Material Disintegration Ray Technology was merely one technical branch within the framework of the Theory of Everything. Not all human scientists were researching it; different teams were also studying and exploring technologies in other fields.
For example, Planet-Class Warp Technology, Real Shields, Gravity Bombs, Super Planet Destroyer Cannons, next-generation detection technology, communication technology, and Tachyon Weapons, which belonged to the same energy-weapon field as Matter Disintegration Rays, were all advancing across the board.
After mastering Tachyon Communication during the Level 4 Civilization era, humanity had envisioned a kind of faster-than-light Tachyon Weapon. Yet they had never found such a weapon. Now that they had mastered the Theory of Everything, research in that direction was naturally placed back on the agenda.
Whether such weapons existed or not, humanity would explore them, because weapons determined how wars were fought. Having come all the way from a Primitive Civilization, humanity had deeply realized that every emergence of new technology and equipment changed the form of warfare.
From long-range combat beyond visual range as the main approach, to close-quarters fighting, then back to long-range strikes as the main approach—this was not some inevitable historical cycle, but a change brought about by changes in weaponry.
Take Level 5 Civilizations, for instance. Their Warp capabilities had reached one hundred times the speed of light. Without faster-than-light weapons, warfare would become ultra-close-quarters combat, just like the battle between the Lyra and that Level 5 Civilization Probe Spaceship back then.
Of course, faster-than-light weapons certainly existed. After all, anyone with Warp Technology and a functioning brain would think of using Warp Engines as the propulsion systems for all kinds of weapons and bombs. But weapons driven in that manner could only be considered interstellar missile-type weapons.
Moreover, due to the nature of Warp, their top speed was no