Super Mothership
The task of integrating the Kara Civilization was handed over to Elder Yu and his team.
Meanwhile, with Codename’s assistance, Earth Civilization’s development had entered a stable trajectory.
Having delegated most administrative affairs, Nie Yun could finally focus entirely on resolving a crucial issue — the upper limit on the number of mechanical bugs he could control.
Using the Water of Life to enhance his spiritual power capacity did help increase his control limit to some degree,
but according to the information provided by the Longevus, the effects of the Water of Life on living organisms had a ceiling.
It was like a potential-stimulating elixir — one that could not infinitely amplify Nie Yun’s abilities.
Therefore, finding an alternative way to bypass the risk of mechanical bugs going out of control had become Nie Yun’s top priority.
Three months later…
In the Galent Sector, within the Storm System, orbiting the eleventh planet known as Sentinel Star,
a military spaceport designated “Station-3” hung silently in high orbit.
After crossing fourteen star systems and three wormholes, and taking one resupply stop along the way,
Isabel’s group finally arrived at the Wolf Civilization’s wormhole front-line garrison point.
The Gemini Civilization customarily numbered the inhabited star systems in its territory according to the order of their discovery.
The Storm System was the seventeenth discovered — System No. 17 — one of the later-found inhabited systems.
Aside from the eighteen numbered primary systems, Gemini’s domain also included hundreds of secondary systems —
regions already occupied but lacking life-bearing planets.
Such secondary systems were unsuitable for large-scale colonization; terraforming them was both time-consuming and resource-intensive.
They were usually treated as resource extraction zones or secondary-tier development targets.
The Storm System had been under development for over a century.
It earned its name from its highly unstable atmospheric pressure and frequent violent storms.
Sentinel Star, located on the outermost edge of the system,
was a semi-militarized world constructed by the Gemini Civilization specifically to defend against their formidable rival — the Wolf Civilization.
After observing the continuous expansion of the Wolf Civilization’s wormhole and its growing threat,
Gemini had poured even more resources into Sentinel Star, turning it into a massive logistical base.
Sentinel Star was only five days’ travel from the Wolf wormhole — the nearest Gemini garrison to the front line.
By the time Isabel and the others arrived, hundreds of warships from every sector had already gathered here,
waiting for the fleet to complete its assembly before marching to the front.
A hiss of white mist escaped as several probes detached from a body.
The sleeping “Arthas” slowly opened his eyes.
After moving his slightly stiff limbs, a man in a white organic suit stepped out from the stasis pod — Nie Yun himself —
and saw Catherine, who had been waiting nearby.
“Lord Arthas, we’ve arrived in the Storm System,” Catherine reported.
“This afternoon, the commander here will convene a mission assignment meeting.
Per your instructions, I’ve initiated your awakening sequence.”
As she spoke, she handed over a neatly folded officer’s uniform.
For the past three months, Nie Yun had been focusing on internal affairs within the Solar System,
leaving his clone body — Arthas — in standby mode, essentially in stasis.
For interstellar civilizations that had not yet mastered faster-than-light travel,
biological stasis technology was indispensable for space exploration.
The Gemini Civilization had mastered this life-preservation technology early in its spacefaring era.
Over centuries of cosmic expansion, their stasis systems had become highly advanced.
The basic principle was to use special hormones combined with low-temperature environments
to induce a biological state similar to hibernation.
During stasis, a lifeform’s heart rate would slow to near zero,
its metabolism would drop by hundreds or even thousands of times,
and its nutritional and energy demands would fall to an almost negligible level.
Every Gemini fleet was equipped with autopilot systems.
During long-distance flights, crew members who couldn’t endure the monotony of travel
could request to enter stasis and be reawakened upon arrival.
However, the drugs used for this process were only suitable for the two native species of Gemini.
Developing stasis technology compatible with humans from Earth
was a research subject for Zhou Dong and other Terran biologists.
Since Arthas’s clone body was of the Avian race,
he could naturally use the warship’s existing stasis equipment.
In fact, stasis was one of the key methods to extend the operational lifespan of clone bodies.
A clone might share identical biological traits with the original individual,
but even with the Kara Civilization’s advanced cloning technology,
the ultimate problem of genetic instability in clones had never been fully solved.
According to the data Nie Yun possessed, the Gemini Civilization’s biologists had once attempted to form clone armies
to reduce the devastating losses caused by war.
However, over 90% of the clones quickly developed various degenerative diseases.
The rate of cellular cancer mutation was horrifyingly high, resulting in extremely short lifespans.
Moreover, the medical maintenance costs for a single clone were equivalent to that of dozens of ordinary Geminians.
In medical terms, this condition was known as Chronic Genetic Collapse.
Beyond that, the price of rapid growth was low biological intelligence.
Even compared to the Kara, Gemini’s brain-domain development technology lagged behind —
let alone rivaling the “built-in cheat” that was Nie Yun himself.
They certainly lacked anything resembling a “super learning engine” that could master whatever it didn’t understand.
The combination of high failure rates and limited combat intelligence
meant that cloning technology was never widely adopted within the Gemini Civilization.
Arthas’s clone body, too, suffered from these same technological flaws.
Fortunately, when Nie Yun had switched to this substitute body,
he had equipped the clone with a vial of diluted Water of Life.
The Water of Life possessed miraculous gene-optimizing properties —
its ability to repair the genetic defects of clones was practically a perfect cure.
According to the Kara researchers, the Water of Life could greatly delay the onset of chronic genetic collapse in clones.
With sufficient quantities, it might even completely cure the condition.
“Mm! You’ve worked hard.”
Nie Yun flexed his still-slightly-stiff muscles, smiling as he accepted the senior officer’s uniform from Catherine’s hands.
Catherine had been awakened a month before Nie Yun.
During that time, she had used her connections in the Cruze family to conduct extensive intelligence work —
gathering details about the ongoing war with the Wolf Civilization,
the current structure of Gemini’s forces, and the key high-ranking officers deserving special attention.
Clearly, Catherine had been preparing a full intelligence dossier for Nie Yun’s arrival in this new environment.
For such an exceptionally proactive and capable subordinate,
Nie Yun could only silently admire his own keen eye for talent.
The mechanical insect hovering nearby: “……”
Although the clone body had been dormant for three months,
Nie Yun — whose consciousness could exist everywhere at once —
was, of course, perfectly aware of everything that had happened aboard the Fallen Angel.
Looking at Catherine — her flame-red hair, dazzling beauty, and increasingly composed demeanor —
Nie Yun’s face broke into a satisfied smile.
It seemed that Catherine’s strength had also grown considerably during this period.
To Nie Yun, Catherine’s vampiric constitution was remarkable precisely because it could grow stronger over time,
even while in stasis — the legendary “power-up while sleeping” kind of cheat.
He couldn’t help but wonder just how high her potential ceiling was.
That thought alone made him quite eager to find out.
Meanwhile, Catherine, seeing that Nie Yun had already changed clothes and was heading straight out the door,
hurriedly took out a set of documents she had prepared in advance.
“Wait! My lord, this is the latest intelligence report. Before the meeting, you should—”
“Relax! I’ve already dreamed about it.” Nie Yun waved dismissively without even turning around.
Catherine blinked in confusion.
Dreamed… about it?
Could this be some new ability Lord Arthas had developed?
Truly, the mysteries of his spiritual power were boundless…
TL Note- Vampire?
Comments
Post a Comment