The long talk in the "Heart of Dawn" laboratory ignited a blazing torch in Artoria's heart, dispersing the mist on the path ahead and weaving a complex emotion of responsibility and warmth on her shoulders.
However, she knew that any words of gratitude or promises at this moment would seem pale.
What she needed to do was to act immediately and respond to this heavy trust and favoritism with actions.
Therefore, after leaving Hexi, Artoria didn't even return to her Silver Moon Observatory.
Instead, following the coordinates and permissions given by Hexi, she took Minerva and, through the internal transmission network of the Angel Nebula, arrived at "Resource Starport No. 3," a highly confidential location within the Angel Nebula used specifically for storing strategic materials.
The starport was not a port in the traditional sense, but a metal Planet that had been completely transformed, hollowed out, and filled with countless independent encrypted warehouses.
When the shuttle carrying Artoria and Minerva passed through layers of verification and landed at the designated berth, several Angel technical officers from the Logistics and Equipment Department, who had already been notified, were waiting there.
The leading female Angel looked very young, with a neat silver ponytail, capable eyes, and a faint scent of machine oil and energy crystals on her.
When she saw Artoria, especially the "star dome" king sword at her waist, which remained striking even after concealing its brilliance, a flash of undisguised respect crossed her eyes.
She placed her right hand on her chest and performed a standard Angel military salute.
"Lord Artoria. Yun Lan, Senior Technical Officer of the Logistics Department under the Heavenly Base King. I am here by order to hand over the listed materials to you."
The Angel technical officer named Yun Lan had a crisp voice, her tone respectful yet neither humble nor arrogant.
"All items have completed final inspection and packaging, stored in independent warehouses B-77 to B-85. This is the detailed list and warehouse key; please accept them."
She handed over a shimmering diamond-shaped data crystal.
Artoria took it, and as soon as her spiritual power made contact, a massive amount of information flooded her mind, precise down to the model, serial number, status, usage instructions of every weapon, and the corresponding 3D coordinates of the warehouses.
"Thank you for your hard work, Senior... Yun Lan."
Artoria was not quite used to this formal handover process, especially since the other party was clearly much older than her, by Angel age standards.
"It is my duty."
Yun Lan smiled slightly and gestured to the side with a "please" gesture.
"Do you need me to take you to the warehouses to check, or should I arrange transport vehicles? The total volume of materials is quite large, and it might need to be done in batches..."
"No need, thank you."
Artoria shook her head, a slightly embarrassed but also somewhat proud smile appearing on her face.
"I... I can handle it myself."
Yun Lan and the several Angel technical officers behind her were stunned.
Handle it herself? So many things?
Even if they called small transport ships, they would have to make several trips, right?
Under their puzzled gazes, Artoria closed her eyes.
She did not mobilize the conventional micro-wormhole transport technology of the Angels, nor did she activate any spatial equipment.
She just stood there quietly, and a very faint, special fluctuation that was difficult for conventional instruments to detect began to permeate her body.
That was not Dark Energy, nor stellar energy; it was more like a kind of... highly ordered information ripple resonating with a certain deep spatial structure.
Immediately after, a scene that stunned all the Angels present occurred.
I saw that in the open space about ten meters in front of Artoria, the space rippled silently like Water, splitting into an irregular elliptical "portal" with pale gold runes flowing along its edges.
The interior of the portal was not pitch black, but presented a deep, dark blue background where countless stars seemed to be slowly rotating, bottomless at a glance.
"Is this... a space gate? A wormhole?"
A young Angel technical officer couldn't help but whisper, but was immediately stopped by Yun Lan's gaze.
Yun Lan's brows also furrowed slightly.
She could feel that the way this "portal" opened and its energy characteristics were different from any known spatial technology, more... stable?
Reserved?
As if what it led to was not chaotic spacetime turbulence, but a "pocket" that had already been opened with clear boundaries.
Then, under the precise guidance of Artoria's spiritual power, the heavy alloy gates of the distant warehouses numbered B-77 to B-85 slowly rose at the same time.
Inside the warehouses, neatly stacked equipment boxes, cannon components emitting dangerous energy, rows of floating floating-gun units, and that core component of the "experimental naval gun," which was the largest in volume and restrained by a heavy gravitational field and emitting heart-palpitating fluctuations... all items began to vibrate slightly, with pale gold runes similar to those on the edge of the portal in front of Artoria appearing on their surfaces.
The next second, as if pulled by invisible threads, or like a flock of swallows returning to their nest, countless equipment boxes, weapon components, and energy units turned into streams of light, entering that deep blue portal in an orderly and silent manner!
The speed and efficiency were so high that it seemed as if they were not carrying out a massive material transfer, but simply pouring a cup of Water into another container.
The floating-gun arrays filed in, followed by the heavy energy cannon modules, the sentry turrets marched in, and finally, the naval gun core that required a special force field to restrain also slid steadily into the portal, disappearing into that deep, dark blue.
The whole process lasted less than five minutes.
When the last item submerged into the portal and the gates of the distant warehouses slowly fell, making a dull echo, the space portal in front of Artoria also closed and disappeared silently, just as it had appeared, leaving no energy residue or spatial ripples, as if everything just now was just an illusion.
The scene was dead silent.
Several Angel technical officers, including Yun Lan who had seen many big scenes, widened their eyes, mouths slightly agape, as if they had seen something that subverted their cognition.
It wasn't that they hadn't seen spatial equipment; most senior Angel generals had their own small personal spaces.
But those spaces usually had limited area, and accessing items required precise coordinate positioning and spiritual guidance.
A "storage" method like this, with such large scale, high speed, and seemingly infinite capacity—the volume and energy level of those materials just now were enough to fill a medium-sized assault ship!—they had never heard of!
Not to mention the strange and stable energy characteristics when opening the portal.
"Is... is this... your Dark Plane?"
Yun Lan, worthy of being a senior technical officer, was the first to recover from the shock, her voice trembling with disbelief.
She had heard that the Dark Plane could store data and run gene engines, but using it directly as storage space?
And so big?
So convenient?
This completely violated the Angels' basic cognition of the Dark Plane!
Artoria opened her eyes, her face slightly pale; obviously, the large-scale, high-precision collection just now was a significant drain for her, but her eyes carried the relief of success and a hint of the joy of sharing.
She nodded: "Well, it's a kind of... special application of the Dark Plane."
"When I was researching with Teacher Hexi, we made some... uh, extensions to the basic structure and information carrying method of the Dark Plane."
"It allows it to not only carry information and computation but also stably carry material entities, as long as the information structure and energy frequency of the matter itself are compatible with the extended Dark Plane."
She explained it lightly, but to Yun Lan and the others, it was like a thunderclap.
Extending the basic structure of the Dark Plane?
Allowing the Dark Plane to stably carry matter?
This was no longer "some extensions"; this was a major breakthrough or even a subversion of the mainstream Dark Plane theory in the Known Universe!
No wonder the Heavenly Base King valued this young "star dome" wielder so much, no wonder those pieces of equipment were given just like that...
At this moment, the image of Artoria in their eyes instantly rose from a "connected person" who was doted on and protected, to a true "genius scholar" capable of leading technological change.
Awe remained, but there was more heartfelt admiration.
Artoria didn't think that much.
She just felt that since this technology was useful and seemed to be helpful to the Angels, it shouldn't be hidden.
She had previously thought that Teacher Hexi had already uploaded the relevant research to the Angel Network, but now it seemed that the teacher... had attributed all the credit to her?
How could this be!
Thinking of this, Artoria immediately said to Yun Lan: "Senior Yun Lan, regarding this Dark Plane extension and material storage technology, in fact, most of the core ideas and early verification were led by Teacher Hexi."
"I just provided some... uh, different ideas from my hometown as a reference."
"I have already organized the detailed research data, the compilation code for the extension plugins, the installation method, and the optimization patches for the existing Dark Plane architecture of the Angels."
As she spoke, she closed her eyes again, seemingly performing some operation.
A moment later, she opened her eyes and said earnestly to Yun Lan, and to all the Angels present:
"I have uploaded the complete non-core technical data package to Queen Keisha's 'Sacred Knowledge Vault' via the highest encryption protocol and applied for limited access for researchers within the Angel Civilization."
"Of course, the most core part, regarding the algorithm of coupling information and matter at the bottom layer of the Dark Plane, as well as the special encryption method bound to my personal spiritual imprint, involves my foundation and needs to be requested from Queen Keisha and Teacher Hexi, so they can decide whether to open it, or how to open it in a limited way."
She paused, a clean and sincere smile appearing on her face: "Now, if you need to understand or research, you should be able to find the materials I just uploaded in the 'Frontier Technology - Dark Plane Application' section of the Knowledge Treasury."
"I hope it helps everyone."
"..."
Silence.
A deeper silence.
This time, even the usually calm Minerva, looking at Artoria beside her with an expression of "I just did what I should do," was filled with complex tenderness and pride in her eyes.
Her Ling was always like this, pure, kind, knowing how to be grateful, and... simple enough to make people's hearts ache.
Such an important research result, enough to trigger a technological revolution, was shared with the Angel Civilization just like that, lightly, and almost unreservedly.
Yun Lan and several technical officers were completely shocked.
They looked at the young girl with a clean smile and clear eyes in front of them, and for a moment, they were a bit dazed.
In the Known Universe, for any cutting-edge technology, especially this kind of technology that could break the existing pattern and bring huge strategic advantages, which civilization wouldn't treat it as a treasure, encrypt it layer by layer, and guard it strictly?
But this "star dome" wielder actually... handed it over?
And it was proactive, complete, and even considered subsequent research and optimization?
They suddenly deeply understood why the Heavenly Base King Hexi, why Queen Holy Keisha, would value this girl from another world so much, and protect and support her at any cost.
This talent, this character, this selflessness... deserved for the Angels to give their all.
Yun Lan bowed deeply and solemnly to Artoria again.
This time, it was not only out of respect for the "star dome" and the royal power, but also heartfelt respect for a true scholar and a respectable partner.
"Lord Artoria,"
Yun Lan's voice carried a hint of imperceptible excitement, "What you... what you have brought to the Angel Civilization is far more than just knowledge."
"On behalf of all technical personnel in the Logistics Department, thank you for your selfless sharing! The significance of this data to the Angels is immeasurable!"
"You don't have to be so polite, Senior Yun Lan."
Artoria waved her hand, feeling a bit embarrassed, "Teacher has taught me so much, and the Angels have given me so much; this is what I should do."
"Moreover, technology can only exert its maximum value when it is shared and applied."
The handover ended in an unspeakably harmonious and shocking atmosphere.
Yun Lan and the others left with full excitement and a sense of mission; they couldn't wait to go to the Knowledge Treasury to read that technical data that might change the future.
As for Artoria, she took Minerva and set off on the return journey to the Silver Moon Observatory, feeling satisfied.
Her Dark Plane "warehouse" was currently stuffed with "toys" enough to start a small interstellar war, and she felt much more at ease.
More importantly, she felt that she had done a right thing, repaying the kindness of her teacher and the Angels.
"Xiao Xiao, do you think Teacher will scold me when she sees the data I uploaded?"
On the shuttle, Artoria leaned on Minerva's shoulder, suddenly feeling a little bit of belated worry.
Minerva hugged her, kissed the top of her hair gently, her voice gentle and firm: "No. Teacher Hexi will only be proud of you."
Just as Minerva expected, shortly after Artoria's shuttle left, Hexi at the "Heart of Dawn" laboratory received a permission change and data upload notification from the Sacred Knowledge Vault.
When she clicked on the massive data package marked "Uploaded by Artoria - Dark Plane Extension and Material Storage Technology" and roughly browsed the research logs, experimental data, code comments, and optimization suggestions for the Angels that were detailed to an outrageous degree, this Heavenly Base King, who had lived for tens of thousands of years and had long been calm, was silent for a full minute.
Then, she slowly leaned back into her chair, raised her hand to cover her face, and her shoulders trembled slightly.
Not angry, not annoyed.
But... a complex emotion mixed with extreme relief, pride, and a hint of helplessness and being touched by "how can my own silly child be so honest."
"This silly girl..."
After a long while, Hexi put down her hand, a gentle smile spreading in her eyes, and whispered to herself, "She really... didn't leave any retreat for herself at all."
But she knew that this was Artoria.
Pure, bright, grateful, and sincere.
And precisely because of this, she was even more worthy of the Angels to protect with everything they had.
Hexi's gaze cast into the distance, as if piercing through layers of barriers, seeing that blue Planet, and the undercurrents quietly gathering there.
"Soon..."
She said softly, her eyes becoming sharp and deep again, "When things are arranged here, it's time to take this little one to 'experience' the real battlefield."
"With these 'toys', and this heart of hers... perhaps, it can really bring some different variables."
The stage of Earth was about to welcome a... special "audience" and "participant" with a unique style, super-spec equipment, and the entire "protective" Angel Civilization standing behind her.
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