The Martial Unity

Emperor Rael’s tone was ominous, yet anticipatory.

Nobody could predict just how the race to the stars would end up. Who would be the winners or losers, or whether there would be any winners or losers at all.

It was possible that the race to the stars would be a thriving success where the infinite resources of the galaxy would benefit all those who sought them. It was possible that the race to the stars would be a disaster for all of them.

Most likely, of course, it would be a mixed bag of winners and losers, despite the fact that there were more resources for all of them and more. The only issue was that those resources were further and further away from Gaia, and within Gaia’s interstellar neighborhood, there weren’t nearly as many resources as there were across the entire galaxy.

“I look forward to our first step into the stars.”

Rui’s tone was one of excitement.

This universe was much more exotic than the one he had known about on Earth. He couldn’t imagine just what kind of exotic miracles and esoteric impossibilities waited for him out there in the greater universe. An age of exploration was soon to return, rekindling the spirit of adventure of human civilization.

Gaia was a mapped planet that had been surveyed on a square-inch level of precision, leaving no room for adventure and exploration on the planet. What could no longer be found on Gaia could be found across the galaxy, for now, and perhaps across the universe eventually.

Unlike his son, however, the Emperor of Harmony was not nearly as starry-eyed. “We are the least equipped to charge for the stars, Rui. Our infrastructure is just barely getting up while our combat assets are not equipped with the needed skills for space. None of our Martial Artists know how to fight in space. We have begun developing a space-oriented field of Martial Art, but it has not been going smoothly.”

He directed a pointed gaze at Rui.

Rui heaved a sigh. “I’ll see what I can do about it.”

The Emperor of Harmony knew that Rui could accelerate this process by going to space and adaptively evolving to it, and then sharing his techniques with everybody, along with some training regimes. He could even embed it into their minds to an extent, like he did with the Hellbringer Models.

He truly was human civilization’s trump card.

“For now, let us remain focused on the water rather than outer space,” Rui added. “I imagine that it’s going to be at least a few years until we get to outer space, even if we’re going full throttle. It might even take longer. The true world has only just begun mining negatron matter, and they have yet to master this substance, and frankly, so have we.”

He closed his eyes as he felt the negatron particle he had gotten from the therianthropes. “This matter has more applications than any of us realizes. It has the power to change the world. Teleportation and wormholes are only the beginning. It will take time for the true world to research this particle more extensively and then develop technology centered around it.”

“Will it really take that long?” Emperor Rael raised an eyebrow. “You mastered teleporting with it rather quickly, did you not?”

“I used prophecy to accelerate the process. Normally, you would not achieve such proficiency that quickly,” Rui replied. “The rest of the world does not have that power, at least, none that I’m aware of. I will eventually develop a space-oriented Martial Art and pave the way for everybody else. But for now, the ocean is more important. We can focus on space after the situation at the very bottom of the Great Void Ocean has stabilized.”

Emperor Rael nodded. “That makes sense. Let us go with that, then.”

Rui turned to him with a serious expression. “You also need to go into hiding until somebody develops an anti-teleportation technology that can resist negatron-empowered wormholes.”

“There is already research and development underway into upscaling the power of existing space anchor technology by vastly more energy than it already consumes. It’s difficult, not to mention impractical and tedious, but that’s currently the only solution. All nations have released public statements regarding their deterrents to teleported invasions and teleported attacks. Everybody has already deployed submarines and spaceships far away, armed with extraordinarily powerful siege weapons that are meant to deter any attempt at negatron-empowered teleportation to mount full-scale siege attacks.”

“That might be enough, but there are some forces in the world that are not going to be deterred from doing that,” Rui replied with a cautioning tone. “For instance, the Evolutionary Army is not strictly going to be deterred from doing that. NOVA is also not going to be deterred by just that. Your value to human civilization is very high, and increasingly, the powers of the world are realizing that. You are already a grave target, and the moment they have integrated the negatron matter into a teleportation device, they will come to kill you. We cannot afford to lose you.”

He nodded. “I don’t intend to be foolhardy, rest assured. I am slated to go into hiding very soon with a special location prepared just for me, with all the security protocols established to protect my life. It is you who must be careful, for you are out in the open.”

“I have prophecy and a powerful instinct; I can’t be ambushed easily. I foresaw future teleportation well ahead of time with the light elves. I also think I might be able to sense signs of teleportation ahead of time with my physical senses,” Rui replied.

“Good.” Emperor Rael nodded. “That covers all of the things that I wanted to go over. You should head to the Great Void Ocean as soon as you are able to ensure that we get a dominant lead with the negatron mining.”

“I will,” Rui promised. “But first, I have some matters to take care of. For instance…”

He tilted his head.

“Where the hell is Amare?”