?Chapter 6457 The Evolution Witch's Announcement This was an important day. Red humanity would remember this date, just as they remembered the date when Ves Larkinson introduced his now-historic Yellow Jacket models. Though Ves was not able to understand the magnitude of the Evolution Witch's ambitious scheme, he already received various clues that indicate that her plan had the potential to rock red humanity. Others with excellent connections and high positions obtained similar clues. They cleared out their schedules and chose to pay full attention to the Transhumanist leader's announcement. The fact that she was a god pilot was already enough to give her due attention, but the scant hints she had dropped so far compelled other tier 1 galactic citizens to orient themselves around her mysterious plan. The Evolution Witch knew better than to fool her peers and other powerful dignitaries with empty bluster. Everyone tuned into the broadcast. Many more adventurous individuals even hopped onto their starships and attempted to fly closer to the site where the Evolution Witch intended to hold her announcement. It was useless. Traffic control in Yernstall was extremely strict. The security forces did not dare to take any risks and preemptively locked down all traffic. Even ships that were located on the edge of the outer system had to temporarily shut down their engines and coast along in ballistic trajectories unless they were on a collision course! More and more people anticipated a big show. Now that Ves had been reduced to one of many spectators, he could vaguely sense the immense anticipation building up from every hopeful human in the Red Ocean. "Vector." He spoke up as he idly scratched Lucky's chin. "Have you received any further information from your superiors? Now that the Evolution Witch is about to start her speech, surely you must have more information." The biomech designer who sat on another couch shook his head. "I am afraid to disappoint you, but I have not received any new missives. My friends and acquaintances in the Transhumanist Faction have not been able to share much information either. I am in the same position as you and everyone else." They soon fell silent when the Evolution Witch appeared in the broadcast. Her entrance was not particularly grand this time. The Geneforger suddenly appeared in an empty location of space that was located in the junction between the inner and outer system of Yernstall. The entire region of space had clearly been emptied in advance. Nearby traffic had already been diverted more than a day ago, so there weren't any errant cargo haulers or other vessels in the neighborhood. Just for good measure, the Geneforger fully unfolded its God Kingdom, thereby gaining extensive control over its surroundings! The sheer reality-defying power of the Evolution Witch's transcendent willpower was so great that it could pressure every viewer who was watching the live broadcast! A momentary air of oppressive excitement weighed down on everyone's spirits before it withdrew. The god mech still radiated a strong and vigilant God Kingdom, but it was not directed towards anyone specific. The Evolution Witch was merely being careful. This showed that what she was about to announce may be a lot more vulnerable than her god mech. Interesting. After making an appearance and providing undeniable proof that she was the real deal, the Geneforger disappeared. In its place was the god pilot in her human guise. Divine Lucie Miyazaki floated in space in complete defiance to the rules that governed what should happen if a human entered into space without any visible protection against the merciless vacuum environment. To a baseline human, appeared in space like the Evolution Witch was nothing less than a death sentence! To a god pilot, floating around in space in this form was no different from 92-13- taking a walk on an ordinary habitable planet. "Citizens of red humanity." The Evolution Witch spoke with the same empowered human voice she used during the founding ceremony. It was both authoritative and gentle. "Three days ago, I told you that I am about to make an important announcement. That time has come. Before I unveil the grand project that my collaborators and I have been working on, let us take stock of our current position in the Red Ocean." The Evolution Witch used her own willpower to project a large and vivid map of the dwarf galaxy they currently resided. She had thoughtfully color-coded all of the territories belonging to the humans and the aliens. The sheer difference in size was glaring to everyone. Those with greater understanding of stellar geography knew that the actual situation was worse than it appeared. The distribution of resources was highly uneven, and it was clear that human-occupied space only covered a backwater of the Red Ocean! Ves thought about all of the secret briefings he received from the Secret Department. The information he gained during those tedious sessions allowed him to read these maps and other related information a lot better than before. "Simply put, red humanity is outnumbered and outgunned. We still have a chance to win by relying on our sparse advantages. Our forces are technologically more advanced and our soldiers are qualitatively stronger. Our battle tactics are more mature and our supply lines are short. We enjoy all of the advantages of staying on the defensive. Yet even when my fellow god pilots and I have been rending apart assault fleet after assault fleet, the influx of native aliens is endless. The disproportionately high loss rate have not deterred our enemies from sending in more cannon fodder. All the while, our fortified border systems are slowly reaching the limits of how much fighting they can withstand." Many people reacted with shock and dismay! The pessimistic outlook shared by the Evolution Witch countered much of the propaganda meant to prop up morale and encourage people to fight! dire state of red humanity, it was taboo to speak about it so blatantly and in the open. The god pilot didn't care. Other speakers who tried to give red humanity a harsh dose of reality might be met with immediate pushback from the established powers, but the Evolution Witch was too great to be handled in this fashion. If not for her absolute strength and her genuine loyalty to red humanity, the other tier 1 citizens would have tried to shut down the broadcast by force at this time! However, everyone remained patient, not because the Evolution Witch was too powerful to be subdued in a short amount of time, but also because she clearly had a greater purpose in mind. "Hope is not lost, my fellow red humans. We are humans, but we can be so much more. The founding of the Red Collective is one of the most significant steps we have made to reverse the ongoing war by out-evolving our adversaries. In time, the mass practice of systematic cultivation methods will make each of us much more individually stronger and more productive than before. Our fighters will be able to defeat more opponents and our workers will be able to multiply our industries. Yet will our enemies give our cultivators the time to unlock their potential, explore how they can best wield their new-found abilities and truly come into power?" Hell no! Even the most dimwitted human knew the answer! In a sense, the Red Tide Offensive already served as the response of the Red Cabal and the most powerful alien empires. The supreme alien leaders felt so threatened by red humanity that they did not hesitate to drive trillions of alien soldiers and even phase lords to their deaths! Even if most of them suffered miserable deaths, they still made a contribution by choking the red humans with the sheer magnitude of alien corpses and warship debris stuffed down their throats! The map of the Red Ocean made it all too clear that two defensive bands, of which one of them was already starting to fray. "We need resources." The Evolution Witch flatly said. "The Red Ocean exposed by the light of Messier 87 has become increasingly more rich and diverse with new and interesting materials, but it has not done enough to mitigate our shortfall in materials. Salvaging the wrecks of alien warships allows us to harvest large amounts of low to middle-grade alloys, but we are short of higher grade materials that are vital to the development and upgrades of senior ace mechs and god mechs. Our best mech pilots are more than capable of surmounting the challenges posed by the native aliens, but without enough high-quality material supply, their machines may not necessarily keep up with their ambitions." That caused a lot of people but particularly mech designers to grow concerned. The Evolution Witch pointed to a very big problem. Mechs at this level could no longer be built by relying on high-grade materials alone! Only the rarest and most expensive super-class materials could bear the awesome power of those mighty pilots. The power of a god was not so easy to bear! While it was technically possible for peak ace pilots and god pilots to make do with machines built with inferior materials, the problem was that they could only channel true resonance up to a limit. The more inferior the materials, the lower the ceiling. This would inevitably make the powerful pilots uncomfortable and restrained. The feeling of being unable to unleash their full power for fear of breaking apart their own machines was one of the most frustrating conditions to fight under! "We have not yet exhausted our stockpiles of critical super-class materials that are relevant to the production of the most powerful mechs as well as warships." The Evolution Witch informed to the relief of many people. "Yet we must not wait until they run out before we act. In order to obtain sufficient quantities of super-class materials and other essential goods that are vital to our civilization, I have secretly worked with a number of powerful collaborators. Today, I am ready to unveil the results of our work and commence the very first test that will determine our future as a neonle and a civilization that is locked inside a hostile galaxy." Her God Kingdom vibrated. A large patch of space in front of Divine Lucie Miyazaki began to deform until it finally unveiled a large and familiar-looking construct! "Is that... a gate?!" The black gate that appeared in the live broadcast looked both familiar and different to everyone. It vaguely resembled a smaller version of a beyonder gate, but it possessed clear additions and design modifications that looked as if it had been corrupted by mystical elements. Runes and other mystical elements were embedded into the hyper material components of the gate. Their presence was completely incongruent with the obviously technological aspects of the construct. A number of quick-witted people had pieces together enough clues to realize what the black gate signified. Ves was not one of them. Even though there were elements of the gate that looked disturbingly familiar to him, he failed to make the crucial connection before the god pilot formally introduced the object to red humanity! "This is the Oblivion Gate. It is a technological nightmare that clumsily fuses phasewater technology, hyper technology, E-technology, FTL technology and most notably highly experimental advances in the field of gravitic wormhole technology. Its sole purpose is to generate a momentary wormhole that can reach out to another wormhole that is generated more than 50 million light-years away by a similar but not completely identical Oblivion Gate built in the Milky Way Galaxy in secrecy." "WHAT?!" Ves was hardly the only one who reacted with shock! The amount of people who could remain calm and composed were far outnumbered by the red humans who became completely gobsmacked by this shocking revelation! The Evolution Witch merely smirked as she continued to blow up the expectations of her audience. "The Oblivion Gates are the products of a secret collaboration that spans two different galaxies. Here in the Red Ocean, I have chosen to enlist the aid of the Dimensional Architect of the Expansionist Faction of the Red Association, who contributed to the research and construction of this Oblivion Gate." His Excellency Chester Marmedion, son of the even more legendary Charles Marmedion, appeared in the live broadcast in an instant. The Star Designer hovered beside the Oblivion Gate like an overseer, making it clear that he was probably responsible for operating the exceedingly complex construct! "Over in the Milky Way Galaxy, I have made contact and secured the vital cooperation of three key individuals. They are Master Moira Willix of the MTA Survivalist Faction, the Beast of Fear who leads the MTA Unbound Humanity Faction, and lastly the Oblivion Empress of the Nyxian Gap. The latter may be better known to you all as the mother of Professor Ves Larkinson." Everyone inside the lounge compartment turned their heads and stared straight at Ves. Even Lucky was no exception! "Meow?!" "Did you know about this Ves?!" Ves wanted to burst into tears. He had no clue that the Evolution Witch and his mother had been working on such an explosive project! The two women had completely left him in the dark!