thefictionvixens Chapter 31 Anchor Point
Chapter 31 Anchor Point
After arriving at the Wandering Port, the wreckage of the frigate was transferred to the Temple's Deep Harbor Salvage Dock, and the Black Pearl returned to its berth in Area B.
Valentius personally came to the berth to make the handover. He handed Liu En a data board with the commendation order from the sage Helios.
"The Black Pearl's response speed and processing results exceeded expectations, and all the core data of the research institute was preserved intact. The Sage is very satisfied."
Liu En took the data panel and glanced at it. Besides the commendation order bearing the gear and skull emblem, there was also a bonus approval form issued by the Wandering Port Forging Temple—a total of 100,000 Throne Coins for the entire crew of the Black Pearl, with Captain Cohen Severus receiving a special commendation of 20,000 Throne Coins, and the remainder distributed according to rank and position. Throne Coins are the common currency of the Calissis Sector, jointly backed by Sintira's finance department and the Imperial Administration, and circulate throughout the civilized world of the western part of the Misty Starfield.
Valentius lowered his voice: "The Sage said that the Black Pearl's performance on Gamma-9 proved the leadership capabilities of a Tier 3 Apprentice Technical Priest. The ship's combat power is stronger than expected."
Liu En put the data tablet into his inner bag. "Please thank the Sage for me."
Valentius nodded and turned to leave.
Liu En stood at the gangway, watching the salvage fleet tow the last section of the frigate wreckage toward the Temple Deep Harbor. The database contained the complete technical blueprints of the Dark Eldar frigate—the core algorithm of the Shadow Field, the energy path of the Alien Propulsion System, and the hull materials mixed with strange biomass remnants.
He turned and walked deeper into the bridge. Through the porthole behind him, the steel dome of the harbor gleamed with a cold gray light under the spotlights, and the armor plates of the Black Pearl reflected a uniform, mottled color in the light—it looked like just a decent second-hand cruiser that had just finished a battle, received a bonus, and returned to its berth.
The Black Pearl's days became very routine: cruising, returning to port, resupplying, then cruising again. The routes through the northern sector were now well-established. The Dark Eldar disappeared; only faint, unidentifiable signals occasionally flashed on the sensors—they watched from afar, but didn't approach.
Marcus said, "It's too quiet. They seem to be brewing something."
Liu En didn't reply. What the Dark Eldar wanted to do was a matter for the Sage Helios and the Imperial Navy. He was just the captain of a ship, a third-tier trainee technical priest. He only needed to mind his own business.
He spent most of his time in his private workshop because he had made a new discovery in Gamma-9.
After the battle, Liu En went alone to "inspect" the wreckage of the destroyed Dark Eldar frigate. Deep within the wreckage, near the bridge, he found an escape pod. He didn't include this in his report.
Inside the escape pod was a living Eldar. He had pale purple pupils, and silvery-white blood floated in zero gravity. He had a penetrating wound on the left side of his torso, but his vital signs were stable.
Liu En did not hesitate. In this universe, alien races are enemies. If a living Eldar were discovered by the Lucis, it would lead to interrogation and investigation, adding unnecessary trouble.
Consciousness touches upon. Decomposition.
The body dissolved into a cloud of atoms. In the final instant, the light in the pale purple eyes went out.
A complete information about the composition of his physical body flooded into his consciousness. Bones, muscles, nerves, psionic nodes—all were precisely recorded. Just as when he was disintegrating a human, memories and personality vanished, leaving nothing that could be copied.
But at the core of the psionic node, he discovered a peculiar structure.
Universal atoms. Arranged in sheets, occupying a large space.
He had dissected humans before, but had never obtained anything like this. A few days ago, an assassin infiltrated the Black Pearl, and he dissected the assassin on the spot, obtaining a complete blueprint of a human body—but it was just a blueprint. Memories and personality were all gone, leaving only a body with a blank brain.
But the Eldar are different. At least within this Eldar body on the Ark, there exists a structure carried by universal atoms. It is not consciousness itself—consciousness is gone. It is the "house" of consciousness, the blueprint of the soul. An empty, yet structurally complete container.
Liu En knew very little about psionics. But his abilities operated at the atomic level, so he didn't need to understand psionics—he only needed to know what the structure was, store it, and then reproduce it using the universal atom.
A new entry has been added to the database: "Ark Eldar - Soul Imprint Blueprint".
Liu En decided to conduct an experiment: to verify whether human clones are feasible.
He retrieved the assassin's human body blueprint. Young, healthy, without any signs of modification, a stranger's face. He summoned the universal atoms and condensed them layer by layer according to the blueprint. At the same time, he extracted the key structures that resonated with the anchor point from the soul imprint blueprint—those parts responsible for "anchoring" carried by the universal atoms—and grafted them onto the corresponding areas of the brain in this body's blueprint.
The sculpting is complete. A complete human body lies on the operating table. An unfamiliar face, short brown hair, ordinary appearance, without any distinguishing features.
Liu En took a deep breath, immersing his soul in a higher dimension, and probed towards the anchor point of this new body.
Connection successful.
The new body's eyes saw the ceiling, while Cohen's eyes saw the control panel. Two perspectives, clear and side-by-side, without confusion. He could feel the new body's heartbeat, and he could also feel Cohen's breathing. Two bodies, one soul, they could manage.
He sat up from the control panel. The movement was fluid. He walked to the mirror—an unfamiliar face, ordinary, without any mechanical modifications. He flexed his fingers, clenched his fist, and released it. Everything was original, biologically derived. His abilities followed him—the field expanded outwards from this body, encompassing decomposition, shaping, storage, and information databases—all were usable.
He switched his soul back to Cohen. The new body sat quietly back in the chair, his eyes vacant, but his breathing steady.
Two bodies, two anchor points. Everything is normal.
Liu En stood in front of the control panel, looking at the two bodies—Cohen, dressed in a deep red robe and wearing half-body power armor; and his clone, with the face of an ordinary young man and closed eyes. His soul could switch freely between the two without any hesitation.
He thought of a question: Could there be one more?
He returned to his workbench and began creating a third body. Another blueprint for humanity, another new face. Atoms coalesced, and the body took shape.
Currently, there are two anchor points in higher-dimensional space: Cohen and the clone. The anchor point for the third body has not yet been established.
He sank his soul into a higher dimension and explored towards the third anchor point.
The instant the connection was made, a heavy sense of oppression surged from the depths of his soul. It wasn't chaos, nor was it tearing apart; it was a pure, unbearable weight. Three anchor points existed simultaneously within his soul, and the amount of information increased exponentially. He could simultaneously perceive three sets of heartbeats, three sets of breaths, and three different body postures. It wasn't that he couldn't do it—he could—but his soul couldn't withstand it.
He had climbed all the way up from the bottom of the nest, always believing that he had only one soul. But at this moment he suddenly realized that he was wrong.
When he transmigrated, it wasn't just one soul squeezing into Cohen's body. He was the newcomer, while Cohen originally possessed a soul—the soul of that underworld youth. That underworld youth whose name was erased, whose memories were replaced, and whose body was even altered beyond recognition. Liu En's consciousness occupied this body, replacing its owner, but that soul didn't disappear. It merged with Liu En's soul. Not devouring, not covering, but fusing. Therefore, his soul strength was twice that of an ordinary person. He could simultaneously bear two anchors—Cohen and his clone—precisely because he had the capacity of two souls within him. He thought he was "one person," but in reality, he had always been "two people."
The third anchor point exceeded the limit of what this fused soul could bear.
He immediately cut it off. The third body twitched on the control panel and then remained still.
Liu En bent over, bracing his hands on the edge of the worktable, panting heavily. Cold sweat broke out again. He closed his eyes, focusing only on Cohen and his clone as anchor points. After a while, the heavy feeling slowly dissipated.
Two. He can only support two anchor points at a time. His soul's limit is two.
In the higher dimension, the two anchor points—Cohen and his clone—sat silently. The anchor point for the third body had never been completed. He reached out and touched that body—disintegration. Atoms returned to the warehouse.
He turned around and looked at the silent clone on the chair. A strange face, a complete human body without an identity.
The experiment is over. The technology is mastered. He can create another clone whenever needed—any appearance, any face, any identity. But there's no need to retain a living body. Keeping one is useless and too risky.
He reached out and touched the clone's forehead. Consciousness reached it. The decomposition command was issued.
The human body silently dissolved into a cloud of atoms, surging into the warehouse. The anchor point went out.
In the higher-dimensional space, only Cohen's own anchor point remained, shining alone.
He stood in the center of the workshop, looking around. The control panel was empty. The Eldar clone had disintegrated, the human avatar had disintegrated, and the third body had disintegrated. Only the newly added blueprints and data remained in the database.
He restored the workshop to its original state. Then he left the private workshop and locked the door.
In the corridor, two veteran patrolmen walked towards him and saluted. He nodded and continued walking.
Everything remains the same. The Black Pearl is still patrolling the Northern Sector.
Liu En walked onto the bridge and sat down next to Marcus.
"Captain, everything is normal." Marcus glanced at him.
"That's good."
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. In the higher dimension, only one anchor point floated.
Outside the porthole, the steel dome of the harbor gleamed a cold gray under the spotlights. The Black Pearl sat quietly in its berth, its exterior weathered, appearing to be nothing more than a well-maintained secondhand cruiser.