From time to time, roars echoed through the forest, making it clear to Ethan Brooks just how terrifying this world was. With his mind highly focused, he traveled with utmost vigilance, always on full alert. At the slightest rustle or movement, he would immediately hide, lower his breathing to the minimum, and take cover.

Even if the source of the noise was just an ordinary forest rabbit.

Given such high-risk circumstances, it was easy to imagine how slow Ethan Brooks's pace was.

On average, he couldn't even cover eight kilometers per hour.

Moving so cautiously, by a little after eight the next morning, a forest ruin completely destroyed by a massive shockwave suddenly appeared in Ethan Brooks's field of vision.

At the very center of that ruined forest, all the trees had been utterly destroyed, and traces of burning could be seen everywhere.

"Finally here."

There was a hint of exhaustion on Ethan Brooks's face.

It seemed that the aura of destruction from the battleship's crash a few days ago still lingered here. All life had vanished; as far as the eye could see, there were ten or so kilometers of ruins, plains, and craters, with not a single fierce beast in sight.

This planetary-class battleship was about three thousand meters long—truly a colossal object. Even though the battleship had a repulsion shield, the destructive impact of its crash was still earth-shattering. Any lord-level beasts, capable of rivaling human swordmasters, caught within the impact zone would have no chance of survival. Most of the nearby beasts had likely been completely scared off by this wave of destruction.

"A battleship! A planetary-class battleship! A planetary-class battleship that would allow me to treat the Xuanling Sect, and even second- and first-rate sects, as nothing in this world!"

With this thought, Ethan Brooks strode forward, sprinting toward the battleship at top speed.

Soon, a massive crater, over a dozen kilometers wide, appeared before Ethan Brooks. At the center of the crater, the planetary-class battleship named 'Moonlight' was clearly visible to him.

Even after several days, many flames still burned on the battleship. The entire ship was severely damaged; more than half of the main hull was lost, with less than a third remaining. Broken parts were scattered everywhere, smoke curling into the air.

"The crash of a battleship is extremely dangerous in itself. Even though a planetary-class battleship is made of sturdy materials and can hit the ground at incredible speed, there's still a high chance of destruction. What's more, this planet's gravity is 6.2 times standard gravity. Who knows how much inside has survived?"

"Beep! Detected brainwave fluctuations from the planetary-class battleship 'Moonlight' of the 32nd Squad, 61st Company, 34th Legion of the Federation. Connect?"

Just as Ethan Brooks was feeling a bit disappointed, Number Two's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

"The AI core is still running?"

Ethan Brooks was slightly stunned, but quickly responded: "Connect!"

Even though the battleship was badly damaged...

So what.

This battleship was on a supply mission and contained a large number of technological weapons. Even if only one percent of those weapons survived, it would be enough for Ethan Brooks to have the power to resolve the Xuanling Sect crisis.

If some mechas had survived inside...

For the Xuanling Sect, which had no swordmasters, a single mecha would be enough to completely wipe out this top-tier second-rate sect.

"Xuanling! The shame you inflicted on my Yunlai Sword Sect, I, Ethan Brooks, will return to you in full!"

"Beep! 'Moonlight' AI core connected!"

As Number Two's soul chip interfaced with the Moonlight's AI core, a series of intermittent signals and fragmented images immediately appeared in Ethan Brooks's vision. Faintly, he could also hear the AI's self-checking sounds.

"Unknown signal detected accessing AI core. Signal analysis... beep beep beep... analysis failed. Unknown signal. Access denied..."

"Access denied?"

Ethan Brooks's brow furrowed slightly: "'Number Two' should be registered in the Moonlight's AI core, and it should have C-level clearance. Why is it being treated as an unknown signal?"

"Beep! 'Moonlight' AI core access denied. Attempt to crack 'Moonlight' AI core main program and force entry?"

"Crack!?"

At this, Ethan Brooks's surprise turned into shock.

"Number Two? You can crack the Moonlight's AI core main program? The AI core of a planetary-class battleship shouldn't be crackable even by the soul chip of a spiritual master-level expert!"

"Beep! According to analysis, success rate of cracking is 99.81%. Estimated completion in 24 minutes and 31 seconds. Proceed with cracking?"

Forcibly hacking into the AI core of a planetary-class battleship was a capital offense in the Federation—discovered, and you'd be executed on the spot. But on this planet, billions of light-years from the Federation...

"Crack it! Obtain the highest clearance!"

In an instant, Ethan Brooks had given the order.

"Beep! Command received. Cracking 'Moonlight' AI core main program to obtain highest clearance! Cracking in progress, 24 minutes and 31 seconds remaining..."

As Number Two began operating, Ethan Brooks immediately felt his mental energy being rapidly drained again.