The formation tower itself had no issues; only Tang Shi was damaged during the initial wormhole activation.
Therefore, after replacing Tang Shi, the second activation could commence soon.
This time, Fang Er had made thorough preparations, specifically borrowing the Emperor-class mothership from Wei Zhien Tian.
After all, no one knew where the next wormhole would open, or how far it would be from Atali Prime.
Relying solely on the speed of the Eternal Storm-class spaceship, if the distance were too great, returning might take an eternity.
Of course, this was not a free loan.
For it, he paid the price of three thousand Japanese women, for a rental period of ten Atali days.
The next day, the formation activated again.
However, this time Wang Xuance and the others adamantly refused to let Fang Er enter the wormhole alone.
In their words, if anything unexpected were to happen, they would rather die together with Fang Er than remain behind and face Chai Yue and Li Shimin.
Unable to refuse them, Fang Er decided to bring Wang Xuance and Zhuzi along.
As they passed through the wormhole, they discovered that the destination was once again random.
And it was even farther than Ear Star from the previous time!
Even with the Emperor-class mothership for transport, and its speed infinitely close to light speed, returning to Atali Prime still took nearly 30 hours!
This meant that the location on the other side of the wormhole this time was a staggering distance of over 30 million kilometers from Atali Prime!
Although the wormhole still opened randomly, Fang Er noticed a subtle difference from the two landing points!
The place they reached this time was labeled Shannan Star on the star charts of the Kuangpai Star Pirates.
The name Shannan Star was not the key point.
The crucial detail was that Shannan Star, Ear Star, and Atali Prime were all situated on the same straight line!
This discovery led Fang Er to believe that the random teleportation array created by Yuan Tiangang might not be entirely random after all!
The third experiment!
The fourth experiment!
After a total of nearly half a year of testing, calculated by Earth time, they arrived at a result that greatly excited everyone!
Fang Er's hypothesis was confirmed. Looking at the red dots marked on the star chart before him, these represented the various locations they had visited during the experiments!
Ear Star was the closest point.
And the farthest point was over 500 million kilometers away!
But, without exception, all these locations were on the same straight line!
And the starting point of the line was the formation tower created by Yuan Tiangang!
Li Tai pointed at the star chart, excitedly slapping his thigh.
"Mountain Master, if that's the case, this formation tower is incredibly useful!"
He had arrived midway, escorting Tang Shi. Upon learning that Fang Er and Yuan Tiangang were working on a teleportation array, he decided to stay.
Fang Er smiled at him without speaking.
Li Tai, being perceptive, continued, "Mountain Master, look!"
"The size of this formation array is not large!"
"Based on the conclusions from these numerous experiments, the direction of the wormhole opened by the formation can be controlled. Furthermore, by adjusting the input energy, the distance can also be regulated!"
"Although the accuracy is only within about 100,000 kilometers, in the vastness of space, that is more than enough!"
"I wonder what the effect would be if this formation array were to be transferred onto a spaceship."
Seeing that he had expressed his thoughts, Fang Er gave him a thumbs-up.
"Drawing inferences from one instance, excellent!"
"Indeed, I had the same thought!"
"As you say, if this formation array is installed at the bow of the spaceship, its cruising speed will be greatly enhanced!"
"It could even achieve instantaneous movement within 500 million kilometers!"
500 million kilometers was the farthest distance the formation tower could reach.
During that particular experiment, it took three hours just to charge the formation!
But with the speed of an Emperor-class spaceship, three hours would only cover about 3 million kilometers!
Most critically, the energy consumption of an Emperor-class spaceship was immense, costing 100,000 Immortal Coins per hour of flight!
However, using the formation tower to open a wormhole to a distance of 3 million kilometers cost less than 10,000 Immortal Coins!
Suddenly, a term flashed through Fang Er's mind!
Space Jump!
This was a term from science fiction novels, achievable only by spaceships equipped with warp drives!
And now, if his and Li Tai's ideas could be validated, then, in a sense, this formation tower could fully replicate the function of a warp drive!
The others nearby listened with confusion, completely failing to grasp Li Tai's point.
But Fang Er could not afford to hesitate, and immediately issued the order.
Install the formation tower on the spaceship!
Install it at the bow!
Yuan Tiangang was very pleased; his formation array was not useless, and that was enough.
Instantaneous movement was a legendary divine ability of Daoism!
And now, he had achieved it with his formation array!
This accomplishment was enough for him to boast about for a lifetime!
He decided that after the spaceship modification was complete, he would return to the Great Tang and have people accompany him to visit various dynasties, spreading his glorious deeds.
The spaceship modification process was slow, as it involved structural issues.
After assigning the task, Fang Er was not idle. He called upon Wei Zhien Tian and Jin Wutu An, and once again went to the interstellar black market.
This time, he intended to purchase an Emperor-class mothership!
Only an Emperor-class mothership could be worthy of housing the formation tower!
After all, a single Emperor-class mothership could carry ten Eternal Storm-class warships, plus thousands of Spore-class ships!
One mothership was equivalent to a fleet!