Even across more than a thousand light-years, traveling at two to three thousand light-years per year meant the journey would take only two or three years. That was something humanity could accept.
Warp travel was extremely dangerous. The slightest mistake could mean death, and every year, Warp Storms swallowed countless human ships.
Countless Imperial Battle Barges and ordinary merchant vessels had been lost forever in the Warp. Even so, humanity still had to plunge into it without hesitation.
Without relying on the Warp, it would take humanity hundreds of years just to leave its own star system, let alone colonize the entire Milky Way.
Without its terrifying side effects, Warp travel would, in theory, be the most efficient way to travel.
Even reaching the edge of the galaxy would take less than a year.
To prepare for the Great Crusade, the Emperor had mobilized all the manpower and resources in the Solar System to build the towering Astronomican on Holy Terra.
It was a psychic beacon, its light shining through the Warp like a lighthouse and guiding the Empire's ships.
That was what had made it possible to launch the Great Crusade: safe travel.
Now, with this ship equipped with an FTL Engine, all he had to do was fully decipher the technology, replicate it, and install it on every Imperial vessel. The results would be beyond imagination.
Humanity could travel relatively safely across distances of two or three thousand light-years.
However, this method of travel had its drawbacks—major ones. Everything had two sides, and this safe, efficient way to cover short distances would threaten the Navigator Houses' core interests.
The Navigator Houses would lose more than half their work. But it was not yet time for them to leave the stage of history, because the Emperor still needed them to guide long-distance voyages.
Besides, the longer a ship remained in the Warp, the more dangerous the journey became. Voyages of over ten thousand light-years, or even tens of thousands, were extremely perilous.
Warp voyages of less than a thousand light-years were relatively safe because ships spent very little time in the Warp, emerging after a dozen days or even less than a month.
Now that FTL travel was available, every member of the Navigator Houses would have to undertake grueling, ultra-long Warp voyages!
Only exceptionally skilled Navigators could manage such journeys. Usually, newcomers to the Navigator Houses began with short-distance voyages and only attempted trips of more than ten thousand light-years after gaining enough experience.
But FTL Engines would monopolize every route spanning a thousand, or even two or three thousand, light-years. The Navigator Houses would lose their chance to train the next generation altogether.
If this continued, the Navigator Houses would have no one to take up the mantle, and humanity would face a serious problem.
And that was only the first drawback.
The second drawback was that, once safe travel was available, no one would want to risk an ultra-long voyage through the Warp.
A thousand light-years could cover many star systems, even several sectors. Under those circumstances, those regions would become increasingly disconnected from the Empire.
With a thousand light-years as the standard unit, countless small groups would form. Unless they had a compelling reason, these groups
would never travel beyond that distance. They would stick to safe voyages within its range, trading, exchanging supplies, and communicating with one another.
That was the last thing the Emperor wanted. His goal was to build a Galactic Empire, not countless little kingdoms, each spanning a thousand light-years.
The Emperor sat inside the eye-shaped ship, lost in thought for a moment. Then he opened his eyes, having reached a decision.
This small FTL Engine still needed to be studied, and the original Webway Project still needed to go ahead. For now, he would continue using the Navigator Houses.
Once he had completed the Great Crusade, he could install these small FTL Engines on every Imperial ship. When the Eldar Webway Project was complete, he would get rid of them.
Just as he had gotten rid of the Thunder Warriors, the Emperor would never hesitate to do what had to be done. If the Space Marines or Primarchs ever threatened humanity, he would eliminate them without hesitation. The simplest example was that he had established the Council of Terra without including a single Primarch.
As long as the Webway Project was completed, voyages of over ten thousand light-years, or even five or six thousand, could be made through the Webway.
His original Webway Project was far more complicated than it seemed. If he wanted it to cover every world in the Empire and eliminate the need for Warp travel entirely,
the amount of work would be immense. Every star system would need a Webway entrance. Whether he activated the ancient Eldar Webway portals or built portals of humanity's own, either option would be a massive undertaking.
But with these FTL Engines, the Emperor could simply establish a few large Webway transport routes.
He could divide space into regions spanning a thousand or two to three thousand light-years, then build a large Webway entrance for each one.
Humanity's ability to travel through space would improve by dozens of times. Perfect! Absolutely perfect!
The arrival of this FTL Engine filled the greatest gap in his Webway Project, and solved one of its most difficult challenges.
He and Malcador had been worrying over this very problem, unable to find a suitable solution. Now, everything had fallen into place.
The Eldar Webway would no longer be humanity's only means of transport. The perfect strategy was to use FTL Engines and the Webway together.
The Emperor closed his eyes and began quietly planning a new, perfect plan.
In his mind, he could already see the magnificent, prosperous future humanity would enjoy a thousand years from now, once his plan was complete.
It would be a golden age surpassing humanity's Golden Age and the Dark Age of Technology—a pinnacle of civilization. Humanity would finally escape the gaze of the Chaos Entities lurking in the Warp.
A new future for humanity had appeared right before him. Hahaha.
Even the universe was looking out for humanity, sending an FTL Engine right to him.
But using the Webway on such a massive scale would inevitably put them at odds with the Eldar. War between the two races was unavoidable.
Once the Great Crusade was complete, he would wipe out the Aeldari and deal with those vile Xenos once and for all.
The Emperor returned to his Emperor's Dream in the small ship, perfectly satisfied, and assigned ten Adeptus Custodes to guard the little vessel day and night.
The Engine's research would have to wait until he returned to Holy Terra.
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