The Martial Unity

Ru looked like she grudgingly acknowledged the argument, even if she wasn’t entirely satisfied. It was true that now that they were exploding the number of Martial Sages in the world, they needed to expand their civilization to create room for territory and political power for these new Martial Sages; the internal pressure would eventually cause a civil war to break out in some fashion in Panama.

Of course, with Rui having broken through to the Transcendent Realm, he could singlehandedly subjugate even a truly massive number of Martial Sages, but that was deeply unhealthy and would create extremely intense domestic tensions.

On top of that, needing to keep all of that in check would constrain Rui himself. He could leave Gaia for any matter because the second he did, he would have to worry about rioting Martial Sages.

Rui himself clearly did not want to press down on Martial Artists more than he already had with the Void Order Regime. She understood all of that, but she couldn’t help but still frown at the idea of rapidly expanding their civilization.

She heaved a sigh, gazing out the window of the Royal Office at the afternoon sky, devoid of any clouds. The stretch of the Kandrian Empire went beyond what the eye could see, allowing them to get a good look at Vargard City.

“You don’t seem particularly convinced,” he noted, focusing on his work. “Why are your compunctions about the Gaian Reproduction Plan?”

She turned back towards her brother knowingly. She knew he could read her mind very easily, but he still chose to ask her and have her explain, which she appreciated.

“This expansion of our civilization is rushed and inorganic,” she clarified. “Originally, the Race to the Stars was meant to be slower and more mature, but you are clearly not intending to go with a more relaxed and natural rate of expansion.”

Rui shrugged.

“Circumstances.”

It was a single-worded response.

And yet, she understood everything.

He had shared with her and other leaders of Gaia the intelligence that the Tendril of Light had shared with him. The fact that his actions, as well as the actions of the virus, had drawn the attention of powerful forces far away on the horizon across the cosmos.

The Tendril of Light had not shared any specifics about the intelligence that they had managed to gather about alien civilizations that would begin to move; however, they had been cautioned to assume that advanced civilizations across the galaxy, and perhaps even across the universe, had picked up on that signal.

They were undoubtedly looking for the source of such a powerful information dimension phenomenon.

The scariest part was that they weren’t given a timeline.

They didn’t know when confrontation with hostile alien entities across the cosmos would occur. It could happen as soon as tomorrow.

Or, it could happen in ten years.

Perhaps a century.

They didn’t know. It was not possible to know. Not even Rui with his Eye of Prophecy could foresee the future across such an astronomical scale. That was why it was imperative for them to expand their civilization. Though even without such distant threats, the reality was that they were dealing with threats even in their very first expansion into the universe.

They had run into three advanced civilizations in their very first steps into their interstellar neighborhood.

And that was precisely why she feared that this path of accelerationism that Rui had set them on could potentially accelerate them towards their ruination and their destruction.

That was the core of her fears surrounding his Gaia Reproduction Plan: that it would accelerate them into doom and disaster. He heaved a deep breath, directing a knowing gaze at her. “I understand your fears. But what has been done is done. We have already made contact with three powerful interstellar civilizations. And right now, we are engaged in hostilities with each one of them.”

He flipped the screen of the terminal on his table towards her. It featured footage of the battle between Barnard’s Star, Sirius, and Procyon.

Barnard’s Star had become drowned in conflict as the astralites refused to back down even after the powerful reinforcing fleets entered the war, making things more even-handed. Her golden eyes glinted with a hint of fear as she studied the dark, hazy bodies of the astralites. They bore some similarities with octopuses, but that was where the similarities ended.

Even the preliminary analysis conducted by the newly established exobiology department of the Panamic Space Organization revealed that these creatures were shockingly developed for space combat. Their habitats were also in space, among asteroid stars. Just the fact that they were built for space was enough to give them a massive advantage in outer space.

They were the Astralite Hive, a species of creature that, according to the laminar integuments, had spread over a small but significant chunk of the entire Milky Way galaxy.

Most likely, what they were fighting against was a distant outpost of the vast hive’s outreach. And yet, even this distant outpost was enough to match the warriors and the warships of Gaian Civilization.

That was just a horrifying reality to Ru. They were so hilariously outmatched by alien civilizations that it made it difficult to sleep at night. And yet, the only reason she wasn’t in a much more grim state of mind was undoubtedly because of the anchor that protected them against uncertainty and danger.

Her golden eyes shifted to her brother opposite her, across the table.

His presence brought confidence and certainty to the people of Gaia. Despite learning of two alien civilizations seeking to invade them in just one day a month ago, they hadn’t broken out in chaos and panic. After all, they had the Emperor of Water.

They had the most powerful Martial Artists and the most powerful pathwalker alive.

That was their psychological anchor. That was why they could face civilizations that had spread across billions of stars and maintain their confidence.

Because they knew that the Emperor of Water would protect them.