Chapter 287: Astonishing Proportion

“We tested over 160 million core materials and tens of millions of internal configurations before finally developing this Energy Shield.

“Compared to previous components of the same type, its main advantage is the ability to withstand short-term energy overloads.

“When needed, it can instantly triple its power output—relative to its maximum conventional mode—in as little as 0.1 seconds. It can sustain this for ten seconds without sustaining damage.

“We have previously confirmed that the weapon of mass destruction used by the Human Civilization is, in essence, a Force Field Weapon. It works by externally forcing the material of our warships to convert from mass to energy, thereby causing damage.

“We have confirmed that without prior knowledge of the Force Field Weapon’s specific frequency and energy levels, increasing the strength of our own Energy Shield is the only method of defense.

“Additionally, the Force Field Weapon has a limited duration. Theoretical calculations suggest that, under ideal conditions, the weapon’s effect does not last more than eight seconds. The one used by the Human Civilization lasts for approximately four seconds.

“Therefore, during combat, as soon as we detect the Force Field Weapon entering its irreversible activation state, we can immediately activate the Variable Energy Shield. This will put it into an overload state, boosting its defensive strength to more than three times its conventional level for a duration of ten seconds.

“This will drastically reduce the destructive power of the Human Civilization’s Force Field Weapon, rendering their strategic weapon ineffective.”

Gazing out the viewport at the vastness of Deep Space, surrounded by the high command of his civilization, Haimo Lan solemnly reported this achievement to the Black Mountain Civilization and the Red Dog AI.

A moment later, Red Dog’s reply arrived.

“Commence live-fire testing.”

“Understood.”

A Warship equipped with the new Variable Energy Shield, operated by Harville Warriors, moved into the firing range. A medium-sized Warship, under Red Dog’s control, arrived as well.

“In ten seconds, I will take control of this Warship’s main cannon and fire upon the target.

“Beginning countdown now. Ten, nine…”

When the countdown reached three, the pale yellow Energy Shield around the small target Warship suddenly flared. The color shifted from pale yellow to a brilliant blue, like that of a massive stellar body.

“…Zero.”

A heavy, 25-gram projectile in an excited state shot forth, hurtling toward the nearby target Warship at several hundred kilometers per second.

For a small Warship like this, a projectile of such mass and velocity would instantly exceed its defensive limits, shattering the Energy Shield upon impact.

But this time, that did not happen.

The moment it collided with the brilliant blue shield, the Strong Core Force hidden within the quarks was abruptly released. A dazzling ball of fire appeared, instantly engulfing the entire Warship.

A few seconds later, the fiery light faded. The small Warship was completely unscathed.

Its hull structure remained intact, and the Energy Shield showed no signs of instability.

The next moment, the brilliant blue slowly faded, returning to its original pale yellow.

A swarm of the Red Dog AI’s diagnostic drones immediately flew over and entered the small target vessel, beginning to inspect the operational status of its internal components.

After a long while, the Red Dog AI responded.

“Excellent. With this Energy Shield system, our chances of capturing the Human Civilization have increased significantly.

“Your Harville Civilization is truly worthy of being called a highly intelligent civilization. On behalf of the Black Mountain Civilization, I offer you my respects.”

A wave of fervent applause swept through the conference hall of the Honor Spaceship. Every high-ranking official of the civilization was filled with excitement.

Nearly a century of tireless, round-the-clock effort, a century of continuous investment in this single research project, had, at this moment, finally borne fruit.

This was strategic equipment, a true cornerstone of national power. Their civilization originally lacked the capability to even attempt developing it.

‘Thankfully, his excellency Red Dog of the Black Mountain Civilization took on the burden of supplying all our civilization’s resources. This allowed us to focus our efforts, specifically cultivating talent for this purpose. In the final stages, we concentrated 200 million relevant researchers to push for a breakthrough. To put that in perspective, our civilization’s total population is only 150 billion. That’s one Energy Shield expert for every 750 people—an astonishing ratio! It was only through this that we were able to complete this seemingly impossible task.’

‘But with this, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity’s power has grown even stronger. Who knows how many more orthodox, intelligent civilizations will suffer because of it in the future.’

‘But that has nothing to do with our Harville Civilization.’

“Your Excellency, Red Dog, we have a few recommendations regarding the use of this new shield.

“The complete new shield system can only enter its overload state once in its entire lifecycle. After use, it sustains internal damage and can only maintain its conventional mode. Attempting to activate it again will lead to a total system collapse.

“And secondly, for the strategic purpose of achieving the element of surprise, I suggest we do not reveal that we have mastered this new Energy Shield during the early stages of the war. We should hide our strength for now.

“Once the Human Civilization activates their Force Field Weapon, they will certainly assume they have achieved a major victory and that we have suffered heavy losses. They will plan their subsequent tactics based on this assumption. When we reveal the new shield at that moment, we can catch the Human Civilization completely off-guard and achieve an even greater victory.”

“Your recommendations are sound. I will consider them carefully.

“Now, since we have mastered a top-secret weapon to counter our opponent, let… the true war preparations begin.”

“Yes!”

Haimo Lan agreed with solemn gravity.

A massive industrial buildup, vast enough to leave all Harvillers stunned, began with incredible speed.

Building upon their already established industrial system, countless Manned Warships, Unmanned Warships, unmanned combat installations, large Space-Air Carriers, transport ships, and more began to emerge. It was as if they were being created from thin air. Ship after ship flew out from shipyards and factories, flowing like rivers into the sea, converging in space to form an ocean of innumerable vessels.

The Harville Civilization also began another transformation.

In the previous phase, they had gone all-out to cultivate talent related to Energy Shields. In the current phase, they were going all-out to train warriors!

Under normal circumstances, a civilization with a population of 150 billion would have no more than 100 million frontline warriors. On a rotational basis, they could deploy about 33 million warriors at any given time, capable of operating a total of about 250,000 warships of various types.

Under special circumstances, such as during the later stages of the war against the Human Civilization, the unique social climate allowed a civilization of 150 billion to bear a maximum limit of about 300 million warriors. On a rotational basis, the number of deployable warriors at one time was approximately 100 million, capable of operating a total of about 800,000 warships.

This was because, aside from frontline warriors, vast numbers of personnel were also required for social maintenance, daily operations, resource gathering, security management, Warship production, Unmanned Combat System production, and energy supply.

But now, the Harville Civilization’s warrior training program aimed to produce a total of 1.2 billion warriors—a fourfold increase over their previous maximum limit!

Because now, they had formed an Alliance with the Black Mountain Civilization!