The Martial Unity

The Shepherd was quite excited about permanently leaving her mark on the expansion of human civilization into the cosmos. After all, all that time she had spent studying human civilization and its development and growth would be useless if it couldn’t be applied at some point. Of course, she didn’t strictly study and research anthropology for the sake of applying it someday; the very field itself was one that she enjoyed greatly. However, when presented with an opportunity to make all her work feel truly meaningful, she was not one to abandon the opportunity. The whole matter about the expansion of human civilization into the cosmos was one that was deeply exciting to her. After all, it would give her even more research material.

What kind of civilization would humanity be once it had multiple worlds and had spread across many stars? How would the sociology change? How would the psychology change? How would the economy develop? How would genetics diverge?

These were all questions that she didn’t have any data for because human civilization had never expanded to another world. She had a feeling that the answers would be truly fascinating and would help her understand the essence of humanity.

Thus, she had every incentive to help Rui achieve his crazy goal of conquering ten thousand stars in ten years. Ordinarily, such a goal would be impossible, even with her cleverness.

However, when she beheld Rui before her, she couldn’t help but feel that he would be able to achieve it if he truly put his mind to it. She had been among the immortal sages who had never maintained a relationship with the Martial Transcendents, and thus had never actually been in the presence of one.

She had heard from the Psycher, who had tutored one, about how their might was beyond all fathoming and eluded the laws of reality. It was a notion that she had always dismissed as hyperbole nonsense.

Until she found herself standing in the presence of one.

Indeed, she finally understood as she gazed into the depths of Rui’s ethereal eyes.

She could feel the Transcendent power behind them. The power to bend reality to his will. Even in his mere presence, she could feel everything unraveling. As if the very laws of reality binding the universe began to waver like they were images on the surface of a lake of water.

As if he could dispel effortlessly. As if it took him all of his effort and restraint not to.

It was a quiet, yet unfathomably extraordinary power that didn’t shake the earth or quake the heavens, but instead subjugated the very reality she existed within.

That was why she was convinced.

If anybody could lead a civilization to conquer ten thousand stars in ten years, it would be none other than Rui Quarrier.

“Go on.” The cadence of the Emperor’s voice was a calm composure. “Share with me your vision for the future of human civilization through the stars.”

His ethereal eyes bore deep into the depths of hers. His Transcendent gaze sees right through her, making her feel transparent and naked in the face of his piercing eyes.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she spoke with respect. “The key to understanding here is that we have enough people in our world and enough raw resources to easily conquer ten thousand stars in ten years. After all, think about it.”

She smiled confidently. “The Panama Continent alone has hundreds of billions of people on it; the same is true for the other continent. We have many brilliant minds who can now self-actualize and realize the full extent of their intellectual potential because our literacy rates have risen greatly in the past six years since your ascendancy as the Emperor.”

She wasn’t simply flattering him. This was simply true; the fact of the matter was that with the clampdown of Martial violence and destruction, capital began flowing across the Panama Continent and across the true world to invest in infrastructure and other development projects in the continent.

Investment into brand-new enterprises pursuing brand-new business models had risen tremendously across the entire continent, causing a demand for skilled labor to rise precipitously, which caused a corresponding demand for education to also rise. With the help of the Beggar’s Sect, which, while still not having forgiven Rui for his little coup detat of the immortal sages, the Panama Continent’s literacy has risen greatly.

“What’s your point regarding that, exactly?” Rui raised an eyebrow. “What does this have to do with conquering ten thousand stars in ten years?”

She smiled at him knowingly. “I’m saying that we have enough human capital and human resources to make such a thing possible. With the minds at our disposal. As long as you harness them properly, you will be able to create a wave of innovation that can greatly accelerate our expansion across the cosmos.”

It wasn’t just the people of the Panama Continent; it was also the people of the other races and other civilizations. They, too, had great human capital and resources.

“It isn’t just about people, but also material resources,” Director Brenner added, trying to offer pushback before the Emperor fell into the eccentric immortal sage’s charms.

“We have an even greater abundance of resources,” she huffed. “The reality is that we have a massive asteroid belt even in our own solar system that hasn’t been fully tapped into by the true world. There are other planets that have been fully extracted of all their mining value. Not to mention…”

Her smile widened. “With every star system and solar system that we conquer, we get access to more and more resources that we can use to expand even further. Thus, we possess both the human and the material resources to theoretically conquer ten thousand stars in ten years. That is what I’m trying to say. The reason this is considered impossible isn’t because of some absolute limit. But rather because harnessing all of these to create an accelerated push into the cosmos is extremely difficult.”

Rui fell into thought as a glint of intrigue emerged in the depths of his ethereal eyes.

“Go on.”