"No, you misunderstand the Heaven-Observing Palace's purpose," the Heaven-Observing Envoy denied. "The Heaven-Observing Palace's purpose has always been to observe civilizations, not protect them. It is only because interstellar raiders are so rampant in the universe that our Heaven-Observing Palace offers native civilizations within Human Territory a measure of protection. But that protection is itself also a price."
"Of course, there are better solutions than 'protection through isolation,' but you only meet the standards for a category-four civilization, so this is already the optimal solution in my judgment."
This place was not within humanity's original 1,008 Universe Countries, but in territory expanded into later.
The civilizations the Heaven-Observing Palace observed had never been limited to humans, either, but "applications for protection" were only available to humans.
The thin leader understood: they met the "civilization standards," but those standards had different tiers.
"That's not bad, either. Once the term ends, those of us developing outside can come back to help them. Even if all of us die in the outside world, at least our civilization will have a second chance," the burly leader said.
"Then can we still choose the term?"
"You meet the standards for a category-four civilization. Therefore, you may freely choose any protection period within one epoch. But if you need more than one epoch, for each additional epoch, you must assume a debt of one Hunyuan Unit once the term ends. All members of your civilization who leave the sealed area will share that debt."
"Of course, there is an upper limit. If the strongest of those leaving is currently at the Universe Level, then the maximum extension is to ten epochs, with nine Hunyuan Units due at the end. Death cancels the debt. If, when the term ends, every member who originally left your civilization has