Chapter 11: So, Roughly How Does This Damn World Work? (Part 2)
"— From the secret records of the Interstellar Navigation Association President"
And, in a way that was totally predictable, when I tossed out my question about the background setting like it was no big deal...
The asshole—no, bitch—who'd been pulling aggro from day one turned out to be a fresh-faced newbie.
Maybe that's why?
The real veterans, the ancient fossils, came swarming in yelling "Newbie slaughter!"
To be precise, it wasn't just that.
We'd barely escaped the clusterfuck of bullshit flying everywhere, like I just mentioned.
Plus, right after shaking off that mess, what pops up next? Horny ramblings based on pure lust, or just straight-up aggro bait.
Paradoxically, they were twisting themselves into knots to use my "normal" question post as a way to dodge the vibe-killing idiots whose brains seemed swapped out for jizz.
Whatever, putting that aside.
Anyway, what did the veterans have to say about my question...?
As mentioned before, this world we got isekai'd into—or whatever—is basically SF at its core.
And it's galaxy-scale stuff, so the scale is huge.
Problem is, it's not pure hard SF with all that science babble.
It's a space opera mixed with arcanepunk—what they call fusion punk these days—like some Frankenstein stew.
Even interstellar navigation, the alpha and omega of big-scale SF, has options like wormhole jumps from our old world's sci-fi stories.
But wuxia-style stuff uses shrink-earth techniques or whatever to zip around.
True to space opera form, there's pure FTL that's impossible in reality.
And magic connecting spaces for a quick whoosh.
Super diverse, you get the idea.
But this is just for us civilians or planetary governments dipping their toes in.
The real heavy hitters—Earth Federation, Demonia Empire, and other massive factions and nations—their proper military fleets stick to old-school Alcubierre drives.
Warp to a spot and potentially cause a massacre, but it's instant.
So, different ballgame.
Anyway, unless we get full Demonia Empire backing and roll with a proper fleet later...
Right now? No way. Just follow the tips below.
1. Standard Navigation
Pure thrust only—anything under lightspeed.
Includes inertial navigation like gravity slingshots around planets, no extra engines.
Obviously takes forever for interstellar, so mostly for planet atmospheres or nearby moons.
2. FTL Navigation
Everything except sublight interstellar travel.
Tons of types, each guzzles resources like crazy.
Recommend mastering one main and one or two backups for emergencies—just basic level.
Why backups? Each method has specialties.
Take "jumps"—hyperspace leaps into another dimension and back. Super fast.
But dimension-hopping means not instant, and sometimes you meet weird friends in strange realms.
Wuxia teleport/shrink-earth? Safest, but short range means repeats, engine overload risk.
Pure FTL? Without proper interstellar filters and shields, your ship turns into Swiss cheese from dust and asteroids.
Alcubierre warping space? Can nuke the destination, or just too energy-hungry unless you're a battleship or full fleet via mega warp gates.
Gravity well tricks or wizard-made? Simple but slower.
Magic needs rare materials, arrival accuracy sucks.
Stuff like that was popping up left and right, rapid-fire.
Even just on interstellar navigation, info overload.
For me and other SF newbies, it felt like they took familiar tropes, mashed 'em into a stew, and served it up like jjajangmyeon.
A weird mix of nostalgia and what-the-fuck.
But whatever—the real talk starts now.
"Whoa."
There was some weird crap mixed in, kinda jarring to look at.
But aside from that, solid info posts kept rolling in.
My question had kicked off a "gallery normalization" project, powered by the vets.
Plenty to watch.
I glanced at the base CCTV.
Processing Empire supplies and gear still ongoing.
So, back to digging through the gallery for more must-knows.
Of course, some "info posts" were clickbait titles only.
What solution? There ain't one.
Planet-killer monster shows up? Chant "dead" and GTFO hard.
Unless you're Earth Fed, Demonia Empire, or a faction that pioneered multiple systems—no frontline means against those.
Keep saying it: if you're not in panties wielding a chainsaw soloing planet-sized beasts, just RUN.
Screw up, lose minions, ships, base, resources—end up broke.
Lots of posts like that—aggro titles boiling down to "just run."
Gallery full of 'em everywhere.
Meant I'd have to think way harder than expected.
Super annoying.