The Martial Unity

Rui’s words were entirely serious; he thought that he would eventually conquer the entire Milky Way as a leader of human civilization. The reason that he thought was that they had paths, and the rest of the Milky Way didn’t. Paths were a huge advantage that the other races in the Milky Way didn’t have, clearly. And they allowed Gaian Civilization to defeat an army armed with much greater technology than Gaian Civilization could ever hope to have. However, the reason that he was especially confident was that GAian Civilization had him. He was the ultimate leader, even if he was putting it mildly. He knew that they would have a much greater chance of success in conquering the Milky Way if he were the leader of human civilization. After all, if push came to shove, his power as a Martial Transcendent, and more importantly, his power to remain even after intervening into the information dimension, was the advantage that he had that surely no other entity had.

After all, even the virus was being exterminated and would have disappeared if it had interfered with the information dimension. And the laminar integument had told him that even the universe would disappear if it intervened in the information dimension. That meant that even among the highest echelons, based on the information that the Tendril of Light had provided, there was no way for other civilizations to intervene in the information dimension without paying a massive price for it. That was one of the fundamental reasons that filled him with great confidence when he told the Tendril of Light of his plan to get into the galactic core of the Milky Way galaxy.

“Then. We. Look. Forward. To. Meet. You. There,” the Tendril of Light spoke to him with a tone of finality. “One. Day. We. Will. Reunite.”

Rui frowned. “What do you mean? You’re going away?”

“Have. Recouped. Energy. Needed. For. Long-range. Wormhole. To. Next. Destination,” the Laminar Integument clarified. “Have. Other. Operations. Other. Agendas. Other. Missions. That. Requires. World. ship. Since. No. Longer. Any. Material. Purpose. Left. Here. Will. Depart. ”

Rui’s expression grew a little sorrowful. Although it hadn’t been very long, he had developed a sort of camaraderie with the Laminar Integument. The two of them had grown to be friends, as friendly as two members from completely different species with completely different biology and mechanisms for consciousness could ever hope to be.

However, he appreciated the sincerity and candor of the laminar integuments. They didn’t engage with deceit and deception; it was almost physically impossible for them to do so when in front of him, since he could literally see and decode their consciousness and their thoughts. What he knew, however, was that the laminar integument going away meant that they had hit some kind of impasse in the relationship between civilizations. The reality was that Rui’s unwillingness to compromise too much, and the laminar civilization’s unwillingness to protect them without explicitly being given value that was commensurate with their contributions, was what had led the laminar integument in concluding that there was no reason to maintain such a large presence in this solar system.

It was also a gesture of respect. The reality was that the solar system was the prime territory of Gaian Civilization and now the Gaian Alliance, and it was true that their being there put a lot of pressure on Gaian Civilization. It was only something that they tolerated because of how powerful the laminar civilization was. They didn’t want to make an enemy of one of the most powerful groups of people in the entire galaxy.

“Will. Maintain. A. Starship. In. This. Solar. System,” the laminar integument further clarified, “Will. Serve. As. Liaison Will. Be. Able. To. Contact. Me. If. Desired.”

Rui’s expression grew more relieved. “We would welcome that.”

That was a much more amenable arrangement than a complete cessation of all communication. They did have a peace treaty and an information exchange agreement. And, they were still interested in getting their hands on more paths and pathwalkers so that they could study. “You also have a research base in our world,” Rui pointed out. “You can use that to continue your study of Paths. As long as the base adheres to the agreements that we came to.”

“Affirmative,” the laminar integument confirmed. “Will. Strive. To. Maintain. Good. Relationship. With. Gaian. Alliance.

“And we hope to maintain a good relationship with the Laminar Civilization,” Rui smiled at the laminar integument. “Good luck with your endeavors, my friend.”

“Bid. Good. Luck. On. Expansion,” the Tendril of Light responded, before wiggling its tendrils at him. “Look. Forward. To. Next. Meeting. Farewell.”

“Goodbye, Tendril of Light,” Rui watched the laminar integument slowly return to its giant world ship.

The sheer size of the titanic construct was truly amazing. In terms of mass, at least, it greatly exceeded any construct that Gaian Civilization had ever created. Even the Dyson Spheres that they had created on one half of their Sun were made up of very thin layers with very little mass. With his Transcendent gaze, he could see the very nature of the worldship from the very inside out, despite the fact that it was armed to the teeth with stealth and surveillance dispersion methodologies that would make it very difficult to study its depths from the outside.

Such things didn’t matter to Rui anymore. He had reached a level of understanding of the very nature of reality that he couldn’t be deprived of any sight before him. That was why he could see just what a magnificent technological wonder it was. It was composed of powerful meta-materials and even exotic matter that gave it very special power. The laminar integument hadn’t displayed the full power of the world ship in the battle with them or with the nebulars, but Rui could imagine that the entire ship was extremely powerful.

Most likely, if the laminar integument had gone all out from the very start, they might have overwhelmed the Gaian Army.