The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1625

Chapter 1625 Activity Zones

After several hours had gone by since the MTA's announcement, humanity still seethed with excitement.

No one could stay calm at the prospect of invading an entirely new galaxy!

To many humans, they believed that their civilization had rested long enough. Their race was more than ready to resume their conquest of the stars!

Unfortunately, when people began to inquire about the beyonder ticket, they immediately became discouraged at the very strict conditions required to become a galactic pioneer.

Only the most capable and ambitious contributors of the MTA were eligible to lead a fleet into the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy!

Those who tried their luck at the CFA found out that it was just as harsh!

Yet the high cost of beyonder tickets excited many people even more. Each of them knew that a greater price corresponded to a greater reward!

Many people got caught up in the hype surrounding phasewater! This amazing high-grade exotic that was seemingly ripe for the picking in the other galaxy must be something exceptional!

It didn't take much guessing to suspect that the Big Two definitely had many important uses for phasewater. Countless material scientists already started drooling at the thought of obtaining a sample and delving into its secrets!

The great phasewater rush was destined to become the latest obsession of the human race!

After four-hundred years of dormancy, the great human civilization was ready to expand its territories once more!

That evening, Ves and Gloriana returned to the Cloud Estate where they calmly gathered information.

A lot of MTA watchers and journalists already published various articles about the bold new changes.

To all but the oldest humans, no one had ever taken part in a war of conquest against alien civilizations!

A fervor to relive the glory days of the Age of Conquest ignited in the hearts of many humans!

"Adventuring in the Red Ocean is very risky." Gloriana expressed her concerns. "According to what the Big Two have revealed about the Red Ocean, the vast majority of its space is lawless territory. Anyone can attack someone for any reason!"

"It's not that bad." Ves commented. "It's just like the frontier before the sandman made a mess of things. As long as you have enough strength and know where you can go, it's not too dangerous."

"We also have to worry about the aliens, who are likely more inclined to field warships. Unless our mechs are top-of-the-line, we don't stand a chance against most warships!"

"The chances of encountering them is low, Gloriana. The CFA and MTA are mostly focusing on sweeping alien space and neutralizing any major threat in their way. Galactic pioneers are supposed to follow behind their advance and clean up the mess that's left behind. Perhaps some sporadic alien warships have slipped the net, but they've probably been left alone because they're not a major threat."

One of the biggest complaints about participating in the invasion was that the prohibition against warships and other taboos were still in place!

However, the Big Two did not entertain any suggestions on lifting these limitations. In their eyes, the responsibility to protect human civilization rested solely on their shoulders. Only they deserved to wield the mightiest weapons of their race!

For this reason, plundering and colonizing the Red Ocean was far from safe! Every galactic pioneer and space settler had to accept the risks of encountering intact alien fleets or bumping into unknown hazards!

If a galactic pioneer wanted to be safer, then they either had to stick close to the territory under the control of the Big Two, or wait at least a few decades to wait for the new territories to be tamed.

However, by then most of the more adventurous and daring galactic pioneers would have claimed all of the most attractive territories by then! Every easy source of phasewater within reach would have been claimed as well!

Risk was accompanied by reward! This rule held true even during the great phasewater rush!

"I think that most of the biggest risks will be cleared up if we depart around a decade later." Ves estimated. "Ten or twenty years is not enough for pioneers to settle every single star system within humanity's expanding territories. It's especially more lucrative to follow right on the heels of the CFA and MTA's warfleets as they continually pummel the aliens as they expand their reach in the Red Ocean."

Gloriana frowned. "It's still too dangerous. We're mech designers, Ves. We don't necessarily need to harvest as much phasewater as possible. There's also little point for us to colonize some planets. What is most important for us is to progress our design philosophies and advance to Master and beyond."

"Money isn't entirely useless, Gloriana. The more phasewater we collect, the more we can afford the tools we need to assist in our advancement. Designing more powerful and more capable mechs will definitely stimulate our design philosophies more than designing regular mechs."

"I don't know. There's a risk that we'll bump into a first-class fleet and offend someone we can't afford to displease."

"That risk exists, but the chances that they are mucking about in second-class space and third-class space is not very large. At the very least, the MTA and CFA won't allow such bullying to take place."

The Big Two were quite unfriendly towards the people and organizations of the first-rate states. If an individual state grew strong enough, how could the Big Two stay in charge?

For this reason, the Big Two imposed many subtle rules.

Just like in the Milky Way, the distribution of exotics was very uneven. The center of the Red Ocean featured richer and more abundant exotics, while the periphery offered fewer riches.

Even in the periphery, there were some parts of space which was nearly completely barren with exotics and other parts where they were fairly prevalent.

According to the Big Two, the distribution of phasewater matched the distribution of other exotics.