After watching the news report on TV—
Orsaga turned to Elsa, who was still glaring at him, and casually asked,
"Do you know anything about that so-called Horizon incident?"
Elsa's expression remained unpleasant, but after a brief moment of hesitation, she replied nonchalantly:
"I've heard a bit. Supposedly, it was some kind of experimental spacecraft. But then there was an accident, and the whole ship—along with its crew—vanished mysteriously near Neptune. I don't know many details though. I was only seven at the time. Like I had the attention span to care—cartoons were way more interesting."
After answering, Elsa frowned and shot a suspicious glance at him
.
"Wait… you really didn't know about that incident?"
"Nope."
Without looking up, Orsaga closed the browser tab and opened a search engine, typing in the keywords: [Horizon Project].
Seeing his computer screen, Elsa yawned and stretched out on the sofa, grumbling:
"You look a few years older than me. How do you not know?
Were you too busy chasing women to care about the news?
It was a big deal back then. That ship cost more than the entire GDP of some small countries. After it disappeared, people even rushed to the Neptune region hoping to salvage debris for profit. But nobody found anything useful. And now—after all these years—it's suddenly back in the same place? That's creepy..."
As she spoke, Elsa recalled some old legends and muttered uneasily:
"It's starting to sound like a ghost ship…"
Still browsing the data online, Orsaga replied calmly:
"If it really is a ghost ship, then it's not much of a threat."
Even in his current weakened state, Orsaga didn't take so-called ghosts seriously.
In his eyes, they were just spiritual entities—edible ones.
"Snackable souls with a bit of kick."
That was how he classified spirits in general.
After all, as a soul-devouring Abyssal Demon, why would he fear mere ghosts?
Back on Talandra Star, he'd done exactly that.
Braised spirits, pan-seared Spirits—
He had even attempted a full Haunted Banquet featuring every spirits flavor.
But this time… something felt off.
Based on his instincts, whatever was tied to this Horizon incident was likely far more complicated than a few wandering spirits.
Elsa rolled her eyes at his smug attitude and stuck out her tongue.
"What a load of crap."
To her, Orsaga was like one of those overconfident movie characters—
Bravado on the outside, but the moment a ghost ship really showed up, they'd be crying, pissing themselves, and dying horribly.
"Believe it or don't."
Orsaga didn't bother explaining.
Instead, he focused entirely on the computer screen, where he had just located the database belonging to the Horizon's original manufacturer.
If he could hack into it, he'd be able to uncover what this supposedly "experimental spacecraft" was really about.
Noticing he had tuned her out, Elsa tilted her head and peeked at the screen. The rapidly scrolling lines of code nearly blinded her.
She had no idea what she was looking at.
"Hmph."
With a scoff, she grabbed the remote, switched to a channel she liked, and leisurely continued watching TV.
---
Two days later.
Those days passed uneventfully—no incidents, no major developments.
Everything was calm.
Orsaga remained comfortably entrenched in his position of dominance within the household.
Meanwhile, the would-be rebel leader—and only member of the resistance—Elsa, had slowly slipped into despair.
She had fully realized one thing:
She was absolutely no match for Orsaga.
Resigned to her fate, she lay in her room like a puppy, playing video games.
Orsaga, on the other hand, sat in the living room, still focused on the files he'd extracted.
He had successfully cracked the company's main database.
The core of the Horizon Project had been something called:
[Gravitational Displacement Drive]
Its primary purpose was to manipulate gravitational forces to enable spatial jumps—essentially faster-than-light travel.
To Orsaga, this was just passable technology.
Nothing too impressive—decent but not exceptional.
Many other worlds had developed more advanced systems.
For instance, the Stellar Empire had far superior versions.
There, FTL travel was considered a basic requirement for any interstellar civilization.
And since Orsaga had once plundered the data vaults of the Stellar Empire, he naturally had access to comparable tech.
After comparing it to this so-called "Gravitational Displacement Drive," he found no glaring flaws.
The technology was simply immature, still in its early stages, and in need of refinement.
However—
Due to the differences between World, Orsaga couldn't say for certain what side effects the drive might produce in this particular world.
Perhaps the Horizon's disappearance was just a one-time malfunction.
But it could also be something systemic—
Something tied to the very nature of this reality:
Any attempt at using that tech here might always result in disappearance. Just like how, in some worlds, E=MC² was an absolute truth—
And in others, it was utter nonsense.
Orsaga knew he'd need far more data before drawing any conclusions.
---
Meanwhile—
After 56 days of long-distance travel, the space rescue ship Lewis and Clark finally reached Neptune's orbit.
"Hissss..."
With a sharp hiss, the cryo-chambers opened, and the crew slowly awakened from stasis.
A few of them, however, had distinctly odd expressions.
[Punishment World: Event Horizon]
Role: Rescue team member aboard the Lewis and Clark
Mission: Resolve the incident aboard the Horizon
Reward: None
After reading the mission info, a burly man among them scowled and whispered just loud enough for the others:
"Damn it. Punishment mission? I knew I shouldn't have farmed points in that last world..."
A beautiful young woman shot back:
"You farmed the most, you greedy bastard!"
A middle-aged man furrowed his brow and cut in:
"Enough. Who knows what this world's all about? 'Event Horizon'? Sounds heavy on the sci-fi. Are we fighting aliens or running into cosmic anomalies?"
Another crewman pulled out a tablet.
"Who knows? Let's check the intel first. I just hope those damn info-brokers didn't scam us again."
He started entering keywords for a search.
The others all gathered around, eager for any clues.
"Hm… found it. It's… an old movie?. Wait… it's a horror film?"
"That name comes from a horror movie?"
—
Ten minutes later—
They had fast-forwarded through the whole film.
The team leader spoke up grimly:
"According to the movie, the Horizon passed through some anomalous space and became something like a ghost ship. It supposedly affects the minds of those who board it.
So we'd better prepare ourselves mentally…"
He pulled out a compass-like device.
"The artifact we got from the last world should come in handy. It can measure the approximate strength of whatever's aboard that ship."
He pointed the needle toward the now-visible Horizon.
The dial had multiple markings—each corresponding to an enemy's strength.
It wasn't perfect, but it was generally reliable.
Then—
As soon as the compass was aimed at the Horizon—
The needle didn't even move in a regular spin.
Instead, it snapped upward like a spring-loaded trigger.
"?"
Before anyone could react—
POP!
The needle launched itself into the air, breaking clean off.
Then—
FOOM!
A burst of flame erupted from the device, instantly incinerating it.
"..."
Everyone fell into stunned silence.
After a long pause, the team leader finally roared:
"DAMN IT, MATRIX PURGATORY! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!"
___
T/N: Here is a task for you guys, if we reach 100 power stones in this month then I will upload two extra chapters