As for the Divine Matrix Civilization, they had a grand plan. They intended to spend forty thousand years completing their weapons upgrade, raising their area-strike capability to the level of an entire Star System. At the same time, before setting sail and leaving the Boötes Void, they would complete the development of their Rule Shields.
In truth, it was not just the Divine Matrix Civilization. Every civilization that had experienced the Observer Civilization's area strike on the Observation Station back then had its own goals.
Summed up, there were only two aspects: attack and defense.
For veteran Characteristic Technology civilizations, attack range could actually continue to be extended within their existing systems. They just had to keep researching along their original paths and find ways to expand their strike range.
However, that was only expanding the range. If they wanted their attack methods to possess deterrent power, they still had to start with modifying the laws of physics. After all, after reaching Level Seven Civilization, defense had also become Rule Shields, and their original attack methods could not break Rule Shields.
Take Human Civilization's Quantum Exile Strike. In the past, it had been a devastating weapon, but if the target was a Level Seven Civilization spaceship, then it obviously could not directly disintegrate it, because resisting Quantum Tide was a basic ability of Level Seven Civilizations.
The same went for attacks like the spatial strangulation of Neutron War Stars. If that thing struck a Star Gate protected by a Rule Shield, it would be like water off a duck's back, completely unable to distort the space within the Rule Shield's protected range.
So if they wanted to break a Rule Shield, it could only be done with rules.
And if they wanted to break a Rule Shield, they first had