Suddenly faced with having to "choose" the shape of his future relationship with the Martial Emperor, Ronan certainly felt pressure. Mostly, though, it was an instinctive defensiveness born of having the Martial Emperor see through thoughts he had yet to fully understand himself.
Ronan asked quietly, "Your Majesty is certain I won't take the 'inner universe' path?"
"I was reminding you about resources." The Martial Emperor laughed. "So you've given yourself away without being asked?"
"...I wouldn't go that far."
"Really? You still haven't decided? There's not much point in wavering, though."
This time, Ronan fell silent for a long while before smiling, regardless of whether the Martial Emperor could see it. "You see right through me, Your Majesty. I think that if I take the 'inner universe' path, especially the Tian Yuan Empire's 'inner universe' path, I probably won't stand a chance of surviving when I reach the Central Star Zone."
"Is that so? I don't know what the Central Star Zone is like now, but logically speaking, a 'native god' wouldn't necessarily receive better treatment than a 'Tian Yuan remnant.' That excuse doesn't even convince you."
"Ahem. There's also what you mentioned—the question of resource utilization."
"That is indeed a problem. The richest prize, 'Deep Blue World,' is in Li Wei's hands. He won't let you have so much as a scrap. Trying to seize it might well mean a decisive showdown, and right now you have neither the certainty of victory nor the ability to keep everything intact. As for the so-called 'Fog Maze,' it seems very high-grade, but it's really a heap of scrap. You can use it as a reference, but refining it into something usable wouldn't be easy either, would it?"
Ronan gave a dry laugh.
The Martial Emperor actually went on to analyze