The star system containing the Genesis was named the Genesis System by Luo Wen.


    Long-term observations from the lunar observation center revealed that the Genesis Systemprised elevens. Luo Wen named them sequentially from the star outward as A1, A2, A3… A11, with A5 being the Genesis.


    Of theses, A1 to A3 had no moons, A4 had two, A5 (the Genesis) also had two, A6 had three, A7 had thirty-six, A8 had five, and A9 had four. The presence of moons around A10 and A11 remained uncertain due to their extreme orbital distances.


    To better organize these celestial bodies, Luo Wen devised a new naming system. The moons of the A-seriess were given grouped identifiers. For example, A5B1 referred to the Yellow Moon, and A5B2 refers to the Red Moon. The “A” with a number indicated the parent, while “B” and its subsequent number represented the moon’s designation, ranked from closest to farthest.


    Over the years, the Swarm had honed its expertise in slow-projectileunches through its “ball-tossing” experiments between the two moons. Combined with rapid advancements inputing and trajectory calction technologies thanks to the rat folk, the uracy of theunchers significantly improved. Now, spore capsulesunched between the moons couldnd within a kilometer of the target location.


    With technical proficiency secured, the Swarm was ready to implement the next phase of its n.


    This second phase was ambitious: to colonize the entire Genesis System.


    The first step involvedunching spore capsules toward thes and their moons to establish subsidiary bases.


    While the varied environments of these celestial bodies presented challenges, long-term observations indicated no signs of existing civilizations within the system. This eliminated the primary risk. Environmental factors would be addressed by the Swarm’s maic field protection systems, with extreme cases managed as they arose.Although described as “slow,” the spore capsules still achieved a velocity of 30 kilometers per second, a speed roughly 10,000th of the speed of light—several times faster than the rat folk’s rockets.


    Achieving a sessfulunch, however, required extensive calctions. For instance, the nearest to the Genesis, A4, was about 60 million kilometers away at its closest approach and over 400 million kilometers at its farthest. During thetter, the star would obstruct the path, making aunch impossible.


    The optimalunch window, therefore, was during the closest approach, when the spore capsule, traveling at 30 kilometers per second, would take about 23 days to reach A4.


    However, boths orbited the star at high speeds. urate targeting required ounting for lead angles, gravitational influences from various celestial bodies,ary rotation and revolution, and even the star’s motion.


    Luo Wen alone couldn’t handle these calctions, but with a team of 15,000 rat folk researchers, the benefits of cultivating rat folk civilization became evident.


    A4, the closest to the Swarm, was just the beginning. The system’s outermost, A11, required over 300 years toplete one orbit around the star and came no closer than 8 billion kilometers to the Genesis. A spore capsule would take roughly ten years to reach it. Theplexity of lead angle calctions over such distances was staggering, requiring consideration of multipleary orbits.@@novelbin@@


    Given these challenges, colonizing A11 would rely heavily on luck, so Luo Wen decided to focus on closer targets first.


    Luo Wen also opted to temporarily forego A1 to A3, as their proximity to the star made their environments extremely hostile, posing significant colonization challenges with minimal reward.


    Over more than a decade, the Swarmunched spore capsules tos A4 through A8 and their moons. The extended timeline was partly due to missing the closest approach to A8 when the n was first formted, forcing the Swarm to wait ten years for the next alignment—measured in billions of kilometers of separation.


    Meanwhile, the Swarm sessfullynded and expanded on A4 and A6.


    A4, being closer to the star than the Genesis, had higher temperatures,cked an atmosphere, and was subjected to intense radiation. Surface temperatures reached over 200°C. Despite these harsh conditions, the Swarm adapted by utilizing genes from deep-sea organisms found near undersea volcanoes. Such temperatures were trivial byparison.


    However, A4’s limited water resources restricted the growth of the fungal carpet, slowing the base’s development.


    In contrast, A6, located farther from the star, was coated in frost and had abundant water resources. Despite temperatures dropping to nearly -100°C, Luo Wen’s experiments with enhanced glycerol secretion systems allowed Swarm organisms to function normally. Maic field generators further stabilized their internal temperatures, rendering the cold a non-issue.


    With plentiful water, the fungal carpet spread rapidly, supporting a thriving Swarm base.


    Observations indicated that A7 was a gas giant, thergest in the system, nearly 1,500 times the size of the Genesis. It boasted 36 moons.


    Even at its closest, A7 was about 1.5 billion kilometers from the Genesis. Two years earlier, the Swarm capitalized on this proximity,unching over 100 spore capsules toward A7 within a year. Factoring in other influences, the capsules traveled over 2 billion kilometers. They were now approaching A7 and its moons, with their arrival expected in a few days.


    Luo Wen eagerly anticipated this milestone, marveling at how, in the vastness of space, the Genesis and A7 could still be considered “neighbors.” Yet even a neighborly visit required travel times measured in years.


    Thankfully, Luo Wen no longer perceived time as a constraint. For the rat folk, however, a trip to a distant neighbor might take so long they’d perish of old age before arriving.