Capturing the afterimage left by the drone before it was deployed, a man aboard another kilometer-class warship let out a light exclamation.

"A second-generation Cicada? What about your latest Phantom Butterfly drone? Isn't its performance better?"

The woman still did not answer, but instead split her mind in two, slowly advancing the warship under her feet while controlling the second-generation Cicada drone to streak rapidly through the starry sky a light-year away.

As time passed, the position of the fleet kept advancing forward, and suddenly, the woman who had been silent all this time sent out an alert signal through the communication screen.

"The Cicada drone has entered the Star Domain covered by Deep Blue Spores, distance: 1.01 light-years."

Hearing this warning, the man on the communication screen raised his eyebrows, but his attention fell on the control distance mentioned by the woman.

"Control over a distance of more than a light-year? Is it really a remote control component of Purple Quality or above?"

With that, he shifted the tone of his voice.

"Ansewei, after this operation is over, could you sell that component to me?"

The woman's eyes narrowed slightly as she turned to stare at the projection of the man in the communication screen. After a few seconds of looking at each other, she replied icily:

"I need this component, and I don't have any plans to sell it for now!"

Perhaps sensing the displeasure in the woman's eyes, the man did not ask further after being rejected. The five warships came to a stop one after another, waiting in silence.

A light-year away, the Cicada drone charged at maximum speed into the swarm of Deep Blue Spores.

These Deep Blue Spores were bred by a Starry Sea plant known as the "Deep Blue Spore Mother Tree." They are highly erosive and toxic; if any large object appears in their vicinity, the spores will rush over and erode it completely.

That's why the five Torch warships behind them did not dare to get too close. Otherwise, should they draw the attention of the Deep Blue Spores, the consequences would be uncontrollable.

However, the Cicada drone was different. It was small enough that it wouldn't cause the spores to erupt as long as it didn't actively touch them.

Under the woman's full control, the Cicada drone began moving quickly toward the center of the spore-covered area.

In its high-speed dash, the woman couldn't cover all angles, as the drone would inevitably touch the dense Deep Blue Spores scattered in the starry space. However, through some unknown method, a transparent halo appeared on the surface of the Cicada drone. Because of this halo, even though the drone touched the Deep Blue Spores, it did not disturb them.

About twenty minutes into its sprint, the Cicada drone had already penetrated deep into the area enveloped by the Deep Blue Spores. The towering giant tree standing in the starry sky ahead was now visible to the naked eye, but at that moment, the transparent light screen wrapped around the Cicada drone's outer layer began to blink rapidly.

The woman's expression darkened; this was a sign that the light screen's duration was about to end.

"We are not far from the Deep Blue Spore Mother Tree. It should not be difficult to break through this last stretch."

With a silent thought, the next second the Cicada drone came to an abrupt halt, and it was at this moment that the transparent light screen surrounding its body completely faded.

The woman was unfazed. With a thought hinged on the brainwave attached to the Cicada drone, the next second the red button beneath the drone was triggered, and immediately a pale white smoke began to emanate from inside the drone.

After the emergence of this white smoke, the surrounding Deep Blue Spores seemed to encounter a natural enemy, moving outward as the white smoke continued to spread. Soon, in this central spore-covered area, a spore vacuum zone with a diameter of several thousand kilometers appeared.

At the same time, the woman a light-year away also responded accordingly.

"Coordinates (XXXX·XXXX), quick!"

As her voice sounded in the communication screen, the next second the already-charged five warships simultaneously initiated Spatial Jumps.

In the central area engulfed by the Deep Blue Spores, after a strong spatial fluctuation, five Torch Warships quietly emerged from the void vortex.

And in the very next second after they appeared, countless Deep Blue Spores around them fell into a frenzy. Just a second ago, they avoided the white smoke at all costs, but the next, they completely ignored it, rushing towards the five Torch Warships in the vacuum at high speed.

No need for the woman to remind anyone, following behind the two kilometer-long warships, the three escort ships swiftly adjusted their positions, forming a triangle around the two kilometer warships at the center.

Then, while the swarms of Deep Blue Spores were surging in, layers of Purple light screens sequentially emerged on the escort ships, ultimately overlapping perfectly and solidifying into a closed light screen with a diameter of several thousand kilometers.

"Move, towards the Deep Blue Mother Tree!"

From the kilometer warship on the left, the man's deep voice resounded.

The five Torch Warships, encased in the closed light screens, began moving quickly towards the towering tree in the distance.

Outside the closed light screens, countless Deep Blue Spores converging were continuously striking the three-dimensional light screen, and as time passed, the surface of the light screen was quickly dimming.

This light screen was called the "Trinity Isolation Barrier," an effect of the combination of three Purple Components that shared the same source, but each component occupied three special slots, and a single Torch Warship couldn't bear it, which was why they were loaded onto three different warships.

Under the rapid movement of the five warships, the distance to the Deep Blue Spore Mother Tree was continuously closing in.

Just before the Trinity Isolation Barrier was about to collapse completely, the five Torch Warships successfully arrived near the Deep Blue Spore Mother Tree.

Seemingly sensing the approach of the Torch Warships, the Mother Tree, which stood over twenty thousand meters tall, began to shed layers of pitch-black bark, which quickly transformed into large Deep Blue Spores after falling off and rushed towards the five Torch Warships.

"It's Advanced Deep Blue Spores, the Mother Tree has initiated a Level 1 Stress Response, Ansewei, we can't delay any longer!!"

In the communication light screen, the man's voice had unconsciously become several times louder.

It wasn't his fault, as a type of Starry Sea plant, the Deep Blue Spore Mother Tree was naturally not the harmless kind of ordinary plant. Ordinary Deep Blue Spores were merely its first line of defense, and once an external organism approached its body, it would activate its stress response mechanisms.

The Stress Response of the Deep Blue Spore Mother Tree had five levels, each more terrifying than the last. It was said that at Level 5, the stress response could fully activate all the roots of the Mother Tree; in that state, a single Deep Blue Spores Mother Tree could directly face dozens of organisms of the same tier, possessing incredibly fearsome combat power.

Now, it was just a Level 1 Stress Response. With their fleet, they could still cope, but once it entered a Level 2 or even Level 3 Stress Response, by then the five warships would definitely be left behind here, becoming fertilizer on the growth path of the Deep Blue Spore Mother Tree.

In the kilometer warship on the right, the woman shifted her gaze, looking up at the treetop of the ten-thousand-meter tree above her, where huge fruits with a diameter of over five meters were hanging.

These fruits were called Deep Blue Fruits, and they were the ultimate target of the woman's mission.

The Deep Blue Fruits, life-extension Sacred Objects, could extend life by a hundred years with just one, a priceless treasure in the eyes of many carbon-based beings in the Starry Sea.

"Cover me!"

As the woman's cool voice rang out, the main cannons at the front of the remaining four Torch Warships turned in unison.

Once the charge was complete, five main cannons (two from the cruiser) fired upwards at the same time.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

After the intense sounds of bombarding, the firepower from the five main cannons, all Fire Attributes, burst forth violently, and for a moment, the space above was entirely covered by blazing flames.

Under the terrifying high temperatures, the dense swarm of Deep Blue Spores above was blasted open, leaving a significant gap in the spore cloud.

PS: This chapter isn't filler, right? You always say I'm padding it out, it's gotten to the point where I'm starting to doubt whether I'm really that much of a word-spiller.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read