The earlier revelations paled in comparison with the latest announcement!

Councilor Veyron not only introduced a bunch of new technologies, but also announced an entirely new direction for humanity!

The course of human civilization that had settled for over four-hundred years was about to shift in a bold new direction!

The Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy was a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way Galaxy.

Just like planets orbited around a star, Red Ocean orbited around the Milky Way like a little brother circling around a big sister!

The sizes of the two galaxies were incomparable. The Milky Way's diameter stretched up to 200,000 light-years, which was stupendously huge!

In comparison, Red Ocean was a lot smaller. It stretched just 25,000 light years from end to end, making it eight times smaller than the Milky Way.

This still represented a huge amount of space, enough to establish several first-rate superstates if they managed to conquer huge swathes of territory!

Red Ocean encompassed enough space to fit a huge amount of star sectors!

According to the projected map, Red Ocean orbited 350,000 light years from the Milky Way! How could anyone traverse such a distance in their lifetimes?

Secondly, had humanity already established a foothold in this dwarf galaxy?

Many people long figured out that the MTA and CFA became less active in public. Unfortunately, no one managed to figure out what the Big Two were up to.

Only now did all of them realize that the Big Two had always been preparing for the invasion of a satellite galaxy!

Councilor Veyron elaborated on the importance of this bold new invasion.

"Though the expensive is enormous, we have a very good reason to target this distant dwarf galaxy. Phasewater is a strategic exotic with many possible applications. The minidrive is just one of many wondrous applications. We are certain that as long as phasewater becomes more available, humanity will find even more uses of this potent material!"

This idea already came to mind to many people. If phasewater was only useful in making miniaturized FTL drives, then the CFA wouldn't have agreed to this invasion.

Minidrives benefited the MTA a lot more than the CFA!

The latter always directed their research projects towards greater might. Their huge warships offered plenty of space for powerful FTL drives that offered immense range and speed.

On the other hand, the MTA placed a much higher priority on making technology more practical. The development of the minidrive was a typical MTA project as it succeeded in making FTL drives small enough to be mounted on mechs.

Certainly, newer problems emerged such as raising the cost, energy and material requirements of using this technology.

However, as long as the MTA managed to solve the size problem, it wasn't as difficult to address other shortcomings!

In any case, some guessed that phasewater was probably a critical material in many dimensional applications!

So much so that the CFA did not hesitate to get onboard the MTA's plan to conquer a very distant dwarf galaxy!

"We are aware of your questions." Councilor Veyron smiled. "In truth, we have already become aware of phasewater's wondrous properties and applications for several generations. When we found that phasewater is far too scarce in our native galaxy, we have cast our gazes elsewhere. Of all of the satellite galaxies that the Milky Way has captured, we have decided to invade the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy over fifty years ago!"

The map of the Milky Way Galaxy faded out. Instead, the star map Red Ocean grew larger, revealing a relatively modest patch of space that the Big Two managed to settle!

Footage began to play next to the councilor. Impressive star systems occupied and fortified by the Big Two came into view.

This was everyone's first glimpse of the space inside Red Ocean!

The distant star scape was much more dim compared to humanity's native galaxy. As the footage panned around, a distant glowing oval attracted everyone's attention.

That was the Milky Way!

Dorothea Veyron grinned. "What you are seeing right now are live feeds of the star systems that we've managed to tame in our fifty-year conquest!"

everyone couldn't help but gasp.

The Big Two sure hid this secret well! Not a single word about their invasion of a dwarf galaxy had leaked into the public!

"Make no mistake. Red Ocean is not devoid of intelligent life." The councilor turned grave. "We have already fought against many different alien empires, some of which are old friends of ours who have fled to this dwarf galaxy in the belief that they can recover their strength here in secret!"

Many people, primed by Veyron's earlier speech, already expected something like this. Where there were stars, there was life.

"The Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance has fought very hard to carve out a foothold into this dwarf galaxy. Many native alien civilizations have learned how terrible we are from the aliens that we have defeated once more. This is a hostile galaxy. We cannot expect to face the same situation as we did during the Age of Conquest. The aliens have set aside their mutual differences in order to unite against our race."

The councilor grinned. "Unfortunately, we have accumulated our strength for four-hundred years. While it is difficult for us to transfer most of our forces to this dwarf galaxy, we have spent the last decades to expand our foothold and develop a newer and better means of crossing the void between the galaxies!"

The footage switched to an enormous gate floating in orbit of a lifeless planet!

The circular gate was humongous! everyone could tell because there were several CFA capital ships patrolling in the vicinity.

The huge gate outright dwarfed the battleships!

"What you are seeing now is a beyonder gate. It is one of our most powerful means of transferring our people from one galaxy to another! Upon activating gates on both ends, we are able to transfer any object or any living being from one galaxy to another in an instant!"

This was another stunning new invention! While the Big Two developed various means of traveling faster than light, none had never heard of the development of a huge gate that could transport something hundreds of thousands of light-years away!

What impressed everyone else even more was that it all happened in an instant, as if the two gates folded space itself!

It didn't take a genius to guess that phasewater was pivotal to the functioning of the beyonder gates.

Unlike the tiny minidrives, the beyonder gates likely used a lot more phasewater!

Perhaps a metric ton of this substance was not enough to make a beyonder gate work!

Yet the Big Two managed to construct at least a pair of these enormous gates!

If phasewater truly enabled the creation of something as amazing as the beyonder gate, then what else could humans do with this exotic?

Many people began to let their imaginations run wild. Their eyes reddened and their breaths grew hotter as they imagined building starships that could cross the galaxies, mechs that could jump from the galactic center to the galactic rim or teleporters that could transport a human from one planet straight to another planet!

Phasewater instantly turned from a niche curiosity into a must-have material to many scientists and business magnates! Whether they wanted to make a name for themselves by inventing a pivotal new tech or become the richest person in human space by selling lots of innovative new products, many people already started to clamor to enter this exciting new dwarf galaxy!

"The Milky Way is already settled. Unless we wage war against the neighboring alien empires, there is hardly any room for development. Red Ocean is an opportunity for us to pioneer new territory!"

"We must set foot in Red Ocean at all costs! The future of human development will definitely center around phasewater! We must harvest as much phasewater as possible!"

"Since the Age of Stars, humanity has expanded into space. Now that we have become the hegemons of the galaxy, there is hardly anything that excites us anymore. This announcement changes everything! The invention of the beyonder gate and the invasion of Red Ocean has opened an entirely new road for our race!"

For millennia, humanity never thought they would be able to escape the Milky Way Galaxy. Everyone thought that humanity would first resume its conquest of the rest of the galaxy before turning their attention elsewhere.

Yet now that the Big Two decided to invade a satellite galaxy, many people began to develop a hunger for adventure!

 Councilor Veyron showed off the beyonder gate that could convey entire fleets from one galaxy to another, she began to reveal the Big Two's intentions towards anyone interested in exploiting Red Ocean's bounty!

"With the construction of the beyonder gates, we have secured our initial gains in Red Ocean." She spoke. "The beyond gates allow us to transfer vastly more forces into this dwarf galaxy, allowing us to wage war against the local alien empires at a much greater scale than before! Soon, our warfleets will double the territorial acquisitions we've made in the last fifty years in a matter of months! And this is just the start of our explosive expansion!"

The star map of Red Ocean came back into view. The map only highlighted a small number of star sectors at first.

Then, the number of glowing star sectors doubled.

The time lapse continued as several years went by. The territories conquered by the Big Two continued to expand at a frightening rate!

Though the expansion was not very detailed or reliable, it nonetheless gave every human an idea of how much confidence the Big Two possessed into expanding their presence in this alien galaxy!

Councilor Veyron sighed. "Our territorial conquests are about to accelerate at a rapid pace. Our primary concern is to defend humanity and expand our strength. While we have settled several important star systems and plan to settle many more, we are not interested in colonizing so much space. We are concerned with greater responsibilities!"

"For this reason, the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance has decided to allow the rest of humanity to join us in our conquest of the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy!"

"Yes!"

"We allow passage to every organized group or fleet that wishes to develop our civilization's presence in this new and virgin galaxy." The councilor announced with a welcoming smile. "No matter if you are a Terran or a citizen from the galactic rim, we will offer many different opportunities for you to colonize a planet, found a new state or prospect for phasewater!"

"However, we do not offer this opportunity for free. For the time being, we will only allow passage through the beyonder gates to groups that can pay the price. You may obtain passage by paying the full monetary cost of activating the beyond gates or by redeeming merits from our respective organizations."

"I will tell you the truth. It is not easy to pay for passage. However, we do not wish to limit passage to those who reside in first-rate states. We offer more generous terms to reputable groups based in less developed regions as long as they abide to an additional agreement. So long as you meet our approval, a new future awaits!"

By the time Councilor Dorothea Veyron finished her second announcement, almost every human in the galaxy was left shocked, stunned or excited!

Most members of the MTA and CFA reacted just as surprised! The Big Two always kept this secret tight until the right moment to unveil it had arrived!

From one end to the other end of human space, everyone became interested in this wondrous substance called phasewater and the dwarf galaxy that supposedly offered it in abundance!

Conversation about these topics broke out everywhere! Even mech designers temporarily forgot about all of the innovations introduced in the latest generation aside from the minidrive!

Many of them always dreamt of designing an FTL-capable mech! If humanity was locked in the Milky Way Galaxy, then most of them would never be able to fulfill this dream.

Yet it was different if they managed to achieve passage to the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy!

In the early stages of humanity's conquest of Red Ocean, phasewater was probably ripe for the picking! As long as prospectors reached a star system unclaimed by existing powers, they could quickly harvest some phasewater before a colonization fleet or larger force arrived to claim it as their own!

This provided many opportunities for average mech designers to gain the privilege of building and selling FTL-capable mechs!

Designing and profiting from such fantastic machines not only provided endless riches, but also invigorated the progression of any mech designer!

A seemingly endless amount of humans simultaneously accessed the galactic net and visited the portals of the CFA and MTA!

If the Comm Consortium hadn't made some rapid adjustments to spread the load, the galactic net would have been crushed by the sheer amount of humans flooding its network!

the Beyonder ticket for a 1st rate fleet is a whooping 1 Trillion MTA credits!

A second-class fleet beyonder ticket cost only 100 million merits, while a third-class fleet beyonder ticket corresponded to a measly 10 million merits!

The difference in price between a first-class fleet beyonder ticket and a second-class fleet beyonder ticket is very huge, In other words, the MTA and CFA probably don't want too many first-class citizens to settle the Red Ocean.

 

luckily Adam's current forces is barely just enough to be considered as peak 2nd rate fleet. with the bulk of his forces being pseudo 1st class.

The prohibitive cost of a beyonder ticket shook most people back to reality.

The truth was that the vast majority of humans would never be able to pay enough credits or merits to redeem a beyonder ticket!

The best hope that most ordinary people possessed was to join a crew of a fleet owned by someone who possessed enough merits.

How easy was it to join such a crew? Such distinguished individuals already possessed their own power base! Even if they lacked enough personnel, they would only hire the best!

With how many people wanted to join the excitement, they probably didn't even have to pay a salary! People would pay to obtain passage!

Though it seemed that those who exchanged fleet beyonder tickets had to pay a huge price, the truth was that they also gained a lot of benefits in return.

Every notable individual who redeemed at least 10 percent of the price of a beyonder ticket gained the status of galactic pioneer!

Each and every galactic pioneer gained a lot of rights and privileges from the Big Two!

The most important one was that as long as galactic pioneers traveled in frontier space, they gained the right to run their fleets as sovereign rulers!

In addition, they didn't lose all of their sovereign powers when they entered a territory claimed by other groups.

Of course, this special condition only applied in the Red Ocean, and only for a few centuries.

However, this was enough to make any prospective galactic pioneer excited!

Similar to the division between a space peasant and a galactic citizen, the Big Two wanted to impose another division between those who contributed to them and those who merely leeched from their betters.

Basically, only galactic pioneers earned the right to transact and interact with the MTA! Those who tagged along could only rely on lesser groups and organizations.

In a frontier space where law and order was very rare, this was a very big handicap!

After several hours had gone by since the MTA's announcement, humanity still seethed with excitement.

No one could stay calm at the prospect of invading an entirely new galaxy!

To many humans, they believed that their civilization had rested long enough. Their race was more than ready to resume their conquest of the stars!

Unfortunately, when people began to inquire about the beyonder ticket, they immediately became discouraged at the very strict conditions required to become a galactic pioneer.

Only the most capable and ambitious contributors of the MTA were eligible to lead a fleet into the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy!

Those who tried their luck at the CFA found out that it was just as harsh!

Yet the high cost of beyonder tickets excited many people even more. Each of them knew that a greater price corresponded to a greater reward!

Many people got caught up in the hype surrounding phasewater! This amazing high-grade exotic that was seemingly ripe for the picking in the other galaxy must be something exceptional!

It didn't take much guessing to suspect that the Big Two definitely had many important uses for phasewater. Countless material scientists already started drooling at the thought of obtaining a sample and delving into its secrets!

The great phasewater rush was destined to become the latest obsession of the human race!

After four-hundred years of dormancy, the great human civilization was ready to expand its territories once more.

According to the Big Two, the distribution of phasewater matched the distribution of other exotics.

For this reason, as the Big Two swept through the Red Ocean, they performed quick surveys of every star system and categorized them into activity zones.

An upper zone corresponded to first-class pioneers. These regions offered the richest deposits of phasewater and other high-grade exotics.

A middle zone corresponded to second-class pioneers.

A lower zone corresponded to third-class pioneers.

As long as each class of pioneer stuck to the appropriate activity zone, they only had to worry about fighting their rivals.

If a first-class galactic pioneer tried to throw their weight around in a middle or lower zone, they would violate the Big Two's rules!

If a pioneer was caught breaking the rules, they lost their status as pioneers and would be hunted by the MTA!

The same applied if a second-class pioneer attempted to abuse a third-class pioneer in a lower zone.

Of course, if a third-class pioneer crossed into an upper zone, they assumed their own risks. The Big Two would not lift a finger if they bumped into a scary first-class fleet. They could only blame their greed!

Though these rules appeared to profit first-class pioneers the most since they possessed a natural claim to the bounty of an upper zone, the opposite was true.

This was because there didn't seem to be many upper zones. As the invasion of the Red Ocean reached the center of the dwarf galaxy, upper zones might become more prevalent, but even then the competition to claim these territories would definitely be bloody!

By confining the activities of first-class pioneers to the upper zones, the Big Two essentially wanted to bleed and weaken their strength and numbers in the Red Ocean!

Of course, most first-class states objected to this discriminatory ruling, but the beyonder gates were fully under the control of the Big Two! They couldn't possibly send too much forces into the Red Ocean to resist the CFA and MTA's stranglehold on conquered territory!

By far, most galactic pioneers were already in their pocket!

 

 

Much of human space became enraptured by the opportunities opened by the invasion of the Red Ocean.

Some dreamt of starting a new empire away from all of the established powers of the Milky Way.

With the presence of the old and entrenched first-rate states constrained in the new galaxy, this was a golden opportunity for any galactic pioneer to found a state that could one day match their might!

Others became obsessed with the limitless potential of phasewater. The myriad of applications it enabled sent many scientists, engineers, shipwrights and mech designers into a rapture!

Using phasewater to build minidrives and beyonder gates only scratched the surface of this high-grade exotic. Many ambitious researchers already plotted taking advantage of phasewater's dimensional properties to invent even more fantastic devices...

Most people weren't as ambitious, though. The advent of FTL-capable mechs and beyonder gates signified that the demand of phasewater would always be high!

To profiteers, high demand always correlated to high prices!

Though phasewater was purportedly more abundant in the Red Ocean, this was only relative to its scarcity in the Milky Way. It was still absolutely rare in the new galaxy.

As long as a pioneer found a deposit of phasewater, they could potentially become richer than first-rate business magnates.

The insane wealth that seemed to be ripe for the picking attracted many ambitious people throughout the galaxy!

Unfortunately, the requirements to obtain a beyonder ticket and become a galactic pioneer was simply too harsh.

Even if up to ten people could pool their merits together to redeem a fleet beyonder ticket, it was hardly possible for anyone to earn more than a million merits in their lifetime, let alone a hundred!

The prohibitive amount of contributions required to earn merits crushed the dreams of many hopeful people.

Those who already enjoyed a comfortable amount of success in the old order saw little appeal in sacrificing so much wealth and resources to embark on a risky venture.

In the end, only a small number of people who already possessed the capital to explore and colonize the Red Ocean redeemed beyonder tickets.

Many of their compatriots refrained from making any moves.

In the Komodo Star Sector, the invasion of the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy hardly affected the existing trends.

The sandmen cared nothing about humanity's movements. States such as the Ylvaine Protectorate, Bright Republic and Vesia Kingdom were far too hard-pressed to care about developments that were far beyond their reach!