The Martial Unity

“Commencing military base development.”

With a single press of a button, the pods that had been sent to the pathwalkers unfolded as they began to seemingly melt. They began to melt as the nanotechnology that composed them disassembled, spreading the gray ground around them as it began analyzing the composition of the gray soil, before taking action.

VMMM

Some nanomachines began digging in the soil, extracting grains of gray sand that contained the necessary elements that could be used for the construction of infrastructure at a very rapid pace.

Another group of nanomachines began to form refinery plants that began processing the raw ores that the other nanomachines planted into them, leading them to generate the processed metals and other substances needed to build the desired infrastructure.

The gathered pathwalkers watched with amazement as the nanotechnology began forming the outer perimeters and the structural scaffolding of the highly simple, crude, and makeshift military base that they were going to establish there within twenty-four hours.

The infrastructure that was prioritized was housing quarters and defense, since the pathwalkers, especially the Martial Artists, needed to get rest if they were going to be able to protect the base to a sustained extent.

“Whoa… so that’s how they do that,” Runark knelt as he watched the nanobots do their thing with his microscopic vision. “They’re so amazing!”

“Rapid terrestrial developmental technology is a massive sector precisely because of operations like these,” Misha replied with a knowing tone of voice as her cybernetic eyes sharpened with interest, studying the nanotechnology. “Since human civilization is constantly expanding, we constantly use it. It’s not an exaggeration to say that we wouldn’t have conquered ten thousand stars in thirteen years if not for this technology.”

“Ten thousand stars in thirteen years,” Sternon muttered as he too took his gaze off the perimeter. “You know, it’s crazy when you put it like that. That just sounds…I don’t know, utterly impossible.”

Ria bit her lips. She resisted the urge to say ‘papa wanted it done in ten,’ since that would obviously give her true identity away. She didn’t know why her father was so mad about expansionism, but she didn’t mind it since it created the frontier where she could live her own life and be her own person instead of being her own person.

However, she hadn’t ever thought about the logistics of it all. Ten thousand stars were a lot of stars. It meant tens of thousands of planets, which had been taken over by human civilization for the most part. How was that possible? How did human civilization expand that fast in just the span of thirteen years?

“It’s not possible,” Misha remarked knowingly. “Not unless human civilization had become an expansion machine driven by endless greed and ambition. The irresistable allure of near-absolute liberty, sovereignty, and power in the stars was what ultimately thrust our civilization into expanding across the entirety of the cosmos. That and some special boosts here and there. The Emperor of Water engineered a civilization that has been able to compound its rate of growth, dedicating every ounce of capital, resources, and human effort into expanding the size of human civilization astronomically.”

“I mean, even then,” Runark stood up, frowning. “It feels impossible for human civilization to have grown this big this fast.”

“It’s the rule of exponents,” Misha remarked knowingly. “X to the power of two, to the power of four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two… and so on and so forth. If a civilization harnessed every ounce of effort, power, and capital, one could theoretically double one’s territory in a year. Now, if you keep doing that every year…”

She turned towards them. “That’s two to the power of thirteen. Roughly eight thousand times larger than before. Add to that technological breakthroughs, pathwalker breakthroughs, the Kandrian Manifold, and the Gaia Seeds, and then you can understand how human civilization has conquered ten thousand stars in thirteen years.”

“…That feels violently aggressive,” Siliscia muttered with a displeased tone of voice as her eyes remained fixed on the perimeter of their base, monitoring with the sensor technology of her plant tissue. “It was violently aggressive,” Misha replied with an apathetic shrug. “Such is the price of power. We will exterminate everything that dares to stand in our way, including…”

She turned to the rotting homoarachnoid flesh being cleaned by cleaner nanobots. “…our latest victim.”

Her cybernetic eyes sharpened. “And we will eventually conquer this planet and turn it just another planet belonging to human territory.”

It was a grim reality, but one that they were powerless to stop. The powers that be had decided that human civilization would be an unfettered expansionist force.

And by powers that be, Ria could only think of her father. She knew he was responsible for the state of affairs of human civilization. But hearing Misha’s explanation couldn’t help but make her wonder why he had chosen to go down this path for human civilization.

Was it really necessary for human civilization to become this big and this fast?

Personally, she wouldn’t have minded a slower approach if it meant being kinder and better as a civilization. But alas, she wasn’t the Empress.

And she had no intention of becoming the Empress.

Then, she froze.

She felt a wave of danger.

One that swept her body for several moments.

“Watch out!” she yelped as she leaped at her friends, tackling them to the ground as they barely avoided being blasted with tremendously heavy web fluid projectiles.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

RUMBLE!

The gray ground beneath their feet shook as a massive crater emerged where they had been just moments ago, filled with solidifying web fluid.

That wasn’t the only attack, however.

Numerous barrages struck the pathwalkers even as they built their makeshift base.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The Martial Sages and other high-ranked pathwalkers immediately began intercepting attacks as they widened their eyes with surprise at the large army of homoarachnoids that rapidly charged into their territory.

This time, led by more powerful homoarachnoid specimens, unlike the ones that they had seen thus far.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK!

“ATTACK! DESTROY. THE. OUTSIDERS!” -o—o-o roared to his brethren, leading a homoarachnoid invasion to cleanse the planet of human presence.