The Unknown Qi of the Cosmos
Two days later, Jincheon arrived at their destination and let out a silent exclamation of admiration.
Looking at it like this, it actually looks pretty impressive.
The sight of all those varied ships locked in place was more than enough to stir awe in Jincheon, a man who had never once brushed against the wars of this sci-fi world.
Calsira and Heliane, however, seemed far less impressed.
"It's a really compact scale."
"At this size, the tide of battle could easily turn depending on how well we perform."
"……."
That was the truth of it.
Both women were veterans who had fought on massive battlefields. To them, this engagement barely ranked as modest.
Jincheon, who had been privately marveling, suddenly understood why people said that keeping your mouth shut got you halfway there.
Beep-beep-beep—
A transmission came in from the pirate side.
"Heard from the boss. You're the skilled bastard who killed Jezer, right?"
The moment the channel opened, an alien with a face like a centipede spoke as if he already knew the whole story.
A Thractus, huh.
The reason Jincheon remembered the species name was simple: the first race he had killed after arriving in this world had been Thractus.
"Honestly, he was a pretty tough opponent. If he hadn't had the misfortune of running into me, he might've had a future worth looking forward to."
"Krik-krik-krik~~ Confident little friend, aren't you. You lot wait at this point. We'll let you know when the enemy hits the radar, so just take it easy."
"Will do."
"I'm sending the IFF codes. If you don't want to get lit up by friendly fire, register them fast."
The Thractus cut the channel without even exchanging names.
"I like this guy."
"Excuse me? That's your type?"
Calsira stared at Jincheon with a thoroughly weirded-out expression—he had just said he liked a Thractus, and a male one at that, the kind that made your skin crawl up close.
Thwack!
Jincheon lightly rapped her on the head with his knuckles.
"Ow!"
"I don't bother remembering men's names. Saves me from wasting time on useless crap, so I said I like him."
"……."
The reason for his approval was nothing short of outrageous.
"We really shouldn't invent a bioweapon that only kills one gender."
"Right? The second I get my hands on something like that, I'm dumping it into space no matter what it takes."
"Heh. Of course. Any male besides me is worthless anyway."
Jincheon answered their banter as if it were the most natural thing in the world and headed for the position they had been assigned.
The moment they slid into the waiting space that seemed prepared just for them, the fleet snapped into place like a puzzle piece locking home, every ship holding a precise distance.
"I'll handle the IFF registration. Watch my back."
"Got it. Engaging gravity anchors."
While Jincheon registered the codes, Heliane activated the gravity devices that would lock them in position, then stretched all four arms overhead with a long, satisfying pull.
"Haaah~! Now all that's left is waiting for the enemy."
"They've already laid down defensive installations. Will they really come this way? Even pirates aren't that stupid… are they?"
"I don't know the details, but someone clearly decided they have no choice but to come here."
Calsira and Heliane checked their surroundings while chatting idly.
Around the encirclement sat multiple gun batteries the size of destroyers, bristling with turrets that would be a huge help in mecha combat. There were also batteries that carried nothing but a single massive main gun, built purely to hammer enemy ships.
"IFF registration complete."
Jincheon finished a moment later.
On the radar, the orange dots marking nearby vessels began flipping to friendly blue one after another.
"Tch. Already getting bored."
"Already?"
"We have no idea when the fighting will start. Shouldn't we stay a little tense?"
They were in a holding pattern where the enemy could appear at any moment—exactly the kind of situation that called for a healthy edge of tension. Instead Jincheon was complaining about boredom, and the two women pushed back almost on reflex.
Even if he felt nothing, they certainly did.
They had learned the hard way that whenever Jincheon got bored, he inevitably turned to enjoying their bodies. This time, they silently vowed to hold the line no matter what.
"Fine, fine. I get it."
Since the two of them still lacked his level of ability, Jincheon decided to do something he had not done in a long while: circulate his qi.
Come to think of it, he had not performed a single proper circulation since leaving for space. Part of it had been the sheer excitement of finally reaching the stars, but more than that, he had long since surpassed the stage where he needed to sit down and carefully cycle energy every day.
Normally one would settle into a full lotus position, yet he had reached a realm where that was no longer necessary. Seated in the cockpit, he simply began circulating his inner energy.
Mmm… so this is the qi of the cosmos. Vast, like an endless flood…
If Jincheon had been an ordinary martial artist, he would have been screaming Whoa! The great cosmos! Feel the qi of the universe! right before qi deviation slammed him into the ground.
Why the hell is it so filthy?
The cosmos was filled with a boundless, all-consuming torrent of energy—yet the true nature of "cosmic qi" was a sewage stew of every random scrap of power imaginable.
Absorbing it raw would mean spending a lifetime just purifying it. If he was unlucky, he might even take in cosmic radiation and end up a walking corpse from internal exposure.
But it's something I'll have to do eventually.
He would be living in space for a long time to come. Remodeling his inner energy method for cosmic use was simply the next logical step.
Pfft! A cosmic inner energy method! Accurate, but it sounds ridiculous.
He laughed at his own thought, then calmed himself and began the work of adaptation.
To refine this energy into something that belongs to me, I first have to break cosmic qi down.
Some of it was familiar from Earth. The rest—most of it—was completely new.
Roughly two percent felt like what he had known on Earth. The remaining ninety-eight percent he had never encountered.
Even so, I can sense countless attributes in it. Let's start by sorting them.
He drew a portion of cosmic qi into his body and began dissecting it the way a surgeon would open a specimen.
These energies… they felt strange yet somehow familiar. They're built on the foundation of the Yin-Yang Five Elements.
No matter how alien a force might be, if Yin-Yang and the Five Elements underpinned it, control was straightforward.
Yet as he carefully separated the attributes, Jincheon's expression hardened slightly.
What is this? This… doesn't belong to any of the Yin-Yang Five Elements.
Neither Yang nor Yin. Not Water, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Wood. A bizarre attribute that sat outside every known category.
It was qi that defied human principle.
Once I've sorted every Yin-Yang Five Element attribute, this tiny force is barely one percent of the whole. And yet…
Anyone with a trained sense for energy—any martial artist—would have known instantly.
What the hell are you? How can something this small hold so much power?
That one-percent fragment carried overwhelming strength.
If he could claim it, he could discard every other force belonging to the Yin-Yang Five Elements and still come out ahead.
A kind of qi he had never known existed.
The discovery stirred the long-dormant competitive fire of a true martial artist.
"Watch this place for a bit. Call me if anything happens."
"Huh? Where are you going?"
"I found something interesting."
"Interesting?"
Calsira and Heliane tilted their heads, but they knew nothing of martial power. No explanation would have made sense to them.
It's about time I taught them martial arts.
While moving with them he had casually displayed monstrous abilities—deliberate groundwork so they would understand what kind of power martial arts truly were. He had also thoroughly mapped every meridian of their bodies while enjoying them. The preliminary work was finished; he could teach them now.
But they, like him, would have to operate in space. That meant he needed to create or remodel an inner energy method that could function among the stars.
Whether the method he built could digest that one-percent force would decide everything. Leaving the two women on watch, Jincheon headed for the lounge.
In a quiet corner he settled into a full lotus and focused his mind.
All right. Time to take you apart and see exactly what you are.
Curiosity burning for the first time in ages, the martial artist began dissecting the tiny, terrifyingly powerful unknown force.
Two more days passed.
Even Calsira and Heliane had begun to lose their edge. They killed time downloading games on their Bio Devices and chatting.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Right side! They're coming from the right!"
"Out of ammo! Send an NPC!"
"Kyaaah! I'm dead!"
The game they were playing was an FPS in which players selected four mercenaries—each with unique personalities and abilities—and reclaimed a ship dominated by Crypters. Because real combat teams were often hired to retake Crypter-controlled vessels, the game had been built from the firsthand reports and specs those survivors brought back. The realism was excellent.
The only unrealistic part was how easily the Crypters died for the sake of difficulty. Even that was fixed if you switched to "Realistic" mode.
Some actual mercenaries supposedly used the game to study Crypter behavior and get indirect training.
"Aww, we were almost there!"
"Can't help it. Even in real life the fiercest counterattacks always come near the engine room the Mother has taken over."
Game over, the two women shut the program down and stared out through the reinforced glass.
"Just when is this pirate Confedon supposed to show up?"
"When we arrived they were still gathering their fleet. They should be setting out soon."
"I'm sooo booored~~~"
Calsira flopped her face onto the console and went limp.
"Pfft."
"Ah, you laughed."
The sight and the ridiculous delivery cracked Heliane's carefully guarded composure; a small laugh escaped before she could stop it.
"Ahem! Ahem! I did not laugh."
"That was definitely a laugh sound."
"I said I didn't."
"You totally did~"
They bickered back and forth over whether she had laughed or not. After about ten minutes of childish sparring they both realized how ridiculous they looked and the laughter finally broke free.
"Ahahahaha!"
"Pffft."
Once they had finished laughing at each other, Calsira seized the moment of Jincheon's absence to broach something more serious.
"Heliane… you're really mature."
"No. I'm not mature. I just… spent so long killing my emotions that I don't even know how to talk to people anymore."
"Not being able to talk and choosing not to talk are different things. Honestly, I used to wish at least one of my brothers or sisters had a personality like yours."
"……."
Heliane looked at Calsira's smile and felt a quiet bitterness. Someone this bright and lively, yet hated by every sibling… and all because her horns were small. Even Heliane had to admit the Zabalcan royalty were hopeless.
And those are the people who will rule the next generation of the Zabalcan Empire…
If they were the only race in the universe it might not matter, but with countless species out there, an empire ruled by such narrow minds would never last.
"Um… speaking of which…"
Calsira fidgeted, clearly struggling to get the words out.
"Um… that is… well… uhm…"
Heliane wondered what could possibly make her this hesitant, but she didn't push. She simply wore an expression that said she was ready whenever Calsira was.
The look eased some of the tension. Calsira carefully opened her mouth.
"Can I… call you Sister…?"
"Sis…ter…?"
"I mean—! You're older than me, right? And your whole atmosphere is so mature…!"
Heliane's face stiffened. Calsira hurriedly piled on every generic excuse she could think of.
"…It's too much after all, isn't it…?"
Having exhausted her defenses, Calsira lowered her head and peeked upward, gauging Heliane's reaction—ready to be scolded at any second, braced to accept whatever anger came.
That readiness made Heliane furious.
Not the old grudge of her father's murderer, but rage at the sight of such a bright girl already so practiced at absorbing someone else's anger.
Yet the memory of her father—the strict, unstinting love and devotion he had shown—refused to vanish completely.
"You are the enemy who killed my father."
"……."
No matter how close they had grown, an invisible wall of blood debt still stood between them. Both women had carefully kept a certain distance because of it.
"That's why, after I die, I'll have to ask Father for forgiveness."
"Huh?"
"I didn't just forgive my father's enemy—I ended up becoming her sister."
"Ah…!"
Calsira felt the invisible barrier that had always stood between them shatter.
"Sis—!"
"Done!"
Just as their moving story—transcending personal vengeance and even racial conflict—was about to reach its peak, Jincheon came barreling in, making a complete racket.
"I finally made it! Hahahahahaha!"
Having created an inner energy method that could accept the unknown force—and enough of it for Calsira and Heliane as well—Jincheon twisted his whole body and roared with triumph.
"……."
"……."
"…Huh? What's with those looks?"
Jincheon tilted his head at the two women who were now staring at him with thoroughly cooled, withering eyes.
"Haaah…"
"Your timing is truly legendary."
"Why are you looking at me like I'm pathetic?"
Normally he would have known exactly what they had been saying, but he had just poured every scrap of concentration into inventing a new cultivation method. He had no bandwidth left for reading the room.
"Usually you act like you know everything. Right?"
Heliane gave him a soft, gentle smile. Emboldened by it, Calsira answered with a smile of her own.
"You're right, Sister."
With the invisible wall between them finally gone, Calsira's laugh was the happiest she had ever worn.