Chapter 5435 The Curse of Knowledge


    The story had be a lot clearer now that Cynthia unveiled the struggle for dominance.


    Veronica had no idea that the gxies or rather their heavenly authorities tried to conquer each other as part of a deep and enormous conflict!


    The Milky Way, the Red Ocean and Messier 87 were not as isted from each other as Ves thought.


    In particr, the Milky Way and the Messier 87 had entered into a directpetition with each other. The Red Ocean just happened to be the contestednds they werepeting over.


    The Milky Way originally sought to establish its im on the Red Ocean by unleashing the scourge of humanity on the dwarf gxy.


    However, the major alien races refused to let that happen. They panicked and prematurely triggered the Great Refuge n, which somehow disced the Red Ocean all the way into Messier 87''s orbit!


    While this desperation move had certainly crippled the invasion attempt of the Milky Way, the greater consequence was that the Red Ocean became targeted by a much greater predator!


    Even though no subject of Messier 87 had yet to step foot inside the hapless dwarf gxy, the much stronger gxy had already begun its ''invasion'' by flooding the Red Ocean with exotic radiation!


    All of the E energy radiation that red humanity was happily using to power up their mechs, starships and other tech was not as free as they assumed.


    The greater truth of the matter was that E energy radiation belonged to Messier 87. No matter whether the humans or aliens of the Red Ocean actively made use of this resource or not, their continuous exposure to the power of a foreign heaven would slowly cause them to be more rted to the giant golden gxy!


    What did this mean for the future?


    Would red humanity still seek to maintain its attachment to the Milky Way, or would people gradually forget about their roots of their original gxy as they began to interact more with Messier 87?


    What of the native aliens? Would the phase whales and the other major races remain loyal to the Red Ocean to the end, or would the power of exotic radiation seed in turning them against their own home gxy?


    All kinds ofplicated questions welled up in Veronica''s mind. She was no longer able to see the conflict between red humanity and the native aliens of the Red Ocean in a simple manner anymore.


    So many additional factors came into y that Veronica could not keep track of everything anymore!


    The sides had be too ambiguous!


    This was what her mother meant by referring to the curse of knowledge!


    A powerful human hand caressed Veronica''s head.


    "Do not think so much about these overarching issues, my child." A motherly tone soothed the cyborg cat. "You are not directly involved in this struggle. You are a chess piece, not a chess yer. You need to focus on your own immediate interests first. The greater struggle between heavenly authorities is most definitely relevant to you, but its scope is far too great for you to agonize over. For now, it is already enough for you to be aware of the allegiances and intentions of the people around you. Think about which heavenly authority they belong to and how that affects their decision-making."


    Veronica paused in thought. The most immediate subject in mind was the Red Association. The mechers were not monolithic, but he bet that their leadership had probablye to a consensus on this matter.


    The leaders of the Red Association were probably aware of this universal struggle for dominance. They had to be as theyrgely consisted of True Gods just like her mother.


    "Given that the mechers of the Red Ocean purposefully severed ties with the Mech Trade Association, 1 think that the former has no intentions of maintaining ties with the Milky Way anymore." She guessed. "You once told me that names have power. The decision to embrace the name of Red Association means that it is likely meant to encourage red humanity to develop its own separate identity that is separate from original humanity. The same goes for the Red Fleet."


    "It is more than that." Cynthia said. "The Red Two have not only adopted a strategy that seeks to diminish the ties between red humanity and the Milky Way, but they have also taken action to embed the humans into the Red Ocean. What is curious is that the Milky Way may still be able to retain a weak im to red humanity, but it will undoubtedly be much weaker over theing years."


    Veronica couldn''t help but scratch her head with her paw. "That sounds... risky. Doesn''t that mean that red humans will essentially be native to the Red Ocean in a few generations?"


    The Red Ocean Dwarf Gxy was clearly too weak in the face of the tworger gxies. It sounded a bit stupid to side with the smallest and weakest yer in contention!


    "The strategy of the Red Two is much more profound than you think, my child. The mechers and the fleeters are purposefully using their control over red humanity to shift its allegiances. Try and guess what they seek to aplish with the information that you have obtained. Do you think it is pleasant for people like you to be the unwitting footsoldiers of these powerful authorities?"


    "No." Veronica immediately shook her feline head. "This is especially the case when we were never given any choice in the first ce."


    If there was one pet peeve that annoyed her the most, that was answering to a higher authority!


    "Think about all of the god pilots and Star Designers who owe enormous debts of karma to the Milky Way but have be stranded in a Red Ocean that has moved far beyond the reach of the former. Do you think these august figures are eager to find a means to reconnect with the old gxy?"


    This was a more difficult issue to Veronica. "Ido not know what goes on in their heads. I think that god pilots and Star Designers are honorable enough to repay all of the favors that helped them in the past. That said, the Great Severing has made it a lot more difficult for them to do so. These leader figures will probably do whatever they can to help the Milky May out, but not as its vassals, but as normal business partners who have engaged in fair transactions."


    That was a more insightful answer than Cynthia expected from her child!


    "Your words already touch upon the true motives of the Red Two." The Oblivion Empress spoke in an encouraging tone. "Many people yearn for power. The more powerful they be, the less they are able to tolerate subservience. The Great Severing is both a cmity and blessing to the leaders of the Red Two. They have lost most of their connection to the Milky Way. How do you think the vassals of a powerful kingdom will act when they have be stranded in a distant colony?"


    It did not take much effort for Veronica to imagine the likely oue.


    "There is no reason for those vassals to maintain a strong allegiance to a kingdom that cannot help them anymore. The colony will undoubtedly dere independence to its former master. Though red humanity cannot sever all of its ties to the Milky Way, the rtionship between the two will be much less unequal than before."


    Veronica grew fascinated by what she heard! She could see the hidden meaning behind many of the moves made by the Red Two. It turned out that they proactively sought to change this rtionship from the moment the Great Severing took ce!


    In fact, she could even see an angle where certain people who may have learned about the Great Refuge n in advance deliberately choose to let the native aliens have their way!


    "So what now?" Veronica asked her mother. "Red humanity may have gained an opportunity to weaken their ties to the Milky Way, but that still leaves them vulnerable to both the Red Ocean and Messier 87. Thetter especially poses a great threat to the independence of all of those people."


    Cynthia smirked. "That is why the Red Two are ying an exceedingly dangerous game. Are you still not able to figure it out? Think about it. What happens to a territory that is contested by three different powers?"


    "That territory... will either fall into the hands of one of those three powers, or is able to maintain its independence through clever diplomacy. Wait, is that what the Red Two are aiming for? Are you looking to y the three gxies against each other to the point where none of them cany im to red humanity?!"


    "I cannot be certain that this is their ultimate n, but this is the strategy that I would embrace if I was in their shoes." The Oblivion Empress replied. "Red humanity is looking to deepen its integration into the Red Ocean so that the dwarf gxy can keep Messier 87 at bay, but I am certain that the mechers and the fleeters will control this process to prevent their people from bingpletely assimted. Messier 87 is the greatest threat that you and your people must confront, but as long as you are able to use the power of the Milky Way and the Red Ocean to resist the progressively greater influence resulting from the widespread usage of E energy radiation, it is possible to produce a stable middle ground!"


    This was a daring n, one that went so deep that the vast majority of people weren''t even aware of this greater ploy!


    "If this daring nes into fruition, red humanity will no longer be ves to any heavenly authority!" Veronica realized. "Our civilization will be detached but notpletely hostile to any of the gxies, thereby allowing our people to control our own fate!"


    She had only glimpsed a part of the truth so far, but what she learned was so shocking that she looked at all of the major events that happened as ofte in a whole different light!


    For example, Ves began to suspect whether the Xenotechnician''s Diplomacy n was an attempt to gradually assimte red humanity into the Red Ocean.


    "The Red Two are ying a dangerous game, and they are not unopposed." The True God borated. "For example, the Terrans and the Rubarthans retain a much greater desire to maintain their existing culture and heritage that originates from the Milky Way. So long as they are able to cling to these old traditions, these first-raters will continue to maintain a much stronger association to their old gxy for many ages."


    "That can happen?"


    "Oh, yes. A cultural invasion is still an invasion. It does not matter if thousands of years go by and no living human exists anymore that has ever resided in the Milky Way. The history, the memory and all of the other emotional attachment to the old gxy will ensure that its heavenly authority will still maintain a partial im to red humanity."


    Damn, this game was growing more and moreplicated!


    The more information Veronica received, the more convoluted this struggle became!


    She thought about another variable.


    "Is this fight even fair? What I mean by that is that the strength of these heavenly authorities are way too far apart. As far as I am aware, the Milky Way suffered a massive cmity that crippled it to the point where it is no longer able to produce the power of heaven. The Red Ocean has a lot of phasewater, but it is too small and weak to do anything else. If nothing shocking happens, I think it is likely that Messier 87 will gobble up the Red Ocean sooner orter."


    "That is the most likely oue." Cynthia acknowledged. "It is one that the Red Two is resisting with all of their power, but they face an uphill battle. The Red Ocean may be a small and weak dwarf gxy, but it is an incredibly strategic prize to the greater heavenly authorities. Phasewater is a rare specialty resource that can massively facilitate long-ranged travel and transportation. Messier 87 may be powerful in absolute terms, but I doubt it is able to expand its influence to distant gxies so easily. Once it is able to take over the Red Ocean..."


    "The powerful natives of Messier 87 will be able to make use of all of that phasewater to invade a lot of other gxies that were previously out of reach!"


    Whether the aliens of Messier 87 knew about it or not, their explosive conquest of the surrounding gxy clusters would serve to fulfill the ultimate ambitions of their heavenly authority!