Time Acceleration Protocol

The external threats the Federation currently faced were nothing short of staggering. Entities like the World Breaker were just one example.

One by one, they came knocking, and the Federation naturally had nothing to fear.

But if a whole horde came swarming in, the Federation would need to formulate a proper response strategy.

The Aether Phase Engine had yet to be fully installed;

the great expedition across the Milky Way was in full swing;

the specific threat posed by the supermassive black hole at the galactic center remained unknown;

the mechanical war in the Andromeda Nebula had yet to produce a victor;

the threat posed by the Hunters had yet to be completely eliminated...

And now the World Breaker had appeared, with the threat of other high-dimensional Demons potentially emerging in the future...

On top of that, Chen Yu's own condition had started causing problems.

Even with Gray Wind, Xidra, and the concerted efforts of the Federation's officials,

given the Federation's current foundation, it was clear that developing at the normal pace wouldn't be enough to withstand all these sudden crises.

No matter how fast it developed, the Federation couldn't break free of the constraints imposed by the times.

[Human Federation]

[Ethics: Fanatic Xenophobe, Authoritarian]

[Technology Level: Godlike (Cluster-Level Hegemon)]

[Population: Approximately 1 quadrillion]

[Habitable Planets: 16,984 (including Ecumenopolises, Ring Worlds, and Space Habitats)]

[Star Systems: 23,198]

[Fleets: 4,689 (including the Titan Fleet and various mixed fleets)]

[Megastructures: Thousand Year Stars, Falling Star Sky Spear, Tianshu Sacred Shield, Matter Depressor...]

[Ascensions: Psionic Ascension, Gene Ascension, Prosthetic Ascension, Star Sea Heavenly Punishment (Stage Five)]

[Crisis Deterrence Points: 1,654,385+]

The Federation's territory had expanded at a tremendous pace. Nearly half of the Orion Arm had become its core territory.

Each newly designated stellar region marked the Federation's impressive success in expanding by force.

Within the conquered Star Systems, every system worth developing had either been fitted with a Ring World and Space Habitats;

or transformed into a Gaia Planet or Ecumenopolis;

or developed into a new habitable world according to Xidra's Galactic Cluster Planning Adjustment System...

With countless resources at their disposal, many enormous celestial engineering projects were also being built at a furious pace.

But time was running short.

Everything took time.

Rapidly consolidating the gains from expansion required time, and an enormous population.

Yet the Human Federation's population had only grown by 700 trillion compared to when they had first crossed over.

It looked as though the population had multiplied several times over in just a few short years—a remarkable achievement.

But compared to the Federation's territory, which had grown hundreds or even thousands of times larger, this increase was negligible.

To claim a Star System, all they had to do was fly there and build an outpost. But raising a population of standard Federal Citizens took time, even if they used cloning to mass-produce them.

A sufficient population was the foundation for maintaining and developing the Federation's vast territory. But without enough time, there was no way to produce enough people.

Without enough people, even the largest territory was nothing but window dressing.

The Federation couldn't bring its full strength to bear. When it clashed with the various external threats to come, it could suffer a crushing defeat.

Every problem stemmed from time.

But how could they get the time they lacked?

Resources could be plundered, territory could be expanded, and technology could emerge in a flash of inspiration. But for every known civilization, time alone was an insurmountable shackle.

As the will of civilization gathered around him, Chen Yu felt inexplicably irritated.

The Federation hadn't run out of time because it had taken on too much too quickly. A series of crises in reality had forced it into this predicament.

Fortunately, for the Federation as it stood, this was no unbreakable shackle.

As long as they were willing to pay a certain price, everything could be resolved.

Xidra and Gray Wind were summoned before him. While suppressing the interference of the will of civilization, Chen Yu set aside some of his attention to give them instructions.

"Xidra, have you finished deploying the Worldline Coordinates I asked you to arrange earlier?"

"Reporting to the Grand Marshal, deployment is complete!" Xidra replied confidently. Though she was only a simulated form, a faint smile appeared on her face.

"The Worldline Coordinates have all been placed in their designated Star Systems."

What were Worldline Coordinates?

The universe's space-time coordinate axis was unimaginably vast.

Take the Milky Way, for example. The space-time coordinates of different regions within the galaxy varied ever so slightly depending on the conditions inside each Star System.

These differences were related to the signals emitted by pulsars in certain stellar regions.

The periodic pulses of neutron stars could serve as a standard for measuring space-time, helping regions determine their own space-time coordinates amid the complex conditions of the universe.

The Worldline Beacons could make use of this property to help the Federation anchor precise space-time coordinates across the Milky Way.

Using a unified space-time coordinate axis as their reference, they compiled an enormous set of data and sent it to Chen Yu.

After Thousand Year Stars checked it and confirmed that the data was accurate,

Chen Yu gave the order to execute a plan.

"Activate the Spacetime Acceleration Protocol Device."

"Yes!"

The instant the device was activated,

everything within the Human Federation's territory in the Milky Way seemed to have a collective time-acceleration button pressed.

Compared to the universe's vast space-time coordinate axis, time within the Federation's territory leaped forward by a small increment.

Measured by the Solar Calendar, the instant of acceleration—from its starting point to its end—had lasted exactly ten years.

Ten years might mean little compared to the boundless universe, or even to vast Star Systems. It meant little, too, compared to the long lives of most immortals within the Federation. It was no more than a fleeting moment, a flash of prosperity that had already faded.

But for a collective civilization with macro-level technological control, capable of reshaping the world at a breathtaking pace, this time acceleration was enough for them to create one miracle after another among the stars in the blink of an eye!

The Federation couldn't produce time, but with technology, it could become a timekeeper to a certain extent.

Ten years passed quietly.

Everything else in the universe remained ten years in the past compared to the Human Federation, while the Federation itself had arrived ten years in the future in an instant.

For every citizen of the Federation, those ten years had passed in full, every second of them.

But to everything else in the universe, the entire Human Federation had experienced ten years in an instant—a span of time beyond their reach.

A single thread could move the whole tapestry.

This massive time acceleration affected the state of matter across a small part of the Milky Way, inadvertently upsetting a certain balance.