Chapter 964: Theme of the Times (Revised)

Chapter 964: The Theme of the Era (Revised)

Funded by numerous interstellar consortiums, the once desolate Shining World was now a hive of bustling activity.

Construction was underway across all three explored star clusters; planets were being terraformed with each passing day, and passing engineering vessels frequently appeared on the radar. The wide-band quantum channels were quite lively, and the formerly deserted Shining World was finally beginning to exude an atmosphere of integration with the interstellar community.

As was customary, Han Xiao's fleet entered the Shining World through the Empire's stargate. The officers at all levels of the Exploration Army were intimately familiar with him, granting his passage unimpeded.

Arriving at the Beacon Star outpost, Han Xiao exchanged greetings with Tarlkov, extorted some local specialties, and then directed his fleet to detour to the Goro Star Cluster to inspect his territory.

The Purple River Star System lay on the edge of the Goro Star Cluster and was the location of the entry stargate, which was precisely Han Xiao's domain. Thus, beside the Empire's military stargate, a new entry stargate station had been established, managed by the Black Star Legion.

Passing through the cerulean stargate and entering the Purple River Star System, they followed the star map's guidance, and soon, a planet leaped into view.

"Legion Commander, that is Black Gate Star, the portal planet closest to the entry stargate. According to the construction blueprint, it will be developed into a large-scale entry transit hub, becoming one of the landmark portals of the Goro Star Cluster, as well as a border planet of the Legion's territory."

Han Xiao stood with his hands clasped behind his back before the observation window of the command room, gazing at the colossal planet. Beside him stood a tall female secretarial officer, who was introducing the details to him.

Sylvia was rather busy, so she had dispatched one of her secretaries to accompany Han Xiao on the inspection. Han Xiao had some impression of this female secretary, recalling that her resume was quite outstanding and that she was a key cadre Sylvia relied upon.

"Mm, how is the construction progressing?" Han Xiao nodded.

"This planet previously utilized the Crimson Empire's planetary terraforming quick-pack. Building upon that, the logistics department has drafted a new blueprint, aiming for a hybrid of an interstellar metropolis, a military fortress, and a transportation hub. Since resource planets are currently the focus of construction, the surface terraforming of Black Gate Star is only 4.9% complete. The daily facilities are prepared to be powered primarily by nuclear fusion power stations, while the dark energy power stations are buried deep underground to primarily supply the military fortress in the future. However, as there are no natural stars nearby, additional energy is required to maintain a habitable climate and an artificial sun..."

Listening to the female secretary's meticulous report, Han Xiao suddenly recalled the mobile star blueprint from the Telxian mechanical inheritance.

When technology reaches a certain level, the constraints of environmental factors continuously diminish. It is no longer the individual that must adapt to the environment, but the environment that must adapt to the individual. Universe-level civilizations excel at this, each and every one of them being master decorators of the cosmos.

Although the Telxians were not the victors of the Exploration Era, they still belonged to a quasi-universe-level civilization, possessing profound expertise in environmental transformation.

'Perfect, I can use this mobile star device to renovate the territory and move the star to a suitable position,' Han Xiao mused to himself.

He always felt that this blueprint seemed to have an inexplicable and obscure connection to the [Universal Simulation] of the Divine Throne Mechanic.

Since his class change, the Great Technician Han had studied every new ability, yet he remained somewhat baffled by the exact function of [Universal Simulation]. This ability simulated all natural laws through mechanical technology, and in his view, it held extraordinary potential...

Perhaps the astonishing technology the three universal civilizations once used to alter the physical constants of their home star regions was also related to [Universal Simulation].

Seeing Han Xiao remain silent, the female secretary paused briefly before continuing, "There are very few people on Black Gate Star right now. Once the Shining World is opened to the public, Black Gate Star will become one of the most heavily trafficked landmark planets in the Goro Star Cluster. It will process massive volumes of tourists daily, bringing you highly considerable revenue. According to the finance department's statistics, it will take about six to eight years to recoup the costs of terraforming the planet."

"That's quite good." Han Xiao smiled.

The fleet slowly approached Black Gate Star, and the star map displayed the locations of multiple stargates, some leading to other star systems and others to different parts of the Purple River Star System.

Since the territory had been confirmed, the primary task for the Black Star Legion's construction was to build a stargate transportation network across the seven domains.

During the exploration period, the entire star cluster already had its own stargate transportation network, but those were long-distance stargates, forming the macro-framework of inter-cluster transit. What the Black Star Legion was doing was refining the stargate network within their own territory, adding more transit routes to ensure the seven star systems were seamlessly connected and thoroughly accessible.

Now, the preliminary framework of the territorial stargate transit was complete; from Black Gate Star, one could directly travel to multiple star systems, an efficiency far surpassing that of the first exploration phase.

With convenient transportation greatly saving travel time, Han Xiao led his fleet on a tour through the seven star systems, visiting all the construction zones.

This was his first time personally inspecting his territory.

"Purple River, Long Day, Sigma, Oudolan, Pansale, Fenrir, Edeni... these are now the foundations belonging to the Legion."

Seeing the vast expanse of the seven star systems with his own eyes, Han Xiao felt quite satisfied.

His blueprint intended to transform the seven star systems into the core and most prosperous region of the Goro Star Cluster, which would take decades. However, the requirement for the second ring quest of the [Shining World] was merely to complete the basic infrastructure of the seven star systems... For basic infrastructure, a few years were more than enough. With massive investments from numerous consortiums, the Legion's productivity was currently formidable.

Having completed a general inspection of the territory, Han Xiao traveled to the Sigma Star System in the center of the cluster to check the development progress of the Apostle Star mechanical civilization.

Blue light flickered in outer space as the fleet jumped in. A silver-gray planet leaped into view, its surface dominated by a vast expanse of mechanical structures that were strikingly conspicuous.

This was the first city built by the mechanical civilization, named Youzu City!

The city's surface was entirely transformed into machinery, while underground lay base-style excavation shafts that delved continuously into subterranean mineral veins, extracting various mineral resources.

Above ground towered numerous towering mechanical structures. Under the leadership of Youzu and other apostle weapons, over a hundred thousand first-generation mechanical lives had constructed armories, repair shops, power plants, refineries, incubation chambers, and other facilities, integrating a variety of mechanical technologies. Meanwhile, millions of second-generation mechanical lives were currently incubating, making the whole place look more like the embryonic form of a military base.

In the center of the city stood a colossal mechanical statue, exquisitely carved in his own likeness, remarkably lifelike.

Seeing this, Han Xiao felt somewhat helpless.

For some reason, people were always keen on erecting statues for him... Honestly, what was the point of building statues for me? It would be better to build one for Fodin; it might even grant a luck bonus.

The reproduction of mechanical lives was mass-produced, requiring the consumption of their own spark energy and subject to a cooldown period. Thus, the troop-spawning speed of the mechanical civilization increased exponentially; the larger the population, the faster the spawning.

The [Mechanical Spark Proliferation] and [Mechanical Civilization Enhancement] brought by the Divine Throne Mechanic had the effect of strengthening the reproductive power of mechanical lives. Han Xiao planned to stay here for a while to produce more first-generation mechanical lives.

The mechanical civilization led by Youzu was just getting off the ground, and the overall population was still small, but like a sparrow, though small, it possessed all the vital organs. Mechanical lives of various models and sizes were working at their respective posts, making the scene quite bustling.

Not far from the city, giant mechs hundreds to thousands of meters tall, leading a group of giant soldiers, were moving mountains and leveling a towering, barren ridge.

Without disturbing the others, Han Xiao individually linked to Youzu's quantum network frequency.

Soon, a beam of blue light shot up from the surface, arriving before the fleet in outer space. It was the First Apostle Youzu, draped in a mechanical robe and wielding a war spear.

"Greetings, Sovereign." Youzu bowed his head.

The airlock opened, and Han Xiao flew out, giving him a once-over with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Compared to their last meeting, Youzu had several new components attached to his body, seemingly installed by his own initiative, appearing to patch up some weaknesses.

This was the advantage of mechanical lives; they could proactively replace parts to enhance themselves.

"You've done well, keep up the good work."

Han Xiao offered a word of encouragement, immediately followed by a surging mass of blue-gold mechanical force ejecting from his palm, as he smiled and said:

"Consider this your reward."

With that, he flipped his hand and slammed the mass of mechanical force into Youzu's body. This was precisely the [Apostle Evolution] skill brought by the Divine Throne Mechanic.

In an instant, electric currents surged across Youzu's entire body, his internal spark energy expanding dramatically, and his internal mechanical structures undergoing a strengthening baptism.

Han Xiao watched from the side, and after a while, Youzu's evolution process slowly came to an end.

Experiencing the changes in his performance, he nodded toward Han Xiao:

"Thank you for the Sovereign's gift; my power has increased."

"No need to thank me, it is what you deserve. Just keep doing your job well."

Han Xiao waved his hand and casually opened his panel, taking a glance at Youzu's current attributes. [Apostle Evolution] had comprehensively enhanced Youzu's performance.

Apostle weapons were capable of participating in Super-A level combat, and with the enhancement of [Apostle Evolution], they could fight on more equal footing with ordinary Super-A classes under the boost of mechanical force, becoming increasingly capable of handling matters independently.

According to Han Xiao's calculations, the current Youzu should be able to single-handedly defeat an ordinary clone of the Otherworldly God before its evolution, provided the clone hadn't acquired any overly broken abilities.

After sending Youzu back, Han Xiao went for a stroll through the territory of the Black Spirit Race.

Compared to the rapid development of the mechanical civilization, the Black Spirit Race's progress appeared quite normal.

Although they possessed a highly efficient telepathic communication network, no matter how high the efficiency, learning itself required time. They were still slowly digesting the basic technological knowledge provided by the Legion and could not get on track just yet.

The Black Spirit Race itself was in an uncivilized and ignorant state. These technological concepts were far too complex and profound for them, requiring them to start learning from scratch.

Only after laying the foundation in various disciplines would the effects of the telepathic network gradually manifest, completing the sharing of knowledge across the entire race.

Once they got on track, the evolutionary speed of the Black Spirit Race would become incredibly fast. Within a decade to a few decades, they would rapidly leap across the Stone Age, Iron Age, Age of Enlightenment, Steam Age, Electrical Age, and other eras, entering the interstellar age.

Normally speaking, aside from mere survival, the greatest challenge for the natural development of a civilization was the constraint on productivity and technological progress, requiring countless years of exploration. However, with the intervention of the Black Star Legion, this was no problem at all. With the greatest hurdle resolved, their development would not slow down.

The tech tree Han Xiao equipped for the Black Spirit Race, aside from upgrading various technologies, also included methods for developing telepathic abilities.

The Black Spirit Race, possessing telepathic network capabilities, had innate supernatural potential, making them most suited to become telekinetics and mages. It was not out of the question that their awakening rate could reach a staggering 90% or more.

Of course, if anyone wished to change their class to the mechanical system, he would welcome them with open arms.

Yet the treaty among the three great civilizations, which restricted advanced civilizations from interfering in the developmental progress of lesser ones, was not without its rationale. To simply follow the path trodden by predecessors would only result in becoming exactly what others desired, inevitably stifling a race's capacity for innovation.

In this regard, Han Xiao had little recourse. To achieve rapid development without paying a price was simply too good to be true... but the Evolver's Totem could, to a certain extent, mitigate this dilemma.

The totem subtly optimized the race's genes, comprehensively elevating all metrics of the population, including intellect and innovative prowess. With the element of uncertainty introduced by the Evolver's Totem, it was entirely possible that the Black Spirit Race might produce those fleeting flashes of inspiration sufficient to propel history forward.

Though a civilization is a collective, there are times when the turning points of history are driven by great individuals. The existence of the Evolver's Totem increased the probability of such extraordinary figures emerging.

To make a species more excellent—this is the purpose of the Evolver's Totem, yet it is far from a pleasant notion. Delve deeper, and it reveals a reality that is profoundly despairing.

Suppose on a planet ruled by humanity, a new species emerged whose appearance defied human aesthetics, resembling a monster. Yet not only was its body stronger than a human's, its brain more developed, but its learning ability, logical reasoning, and every other attribute comprehensively surpassed that of humanity... By then, humans would no longer be qualified to call themselves the lords of creation. Their only remaining reliance would be the technology accumulated over the years, which would inevitably be surpassed...

It is better than you.

To coexist with it, to slaughter it, or to enslave it and strip it of its intellect—these became a harrowing choice.

The subjugation between species is drenched in blood, never once offering a shred of warmth.

And this is the terror of the Evolver's Totem, and the very reason the Shining Federation and the Virtual Spirit Church could not sit idly by while the Crimson Dynasty monopolized the totem... Fortunately, the universe-level civilizations were advanced enough to possess a certain degree of gene-modification technology, allowing them to curb their desire for armed conflict.

...

Capitalizing on the aftermath of the Manison incident, Han Xiao kept a low profile, ceasing his provocations everywhere. Following a long-established plan, he quietly began to expand the Mechanical Legion and develop his territory, steadily bolstering his foundational strength.

This was an inevitable stage for a Mechanic.

After securing his victory, Manison took no further action. He returned to the Old Star Sea and ceased his provocations against the Black Star Army.

As the two remained at peace and gradually faded into silence, the attention from various factions across the universe slowly waned, shifting their gaze away from Han Xiao.

The first phase of exploration had concluded, and the Shining World was in its construction period. Countless factions were observing the situation, and thus, the explored universe entered a tranquil and stable period.

Occasional skirmishes broke out in different regions, but civilizations at the star cluster level and above refrained from any intense conflicts. It was as if a tacit understanding compelled them to choose recuperation.

Meanwhile, the suppression and coercion exerted by the Shining Federation and the Virtual Spirit Church upon the Crimson Dynasty continued across multiple domains—economic, political, and livelihood. Though friction was frequent, the situation remained within the control of the three parties.

The Crimson Dynasty bore considerable pressure yet persisted, and internally, voices calling for the opening of totem purchasing rights gradually emerged, though they remained faint.

If one were to assign a theme to this era, it would be Exploration and Expansion.

This was not merely the development of a single civilization; a new star region was being incorporated into the map of the explored universe. Its significance was akin to the discovery of a new continent, enough to reshape the world's landscape and intimately tied to the future of all.

Although there were frictions over the distribution of interests, the entire universe recognized this theme of the era, awaiting the moment the melody struck to harmonize with it.

Influenced by this atmosphere, even the Super-A-Class chose to remain silent. The clash between Han Xiao and the Mechanic Emperor became the last recorded duel between Super-A-Class entities before this stable period.

In this subtle environment where everyone harbored their own calculations, time slipped away quietly.

??????????

Star Sea Calendar, January 17, Year 716.

The Shining World, Black Gate Planet.

The deep blue entry stargate spun rapidly, its vortex center suddenly spitting out a streak of light, revealing the silhouette of a medium-sized starship.

Inside the cabin, a large crowd of young people in diverse attire crowded around the viewing window, curiously staring at Black Gate Planet in the distance, chattering excitedly.

So this is the Black Star Legion's territory? We've finally arrived!

I heard Black Star has been staying in the Shining World. It seems it's been five years since we last heard any news about him.

Yeah, yeah, do you think we'll get to see Black Star himself this trip?

I wonder if he's the same style as Principal Laki...

Shut up! Don't utter that forbidden name!

One person clutched his head in agony and collapsed, his entire body convulsing as if seized by an epileptic fit.

Ouch, someone come help! His post-traumatic stress disorder is flaring up!

The surrounding people immediately scrambled in a flurry to administer first aid. Everyone watched as this unfortunate soul, afflicted with Laki PTSD, was carried away, unable to help but display expressions of solemn grief for a fallen comrade.

Sigh, another one down.

Standing at the edge of the crowd were a few young people whose aura set them apart. Witnessing this scene, a young man about one point seven meters tall couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Isn't that a bit exaggerated? I don't think the principal is that terrifying...

The pretty girl beside him, half a head taller, rolled her eyes. Of course it's fine for you. Why don't you think about the immense psychological blow the students with poor grades would suffer?

Really? I always thought everyone really liked the principal...

The young man scratched his head, muttering to himself.

This young man was human, around sixteen or seventeen years old, but his appearance made him look much younger. With delicate features, red lips, and white teeth, he resembled an elementary school student who hadn't grown up yet. His build was well-proportioned, and he wore a black and silver legion uniform, the Black Star Legion's emblem emblazoned on his chest.

The female beside him was strikingly pretty, brimming with vitality and robust health. She had healthy wheat-colored skin and a fiery figure, clad in a tight-fitting martial artist's outfit, and seemed quite close to the young man.

Just then, the captain walked over and patted the young man's shoulder, saying:

The garrison forces have sent a communication. You answer it, to save us the trouble.

The young man nodded, pressed a few buttons on the cabin wall beside him, and a virtual screen popped up. On the screen was the fleet commander guarding Black Gate Planet, his expression solemn as he spoke in a deep voice:

What department are you from? I haven't received any internal transit applications.

Had it not been for the Black Star emblem on the ship, the garrison fleet commander might have moved to seize the vessel right then and there.

We are the first batch of graduates from the Black Star Super Academy on Aqua Blue Planet. According to the academy's rules, graduates can choose to join the training camp or serve the legion for two to three years to earn the opportunity for further studies. We are here to participate in the legion's work. If you haven't received the internal information, it must have been an oversight.

Hold on, let me check. The garrison fleet commander frowned and searched for a moment, then his brows relaxed. Hmm, there is indeed a special application, but you're far too late. You've exceeded the agreed time by a long shot.

Sorry about that. It's our first time in the Shining World. We visited some places along the way, which might have delayed our itinerary. You can check the ship's logs.

The garrison fleet commander fiddled with it for a moment and nodded. Alright, the ship's clearance is fine. You may proceed.

Great, thanks... Oh, by the way, could you do me a small favor and tell the Legion Commander I'm here?

Hearing this, the garrison fleet commander looked utterly bewildered.

That's quite a bold tone. What kind of background does he have?

He scrutinized the young man carefully, yet inexplicably found him somewhat familiar, and couldn't help but ask in confusion:

Who are you? What's your relationship with the Legion Commander?

I'm Nilo. Black Star is my godfather.

Nilo grinned, his white teeth flashing with a dazzling glint as if they had chimed.

This time, I'm here to give him a surprise!