RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

The clear sound of space being ripped apart echoed out, and White witnessed a single streak of lightning flash past the jet and disappear into the distance, gone before he could even blink.

"What the hell!?"

The speed was utterly insane, but when he turned back to the holograph, an even greater shock awaited him.

The very same bolt of lightning had already appeared at the battlefield.

The lightning coalesced, forming the image of Llumino, who remained in place for a second before blitzing forward once more, sending dozens of Siltrates flying violently through space by simply ramming into them.

"Wait, what was the distance between us and the fight? I thought we were far away?"

White asked subconsciously.

"We’re 200 kilometers away."

The answer came, and White quickly calculated.

"He covered 200 kilometers in less than 5 seconds. That’s moving around 120 times faster than sound."

White mused, left dumbstruck.

Movement at Mach 120!

Even natural lightning, as an element, has a movement range of around Mach 1 to 10, and the man had just moved at 120 times that speed.

"You might not know, but... Llumino is the fastest Human alive."

This time, the words came from one of the colored aliens, the purple one, to be exact.

"I bet he could move faster than that. He’s been getting more lazy these days..."

The blue one said while hmphing.

"Prepare for combat."

Galaxy Altharion’s voice echoed through, and White noticed almost everyone in the room suddenly tapped at the side of their necks.

What followed was combat armor immediately wrapping around them, made of materials with an astral-like effect, runes constantly dispersing from them and into the air.

Whatever those armors were made from, they were certainly far beyond White’s comprehension.

They were getting closer and closer, and the second they came close enough, four golden gates instantly appeared all around the cockpit.

All three women in the room immediately stepped in, disappearing out, leaving just White and Galaxy Altharion with the two colored aliens far back.

"Siltrates are like annoying, pesky flies of the Galaxy."

Galaxy Altharion said while his hands moved across the holographic panels in the air.

"They eat up the jets, then pilfer the resources, leaving Galaxial Explorers stranded in the empty void. When you meet one, it’s not a threat, but sometimes they move in numbers."

"We call it a Siltrate Swarm."

He explained to White.

"Don’t negotiate with Siltrates. They lack intelligence, with their only conscious drive being to pilfer and damage. When you meet one, you kill."

He said, and in that moment, the sound of powerful whirring echoed out from beneath White’s legs, and he watched as a total of seven large bazooka-like weapons appeared from different areas of the ship and began firing at the swarm.

"They’re quite strong."

Standing there at the front with the wide footage before him, he could easily see everything that was happening.

First was the Astral Guard Squad under Galaxy Altharion.

Galaxy Altharion himself was a Galaxy-ranked member, but he wasn’t the only Galaxy-ranked member.

Two more Galaxy Ranked members stood there. One was Llumino, the famed speedster, while the other was the long, white-haired lady.

With their incredible divine-like aura, White was easily able to conclude that they, too, were already in the Galaxy Rank.

The other two, the purple-haired lady with her hair tied up into two long buns and the pink-haired lady, Callisto, were both at the Late Stage of the Cosmic Rank.

That made the Astral Guard Squad a group of three Galaxy-ranked experts and two Cosmic-ranked experts, making them the most powerful gathering White had ever seen.

But even then, against the swarm of Siltrates, it wasn’t a simple fight.

The creatures, even with their naked skin, were incredibly tough.

Some of them already had their lower halves blown off into the void, yet they were still clawing at the jets and fighting back furiously.

White witnessed a laser beam rip into the stomach of a Siltrate, yet it continued fighting for approximately twenty-two seconds before it finally gave out and died.

"Annoying as Siltrates are, their life force is incredible."

Galaxy Altharion said, as if reading his mind.

"But then, compared to the other Galaxial Creatures, this isn’t necessarily a special attribute."

"Most Galaxial creatures possess a tenacity far beyond any creature you’ve ever met on Earth."

"To survive amongst such deadly creatures, we have categories of rules every Galaxial Explorer follows, and one of those categories of rules is Combat Engagement Rules, whose first rule says, "

At this point, he took his gaze from the footage, staring directly at White.

"Unless necessary and left with zero choice, avoid combat with Galaxial Creatures at all costs."

"That means no revenge fighting or fighting for the sake of it. When you come in contact with a Galaxial beast, the first thing to do is try to avoid it. Get out of its way."

"If it attacks you, then you defend, and..."

Galaxy Altharion said, pausing as White noticed the sound of battle stopping.

He turned to look back at the footage just in time to see the swarm of Siltrates all rushing away into the void and away from the ship.

Yet instead of the squad chasing them down, they all paused instead, allowing them to escape.

"Once it stops attacking..."

Galaxy Altharion said, turning back to White, who raised an eyebrow and completed,

"You let it go... even after all that damage it has done to your jets?"

He asked, pointing at the vessels.

There had been a total of seven jets, but right now, three of them were in pieces, while the remaining four were half-ruined.

In fact, only one of them still had a ripple of energy from it, keeping itself afloat in space.

The rest were already dead.

"Even if you lost one of your own!"

Galaxy Altharion said in a firm tone.

"Once they stop attacking and leave... we stop. It doesn’t matter the loss... we stop. That’s what keeps Humanity alive in space."

"And I don’t have to tell you how important Galaxial Exploration is to us Humans, do I?"

He asked, and White watched as he rose away from the controls, walking towards the golden door.

He paused, turning slightly to White, who held an expressionless face.

"That’s your first class."

White shrugged, watching the man step through the gate and reappear in the footage.

He sat down afterward, watching what happened next through the footage.

It was the squad helping up those still alive on the jet while sweeping up the remains of the broken jets and storing them away in another dimensional ring.

The Astral Guards brought out another jet and took the team inside before the white-haired girl joined them, flying them away.

The remaining four, the purple-haired lady, Llumino, Callisto, and Galaxy Altharion, returned to the ship and turned in the direction they had come from.

[A typical rescue mission... except in space.] 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The system panel flashed as White relaxed into the chair with both hands behind his head, and eyes shut.

’I bet that’s where their Astral Guard name must have come from.’

He replied, only for his brows to crease slightly when he noticed a figure step close, eyes examining every inch of his skin.

"So we’ve got a new member, huh?"

It was a feminine voice that sounded much louder than White expected, and that was because the head was hanging literally centimeters away from his face.

"Actually, he’s not a member..."

"Huh?"

The lady replied, rising upright to look at Galaxy Altharion, and even White himself opened one eye.

"...Yet."

The man completed, and White’s eyes dimmed.

"He’s a recruit for now, learning the game. If he plays well, he joins. If he plays badly, he gets returned to the Institute."

He made clear as White rolled his eyes, closing them back.

"Hmm."

"And what can you do, horned boy?"

The question came, and White picked up an object coming closer to his face.

He opened his eyes to find the end of a gun glowing with purple astral runes pointed right before his face.

He could almost see the inside of the weapon, the glowing energy ball barely held back by a fragile-looking metal panel.

If she moved her finger on the trigger even a little bit, the gun would fire, sending the energy ball straight through his face.

White raised one finger, pushing the gun to the side while staring at the face that held a weirdly psychopathic grin.

"I thought introductions usually start with, ’What’s your name?’"

He asked, placing his finger back, only for her to move the gun back to his face.

"Those only happen on Earth. This is space, horned boy."

She claimed.

"Can you get the gun away from his face, Phinx? That’s not nice."

Callisto said from the side, and White watched the lady’s smile widen fully into a psychopathic grin.

"Good thing I’m not a nice person."

And right then, all eyes widened as she suddenly pulled the trigger with her gun inches away from White’s face!

"What the..."

BOOOOOOOOOM!