Hearing Nolan agree, both Mona and Layla couldn't help showing delight.
[Layla Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You. Obtained 300 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.9 (800/900)]
Just a little more and she would reach max affection.
Seeing the notification pop up, Nolan opened the Void Starsea once again, enveloping everyone inside before activating stealth mode.
After all, since they were heading into an unknown area, it was better to stay cautious.
Inside the Void Starsea, there was normal gravity, something they were already used to. There was no need to use psychic force to stabilize themselves, and the Wholehearted Guardian Shield could also be temporarily withdrawn.
"Which direction is that gas giant in?" Nolan turned to Mona.
They were currently near a red desert planet, and not too far away lay a dense asteroid belt that heavily obstructed their vision.
So, to determine the precise direction, he still had to ask her.
"We used the telescope function on the Akasha Terminal to observe it. The planet is located diagonally above us," Mona said, parting her soft lips slightly.
"Alright."
Nolan nodded, then led everyone as they warped upward.
Thanks to his recent series of level-ups, his warp distance had increased significantly — jumping hundreds of thousands of kilometers in one go was no problem anymore.
By the time they reappeared, they had already passed through the asteroid belt and could see the massive gas giant hanging above them.
The planet was an aquamarine blue, looking almost as if it were made entirely of water.
Though it appeared close enough to touch, Nolan sensed that they would need to warp a few more times before reaching its atmosphere.
Without hesitation, he continued the jumps.
After about three more warps — crossing over nine hundred thousand kilometers — the group finally arrived near the gas giant's upper atmosphere.
At this distance, they could no longer see the planet's full shape; their entire field of vision was filled with blue.
"This planet looks way larger than the previous one," Faruzan said softly, gazing ahead with awe.
Before today, she had never imagined that she would one day travel to another planet. Yet fate was unpredictable — because of a single misunderstanding, she had suddenly left Teyvat behind and ended up in a distant corner of the universe.
Looking back on it now, the whole thing still felt absurd.
And all of this… was because of this man. Faruzan glanced at the young man beside her, feeling a mix of emotion and wonder.
Were young people nowadays really this terrifying?
[Faruzan Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You. Obtained 360 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.5 (60/500)]
Nolan then teleported the group into the planet's atmosphere.
Since they were in an unobservable state, entering the atmosphere didn't feel much different — only that everything in their vision gained a faint blue tint.
"According to the data you brought back from interstellar civilization," Mona began, "the atmospheres of gas giants are usually extremely thick. We're currently at the very edge of it.
"The gases here are quite thin, and the pressure is low. But the deeper you go, the higher the pressure becomes — the gases grow denser and heavier until they transform into liquid. That's when we'll reach the liquid layer.
"If we go even deeper, the pressure rises further, and eventually the liquid becomes metallic solid. If there's anything abnormal about this planet, chances are it'll be in that metallic layer."
Mona lifted her gaze toward Nolan as she explained.
"Just how much atmospheric pressure from Teyvat can your shield withstand? I really don't want to step outside and instantly get flattened into a meat patty."
Faruzan couldn't help but ask as she looked at Nolan.
Lately, she had been researching interstellar vessels, so she had developed a decent understanding of atmospheric pressure.
Mona's earlier explanation had reminded her of that, so she asked the question out of concern.
"Professor Faruzan makes a fair point. In that case, I'll summon an avatar to go out and test it first."
Nolan was, of course, aware of how dangerous extreme pressure could be. If the atmospheric pressure outside was high enough, the accumulated stress might actually shatter the Wholehearted Guardian Shield.
He and Mona would be fine — they could redirect incoming damage through their outfits — but Layla and Faruzan didn't have that kind of protection yet.
So, before figuring things out, Nolan decided it was best for everyone to stay inside the Void Starsea rather than recklessly venturing into danger.
With that thought, he summoned an Sword God, wrapped her in a Wholehearted Guardian Shield, and sent her out of the Void Starsea.
The Sword God appeared in the outside world without any visible changes.
Through the feedback from the Wholehearted Guardian Shield, Nolan quickly determined that the current atmospheric pressure was actually much weaker than Teyvat's — roughly only one-fifth of it.
Soon after, Nolan and the others began descending rapidly, with the Sword God closely following behind.
After traveling about two hundred kilometers downward, the shield's feedback indicated that the pressure here had already reached the same level as Teyvat's atmosphere.
Around them, violent storms raged. Black clouds churned, thunder boomed, and serpentine bolts of lightning coiled across the sky — yet none of it affected the Sword God in the slightest.
Continuing to descend another five thousand kilometers, the gases around them grew thick and heavy — almost turning into liquid.
Here, the pressure had already increased to over fifty times that of Teyvat's, yet even this wasn't enough to damage the Wholehearted Guardian Shield.
Nolan kept going deeper. Before long, they reached the liquid layer — where the pressure exceeded hundreds, even thousands of times that of Teyvat.
Because of the density of the liquid, the pressure on the Sword God's shield became significantly heavier.
Roughly half an hour later, they finally passed through the liquid layer and arrived at the metallic solid layer — now tens of thousands of kilometers below the upper atmosphere.
Here, the gases had been so tightly compressed by immense pressure that they'd solidified into metallic form. The pressure must have been beyond imagination, but even so, the Wholehearted Guardian Shield around the Sword God held firm.
Nolan only felt that his energy consumption had increased quite a bit — but given the vast reserves of energy within him, it wasn't really a problem.
Even so, he had no intention of stepping outside himself. After all, this metallic region was most likely the abnormal core of the planet, and no one could predict what kind of dangers lay hidden here.
So, he let the Sword God continue scouting ahead while the group followed behind safely. It made no difference.
"By the way," Nolan said, looking curiously at the smooth metallic surface beneath his feet in their invisible state, "if the liquid layer of this planet is basically made of water, then most of its gases should be hydrogen and oxygen, right? Do you think this metallic solid layer might actually be… metallic hydrogen?"
Metallic hydrogen — a high-quality fuel that supposedly possessed superconductive properties even at normal temperature.
Even in interstellar civilization, that would be considered an extremely valuable resource. If he could gather some and sell it…
Heh, that would be quite the profit.
(End of Chapter)
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