This meant that the Protoss population would grow even more slowly, but the advantage was that their maturation cycle would be greatly shortened. In other words, newborn Protoss could form an effective fighting force more quickly, and no Protoss would die of old age. Once the Protoss population grew large enough, even with such weak reproductive ability, they could still reach hundreds of millions after a few tens of thousands of years.
Genetic enhancement targeted the entire Protoss race. At present, all fully equipped facilities were concentrated on Aiur, while Protoss forces stationed beyond Aiur had to return there for injections, with enhanced Protoss forces taking over their positions. In any case, the Protoss had Time-Space Navigation Routes, so a rotation only took a few minutes.
This naturally included the garrison on Mineral Star-1 in the Sien Star System. Kaldir had led his troops back to Aiur yesterday.
Over the past few decades, the Protoss had expanded outward with great momentum. Shen Jun designated all starfields within a radius of five hundred light-years as Protoss-controlled territory and added them to the universal Star Chart of the Known Universe, spreading it throughout the Known Universe. Naturally, Aiur's coordinates would not be exposed. Even if they were, Shen Jun was confident that fewer than three people in the entire universe could find Aiur on their own.
Shen Jun naturally named this region the Koprulu Sector.
The Koprulu Sector was territory directly controlled by the Protoss, but that did not mean the Protoss had no subordinate civilizations in more distant starfields. In truth, the Protoss Daelaam government's actual sphere of influence spanned ten thousand light-years in diameter and contained twenty-seven subordinate civilizations: ten Pre-Nuclear Era civilizations and seventeen Aerospace Civilizations.
None of them were particularly strong, and they had submitted only recently, so their loyalty remained questionable.
Thus, the Protoss had not provided them with any substantial technological assistance, only protection. How did they provide that protection? It was simple: the Protoss had built Time-Space Navigation Routes in the home star systems of all twenty-seven subordinate civilizations.
It was not just for protection, but also to consolidate Protoss control.
Zeratul continued roaming the universe. Even he could not clearly explain why. Some instinct of life drove him onward, making it impossible for him to stop. Shen Jun could only assign him a task: travel to the universe's major key starfields and construct Time-Space Navigation Routes. Wherever there was a large Great Wormhole Bridge, he was to build a Time-Space Navigation Route nearby.
Shen Jun wanted to construct a cosmic transport network exclusive to the Protoss. He was not worried about the Time-Space Navigation Routes being destroyed, because he had specifically added a Psionic Storm triggering device to them. Once a route was damaged, it would unleash a Psionic Storm equal in power to one jointly cast by ten High Templar, perishing together with the enemy forces.
The Koprulu Sector contained nearly ten thousand star systems, yet only seven had civilizations. Astonishingly, only one civilization had reached the Pre-Nuclear Era, while the rest ranged from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
The seven civilizations were located on Sien Star, Reed Star, Oak Star, Sino Star, Sanna Star, Guka Star, and Kha Star.
Naturally, all of those names had been given by Shen Jun. Among them, Kha was the homeworld of the sole Pre-Nuclear Era civilization. It was the subordinate civilization the Protoss valued most, and it would become the capital planet of the Terran Federation, the future representative of the Protoss Empire in the Known Universe.
Shen Jun guessed that the Trigonians had likely come here because this territory had few enemies, while planets rich in water resources were truly abundant.
Compared to more distant places, nurturing the civilizations within the Koprulu Sector was undoubtedly more trustworthy and allowed for stronger control. That was why Shen Jun had planned to cultivate these seven low-level civilizations many years ago.
Rohana's database contained the technological trees of all three races. Gaius had already thoroughly integrated Zerg technology, while human technology was still lying in a corner gathering dust. It was perfect for cultivating subordinate civilizations.
Naturally, aside from the sole Pre-Nuclear Era civilization that could use a small portion of the technology, the other six civilizations first needed to enter the Pre-Nuclear Era.
This could not be accomplished overnight. It had to be done step by step.
However, with the Protoss' active assistance, even the most backward Sien civilization had successfully entered its first Industrial Revolution three years ago and stepped into the Steam Age. After roughly two more Industrial Revolutions, it could smoothly enter the Pre-Nuclear Era and would likely achieve that breakthrough in about half a century.
The other five non-Pre-Nuclear Era civilizations had also successfully entered the Pre-Nuclear Era.
Shen Jun planned to have all these subordinate civilizations in the Koprulu Sector enter the spacefaring age within the next hundred years and establish a true Terran Federation.
Only Kha had naturally entered the spacefaring age, but its understanding of the universe was still in its infancy. Such understanding could not be made up through information alone. A civilization's foundation ultimately had to be accumulated by the civilization itself. Shen Jun had already pushed them forward too quickly, but many things ultimately had to be experienced by them personally.
That was also why Lieyang was willing to provide Earth with a certain degree of technological assistance, yet would never send troops to aid Earth.
More than a thousand years before the Super Soldier Squad was formed, the Lieyang Civilization had set its sights on Earth. They did not merely want Earth to become a subordinate civilization of Lieyang; they wanted the entire Lieyang Civilization to immigrate to Earth. They were ultimately stopped by Sun Wukong and Du Kao, but that desire had never truly faded.
In that era, Sun Wukong's combat power was formidable. The Victorious Fighting Buddha gene ranked among the best in the entire universe. However, Earth's technological level held him back. He had not been upgraded even once in over a thousand years, leaving Sun Wukong, whose original combat power could rival Pan Zhen's, struggling even against a single Xuan Tianji.
That did not mean Sun Wukong was weak. On the contrary, being able to defeat Xuan Tianji, who had undergone an unknown number of upgrades, with technology from over a thousand years ago already demonstrated the power of the Victorious Fighting Buddha gene.
When Teacher Wu of the Super God Academy designed the Victorious Fighting Buddha during the Tang Dynasty, exhausting all the resources of Earth's Super God Academy Branch to create Sun Wukong could already be called a miracle under the conditions of that time. Therefore, a massive portion of Monkey King's true potential had surely never been developed. Even after the Super Soldier Squad was formed, Earth finally had the means to upgrade Super Gene warriors.
However, by then, the three god-making projects had also awakened. Coupled with Du Kao's personal preferences, the overwhelming majority of resources would inevitably be directed toward Ge Xiaolun, the Galaxy Power formerly known as the God River Power.
This led to Sun Wukong's awkward situation. There was simply no need to upgrade him to fight the Taotie army. No matter how outdated his technology was, Sun Wukong was still a peak Beast Body, equivalent to a Third Generation God Body. Crushing Taotie without Super Genes was effortless for him.
At the time, the Taotie were the greatest crisis, and what would Earth's government, which had no concept of gods whatsoever, think? Sun Wukong's combat power was already the ceiling of the Super Soldier Squad, so why not create a few more ceilings?
Furthermore, the entire universe tacitly regarded the Galaxy Power as the primary god of Earth and even the Milky Way Galaxy. Was that not sending the upper ranks the message that Ge Xiaolun was the savior?
Only Monkey King suffered for it.
In short, Lieyang had always regarded Earth as something already in its grasp. Naturally, they could not stand watching Taotie, demons, angels, and the like run rampant on Earth. That was why they allowed Leina to train the Super Soldier Squad. Even the news that the Taotie were about to attack Earth had been sent to Du Kao by someone dispatched by Pan Zhen.
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