Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Lushaka, the Kingdom of Opportunity
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The kingdom of opportunity, where free migration is guaranteed: Lushaka Kingdom.
PATO members enjoy a decent standard of living, so they can live reasonably well no matter which country they head to.
But among them all, Lushaka Kingdom held a position without equal.
It accepted immigrants regardless of their backgrounds—criminals, political prisoners, pirates, exiles, or anything else—without batting an eye.
Yet it boasted one of the lowest crime rates in all of PATO.
It ran on astonishingly low taxes; one could only wonder how the country even functioned.
And according to the Galactic Peace Committee National Statistics Bureau, it ranked number one among nations with zero species discrimination.
Thanks to all these factors, Lushaka's immigration office was always swarming with people.
Even in this wonderful place to live, the Lushaka Kingdom, there were exactly two locations that no immigrant could ever approach.
The first was the source of Lushaka itself, the sacred object of worship for every Lushakan: the Queen's Nest.
The second was Ferma Planet, which had existed since the kingdom's earliest days.
On Ferma, a frozen wasteland battered by flesh-tearing winter winds, 'me's specialized in intelligence—like EinsteinaVis—continued their research.
Most of the economic windfalls born from the Holy Nation-Empire War had flowed straight into this planet.
Thanks to that, the area around Ferma's largest research facility had eradicated its permafrost, with all sorts of buildings rising from ordinary earth.
Whether or not the big event of the Holy Union's civil war was raging, experiments carried on here today as always.
Gotta do what needs doing.
Today's experiment was a crucial one that I, the main body, had decided to oversee in person.
⚙ EXPERIMENT LOG ⚙
"The Queen's consciousness has arrived. Commencing experiment." "Dimensional Leap Experiment #10,723: Start. Test subject: Treegalaon-Leviathan. Heart rate nominal. No anomalous brainwaves." "Dimension Engines (x2) attached. Entity: FinalFinalRealFinal1111. Connections confirmed. Ozz intake beginning. Coordinate sync complete. Output initiating. Dimensional severance: Begin."
From the two small entities attached to the rear of the massive Treegalaon in Ferma orbit, enormous psionic energy began pouring out.
With Ozz expanding their minds, they projected immense power toward the space ahead of the Treegalaon.
Crrrack—
The landscape at the psionic focal point began warping and twisting.
And I—the Treegalaon that created that landscape—threw myself unhesitatingly into the twisted space.
The precarious distortion, looking ready to collapse at any moment, vanished in an instant once its power source was gone.
Meanwhile, I who had pierced the space was swept into waves of the unknown.
I couldn't perceive sight. Was nothing visible, or was what I saw mere hallucination? I couldn't tell.
I couldn't perceive hearing. It felt like deafening noise was scrambling my ears, yet nothing sounded. A roar echoed in the silence, tormenting my senses.
I couldn't perceive sensation. The spatial currents brushing my skin were painful yet warm. Something beyond perception touched me—or maybe not. I felt nothing as the waves carried me away.
In that trance-like state, a familiar sensation flared: psionic energy. When my mind cleared, I was swimming through an entirely different space.
I opened my eyes.
⚙ EXPERIMENT LOG ⚙
"Dimensional Leap Experiment #10,723: End. Test subject Treegalaon-Leviathan. Heart rate nominal. No anomalous brainwaves. No health anomalies." "Results: Error distance 14.633 light-years. Jump drive successful. Dimension Engines (x2) destroyed. Durability during transit likely compromised by elevated Ozz levels." "Experiment concluded. Your Majesty." "Mm. Good work."
Excellent.
This was basically orbital-ready.
The error distance was still too wide, durability was an issue so it was one-way only, and the range was short—but those were all fixable problems.
The key point was that we were no longer bound by hyperlanes for movement.
I'd first felt the need for a jump drive back when we bordered the Bahilila Holy Knight Order—over fifty years ago now.
If some dimension-hopping critter with the right genes had just popped up, it would've been easy. But no such luck, so it took time.
Or maybe it was fast, all things considered.
Both the Holy Nation and the Empire deemed it impossible, yet here we were, first.
Without our hive mind trait, we wouldn't have even gotten a foothold.
Whether diving into black holes or immersing in imaginary dimensions, 'I' remained 'me'.
Sharing thoughts bidirectionally let us test hypotheses from multiple angles—a massive boost to dimensional engineering progress.
Truth be told, our current dimensional leaps were total hacks.
How do psionics even tear space? No idea.
What's the principle for returning from the other side? No idea.
We didn't know the details, but it worked.
PATO's techs had similar guesses about wormholes and warp—pure speculation.
Just smash your head against it until it works, then chase the successes.
Space tears unstably and you die. Half-dissolved in extradimensions, dead. Lost forever drifting extradimensions, dead. Return but overlap a meteor at the coords, explode, dead. Die, die, keep dying—but it was fine.
Because 'I' could convert it all to experience.
No solid theory, no reasons, no evidence.
But we'd figured it out: tear space with psionics, explore extradimensions, tear again at the calculated timing—and you move.
Didn't know why, but roasting over fire makes it tastier.
Didn't know why, but washing well keeps illness away.
Didn't know why, but this makes dimensional leaps possible.
We'd reached exactly that level.
Limited dimensional leaps were now feasible.
This one fact opened up endless possibilities.
For starters, Lushaka was no longer boxed in within PATO.
Star systems nearby but without hyperlane connections, previously off-limits for expansion.
Now all fair game.
Keep expanding to envelop the galactic arm, and Lushaka would become PATO's border state with the Empire.
No reason to delay, so we hurled dimensional leaps at star systems willy-nilly.
Out of those countless construction ships and supply vessels, at least one would hit the target.
All failed?
Send more.
Money's no object.
And now Colossus could be deployed aggressively.
Too damn big to feed easily, and hard to move.
Asteroid-sized was simple, but Saturn-mass? Escaping its gravity well ain't easy.
We'd hoarded it as a trump card, but with mobility secured, time to use it boldly.
That's not all—Lourka Star System was no longer isolated.
Expansion toward Empire space had resumed right on cue; soon we'd have it in jump range.
Distance to Lourka plummeted.
The Holy Union was no longer on the galaxy's far side.
Practically a border nation.
What did that mean?
It meant we could snag a spoonful of the cake.
Ozutlan Holy Union and Ozutlan Democratic Republic.
An unspoken agreement lingered between these two nations locked in civil war under Holy Nation and Empire influence.
PATO stays out.
No telling the future, but dragging PATO in could shatter the countries entirely—they agreed on that much.
With Holy Nation and Empire as markets anyway, unlike the PATO-starved Holy Nation-Empire War days, they minimized PATO influence.
They scraped together surveillance on every PATO vessel entering borders, hypervigilant to avoid another Lourka Planet fiasco.
Holy Nation and Empire, keen to exclude PATO sway, even subtly slowed merchant traffic to help.
That was the plan, anyway.
"Whose fleet are those ships?"
"You don't even know that? Look at them wriggling—classic Lushaka vessels."
"So you're saying we just let that armada through? Who the hell's the officer on duty?"
Lushaka's fleet was brazenly cruising the Holy Union—no clue when they'd slipped past the border.
The Union had recently flung borders wide open again, so no treaty breach.
But a military armada like that? They'd normally block it cold.
In a deathmatch deciding national fate, who lets cheeky meddling slide?
Yet here it was, Lushaka's fleet swaggering through space like they owned it.
And it wasn't small.
Main battlefleet scale for a galactic superpower—like something from the Holy Nation-Empire War.
Big enough to wipe out Holy Union or Democratic Republic in a blink.
The armada toured systems, blasting thoughtwaves and comms indiscriminately.
"PATO welcomes all you refugees— Afraid of war? Tired of endless conflict? Come to PATO. This PATO armada will escort you safely to paradise planets."
"O-Over there!"
What could we pry from the Holy Union?
Money? They hate PATO getting a cut so bad, purchases were nationally discouraged.
Tech? Laughably behind PATO—useless.
Territory? With Holy Nation and Empire glaring daggers? No way.
The answer: population.
Land? We've got plenty.
Lushaka wasn't a small fry anymore.
Until PATO looped around via hyperlanes, all unclaimed space between us and Empire was Lushaka's to claim first.
So just need immigrants to develop it, right?
Lushaka demands nothing.
No faith, ideology, national defense, labor—nada.
Just come live.
We'll handle whatever you need.
Even Holy Nation or Empire wouldn't stoop to inhumanly blocking refugees.
"No one in the Holy Union cares who you were. Start a new life. Begin anew in the land of opportunity where anyone can succeed!"
"You crazy bastards! Can't you see we're in the middle of a battle?!"
"Deserters? Criminals? We don't care. Send a single thoughtwave. We'll come fetch you! Start your new life!"
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