For Rai, the most beautiful thing about Istarian was the glowing stones and bioluminescent plants.
The light they emitted wasn't just plain white but rather a spectrum of colors—reds, greens, yellows, blues, and even some that displayed multiple colors at once. This vivid, colorful glow gave Istarian an enchanting charm despite its perpetual darkness.
One time, Rai even saw Tifania selling the flowers on Earth, and they were quite expensive. In Istarian cities, these glowing flowers were already costly, but getting them from the wild was even more challenging. The reason? Wherever there were glowing plants or stones in the wild, there was usually a demon or other creature inhabiting the area. Finding these treasures in untamed lands, without an owner, required incredible luck.
Considering that Istarian was perpetually dark, with only glowing plants and stones as natural light sources, it was easy to understand why these items were so highly valued.
Although glowing stones were more affordable than the flowers due to their abundance, people still cherished them. The real value of the stones lay not in the stone itself, but in the energy contained within.
Originally, these were just ordinary rocks, but they became energized by the unique atmosphere of Istarian, which was rich with dark miasma. This miasma permeated the stones, infusing them with energy. Therefore, it wasn't the stone itself that held value but rather the stored energy within it.
Due to their versatility, these stones were used for various purposes on Istarian, from lighting homes to fueling machinery. Finding high-quality stones could significantly boost one's status and wealth.
Valkery fell asleep while imagining a journey to Istarian.
The next day, Valkery regrouped with Leon, Dylan, Jin Hou, and Miranda to continue their plan to eradicate the Havoc Spiders. Nadien was already waiting for them in the monitoring room.
"Oh, are you going back to Mars to take down the Havoc Spiders?" Nadien asked.
"Yes, we're going to eliminate those dangerous aliens," Dylan replied enthusiastically.
"Huhu, who was it that got kicked in the butt by a spider leg?" Miranda teased, holding back her laughter.
Dylan's face turned red. "Shut up! Stop spreading embarrassing stories!"
"Who's spreading stories? It was clearly shown in Valkery's video, hahaha!" Miranda retorted.
Dylan shot Valkery an intense look, making her break out in a cold sweat.
"Rai, can you delete that video?" Dylan asked.
"The video is two hours long. I'll look for the part where your butt got hit and delete it," Valkery responded casually.
"Alright, that's good to hear. I'll treat you to something. Also, if you find any embarrassing videos of Miranda, upload them for me—I'll treat you again... Ouch! Hey, Miranda, stop biting my leg!"
"You jerk! Don't dig up other people's dirt!" Miranda snapped back.
"You're the one to talk! Why were you paying so much attention to my butt getting hit during the two-hour video?" Dylan shot back.
"Are you done?" Nadien's stern voice cut through, making everyone freeze.
"Yes, Ma'am?" Dylan and Miranda responded in unison.
Valkery couldn't believe Nadien was capable of getting angry since she always seemed so patient.
"According to the data collected yesterday, out of the eight returning spaceships, only six made it back. Fortunately, there were no human casualties since only their khodams died, and they will resurrect later. However, there were two casualties from the Mora side, although they claimed it wasn't a big issue."
Nadien continued, "What I wanted to inform you is that Vanguard has developed a new spaceship created by Earth's scientists. Although it's slower compared to Mora's ships, it's estimated to reach Mars within 24 hours. So, you can enjoy the journey."
"What? 24 hours?" Dylan couldn't believe it.
Nadien looked slightly annoyed.
"Listen, our spacecraft is already extremely fast—9,375 million km per hour, which means it's traveling at 0.87% of the speed of light. That's incredibly fast for current technology. Do I need to give you a more scientific lecture?" Nadien stared at Dylan, who was now sweating nervously.
"No, ma'am, 24 hours is fine. I can be with Angel," Dylan replied, trying to sound confident.
"Huh, why make things difficult for Angel? She can just teleport to Mars in an instant," Miranda interjected.
"It's okay. I'm curious and want to ride the spaceship, especially since it's human-made," Angel replied calmly.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Rai," Nadien said, "but the spaceship only has 200 rooms. If you join, we'll be one soldier short."
"Ah, so I can only go to Mars tomorrow since they'll probably arrive by then," Angel remarked.
"Yes, you can visit Jupiter or Istarian for now, then head to Mars tomorrow," Nadien confirmed.
"And there's someone who wants to meet you," Nadien said as a woman with a British accent walked in.
"Tifania?" Angel couldn't believe her eyes.
"I didn't expect that we could go to Istarian together since you're not going to Mars today," Tifania replied with a smile.
"Together? How?"
"I'll transform into my bat-winged form, and you become your succubus form. Then we hug each other tightly and teleport to Istarian together so we don't get separated," Tifania suggested.
"Ahem, actually, just holding hands would be enough," Nadien corrected.
"Oh, that's just to be extra safe. What if we get separated and you end up in some underground lair of tentacle monsters? I wouldn't be able to find you, and you'd just end up becoming their plaything," Tifania replied, causing Angel to shiver at the thought.
"Alright, better to hug you then," Angel agreed.
Since Angel wasn't going to Mars as planned, she transformed into Lilith, wrapped her arms around Tifania in her khodam form, and together, they teleported to the planet Istarian.
They both appeared on top of a hill. Below the hill lay a city that looked like a demonic kingdom. The houses and buildings were quite unique, constructed from dark wood. Glowing plants were scattered throughout the city, and on the walls of each dwelling, luminous stones were arranged in specific patterns.
Every house and building had a distinct charm due to the different arrangements of glowing stones, creating an atmosphere that was both eerie and mesmerizing at the same time.