Liu Hai's eyes blurred as he scanned the flood of incoming messages, but from these continuous updates, he sensed the situation growing increasingly dire. The Third Spiral Arm was still relatively stable—despite the emergence of the Stardust Star Region, the Katon Civilization's Seeker fleets here were sparse due to the short time frame. However, the First and Second Spiral Arms were resource-rich zones, densely packed with star systems and the most developed life planets, having been explored the longest.
Now, veteran Pioneers were being targeted by the Katon Civilization. Current intel suggested these seasoned reserve Lords could still hold their ground against the Katon offensive, but without reinforcements in the long run, the crisis remained.
"A storm is coming!" Liu Hai saw immense peril in these reports.
Compared to the long-developed First and Second Spiral Arms, the Pioneers of the Third Spiral Arm were far weaker, with only a handful of truly powerful ones—families like the Xue Clan being among the few exceptions.
The prelude to a full-scale civilization war had already begun. While Seekers and Pioneers were still locked in fierce skirmishes, the direct intervention of the Katon military spelled disaster for the Third Spiral Arm.
Though a military fleet was stationed nearby, Liu Hai still felt uneasy. Construction in the Gemini Starfield was progressing rapidly, but establishing an entire interstellar civilization's industrial system took time—resource extraction and transportation alone couldn't keep up with the current crisis.
"Speed up the outer defenses. I'll provide additional defensive installations for the star system as soon as possible. Also, avoid the Eighth Star System—don't engage any Seeker ships spotted near it either."
After giving Li Yali these instructions, Liu Hai boarded a corvette modified from a Seed Ship and headed for the Gemini Starfield. Before departure, he hired Third Logistics to deliver his mission rewards to the Brolly Star System.
Two months later, back aboard the Seed Ship, he reclined in the command chair and reviewed recent production reports.
During these two months, the conflict had intensified. The Katon Civilization and the Federation had officially gone to war in the central regions, deploying over a dozen legions along their vast border.
This outbreak confirmed Liu Hai's suspicions—the Federation had also achieved miniaturization of energy weapons. Judging by the range and firepower of their fortress cannons, they even slightly surpassed the Katon Civilization, though the advantage wasn't overwhelming.
The battles in the First and Second Spiral Arms dragged on for over a month before the Katon Fleet withdrew after Federation military forces pushed them back to the border.
This confrontation gave Liu Hai a clear picture of the true strength of these veteran Pioneers. A fleet that would overwhelm over a hundred Third Spiral Arm Pioneers—even with the Xue Clan's support—was effortlessly managed by these seasoned veterans.
For more than a month, they held the enemy at bay outside their star systems. Several Katon military legions failed to breach even a single system—despite diverting forces to guard against Federation fleets. Such prowess completely outclassed the Pioneers of the Third Spiral Arm.
The clash between the two civilizations ended abruptly, lasting less than a month in sporadic engagements. Both sides withdrew with minimal losses, bringing the conflict to a hasty close.
The military issued an announcement stating that the recent military friction with the Katon Civilization was merely routine behavior between both parties and not an act of war. Pioneers could rest assured and continue their exploration of the star regions.
When Liu Hai saw this announcement, he bared his teeth in frustration. What did the military mean by this? Calling such intense fighting mere "friction"!
He couldn't shake the feeling that the military was up to no good. He pondered the underlying implications of their stance but quickly gave up—there simply wasn't enough information to draw any solid conclusions.
Liu Hai delegated all related defense and retreat plans to the Staff Department, which had now expanded to 500 members. Each fleet required regular rotations of onboard personnel, and manpower was still somewhat insufficient.
Shifting his focus, Liu Hai concentrated on the development of the Gemini Starfield. The outside world was beyond his control, and there was little he could influence.
Thanks to recent construction efforts and Liu Hai's earlier adjustments, all resources in the star system were now dedicated to warship production. The framework of new Destroyers was already taking shape, with various components partially completed. However, the main guns—particularly their intricate core components—could only be manufactured by Seed Ships.
Both Shipyards were operating at full capacity, with tens of thousands of Engineering Robots working tirelessly inside. Nearby Space Smelting Plants continuously supplied the necessary alloy materials.
After reviewing the progress, Liu Hai felt the current Shipyards were still too small. Combined, they could only accommodate the simultaneous construction of two Corvettes and one Destroyer.
Resource extraction from the asteroid belt had expanded significantly, providing enough raw materials to scale up warship production several times over.
After some deliberation, Liu Hai decided to expand the Shipyards tenfold. He instructed the Intelligent Nexus to adjust the construction plan, diverting some resources from the Smelting Plants to the expansion. The project was expected to take six months, after which the Shipyards would be able to handle multiple warships at once—just in time to match the increased resource supply efficiency.
Mining and construction were also underway in neighboring star systems. Apart from terrestrial planets with atmospheres, other planets were being directly excavated, with their soil fed into Heavy Fusion Smelters to extract essential elements. These were then processed in Smelting Plants to forge various alloys for machinery production across factories.
Currently, transportation dictated production efficiency. Common elements like iron and below were rarely needed in standard manufacturing, making their transport highly inefficient. Ten cubic meters of light elements might yield less than half a cubic meter of High-energy Alloy after processing. On the other hand, the energy generated from fusion was relatively substantial.
Liu Hai now had mountains of Compressed Energy Blocks, totaling nearly 300 million kilowatt-hours. His next challenge was transporting these to the Brolly Star System. The Asteroid Orbital Turrets and most Defense Turrets lacked Reaction Furnaces, relying solely on accumulated stellar energy—a slow process. Pre-filled Energy Blocks were the only way to ensure these weapons remained fully powered.
"Dispatch thirty small transport ships to concentrate these Energy Blocks for delivery," Liu Hai ordered. "Clone Soldiers will serve as the crew. Intelligent Nexus, integrate their identities into the Star Sea Group's records."
"The Antimatter Conversion Devices are still insufficient, but let's forget about the Gemini Star System. We can build more in the Three-Body Star System over there. With three stars, it would be a waste not to utilize such abundant stellar energy."
"Fourth, fifth, and sixth—these three star systems should also prioritize shipyard production. With no shortage of energy, it's better to focus on manufacturing warships first."
After some deliberation, Liu Hai laid down the foundation: the fourth star system would primarily produce Cruisers, with the goal of simultaneously constructing twenty Cruisers within two years.
The fifth star system would focus on Battleships, aiming to meet the requirement of concurrently building five Battleships after two years. However, the core components could still only be manufactured by the Seed Ship—placing fifth-tier tech factories outside was still too risky at this stage.
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