Rebirth of the Super Battleship

Chapter 459: Technological Rift

“You are saying you captured nearly five hundred starships of the Guardian Civilization?” Luka Three, who had been awakened from cryostasis by Xiao Yu, asked with some disbelief.

This was unquestionably a tremendous haul, and such a huge gain naturally left Luka Three somewhat incredulous.

Xiao Yu smiled and nodded. “Yes. With the help of the Sphere of Death, I took these starships into my own hands. There is no need for everyone to worry. Our robots have long since explored the Guardian Civilization starships. Although I do not understand the principles behind the instruments on Level 6 Civilization starships, I can still figure out what they are for. I have completely shut down every positioning instrument, and attacks at the data level have been ongoing.”

Luka Three exhaled lightly and nodded.

Up to now, Xiao Yu had been in curvature flight, advancing at light speed for one hundred and five years. In the last five years, he had fully restored the ecological environment inside the Home-class starships and awakened all the intelligent beings who had been frozen. The Home starships had once again become bustling.

As for what exactly happened in that binary system, Xiao Yu ultimately did not make it public to the masses. However, he did not conceal it from the scientists. He recounted his experiences in detail and had these scientists help him think it through.

“I myself have already finished parsing the complete Level 5 Civilization technology tree obtained from the Molian Civilization and have conducted some research on those Guardian Civilization starships. I already have some insights. These things will be very beneficial for elevating our level of technology. I will pass this knowledge on to you in the time to come.” Xiao Yu said. “But there is one point that confuses me. Namely, the technology of a Level 6 Civilization does not seem to be what we imagined.”

After organizing his words, Xiao Yu continued. “In our past years, technological breakthroughs were natural. When the accumulation became deep enough, breakthroughs followed as a matter of course. Quantitative change led to qualitative change, and our entry into the stage of an Advanced Level 5 Civilization proceeded along such a path. But Level 6 Civilizations are different.”

“I have confirmed that we have reached the pinnacle of a Level 5 Civilization, yet there is no sign of Level 6 Civilization technology ahead. I do not know how to continue forward. Through studying the technology aboard the Level 6 Civilization starships, I keep feeling as if we are missing something. For example, spatial weapons, for example hydrogen-element material hulls, for example higher cruising speeds. According to our past experience in technological development, when we reached the extent of an Advanced Level 5 Civilization, the prototypes of these technologies should already have appeared. But now we have not found any trace.”

“Between our Level 5 Civilization and a Level 6 Civilization, there seems to have appeared a technological rift. This rift has hindered our further development and has also hindered our progress in comprehensively understanding Level 6 Civilization technology. Faced with this phenomenon, I am at my wits’ end. I have no solution.” Xiao Yu laid out the current situation.“Because we have not yet finished digesting the Molian Civilization technology tree, we have no clues regarding these issues.” Luka Three said after a moment of silence. “Let us speak again after we finish digesting the Molian Civilization technology tree. With the joint efforts of more than one hundred thousand scientific workers, I believe a dawn will surely appear ahead.”

“Yes, that is what I have in mind.” Xiao Yu nodded and said. “An individual’s thinking inevitably has blind spots and things that get overlooked. Then let us do it this way. I will give everyone five years to digest this technology. After five years, the deciphering of the Guardian Civilization starships will officially begin.”

“I hope we can find a way to advance to a Level 6 Civilization and truly reach the extent of a Level 6 Civilization. Once we become a Level 6 Civilization, we can construct a small universe of our own and end this current life of wandering everywhere. All right, that is all. Meeting adjourned.” Xiao Yu said.

After all the scientists left the conference room, Xiao Yu once again fell into deep thought.

“What exactly is it that is blocking my advance to a Level 6 Civilization? What do the ‘rules’ the Guardian Civilization spoke of actually mean?”

This question kept circling in Xiao Yu’s mind and would not leave.

Becoming a Level 6 Civilization was the necessary key to stepping into the ranks of the higher existences of the Milky Way. Only a Level 6 Civilization had the ability to protect itself. If Xiao Yu wanted to uncover the mystery of Earth’s destruction and probe the layers of fog concealed behind him, he had to take this step.

The Central Research Academy of Science once again became busy. By now Xiao Yu commanded nearly one hundred thousand scientists. These scientists once more plunged into intense study. Each scientist had a personal computer terminal and could contact Xiao Yu directly. Xiao Yu classified in detail the Level 5 Civilization technology tree obtained from the Molian Civilization and placed it in the database. The scientists could carry out targeted study according to their own fields of expertise. When they encountered something they did not understand, they could communicate with their peers on the forum, or even consult Xiao Yu directly. This mode of study was highly efficient, and the scientists’ scientific literacy was rising very quickly.

Here, Xiao Yu once again verified the adage that many hands make light work. An individual’s thinking will always have loopholes and things carelessly overlooked or forgotten. Xiao Yu was no exception. But when the number of people thinking reaches a certain scale, the probability of omissions drops greatly. During the scientists’ studies, new ideas based on current technology continually emerged, and many of them were highly enlightening to Xiao Yu.

“Mm. According to a derivation from the formulas, I have discovered a new law. By leveraging spatial curvature, we can very conveniently control the path of light’s propagation and can even, by means of ring-shaped space, make light in normal spacetime appear to be completely stalled. In that case, we may be able to attach information to these light rays and at the same time let different rays intersect and influence one another to create a cooperative mechanism similar to machinery. I believe this is the prototype of a light-based computer.”

“I have some new ideas regarding curvature flight. At our current technological stage, curvature flight has basically reached a limit. The main factor restricting us from further increasing our speed is that spatial curvature has an upper bound. Beyond that curvature, space undergoes changes that are difficult for us to predict. But by studying this new knowledge, I have thought of a new approach. Perhaps we can increase our speed by expanding the area of the curved space.”

“I have developed some improved ideas regarding materials science and shield theory.”

During this period, the nearly one hundred thousand scientists burst forth with tremendous research enthusiasm. New scientific theories were discovered every day, and research reports were submitted to Xiao Yu daily for his final feasibility assessments. This scene could not help but give Xiao Yu a sense of anticipation for future technological development.

These were precisely the things Xiao Yu had inadvertently missed while digesting technology. Even if the scientists had not supplemented them, Xiao Yu would have gradually perfected them over the long years to come. But that would inevitably have wasted much more of his time and energy.

This was where the necessity of intelligent beings lay. Xiao Yu needed to rely on them to inspire his thinking, to find what he had missed, and ultimately to achieve technological progress.

“Right now we are only in the learning stage, and there are already so many discoveries. I wonder what will happen after these scientists finish digesting the current knowledge. Regarding the technological rift between a Level 5 Civilization and a Level 6 Civilization, what suggestions will they offer me?”

Xiao Yu’s fleet continued to advance at the speed of light. Time passed little by little. In the blink of an eye another five years had gone by, and another five light-years had been crossed.

The work of digesting technology proceeded with exceptional smoothness. The nearly one hundred thousand scientists, together with the nearly two thousand newly added over these five years, all completed the necessary accumulation of knowledge and were ready to proceed to the next stage of research.

“Starting today, our Divine Ark Civilization will throw its full weight into analyzing the technology of the Level 6 Civilization starships. In this stage of work, I hope that together with everyone we can find a way for our Divine Ark Civilization to reach the extent of a Level 6 Civilization and identify exactly what it is that is obstructing our advance.”

“These materials are what I obtained in the previous period. They contain some of my own insights, and you can use them as reference.” Xiao Yu said, sending some materials to the scientists’ personal terminals. He then continued, “Let us begin working hard. The sooner we become a Level 6 Civilization, the sooner we can settle down.”

At this moment, those Guardian Civilization starships still lay quietly inside Xiao Yu’s starship. They had now completely lost their energy supply. Their hatches stood open, and countless robots were busy within, freely exploring the secrets hidden inside them.

These starships were like pirate caves filled with treasure. Xiao Yu firmly believed that these treasures would strongly support his technological development for hundreds or even thousands of years to come and would ultimately send him into that level which countless civilizations look up to and countless intelligent beings marvel at, a Level 6 Civilization.