“Then who?” the leader who had accused the Empire retorted sharply, clearly stung by the Xelovra leader’s dismantling of his argument. “They’re the only ones who have all the pieces that fit the puzzle!”His frustration was obvious, he had presented his hypothesis with confidence, expecting agreement or at least serious consideration. Being corrected and essentially discredited in front of the entire Conclave leadership left him bitter, and he wasn’t ready to back down.Yet no one else stepped forward with an alternative suspect. All known external enemies of the Conclave were either too far away or still recovering from past conflicts. The aftermath of their long war had left the region between them nearly uninhabitable, making any large-scale operation prohibitively expensive in terms of mana stone consumption, especially for wormhole travel. And like the Conclave, they too had shown no signs of overcoming the technological limitations surrounding such feats.“I think we need to con

Transforming. That was the word on everyone’s lips when it came to businesses now operating through VR.The Empire had recently launched a sweeping initiative to restructure commercial activity within the VR. As part of this initiative, they created an additional protective layer, a sort of social bubble, surrounding individuals who had been connected to the VR for more than six months. These individuals were restricted from broad interaction and could only communicate with those considered close connections, from those who were new to the VR. The intent was twofold: to give new VR users time to adapt without external pressure and to level the playing field, preventing them from being at a disadvantage when launching new businesses.In regions where VR-based commerce had been authorized, care was taken not to prioritize VR businesses at the expense of real-world enterprises. This helped prevent the collapse of traditional businesses and safeguarded the broader economic stability of c

Earth, CUBE.{Sir, twenty of our wormholes on the Wormhole Highway Project have been attacked,} Nova reported directly to Aron through the chip embedded in his body.Aron was currently sitting in one of the CUBE’s gardens, sharing a quiet picnic with his wife and brother, when he received the alert.“Excuse me,” he said calmly.In the next instant, a translucent shield enveloped Rina and Henry, moments before Aron vanished in a blur, leaving behind a shockwave that rustled the trees and pressed the grass flat in one direction. The shield disappeared just as quickly, having taken the brunt of the blast with it.“I can never get used to that…” Henry muttered, staring at the way the grass now leaned as if bowing in one direction. He looked up in the direction where Aron had vanished. “What kind of emergency would make him move like that without even saying a word?”Nova hadn’t said anything aloud, and they knew that it was Nova and she had most likely reported straight to Aron’s internal

"That’s not important right now," Aron said, answering his own question before anyone else could respond. "We need to deal with the current situation first. We’ll analyze the reasons later, when we have real data to work with. Speculation without information is just a waste of brainpower."{I’ll continue developing response strategies and update you as new intel comes in,} Nyx said."Good," Aron nodded, then resumed reviewing the surveillance footage. It didn’t take long before everyone who had gone to issue orders or complete their assigned tasks returned.“Our fleets positioned near the Nexus are ready for immediate deployment,” John reported.Youssef followed up next. “The civilizations that were attacked claim they can’t dispatch their fleets within the half-hour window we requested. That’s the only answer they gave, saying that, due to the urgency of the situation, they’ll provide further explanation once things settle down.”He then forwarded an additional report. “As for the re

As expected, the top fifty civilizations, except for Grand Xor’Vak, who didn’t even bother to vote, nearly all voted against the motion, as they are the ones who have been benefiting from the Empire and had also directly experienced the devastating power of the blackhole bombs voted no. The footage of the bomb’s effects had not been shared with others, and only anecdotal accounts were provided to avoid exposing the full extent of the Empire’s capabilities, which would have embarrassed the higher-ranked civilizations and damaged their prestige, something they were not willing to allow as it had already received enough damage on the individual fights livestreams.On the other hand, those who hadn’t experienced the blackhole bomb firsthand and were at the lower end of the Conclave all voted in favor of the motion. They wanted to pressure the Empire into making concessions and sought assurance in case the Empire was indeed behind the attacks on their territories. They believed that the ea