Morning, in the Wonderland Space.
Lumine and Paimon had already gone to Fontaine to meet up with Navia, planning to question the merchant guilds that sold clockwork guards. Meanwhile, Nolan had returned once more to the Herta Space Station.
It was already afternoon here, and the Xianzhou Alliance's trade fleet had long since arrived.
This particular fleet happened to have been near Baihuang Star and had come to the nearby Herta Space Station to restock supplies before heading off to support the garrison there.
Since Nolan had accepted the same commission to assist Baihuang Star, they probably wouldn't mind giving him a ride along the way.
He stepped out of his quarters and made his way toward the reception hall.
On the way, he pulled out his phone and noticed a notification—his power rating had been finalized.
His rank: A-Class.
According to the Interastral Peace Corporation's evaluation system, an A-Class individual possessed enough destructive capability to eradicate all surface civilizations on a planet within a short time through various means.
Above that were the Starbreaker-Class, comparable to an actual battleship capable of annihilating a planet in a single strike, and the Emanator-Class, capable of destroying entire star systems.
The definition of "Emanator" was rather vague. Some beings who had received partial authority from an Aeon's Path were called Emanators, but the amount of power granted varied widely.
Some Emanators couldn't even destroy a single planet, while others were nearly equal to Aeons themselves.
Thus, in the IPC's framework, "Emanator-Class" referred not to the title itself, but to the level of power capable of star-system annihilation.
Below A-Class were:
- B-Class – Capable of destroying nations.
- C-Class – Could devastate an entire city.
- D-Class – Roughly equal to the combat power of a 100-man army.
- E/F-Class – Standard trained soldiers or exceptional fighters who could take on ten opponents at once.
Judging from this scale, Nolan truly ranked among the rare elites of the cosmos.
Only the Starbreaker-Class, Emanator-Class, and the Aeons themselves stood above him.
The giant Stringer insect he'd fought before—at level 130—was likely in the same tier as him, perhaps slightly stronger.
As for Screwllum at level 160, the battle records circulating across the Interastral Peace Network suggested he far surpassed Starbreaker-Class.
However, there was no confirmation that Screwllum was an Emanator of the Aeon of Erudition.
On the other hand, rumors claimed that Lady Herta, the Space Station's master, was one of Erudition's Emanators.
Whether these claims were true or not, Nolan couldn't say—he knew better than to trust everything online.
Anyone who surfed the galactic net knew that half of it was nonsense.
Still, when it came to power, for the members of the Genius Society, the blessing of an Aeon was almost irrelevant.
After learning that both Screwllum and Herta were part of that organization, Nolan had done some digging into its members.
He discovered that the 29th seat of the Genius Society—Sissikal—was originally a spider with a natural lifespan of only twenty-nine days.
And yet, within that short time, Sissikal accelerated the evolution of the entire spider civilization by thousands of years—elevating it from primitive instinct to an interstellar civilization, even creating technologies like Meta-Domain Space and Phase Transition.
It wasn't hard to imagine: true genius transcended species, environment, and even era itself.
For such beings, destruction was far easier than creation.
If they ever wished to, destroying an entire star system would probably be effortless.
Thus, whether or not the members of the Genius Society received Aeonic power, their intellect alone allowed them to wield combat strength equal to any Emanator.
Of course, that assumed they actually cared about combat—many didn't.
Without interest in warfare, they naturally fell short of true Emanators, who embodied raw destructive might.
After all, even to design a star-system-level weapon required time and effort; one couldn't conjure such things from thin air.
As Nolan mused over these thoughts, the reception hall came into view.
Sure enough, it was busier than usual, filled with unfamiliar faces not wearing IPC staff uniforms.
Their clothing style resembled that of Liyue in Teyvat.
Many of them had fox ears and tails—members of the Foxian race, one of the three major races of the Xianzhou Alliance.
The Alliance was composed of the Xianzhou Ren (the original humans blessed with immortality by the Aeon of Abundance), the Foxians, and the Vidyadhara.
According to what he'd read online, the Foxians were expert merchants, while the Vidyadhara specialized in alchemy and medicine.
So it wasn't surprising that this trade fleet visiting the Herta Space Station included a large number of Foxians.
As Nolan approached, he saw several Foxians negotiating with IPC staff about supply purchases.
Looking further inside, he spotted Asta chatting with a black-haired Foxian girl wearing a short dress—likely the leader of the trade fleet.
He walked over, and both women looked up as he approached. Nolan smiled politely.
"Pardon my interruption, Miss Asta… and this lady as well."
"Oh? And who might this gentleman be?"
The Foxian girl, her two fox ears twitching adorably, pressed a pale finger to her lips, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.
Before Nolan could answer, Asta spoke first with a smile:
"This is Nolan, the Space Station's Security Consultant I mentioned earlier, Miss Tingyun.
He's exceptionally capable and has accepted the commission for Baihuang Star.
"When your fleet departs later, please take him along—consider it additional support from our station."
Threats like the Denizens of Abundance and the Antimatter Legion were universal disasters; even if one didn't seek them out, they might come knocking sooner or later.
So it was only natural to help others facing similar crises.
Some of the supplies prepared by the Space Station were even being sent freely to aid the Xianzhou Alliance—interstellar cooperation at its finest.
And should the Space Station ever fall into peril, the Alliance would surely return the favor.
"My, so this is the famous Security Consultant Miss Asta mentioned!"
The black-haired Foxian girl—her face naturally alluring, her smile all the more charming—looked playfully at Asta.
"But, Miss Asta, if your security consultant comes with us, who will keep your station safe?"
Asta shook her head gently.
"That's nothing to worry about. Mr. Nolan has his own means of returning whenever he wishes. Please, Miss Tingyun, take him with you to Baihuang Star."
Nolan nodded in agreement.
"That's right, Miss Tingyun. If your fleet's transport doesn't have enough room, you can just bring along my avatar instead."
As he spoke, he extended his hand—and summoned a luminous figure beside him:
the Sword God of Lumine.
Tingyun, quick-witted as ever, immediately understood that Nolan's little display was meant to show his strength — a polite way of saying he wouldn't be dead weight on their journey.
After all, the Xianzhou Luofu Trade Fleet wasn't a passenger service. They were a commercial caravan traveling between civilizations to establish trade relations, not a transport line.
Still, if someone strong enough to be useful asked to tag along, she certainly wouldn't refuse.
"Mr. Nolan, it brings me great joy that you've agreed to take the time to assist the Xianzhou Alliance," Tingyun said, her fox-like eyes curving in a bright smile. "Letting you ride with us is, of course, our honor — and the least we can do."
[Tingyun Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 320 Affection Point. Current Affection Level: Lv.3 (20/300).]
Seeing the familiar system prompt, Nolan knew that her kind words weren't empty flattery — she truly meant them.
He smiled in return.
"Then, Miss Tingyun, when does your trade fleet plan to depart? I should get ready in advance."
Of course, he didn't actually need to prepare anything. Everything he owned was stored within his Wonderland Space, easily accessible with a thought. Still, it was only polite to say so.
"We'll depart at five this evening," Tingyun said lightly. "Please make sure to be on time, Mr. Nolan."
"Naturally," Nolan replied.
Having finished his business, he didn't stay to interrupt Tingyun and Asta any further — they clearly still had things to discuss.
It was around 3:30 PM on the Herta Space Station. Since five o'clock wasn't far off, Nolan decided to head straight to the auxiliary docking platform where external ships were berthed.
That was where visiting interstellar vessels usually docked, and the Xianzhou fleet would be no exception.
Taking an elevator down, he soon arrived at the platform area. From afar, he could already see a massive ship — resembling an enormous wooden vessel — resting quietly at port.
"...A spaceship made of wood?" Nolan couldn't help marveling once again at how limited his knowledge of the cosmos still was.
Robotic loaders were busily hauling cargo aboard the ship, while both Foxians and space station staff bustled about checking manifests.
Among them, he spotted Arlan from the Security Department — and little Peppy trotting alongside him. Nolan walked over to greet them and helped maintain order as they oversaw the loading.
By the time the clock neared five, Miss Tingyun finally returned. Judging from her pace, it was time to depart.
Nolan had been eagerly anticipating this.
If all went well, this journey could mean another massive surge of Adventure EXP — maybe even another level-up streak!
Thinking of that, he opened his status screen for a glance:
---
Name: Nolan Walker
Level: 111 (1,563,622 / 21,000,000 EXP)
Race: Human
Titles: Honorary Knight, Distinguished Citizen of Liyue, Legendary Adventurer, Honorary General of Watatsumi Island, Sumeru Sage
Innate Talent: Entangling Affection
Skills:
- Lumine's Musou · World Lv.10 ( Void Starsea Manifestation, Boundless)
- Flowing Sky Shot: Arcane Level Lv.10 (Frostglow Arrow)
Specialties:
- Beloved by Maidens (Exclusive)
- Unmoving Gospel of the World Tree (Exclusive)
- Threads of the Northern Wind (Exclusive)
- Spiritual Core (Exclusive)
Adventure EXP: 6,127,726
---
The one and a half million points of cultivation progress had come from recent training sessions with the girls, while roughly five million EXP came from the Primogems collected by Jean, Ningguang, Nahida, and Yae Miko over the past few days.
On top of that were rewards from Arlecchino's previous commission and the Dragonblood Gemstones produced within his pocket space.
Even without a perfect EXP farm, his progress was still quite good — he'd be leveling up again soon enough.
With Miss Tingyun's permission, Nolan smoothly boarded the Xianzhou Luofu trade ship.
To his surprise, the interior was made of the same "wood" as the exterior — the whole structure looked organic, almost alive.
Wood, as a starship hull? Hard to imagine, yet it clearly worked.
It wasn't ordinary wood, that much was certain — perhaps it had been infused with some kind of extraordinary power.
Curiosity piqued, Nolan used Yae Miko's Affection Skill to inspect the ship's data:
[Flagship – "Xianzhou Luofu": A massive commercial vessel grown using Flagship Cultivation Technology. Superior performance; capable of a single continuous jump of up to 10 light-years, requiring only five hours of warp time. A subsequent jump requires just one hour of recharge. Equipped with advanced energy defenses and offensive systems.]
Nolan blinked in astonishment as the information registered.
"A spaceship that's… grown?"
So the Xianzhou Alliance had literally put their stat points into farming! Even their spacecraft were plants!
While he was still marveling at this, the ship began to move.
The process was completely silent — smoother and quieter than any mechanical vessel he'd ever seen.
Without so much as a rumble, the Xianzhou Luofu detached from the Herta Space Station and drifted out into open space.
In the very next instant, the stars stretched into lines, and the ship slipped seamlessly into a pitch-black wormhole corridor — the transition utterly fluid.
Just then, Tingyun approached, her snowy legs visible beneath her flowing skirt, white open-toe boots tapping softly against the floor.
"Mr. Nolan," she said with a bright smile, "we should arrive at Baihuang Star around your station's early morning hours. You can rest in your cabin until then."
Saying so, she gestured gracefully for him to follow — apparently intending to show him to his quarters herself.
"Thank you, Miss Tingyun." Nolan smiled and nodded, walking beside her through the long wooden corridor.
Her fox tail swayed lightly as she walked ahead, its fur so smooth and glossy it looked freshly brushed.
---
Herta Space Station, 22 Light-Years Away — Baihuang Star.
In orbit above Baihuang Star, near a Xianzhou Alliance defense outpost, several large combat-class Flagships faced off against what looked like living battleships — enormous beasts shaped into weapons.
These were the biological warships of the Denizens of Abundance.
Their numbers weren't great — only seven or eight — but the Xianzhou garrison stationed at Baihuang was small as well.
Inside one such organic warship, within the command chamber, sat a red-eyed, golden-furred Denizen of Abundance, staring intently at a hovering sphere of faint blue soul-flame before him.
(End of Chapter)
---
(Author's Note)
As for whether all members of the Genius Society are actually Emanators — honestly, even I'm not sure.
That's why I didn't write it explicitly in this chapter — better to avoid getting contradicted later.
What do you think?
Share your theories in the comments — if it makes sense, I might just reference it later!
***
Guys, also please give it a try to the new fic: "DxD: The Transfer Student of the Demonic High School"
Don't forget to add it to your library!!
***
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