Sovereign of the Ashes-Chapter 1349: New Insights

The overall development of the Gallant Federation was pretty impressive.

When the Gallant Federation was introduced within the Magus Alliance, the Magus Civilization always painted it in a negative light, describing it as “evil”, “dark”, “corrupted”, and “backwater”.

This was a strategic move, nothing more.

In reality, a closer look showed that the Gallant Federation’s growth and the state of its vassal civilizations were actually quite commendable.

The federation placed enormous emphasis on economic development, and its overall economic strength was by no means inferior to that of the Magus Civilization.

While the Magus Civilization had greater total resources, its level of development was not nearly as thorough as the federation’s.

When Sein arrived within the Gallant Federation’s sphere of influence, he was startled to discover something surprising.

Not only had this technological civilization highly developed all its complete planes and resource-rich demiplanes, but it had also managed to make use of countless broken planes and even worthless asteroids scattered across the Astral Realm.

For the Magus Civilization, broken planes had no value. They held only trace amounts of rare metals and no mineral veins. Their harsh environments also made it difficult for creatures below Rank One to survive long-term.

Sending creatures of Rank One and above to squeeze out what little value those planes offered was no different than throwing away a watermelon to chase after sesame seeds.[1]

The returns would not even cover the cost!

But the Gallant Federation was different.

Its technological system meant the basic requirements for development were much lower than in Magus World.

Ordinary copper and iron ore, for example, were beneath the notice of Magus World knights and mages.

Even magic initiates and knight squires would rather craft their gear from low-grade magic materials than use plain metals with no elemental energy.

Yet the Gallant Federation’s demand for those common metals far outstripped that of the Magus Civilization.

Some of the Federation’s lower-tier spaceships did not even require magic alloys or rare materials infused with elemental energies.

With nothing more than ordinary metals blended in the right ratios, they could still build ships and cannons capable of conquering the Astral Realm.

It was one of the stark differences between the two top-tier civilizations, revealed in the smallest of details.

On top of that, the Gallant Federation’s terraforming technology had reached astonishing heights.

They were not only capable of transforming demiplanes into habitable planets, but could even convert broken planes with extremely hostile environments into life planets suitable for Federation citizens.

Of course, these life planets lacked a planar will.

When Sein reached a star domain named Monstad, he saw two such life planets that had been modified by the Gallant Federation.

No matter how many times he had read about it in documents, it was never the same as seeing it with his own eyes.

From Sein’s perspective, the most crucial part of the federation’s life planet transformation lay in their “artificial planar barrier technology”.

These so-called “life planets” had originally been demiplanes or broken planes, and their environments were too harsh and unfit for intelligent life.

But in the habitable zones of these planets, the federation had constructed layers of artificial energy shields.

They protected weaker creatures from cosmic radiation and buffered them from the severe conditions of the plane.

Within the protection of these barriers, the federation then used countless complex technologies to create diverse ecosystems, each tailored to the survival and reproduction needs of different species.

Seeing these life planets, Sein was reminded of Lorianne’s “World Laboratory” project.

The world laboratory was, at its core, an artificial environment where life could be cultivated and reproduced.

Lorianne had used hers to raise a massive army of plant giants as cannon fodder for interplanar wars.

Alongside the plants, she had also included various elemental beings and creatures of flesh and blood for study and cultivation.

If Lorianne ever managed to acquire the federation’s complete life planet terraforming technology and integrate its principles into her world laboratory, she would likely achieve a great leap forward in her research.

Beyond gaining an understanding of these life planets, Sein also developed a preliminary grasp of the federation’s economy as he traveled deeper into its territory.

The Magus Civilization extracted wealth within the alliance through magicoins, while the Gallant Federation had developed its own “Federal dollars”.

To Sein, the value of Federal dollars was far below that of magicoins, and it existed only as a virtual currency.

But within the federation’s territory, these virtual dollars functioned as the most reliable hard currency, just like magicoins in the Magus Civilization.

As long as one had enough Federal dollars, they could buy almost anything they desired within the Gallant Federation.

The Magus Civilization earned massive amounts of magicoins by selling off its obsolete space fortresses to members of the Magus Alliance.

Similarly, the Gallant Federation sold its used or outdated fortresses and warships to its vassal civilizations.

On top of that, the federation even shared its life planet terraforming technology with many of the civilizations under its control.

For example, the Monstad Star Domain that Sein had recently passed through was not part of the federation’s home domain.

The two artificial life planets there existed only because the native lifeforms of that star domain had paid a huge sum of Federal dollars to hire the federation’s specialized teams and terraforming companies to carry out the work.

Economic supremacy was one of the federation’s core development philosophies.

In Magus World, power and influence revolved around personal strength. Hence, higher-ranking lifeforms held greater sway within the Magus Civilization.

But in the Gallant Federation, things were different.

Here, it was all about money...

The wealthier had more influence.

There was even a saying in the federation: the true rulers were not the president or the members of congress, but the industry trusts that dominated every sector of society!

The top ten corporate conglomerates alone controlled nearly thirty percent of the federation’s economic lifeline.

The top hundred companies accounted for over seventy percent of all production and civilizational development within the federation.

The Magus Civilization’s true enemies were not even certain overlord-level beings—those had not even taken shape yet.

Instead, the real adversaries waging war against the Magus World were the countless corporations and conglomerates that made up the Gallant Federation.

Even the president himself was bound by the interests of the financial backers behind him.

This new perspective on his enemies left Sein disoriented.

The Astral Realm was truly a strange place.

It had given rise to so many unique civilizations and powerful planes!

1. Translator’s Note: “Throwing away a watermelon to chase after sesame seeds” is a Chinese proverb that describes the mistake of focusing on something small and insignificant, only to lose something much greater and more important. ☜