What Was Being Tested?

So what exactly was the Small Universe left behind by the Precursor testing? There was not even an Intelligent System to provide guidance—just this maze. What was it supposed to be testing?!

For a time, whether they were aboard the Lyra or other warships, everyone pondered this question. Each person stretched their imagination, trying to guess what this so-called trial truly was.

Scientists, researchers, and personnel in detection posts also did everything they could to conduct all kinds of observation and probing experiments on these Rhomboid Crystals. Everyone was contributing to humanity's advance.

Unfortunately, although the First Fleet had gathered humanity's finest talents, it did not contain all of humanity. Each Planet-Class Warship currently had only eight thousand consciousness-linked pilots. Including reserve pilots and other crew members, a Planet-Class Warship carried merely twenty thousand people.

That was pitifully few aboard a Planet-Class Warship as large as Treasure Island. If not for the extremely high degree of mechanical automation, far more people would have been needed to operate it.

Of course, as the flagship and the military and political center, the Lyra had more personnel, but even it only had a little over a hundred thousand.

Although humanity's First Fleet had three million ships, only around three thousand were actually crewed warships—the ones equipped with Consciousness Linking Devices. Every other warship was controlled by a Strong Artificial Intelligence, one combat-oriented Strong Artificial Intelligence per ship.

Thus, the entire First Fleet had only a little over two hundred thousand people. Such a number was unimaginably small for a Level 4 Civilization. Frankly speaking, if not for humanity's technology, and if the Crimson Flame Civilization had been operating them instead, the required personnel would have been several times greater.

However, having fewer people sometimes had its benefits, though it became something of a