The world had changed.
Following Elyndra’s reclamation of the Elven throne and with Kyndris coordinating planetary operations, I immediately deployed multiple Atlas teams across the planet to secure every remaining resource node we had discovered.
With the Core Nexus now fully integrated into the Origin Tree, large-scale expansion had finally become possible.
Outpost construction nodes could now be deployed remotely across distant regions. Each node initially resembled nothing more than a metallic seed, but once activated, it rapidly expanded into a smaller artificial Origin Tree capable of supporting localized infrastructure.
From there, nearby defenses, resource facilities, and habitation chambers could be constructed around the outpost before resourcer units were deployed.
Within only a few days, I managed to secure four additional Celestium mining nodes along with multiple geothermal geysers scattered across different continents. Two were located within territories now controlled by the Elven Realm, one existed near the borders of a human kingdom, while the last remained deep within an uninhabited region far from any major civilization.
As a result, the production of Eterna Energy and Celestium Ferrofluid reached the planet's maximum operational efficiency.
The initial daily Eterna Energy output of 150,000 rapidly increased to nearly 750,000 per day following the activation of the additional resource nodes and geothermal extraction facilities.
At the same time, the Chemical Plant Hydroceles Fluid conversion efficiency stabilized at a 30:10 ratio.
With planetary extraction now producing nearly 1,500,000 units of Hydroceles Fluid daily, Atlas was capable of refining approximately 500,000 units of Celestium Ferrofluid every single day.
The constant influx of Eterna Energy and Celestium Ferrofluid pushed the Origin base into a rapid expansion over the following days until it no longer resembled a simple base.
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Beyond the Human Kingdoms and the Elven Realm, far across the vast open sea, lay a massive, isolated island untouched by the influence of the outside world for countless years.
Surrounded by deep oceans, violent winds, and tides that once prevented ordinary travel, the island had remained separated from the civilizations of the continent like a forgotten land hidden beyond the horizon.
A new civilization had been reborn.
One unlike anything the world had ever seen.
At the center of the island stood the colossal Atlas Origin Tree acting as the Core Nexus. Its enormous trunk stretched upward through the clouds, ancient in appearance yet impossibly artificial upon closer inspection. Veins of pale blue energy flowed vertically along its bark-like surface, illuminating the surrounding forest with a soft ethereal glow as if the tree itself possessed a living heartbeat.
Surrounding the Nexus, countless massive trees spread across the island in organized clusters. Each one concealed entire facilities within its base, hidden beneath layers of reinforced roots, metallic structures, and enclosed biodomes seamlessly integrated into the environment. From above, the settlement almost appeared natural.
But beneath the forest,
Gigantic glass-domed structures connected the island like a sprawling underground network. Illuminated pathways and enclosed transit routes extended beneath the trees, forming vast interconnected sectors hidden safely below the surface. Research facilities, production sectors, life module complexes, and habitation zones all operated silently beneath the protective canopy of the forest.
Hover Jets moved calmly through the skies overhead while distant waterfalls cascaded endlessly from the island cliffs into the ocean far below.
And beside the island itself stood perhaps the most overwhelming structure of all,
The Planetary [Space Elevator].
From a distance, its silhouette resembled a colossal luminous tree piercing the heavens themselves.
Its foundation spread across the island and deep beneath the surrounding ocean floor, where gigantic reinforced roots, thicker than skyscrapers, anchored the structure into the planet’s crust. Entire sections of the sea around the island had been converted into stabilization platforms and balancing arrays solely to support the unimaginable weight of the elevator.
Massive support rings surrounded the elevator at various heights, slowly rotating with mechanical precision. Streams of blue-white Eterna Energy flowed across them like veins of light, illuminating the night sky far beyond the horizon. Thousands of smaller transit rails, cargo conduits, spiraled around the central spine, giving the appearance of glowing branches extending outward from a divine trunk.
Entire fleets of cargo platforms continuously ascended along the massive rails carrying Celestium Ferrofluid and other supplies high above the atmosphere toward orbit.
Further beyond, barely visible beneath the sunlight, the [Orbital Hub] remained suspended in low orbit like an artificial city, silently watching over the world below.
Despite existing in the vacuum of space, most of the station’s civilian and administrative sectors were fully enclosed beneath enormous transparent pressure domes stretching across entire sections of the orbital structure.
From inside, it barely felt like being in space at all.
Artificial gravity systems kept the environment stable while atmospheric regulators continuously maintained breathable air, temperature, and pressure throughout the station. Wide pedestrian walkways, observation decks, gardens, food hubs, and habitation sectors extended openly beneath the glass-like dome structures, allowing personnel to move freely without requiring environmental suits.
Only the outer maintenance sectors, docking frames, and construction platforms exposed directly to space required specialized equipment.
Connected directly to the orbital hub was my very own [Starport].
Unlike the civilian-oriented sectors of the station, the Starport was built almost entirely for industrial and military-scale orbital operations. The massive structure extended outward from the Orbital Hub like a gigantic mechanical fortress suspended in space, its outer framework filled with rotating drydocks, construction platforms, cargo rails, docking pylons, and automated fabrication sectors operating continuously without pause.
Entire sections of the Starport remained exposed directly to the vacuum, allowing future vessels to enter and depart freely without atmospheric restrictions. Countless navigation lights flickered across the metallic superstructure while streams of cargo containers moved endlessly along magnetic transport rails connecting the shipyards to the logistics sectors of the orbital hub.
Gigantic mechanical arms larger than buildings continuously moved throughout the station, assembling ship components, reinforcing hull plating, and maintaining the growing orbital infrastructure surrounding the planet.
At the center of the Starport were the primary orbital drydocks.
Massive open-frame construction platforms capable of supporting vessels far larger than anything that could ever be constructed on the planet’s surface. Without gravity limitations or atmospheric pressure interfering with production, entire sections of spacecraft hulls could be assembled simultaneously in zero gravity.
Beyond the transparent dome overhead, the endless void of space remained constantly visible. Stars stretched endlessly across the darkness while the planet itself occupied nearly half the visible sky beneath the station. Massive cloud systems drifted slowly across the surface below, illuminated faintly by sunlight reflecting against the atmosphere.
30 days since the establishment of the Origin Tree.
At this point, the colony had reached a total population of 405, including myself, Kyndris, and Elyndra. Across the planet, 134 Atlas facilities had already been established, while total construction expenses had surpassed 5.3 million units of Eterna Energy.
Additional facilities were also unlocked and immediately integrated into Atlas expansion operations.
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[Logistics Hub]
Cost: [50,000 EE]
Upkeep: [10 EE/day]
Unit Capacity: [5/5]
[Description: An administrative facility with an interconnecting mini-facilities responsible for transportation routes, cargo management, and planetary supply operations. Significantly improves resource flow stability and long-range operational coordination between Atlas facilities.]
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[Starport]
Cost: [1,500,000 EE]
Upkeep: [50 EE/day]
Unit Capacity: [2/2]
[Description: A massive orbital shipyard and spacecraft assembly facility designed for large-scale space operations. Enables spacecraft production, fleet maintenance, and interplanetary deployment capabilities.]
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[Atlas Voyager]
Cost: [200,000 EE] [25,000 Celestium Ferrofluid]
[Description: A transport spacecraft equipped with advanced orbital navigation systems, deep-space survival modules, and an integrated FTL drive system. Designed for long-range exploration and anomaly investigation.]
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With that, the early phase of planetary base construction had officially come to an end. Yet somehow, it still felt like only the beginning.
In this game, building a base was easy. However, building an army & a fleet was an entirely different matter.
Within the Starport’s main office, overlooking the entire facility, I quietly observed the assembly process taking place beyond the reinforced observation glass.
Gigantic mechanical arms moved across the orbital drydock with mechanical precision as the spacecraft was assembled section by section beneath the illuminated docking platforms.
Raw materials flowed continuously from the Starport’s fabrication sectors before being printed, refined, and integrated directly into the vessel’s expanding frame in real time.
Layer by layer, armored plating, reinforced structural sections, orbital thrusters, reactor systems, navigation arrays, and deep-space modules were fitted into the hull as countless Atlas Starport mechanical arms moved continuously around the vessel like swarming metallic insects.
Atlas’s first true spacecraft.
Now nearing completion, it was finally time to move forward with my next plan.
Thinking about everything that had happened so far, part of me genuinely wanted to celebrate.
A small milestone event with Kyndris and all the others would have honestly been enough.
After all, in only thirty days, Atlas had transformed from a single Origin Tree into a civilization capable of reaching orbit itself.
But reality was far less peaceful.
Kyndris and her crews remained overwhelmingly busy handling diplomatic operations across the planet alongside Elyndra herself, maintaining negotiations, territorial coordination, and stabilization efforts between human and elven regions still struggling to adapt to Atlas’ existence.
Most of the Atlas units were no different.
They operated continuously in rotating shifts across the island, orbital facilities, logistics sectors, and resource zones, keeping the entire colony functioning every hour of the day without pause.
The world below was still adjusting to Atlas.
And the existence of orbital infrastructure hanging above the planet only accelerated that pressure even further.
Sighing, I quietly set those thoughts aside.
Right now, what I needed was information about the universe itself.
I could not afford to lower my guard.
An invasion, or any form of interference from beyond this planet, would be catastrophic in our current state. Despite everything Atlas had accomplished, I still possessed no true army and no operational fleet capable of defending an entire world.
In the end, the current Atlas was an infrastructure without military power.
As those thoughts occupied my mind, a small notification beep suddenly echoed throughout the Starport’s main office, signaling an incoming visitor.
Moments later, the automatic door slid open.
The newt stepped inside while holding several active holographic data screens beneath her arm.
Dark yellow hair fell neatly over her shoulders, the soft metallic lighting of the Starport reflecting faint golden hues across it as she moved. Sharp golden slit-draconic eyes stood out beneath the illuminated holographic projections surrounding her, giving her a composed yet highly focused appearance.
She wore a fitted Atlas logistics uniform reinforced with light utility plating along the arms and waist. Multiple digital interface bands remained active around her sleeves, continuously processing incoming data from orbital facilities, transport sectors, and planetary operations throughout the system.
[Andrea]
[Gene Tier: 1]
[Genetic Ability: Atlas Physique]
[Unit Classification: Logistics Officer]
[Bonus: Base Strategic Organization Work Efficiency +150%]
[Research Bonus: Militia]
“Commander, everything’s ready.”
“Have you found it?”
“Yes…” Andrea answered hesitantly.
“The anomaly was detected near the second moon orbiting the next planet within this system.”
Having established the Orbital Hub, Atlas had finally gained access to long-range spatial scanning capabilities.
The massive sensor arrays integrated throughout the orbital infrastructure continuously monitored nearby sectors of the star system, mapping planetary bodies, gravitational signatures, asteroid fields, radiation zones, and abnormal spatial fluctuations far beyond the atmosphere.
Compared to the primitive observation methods of the surface civilizations below, Atlas was now observing the system from orbit itself. During one of those scans, the anomaly had appeared.
Andrea waved her hand, causing several scanning projections to expand into the air between us.
Orbital trajectories, distorted sensor readings, gravitational fluctuations, and fragmented spatial maps rotated slowly across the holographic display, casting faint blue light throughout the Starport office.
Even from the unstable data alone, I immediately recognized it.
A blurred region suspended within space itself.
As though reality surrounding the object had become slightly distorted.
The stars behind the anomaly appeared unnaturally stretched while nearby spatial readings fluctuated continuously around the blurred structure. Entire sections of the scan fragmented into static whenever the system attempted deeper analysis, as if the anomaly itself was interfering directly with the sensors.
“It’s… strange,” Andrea admitted quietly.
“Our scanners can’t properly identify its structure. Spatial readings around it are unstable. It almost looks like something is partially phasing outside normal space.”
Her expression became visibly uncertain.
“Commander… are you sure it’s safe?”
I calmly looked toward the holographic anomaly rotating before us.
Then nodded once.
“No worries, Andrea.”
“I know exactly what it is.”
The structure displayed before us was not random debris nor an unknown alien object.
It was the game's next progression platform. The true beginning of interstellar expansion.
I slowly turned toward the massive observation window overlooking the newly completed spacecraft docked within the orbital Starport. Construction lights reflected across the vessel’s reinforced hull while mechanical arms completed the final stages of assembly around the ship.
“Prepare the ship.”