Chapter 415: Heading to the Sagittarius Arm
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The Era of the Divine Vessel, year 12,396.
The Civilization Motherships of the various Divine Vessel Civilizations (which did not participate in the battle) started their maximum acceleration mode simultaneously with the end of the battle, advancing towards the depths of the Guardian's direction.
After eight years of fleeing and with the frontline information provided by the Guardians, they finally broke through the Guardians' defense line that stretched for several light years and also shook off the interception of the Guardians' Mother Civilization.
At this moment, the Divine Vessel Civilization also changed course, preparing to cross the vast void between the spiral arms and directly enter the Sagittarius Arm.
If they were to continue onward, the Divine Vessel Civilization would undoubtedly crash into that vast and boundless interstellar war between Singer and the Edge World.
According to the Guardians' estimates, their civilization rank might be between 2.7 and 2.9, whereas in comparison, the Guardians themselves only rank at 2.3.
In such an interstellar battlefield, the Divine Vessel Civilization might not even qualify as a Big Head Soldier. Courage is strategy, not recklessness; encountering Singer at this moment would be extremely unwise.
Only Lin Sen might feel a hint of regret, after changing direction this time, he doesn't know if he'll be able to encounter Singer again in the future.
If possible, he'd like to compete with Singer again when the civilization technology rank has risen to a higher level, and then grab Singer and say, "That's for indiscriminately deploying Two-dimensional foil!"
Alas, he can only fantasize about it now!
This war with the Guardians allowed the Divine Vessel Civilization to truly experience the immense disparity brought by technology levels. The Six Great Civilizations, using all their strength and countless wits and strategies, could barely hold their ground against just 20 of the Guardians' warships.
If not for a momentary lapse in attention from the Guardians, combined with the thinly spread deployment of warships on this defensive line, the Divine Vessel Civilization's attack would have undoubtedly ended in failure.
Although the Divine Vessel Civilization emerged victorious from this battle, it was only by luck. This victory, like a basin of cold water, instantly quenched the proud and fervent heart of the Divine Vessel Civilization.
However, it was the baptism of this battle that led the Divine Vessel Civilization to another technological breakthrough.
The power ignited by the Divine Vessel, like an erupting volcano, surged tumultuously, propelling the Divine Vessel Civilization to sprint down the path of science and technology.
The Divine Vessel Civilization is now advancing at an unprecedented pace towards the unknown and distant future, towards the deep reaches of the sea of stars, forging ahead with great effort.
*
In the Shenzhou Era 12,500, the Human Civilization Technology Level was the first to enter level 2.0, and a hundred years later, the Mo Civilization and the Mountain Civilization also became 2.0-level civilizations.
Three thousand years later, the Trisolaran Civilization, Dinosaur Civilization, and Micro Civilization also successively became 2.0-level civilizations; thus, the Divine Vessel Civilization fully entered the Second Type Civilization stage.
As for the previously mentioned "seed," the Divine Vessel Civilization finally understood its meaning and could already make preliminary use of it; the essence of the "seed" is also the technology that utilizes high-dimensional quantum space.
Humanity once defeated Trisolaris using the Mental Quantum Sensing Array, but that was only the most primitive and rudimentary use of high-dimensional quantum space.
If the Mental Quantum Sensing Array technology is to paper airplane flight, then the "seed" technology is to modern airplane technology.
Although both utilize the principles of aerodynamics, their differences in technological implementation, performance, and scope of application are vast as a chasm.
The Divine Vessel Civilization has just stepped into this level, and the path of the Divine Vessel Civilization has only just begun.
At this moment, the Divine Vessel Civilization has completely entered that vast and boundless void between the Orion Arm and the Sagittarius Arm, spanning over five thousand light years.
This void is not utterly devoid of constant stars, but their density is extremely low, almost a millionth of the density of constant stars near the Solar System.
If constant stars were to be shrunk to the size of a grain of rice on Earth, then the nearest constant star might be on the opposite side of Earth, unreachably far away.
Even among such sparse constant stars, the likelihood of them having planets is very low, and it is possible that other civilizations have laid traps; on this leg of the journey, the Divine Vessel Civilization has almost no resources to replenish.
Amidst this void, there is a profound silence, as well as an endless visual extension.
Here, silence is terrifying. With only the endless darkness and silence, it's as if swallowed by the abyss, as if time itself stands forever still.
Such an environment is both a test and a tempering for the Divine Vessel Civilization, constantly challenging their will and perseverance.
*
In the Shenzhou Era 35,000, after an arduous twenty thousand years, the Divine Vessel Civilization finally reached the Sagittarius Arm.
The Sagittarius Arm is one of the four main spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. It radiates outward from the Galaxy Bar Center, forming a long and winding stream of stars. The Arm is divided into two parts: the inward bending part from the Galaxy center is the Sagittarius Arm, and the extending outward part is the Sagittarius Arm.
By this time, the Divine Vessel Civilization, through relentless struggle and effort, combined with some "guidance" from the Guardians, had reached a technology level of 2.3.
This achievement, even for the Guardians who had witnessed cosmic vicissitudes, was astonishing. They took nearly a hundred million years to reach this step, while the Divine Vessel Civilization accomplished it in just 20,000 years.
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This also once again demonstrated to the Guardian the awe-inspiring, miraculous capabilities of the Divine Vessel Civilization.
As early as when entering Civilization Rank 2.1, the Divine Vessel Civilization had already achieved an unprecedented leap in the field of space technology and successfully developed Two-Dimensional Foil Technology; breakthroughs in Little Universe Technology, which operates independently of the large universe, were also achieved.
Through the Guardian, the Divine Vessel Civilization became aware that almost all these accomplishments are signature technologies of a Second Type Civilization.
At this moment, the Divine Vessel Civilization's exploration of the microscopic world had touched the zeptometer (10^-21) domain. Yet, even so, this was still but a small step on the long journey to unlocking the mysteries of the high-dimensional micro-worlds.
Should we view the complex, high-dimensional structure inside a proton as a universe, the zeptometer scale is akin to our recognition of a size comparable to that of a galaxy cluster within this universe.
Even now, the Divine Vessel Civilization, having risen to Civilization Rank 2.3, has only just touched the edge of the yoctometer (10^-24).
This level of exploration is still far from adequate, and the Divine Vessel Civilization has a long road ahead.
The Divine Vessel Civilization will continue to move toward the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, along the Sagittarius Arm, along the Sagittarius Arm.
*
In the passage of innumerable years, we have arrived at the 300,000th year of the Shenzhou Era.
This is a glorious history marked by the stars, with the universe as the canvas.
At this moment, the Divine Vessel Civilization has reached the end of the Sagittarius Arm, like a traveler weathered by time, gazing at the bright Silver Heart Region ahead, ready to take a historic step into that unknown abyss.
On this lengthy and perilous journey, the Divine Vessel Civilization has been like a vast ship navigating through the storms of interstellar space, not only resolutely crossing the threshold of Civilization Rank 2.7 but also, through the trials of countless cosmic wars, forging an unbreakable will and wisdom.
Throughout these trials, the line between life and death has blurred, and the Divine Vessel Civilization has had to tap into all its potential to cope, breaking through its limits and challenging the extreme, almost succumbing to the annihilation of civilizational collapse several times.
After the smoke of each war has cleared, the Divine Vessel Civilization has always managed to rise from the ruins, reborn like a phoenix from its ashes, shining with a light even more brilliant and fierce than before.
In the course of this epic journey, the Shenzhou has encountered civilizations of all kinds; some have become allies in battle, while others have dissolved into the river of history amidst fierce conflicts.
The blending and collision of these diverse cultures have further advanced the development of the Divine Vessel Civilization, pushing the boundaries of its technological levels step by step.
The Divine Vessel Civilization has now become a super-large collective civilization body, consisting of more than 50 civilizations.
Each civilization has its own legend, each has struggled from the depths of despair. In this universe of despair where all light seems extinguished, they have all ultimately chosen to place their faith in Shenzhou.
Just as the Trisolaran invasion of the Solar System pushed the human world to the brink of despair.
However, in that moment of despair, everyone ultimately chose to trust the "Wallfacer," believing they could bring "hope." And the Wallfacers did not disappoint, leading humanity to find hope and through that unparalleled crisis.
Now, within this large collective civilization body, each civilization believes that the "Shenzhou Wallfacer" will once again lead them to a new "hope."
No matter how distant hope is, no matter how difficult the road ahead, these civilizations are all willing to give their all to try, to struggle. No matter how faint the prospects, they want to attempt, to strive.
They do not believe that the universe is meaningless.
In the end, they must pose the most pressing question to the universe:
What is the purpose of the universe?
(Tribute to Chao Wen Dao)
PS: The progress here is too fast, many readers will probably feel dissatisfied.
But the essence of this book is not about the struggle for civilization, the core theme has always been the Dark Forest state of cosmic society. Whether it's the technology ideas or the war descriptions in this book, their fundamental point is to serve the concept of the Dark Forest.
This book is also nearing its end, and the author has written almost everything intended. If we were to get into the nitty-gritty of the Divine Vessel Civilization's struggle for dominance, that would be missing the point.
Moreover, to be honest, the author could not really write about the form of warfare among civilizations above Rank 2.0.
This kind of warfare involves destroying spaces at will, folding space, pausing time, and even changing the fine-structure constant (originally, the battle with the Guardian was supposed to feature Space Folding Technology and fine-structure constant weapons, but due to a busy schedule and frequent rush to submit drafts, this was forgotten)...
The war is not fought with bursts of energy but is about the mastery of rules, with new theories and technologies emerging in the microscopic world.
If traditional modes of warfare were written, would this still be a Three-Body fan-fiction?
Some readers even think that after defeating Trisolaris, it is no longer Three-Body fan-fiction. However, I believe it still is because the book has never strayed from the main theme of the Dark Forest, with the latter part being more about the Dark Forest of Higher Civilizations.
Thank you, dear readers, for your company. I wish all readers great success and health and happiness!