In the 63rd year of the Star Dome Calendar, the rusted jump engines of the Forgefire Embryo Starship emitted a low, muffled roar at the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy. The gear imprint on Chen Feng's palm took on a malachite-like green patina. Outside the porthole floated ten-thousand-kilometer-wide rusted crystal monoliths, their surfaces covered in cuneiform characters written in oxidized metal, every stroke releasing a corrosion frequency homologous to Old Zhou's Gear Mold—this was the legendary "Rust-Scar Primordial Planet," the source of all cosmic rust.
"Chen Feng! The vibration frequency of the rusted crystal monoliths," Su Yuhan's voice mingled with the sizzle of metal oxidation, "matches the bronze corrosion frequency of Earth's Shang and Zhou dynasties perfectly, and what the monoliths record is... a 'Rust-Scar Forgefire History' even older than the Primal Artisan." Zooming in on the display, she discovered that embedded deep within the text was a Forgefire Core identical to the one in the Cold Pool Mineral Vein, "but the core is being devoured by a sort of... anti-corrosion energy."
Liu Ruyan's transmission patched in through a mottled rusted crystal projection, revealing semi-transparent rusted crystal lifeforms whose bodies were composed of historical rust layers, their chests embedded with fractured "Chronicle Cores": "We are the Rust-Scar Chroniclers, using rusted crystals for one hundred thousand years to record the scars of cosmic forgefire." His fingertip sw…
Chapter 47