Chapter 368: The Upgrade and Reflection of Divine Vessel

Era of the Divine Vessel, year 590.

These past 90 years marked another milestone era, witnessing yet another magnificent leap for the Divine Vessel.

Human Civilization achieved an unprecedented feat—transforming thousands of recondensing fusion engines on the Moon into 800 highly efficient mass decay engines.

This was a heart-stopping engineering endeavor, with mass decay engines being hundreds of times more efficient than the recondensing fusion engines. Their roar, like thunder from the depths of the universe, heralded a new chapter in human technological advancement.

Meanwhile, the planetary skeleton and network bridging within the Moon were further reinforced, combined with mass decay engines, allowing it, under extreme conditions, to even withstand accelerations of up to 160G.

The previous limit for the Moon's acceleration was less than 10G, which was extremely detrimental to Human Civilization when facing the unknown threats of the vast universe.

If encountering other civilizations, humanity could only use its vast number of warships as shields, barely buying time, while the Moon could only escape slowly and painfully, ultimately having to initiate curvature propulsion.

But initiating curvature propulsion could also mean the end of the Divine Vessel Civilization, perhaps even leading to its dissolution.

But now, everything is drastically different. Human Civilization has officially stepped into a 1.5-level civilization, and the Moon now possesses a certain self-protective power, no longer as precarious as before.

This actually touches upon a profound paradox in the development of universe civilizations: why most civilizations do not choose to build massive civilization motherships, nor undertake the grand undertaking of interstellar travel with an entire planet.

Such actions are often seen as immature in the expansive stage of the universe.

However, once a civilization departs from the embrace of its home planet, it immediately faces group alienation, dematerialization, moral deprivation... and other psychological effects, haunting every step of its civilization's progress, posing a significant challenge to its development.

This phenomenon is explained by the "social deficiency effect", suggesting that a civilization is an individual within the cosmic society, and is also a profound exploration of humanity, morality, and social structures on a cosmic scale.

This theory discusses the issues of cosmic societal constraints and the role they play in the growth process of civilizations.

If cosmic societal constraints exist, they act as a beacon, guiding civilizations as they navigate through the vast starry oceans, gradually aligning their individual civilizational values with the values of cosmic society.

If there is a lack of cosmic societal constraints, with strict limitations of light speed, it is very easy for the direction of values to deviate from the correct path, leading to extremes.

This is a journey filled with unknowns and dangers, where every step of a civilization is full of exploration and reflection, as well as a continuous pursuit of a deep relationship between oneself and the universe.

As parents are to their children, as the proverb says: When parents are present, there are places to go in life; when parents are gone, only the return journey remains.

The meaning of civilization is similar, leaving the home planet to fly into the depths of the unknown universe, a sign of its maturity.

The further and faster it flies, the more its destiny will coincide with the destiny of the universe, culminating at the end of the universe.

This is the most rational choice, but humanity is not willing to make such a sacrifice, as maturity is not necessarily the pursuit of civilization.

The Civilization Mothership and the home planet (Moon) hold significance far beyond simple civilization survival and proliferation.

Perhaps, the true destination of a civilization is not at the end of the universe, but in the deep memories and longing for its home planet, a warm glow that, no matter how far we fly, always tugs at our hearts.

Lack of cosmic societalization, perhaps, can provide guidance amidst bondage.

*

The Mountain Civilization's warship engine modification plan, though it faced several setbacks and failures along the way, fortunately, they eventually emerged from their chrysalis and greeted the dawn of success.

In this wave of technological revolution, they not only mastered the technological application of virtual energy but also turned it into a weapon for actual combat.

Virtual Energy Cannons, Virtual Energy Shields, became the new cutting-edge weapons of the Mountain Civilization.

The use of virtual energy technology is not just a way to utilize Vacuum Zero-Point Energy; it may also herald a new era of technology. The Mountain Civilization had just begun to tap into its potential.

Its development prospects are very broad, and some human scholars even believe that continuing to delve into this direction could support the Mountain Civilization moving into a 1.6-level civilization.

The Mountain Civilization did not reach a 1.5-level civilization through virtual energy technology alone; it depended on breakthroughs in Vacuum Zero-Point Energy technology.

Although the Mountain Civilization is a silicon-based civilization, their imagination and intelligence are not much different from those of carbon-based civilizations.

On the path of scientific exploration, the Mountain Civilization displayed an unimaginable steadfastness and persistence. Once they identified the direction forward, the entire civilization became like an indestructible rock, steadfast and unyielding.

This tremendous force, surpassing all, was also the state of civilization that humanity dreamt of.

However, it was precisely this persistence and determination that sometimes made the Mountain Civilization easily fall into a rigid mindset. When they encountered the shackles of civilization, they might struggle within them for a long time, unable to extricate themselves.

This was both a symbol of their tenacity and a challenge they had to face when exploring the unknown.

*

The Trisolaran Civilization was also developing rapidly, steadily advancing toward the higher echelons of a 1.4-level civilization.

Firstly, because of the immense richness of resources, which provided an unprecedented foundation for the development of the Trisolaran Civilization.

They finally experienced the freedom of not having to worry about resources, as if the entire universe had opened its arms to them, allowing them to explore and take at will.

Secondly, because of the Patch the Sky Project, which gave them wings of imagination.

With this project pushing forward, the Trisolaran "superbrain" played a crucial role at various scientific research nodes.

It acted like a wise mentor, guiding the Trisolarans toward potential breakthroughs. Meanwhile, ordinary Trisolarans simply carried on with research.

Such a collaborative model was undoubtedly most suitable for the Trisolaran Civilization.

To some extent, Trisolarans represent a collective mindset, what they actually needed more was the guidance of a "superbrain."

This significantly enhanced the scientific development speed of the Trisolaran Civilization, allowing them to travel farther on the path of scientific exploration and continually climb new peaks.

Although compared to humanity or the Mountain Civilization, the Trisolaran Civilization might still appear somewhat immature in some aspects, such a development pace was already sufficient to prove their value and potential.

Each civilization has its own characteristics, just as humanity, even if technically capable of implementing Mind Tactility, could not merge multiple brains and learn the Trisolaran model.

Human nature is selfish and free, unable to adapt to the Trisolaran model. Similarly, the Trisolaran nature is inclusive and authoritarian, also unable to adapt to the human model.

*

The Dinosaur Civilization, after being suppressed for tens of millions of years, like a caged giant beast, now that it had broken free, completely unleashed itself. Its development speed was so rapid that even when compared with the 1.4-level Human Civilization, it was in no way inferior.

Perhaps in the eyes of many, the Dinosaur Civilization was always labeled as ruthless, recklessly plundering resources without any care, like cosmic predators.

But this was possibly just their camouflage; between high-level and low-level civilizations, morality was always so powerless.

They understood that morals, justice, and sympathy were built on the premise of fundamental strength balance. A moment of soft-heartedness and idealism might lead to even greater tragedies.

However, beneath the ruthless exterior, the Dinosaur Civilization also held firm beliefs. They wanted to devour Earth, which was their law of survival, but they also gave humanity a chance to leave, which was not a sign of weakness but a complex display of emotion.

They waged endless wars, traversed the stars, yet also deeply longed to find a peaceful home of their own.

Through millions of years of wandering and struggling, the Dinosaur Civilization learned, and could only learn, "conquest." This was their law of survival and the mark of their civilization.

*

The four civilizations of the Divine Vessel, without considering their respective flaws, each possessed unique charm and distinct characteristics.

Humanity was insightful,

The Mountain was resilient,

The Trisolarans were tenacious,

The Dinosaurs were steadfast.