The types of soulium mentioned above were still in the research and development stage. What was commonly used at present was actually secondary soulium.
Secondary soulium was made from carburized titanium-uranium alloy nanosteel.
Although this material was sturdy and resistant to Honkai corrosion, it was extremely heavy. Even when fashioned into nanomachines, it remained highly inflexible. As a result, it was mostly used in engineering construction and large-scale mechs.
For example, the lowest level that had once imprisoned Honkai Beasts during Vill-V's prison break, as well as the composite external armor of the newest aerial battleship Tethys.
This did not mean that secondary soulium was low-end material. In fact... secondary soulium was currently the most advanced material in the world.
Simply forging one ton of secondary soulium into an armed mech and deploying it onto the battlefield would be enough to crush the firepower of several divisions.
However, the production efficiency of secondary soulium was extremely slow, and the production threshold extraordinarily high. There were only seven production factories in the entire world.
These factories had effectively replaced nuclear weapons as symbols of modern military superpowers.
After all... they were producing nanomachines. Daily output was measured in grams. Compared to other steel materials that could reach tens of millions of tons per day, this was no longer squeezing toothpaste—it was like squeezing out completely dried paint.
Because of this, every gram of secondary soulium was worth tens of thousands.
And the pitch-black S-1 Experimental Base before Vill-V had used at least tens of thousands of tons of secondary soulium. One could say that nearly all the secondary soulium forged worldwide over the years had been concentrated here.
If converted into monetary value, the worth of the secondary soulium alone here would reach at least hundreds of trillions—perhaps even quadrillions...
Good heavens, how many zeros was that? A trillion was twelve zeros. A hundred trillion meant fourteen zeros...
Vill-V bent her fingers to count—and quickly realized she did not have enough fingers.
She was already itching to perform a magic trick and make this entire island disappear.
It was not greed. Vill-V merely felt that... in the future, Miss Raven would need such an impregnable little island to build a villa upon. Yes, yes.
The immense funds MOTH had poured into constructing the S-1 Experimental Base clearly demonstrated how much they valued this place. Precisely because of that, no spy had ever managed to infiltrate it—not even intelligence agents from the Mad Hatter Party.
Yet Vill-V had ridden on the coattails of Dr. Newton and walked in openly and legitimately.
The one who obtained permission to research the Second Herrscher was not Vill-V, but the renowned Head of Engineering at MOTH—Dr. Newton.
At the post-disaster summary conference of the Fourth Honkai Eruption, Dr. Newton had followed Teacher Vill-V's instructions and spent considerable effort persuading the higher-ups to approve research on the Herrscher corpse.
As for those higher-ups who could not be persuaded, they were far too preoccupied dealing with "On the Investigation and Elimination of Corruption Within MOTH" to concern themselves with a Herrscher corpse.
That was precisely why Newton had chosen this moment to submit the request. Its true purpose had been to use it as cover for the application to study the Herrscher corpse.
At present, Mei had no intention of directly eliminating the North American leadership. Instead, she planned to first dismantle their power, weaken their influence, and prevent a desperate counterattack that might shake MOTH's foundations.
Moreover, the emergence of the Fourth Herrscher had instilled a sense of urgency among the higher-ups.
After all, North America had been devastated beyond recognition by the Fourth Herrscher. No one wanted that tragedy to befall their own region.
Nuclear weapons had lost their credibility due to the "Selwyn Incident" and were no longer reliable.
The only things humanity could depend on now were conventional weapons and soulium.
Before soulium production could be scaled up, seeking new types of weapons capable of replacing nuclear arms had become a top priority.
And thus, research on the Herrscher corpse was reactivated.
Given that the applicant was the Head of Engineering—Dr. Newton, hailed as MOTH's foremost scientist—the higher-ups approved the proposal with a try-and-see attitude.
They wanted to see whether this Dr. Newton, so highly praised by scientists, could truly achieve something extraordinary using the Second Herrscher's corpse.
And so, through temporary control of the S-1 Laboratory, Newton allowed Vill-V—the formidable Minister of the Third Scientific Energy Department—to enter.
Though she bore the title of Minister of the Third Scientific Energy Department, Vill-V possessed no real authority, received no salary, and had not even been enrolled in social insurance yet. Black-hearted corporation!
Vill-V was still short of money. Without money, she could accomplish nothing.
Research required funding. Manufacturing production equipment required funding. Purchasing materials required funding. Creating anti-Herrscher armaments required funding.
And each item demanded investments of at least a billion pounds.
As for HoMu Company's current funds, they were needed to expand its influence and corporate scale in North America, support the Mad Hatter Party, and maintain funds for treating Honkai Sickness patients. There was simply no surplus to assist Vill-V.
The funds scraped from the North American "fat sheep" had ultimately been used by Conductor to settle debts before being reinvested into HoMu Company's development foundation.
According to Conductor, HoMu Company needed to use capital to crush competing corporations and rapidly open up the entire industrial chain. In business warfare, capital was the true iron fist. Small tricks took too long. Against Honkai, every second counted.
She never expected that running a company would burn money like this... I don't want to be some boss anymore. I want to go back to being the ultimate working emperor!
Which meant that Vill-V would have to raise funds for manufacturing equipment herself.
"If only I could divert Energy Department funds... Too bad I'm just a figurehead minister right now..."
"Still, I do have a capable disciple and grand-disciple. Sob, sob."
Thanks to arrangements made by Newton and Dr. Mei, Vill-V could utilize all the resources of the S-1 Laboratory. Id Vill-V declared that they deserved public commendation. Otherwise, who knew whether Magician might have arranged something behind her back? Conductor even seemed to be colluding with Magician.
In truth, Conductor was not to blame. Conductor had originally intended to use that sum of money personally, but upon receiving news that several North American conglomerates had suddenly united to boycott HoMu Company, there was no choice but to return the funds to help the company survive the crisis.
It was rather suspicious that those groups—who had practically been sworn enemies—would suddenly band together, as though they had reached consensus overnight. There had been no prior warning. They had even been suing each other before.
"Since I'm already here, how could I leave without installing a backdoor? That would disgrace my title as Vill-V, Emperor of Backdoors."
If the original Vill-V could leave a backdoor in the Elysian Realm, then leaving a freely accessible backdoor in a mere MOTH experimental base was hardly excessive.
Any place where Vill-V installed a backdoor could be revisited casually next time. Her backdoors were comprehensive—positioning systems, door controls, hacking programs, surveillance—everything included.
And with MOTH's current technology, there was no way they could detect Vill-V's backdoors.
Wherever she walked, she installed one. Whether it would ever be used was another matter. Leave it first, worry later.
At worst, it could serve as a convenient drop-in for Pardofelis—a little post-meal entertainment, wasn't it?
After circling around and leaving her marks throughout the S-1 Laboratory—thoroughly imprinting it with Vill-V's "flavor"—she finally arrived at Dr. Newton's office, which also served as the director's office of the S-1 Laboratory.
The moment she pushed the door open, she encountered someone entirely unexpected.
"Elysia?!"