Mecha Star Wars.

Chapter 1393 The Energy Conflict

Throughout history, the struggle for resources has typically revolved around land and resources.

But in reality, energy is the core driving force and the ultimate target of competition for all resources.

Land and resources are both basic carriers of energy. Energy is the fundamental essence that enables these carriers to generate value and drives the operation of civilization.

To take a recent example, the invasion of Lanxing by Gro was aimed at Lanxing's geothermal energy.

However, in the early stages of civilization, the concept of energy was not clear.

Most organisms simply follow their biological instincts to survive, without a clear concept of how to utilize macroscopic features such as mountains, rivers, and minerals.

Through "natural selection," things that have specific value to human civilization, such as wood that can be used to make fire and build houses, food that can fill one's stomach, and water that is essential for maintaining life and cleanliness, are essentially a type of energy—the energy on which humans depend for survival.

Later, as human society gradually developed and civilization formed, more energy resources were discovered: edible plants could be used for food or herbs; hard rocks could be forged into more robust weapons for defense and to kill wild beasts; animals could be hunted or domesticated...

Human civilization has gradually developed through further exploration and understanding of resources.

With the progress of social civilization and the further development of modern science, resources are becoming increasingly differentiated.

From highly sought-after superficial material resources, such as gems, metals, grains, and livestock, it extends to energy resources developed and operated by civilizations—coal, oil, and even spiritual stones from the world of cultivation, as well as absorbable radiation energy from interstellar civilizations, and so on.

The more advanced a civilization becomes, the more sophisticated its energy development and utilization also becomes. At the same time, more efficient energy development can, in turn, support faster and more efficient activities within the civilization, further propelling its progress.

This shows that all civilized activities depend on the driving force of current energy sources. The development or regression of civilization depends entirely on the development and utilization of the same energy sources.

In the face of superior resources, inferior civilizations are unable to see through the challenges and stagnate, as is the current state of Lanxing; if superior civilizations lose the support of equally efficient resources, they will inevitably wither and regress in the long run, facing annihilation, just like Gro.

Energy can be considered the lifeblood of civilization, determining its survival and development. It is also the ceiling for civilization's advancement, determining its level.

At higher levels of civilization, superficial material resources, such as food and metals, can be obtained through synthesis, cultivation, or trade with other planets. However, advanced energy sources, such as spiritual veins and energy-rich regions, are often unique and irreplaceable.

This characteristic leads to the theoretically unlimited acquisition of cosmic energy, which is converted into its own energy reserves and transformed into the unique and irreplaceable special interstellar status of the Star Hub Ring.

In a world where all material resources face depletion, this perpetual energy machine represents a vital strategic necessity for the continuous survival of civilization. And the cost is merely a relatively insignificant amount of material resources, which will inevitably be exhausted under equal conditions.

Therefore, even though most interstellar civilizations are far from being exhausted or running out of resources, no one would truly be willing to take drastic measures against a starport that they cannot conquer by force yet has an inexhaustible supply of energy to replenish.

Putting aside whether they can win or not, and whether they will be blocked by other forces, which civilization that has developed to a high stage will not plan for its future?

Throughout the long history of interstellar development, countless celestial bodies have perished in the universe due to energy shortages.

Many endangered planets, even in dire straits, never give up searching for a way to survive. They seek a planet to migrate to, or a source of energy to revitalize their entire planet…

There are countless examples of failure, like stars twinkling in the darkness, which is also the original intention of many forces working together to create the Nexus Ring.

Level IV civilization – interstellar civilization. It marks the beginning of cosmic civilization, but also represents the bottleneck in its development.

A Type IV civilization is capable of developing 60-70% of the universe's material resources, sensing and exploring the coordinates of other galaxies, and communicating with each other in some way.

In the early days of civilization, the major powers focused on exploring and utilizing resources, and the situation was relatively peaceful, which created an opportunity for them to work together to develop the Nexus Ring.

However, in later stages, as civilization developed, the demand for resources further increased. Growing ambition led to a predatory tendency, the friendly relations crumbled, triggering interstellar wars that nearly destroyed the galactic civilization.

Later, all parties were severely weakened by the struggle for resources, and in order to avoid self-destruction, they ceased their efforts and recuperated. This created an opportunity for the Star Pivot Ring to develop on its own.

Once the various forces have fully developed and realized that the Nexus Ring has become a force to be reckoned with, by the time they try to seize it, the overall situation is already set, and from any perspective, they can do nothing about this self-reliant starport.

Type IV civilizations are limited in their development and find it difficult to surpass or cross the edge of the universe. Therefore, a continuous supply of energy is of paramount importance.

As a special energy supply station, the Nexus Ring is unlikely to be targeted by any faction, even if it's to secure their own future.

Moreover, a free trade venue controlled by an intelligent central hub, in a broader sense, is nothing more than a large-scale automated shopping mall.

Although it may not be directly related to their own interests, the interstellar world is complex, and such a simple, neutral third-party organization can indeed provide a lot of convenience in some inconvenient situations.

Well, since everyone's gotten used to it, let's just accept the existence of the Nexus Ring for now.

It's definitely not that they can't win!

It is the recognition of the automated development of their own creations by a high-level civilization in interstellar space.

This affirmation comes from the creators. It is also one of the observational experiments on the multiple development processes of cosmic civilizations—"Feasibility Observation of the Operation of Artificial Planets Run by Fully Artificial Intelligence".

Everyone has their own opinion on the attempts to salvage the image of advanced civilizations. But the merits of the Nexus Ring are universally acknowledged throughout interstellar space.

Not only the merchants coming and going, the starships being repaired and recharged, or the various creatures residing on them, but also the infamous pirates.

Generally speaking, pirates, a group labeled as bad people, are despised, hated, driven out, and even attacked wherever they go, except for their own lair.

But the Ring of Nexus is an exception.

As a neutral trading port, pirates are allowed to freely enter and exit the Nexus for trade.

In most cases, pirates who would otherwise be attacked by a group are instead granted unprecedented freedom and leniency due to the special "no attack upon landing" law here.

Even if others despise them, they are bound by laws and regulations, and at most they can only curse them a few times.

But how could civilized people possibly win an argument against pirates? In the end, they usually end up half-dead with anger, unable to fight back, and are left to be ridiculed and mocked.

Over time, people who dislike it simply pretend they didn't see it, preferring to ignore it rather than see it.

Savvy businessmen would never stoop to such escapades—the Nexus is safe, but they'll eventually have to leave. Once they're in space, pirates won't be all smiles and laughter around like they are in the Nexus.

Even if they despised them in their hearts, they would maintain a facade of harmony and would never provoke these lawless individuals. Some merchants would even deliberately make deals with notorious pirates, but that's another story.

Of course, the protection of landing without attack is not only for pirates, but also for everyone on the Nexus Ring.

No one can attack, nor will anyone be attacked. Life and property safety are guaranteed to the greatest extent; at least before leaving port, there's no need to live in fear and worry about this or that.

So, although some people still have reservations about the situation of "opening up to pirates".

But perhaps because pirates rarely find peace and comfort on the Nexus Ring, they are more accommodating and rarely directly attack starships within a certain range of the Nexus Ring's port.

Instead, they deliberately maintain a safe distance, or wait until the target has sailed to a certain unclaimed star system before "opening for business"—after all, no one wants to destroy this rare respite and cut off their own path to come back next time.

This restraint has made the Nexus Ring the only neutral haven in the chaos of the star field, a special zone where conflicts can be temporarily set aside.

The security of the Nexus Ring has been elevated to an astonishing level through tacit agreement among various parties—even amidst constant friction, the Nexus Ring remains the safest entity.

While writing this chapter, I felt like my perspective had suddenly broadened considerably, wow. What a grand argument, hehe.

I've been researching this stuff a lot lately, doing thorough research. It's driving me crazy! And I have to organize it in the simplest terms possible, trying to explain it clearly to everyone. What exactly do some of the less common terms mean?

So, the Noah's Ark mission was essentially about finding energy, right? All kinds of resources and energy, including the Chaos Pearl and Nuwa, are ultimately about energy. Gro's plundering, and the plundering in interstellar wars, are also essentially about energy. Yes, the logic has always been correct.

The reason I spent several chapters explaining energy, as well as the background of the Nexus Ring and the Intelligent Hub, is because it's a completely new environment. If I don't explain it, I'm afraid I won't be able to write it clearly later, and no one will know what it means.

It's all just questions and answers from the characters, explaining these new settings. Isn't that incredibly boring? I tried my best, but what I researched was even more boring; it felt like the frustrating task of researching for a thesis.

The main characters have entered a Level 4 civilization star field, but Lanxing is not yet a Level 1 civilization, so the gap is too large, and many unknown civilization technologies and environmental backgrounds must be described in detail here.

I can't just throw a bunch of unfamiliar concepts at people to make myself seem sophisticated without explaining them clearly, leaving everyone to search on Baidu and get completely confused, right?

After these explanations, the rest of the plot will unfold. It'll be quick.

Hope you can still watch it. Hehe.