With the Zarlac poachers reduced to atmospheric dust, Astra's work on Vesper began in earnest. He was no longer just a visitor; he was a geometer of power, an architect of reality. The plateau overlooking the geothermal falls became his sanctum, and the planet itself his raw material.
His first act was one of pure, monumental will. He stood at the center of the plateau, the [Circlet of the Architect] flaring with silver light, and extended his hands. He wasn't building a structure; he was programming the land.
Using the principles of Cosmic Energy Manipulation, he wove strands of ambient Ki and the planet's own geothermal breath into a complex, three-dimensional matrix buried deep beneath the stone. This was the foundation of the Planetary Energy Tap—a spiritual and energetic root system that would draw power from the world's core. It was invisible to the naked eye, but to his enhanced senses, the plateau now glowed with a nascent, humming power.
Next came the Anchor Nexus. At the exact center of the energy matrix, he used the [Stellar Forge] not on metal, but on the very air and stone. He compressed spatial dimensions, folded light, and solidified intent, creating a floating, crystalline spire that pulsed in time with the planet's heartbeat. This Nexus would be the control center, the converter that would transform raw planetary energy into a stable, usable form for the future colony and, ultimately, the World-Seed.
[Skill Developed: Geomanctic Engineering (Lv. 1)]
[Effect: Allows for the manipulation of planetary leylines and energy flows to create large-scale structures and effects.]
Weeks turned into a month of intense, focused labor. The work was as much mental as it was physical, a constant drain on his Cosmic Energy reserves. He was laying the groundwork for a miracle, and the scale of it was both exhilarating and humbling.
It was during this period of creation that the Watchtower Partition, which had been silently monitoring the broader galaxy, triggered an alert. It wasn't about Frieza or the Saiyans. It was a distress signal.
A faint, looping transmission, piggybacking on a stray cometary frequency, reached his receivers. It was a automated Mayday, its origin point a star system on the far side of the galaxy from both Vegeta and Vesper. The ship's identification code was unfamiliar, but the language was a derivative of Galactic Basic. The message was simple, desperate, and repeated on a loop:
[...URGENT... Colony ship 'Hope's Legacy'... core engine failure... life support critical... 212 souls on board... any vessel receiving this... coordinates attached... for the love of the gods, help us...]
Two hundred and twelve souls. A colony ship. They were adrift, dying.
Astra stood on his plateau, the half-formed Anchor Nexus shimmering before him. He looked from the crystalline spire to the star-chart where the distress signal originated. This was an interruption. A risk. Helping them would mean leaving Vesper, exposing himself, expending precious energy and time.
But 212 lives. They were not Saiyans. They were not part of his Mandate. They were simply people.
The System remained silent, offering no quest, no reward. This was a choice entirely his own.
The part of him that was Kaito, the scientist who had valued life, warred with the part that was Astra, the architect of a desperate, cosmic plan. The coldly logical choice was to ignore it. His mission was too important, the stakes too high.
But then he thought of The Cradle, a sanctuary built by some unknown, advanced race. Had they too faced such choices? Was the purpose of power only to ensure one's own survival, or did it carry with it a responsibility?
He made his decision.
He stored the partially completed Anchor Nexus in his inventory, its energy field stabilizing within the pocket space. He boarded the Ouroboros, the ship lifting silently from the plateau he had spent a month preparing.
He input the coordinates from the distress signal. The System calculated the jump.
[Energy cost acceptable. Jumping to civilian vessel 'Hope's Legacy'.]
As the ship vanished from Vesper's orbit, Astra knew he was potentially jeopardizing everything. But he also knew that the foundation he was building wasn't just made of energy and stone. It was built on choices. And he chose not to let 212 souls die when he had the power to save them. The unseen foundation of his new empire would not be laid upon a bedrock of callous indifference.