There was no doubt that Betty had been in hibernation for eight hundred years. Most of the functions in her hibernation pod were damaged, but the life support system was still intact, which was why she was able to bounce around the bridge, constantly examining the various equipment on the ship.
She was already surprised by how similar the operation of this warship was to the ones she was familiar with. What concerned her was that this warship used a completely different language that she could not understand at all.
The official language of the Empire was the language used in this training ground world. This was to better facilitate the assessment of the cadets. It would not do to let the people here develop their own language and culture. Would the advanced people of the Empire then have to learn these backward subjects?
The administrators of the training ground had always guided and controlled the culture of the indigenous people, ensuring their culture and language did not deviate, so that the cadets who came for training or assessment could communicate normally with the natives here.
"Could another civilization have occupied this place?"
Ethan gave no explanation as to why the language used on the ship was completely foreign to Betty. Anyway, he did not need Betty's help with navigation. All she had to do was stay on the ship obediently and avoid doing anything that could cause misunderstandings.
Just as Betty was contemplating the possibility of an invading civilization, the Prinz Eugen suddenly started up, quickly transitioning from a stationary state to forward movement.
Betty turned back and saw that everyone was sitting in various positions chatting. She did not see anyone piloting the ship.
However, automatic piloting was not incomprehensible. From the look of this ship's navigation system, it was quite normal for it to be equipped with an automatic piloting system.
So Betty quickly withdrew her gaze and turned her attention to the topic of discussion between Ethan and his companions.
"After you extracted the space-time energy from the island, is the spatial labyrinth on the periphery still there?"
Ethan sensed it. Ever since he extracted the energy contained within the island, his perception of the various energies in this sea area had become clearer.
This was because he had established a certain connection with that island. The source of the various energies in this sea area was all on that island.
"These energies are still around, but they will not affect us anymore."
For Ethan, these energies would eventually become nourishment for his space-time orb, increasing his reserve of spatial energy. Or rather, he could use these energies to create some spatial items.
He only needed to sit there, and as the Prinz Eugen sailed into the spatial labyrinth area, the scattered spatial energy was slowly absorbed into Ethan's hand.
Everyone present could see a faint glow emanating from Ethan's left hand, with streams of light constantly appearing out of thin air around him and drilling into the ball of light in his hand.
Considering that these energies were widely distributed, almost surrounding the island, Ethan ordered the Prinz Eugen to circle the periphery of the island at a relatively slow cruising speed.
Betty sighed in her heart. This ship's automatic piloting system was actually voice-controlled.
As for what Ethan was doing, Betty could not understand at all. She only knew that those energies seemed related to the spatial labyrinth outside the island. However, the fate of the island did not matter much to Betty. She just wanted to leave here as quickly as possible and return home.
Even if Ethan blew up the entire island, she would not care, as long as he could take her home. No, that was too much to ask. As long as he could take her to the "destination," that would be enough.
"I hope I can still find the teachers who should be stationed there."
For some reason, she felt deep down that the hope of finding the military academy teachers was not great. This training ground had become too unfamiliar. She did not know what had happened. She suspected this was no longer the training ground of the Empire's Military Academy. Would the academy still send people to be stationed here?
If she could not find the academy's teachers, what should she do? Would she have to live in this world?
Betty was lost in thought and did not notice that the number of people on the bridge was continuously decreasing. From everyone being gathered here at the start, it slowly dwindled until only a few people remained.
Ethan was still slowly extracting the spatial energy spread across the sea, sitting in his captain's chair without moving.
Maria Hill was the warship commander. She usually stayed on the bridge, monitoring the ship's various data, ensuring normal navigation, and preventing any unexpected situations.
Even when circling in an empty sea area, she carried out her work meticulously.
Perhaps it was this kind of personality that allowed her to connect to the Holy Light across who knew how many worlds, becoming a "Reserve Paladin."
The only one left was Logan. He also did not know where to go, and there was nothing to do at the moment. Hiding here, he could even smoke a cigarette because there were fewer and fewer people around.
Perhaps the smell of smoke roused Betty from her daze. When she came to her senses, she found that it was already dark outside. The lights on the bridge were not on, but it did not seem very dark.
Ethan's left hand was still emitting a faint glow, with streams of light constantly appearing and rushing into the ball of light in his hand.
Various instruments also emitted light, and the cigar in Logan's mouth glowed slightly.
Betty looked around and found that only these few people were left on the bridge.
"If you feel hungry, you can go to the mess hall. There are many kinds of convenient foods for you to choose from."
Besides being able to cook for oneself, the mess hall on the Prinz Eugen also stocked various instant foods and snacks long-term, for the convenience of anyone who was hungry and wanted something to eat outside of regular meal times.
Logan thought for a moment and felt that Betty would likely have trouble using the equipment on this ship, so he stood up and gestured for her to follow him. "Forget it, I happen to want to get something to eat too. Come with me."
As they passed by Ethan and Hill, he also asked the two of them. Although Ethan's left hand was constantly emitting light and extracting energy, he did not need to focus too much energy on this matter. He could let his mind wander and think about other things. The only inconvenience was that it was not easy to move around.
"Bring me back a meat patty and some fries. I estimate I will be sitting here for a while."
Logan casually teased Ethan for a couple of sentences, then looked at Hill.
"Standard nutritional meal... with an extra steak."
After sensing the Holy Light, Hill found her appetite increasing. She, who was originally satisfied with the standard meal, added an extra steak.
Ethan's explanation for this was: The Holy Light stimulated her body, causing her physical fitness to break through a bottleneck. At the same time, the characteristics of the Holy Light allowed Hill to increase the intensity of her exercises appropriately without worrying about injury. The increase in exercise volume and the further improvement in physical fitness both required energy replenishment. The most direct change was an increased appetite.
This situation was not permanent. Once Hill's physical fitness reached another bottleneck and the Holy Light reserves in her body reached a certain level, she would return to a normal state.
If Hill had astonishing talent in the path of the Holy Light, it was even possible for her to become independent of food needs, able to sustain life purely on energy.
Ethan could now sustain his physical needs with magical energy. After progressing further to become a true divine life form, eating and such would truly be purely for psychological satisfaction, not physiological needs, for him.
According to Ethan's thoughts, his companions would definitely reach his current level in the future. By then, he was quite curious how many people would choose to give up normal eating.
Logan left with Betty and returned to the bridge shortly after.
Betty did not come back with him but went straight to her room to rest.
When Logan handed the food to Hill and Ethan, he was surprised to find that the ball of light in Ethan's hand had disappeared.
"Didn't you say you were going to sit here for a few hours?"
"Just saying."
Ethan had a look that said: You actually believed that.
"Although the energy spread in this sea area is not small, the quality is not very high. If I were to extract it quickly, it would not take long to collect it all."
"You deliberately put on that act earlier, was it because of that girl, Betty?"
Betty was nearly nine hundred years old by age, but everyone still treated her like a little girl.
"Not entirely."
Ethan watched a thin strand of energy shuttle freely between his fingertips on his left hand, like a cluster of starlight resting in his palm.
"I deliberately slowed down mainly to study this."
"Is there anything special about it?"
Logan wanted another cigar, but seeing Hill standing nearby, he put the cigar away. Unexpectedly, Hill, who usually had a cold expression most of the time, returned his gesture with a smile, thanking him for his gentlemanly act.
Ethan casually popped a fry into his mouth, chewing as he reminded the two of them to focus their minds on the point of light. "What do you see?"
Logan and Hill stared at the point of light for a few seconds, then looked at Ethan with surprise.
"Is it an illusion?"
"I think I saw an island... Is it the island we just left?"
Hill turned her head to look out the window. It was pitch black outside now. Even with the sky full of stars, she could not see the distant island clearly, but at this moment, her sight seemed to pierce through the darkness and see that very beautiful small island.
"It's not an illusion."
Ethan made the point of light swirl around in his hand again. As the point of light moved continuously, its color also slowly changed.
The point of light initially emitted a blue glow, just like the space-time orb on Ethan's hand. In just a moment, the point of light had turned silver, and faintly seemed to emit a hint of gold.
"This is an unexpected gain."
(To be continued.)