Having heard Gladys's explanation,
Zhao Chen understood at last why Order had tried by every means before to make great wars break out in the Owl Dragon Empire's universe.
For great wars brought casualties, and once there were casualties, great quantities of soul power could be produced,
and so 'ink' could be made, and the universe entered, and the invasion achieved in the end.
"Wait. Before this, in our universe, we also found some people who worshiped Order? They were the ones making war; then what's the relation between these people and Order?" Zhao Chen thought back on things that had happened.
Gladys showed no surprise at this, and only explained evenly, "You mean that. I know; something like it happened in our Sacred Elf Empire too. We even found these 'Corroded' in the High Council."
"The Corroded?" Zhao Chen repeated the unfamiliar name.
"'The Corroded,' put simply, are intelligent lifeforms whose souls have been corroded by Order. At first, with the protection of the universe's barrier, neither Order nor the Pitch-Black Legion fleets under Order can get into the target universe. But Order has a special power. It can reach straight into the target universe, into the minds of some intelligent lifeforms whose will is extremely weak, and whose thinking stands at the fringe. It spreads its thought in the form of dreams. The rate of success isn't high; most intelligent lifeforms only take it for a dream. But so long as one in a thousand takes in that thought, it has succeeded. That person is called one of 'the Corroded'; as they go on hearing Order's words in their dreams, they gradually come to believe in Order, and cast off their own former convictions. And these people are the first believers Order sets up in a universe. These believers gradually begin spreading the faith of Order, and setting up organizations of different forms. Most of the time they use some local religious organization as a framework, and grow in the dark. Until some chance comes, and then they bare their fangs. This way isn't quick, but it lets Order destroy a universe from within without lifting a finger. Even if it fails in the end, the civil war it produces can cause enormous casualties. That produces great quantities of soul power, which counts as reaching Order's goal indirectly."
He had never thought Order had such a power too.
It seemed he too must beware whether these 'Corroded' would appear within the Owl Dragon Empire.
"Then why must there be a civil war? Couldn't these Corroded climb, bit by bit, to the summit of that universe's power? Wouldn't that work better? And Order would only need to pass some top technology to these Corroded. For these Corroded to defeat most technological civilizations of T5 and below would be no trouble at all." Zhao Chen thought of another question.
Gladys explained, "Researchers of our upper levels have studied this very question. We also questioned the Corroded we caught before. And we found that Order commonly won't pass these Corroded top T6-grade technology directly; at most, quasi-T6 weapons and equipment. As you said just now: in most universes, T6 technology is already the top, able to overturn every interstellar power in that universe. Then why doesn't Order do it? We made a guess: that Order doesn't trust these Corroded. It fears nursing a tiger that will turn on it. As I said just now, the ones who become Corroded are commonly the weak of heart, or people with extreme ideas of some kind that they can't bring about in reality. What these people worship Order for is, in the main, the yearning for power, or the eternal life of Order's kind of consciousness. Then suppose some Corroded got T6 technological power from Order, founded a united interstellar empire in their own universe, and became the strongest being above all others. Tell me: would that Corroded still be willing to offer all of it up to Order, and let themselves merge into Order!"
Hearing this far, it dawned on Zhao Chen.
"Greed! Greed is a powerful force too; Order, being consciousness, must know very well that the greed of intelligent life is a double-edged sword. Having greed lets these Corroded be used by Order. But these greedy servants of Order might also grow fond of power and set themselves up as kings! I'd guess that in its history before, Order very likely met with such a thing!" Zhao Chen said.
Having fallen once, it grows wiser; so when Order raised these Corroded, it kept something back.
Then every link made sense.
"Then besides the Pitch-Black Legion fleets, I've found Order has other military strength too. There's the interstellar hive-race, and legion fleets something like undead. Do you know anything of these?" Zhao Chen asked.
"The interstellar hive-race we know. Even the interstellar hive-race has consciousness and souls. And compared with ordinary intelligent life, the interstellar hive-race is more convenient to control, for one need only control their strongest, the Hive Emperor. Before this, we fought the Order hive-race, which Order controls, as well."
The Order hive-race: that was the name the Sacred Elf Empire had given on its own to the interstellar hive-race Order controlled.
"As for the undead legions you speak of? We've indeed never met them. But I'd guess it's that, in invading other universes, Order found certain war races; interstellar races that, like the interstellar hive-race, are very well suited to war. For interstellar races of this type, Order will try every means to take control, and forge them into its own military strength. For the Pitch-Black Legion fleets, which Order controls directly, your Owl Dragon Legion has fought as well. You must know the Pitch-Black Legion fleets' fighting character. On fighting strength alone, number for number: apart from the start, when with no way of meeting them one may take some losses from fighting in haste, once one is used to fighting the Pitch-Black Legion fleets one finds they're in truth no more than ordinary interstellar legion fleets, with a few quasi-T7-grade pitch-black interstellar warships appearing now and then. And the fact that they can be revived. Beyond that they have no other fighting character. And their limits are great too. For instance, they have no bodies. When they invade a planet, they can only destroy; they can't take it over. In that they're much like the Order hive-race, but the Order hive-race can devour all life on that planet to swell its own fleets. Besides, the Pitch-Black Legion fleets' warships have no bodies, so they resist attacks of the physical kind well. But energy attacks commonly do them greater damage. So one need only put weight on developing interstellar fleets that use energy attacks, and in fighting the Pitch-Black Legion fleets one can gain the advantage. Once used to it, one can even win when outnumbered."
Gladys's words showed that the Sacred Elf Empire had built up rich combat experience in fighting the Pitch-Black Legion fleets.
"So Order, likely thinking of variety in its arms too, began gathering its underlings. There came the Order hive-race, and other Order legion fleets. The undead you speak of are likely one of them," Gladys said.
Zhao Chen nodded slightly.
By the look of it, these Order undead must be a new underling Order had gained after the Sacred Elf Empire shook off Order's threat.
"Your Majesty, we're about to reach the Sacred Elf Empire." Gladys glanced at the time and said it gladly.
"One last question for you. How is your Sacred Elf Empire's development of T7-grade technology coming along?" Zhao Chen spoke, asking directly.
Hearing the question, Gladys shook her head, somewhat awkwardly, and said, "We've been developing T7 for a long time. But somehow there's never been any progress."
"Then do you know of any T7 technological civilization besides Order?" Zhao Chen asked.
If there were a second T7 technological civilization in this cosmos, then perhaps defeating Order by his own strength would no longer be the only choice.
For as things stood now, defeating Order on their own strength alone would take a great deal of time.
Before that, if a way could be found to make contact with another T7 technological civilization, perhaps there would be a new direction.
Gladys shook her head and said, "So far our Sacred Elf Empire has found no other T7 technological civilization. Our scholars infer that perhaps, in the range of universes we're in now, Order truly is the only T7 technological civilization. Otherwise, with Order devouring universes so madly, how could other T7 technological civilizations not step in to stop it? That shows either that Order is the only T7 technological civilization, or that, in this pool we're in, Order is the only T7 technological civilization. And the other pools are very far from us, so we have no way to reach other T7 technological civilizations, and Order itself can't reach them either."
Hearing Gladys's analysis, there was indeed some sense in it.
But was Order truly the only T7 technological civilization?
Zhao Chen had no answer in his heart.
It made him think, in spite of himself, of that Star Alliance universe he had reached across time and space; he wondered how far that favored daughter of heaven, on whom he pinned his hopes, had brought her Star Alliance universe.
Could it be that, even with such means, the Star Alliance universe had not grown into a T7 technological civilization?
Then did he still have a chance?
Or perhaps, long ago in the river of time, the Star Alliance universe had already been wiped out by Order.
To Zhao Chen it was a riddle, a riddle perhaps never to be solved in all his life.
Just as Zhao Chen was thinking these things over,
the white mist outside the warship's portholes vanished, and before them appeared, all of a sudden, the sight of a star region.
The black space of the cosmos; in the distance two stars could be seen, and a number of planets.
Zhao Chen swept his eyes over the sight before him.
It seemed that, though the universe was a different one,
things within universes were all the same.
Ahead of Zhao Chen's ship, a batch of Owl Dragon-line warships had already arrived here first,
and, with this place as its center, had formed a battle formation outright.
Though they had come by invitation this time, to meet with the Sacred Elf Empire,
one must still keep a guard against others.
Marshal Chitong, who had come here a step ahead, naturally knew this very well, and could not go without any precautions.
And Zhao Chen also saw the party come to receive them.
It too was an interstellar fleet, but of only about three thousand warships.
Though not many, they were T5 and T6-grade warships throughout.
Like the elf-line warships under Gladys before, these warships were all very beautiful in form.
Zhao Chen had in truth noticed long ago that the materials these elf-line warships used were somewhat different.
Only after he had asked Gladys several times did Gladys tell Zhao Chen:
in the Sacred Elf Empire there was a special raw material that the Owl Dragon Empire's universe did not have.
It was called the World Tree!
By Gladys's account, it seemed to be a kind of faith of the Sacred Elf Empire's, just like the Elf God they so often spoke of.
And it was a kind of special raw material besides.
But on the details of this World Tree, Gladys would say no more.
Zhao Chen could only try to learn of this thing later, in his dealings with the Sacred Elf Empire's upper levels.
"Over there is the elf legion fleet come to receive the Owl Dragon Emperor." Gladys pointed out the elf legion fleet in the distance to Zhao Chen.
Then Gladys received a message.
At once she looked at Zhao Chen. "Your Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor, I've just received a communication from our Elf Sovereigns. That is, the two Elf Sovereigns charged with receiving you this time. They're in that elf legion fleet. The Elf Sovereigns wish to meet you by communication."
Gladys was asking Zhao Chen's wishes.
Zhao Chen nodded.
At once Gladys began to see to it, and very soon the holographic figures of two people appeared before Zhao Chen's eyes.
Two elves, a man and a woman.
One had a head of green hair, and wore clothes like woven plants; he was a very handsome male elf.
Even at the age of a middle-aged man, he had a handsome air.
The other was a woman with flowing red hair; about her whole person there was an air somewhat unlike the refined air of the elves.
Her pupils were red too.
At this moment this woman was looking Zhao Chen up and down with curious eyes, with no regard at all for either side's standing, or for the special occasion of the meeting.
"Let me make the introductions. This is His Majesty the Owl Dragon Emperor of the Owl Dragon Empire, from the Owl Dragon Empire's universe, invited to visit our Sacred Elf Empire."
"And these are two of our Sacred Elf Empire's five supreme Elf Sovereigns. The Emerald Elf King, Mansfield Emerald." The green-haired Emerald Elf King nodded slightly, a lofty pride in his eyes.
"This is the Flame Elf Queen, Salaman Blaze."
"Hello." Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, greeted Zhao Chen with a smile.