes in the sea of stars, right?" Astoria suddenly asked, recalling Pangea was trapped to death by a mighty enemy.
"I did somewhat discover the source of the spacequakes, but I did not find anyone or anything powerful and dangerous enough to be the Ancestral Golden Dragon Pangea's enemies like you are thinking," Vaan answered.
"Whatever you think is out there, I can assure you they are no more. It's a dead region of space out there. I only found ruins of what once could have been an ancient super-civilization. As such, those enemies are most likely all gone."
"At the very least, they shouldn't be in this star system anymore," Vaan assumed.
"Is that true? The prison wardens are all gone? We can freely venture into the sea of stars?" Henrietta inquired with some excitement.
She had always been curious about her master's world and wanted to visit it one day if she had the means to.
"I can only say most likely at best, but yes. If you have the ability to free travel the stars and survive out there, then there shouldn't be anything to threaten you..." Vaan replied before adding after some thought, "Besides one."
"Besides one?" Henrietta asked, seemingly no longer affected by Vaan's presence.
However, her red cheeks spoke otherwise. Even so, she appeared to be doing much better than before around Vaan.
Perhaps it was because the topic was serious, and she was focused on it. Or it could be some other reason.
The answer would reveal itself with time.
"Yes, that's right," Vaan confirmed with a nod.
Shortly after, he retold the two beautiful ladies about his interesting yet dangerous encounter with the pure earth elemental worm.
"Such a thing exists?" Henrietta uttered with shock after she heard the complete description.
Just then, her master, Empyrean Scarletsea, voiced her lack of knowledge regarding such a strange, unknown existence.
Nevertheless, Henrietta seemed to have moved on-or rather avoided the previous subject of her marriage.
However, Vaan didn't intend to bring it back up.
He could already guess the purpose behind it and had nothing against it. There were only benefits and no disadvantages.
Thus, he could afford to wait until Henrietta was ready to open up to him and bring it back up at her own pace.
"Right, I would like to borrow your wisdom. I want you to look at something and tell me what it is—"
Just as Vaan took out a small piece of azure crystal to offer in front of Henrietta, his hand suddenly froze. A frown immediately hung on his face.
All the azure energy inside the azure crystal had suddenly seeped out on its own and disappeared into the ground.
That did not happen before when he was still in outer space.
Meanwhile, Henrietta wasn't sure what she was shown, but her master suddenly had a huge reaction in her mind.
"That...! That was divine energy!' Empyrean Scarletsea exclaimed.
'Divine energy? Do you mean that kind of divine energy that could only be found in abundance at the center of the sea of stars or refined by a practitioner in the divine realm or higher, Master?' Henrietta quickly inquired, feeling breathless.
She understood what the divine energy's appearance entailed.
"It seems you know what it is," Vaan stated after he observed and read the changes in Henrietta's emotions.
Henrietta had no reason to deny it after receiving her master's approval.
Thus, she calmly admitted it.
"That's right," Henrietta nodded before mentioning with a frown, "But why did it all disappear into the ground? Could it be...?"
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