The Pros and Cons, Emperor: A New Perfect Plan

Even at a distance of over a thousand light-years, a journey taking only two or three years is something humanity can accept.

Warp travel is incredibly perilous; the slightest carelessness leads to death, and every year, Warp storms devour countless human vessels.

Countless Imperial Battle Barges, along with ordinary merchant vessels, have been lost forever within the Warp. Even so, humanity must plunge into the Warp without hesitation to travel.

If humanity did not rely on the Warp, it would take centuries just to leave their own star system, let alone colonize the entire galaxy.

Were it not for those terrifying side effects, Warp travel would theoretically be the most efficient way to travel.

Because even reaching the edge of the galaxy would take less than a year to complete.

To prepare for the Great Crusade, the Emperor mobilized all the manpower and resources of the entire solar system, constructing a structure that pierced the heavens atop Holy Terra: the Astronomican.

It is a psychic beacon, its light shining like a lighthouse to illuminate the Warp and guide the ships of the Empire.

This is why He can launch the Great Crusade: safe navigation.

Now, with this spaceship equipped with an FTL Engine, if He can perfectly reverse-engineer this engine, replicate it, and outfit all the Empire's ships with it, the effect would be unimaginable.

Within a range of two to three thousand light-years, humanity could guarantee relatively safe travel.

However, this method has drawbacks—huge drawbacks. Everything has two sides; this short-range, safe, and efficient flight would touch upon the core interests of the Navigator Houses.

The Navigator Houses would lose at least half of their work, but now is not the time for this family to exit the stage of history, as the Emperor still needs them to provide navigation for long-distance travel.

Moreover, the longer one lingers in the Warp, the more dangerous it becomes, so voyages of over ten thousand light-years, or even tens of thousands, are quite perilous.

Warp travel under one thousand light-years is relatively safe because the time spent in the Warp is very short, allowing ships to emerge in ten days or even less than a month.

Now, with this FTL travel, all members of the Navigator Houses will have to undertake high-intensity, ultra-long Warp voyages!

Only the most excellent Navigators can complete this navigation. Under normal circumstances, newcomers to the Navigator Houses first perform short-distance voyages, and only after accumulating a certain amount of experience do they participate in Warp voyages of the ten-thousand-light-year scale.

But the FTL Engine will monopolize all routes within one thousand, or even two to three thousand light-years, effectively causing the Navigator Houses to lose the opportunity to hone their juniors.

In the long run, the Navigator Houses will face a succession crisis, and humanity will face a massive problem.

And that is only the first drawback.

The second drawback is that with such safe travel, no one will want to undertake dangerous, ultra-long-distance Warp voyages.

A distance of one thousand light-years can already cover many star systems, or even several sectors. In such a situation, these regions would become severely disconnected from the Empire.

Using one thousand light-years as a unit, one small group after another will form, and these small groups will never travel beyond this distance unless absolutely necessary. They will only engage in safe travel, trade, material exchange, and communication within this range.

This is something the Emperor absolutely does not want to see. His goal is to build a Galactic Empire, not countless small states measured in thousand-light-year units.

Emperor sat in the eye-shaped spaceship, fell into a moment of contemplation, then opened His eyes, a decision made in His heart.

This small FTL Engine must be studied, the original Webway project must still be executed, and the Navigator Houses will be used for the time being.

Once He completes the Great Crusade, this small FTL Engine can be equipped on all Imperial ships, and once the Aeldari Webway project is completed, He will purge them.

Just like purging the Thunder Warriors back in the day, the Emperor will not be soft-hearted about such things. In the future, if the Space Marines or Primarchs threaten humanity, the Emperor will clear them away without hesitation. (The simplest example: the Emperor established the Council of Terra but did not include a single Primarch.)

As long as the Webway project can be completed, voyages of over ten thousand light-years, or even five or six thousand light-years, can be accomplished using the Webway.

His original Webway project was not as simple as it appeared on the surface if He wanted to cover all the worlds of the Empire and completely abandon Warp travel.

The workload He must undertake is immense; every star system must have a Webway entrance. Whether activating ancient Aeldari Webway portals or building a portal belonging to humanity, it is a massive engineering feat.

But with this FTL Engine, the Emperor can simply build a few large Webway transport arteries.

Using one to three thousand years as a unit to encompass a sector, He can then establish a large Webway entrance.

Humanity's space travel efficiency will increase by dozens of times. Perfect! It is truly too perfect!

The appearance of this FTL Engine makes up for the most flawed and difficult-to-complete part of His Webway project.

Previously, He and Malcador were still worrying about this matter, never having a suitable solution, but now everything is solved.

The Aeldari Webway will not be the only thing humanity relies on; using the FTL Engine in combination with the Webway is the most perfect strategy.

Emperor closed His eyes, and in His heart, He began to secretly plan a new, perfect plan.

In His mind, He even envisioned a thousand years later, when His plan is complete, what a magnificent and prosperous future humanity will possess.

It will be a peak era that surpasses the human Golden Age, surpassing the Dark Age of Technology; humanity will completely escape the gaze of those Chaos horrors within the Warp.

A brand-new human future has already arrived before Him. Hahaha.

Even the universe is favoring their human race, sending an FTL Engine right to Him.

But such large-scale use of the Webway will inevitably lead to opposition with the Aeldari, and a war between the two races will be unavoidable.

After the Great Crusade is completed, He will completely purge these Aeldari and deal with these detestable xenos.

Satisfied, the Emperor piloted the small spaceship back to His Emperor's Dream and dispatched ten Adeptus Custodes to guard the small ship day and night.

Engine research—that is a matter to be done only after returning to Holy Terra.