Chapter 80 Nebula Particle Project... Another Missed Opportunity

Zoffy had been keeping an eye on Tregia for a long time, this unusual child. At the beginning, he only knew that the boy played with Taro, and the two would get into trouble from time to time, leaving their teacher fuming with rage. Whenever the teacher needed to inform the parents, the complaints were delivered directly to Zoffy. After all, at that time, Captain Kane was always busy, and even if the teacher wanted to find Kane, it was hard to track him down. As the eldest, Zoffy was like a father figure, so the complaints came to him.

That was how this blue-skinned child entered his world.

He had always watched silently—observing him study, watching him train—until that day when Taro passed the selection and joined the Intergalactic Defense Force, while Tregia was not chosen.

Tregia was strong, especially when it came to combat skills. Perhaps to make up for his lack of raw power, Tregia’s technique might have even surpassed those who passed the selection. In Zoffy’s eyes, if Tregia had lived in those war-torn times of the past, he would have been destined for the battlefield—there would have been no other path.

Neither Zoffy, nor Man, nor the other brothers had been born warriors. Before the chaos, most of them had been researchers and scientists, hunched over their work in labs. But when war erupted, they all had to take up arms. Not everyone was cut out to be a soldier. Often, Zoffy looked at those young ones and thought they weren’t ready—sending them to the battlefield was sending them to die. But he had no choice. All he could do was lead them and watch them fall.

Some returned alive. Others became nothing more than silent obelisks, standing in that deep, shadowed valley.

Such was the sorrow of those turbulent times.

Now, in this relatively peaceful era, conflict had been all but banished beyond the borders of the Land of Light. Zoffy had risen to be Captain of the Defense Force and set the entry bar exceedingly high, shutting out most applicants. Only the truly exceptional were allowed in, and even among them, only the best of the best would remain.

So to Zoffy, Tregia’s failure to be selected was the blessing of a new age.

But Tregia did not see it that way.

A week after he passed the selection and joined the Bureau of Science and Technology, Tregia submitted a request and arranged a meeting with Captain Zoffy.

“…You want to continue research on the ‘Nebula Particle’ project?”

“Yes,” the young man standing there replied, his voice firm, clearly prepared and having thought about this for a long time.

“Why?”

“I… I’ve read all the documentation from the first phase of the ‘Nebula Particle’ project. The technology for converting nebula particles is already quite mature, but it was never applied in practice. I want to give it a try.”

The captain of the Defense Force leaned back in his chair, studying the young man whose words rushed out with a hint of nervousness. His tone was gentle, with a touch of mirth. “You chose this project because this cycle’s new project submissions are already locked, but the ‘Nebula Particle’ project is frozen. If it’s unfrozen, you can immediately slot it into this cycle’s projects. If you wanted to submit something entirely new, the next open cycle is three years away. That gap is meant for researchers to plan and prepare new projects, but… you can’t wait, can you?”

Because Taro was on assignment on Earth, and in three years, the project here might not even have started before Taro’s mission ended and he returned—leaving Tregia unable to help at all.

Having his inner thoughts laid bare made Tregia, already nervous, even more tense. He sat there rigid, not daring to move or speak.

“Relax, Tregia.”

“Tell me your understanding of the ‘Nebula Particle’ project, and what your project plan is. Since you want to skip the three-year planning period, you must have some preparation, right?”

“Yes, yes!” It was as if some word from Zoffy had flipped a switch in him. Tregia hurriedly produced a light screen and transmitted a document—his work from several sleepless nights.

He didn’t feel tired, only exhilarated.

Because from the first-phase research of the “Nebula Particle” project, Tregia had glimpsed a daring idea.

From between the lines of Zoffy’s notes as project lead, a certain ambition shone through.

On the surface, the documentation described research into how to transform an Ultra Warrior’s body into a substance with the same or similar frequency as a planet. The transformed particle state was named “Nebula”—for that is the primordial form of most celestial bodies in the universe, their original state.

Transformation, then, was only the means. What was the purpose? The documents said nothing, but Tregia only had to think for a moment, considering Zoffy’s character, and he understood.

He was trying to lower the barrier to accessing the “Voice of the Stars.”

In a nation with billions of inhabitants and tens of millions of warriors, only one Zoffy had ever been blessed with the power of the “Voice of the Stars”—the strength of the cosmos itself.

But to maintain peace in the universe, a single Zoffy was not enough. There needed to be millions, tens of millions, of Zoffys.

Zoffy wanted all warriors to be able to draw on the power of the stars. After all, they too fought for the planets and the universe; there was no essential difference between them and Zoffy.

Thus, the “Nebula Particle System” project was born. Zoffy had only completed the first step: he tried to transform a warrior’s state to resonate with a planet, lowering the energy gap, thus laying the groundwork for a deeper connection between warrior and planet.

But the project froze after that initial step.

Perhaps because the war demanded all focus, and research projects with no immediate battlefield application were suspended.

After the wars ended, Zoffy became captain of the Defense Force, so overwhelmed with duties that he wished he could be in ten places at once. The project was never restarted.

Tregia had never witnessed Captain Zoffy in battle, empowered by the “Voice of the Stars,” but the records of those battles were more than enough to objectively reveal the overwhelming, near-mythical power.

A warrior bathed in light.

Like a god descending to the world.

Tregia’s heart burned at the thought.

His curiosity was ablaze. He wanted to know what the “Voice of the Stars” truly was, and how, through ingenious means, that power might be shared with every warrior… No, perhaps it was too ambitious to think of everyone for now. Take Taro, for example: if Taro could wield the Voice of the Stars, would he too become like Captain Zoffy, shrouded in radiance, almost losing all semblance of a physical form?

The mere thought was thrilling.

In Tregia’s mind, that was how gods should be.

Formless, indescribable—only the idea itself remaining.

That was divinity.

His consciousness returned to the captain’s office, where he saw Zoffy already reading through his document. Tregia thought it was time to excuse himself; he had done all he could. Now all that remained was to await the captain’s decision.

But then Captain Zoffy reached out and took his hand.

Just like now, pulling him out from behind the screen.

“Come, let me show you the laboratory for the ‘Nebula Particle’ project. The project is only frozen, not cancelled. The equipment should still be there.”

This completely exceeded Tregia’s expectations for today’s meeting.

“There are some documents too—not properly archived, but with interesting ideas. They might inspire you.”

“Yes, yes! Thank you so much!”

Tregia’s nervousness instantly transformed into excitement. In the past thousand years, he felt he had never lost his composure like this before. In a fever of enthusiasm, he promised Captain Zoffy that he would not disappoint his trust and expectations—he would complete this project!

…And then, and then he ran away. The project was left unfinished once again.