Chapter 103: United Forces, A Journey of Over Ten Thousand Years

"The Silk Civilization has responded, which means the war has officially begun."

"This is a war that could last for tens of thousands of years. The Civilized Federation is young—are you truly prepared for this battle, Yan Xia?"

Chu is currently overseeing the transformation of a section of /Star City into a battleship.

Yan Xia has confirmed Ella's initial suspicions—/Star City is a massive battleship, with nearly unlimited energy and the ability to divide into countless smaller battleships.

These "smaller battleships" are still enormous, measuring at least 300,000 meters in length, far exceeding Yan Xia's initial estimates of the Olive Branch Civilization's battleship size.

Only now that he understands the modular nature of the Olive Branch Civilization can he see that the interstellar port itself was a deliberate deception.

"Of course, this is a war we initiated," Yan Xia replies.

"Chu, you should know that the Civilized Federation rose to power by defeating the Purple Thorn Civilization. Young civilizations often carry a stronger drive for combat."

The Olive Branch Civilization has access to information about the Silk Civilization from over 1000 light-years away, so it's no surprise that they would also be aware of the Purple Thorn Civilization, which was closer and often caused trouble.

When Yan Xia mentions the "drive for combat," he emphasizes the word "combat," hoping that Chu will understand that the Civilized Federation is not afraid of war, not only against the Silk Civilization but also against the Olive Branch Civilization.

"That's good to hear."

"The vast distances between us make it impossible to determine each other's intentions accurately. Only close-quarters combat can truly destroy an opponent."

"My fleet will be ready within two years of the Civilized Federation's time. You can use the tachyon communication device to inform your leaders that it's time to strike."

War.

A war spanning over a thousand light-years.

Chu is more decisive than Yan Xia expected.

"No problem."

The core of the Holy Grail Project is to deceive the Olive Branch Civilization into believing in its authenticity.

However, Yan Xia and Ella also considered the possibility of a counterattack from the Silk Civilization, which could lead to a war between the two civilizations.

Therefore, they must bring the Olive Branch Civilization into the fold, so that if the latter scenario occurs, they can face the Silk Civilization together.

This strategy benefits the Civilized Federation.

Yan Xia compares this tactic to internal and external conflicts—the Civilized Federation and the Olive Branch Civilization have a conflict, and they need a third party to intervene to temporarily ease the internal conflict.

This is similar to the current situation within the Olive Branch Civilization.

Doing so will delay the Olive Branch Civilization and allow the Civilized Federation to continue its development.

Yan Xia enters the tachyon communication device and sends a message to Ella, carefully using encrypted communication, as it's been a long time, and the Olive Branch Civilization may have developed technology to capture tachyon communications.

Although Yan Xia doesn't know what that technology might be or how difficult it would be to develop, he's aware of the drawbacks of inter-civilization warfare—he can never know what methods his enemies will use or what hidden technologies they possess.

It's like a martial arts master from ancient times suddenly finding himself in the 21st century. He believes he is invincible, thinking that even if there are stronger masters in the 21st century, their numbers would be limited. But he fails to consider the existence of firearms, which could easily defeat him. If he were to leave China, he might quickly learn about the modern technique of iaido.

The martial arts master cannot imagine the existence of firearms, just as Yan Xia cannot imagine the hidden technological capabilities of the Olive Branch Civilization.

After sending the message, Yan Xia remains in the device for over 100 days, waiting for a reply.

"Our fleet is ready. We will gather 60 standard fleets to wage war against the Silk Civilization."

The standard fleets are the regular fleets, and when the Civilized Federation first departed, they only had 17 main battle fleets and 6 reserve fleets. It's surprising that they've developed to the point where they can now dispatch 60 fleets for a long-distance campaign.

But upon further reflection, it makes sense—over a thousand years have passed.

How long did it take the Civilized Federation to defeat the Purple Thorn Civilization? And how much time has passed since then?

Due to the limited information that can be transmitted via the tachyon communication device, Yan Xia doesn't know what the Civilized Federation has become, whether it has followed the path he and Ella originally envisioned.

In addition to this information, Yan Xia also transmits details about the /Star City battleship, and he receives a response from Ella.

"Yan Xia, you mentioned that /Star City doesn't have a large-scale energy production facility, and the Olive Branch Civilization uses super gravity weapons. I suspect that the Olive Branch Civilization might be using gravity energy."

Gravity energy is a method of producing energy by harnessing the power of gravity.

Humans have been familiar with gravity energy for a long time—the waterwheel is a device that produces this type of energy.

Gravity causes water to flow from a higher to a lower position, driving the rotation of the waterwheel and providing kinetic energy.

Ella suspects that the Olive Branch Civilization's energy production works in a similar way, but on a much finer scale. Instead of water, they might be using other substances to convert the energy of gravity into kinetic energy and then into electromagnetic energy.

Of course, there's also the possibility of a more advanced method, where gravity is directly converted into electromagnetic energy. This possibility is extremely low and beyond imagination.

Based on his observations, Yan Xia believes that the Olive Branch Civilization does not use stars as an energy source, so there's only one option left.

The Olive Branch Civilization uses the immense /Star City to generate gravity, which is then used to produce energy—a form of self-sufficiency.

Gravity is a form of space-time curvature, and in the presence of gravity, it only acts as a conduit for gravity, so gravity itself is not consumed. It's almost an infinite source of energy, unless space itself ceases to exist, in which case it would disappear.

Yan Xia finds this theory bold but close to the truth.

After turning off the tachyon communication device, he contacts Chu.

"Our fleet is ready."

Chu also responds.

"So are we."

The two civilizations' fleets, separated by over 200 light-years, set off for the Great Orion Nebula within the same year.

Yan Xia observes the Olive Branch Civilization's battleships, which can travel at speeds exceeding 31,000 km/s, or 10% the speed of light.

The current speed of the Civilized Federation's fleet should not yet have reached 10% the speed of light, and since /Star City is closer to the Silk Civilization than the Civilized Federation, the Olive Branch Civilization's fleet will arrive first.

Even so, the Olive Branch Civilization's battleships will take at least 11,400 years to reach their destination.

A long journey.

Chu's prediction of a war lasting tens of thousands of years means that just the journey itself will consume over ten thousand years.

After calculating these figures, Yan Xia is speechless for a long time, and finally, he utters a single word.

"Insane!"