“Can’t be broken‽”

In the president’s office, Bader received a detailed report from the research department, and a look of disbelief could be seen on his face.

He had never doubted the technological skills of the Federation of Light and felt that breaking the seal of the Ten Thousand Deity Scepter would be a piece of cake. He could not have imagined the research department giving him such a ‘surprise’.

“Space Wonder grade material that seems to have the ability to solidify space…” Bader read the report again in detail.

He suddenly thought about something, and he immediately entered the intranet of the federation to pull out a secret document. This file was ‘Grade 16’, and it belonged to the secret category in the Federation of Light. In the Federation of Light, there were a total of twenty different grades.

Grades 1 to 5 contained information that could be revealed to the public such as annual reports. Grades 6 to 10 were restricted documents that most government officials could view. Grades 11 to 15 were confidential documents where a log of who viewed them would be recorded with some details being removed if the viewer did not have enough security clearance. Grades 16 to 19 were secret documents that only the upper echelons could view. Finally, Grade 20 contained top secret documents that would almost never be revealed to the public.

“Confirming your identity… Welcome, President. You have Grade 19.5 authority and have the right to view the entire document.”

Bader then began to read the document.

Spacetime Freezer!

This Primordial One had worked for the Federation of Light during the exploration era, and the Federation of Light had kept a file on him, which included a lot of detailed information about him and a breakdown of his Esper Ability. After Bader read the report of the Spacetime Amber, he immediately thought about this Primordial One as their abilities were similar.

The leader of a Universal Civilization had received special training and would be extremely familiar with their own civilization’s history, confidential documents, and technological skills. Thus, Bader was able to easily remember the existence of the Spacetime Freezer.

“[Spacetime Freezer] Frogo has the ability to freeze spacetime, and his ability can be ranked as a [Super High Risk Esper Ability]. He can freeze time and space at a set location or target and create a huge influence for Beyond Grade As. The effects of his ability far exceed a Mage’s spacetime spells, and there was once an incident of an entire planet being frozen [See Appendix B-004]. There were many records of him freezing the enemy battleship fleet, resulting in the enemy being unable to fight back, and he turned the tides of a few hundred battles [See Appendix B-027]…

“According to our investigations, Frogo needs to exhaust his energy to maintain the spacetime freeze on a region [See Appendix A-001 for the exact breakdown of numbers]. If the supply of energy is broken, the spacetime seal will disappear. The usage of the Esper Ability can be adjusted, and Frogo can freeze the space around him for defense. It can provide defense against most energy and physical attacks, but it is unable to block mental or soul attacks. After further testing, although his Esper Ability can seal a soul, it cannot prevent a soul from moving, and this proves that Frogo’s Esper Ability isn’t perfect.

“Frogo sacrificed himself in the battle of Planet Millennium [See Appendix B-1940], and his body disappeared.”

Bader frowned and thought to himself, Their abilities are extremely similar indeed. Could there be a link between the two? However, even Frogo himself didn’t have the ability to manifest the frozen spacetime into a physical object. Just what is going on?

He naturally did not know that the Spacetime Amber had been floating around in the universe for many years and had absorbed the radiation from the universe to mutate into a different object. Mutation happened because of the change in gene structure of an individual. Frogo’s Esper Ability was not perfect, and although it was able to freeze spacetime, he could not defend against mental attacks. However, the mutated Spacetime Amber did not have this weakness, and even a mental attack would not be able to pierce the amber that it created.

After thinking for a while, Bader decided to send a copy of this information to the research head and hope that it would be helpful.

Breaking the seal of the Spacetime Amber was far more difficult than he had imagined. Bader had chosen to snatch the Arcane Church’s trump card, but they were not able to use it despite snatching it for themselves. It was no more than an ornament for them.

Thinking back, it seemed as though the Arcane Church would not have been able to break the seal even if they retrieved it.

This should have been a problem for the Arcane Church to have a headache over, but it is now our turn to suffer. I thought that we would offend the Arcane Church greatly, but we only snatched something that the other party wouldn’t even be able to use…

Just what was the point of us snatching this item ‽

It seems as though we’ve suffered a loss!

Bader was truly in a terrible mood.

No wonder, Manison thought that I would send someone to meet Black Star. He also noticed that this item is extremely weird. It seems like I must find an opportunity to contact Black Star.

Bader shook his head. He was not willing to treat the Ten Thousand Deity Scepter as just an ornament.

At the same time, he could also allow the descendants of the Spacetime Freezer to be the emissary. As members from the same race, they might be able to detect some clues and find out if the Universal Treasure in Black Star’s hands was related to their ancestor.

…

The Arcane Church was also feeling frustrated.

After a series of negotiations, the Crimson Dynasty had already agreed to allow the Arcane Church ransom back one of their Beyond Grade A. After paying a huge price, the Arcane Church finally got back Dylan. They actually wanted Sagman, but the dynasty did not agree. The first one to be returned would be the weakest one for sure.

However, Dylan’s Spacetime Amber seal was not released, and the dynasty wanted to get the Arcane Church to deal with it on their own. The main reason for doing so was so they could verify if the Spacetime Amber seal was truly as troublesome as Han Xiao made it out to be.

Naturally, the Crimson Dynasty still did not know that the Federation of Light had stolen the Ten Thousand Deity Scepter, and Urranrell wanted to use Dylan as an indicator to see whether the seal on the Ten Thousand Deity Scepter was broken.

The dynasty made use of an excuse that Black Star was currently in seclusion and did not wish to be disturbed. Helpless, the Arcane Church could only get their own research personnel to attempt to break the seal.

The result was naturally the same as the Federation of Light, and they were unable to do a thing to the Spacetime Amber.

The Arcane Church was also extremely frustrated but also a little thankful.

They were frustrated that the dynasty had scammed them once more, and they would have to pay the price to invite the dynasty to unseal Dylan. However, they were thankful because the Federation of Light would probably be helpless toward the Ten Thousand Deity Scepter as well.

Although their own Universal Treasure had been stolen by the Federation of Light, the other party was only able to look at it through the seal but unable to use it.

If not for the grudge between them, the Arcane Church might have praised Black Star.

The Federation of Light and Arcane Church began paying close attention to the other party’s research as a result. They wanted to see if the other party had any progress while also trying to spy on each other to ‘copy the answer’.

With the Arcane Church taking a step back, the conflict between both parties was no longer as heated, and their soldiers were also recalled from the borders. The galactic organizations paying attention to this event heaved a sigh of relief.

The explored universe gradually calmed down.

The Federation of Light and Arcane Church temporarily took a step back, and the Super Star Cluster Civilizations that wanted to exploit the opportunity also became low profile. No one wanted to provoke the Crimson Dynasty at such a moment and wanted to wait until the storm passed.

…

The Black Star Army arrived at the Star System where the Gulal Civilization was located.

The outpost planet of the Pioneer Party was already within their sights, and the Black Star Army landed according to the instructions of the base. The warriors of the Black Star Army disembarked from the thousand-meter-long battleships and gathered at the port.

Apart from the army’s warriors, there were a few million players participating in this mission. A War Employment Mission was a huge event, and it was much more interesting than exploring the Flickering World. Thus, most players accepted the mission and joined the civil war in this Star System Civilization with the identity of mercenaries.

Half a month ago, the Pioneer Party announced that they were working together with the Black Star Army, and news of the Black Star Army’s interference stirred up a huge storm in the Gulal Civilization. The Ancient Emperor Party and Descendant Party were immediately thrown into internal chaos with a small portion of their upper echelons escaping or defecting to the Pioneer Party. The remaining members of the party decided to seize the initiative, and both parties joined hands to attack the Pioneer Party’s territory.

There was no need for the three parties to make any preparations before the war as all three parties had always maintained war readiness. The three parties had split up the Gulal Civilization’s land into three regions and lined up troops to guard their own territories. The commander only needed to give the order for war to begin.

Thus, the entrance of the Black Star Army also signaled the beginning of the war between the three parties.

The officers of the Pioneer Party first had a discussion with the commander of the Black Star Army’s fleet, and the players were given a new list of missions to choose from.

The Pioneer Party provided a military star map with the nine Star Zones of the other two parties being marked out.

The majority of the Black Star Army manpower was sent back to the Flickering World, and the remaining manpower was left to guard their bases. Thus, not many mercenaries were sent to complete the mission, and they did not have an overwhelming advantage in strength. As such, it would be difficult to complete this mission in a short period. With their objectives of exterminating the enemy army and capturing the enemy’s planets, the Black Star Army needed to push the battle line forward slowly to capture the enemy territories.

The colonial planets, resource rich planets, and military bases were the missions that the players could choose. As such, there were many opportunities for ground battles. This was a civil war after all, and they would not choose to bomb the enemy’s planet to capture it. As such, the players were immediately put to good use. The greatest place to utilize a few million Grade B players was a ground battle!

After looking through the mission introduction, the players all grew excited. They had experienced many different events already and instantly knew that this mission would be the most exciting one. Fighting together with a battleship was extremely troublesome, and the players preferred fighting monsters on the ground instead. Furthermore, they were the main characters of this employment mission, and they only needed to enjoy the battle to their heart’s content.

The size and levels of the enemy had been indicated, and the players could make their decision carefully. The levels of the enemies were also extremely clear. The enemy could be roughly broken down into a few different groups: cannon fodder soldiers, Grade C high grade monsters, Grade B elite monsters, Grade B mini-bosses, and a few Calamity Grade bosses that had their own names.

All the players were extremely satisfied with the mission. This was the main reason they joined the mission—to fight as they wished!

They finally did not have to just watch from the side!