The alien landscape of the planet Verdant stretched before them, a sprawling expanse of luminescent flora and treacherous, marshy terrain. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and the faint, metallic tang of the starbugs' secretions. Beneath a sky bruised with violet and amber hues, the towering vine-tree loomed, its gnarled, bark-like surface pulsing faintly as if alive with an unnatural heartbeat.
"Is the potion taking effect this quickly?" someone whispered, their voice barely audible over the hum of the surrounding wilderness.
"Not necessarily," a student nearby replied, their tone cautious. "Have you forgotten the safety manual? Never underestimate a starbug."
The massive vine-tree, its canopy a tangled crown of thorned tendrils, began to wilt toward the ground with alarming speed, as though the very life were being sapped from its core. The military academy students, clad in sleek, reinforced exosuits that gleamed under the alien sun, did not relent. They descended along the rough, fibrous surface of the vine, their boots finding purchase on its coarse exterior. With precise, practiced movements, they drew their serrated blades and hacked at the roots buried deep in the loamy soil.
Before their knives could sever the subterranean stems, the ground shuddered violently—a tectonic roar that sent ripples through the marsh. From the fissured earth, two new vine-tendrils erupted, thick as ancient oaks and tipped with barbed, spear-like points. They lashed toward the students with predatory intent, their surfaces glistening with a viscous, emerald sap.
At that moment, a crested hawk with plumage of chestnut and snow-white soared into the air, its golden irises quivering with focus. Its obsidian pupils locked onto the nexus where the two tendrils converged. With a powerful beat of its wings, the hawk dove toward the roots, a streak of avian fury slicing through the humid air.
A piercing screech tore from the hawk's beak, and with it, several dark vortices spiraled outward from its form, a maelstrom of unseen force. Wherever the vortices touched, the deep green of the mutated flora was shredded into fragments, as if torn apart by an invisible storm. The two vine-tendrils were pinned to the ground by this intangible power, writhing like serpents in their death throes. The students, seizing the moment, rushed forward with their blades, slicing the tendrils into chunks with ruthless efficiency. They poured the extermination potion into the exposed root system beneath the soil.
Only then did the mutated vine-tree cease its struggles, its once-vibrant form now a lifeless husk sinking into the mire.
"Is that a mental force domain?" a voice murmured from the group, tinged with awe.
"I know him," another student said. "Baili Yi, third-year, 3S-level mental force. It's not surprising he can wield a mental force domain so deftly."
Cen Yuehuai blinked, turning to her companion with a hushed question. "What's a mental force domain? I've only heard of starbugs having them."
Starbugs, those parasitic horrors of the cosmos, often protected themselves by weaving mental force domains—psychic barriers fueled by their formidable mental energies. Weaker starbugs produced frail domains, easily breached, while the domains of higher-tier starbugs were nigh impenetrable, like the monstrous tree they'd encountered before, its canopy adorned with grotesque purple tumors. To shatter a starbug's domain, one had to strike at its core—like the tumor atop that earlier tree. But the domains of elite starbugs were not so easily undone. When physical force failed to reach the core, a superior mental force was required to crush the domain, piercing it like a chisel through tin. Only then could the starbug's physical form be destroyed.
Could humans wield such domains as well?
"Of course humans can have mental force domains," Xino explained, his voice calm yet resonant, like a scholar reciting a well-worn text. "Well, some humans. The next step after manifesting mental force is constructing a mental barrier. Evolve that barrier, and it becomes a domain. Does that make sense?"
Cen Yuehuai nodded, her eyes bright with curiosity.
"Every person's mental force domain is slightly different, but the offensive effects are broadly similar," Xino continued. "Take that guy just now—his domain can pulverize starbugs. Others might crush, tear, or disintegrate their targets."
He paused, then added, "A mental force domain is a hallmark of advanced mental force development. It's essentially a weaponized extension of the mind."
Cen Yuehuai's curiosity deepened. She turned to Xino. "Have you developed a mental force domain?"
"I can," Xino replied, shaking his head dismissively, "but there's no need. My current strength is more than enough for most challenges."
Cen Yuehuai fell silent, her lips twitching at his nonchalance.
She glanced at Baisha. "Your Highness, what about you?"
"I haven't tried," Baisha said, her golden eyes meeting Cen Yuehuai's with earnest sincerity. "But if you need it, I can help you develop your own mental force domain."
"How?" Cen Yuehuai asked, intrigued.
Baisha mimed lifting a barbell, her mechanical arm glinting in the dim light. "Through combat, of course."
Cen Yuehuai's face fell. "…" Just say you want me to get pummeled!
"I'm kidding," Baisha chuckled, her mechanical arm patting Cen Yuehuai's shoulder with two resounding clanks of metal. "With your mental force level, developing a domain shouldn't be too hard. The challenge is controlling it. You can barely manage your mental entity as it is, so don't rush into domains. You don't need one to become strong."
Cen Yuehuai sighed, muttering a soft, "Oh."
As they spoke, their spacecraft continued its journey through the alien skies, the withered vine-tree and the dispersing students fading from view. Ten minutes later, they reached their designated mission site: the red mangrove forest, a labyrinth of crimson-barked trees rooted in brackish, reflective waters. This was no coincidence. Baisha, Cen Yuehuai, and Xino had fought here before, giving them familiarity with the terrain. More crucially, the mangrove forest was now a priority monitoring zone.
The Institute's experts believed that the forest, with its vast coverage and symbiotic ecosystem, had amassed immense energy. Its power likely surpassed even the monstrous tree that had drained the mental forces of countless students. They also hoped to capture a live starbug specimen here.
Baisha and her team landed in their mechs, their metallic forms sinking slightly into the soft, waterlogged earth. Before them stood a line of imperial soldiers in jet-black mechs, their visors reflecting the eerie glow of the mangroves.
"Your mission," their instructor said, addressing the students as they disembarked, "is to support these soldiers and help them reach a live starbug specimen. But prioritize your safety. This isn't the only sampling site. If it's too dangerous, fall back to a safe distance. No heroics."
"Teacher, how can we military cadets admit defeat?" a student teased, grinning.
The instructor's eyes narrowed, her voice dripping with warning. "Let me remind you: disobey orders, and you'll earn no credits."
The students fell silent, the threat hitting its mark.
They dispersed into their assigned zones, spraying starbug-exterminating potions into the mangroves. Yet the forest remained unnervingly still. No matter how much potion they applied, the mangroves showed no reaction—a stark contrast to the thrashing vine-tree from before.
The four of them moved through the dense forest, their boots splashing faintly in the shallow, luminescent waters.
"Don't you think it's too quiet?" Cen Yuehuai said, glancing at the darkening sky, where alien constellations began to emerge. "No mutated animals, no birds—not even a single chirp."
She peered into the clear, verdant water. "And not a single fish!"
When they'd last visited, they'd battled predatory crocodiles and blood-eating ants. Now, the forest was a void of life.
Could the mangroves have absorbed everything?
The four exchanged uneasy glances.
"Let's stick to the plan and keep spraying," Yu Yan said after a moment's thought. "The water here flows freely. The potion will spread farther than we can."
The empire had already resolved to bombard Verdant, so what harm was a little extra potion? Besides, while the potion was effective, it wasn't a guaranteed death sentence for starbugs. And since the mangroves' ecosystem revolved around water, increasing the potion's concentration in the streams was a sound strategy.
They advanced another hundred meters, nearing the boundary of their assigned area.
Baisha raised a hand, halting abruptly.
Her gaze fixed on the shadowed depths ahead. "There's something out there."
She opened her toolkit, assembling a small detection device from a handful of components. The device, tripod-like with three metal prongs, was plunged into the water. Baisha pressed a button on its interface.
Beep… Beep-beep.
The device began a silent countdown. Seconds later, it detected a starbug's mental force signature.
Baisha adjusted a few dials, and two mosquito-sized drones detached from the device, buzzing toward the signal's source.
Half a minute later, the detector emitted a faint rustling, punctuated by occasional, sharp cracks.
"What's that?" Cen Yuehuai asked, her voice tight as she stared at the device. "Is it broken? All I hear is static."
Baisha shook her head. "It's not static. This detector has top-tier noise filtering."
Cen Yuehuai frowned, confused. "Then what's that sound?"
Before she could finish, the detector let out a loud, unmistakable crack—
Cen Yuehuai swallowed hard.
She recognized it now, as did the others.
It was the sound of chewing.
The visceral crunch of cartilage snapping, the clatter of teeth grinding—it was the unmistakable sound of something feeding.
Baisha's eyes remained glued to the detector's screen, guiding the drones through the darkness. In the greenish-black feed of the night-vision camera, she finally glimpsed the source.
A colossal creature loomed—a grotesque parody of a bonfire. Its body was a writhing mass of crimson eyes, each orb framed by black, skittering pupils that darted wildly. Surrounding the eyes were several spindly, arachnid-like legs, their surfaces pitted and gleaming like obsidian. At the creature's underbelly, a jagged fissure opened and closed, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth that gnawed with relish.
Nearby lay another creature, nearly identical but lifeless. Its body was a ravaged husk, its flesh torn away, leaving only its black, skeletal legs intact—like a sea urchin stripped of its innards, reduced to a hollow shell.
Baisha and the others held their breath.
Had they stumbled upon a starbug devouring its kin?
"What do we do? Signal for backup?" Xino whispered, reaching for his communicator. "We might actually catch a live one this time."
At that moment, the detector picked up heavy footsteps and faint voices.
"There's nothing in this mangrove…"
"Let's do one more sweep. Nothing here means easy credits, right?"
The creature froze, its chewing halted. Its black pupils rolled in frenzied excitement. With eerie precision, it nudged the remains of its companion into a thicket, its spider-like legs folding inward. Then, with a single, spring-like leap, it launched into the air like a dandelion seed, gliding silently toward the voices with astonishing speed and grace.
Too late!
Baisha slammed the alarm button, alerting their instructor and the others to the starbug's presence.
The four of them charged after it, into the heart of the mangroves.