The ’press conference’ organized by Ketis immediately attracted a lot of attention when information about what was on the other side of the dimension breach became clear. It was another dimension, one that was much higher than the material dimensions! All people knew about it was that it was filled with blue. There was no light source, so everything only began to shine in blue when a probe or other object lit up the surroundings. Due to the blue particles that fogged up the entire dimension, it was difficult for the probes to discover anything substantial. However, from the moment the first probe detected highly elevated energy readings, people’s evaluation of the mysterious dimension had changed. Everyone who possessed even a modicum understanding of science knew that higher energy levels usually corresponded to wealth and power! If the source of the elevated energy readings was not yet in the possession of humans, then it most certainly represented an untapped source of exploitation! The only question was whether the source of the energy readings already possessed an alien owner. If that was the case, then it would be foolish to discard any advantage of surprise the humans might have and get close enough to be detected by any potential native entities. The probes therefore never traveled too far away from the breach coordinates and only sought to secure the immediate surroundings as much as possible. Less than 10 minutes after Ketis’ initial announcement, she began her hastily organized press conference. There was not enough time for the Larkinson Clan’s Public Relations Department to organize everything properly. They had all been taken by surprise and scrambled to bring a semblance of order in this chaotic sequence of events. Plenty of journalists had begun to cover this anomalous event, but not nearly enough to match the significance of what Ketis had just done. After all, in a society where ace pilots and god pilots regularly defied the laws of reality, this was hardly the first time that people saw someone do weird stuff. The onset of systematic cultivation only further desensitized the population to metaphysical phenomena. Yet those with enough comprehension and scientific literacy knew how insane it was to not only create a large breach in another dimension, but keep it open for a duration of at least 20 hours! 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞 The stability of the tear in space was so remarkable that many scientists and engineers already developed the urge to replicate the process. Unfortunately for them, none of them had access to a grand work as outrageous as the Heavensword! More and more people tuned into the live broadcast that the Larkinsons had hastily organized. More mechs and starships of the Larkinson Clan had arrived as well. They formed an intricate protective cordon. Every expert pilot and ace pilot of the Golden Skull Alliance that was available were either on standby or already deployed in space. Saint Commander Casella Ingvar had already spread out her Command Field. She had yet to Commandeer or Enfeoff any mechs, but she simply utilized the high degree of awareness of her vast domain to carefully monitor the surrounding space for hidden threats and intruders. As a swordmaster who had yet to become a Carmine mech pilot, Ketis looked awfully small next to all of these large and hefty machines. Her combat armor added a lot of bulk to her body, but it was far from enough to match the scale of even the smallest of demimechs. Yet everyone had the illusion that they were seeing a woman who had become larger than life. Her body language conveyed confidence, discipline and drive. The swordmaster acted in public because she did not fear exposure. Instead of skulking in a lifeless star system, she boldly opened an entrance into another dimension in one of the busiest port systems of the Krakatoa Middle Zone! That sent a strong message. The Red Three also reacted at this time. The Red Association dispatched several squads of first-class mechs. The Red Fleet deployed a few frigates to patrol the surroundings and deter third parties from getting too close. The Red Collective did not have much to offer, but they already volunteered their soldier cultivators for exploration missions. Each of the Red Three also brought a lot of local and remote scientific support to the table. Local scientists helped with gathering data and performing simple experiments in the vicinity of the dimension breach. Remote scientists who usually possessed vastly superior knowledge and problem-solving skills subsequently took this data and began to analyze it based on their own biases and expertise. Soon enough, the Red Three managed to derive a lot of information based on their observations and the data that the Larkinson Clan freely shared. "It’s time." Venerable Joshua quietly transmitted to his wife’s combat armor. "Try to keep it short and sweet. The longer they remain exposed, the greater the chance of accidents." "I know, Joshua. I can estimate and calculate the probabilities myself. I know how to be restrained. Just watch my performance. A pair of bots had already arrived to provide the best quality recordings to red humanity. They worked hard to capture and convey the splendor of living mechs. Once again, the Larkinson Clan showed up in the news again! It hadn’t been too long since the major players began to pay attention to the much smaller that Carmine mechs and kinship networks got introduced to the public. For the Larkinsons to show up once again must be significant enough, or else they wouldn’t have bothered with this circus. When the broadcast began to spread across the galactic net of the Red Ocean, Ketis prepared to speak. "I have an important announcement to make." Her back became straighter and her willpower added an element of sharpness to her demeanor. She was no stranger to public speaking. Even if she did not sign up for any courses, she just knew how to make herself appear more authoritative and special. Ketis learned a few of her tricks from watching Ves address an audience. She learned the remainder from her prior experiences as well as all of the times she fought on the battlefield. The way she presented herself had a very large influence on the morale and performance of her opponents! If she was able to scare them into submission, then they were already defeated before her Bloodsinger sank into their flesh. "Today, red humanity shall begin to rise." She believed in these words with all of her heart. The initial results of opening a dimension breach were still relatively bare, but she already had a pretty good idea of what people might be able to find if they ventured further into the higher dimension. After a few seconds of pause, Ketis very deliberately raised the Heavensword until it was pointed straight upward. Its resplendent white surface and its glowing edge added a heavenly cast to her suit of combat armor. "The power of the Heavensword is vast beyond imagination. As its current holder, I only have access to a fraction of its might. Today, I wielded a blade that cut through the walls that keep material dimensions separated from the higher dimensions. I did so with a single purpose in mind, and that is to give our race a means to strengthen ourselves against the alien menace. To that end, I have conducted a large amount of research into academic works that are related to what one might find in the higher dimensions." She did not lie about this. Originally, the plan was for Ves and Ketis to earn so much AP over the course of their most recent marathon that they would be able to upgrade the Dimension Observatory’s ability to seek valuable resources in the right higher dimensions. This plan went bust as Ves became distracted by a variety of different interests. In the end, the two failed to earn enough AP to purchase the most useful upgrade to the Dimension Telescope. The pair of mech designers could only make do with lesser upgrades. After a lot of consideration, the two decided to secure two upgrades that were barely within their budget. [Observation Clarity - Level 2 (200 Ascension Points): Can increase the visual clarity and the data collection of dimension observations by a small extent.] They had no reference on how Observation Clarity at Level 1 differed from Level 2, but it had to be useful for it to cost 200 AP. The other upgrades to the Dimension Telescope were not particularly cost effective in comparison. For example, the Dimension Telescope could only peek in a higher dimension for a maximum duration of 5 minutes. They could pay 200 AP for an upgrade that extended this observation period to 6 minutes, but this was crazy! If the Dimension Telescope failed to find anything interesting in 5 minutes, then the extra minute probably wouldn’t make much of a difference. [Breach Extension - Level 2 (250 Ascension Points): Can create a dimension breach that lasts for 1 day at the cost of 200 AP.] This was by far the most useful upgrade to the Dimension Blade. If not, Ketis could only create a breach that lasted for 10 minutes or 1 hour. That was hardly enough to recover enough valuable resources from an exotic higher dimension! The Larkinsons and anyone else who passed through the breach could do a lot more in 24 hours. Although Ketis had to pay a hefty price of 200 Ascension Points just to be able to create this dimension breach, as long as the resources that could be harvested on the other side were precious and powerful enough, she considered it to be a worthwhile tradeoff! That said, she was yearning to unlock the ability to create a semi-permanent breach that had no time limit. It would only break if enemies damaged it to the point where it could no longer maintain the breach. She also wanted to invest in upgrades that reduced the AP cost of every Dimension Blade usage, but this option had yet to appear in the Dimension Observatory. "In my research, I found multiple references whose titles I shall share later that mention the ’Blue Dimension’. According to the hierarchy of dimensions adopted by the scientific community, it is classified as the 365th dimension. The researchers of the past tried their best to cross the boundaries between dimensions and directly observe what made it easier for them to observe the Blue Dimension than the other adjacent dimensions. Their conclusion, which has not been sufficiently substantiated, is that there is a heavier dimensional weight to the 365th dimension." That caught a lot of people’s attention! Most scientists and engineers never thought about traveling to other dimensions because it was far too difficult for them to do so on a stable basis. Every starship equipped with an FTL drive regularly entered into the higher dimensions in order to take advantage of changes in physical laws and the altered fabric of space to traverse huge distances much faster. Discover more stories at freewebnovel However, it was impossible for a starship in FTL flight to simply stop moving forward and remain in a higher dimension. The vessel would always drop back into realspace from the moment the FTL drive was no longer active! That was why Ketis’ move was so significant. She borrowed the power of the Heavensword to create a static tear between dimensions that looked stable enough for humans to reliably enter the 365th dimension! Ketis was not done yet. "Having found enough academic literature to strengthen my belief that the Blue Dimension holds great value, I created a dimension breach large enough for small mining shuttles and other vehicles to pass through and attempt to mine the rare resource that researchers have theorized that this special dimension may hold. There is no guarantee that their theories and conclusions are correct. However, the sensor readings from the probes sent in and out of this dimension breach indicate that there are islands of strange matter further inside. While sparse, these islands may become highly desirable to everyone very soon, because the initial data readings are similar to a new type of material that the native aliens have recently debuted." A few people were clever enough to connect the dots. They gasped and instantly wished they were there on the spot instead of watching this broadcast light-seconds or light-years away! Ketis smirked behind her closed helmet. "I am speaking of superdimensional matter."