"Where should I go now…?"
Alex stood on the deck of his ship, thinking out loud.
He was floating just outside the Shen Wu system, ready to enter warp at any time, but he just had to set a destination before doing anything.
There were hundreds of thousands of star systems currently under attack across the whole gxy, so he had quite a lot to choose from.
But that also gave him the dilemma of who to prioritise.
He had tried asking his ship''s AI for advice on which system to go to, but it just replied to him with a bunch of random star systems with no rhyme or reason as to why they should be picked over the others.
His AI didn''t have ess to the monitoring data the federation had about the situations of all the battlefields in all the systems, so it really couldn''t make a good choice based off of any information, and could only choose some at random.
Hence, Alex ignored anything his AI suggested after that.
''What''s this?''
But then Alex saw something interesting, or rather rming, on hismunicator while scrolling through the news feeds.
''Mystery in the Telorn system! Sudden disappearances of jump pods on the Eldaris has sparked interest in the higher ups in charge of this system. Investigations are currently under way, but there has currently been no reported sightings of these jump pods the moment they touched the surface, like they disappeared into thin air!''
Alex read the headline and his focus intensified when he read that it came from the Telorn system.
''That''s where Mira was stationed…''
He had a bad feeling about this.
So he continued reading on, hoping that his fears would not be realised.
''There were many notable names among the list of personnel reported missing from these mysterious jump pod disappearances.''
''Most notable being ''Mira Mistborn'', the current 2nd ranked first year at Capital Prime university.''
"FUCK."
When Alex scrolled down and read Mira''s name among the missing, he couldn''t help but curse out loud.
Why did something always have to happen?
Why couldn''t they just have a normal day for once goddammit!
Dropping all his previous ideas of going to star systems where his help was needed the most, Alex inputted the coordinates of the Telorn system immediately.
Those battlefields could wait until he found out what had happened to Mira!
A few seconds passed before he entered warp, with his ship informing him that he would arrive in a little over 20 hours.
***
"Did you say Mira was among those reported to be missing?"
Admiral Olgierd asked, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.
He had just been handed a report by one of his subordinates, and seeing Mira''s name on the list of missing caught his attention immediately.
She wasn''t as notable in his mind as Alex was, but her talent was among the best in the federation.
The fact that she had gone missing right after entering the battlefield practically screamed that something fishy was going on, and he didn''t like it one bit.
He already knew that the Red Demons yed dirty after Alex found their ns to build Busters across hundreds of thousands ofs across the entire war.
And now he suspected that they had something to do with these student''s disappearances.
There were many, many more reported disappearances across the entire war front, but this one in particr stood out.
For one reason only.
There were prodigies among those missing in the Telorn system.
Prodigies didn''t just ''go missing'' just like that.
If they died in battle, then there would be hundreds, or thousands of witnesses to corroborate that fact.
"I''ve just received another report sir! The King ss prodigy Alex has reportedly entered warp with his destination being the Telorn system!"
The same subordinate came back in just a few momentster to give Admiral Olgierd another report.
''That''s right, this little missy Mira was that kid Alex''s girlfriend… If he''s going over to investigate, then that makes me much more reassured.''
Admiral Olgierd felt a light bit of pressure lifted off of his shoulders when he heard Alex was on his way.
He didn''t know what kind of luck that kid had, but wherever he went, he somehow unintentionally uncovered some sort of plot.
And after hearing about what Alex had done in the Shen Wu system, especially after ranking up to C tier, his confidence in Alex couldn''t have reached a higher point.
He was practically a wolf in sheep''s clothing.
Nobody would suspect a newly ranked up C- rank to possess strength equalling a higher life form.
''I knew I made the right decision sending that kid to the Shen Wu system as the sole prodigy.''
***
"We will be arriving at the Telorn system in 5 minutes."
The AI announced loudly throughout the whole ship.
It didn''t need to do so, since Alex hadn''t moved an inch from his seat on the deck.
His face was still as serious as it was the moment he read the news article about Mira and the other''s disappearance.
''The report said all of these disappearances are localised to only one, Eldaris. I should start my search there.''
Alex passed through the outer edge of the Telorn systempletely unhindered, with not even a single federation ship stopping and asking him for clearance this time.
The higher ups in the Telorn system had already been informed of Alex''s ns of heading over here, so they had also naturally been warned not to hinder him like he had been when first entering the Shen Wu system.
"Set new destination: Eldaris."
Alex ordered his AI to change course when he passed through all of the federation''s defences.
He came to this system for one reason, and one reason only.
He wasn''t going to waste any time when Mira''s life could possibly be in danger, or maybe even worse…
After a short minute, Alex was already orbiting the huge green, but he wasn''t in the mood to go sightseeing.
He descended through the atmosphere immediately, heading towards Mira''sst known location.
It wasn''t exact, as it was only an approximate 500 kilometre radius rather than her exactnding spot, but it was better than having to scour the whole.