"Everyone?" Himeko looked at the others.
"Welcome to the Astral Express. If you have any difficulties, you can always come to me," Welt said kindly.
"I will protect your safety," the young dragon Dan Heng said.
"I can't believe I've become a senior so quickly," Stelle said, acting mature and reliable.
"Huaifeng, this is your stellar rail pass. From now on, you are a member of the Astral Express Crew," Pom-Pom handed a golden stellar rail pass to Meng Huaifeng.
Meng Huaifeng reached out to take the ticket, but the moment his hand touched it, a surge of immense energy erupted from within him!
"Uncle Yang, what's happening to him?" March 7th asked, a little flustered.
"Don't be nervous. The stellar rail pass can help people embark on The Trailblaze. Although he had no power before, he has, after all, crossed two completely different worlds. Now that he's activated his Path, he's naturally making rapid progress on the Path of The Trailblaze," Welt explained.
There are two ways to become a Pathstrider: one is to have firm resolve and integrate knowledge with action, and the other is to be forcibly set upon a Path by an Aeon or an Aeon's creation.
The stellar rail pass belongs to the latter.
More than ten minutes later, Meng Huaifeng finally adapted to the surging power.
"I... I feel so strong now," Meng Huaifeng clenched his fists, eager to try out his new power, feeling an urge to break something.
"It seems The Trailblaze Path is very suitable for you. Judging purely by energy, you are now only one step away from becoming an Intermediate Pathstrider. If you explore this world more, you might just become an Intermediate Pathstrider," Welt said.
The power gap between Pathstriders is too vast, so the universe has roughly categorized Pathstrider combat power.
Combat power from ordinary people to city-breaking level is classified as Junior; city-breaking to nation-destroying level as Intermediate; nation-destroying to planetary level as Senior; and planetary to stellar level as Top-tier. The combat power of an Aeon is generally stellar level and above.
Of course, this is just a rough distinction; there are no clear boundaries. How far one can go on their Path is the most crucial aspect.
"Huh, isn't he almost catching up to me?" March 7th said with a hint of envy. She had been a Pathstrider for many years and had pioneered many planets, only to achieve Intermediate combat power. This guy was almost catching up to her in the blink of an eye.
"I'm still far from it. Although I have this power, I don't know how to use it at all," Meng Huaifeng suppressed his joy and said humbly.
"Then I'll teach you how to use your power," Dan Heng volunteered.
"Then I'll trouble you, Dan Heng," Meng Huaifeng said.
"Next, let's discuss the pioneering of this planet," Himeko clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention. "Huaifeng, can you tell us about the general situation of this planet?"
The Trailblaze doesn't mean charging forward blindly without understanding anything. The Astral Express Crew won't refuse to acquire some information beforehand.
After all, what's on paper is completely different from actual experience.
"Of course, this planet is called Douluo Star, and it primarily focuses on Martial Soul cultivation. The protagonist of this world during this period is named Tang San, who is a transmigrator from another world..." Meng Huaifeng summarized the plot of Douluo Continent.
"This Tang San, I don't really feel like he's a good person," March 7th said, not entirely sure.
"Little March, no one says a protagonist has to be a good person," Himeko said.
"From our perspective, he's indeed not a good person, but in an ancient society where technology hadn't developed, his actions are understandable," Welt said from another perspective.
"So, should we defeat this Tang San?" Meng Huaifeng fanned the flames.
"Our purpose in The Trailblaze is to explore, understand, establish, and connect. Unless absolutely necessary, it's best not to interfere with the conflicts of local powers and affect the world's own social progress," Welt said.
"If we intervene and influence every time we disagree with something, making it develop in the direction we deem correct, then many years later, all the worlds we've pioneered will become identical, and the diversity of the universe will be lost."
"I see. Thank you for the lesson, Uncle Yang," Meng Huaifeng said sincerely.
"Ahem," Welt cleared his throat twice, then continued, "Of course, occasionally intervening when something is truly unbearable, punishing evil and promoting good, is not a big deal."
Meng Huaifeng stiffened, then realized: it's not allowed in principle, but I decide what the principle is.
"The energy level of this planet is not high. When I scanned it earlier, I found that the highest energy level existence on the surface of this planet is roughly that of an Intermediate Pathstrider. Of course, it doesn't rule out the existence of sealed areas or paradises that cannot be scanned," Dan Heng reliably presented his data.
"Then this pioneering journey will be entrusted to the four of you: Dan Heng, March 7th, Stelle, and Huaifeng. There's no specific goal for this exploration, and it's a long one, so you can have a good time," Himeko arranged.
"No Stellaron, no Legion, and no messy bugs or anything! This is great! I'm really looking forward to this trip!" March 7th cheered.
"Sister Himeko and Uncle Yang aren't getting off the train?" Meng Huaifeng asked.
They would be staying on Douluo Continent for at least two years. Could they really stand not getting off the train the whole time?
Himeko and Welt exchanged glances: "We have other things we need to do, but we'll occasionally get off to accompany you. It will mainly be the four of you."
"Alright then, we'll send you lots of photos. Let's go!" March 7th pulled Stelle and took the lead.
"Wait," Welt called out to the two. "Before you leave, Dan Heng, give Huaifeng a shot of the Synesthesia Beacon, and also, give him a Phone."
The Synesthesia Beacon is a cross-linguistic communication device invented by Genius Club Member #56, Elias Salas.
Its core principle is to connect the user's perceptual system and directly convert internal language encoding, achieving instant communication without the need for translation.
The reason Meng Huaifeng could communicate without barriers with the Astral Express Crew was that they had all been injected with the Synesthesia Beacon.
However, the locals of this world don't have such a thing as a Synesthesia Beacon, so Meng Huaifeng would almost certainly encounter communication barriers with them.
"I know about the Synesthesia Beacon, but I have a Phone," Meng Huaifeng pulled out his Phone from his pocket and waved it.
"Your Phone is a product of your own civilization. It's very likely incompatible with our Phones, unable to connect to our network, and the software won't be adaptable," Welt said.
"What's your Phone's communication software called?" March 7th asked curiously.
"Penguin."
"Ours is called Thousand Stars. How much storage does your Phone have?"
"524GB."
"So small. Your Phone can't even install a large piece of software. My Phone has 524TB," March 7th said with disdain.
Meng Huaifeng was speechless and silently put his Phone back into his pocket.
Once everything was ready, the four stepped out of the train and headed towards the nearest village.