Infinite Stream Metaverse

Chapter 783 Sith Relics
Imperial military base, canteen.

"I suddenly thought of a question."

Fu Qinghai chatted casually while eating the barbecue:
Who is currently the highest-ranking administrative official on Sereno?

"Although the Sereno family has become history, the title of 'Earl of Sereno' has been retained."

Eli Nelli patiently began to explain:

"The highest administrative official of Sereno is the current Earl of Sereno, Norman Jon Sawyer. After the establishment of the Empire, His Majesty the Emperor invited the former separatist councilors to return to the Imperial Council, and the representative sent by Sereno was Earl Sereno, who also serves as the current highest administrative official of the planet."

"Oh."

Fu Qinghai nodded and swallowed the roasted meat in his mouth.

"But we've already stationed troops here."

Fu Qinghai looked at Eli and asked meaningfully:
"Haven't you considered replacing him with a governor?"

"Haha, you have a pretty high level of political acumen."

Eli Nelli chuckled upon hearing this, then glanced to his left and right before leaning closer to Fu Qinghai and whispering:
"Rumor has it that the Empire is considering sending a governor to this star system. I overheard this in Colonel Walpole's office, and there are some rumors circulating within the base as well. In any case, given Sereno's current situation, there seems to be no resistance from above if they want to send a governor to replace the councilor."

"Ah~"

Fu Qinghai nodded knowingly.

The Galactic Republic operates under a political system similar to a federation. Each member planet sends a representative to form the Galactic Council, which is responsible for legislation, diplomacy, and major decisions. At the same time, each member planet retains autonomy in its internal affairs and can form its own army (such as the Naboo Royal Guard).

Because of their autonomy in internal affairs, it doesn't matter what kind of political system each planet implements. You can be Queen Naboo (Padmé), you can be Prince Audram (Ogana), you can be Count Sereno (Dooku)... In any case, at the level of the Republic, the political identity is that of a member of parliament.

After the founding of the Galactic Empire, due to its newly established and unstable foundation, Palpatine made certain compromises. He retained the Galactic Council and renamed it the "Imperial Council." The former member planets of the Republic, especially the more powerful ones in the core region, retained a degree of autonomy. At the same time, Palpatine demonstrated a tolerant and magnanimous attitude after the war, calling on former separatist councilors to return to the Council so that everyone could sit down again for peaceful negotiations.

The Emperor's compromising stance gave some members of parliament, such as Mon Mothma, a false sense of security. They believed that they could pressure the Emperor by uniting the majority of members in the Imperial Diet, without their own army, thereby strengthening the power of the Imperial Diet and turning the Galactic Empire into a constitutional monarchy through parliamentary struggle. They thought that Palpatine would become a figurehead monarch, and the Galactic Empire would ultimately revert to an old republic in a different guise.

But this was clearly just a delaying tactic by the emperor.

Once the Galactic Empire was firmly established and its military was complete, Palpatine introduced the governorship system, gradually replacing Imperial Councilors with Imperial Governors on less important planets in a slow and gradual manner.

The biggest difference between a governor and a member of parliament is:
The governor-general was appointed directly by the central government.

The councilors are elected by each planet itself.

It's somewhat similar to the difference between a governor and a prime minister.

A governor is first and foremost an elected official. Fu Qinghai's people achieved centralized power thousands of years ago and are very accustomed to the central government directly appointing local officials, but the term "elected official" may still be somewhat unfamiliar to them.

Of course, Imperial councilors are not necessarily elected by the people of each planet. They may obtain the position through hereditary succession or other means. The specific situation depends on the political system of each planet. But in the end, they are not directly appointed by the central government but are created by themselves.

Strictly speaking, the members of the Galactic Council are a combination of governor, senator, and representative. On the one hand, they have to manage their own planet, and on the other hand, they have to enter the council to participate in discussions on major decisions concerning the entire galaxy.

Similarly, strictly speaking, although both the Governor and the Governor-General were directly appointed by the central government, the Governor-General did not have as much power as the Governor-General. The Governor-General was merely a local administrative official, while the Governor-General held both military and political power. The Governor-General = Governor-General + Military Region Commander.

Palpatine's gradual replacement of the planets' elected representatives with governors appointed by him was a typical example of strengthening central authority and a sign that the Galactic Empire was gradually moving from authoritarianism to totalitarianism.

Then came the complete dissolution of the Imperial Diet, and those opposition Imperial members either fled or were arrested.

Of course, long before Palpatine officially dissolved the Imperial Diet, the institution had already degenerated into a voting machine that only knew how to sing praises and cast approval votes, a veritable rubber stamp, and whether it was dissolved or not made little difference.

Fu Qinghai wasn't quite sure what stage the situation had reached, but that was roughly the general picture.

"Shall we go then?"

After Fu Qinghai finished eating the food piled high on his plate, he noticed that Eli's plate was also empty, so he asked.

"Well, let's go."

Eli Nelli nodded and stood up.

The two arrived at the vehicle depot outside the base. Lieutenant Eli selected a military landship, opened the door, got in, and started the engine. Fu Qinghai also got into the passenger seat.

After a brief check by the guards at the gate, the two left the military base in a land-based boat, passed through the forest outside the base, and drove along the main road towards the city.

……

The Sereno Archives, on the outskirts of the city.

The military land-based boat stopped in front of the archives.

Today is Fu Qinghai's day off, and he has arranged to visit the Sereno Archives with Eli Nelli.

Fu Qinghai and Lieutenant Eli disembarked from the landship and looked up at the tall, elegant, and solemn old building before them. The archives had the kind of classicism characteristic of Sereno, with its soaring spires and ornate windowpanes, and green glass forming an intricate floral pattern.

"The coat of arms of the Sereno family."

Lieutenant Eli pointed to the floral pattern and said.

As the two stepped onto the steps of the main entrance, they could see that the Sereno Archives was nearly abandoned. Weeds grew in the cracks between the steps, a thick layer of dust covered the glass window panes, and the wooden eaves and door frames were covered with dense cracks, indicating that it had been neglected and unmaintained for many years.

The two arrived at the entrance of the archives and saw two seals crossed on the thick and heavy metal and wood composite door, with the logo of the Imperial Security Bureau printed on the seals.

"We went in through a small door on the side."

Eli grinned somewhat awkwardly.

The two walked halfway around the outer wall of the archives and found a wall with one corner collapsed. Bricks and beams were piled up together. Lieutenant Eli lifted a door panel covering the pile of bricks, revealing a narrow opening.

So this is what they call the "small door".

The two crawled through the hole into the archives.

The archive was pitch black. Lieutenant Eli turned on his flashlight and held it above his head. A white light illuminated the dusty, cobweb-covered scene, the collapsed bookshelves, the dusty ladder, and the books and papers scattered all over the floor.

The two entered the archive, walking among rows of enormous bookshelves. Fu Qinghai's gaze swept across the spines of the books; he only needed a sliver of light to see the details within. In this digital age, the preservation of printed books is itself proof of the archive's antiquity.

"If you're here looking for 'Dooku's war funds' as well, you're probably going to be disappointed."

Eli Nelli, who was walking ahead, spoke first.

"Dooku's war funds? What's that?"

Fu Qinghai looked at him and asked, puzzled.

“In the early days of the Empire, there was a rumor on Sereno that Count Dooku had raised a large amount of funds to launch the war, and one of them was hidden in Sereno. Before the Confederate army was able to spend all of this money, the Confederate army was defeated. Some bounty hunters came to Sereno because of this, hoping to find this legendary ‘Count Dooku’s war funds’.”

Eli Nelli explained slowly.

"Oh? Did they find it later?"

Fu Qinghai asked with great interest.

“There is indeed such a sum of war funds, but it wasn’t found by the bounty hunters. Instead, it was found by the Imperial Security Bureau. It’s said that it took thousands of shipping containers of credits. You saw the seals on the door, right? The Imperial Security Bureau’s first search was of this archive. They turned it upside down and searched every inch of it in order to find ‘Count Dooku’s war funds.’”

Eli Nelli nodded and said.

"I see."

Fu Qinghai nodded slightly to indicate that he understood.

This plot clearly references the story of the Allied forces searching for Nazi treasures throughout Europe after World War II. It is said that Hitler and other Nazi leaders hid some of the gold and silver treasures they plundered during their invasion of Europe in these secret vaults.

"So all the books and materials in the archives have been read through countless times by the people from the Imperial Security Bureau, making it almost impossible to find any clues to the treasure."

Eli Nelli shrugged.

"Haha, maybe."

Fu Qinghai smiled indifferently.

He didn't come for the treasure.

His real purpose was to find Sith relics.

……

Fu Qinghai’s understanding of Sith relics came from the book “The Book of the Sith” collected and compiled by Lauster.

Before Darth Bane established and implemented the Law of Two, there were actually quite a few Sith warriors in the galaxy. Various organizations, including the Sith Order and the Sith Brotherhood, existed, and a vast empire that implemented the caste system was once established—the Sith Empire.

As a result, many Sith relics have been passed down, including various weapons, sculptures, scrolls, amulets, and holographic recorders. The vast majority of these were confiscated or destroyed by the Jedi, with only a few circulating on the black market and becoming treasured collections for some antique collectors.

Where in the entire Milky Way are the most Sith relics found?
Of course, the Jedi Temple has the most.

The warehouses of the Coruscant Jedi Temple house a large number of Sith relics. This was partly due to the Jedi's passion for knowledge, which led them to study these relics, and partly for safekeeping, to prevent the dark side of certain powerful Sith relics from affecting ordinary people in the vicinity.

The most common Sith relics are Sith weapons, including traditional swords, various exotic weapons, and some throwing knives and other concealed weapons. These metal cold weapons, made using Sith alchemy, are incredibly sharp and durable. They can not only withstand energy beams, but some can even withstand lightsabers, and they can also be preserved for thousands of years without decaying or aging.

According to Fu Qinghai's understanding and conjecture, the essence of Sith weapons is to use the Force to change the internal lattice arrangement of metals, thereby changing the properties of the metal materials and making ordinary metals hard, sharp, or corrosion-resistant and oxidation-resistant. Sith alchemy is similar to a Force material processing method.

After its invention, the lightsaber gradually replaced the melee weapons commonly used by Jedi and Sith warriors, becoming an iconic weapon. Only some more primitive and outdated Force training groups, such as the Night Sisters, still use traditional melee weapons enchanted with the Force.

However, in the early days of the lightsaber, many Sith warriors still insisted on using Sith weapons because they liked the tactile feedback of a physical weapon piercing flesh.

The Night Sisters possess two types of amulets: the Resurrection Amulet and the Shapeshifting Amulet. Sith amulets are even more numerous, including: creating shields, healing wounds, translating languages, creating illusions, enhancing combat instincts, strengthening muscles…

According to the Book of the Sith, there is a peculiar Sith amulet called Sith Abata, which can be seen as a Force version of a translator and voice changer. It can automatically translate any language and text, while changing the wearer's voice.

A Sith Lord who wears a Sith Abata with built-in translation and voice-changing capabilities, along with a Vision Amulet that can create illusions and alter appearance, can easily blend into any alien society without being detected.

Furthermore, Lauster specifically mentioned in "The Book of the Sith" that some Sith Lords were very cunning. They knew that some Jedi Knights never believed that the Sith had been completely exterminated and had been tirelessly searching for clues related to the Sith for thousands of years. So they deliberately created fake Sith artifacts to flood the black market, such as spreading false information in holographic projectors to mislead the Jedi Knights.

In other words, there are fake Sith artifacts, and these fakes are also made with the Force. When searching for Sith artifacts, one must be careful to distinguish them, otherwise one may be misled by false information deliberately released by some Sith Lords.

For Fu Qinghai, the Sith relics he most desired were books or scrolls that recorded Force skills. Next were amulets, which could be considered Force items with special functions. As for Sith weapons, they were rather useless to him, since he already possessed his own lightsaber.

Fu Qinghai and Eli Nelli wandered aimlessly through the empty, quiet, and dark archives, stopping every now and then to casually flip through an old book.

Lieutenant Eli walked ahead, with Fu Qinghai following behind. As they walked, Fu Qinghai stopped, bent down to pick up an ancient book, dusted off the cover, opened it with one hand, and began to read it carefully, using a flashlight to illuminate the contents.

Eli Nelli sensed no one behind him, turned around to look at Fu Qinghai, and saw that he was engrossed in reading a book, so he didn't disturb him and continued walking forward.

After Lieutenant Eli turned and left.

Fu Qinghai gently closed his eyes.

Why does Fu Qinghai believe that the Sereno local archives may contain Sith artifacts? There are two reasons:
Firstly, Eli Nelli mentioned in the chat that the archives recorded the Serennos' resistance against the Sith Empire's tyranny, indicating that this planet belonged to the Sith Empire thousands of years ago, which would likely mean that some Sith relics have been passed down.

Secondly, Sereno is Count Dooku's hometown, and Count Dooku himself is a Sith Lord, known as "Darth Teranas," and was a disciple of Darth Sidious. Count Dooku himself is very likely to have collected some Sith relics.

As for why Fu Qinghai still wanted to come in and inspect the entire Serenno Archives even though the Imperial Security Bureau had already thoroughly examined it, the reason is quite simple—just as a wand is just a strangely shaped chopstick to a Muggle, these Force artifacts, like Sith relics, have nothing unusual about their appearance to those who are not sensitive to the Force. They might easily mistake them for ordinary antiques and overlook them. Only those with Force sensitivity can perceive the Force fluctuations contained within these items.

Fu Qinghai certainly wasn't going to be foolish enough to flip through each one one by one; at this moment, he was fully activating his Force perception.

His senses, like tentacles and tides, flowed and spread along every book on every shelf in the archives. Every word on the pages floated and appeared in his mind, and was then analyzed word by word by the Mordor's Brain.

However, to his disappointment, he had scanned all the books in the entire archive with his Force perception and still found no content related to the Force, nor did he sense any Force fluctuations.

Fu Qinghai slowly opened his eyes.

When the Imperial Security Bureau investigated the entire archives, the Imperial Inquisition may have been involved. Imperial Inquisitors are also Force-sensitive, so they could have discovered the Sith relics that might exist in the archives... Fu Qinghai thought to himself.

However, Fu Qinghai was still unwilling to give up. The interior of the Sereno Archives was very large, and his Force perception range was not enough to completely cover the entire building. He changed positions several times, closed his eyes again, and activated his Force perception, trying to find some clues. In the end, he still found nothing.

Until Fu Qinghai's perception stubbornly spread downwards, like a ladle of water splashed into the soil, passing through the cracks in the stone floor, through the foundation of the archives, and touching the space seven meters deep beneath his feet, finally, he clearly and distinctly felt a trace of primal force fluctuation.

"It was buried under the floorboards."

Fu Qinghai opened his eyes again.

"I've finished reading, Eli, let's go."

Fu Qinghai looked at Lieutenant Eli and spoke.

"Hmm, any interesting discoveries?"

Lieutenant Eli looked up and asked.

Fu Qinghai pursed his lips and shook his head:
"It's not quite what I imagined. It's a bit... boring. I probably won't come here a second time."

"Haha, well, I'm sorry to disappoint you."

Lieutenant Eli smiled and didn't seem to mind.

The two followed the path they had taken, found the broken and collapsed corner of the wall, and crawled out of the archives through the hole.

…………

Imperial military base, hangar.

"Starting today, we will switch to single-player mode for our daily patrols and try it out for a while to see what the difference is."

Fu Qinghai, holding his helmet to his side, gave instructions to the other five members of the Blade Squad as he walked.

"Okay, boss."

The team members readily agreed. They didn't even ask why the daily patrol crew routine needed to be changed; unconditionally following Fu Qinghai's orders had become a habit.

TIE fighter jets are accustomed to winning through numbers and coordination. Even for routine patrol missions, according to the training manual, they usually form a two-aircraft team with one captain and one wingman.

"Same as always, I'll be here on the first day."

As Fu Qinghai spoke, he stepped onto the gangway with a "thump thump thump".

……

A TIE fighter jet quickly rushed out of the hangar door.

Fu Qinghai piloted the fighter jet and flew around the city several times before arriving near the Sereno Archives. He observed the surrounding environment, found a clearing in the woods, and steadily landed the fighter jet on the grass.

Fu Qinghai opened the cabin door and jumped out. He took three steps at a time and quickly ran to the corner behind the archives. He lifted the door panel, found the hole, and quickly ducked inside.

Fu Qinghai arrived at that familiar spot.

To avoid attracting the base's attention, he didn't bring any digging tools like shovels or spades. Fu Qinghai looked around but didn't have any suitable tools, so he simply stomped his foot hard on the floor. With a loud bang, the thick stone floor cracked, and a ring of cracks spread out from the center, while the edges of the floorboards curled upwards.

Fu Qinghai bent down, picked up and lifted the broken floorboards, took a larger piece as a shovel, and dug into the solid soil... Although the tool was not very handy, his digging speed was not slow at all. He splashed clumps of soil in all directions, piling them into a mound. Soon, a deep hole appeared under Fu Qinghai's feet.

Fu Qinghai took out a box from inside.

The surface of the black metal box was severely rusted.

The lock on the box fell off at the slightest touch. Fu Qinghai held his breath and slowly opened the lid, using the light from his flashlight to look at the object quietly placed inside.

A metal helmet with a slightly odd shape.

The dark gold helmet surface was mottled and covered with tiny dents. The eyepiece was narrow, almost a slit, and the "mouth" area had two rings of black gears, like an exaggeratedly wide mouth stretched to the ears, exuding a sense of eeriness and terror.

Fu Qinghai picked up the helmet and examined it from all angles. His fingers touched the inner edge of the bottom of the helmet and found some unevenness. Upon closer inspection, he saw a line of small characters engraved there.

"Kemir."

This is a line of Oribes letters. Fu Qinghai softly pronounced the word based on the grammar of the basic language.

"It sounds like a person's name. Who is it?"

Fu Qinghai examined the helmet and muttered to himself.

In Fu Qinghai's memory, many Sith Lords were accustomed to concealing their true faces with helmets or masks, such as Darth Momin, Darth Raven, Darth Kret, Darth Nyarlathotep, and Daskar Grosh. Not to mention that several of these Sith Lords belonged to the Legendary Universe, none of the helmets they wore matched this description.

If a Sith relic is a helmet or mask, then it is somewhat dangerous. As mentioned earlier, for a Sith spirit to exist for a long time, it must attach itself to an object. Helmets or masks worn by Sith Lords in their lifetime are the most common objects for attachment. Wearing such an object rashly could very likely lead to possession by a powerful ancient Sith Lord.

Darth Momin is the most typical example.

His Sith spirit resides inside the mask.

However, Fu Qinghai was not only a Jedi Knight, but also a member of the Night Sisters. The Night Sisters, a Force faction, were most skilled in soul magic, and sensing and communicating with souls were their most basic introductory abilities—Fu Qinghai did not sense any soul within this helmet.

Fu Qinghai repeatedly confirmed this fact.

"In that case..."

Fu Qinghai made a decision in his heart.

The quickest way to understand a Force artifact is to use it. Now that he was the only person in the entire archive, it was the best time and place to study this Sith relic. Without much hesitation, Fu Qinghai picked up the helmet and put it on his head.

Suddenly, everything in front of my eyes became pitch black.

The helmet visor appears to be opaque.

Fu Qinghai stood quietly in place.

I felt as if I were standing in an endless void.

Suddenly, Fu Qinghai realized that he was not just blind! After putting on the helmet, he instantly lost all his senses. He could not see, hear, smell, or taste anything... The entire world turned into a void, silent emptiness, formless, soundless, colorless, and tasteless, leaving only himself.

And... the Force.

…………