Chapter 700 - How Much Value?

'The data points to a kind of spatial gateway, in a manner of speaking. At least for now that is the only way out of the facility.'

*BANG*

*BANG*

The noise continued to ring out but Hao Xuan's interest was most certainly piqued and hope returned in full force.

'That's great! Open the gateway to the surface so we can leave then!' he ordered excitedly. He didn't even have time to celebrate before Baracus shut him down again.

'That...is not possible. This is not a naturally occurring rift or a teleportation array where you can just decide where to go. It...It's not easy to explai-'

Hao Xuan punched the panel in a fit of hysteria, almost screaming aloud, 'Well fuckin' try, okay? We need to...leave this god damned place soon...' on the verge of having a mental breakdown, he implored with Baracus even though there was nothing he could do.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

The door wouldn't hold for more than a few minutes which they all knew by now. Each strike pulled at Hao Xuan's heartstrings which were already teetering on the edge of a blade. His eyelids quivering with every strike now.

'Please calm down and let me explain. All is not yet lost,' Baracus tried to reason with Hao Xuan. His emotions were a mess, a sudden change in behavior like this was an expected side-effect of his condition for which he was warned even before leaving the Beast World, a side-effect that only now manifested for whatever reason.

Maybe it was the looming promise of death or the stress of all the responsibilities finally having an adverse effect on his mind but either way, it was a bad sign nonetheless.

However, Baracus's monotonous tone of voice had some sort of lulling effect on him since he appeared to calm down to a degree.

'Just tell me...I don't care anymore, just tell me whatever it is. What do I have to do now?' Hao Xuan asked despairingly.

Baracus collected his thoughts and compounded a few simple sentences that could best explain what he had found.

In a bid to appear more human and appease his displaced emotions Baracus apologized first, 'I'm sorry, I will try to keep it as short as possible but you need to have a little bit of background to properly understand the true value of what is in here. You might have heard this before but it's a good thing to reiterate for this discussion,' Baracus started explaining while Hao Xuan just listened with a lowered head.

'As you very well know, the universe is vast. Be it the Beast World alone that is only one of the 7 Origin Planets, the countless other planes of existences and worlds scattered across the cosmos, or the floating cities of the deep space, there is no possible way for me to tell you just how big of a scale it is on.'

'And as you might expect, the largest obstacle in modern times is obviously distance. Far too much time is spent crossing the empty voids between star systems that is more often than not littered with unavoidable dangers that crawl up from the abyss. This is the most basic, the most dangerous, and the longest mode of transportation.'

'There is an alternative to this, which is usually only used in times of war or when there is an extremely powerful entity on board to protect the fleet. It includes entering blackholes and moving through the Abyss itself which is home to most of the Cosmic threats. The Abyss is also plagued by neverending storms which displace space and time, presenting a fatal danger to all.'

'When moving through the Abyss, most forces will opt to transport their forces on gargantuan ships heralded by expansive fleets costing fortunes, like the one circling this solar system.'

'But there are of course other ways. Spatial magic, abilities, and anomalies being the best of them. '

'Teleportation spells and arrays can transfer matter over incredibly long distances, but they come with their own pros and cons. For one, there need to be two connected points in space, one to send and the other to receive otherwise there is no telling where one might end up.'

'Not to mention that the higher a person's cultivation or the more energy they hold, the more it costs to move them. Great powers use this method to move important individuals rather than risk traveling through the void or the Abyss. But only a select few can manage that and even then they dare not give guarantees.'

'This is the safest option but it consumes stupendous amounts of energy making it inefficient and not viable other than in cases of extreme emergency. There are also related costs of maintaining such magic and arrays for extended periods that cannot be ignored.'

'The next option is through the rifts. But as you already know, rifts appear at random and can lead to any place across the universe. There is no control to speak of.'

'These two are the most commonly used methods for transportation but there are rare exceptions. Some lucky individuals can either learn spatial laws or sometimes there are those that are born with the innate ability to move through space unhindered.'

'That's why such individuals are so valued and sought after but as with all other methods, they also have their own limitations the biggest of which is that they are living beings and can also make mistakes. Not to mention they are extremely rare and prone to...death. To be able to cultivate to a level where one can move entire fleets and armies is nothing short of a miracle, one that cannot be counted on in the long term...'

Some of the things Hao Xuan already knew and others he didn't much care about so he cut Baracus off.

'I don't need a lesson Baracus, just get to the point.'

'Apologies, I got a little carried away since the topic is so interesting but you should now have an idea. Standard space travel either takes too long or is far too dangerous and risky, teleportation is too expensive and inefficient, and other methods can't much be counted on.'

'So in this state of affairs, what would happen if there was a safe (enough) way to travel to any place across the universe, without any real sacrifices or consequences? How much value would such a method hold?'