Chapter 4515: A Third World

"Smaller fleets will also be able to move faster," Grand Admiral Bornine added. "That will make it easier to deploy pathwalkers to our enemies. That will increase the chances that we can win this war. Pathwalkers are our only hope." That didn’t sit well with a lot of people. It didn’t sit well with Rui. He knew better than to deny the results of the first battle. At the same time, this was not a healthy state of affairs. To place the burden of the fate of human civilization on the shoulders of pathwalkers alone was not something that a healthy, balanced, and well-equipped civilization did. At this rate, even if they won the war, they will have only done so by burning through their pathwalkers at a perilous rate. "...This is the state of affairs right now," Rui heaved a deep breath. "I accept your suggestions, Bornine, Edward." The advisers and strategists stirred at Rui’s words, but none of them disputed. Although the idea of throwing only a handful of dwarven fleets with only pathwalkers at the massive Web of War to save all of humanity was daunting, it could be disputed that, for now, pathwalkers were their only means of harming the Web of War. "However, I refuse to allow this to be the state of affairs forever," Rui sharpened his ethereal eyes, driving a sweeping gaze across the table everybody sat at. "It is unacceptable for us to place such a large burden on our pathwalkers in the long run. We must immediately amend this state of affairs and restore the potency of our astronavy against our enemies." "What do you have in mind?" Dwight asked with a cautious tone. "First, we must deploy all of our research and development into creating weapon systems that are effective against the arakai," Rui declared. "I propose creating a commission that consolidates all of humanity’s dispersed R&D capabilities under one research project into developing brand new kinds of weapon systems. Now that we are facing some of the most advanced civilizations in our star strand and galaxy, we can no longer rely on primitive means of damage such as laser beams. These measures are simply ineffective against more advanced civilizations, as the arakai and even our experiences with the laminar integuments have proven." This caused many others in the CHC to stir. Rui’s proposal was ambitious, but realistic. The Era of Expansion was an era that relied on intense competition to spur growth. However, now that they were facing an existential war, it was time to put aside the competition and instead rely on cooperation to survive and to grow. Rui was confident that if the most advanced and innovative forces of human civilization, including the Esocline Federation, the Bournvyrne Empire, and Greater Tekvoria worked together, it would undoubtedly be possible to develop weapons systems that could destroy arakain vessels. "As for the problem of the fragility of our warships, I would say that this can also be solved in a similar manner, if not for the fact that we already have a solution." He turned towards Dwight with a pointed gaze. "From this point forth, we’re going to have the dwarves divert most of their production efforts into the production of dwarven-grade warships that can withstand arakai firepower. Since this solution exists, there’s no need invest too much time into innovating a new one. Given that even dwarven-grade warships are being destroyed by arakai firepower, it is best that you dwarves dedicate everything into ship output." Dwight’s eyes widened. "That... is not how that works, Rui. Not all dwarves have ship construction skill or experience. Not all dwarves are suited for it. You can’t simply throw us all into doing one task." "Then as many as possible," Rui replied with a serious tone. "I’m even willing to go as far as to take one of Kandria’s manifolds and transfer it into space to put a whole shipyard inside it. That is how important this necessity is." That was a radical proposal, but it had merit. The manifold would multiply dwarven output by a factor of fourteen. It would be as if there were fourteen times as many dwarves working on producing ships. Dwight fell into thought at those words. "...That might work. It won’t be pleasant to force all those dwarves to work on producing ship after ship like this is mass production, but we don’t have time to care about their creative inclinations." Rui appreciated that the dwarf understood that. "These two solutions should help with the long-term sustenance of this war," Rui replied with a serious tone of voice. "But there is still the matter of resources..." Ship construction was tremendously resource-intensive. So much so that despite having conquered more than ten thousand planets, demand for the raw materials needed to manufacture ships as well as other space and terrestrial infrastructure was still extremely high. Not to mention, ordinary matter alone was not enough. In order to construct high-quality ships, some amount of esoteric matter, preferably lots, was necessary. "I don’t believe that we will have to worry about resources, Your Majesty," one intelligence analyst spoke up. "We have just received word that EsoQuest Solutions has found a third infected world and is selling it to mining companies and polities."Rui pretended to be amazed, widening his eyes with surprise. "Wow. Have they discovered a new form of technology that allows them to accomplish this?" "We aren’t certain, but that appears so," the analyst confirmed with a serious tone. "They have invested a lot into their R&D labs, and they have several patents on some rather obscure but advanced forms of sensory technology." Rui had to control a smile from appearing on his face. Ria had done a good job covering her tracks. So far, not a single person appeared to suspect that this was the result of innate abilities rather than technology. "...We dwarves have conducted transactions within this company recently, but we have been unable to find out who is truly behind it," Dwight couldn’t help but remark with a curious tone. "Whoever they are, they are truly doing us all a great service by hunting infected worlds. This will give us all the resources we need to manufacture powerful ships in abundance in the long run."