Rebirth of the Super Battleship

Chapter 460: Fundamental Science and Applied Science

In Xiao Yu’s current understanding, a Level 6 Civilization could be considered a watershed. After all, with all Level 7 Civilizations having vanished, appearing and disappearing without a trace, a Level 6 Civilization represented the pinnacle of strength at a certain stage. Becoming a Level 6 Civilization would mean Xiao Yu possessed enough strength for self-preservation. Even the Sweepers Civilization would be unable to wipe him out in a short time.

Wars between Level 6 Civilizations usually lasted one million to ten million years. Xiao Yu knew that the Sweepers Civilization spent three million years to exterminate the Trolor Civilization, that it took only a short time to defeat the Micron Civilization, yet nearly five million years to completely annihilate it, and that the war between the Sweepers and the Guardians had continued for nearly one hundred million years up to the present. Although the Sweepers had always held the upper hand, they had never been able to completely eliminate the Guardian Civilization. These facts were already very telling.

Xiao Yu had already directed robots to completely dismantle a County-Class starship of the Guardian Civilization. The components were now scattered throughout the Nation-Class starship the Cambodia, undergoing various inspections by more than one hundred thousand scientists. At every moment, vast amounts of data were being collected without cease. These scientists were analyzing in detail the power supply methods, operating principles, structural principles, coordination mechanisms, and activation mechanisms of these instruments.

What lay before these scientists was an entirely new world. A new door had opened, and behind it everything was something that made people marvel, left them at a loss, and yet was clearly a good thing at a glance.

“This curvature engine can sustain a maximum cruising speed of one hundred and twenty times the speed of light, but we cannot figure out its specific mechanism. It is obviously an application of space technology, but what exactly space technology is, we have no way to understand.”

“This computation module is extremely advanced. Under the same energy consumption, the computing power it can provide is at least five hundred times ours. There is no doubt that this computation module also applies space technology, and we likewise cannot parse it.”

“The energy supply method of a Level 6 Civilization does not differ much from ours. The basic principle is still a combination of antimatter engines and elemental decay engines, only the details are far more advanced than ours. Their engines are more than five times as efficient as ours. It seems that a Level 6 Civilization’s breakthrough is not in the way energy is obtained, but in new discoveries in the way energy is utilized.”

“Is this the materials science of a Level 6 Civilization? By using hydrogen alone one can construct materials superior to our best steel. Is this also an application of space technology?”

In a very short time, a large number of research reports were submitted to Xiao Yu. In this multitude of reports, they all, without exception, mentioned one term, space technology.

In the Level 6 Civilization technology that Xiao Yu had parsed so far, no matter which branch of technology it was, once the research deepened to a certain extent, some inexplicable barrier would always be encountered. Xiao Yu was at his wits’ end before these barriers and had no idea how to break through. This phenomenon was like handing a primary school student a university mathematics textbook and asking that student to fully understand the knowledge within.“A technological rift.” Xiao Yu sighed softly. “The technological foundations of a Level 6 Civilization are built upon space technology. Without understanding space technology, it is impossible to fully parse the mysteries contained in these creations. But how could space technology be so easy to comprehend? How can we break through this technological rift?”

More than one hundred thousand scientists were researching and thinking day and night, and Xiao Yu was also using his vast computing power to continuously carry out deductions. Combined, these two forces were enough to propel an entire society forward. Yet before this heavy barrier at present, they had not produced the slightest effect.

Time had already passed in this state for nearly one hundred years. It had been two hundred years since Xiao Yu escaped from that strange binary system. He had fled a full two hundred light-years. The Guardian Civilization still had not come in pursuit, and Xiao Yu was still advancing under the cover of the enormous energy from the collision of celestial bodies.

During this hundred years, Xiao Yu made not the slightest progress in fundamental science, yet there were some changes in applied technology. Fundamental science determines a civilization’s potential for development, just as relativity supported the nuclear era. Applied technology exists by relying on fundamental science; it is the fruit borne on the great tree of fundamental science.

Over nearly one hundred years, Xiao Yu and the scientists under his command completely digested the Molian Civilization’s technology tree and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to studying the Level 6 Civilization’s starship technology, and they did indeed receive some returns. Although they could not fully understand the mysteries of Level 6 Civilization technology and could not achieve advances in fundamental science, with the inspiration provided by these things, they did make some breakthroughs at the level of applied technology.

These included a more efficient and energy-saving power supply system, a faster interstellar navigation system, and computing modules with much higher computation speed. These were entirely returns brought about by the development of applied technology.

At this moment, in theoretical calculations, the maximum speed of starships manufactured by Xiao Yu could already reach thirty-five times the speed of light, and newly manufactured computing modules could attain more than twenty times the current computing speed. Of course, these were only theoretical expectations. Xiao Yu had not yet carried out large-scale construction to fully realize these things.

“After the five hundred years of flight are over, it will be time to apply these latest technologies. Undertake large-scale construction of newer, more advanced starships with far stronger combat power, carry out large-scale refits of existing starships, and at the same time build a Continent-Class starship…”

This was Xiao Yu’s plan. The Level 4 Alien Beast he killed in the ruins of the Trolor Civilization provided Xiao Yu with a vast amount of construction material. After concentration, the beast’s corpse still had a mass of a little more than two billion tons. Xiao Yu planned for his first Continent-Class starship to be made entirely out of specially treated alien beast flesh and blood.

This Continent-Class starship would adopt the most advanced propulsion system, the most advanced defense system, the fastest computing modules, the most efficient energy supply system, and so on. It would become Xiao Yu’s new flagship.

This was without doubt another period of great development, yet this anticipated great development did not make Xiao Yu particularly excited. Xiao Yu knew that as long as fundamental science did not make a breakthrough, the road ahead would grow ever harder. It was very likely that this great development would be the last great development in his life’s journey.

It was not only Xiao Yu who was troubled by this problem. The scientists under him, whether from the Psychosocial Sciences Division or the Science and Technology Division, had all become aware of it. During this period, countless seminars were convened and countless discussions were carried out, yet a feasible plan still could not be produced.

“The road from a Level 5 Civilization to a Level 6 Civilization will certainly be arduous.” Xiao Yu thought silently. “When the semi Four-Dimensional Taihao from the Large Magellanic Cloud attacked the Sweepers Civilization and ultimately triggered a war across the entire Milky Way, I clearly saw that as many as several hundred Level 5 Civilizations appeared. Along the way, I have heard of only three or four Level 6 Technological Civilizations. This already speaks volumes. Out of several hundred Level 5 Civilizations, only three or four could advance to Level 6.”

“It does not matter. I had long been mentally prepared for the current predicament. At worst I will spend ten thousand to twenty thousand years slowly researching. I do not believe that with my vast computing power and the joint efforts of the scientists under my command, our Divine Ark Civilization will be blocked here.”

“The expedition has only just begun.” Xiao Yu thought with full confidence.

While all of Xiao Yu’s strength was focused on researching how to enter a Level 6 Civilization, Luka Two, a scientist of the Psychosocial Sciences Division, was not idle either, although the field in which he excelled had little to do with technology.

When breaching the Molian Civilization’s capital planet’s defensive perimeter and plundering the Molian Civilization Supercomputing Center, because there was still time to spare, after copying all the technological information, Xiao Yu also copied some information concerning social structure, finance, transportation, civil affairs, and so on. Xiao Yu did not expend computing power to analyze this information but handed it directly to Luka Two as reference for the Psychosocial Sciences Division led by him.

Now Luka Two was searching bit by bit for what he wanted within this vast ocean of data.

“Why did the Molian Civilization establish the Azure Market? In fact, from the perspective of practical interests, establishing the Azure Market was not a very suitable choice, because the risk was too great. In other words, it was a loss-making proposition. The result was exactly that. The Azure Market did not exist for very long before our Divine Ark Civilization moved it away wholesale. The Molian Civilization entered a Level 5 Civilization earlier than we did. I believe they would have some understandings unknown to us regarding how to advance to a Level 6 Civilization.”

“I believe the reason the Molian Civilization established the Azure Market has some connection with how to advance to a Level 6 Civilization. These clues are hidden in this vast sea of data. Unable to find a method to break through to a Level 6 Civilization from the scientific level, then let us try to look for clues from the psychosocial aspect.”

“Whew… I have a hypothesis. This hypothesis cannot be verified for the time being, but I think it is worth a try.”