Chapter 73: Espers and Energy Sources
Outside Blue Star, aboard the Deviluke main ship drifting in the cosmic vacuum, Zastin had just finished reporting Franklin's situation to the King of Deviluke when one of his subordinates came running in in a panic.
His brow furrowed, his voice filled with authority. "Why the rush? What's so urgent that you come running like this?"
"Captain Zastin, the royal family of the Memolucians requests an audience. It's the same one who used to follow Lady Lala everywhere when she was a child."
Hearing that, Zastin's frown deepened. "Lead the way."
The moonlight was faint. When Franklin emerged from meditation, the Lala who was usually there every night was nowhere to be found. His brows knit slightly as he extended his divine sense, seeing that Lala's room was empty.
A new door had appeared on the wall — but that wall should have led to the outside world.
After a brief moment of thought, Franklin sent his divine sense through the door and saw a vast laboratory filled with various intricate instruments slowly operating.
Lala was there, face glowing with excitement as she tinkered with something. From its appearance, it looked like a small shield-shaped badge. Could it be that Lala had started developing her own defensive devices?
Seeing how absorbed and delighted she was, Franklin didn't disturb her.
Retracting his divine sense, he looked at the empty bed beside him. Feeling the emptiness in his hands, he sat cross-legged again and resumed his meditation.
Night passed, and the sun rose.
"I did it!!!"
The door burst open. Jolted from his meditation, Franklin saw Lala rushing in, holding two exquisitely crafted miniature shield badges, her face alight with excitement.
"Lin, I did it!"
She threw herself at him, and Franklin caught her, setting her gently on the bed. Taking the small badge she offered, he examined it curiously.
"This is the Shieldy Protector I developed last night using your spirit stone as a support material. It can generate an absolute defense layer over the body's surface.
"It can withstand random attacks from espers who use energy sources below the blue grade for ten minutes. As for espers using blue-grade energy sources, it can block one strike at most.
"But I've added a contingency—if the shield is broken, the wearer will be instantly teleported away by the Jump-Warp unit."
Hearing her explanation, Franklin's eyes lit up—but soon he calmed down.
"Does it have any side effects?"
Lala, her excitement fading slightly, playfully stuck out her tongue.
"The data was fine in theory, but whenever I build something, there are always… unpredictable side effects.
"This Shieldy Protector, when forming the barrier, will also blow the user's clothes apart."
At her words, the image of Mikado-sensei or Mikan's clothes being blasted off in front of enemies flashed through Franklin's mind. His head throbbed.
"From physical death to social death… there's no way to fix that side effect?"
Lala nodded, then shook her head, still smiling as she explained, "I thought the same, so I kept working all night. After several adjustments, there's no more clothes explosion.
"But now, the clothes are recognized as part of the body. If the clothes get scratched by accident, the shield will activate.
"It won't affect people nearby, but since the clothes are considered part of the body, the wearer will stiffen and be unable to move until the system is manually reset."
Compared to exploding clothes, this minor issue was nothing. Franklin exhaled in relief.
"That's more than acceptable—it can save lives. As long as one's careful, it shouldn't cause any big problems.
"Oh, right, Lala, I'm curious—what did you mean by 'blue energy source'?"
"Huh? I never told you?" Lala tilted her head. "An energy source is a crystallized block of spiritual energy, formed by physically compressing the aura in the air to various densities and volumes.
"The known types are white, green, blue, purple, and orange—with white being the weakest and orange the strongest.
"Zastin currently uses green energy sources, while the main ship is powered by a purple one.
"If I were to compare it to your cultivation method, your current level is about the same as an esper who can fully utilize a green energy source."
Franklin was momentarily dazed. "Compressed spiritual energy blocks… but isn't that what spirit stones are?"
Lala laughed softly. "You're not the only one asking that. No scholar in the galaxy has been able to explain it yet.
"Though both spirit stones and energy sources are composed of spiritual energy, once an energy source forms a specific color, it becomes incredibly stable—almost impossible to destroy by external force.
"The higher the grade, the greater its strength and energy capacity. Destroying it by force will cause it to explode, and the resulting devastation is unimaginable.
"Spirit stones, on the other hand, are extremely unstable—any slightly stronger being can break their equilibrium, causing them to revert to raw aura."
Franklin hadn't expected that explanation at all—it completely overturned his understanding of the world.
"Then what exactly are espers? If energy sources are that stable, can people really use them?"
Lala nodded, her expression growing serious. "Physically speaking, energy sources are very stable.
"At first, they were only used as extremely durable spirit bombs—small in size, huge in power, and environmentally friendly.
"But later, someone discovered that energy sources could resonate with a special energy inside intelligent life forms.
"Those who can resonate with them can control the aura within the energy source to some extent. Such people are called espers.
"The color of the energy source they can resonate with defines their rank. This discovery completely changed the galaxy, leading to the creation of specialized academies.
"It's believed that this special energy is the power of the soul. The stronger a person's soul, the higher the grade of energy source they can resonate with.
"Over years of research, these academies even developed methods to strengthen the soul. That was when the galaxy first descended into chaos—civilizations warring over resources and espers.
"I heard my father grew up in that era of turmoil and became the galaxy's strongest, single-handedly ending those wars.
"Nowadays, most energy sources are used in technological devices, but some still use them directly to enhance their strength—Zastin is one of them."
After listening to Lala's detailed explanation of energy sources and espers, Franklin exhaled deeply. Green was just the beginning.
If someone came bearing a blue—or even purple—energy source, then he'd be nothing but fish laid out on the cutting board, waiting to be carved.
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