The success of the Reactive Ki Barrier solidified Astra's position. The royal guards equipped with the prototype reported a significant increase in survivability during live-fire exercises. King Vegeta's satisfaction was a cold, tangible thing in the air of the palace, a shield more effective than any Ki barrier. Astra's gilded cage was secure, his resources vast, his time his own—within the confines of his duties.
But his mind was no longer on Saiyan technology or the King's wars. It was lost in the star chart. The Cradle.
In the dead of night, when his Tuffle staff was dismissed and the palace was silent, he would retreat to his innermost chamber, activate the Dampening Field, and plunge into the data. The chart was more than just coordinates; it was a complex cosmological puzzle. The Tuffles had appended reams of research—theorizing about the pocket dimension's properties, its impossibly high background radiation, its temporal stability. They believed it was a natural formation, a cosmic womb where the laws of physics were subtly rewritten.
The [Stellar Forge], however, sensed something else. As it analyzed the spatial coordinates and energy signatures, it detected faint, geometric patterns in the background radiation—patterns that spoke of architecture, not nature. This was no random anomaly. It was a structure. A place.
And the energy required to create or access such a place was god-like.
The Watchtower Partition had detected no new ripples, but the presence of the chart changed the meaning of the first one. Had the entity with the Power Level of 42,000 been heading to The Cradle? Or fleeing from it? The corpse near the gas giant suggested a violent end. Was The Cradle a treasure vault, a training ground, or a tomb?
The mystery was a siren's call, but the practicalities were a wall. He couldn't just leave. He was the Royal Technologist, a prized asset under constant, if subtle, surveillance. Requesting a ship to investigate an unknown, Tuffle-derived coordinate would raise every red flag the paranoid King possessed.
He needed a cover. A legitimate reason to be away from Planet Vegeta, with a ship and the freedom to deviate from a standard mission profile.
The solution came from an unexpected source: Borg. Now a captain due to his association with Astra's successes, he was tasked with leading a "pacification" mission to a recently conquered world whose native population was proving stubbornly resistant. It was a standard, brutal affair—root out the insurgents, crush their will.
Borg came to the lab, his demeanor now one of formal respect. "Royal Technologist. My scout ship has encountered an anomalous energy reading on the target world. It's disrupting our sensors. I request your expertise to identify and neutralize it so the pacification can proceed."
Anomalous energy reading. It was a perfect excuse. A pretense to get off-planet, under the guise of supporting a military operation. From there, he could "lose" the scout ship, make the short, calculated jump to The Cradle's coordinates, and investigate. The risk was immense, but the potential reward was worth any price.
"Prepare your ship, Captain," Astra projected, his voice cool and authoritative. "I will accompany you. This anomaly could be a new form of insurgent technology. It must be studied."
Borg nodded, a glint of something unreadable in his eyes. Was he truly fooled, or was he playing his own game? It didn't matter. The door was opening.
The day of departure arrived. Astra stood in the palace hangar bay, looking at Borg's scout ship—a sleek, dagger-like vessel designed for speed and stealth, not comfort. He carried a pack containing the awakened Arcosian ore, the Gravity Forge, and a suite of tools he had forged in secret. He was leaving the cage, if only for a while.
As he boarded the ship, a system alert chimed in his mind, one he had not seen in a long time.
[Multiverse Mandate System Update.]
[User has achieved a stable power base and is pursuing higher-tier objectives.]
[New System Function Unlocked: Anchor Point.]
[You may now designate a single, secure location in your primary reality as an Anchor Point. From this point, you may initiate Multiverse Jumps without the need for a pre-designated mission. Duration and destination can be manually set, though energy costs will apply.]
[Warning: The Anchor Point must be a location you have significant personal connection to and can secure for extended periods. Initialization requires a substantial mana and Ki expenditure.]
Astra froze on the boarding ramp, the significance of this update washing over him. This changed everything. It was freedom. True, operational freedom. He would no longer be solely at the mercy of the System's random missions. He could plan, he could choose his destinations.
But he needed the Anchor Point. His lab in the palace was secure, but it was the King's domain. It was not his. He needed a place of his own. A secret base.
The scout ship's engines whined to life, lifting off from the hangar bay. As it broke through Planet Vegeta's atmosphere, leaving the blood-red world behind, Astra looked not at the mission's destination, but at the star chart glowing in his mind.
The Cradle. It was more than a source of power or knowledge now. It was a potential candidate. A pocket dimension, hidden from the universe, that he could claim as his own. A perfect Anchor Point.
The mission to the pacified world was a triviality. His true objective was now clear. He was going to find The Cradle, and if he could, he was going to make it his own. The gilded cage was behind him. Ahead lay the unknown, and the chance to build a foundation for his power that was truly, completely his. The Cradle was calling, and he was finally answering.