The Martial Unity

Rui glared at the elves with an irritated expression. While the Kandrian Empire carefully studied the manifold tree that it had gotten from Ria’s latest virus raid, the elves rushed to implement their manifold tree as soon as they possibly could. It turned out that while the elves didn’t possess the material greed common to the other races, their greed for anything flora-related was off the charts.

”It’s not their fault, Rui,” an elderly female voice drew his attention.

Rui shifted as he spotted several elves, both light and dark, descending from the air. Their appearances were no different from the elves around him, with long, smooth hair, glistening eyes, and clothes fashioned from vegetative fabrics, leaves, and flowers; Rui could tell that they were different.

They were the vessels of the Mothers of Nature in the geographical vicinity, made from wood and plant tissue, made to resemble elves identically. Among them was a familiar elder elven woman with braided gray hair and wrinkled dark skin.

”Mother Vyia,” Rui’s tone grew a little calmer. ”I’m glad to see you’re here, but your response time is too much.”

”I didn’t come here to resolve the issue,” she smiled at him gently. ”I can’t do that with this powerless vessel in the first place. I came here to tell you that this is an initiative that we Mothers of Nature undertook ourselves. The elves merely adhere to our instruction.”

”…You should know better,” Rui told her with a critical but more relaxed tone. ”That tree has the potential to bring untold harm to Gaia.”

”Be that as it may, we are elves,” she replied calmly. ”We possess the power to suppress it. That was why we were trying to integrate it into our nature. Once integrated, the power of nature will overwhelm the manifold tree and deprive it of the ability to resist. You know why.”

She directed a pointed gaze at Rui as an implication hung between them.

Rui simply heaved a sigh. ”I know. But your enthusiasm caused errors.”

”I will personally implement the next attempt with my main body,” she assured him. ”As you know, I’m the second-most powerful Mother of Nature. Or first, depending on, you know…”

She smiled knowingly at him.

Rui directed a meaningful look at her. The elves around them frowned at the strange words that the two exchanged with each other, not understanding the clear subtext that the two leaders exchanged.

”…Very well,” Rui replied thoughtfully, his gaze bearing deep into the amethyst eyes of the Mother of Nature. ”Just make sure to suppress it so that its time acceleration factor isn’t higher. Otherwise, there will be a perennial danger from the manifold.”

The manifold tree was programmed by the virus, making it fundamentally an instrument for the virus agenda. If it was allowed to wield the power of the Transcendent-grade esoteric unhindered, it would undoubtedly resist.

Now that Rui was a Transcendent, he could sense the immense integrated information within the tree’s many laminar layers, just like that of the laminar integuments. It was a conscious and highly intelligent being with a consciousness made up of light. A single opportunity was all that the creature needed.

”We will keep that in mind,” Mother Vyia promised. ”But we intend to implement the manifold tree sooner rather than later anyway. The risks it poses do not compare to the dangers we face in this war. The manifold is a priceless boon. We have a lot of plans for how to contribute to the impending war and the impending operation.”

She didn’t hint at any more, since it was still quite confidential, but Rui knew she was referring to the role that the light elves were going to play in Operation Light Fury. They were to rely on their immense ability to absorb and reflect light to ensure that as much of the light released by Bodhisattva Maitreyi would affect the invading fleet of warships.

In the real world, they only had less than nine days left. But with the manifold, they had nearly five months to prepare a solution. With that much time for a more targeted application of biotechnology, the elves were much more able to get the job done.

Rui nodded with a more appreciative expression. He could see why the elves wanted to implement the manifold sooner rather than later. ”I look forward to seeing what you’ve accomplished with that time. The direction of the war will be impacted by how well you guys perform.”

With that, he teleported away, leaving the elves to their devices. Based on what he heard from Mother Vyia, he ultimately concluded that they would be fine. Listening to them, however, gave him ideas about how to improve the odds of Operation Lightfury.

”Bodhisattva Maitreyi is not the only person who can manipulate light.”

WHOOSH

He arrived at Greater Tekvoria, at the southern edge of the Continent of Acherialis. He beheld the massive scale of tekvorian civilization stretching out for massive distances. What he saw impressed him, of course. In terms of technological prowess, the tekvores surpassed Martial civilization by a considerable degree.

He could sense considerably more advanced communication technology that relied on the high principles of quantum entanglement, while the Panama Continent still relied on radio for the most part. Their energy technology was closer to that of the dwarves than Martial civilization was to the tekvores.

There were outliers, of course. The Esocline Federation could match the tekvores, but they specialized in esoteric technology, while the tekvores still largely leaned on conventional technology. The resource difference made it difficult to compare.

The Kandrian Empire was also no slouch in that regard. Both the Esocline Federation and the Kandrian Empire, however, had to attract talents from across all of human civilization to match the normal technological state of Greater Tekvoria’s mainland.

And while their technology didn’t match that of the dwarves, one thing that the tekvores were unsurpassed at was the degree to which technology was integrated into the continent itself and everything that naturally existed within it.