Is Unlocking the Stellaris Tech Tree in Star Rail Really Okay? [261]

The atmosphere fell into silence.

Chen Lin felt a sense of relief knowing that the other party wasn’t one of the "Machine Fathers." That meant the Purification Protocol wouldn’t be appearing in future apocalyptic disasters. But if this Kruz Civilization wasn’t a Guardian, then what kind of fallen entity did they represent?

The Zroni race had long been swept away by the tides of history. Now, the only way to come into contact with their civilization would be to keep digging through the ruins on the two colony worlds where Zroni relics had been discovered. Maybe, just maybe, they’d unearth some of the technology left behind by the Zroni race.

There was no need to elaborate on how powerful this psionic species had been. Their battles had nearly destroyed the entire galaxy. If they had survived in the game, they would’ve at the very least been an upgraded version of a Stagnant Ascendancy—one with no upper limit…

Saik, on the other hand, was still processing and analyzing Chen Lin’s strange questions with surprise. But no matter how he searched, he couldn’t find any corresponding answers in his database. In the end, he had no choice but to abandon his search and instead focus on assessing the credibility of the emerging civilization before him.

【Question: Do you know about the Covenant Warriors? What became of them?】

“They… perished together,” Chen Lin replied. “At that time, I was pulled into the Zroni Nexus by a strange force, where I met a predecessor who called himself a member of the Saviors Faction. He said our civilization had touched upon the final imprints left behind by the Saviors and the Divine. Then, he gifted me the Nexus that had accidentally been created during that battle—what you call the Zroni Nexus…”

The scenes of that divine war, witnessed within the Nexus, remained vivid in Chen Lin’s memory.

“You knew them?”

Saik silently listened to Chen Lin’s account, then asked about the physical appearance of the person he had met. Finally, he uttered a name.

【Jabaxsti—the last leader of the Saviors Faction. He was the one who protected our last surviving flame… Their warriors fought alongside ours. Originally, we could have bought the Covenant Warriors more time. But then, an unforeseen variable disrupted our calculations.】

He glanced down at his own digitized form. Beneath his feet lay a box—simple, metallic, unassuming. It was the Kruz Civilization’s final struggle, their last hope, containing the means to thwart the Divine Faction’s ultimate conspiracy should they face inevitable defeat.

Once the Divine Faction learned that the Kruz Civilization had sheltered the Saviors, they launched a relentless campaign of vengeance. Despite the Kruz Civilization’s formidable might, they gradually lost ground in the endless years of war. Saviors warriors fell in great numbers as well.

Without the assistance of the Nexus, the Saviors were naturally disadvantaged in combat. On the front lines, it was the Kruz Civilization that bore the brunt of the conflict.

But the Nexus was too terrifying. Even the Kruz Civilization’s vast arsenal of megastructures could do nothing to harm the Divine Faction at its core. Against psionic monstrosities capable of emerging from any space at any moment, the Kruz were forced to shift their military strategy, prioritizing air and ground forces over grand military constructs—because in this war, megastructures were useless.

【One by one, our mechanical worlds were destroyed. Even the four habitat planets we gifted to the Covenant Warriors were engulfed in flames of war. The defensive lines kept shrinking… Then, one day, Jabaxsti came to us. He hoped we could buy them some time. He believed they had found a way to counter those blasphemous lunatics. And we agreed.】

When the Saviors were first driven out of the Nexus, the Kruz Civilization had generously restored four of their mechanical worlds back to habitable planets, offering them as a new home. But the relentless onslaught of the Divine Faction soon turned those very worlds into black holes.

The war never ceased. Saviors numbers dwindled. In the end, the Kruz Civilization converted half of their homeworld into an ecological landmass, sheltering the defeated Saviors while committing all their military forces to upholding their promise.

Meanwhile, the Kruz Civilization suffered devastating losses. Entire star systems were annihilated. Any planet marked by the Nexus would soon be reduced to nothingness.

Then came a chilling revelation. Kruz intelligence operatives within the Saviors ranks uncovered a terrifying truth—the Divine Faction had devised a plan called End of the Cycle.

Every star system marked by the Nexus was a crucial step in their scheme to erase the galaxy and elevate themselves.

According to their calculations, in just fifty years, every single star system in the galaxy would be transformed into a black hole. At that point, every Divine would attain the power of a "god." By harnessing the Nexus’s energy to obliterate this galaxy, they would detonate a dimensional rift and propel their entire species into another plane. There, they would continue their cycle—devouring, ascending, and repeating—until they reached the pinnacle of existence.

What was the power of a god? No one knew. But the Kruz Civilization’s rational minds understood one thing: if this continued, everything they sought to protect would be trampled beneath the Divine Faction’s march toward so-called divinity.

Decades of relentless beatings had crippled the Kruz military. Winning through conventional means was no longer an option.

And so, the Conflict Resolution Plan was conceived.

It was a contingency for the worst-case scenario—the possibility that the Divine Faction would win and destroy the galaxy.

Saik spoke with quiet resolve.

【We found the intersecting pathways between dimensions. There were many. To calculate the precise coordinates of these intersections, countless of our people sacrificed their central processing cores, merging them into this box to amplify computational power—including myself.】

He gestured toward the metallic box beneath him, the one projecting his very existence.

【That’s why I have no memories of my past. I don’t remember my name. I don’t recall what I once did. All I have left is my designation and the vast, shared data within this core.】

Chen Lin remained silent.

They had sacrificed their past. They had given up their chance for unlimited resurrection. All for a path that wasn’t even guaranteed to succeed.

【We found the exact intersection points of all dimensional pathways. If we could create temporary parallel planes at those locations and destroy them at the right moment, the blasphemers' plan would be completely thwarted. They would be trapped here forever, with no means of escape, unable to move on to desecrate other dimensions!】

Saik’s expression darkened with sorrow.

【But they discovered our plan. This place was soon marked by energy from the Nexus. So, we tried to escape—at the very least, to spread our knowledge to other civilizations, to arm them with the means to fight against those madmen who called themselves gods!】

The Kruz Civilization’s logic was simple:

If you plan to ravage this dimension before moving on to the next, then we will sever every possible path you could use. Even if you destroy everything here, you will never leave.

A thousand cuts to the enemy at the cost of ten thousand to themselves.

“But you’re still here. This is your city. You never escaped, did you?” Chen Lin gestured around them.

【Because we no longer had a way out…】

Saik nodded and began playing a recording.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

On the screen, countless strange vortices emerged across the galaxy, resembling the gaping maws of colossal beasts. They tore through the massive megastructures orbiting various planets, while colorful beams of light and fiery explosions flickered in the cold vacuum of space, illuminating the Kruz Civilization’s final, desperate resistance.

But no one could explain where these strange energy vortices came from, what they were composed of, or where the ships and megastructures they devoured had disappeared to. Data became wildly corrupted, and certain mechanical entities, exhibiting severe anomalies, seemed to hurl themselves into the maelstrom without hesitation…

In the end, only a few thousand Kruz individuals remained. After a desperate struggle, they entrusted the salvaged box to a middle-aged man—none other than the very same predecessor Chen Lin had encountered in the Zroni Nexus.

Jabaxsti.

Each step he took distorted the space around him, warped by the sheer magnitude of energy radiating from his being.

Following closely behind him were countless of his people, the last embers of the Kruz Civilization, escorting him to this place, ensuring the survival of their final hope.

Tens of millions of Zroni psionics, each possessing spiritual potential dozens of times stronger than Chen Lin’s, ignited the psionic reactions within their own bodies. They endured the excruciating agony of their souls being consumed, silently dissolving into luminous blue dust.

Jabaxsti stood guard over the box, absorbing the final vestiges of his people’s strength. And with the last of his power, he sealed the entire mechanical city beneath the earth. Leaving behind only a single farewell, he became the last warrior to march into battle.

This was the Kruz Civilization’s final historical record—a recording of their last stand against the Divine Faction of the Zroni race, waged to ensure the survival of all other civilizations.

Through this exchange, the misunderstanding between Chen Lin and the Kruz was finally resolved. Saik, now understanding that Chen Lin’s psionic energy came from the very Saviors Faction they had once sheltered, no longer held anything back and chose complete transparency.

The outcome was clear—the Divine Faction had been defeated.

But Jabaxsti never returned.

The city, sealed beneath the earth by psionic energy, had remained buried for countless Amber Eras, only now seeing the light of day once more.

【To this day, we still do not understand what those strange energy vortices were… Our data was heavily corrupted. Perhaps it was the battle between the last Covenant Warrior and the blasphemous madmen that caused it… But none of that matters anymore. Because now, we see you. Their deaths have gained new meaning, hahaha.】

Now that he had finally learned the truth that had plagued him for so long, Saik no longer clung to the past. As a member of a civilization long since extinct, he… no, they, had, through countless cycles of waking and thinking over the years, ultimately come to terms with their fate.

At the very least…

They had truly bought this universe a chance to survive, hadn’t they?

Just how powerful was the Divine Faction? Chen Lin didn’t know.

But based on everything he had learned so far, they were probably on the level of Executors, capable of obliterating entire stars at will.

The abilities I pride myself on, my reality-warping techniques… to them, it’s probably as effortless as eating or drinking.

It was hard to imagine how the Kruz Civilization had managed to endure for decades under such relentless pressure.

Yet, amid his thoughts, Chen Lin caught onto something in Saik’s words.

“You finally see us?” He blinked. “Wait—does that mean, Saik, you’ve been aware of the life on this land for some time now?”

Saik shook his head.

【Not me. I’ve only just awakened. But my brothers and sisters who woke before me received various distress signals—messages filled with desperation.】

He waved his hand, pulling up records of past transmissions. Most were simple text logs.

— Morantov has been silent for four months… Emergency! Emergency! A massive Legion force is approaching! Requesting aid from off-world sectors! They’re…

— By Qlipoth, save us! The city’s food stores are depleted. The Legion’s minions prowl outside. We’re facing annihilation…

— Lady Maria, take everyone and flee westward! That city we once mocked—Belobog—is unbreakable. We will stay behind to buy the citizens time. After this transmission, we march out to fight. Farewell… Lady Maria…

— Lady Alyssa Rand, we just received word—Peterburg has been razed to the ground by the Legion. Motomansk is likely next. We must prepare… That money—we have no choice but to use it.

…

— Jarilo-VI, Belobog, transmission attempt #87,424! Tanastar Corporate Branch, have you evacuated? If not, requesting military technological assistance! Please respond…

Hundreds of millions of distress signals, each carrying a desperate plea for survival.

Chen Lin even spotted numerous messages sent by this planet’s civilizations, calling for aid from beyond their world.

Yet none had ever received a reply.

As time passed, the once-thousands of active signals dwindled to mere dozens. Eventually, only a single transmission remained.

Chen Lin stared at Saik in astonishment.

“You mean… you knew about the civilizations on this planet back then?”

【Far earlier than that. But at the time, we were still in the process of translating your language. Our data was unstable. Each consciousness awoke at random intervals and could shut down unexpectedly. Every attempt to establish communication was repeatedly interrupted…】

Saik sighed in regret.

【The one who awakened then was XT765. He realized that the civilizations on the surface were facing possible extinction at the hands of an invading war. Upon analyzing the conflict and determining it to be primarily a land war, he resolved to provide assistance. He calculated their technological capabilities and requested authorization to transmit schematics for weapons they might be able to manufacture…】

【But the results were grim. Even with blueprints and data, their industrial capabilities were too primitive to produce even our simplest weapons. XT765 had no choice. So, he sent them the schematics for the F1-Series Combat Frame—a model we had once used during the early days of our civilization to develop other planets…】

【Unfortunately, he never learned what happened next. Did the surface civilizations survive their crisis? Did they even receive our transmission? Did they ever realize we were here? These questions became his final recorded thoughts before his system went into hibernation due to data overload.】

As he spoke, Saik pulled up the design schematics and actual images of the so-called F1 Combat Frame.

Chen Lin took one look—

And immediately froze.

Wait a damn minute.

Isn’t this the “Creation Engine” I saw in Belobog back when I was playing cat-and-mouse with Cocolia?!

So it was you guys who gave them this thing?!

Before Chen Lin could even finish mentally cursing, Saik made his next move.

【So, we have a proposal for collaboration. Would you be interested?】

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T/N: it's been a while so names and stuff might be different from the previous chapter however i will go ahead with these names

This is a fan translation of 在星穹铁道点群星科技树真的没问题吗? by 杏雨诗韵 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!