kingnovel Chapter 497 Forerunner
Chapter 497 Forerunner
"In return, we will help humans. We will help humans completely resist the threat of Chaos. We will share technology with humans and jointly resist the Great Devourer. When all this is over, the two races will share a harmonious galaxy." The Emperor looked into Howard's eyes and said so.
Howard didn't answer because he didn't believe it.
"Of course this is impossible." Then the Pope personally exposed this fantastic promise.
The Emperor then said, "We will take back the entire universe and completely cleanse it of the filth of Chaos. You humans and other intelligent species can only exist as our slaves."
"And this, I have no interest in at all."
The Hierophant finished speaking and extended his hand to his shoulder. Horus was still standing on her shoulder with his eyes closed. After the Hierophant broke free from his shackles, this lively and noisy mechanical falcon went into standby mode, not knowing whether it was afraid of the Hierophant's majesty.
"This universe is corrupt and disgusting. I will lead my subjects and followers away from here."
Howard: "What are you going to do?"
"I will create an unprecedented dimensional universe, large enough to accommodate an entire star region. This universe will be even more mathematically and rationally beautiful, and we will be the gods of this universe." As the Pope spoke of her plan, her eyes blazed with light. At this moment, she was incredibly close to a real life:
"Once we have gathered enough energy, we will once again open portals to other universes. We will once again gather the energy we need in these new universes to expand the dimensional universe and open new portals to new universes. From then on, we will have unlimited possibilities and freedom, and nothing can constrain us anymore."
If we agree with the Hierophant's theory of the river of time, that is to say, at the stage when all creatures in this universe are still fish in water, the Necrons led by the Hierophant are planning to build a ship that can travel through all water systems and continuously strengthen itself.
Howard: "Didn't you just say that doing this might draw hostility from other universes? Also, didn't you also say that even if you drain the power of the entire universe, you can't open a channel to a timeline that's too far away?"
"We, now and in the past, fear the unknown hostility, but having broken free from our shackles, we will surely evolve. Then we will no longer fear anything." The Hierophant replied, "Furthermore, we may not be able to directly connect to timelines that are too far away in this universe, but we can constantly use other timelines as springboards to reach them."
"But there's a paradox in your theory," Howard said. "If there are countless time branches, and if technology reaches a certain level that allows us to travel through the universe, then why are there no outsiders in this universe?"
The Emperor: "How do you know there isn't one?"
Howard: "..."
Howard: "Okay, then how much energy does it take to build this ship... oh no, to build this dimension and keep it running?"
"According to our calculations, at least one million stars are needed, and to cope with emergencies, this number will rise to two million."
Howard was a little shocked when he heard this number. In the real universe, the number of stars in the Milky Way is about 100 billion to 400 billion. The Milky Way in the Warhammer world view is a super galaxy that is even larger than the real universe. There is no credible estimate of the number of stars in it, but it is generally estimated to be at the trillion level.
Two million stars might sound like a small number compared to hundreds of billions or trillions, but remember that not all stars in the Warhammer universe can be easily developed.
The stars currently controlled by the Human Empire are probably between one million and five million, which actually only occupies a very small part of the Milky Way. The Pope's opening is to drain half of the empire.
"Don't be so surprised." Howard's thoughts couldn't be hidden from the Necron before him. Seeing Howard's expression, the Emperor smiled rarely and said, "We have already selected our targets. Among them, the stars controlled by the human empire are less than three thousand."
This sentence made Howard feel a little relieved. Now he thought that his previous idea of "draining half of the empire" was a wrong estimate made in shock.
Although there are many planets in the Milky Way, most of the stars are not worth developing in the eyes of humans. For example, if there are no stable planets around a star, and there are no rare resources or enemies, then this star will be marked as worthless. Even if this star is within the sphere of influence of the empire, there may be only a handful of spaceships passing by it in thousands of years. These stars will be marked on the empire's star map, but they will not be counted in the world controlled by the empire.
But for the Necrons, these stars are readily available energy sources. As the technological pinnacle of the material universe, the Necrons' technology for extracting energy from stars is far more advanced than that of humans.
"At that time, we will send a direct note to the center of the human empire, offering some technology in exchange for the mining rights of these stars. This is our sincerity, and it also shows our respect and gratitude for the assistance provided by humanity." The Emperor stroked Horus' feathers and said, "But I know that even with our sincerity, you humans will find it difficult to accept it. Your extreme xenophobia has turned many situations that could have been win-win into lose-lose situations. If humanity rejects our proposal, we will still use our own methods to obtain these stars, that is, war."
As for why they had to keep an eye on some stars in the empire, Howard could roughly guess it.
First of all, the stars outside the control of the Empire do not mean that they are all ownerless. For example, the Necrons and the Eldar have been the overlords of the galaxy for much longer than humans, and their territories far exceed even the peak of the Human Empire. Some stars that are ownerless or worthless in the eyes of the Empire may be the property of a dormant Necron dynasty or Eldar world.
There is also the difficulty of mining. The Eye of Terror, where the threat of Chaos is severe, contains hundreds of millions of stars, but mining the stars there is obviously not a particularly good choice, especially when there are other options.
Finally, there is the influence of spatial distance. The Tessarel sector is located on the border of the Imperial Storm Field and is considered to be on the outskirts of the Milky Way. Even if there are planets worth mining on the other side of the Milky Way, crossing the entire galaxy to mine may not be a good idea.
If the Pope can really fulfill her promise, then objectively speaking, this plan is actually very beneficial to mankind. First of all, it is technology sharing. If there is real sincerity, the castrated Webway technology and Blackstone technology can also be considered technologies that can be shared.
Of course, these two technologies are top secrets of the Necrons, and the Necrons will never let humans know all of their secrets. But if they only use this as a basis to provide some support for humans' existing webway technology and anti-subspace technology, it will be a great help to humans.
Then, a time bomb will be defused in the human empire.
Although the Lorosa Dynasty has not shown any hostility towards the Empire so far, it is a powerful alien dynasty after all. If the Empire knew of the existence of this alien dynasty, with the style of those war maniacs, even if they knew that fighting this alien dynasty would cause them heavy losses, they would definitely shout and rush forward for the Empire, and then many people would die. If this alien dynasty really left to expedition to other universes, there would be no such risk.
Although all the benefits were laid out, Howard still couldn't make up his mind. Finally, he asked the last question:
"You guys are leaving, what about us?"