Chapter 761: SSS-Class Outpost

A month later, after the efforts and cooperation of the seven Tier 8 Scientific Paragon Saints, they completed a rough draft of an SSS-class outpost.

With such development, the supreme leaders of the seven major alliances were roused from their seclusion to personally review the matter.

Scanning the exquisite blueprint, Primos couldn’t help but be amazed. "Armagon, I thank you on behalf of everyone." He said, thanking the lead scientist from the Mechanical Race.

"It’s my duty. Furthermore, it’s not my achievement alone. The others also helped and provided various inspirations." Armagon was only proficient in technology and matter. Turning the design into dark technology would not have been possible without the help of the other Paragon Saints.

"Thank you for your effort, everyone. We will not forget your contribution." Primos and the other supreme leaders thanked each scientist.

Although they were supreme leaders of a major alliance, their status was still a notch below the Paragon Saints. One order from the Cosmic Emperors behind them was that even if they had to die, they must ensure these Paragon Saints lived.

Soon after letting the Paragon Saints rest, Primos and the others began poring over the blueprint in excitement.

"Come on, Primos, tell us. How does it compare to the Eternal Military Outpost?" Ferguson of the Ancient Race asked eagerly.

"The outpost was only at the SSS-class level, far from the Eternal Military Outpost. According to the data, it could only deal with a lord-level Tier 8 dark beast, or defend against a Tier 9 dark beast for a while."

"Just that?" Although it was also powerful, compared to the Eternal Military Outpost, it was a whole class lower.

"The technological content was there. However, no one among our people is proficient enough in runic language." Primos shook his head. If it were mere technology, they could push the strength of the outpost up to X-class level by piling on materials. However, to deal with dark miasma, they had to turn it into a dark technology.

Understanding the difficulty of the matter, they could only accept it.

"What about the cost? How much can we produce?"

"The cost is a bit expensive, about 15 million Chaos Stones in materials. Based on the data each of you provided, if we combine our collective strength, we could build 20,000 outposts a month. If we scale it up, 50,000 is not impossible."

"15 million? How come it’s so expensive? Isn’t this just an SSS-class outpost?" Looking over the blueprint, they checked again to confirm Primos’s words.

Sadly, the cost really was over 15 million, 50% more expensive than just buying the Eternal Military Outpost. Worse still, it was weaker and also needed their own manpower to be mobilized.

"This is the best we can do. Once we scale up to 50,000 outposts a month, no matter how inferior these outposts are, we could still crush the Eternal Star Alliance."

After deliberating over the specifications of the new outpost, they began to discuss the division of labor, logistics, and distribution. Taking a copy of the blueprint, they also secretly thought of building the outposts on their own.

Once the peace treaty ended, each would be fighting tooth and nail. By then, much less cooperating amicably like now, every transaction would be a war of attrition.

Dealing with the new outpost, they each went back into seclusion after sending representatives to the Eternal Star Alliance for the auction. Although they already had a version of their own, it wouldn’t hurt to buy more.

---

In the Eternal Star Alliance Virtual Server, Auction Hall:

With representatives from nine major alliances in attendance, the auction for the Eternal Military Outpost quickly began.

"In this session, we will be auctioning a total of 2,300 Eternal Military Outposts. Each lot will be 100 units. Payment will be settled using mother core ships. Now, if none of you have any questions, let the bidding begin."

Although it was a single-item auction, everyone bid fiercely. Starting at a mere 1,000 mother core ships per unit of outpost, the price shot up to 1,500, which was won by the Grand Race Sovereign Alliance.

In the bidding that followed, the God Emperor Knight Alliance also followed up, winning and losing some.

Watching the two in a personal showdown, the other major-level teams could only sigh in envy. They were only given a limited quota. It didn’t matter if they won or lost, but watching the two newly merged major alliances, the other representatives felt uncomfortable.

Soon, after fierce competition, the Grand Race Sovereign Alliance secured 1,000 outposts, while the God Emperor Knight Alliance managed to secure 600 outposts. Not wanting to offend the seven major teams, they left each of them a hundred.

Seeing their restraint, the other representatives couldn’t help but nod in approval. It seemed these emerging major alliances still had some tact.

"Thank you, everyone, for your participation. Next month, we will be auctioning another 3,000 units of the Eternal Military Outpost. Everyone is welcome to attend." The auctioneer said, after selling off all 2,300 outposts.

"Just 3,000? How come? You don’t have to worry about us lacking funds."

According to the calculations, with more mother core ships, the Eternal Star Alliance should be able to produce at least 5,000 outposts the next month.

"We are very sorry. However, our manpower is limited." The auctioneer sighed.

The mother core ship was only one prerequisite for building the Eternal Military Outpost; they also needed proficient runic engravers to turn it into dark technology.

This process is the most demanding. The runic engraver must be at least a Tier 4 runic professional, with the lead engraver at Tier 6 or above.

Even with tens or hundreds of thousands of mother core ships, the number of Eternal Military Outposts they could build was limited.

Meanwhile, hearing of the Eternal Star Alliance’s plight, the representatives were disappointed yet relieved at the same time. It seemed that while the Eternal Star Alliance was able to invent such a strategic weapon, their foundation was still worse than the other seven major alliances. Even with such a monopoly, it would take a long time before they could catch up.

---

After the auction ended, Nash received the information about the results.

"Oh, the total reached over 3.66 million mother core ships?" Nash thought in excitement.

Including the mother core ships they already had, they now had a total of 5.96 million!

"What should we do with the remaining mother core ships, Supreme Leader?" Julius asked.

According to the survey they did earlier, their total production capacity was only about 3,000 Eternal Military Outposts. This left 2.96 million mother core ships unused.

"Use them to speed up the renovation and integration of the Eternal Star Forbidden Domain. Aren’t you worried about the lack of our industrial capacity? These extra mother core ships just came at the right time."

"But isn’t this a waste? We could use them to build parts now and have them in stock. We can also have them undergo self-replication so we can double them every three years." Julius suggested.

"Build parts in stock? For what? With an increasing number of mother core ships, we could build more parts than our production capacity can process. As for self-replication, we can do it later on, once they’re truly idle."

"Understood, Supreme Leader." Julius also came to his senses. Digesting what they currently had was always better than earning what they didn’t need at the moment.

---

After dealing with the aftermath of the auction, Nash went back to the Altier Arcane Tower’s Chaos Origin Pool and continued working on the Mind Hive Module in his runic space.

After a few months, he finally broke through 10%. Not only that, he was even able to reach 14% just recently. The reason was the 225 million Merit Source the Eternal Star Alliance regularly brought back from their expeditions through the clearance order.

This additional Merit Source not only boosted the time acceleration of the Eternal Time Server from 50,000 to 100,000 times, but even the magnitude of time he spent in the runic space also went from 500,000 to 2,500,000 times!

Such a massive time acceleration didn’t have any aftereffect on his mind. Protected by the runic space, a million times acceleration was no different to him than a hundred.

What worried him, however, was the runic engravers in the Eternal Time Server. Doubling the time acceleration began to have an effect on their minds.

Although not obvious yet, he could feel their efficiency dropping by several percentage. He estimated that in a few months at most, they would develop some mental instability and might even go insane.

"I should work on the Faith Essence Potion first..." Nash decided.

The Mind Hive Module can wait. He had to take care of his talents first. If they were affected by this time acceleration in any way, who would he rely on in the future?

After creating the Faith Essence Potion, he could also use it as a stepping stone to develop the Faith Origin Potion for his primordial fusion.

Deciding on his next step, Nash accessed the [Library Module System] and began digesting knowledge. This time, his goal was not only about potion making but about life type knowledge up to tier 8 and below.

At this rate, it shouldn’t take him a month to reach the same level he had with matter.

"The knowledge in the Altier Arcane Tower is still not comprehensive enough," Nash complained a little as he began his study.

Although the knowledge inheritance in the Altier Arcane Tower was comprehensive, it only covered the common, general knowledge of each galactic territory.

For core knowledge, he still had to browse through the reserves of those top-level teams from before or those major-level teams.

"I wonder if I could borrow their library?" Nash mused.

Being able to digest knowledge as if he were a sponge, how could he be satisfied by the mere inheritance of the Altier Arcane Tower?

Unfortunately, given his standing and competitive relationship with others, he knew his request was impossible.

"Maybe I can use trade..."