Book 6 Chapter 10.3 - World as the Enemy
Su turned the chair 180 degrees, facing the french window again. The dark clouds that crowded the skies hung extremely low to the ground, only a single wide beam of light casted down from the distant horizon. Below was a continuous expanse of slum housing, this area almost devoid of color, a pale dark brown and gray the main tones of this city. Beneath the densely packed sheds was darkness and dampness, stench forever filling it and rising into the sky. This was heaven for cockroaches, rats, and all types of mosquitoes. The natives' unique odor might be even worse than that of a pure bad smell. When all of these odors were mixed together, even from several dozen meters away, one could still smell this kind of turbid, powerful, and ever changing abnormal smell.
The free residents, nobles, and even more suzerains in the borderland regions had long grown accustomed to this type of smell. Their statuses were noble, but in the eyes of the empire's true high level individuals, this type of nobility was only a bit higher than the natives. In the eyes of the higher level, those who lived in the borderland regions, no matter how high their abilities were, how pure their lineages were, they wouldn't be able to wash off the stench of their bodies. That was a stench that originated from their bones.
This wasn't prejudice. There were indeed many assistants, even suzerains who were deeply infatuated with this land, this abnormal smell a part of it. Kebile was this type of suzerain. For example, the window of this luxurious room that was both a living room and study was not aimed at the clear and crystalline lake, nor the peaceful forest, but rather the dilapidated slum housing. Kebile would sit or stand before this window every day, watching the activity within the slum housing with his sight that far exceeded ordinary humans, unknown just what he was thinking.
When he watched the tired slaves busy about like ants, Su couldn't help but feel slightly moved. However, this feeling disappeared in a flash, drowned out by icy coldness. Su's current actions weren't without purpose, on the contrary, the objective was extremely clear. Even though the end goal was still hidden in the fog, not appearing, as he reached his objectives step by step and strengthened himself, the final objective will eventually present itself, this was something Su was clear on.
In Su's consciousness, row after row of faint golden characters sprinkled down like rain, constructing a meticulous and detailed plan.
First, recovery, determine direction of evolution.
Second, awakening stage: determine environment, decide sequence of evolution for various organs based on the environment. Under present environment, sequence of priority for organs: capture, eat, digest, move, think, attack… evolution objective of this stage: top of the aquatic system food chain, sea and sky dual form, weight 11.65 tons, air flight speed 350 kilometers per hour, underwater movement speed 150 kilometers per hour, water surface movement speed 110 kilometers...
Third, identify present environment's intelligent species, infiltrate society…
Fourth, rely on present environment's intelligent species to analyze the surroundings, gather resources, establish servants and army, construct an energy gathering system. Final objective, establish an energy circulation and resource supply system.
Fifth, occupy all resources in present environment.
This was the original plan of evolution, but it was forcefully cut short after Su's consciousness awoke, moreover directly jumping into the fourth stage. Right now, what Su was doing were the things he should have done in stages two and three, constructing a perfect self and evolving the corresponding abilities, at the very least, the lowest level of ability needed to maintain a status of power. Meanwhile, the suzerains and army of two thousand couldn't even be considered Su's servants, not even the assistants completely under Su's control were.
Moreover, in Su's consciousness, the two thousand man corps he ordered to be constructed were still built based on simulated and derived data. The detailed analysis report was pulled out and read through again.
Army general evaluation: elementary civilization small scale continental army, fighting strength rating the lowest, absolute disadvantage compared to present environment's speculated most powerful army, losses under similar environmental conditions ten thousand to one. Army's dependence on environment extremely high, logistics requirements extremely high, sustainable fighting strength low, army's fighting strength highly susceptible to unexpected factors. The army can fight on the continent under certain terrains, carry out general missions, reliance on science and technology extremely high, skill levels extremely low, mission suitability low...
The comprehensive assessment seemed like everything about this was wrong, but Su who already had some understanding of Sun Empire understood the strength of this newly organized army well. Purely in terms of core competitive power, they wouldn't be at a disadvantage even against the most elite army of the Blood Parliament. However, in real combat, they would be completely wiped out, the main reason was the tremendous disparity in firepower. With an army of the same scale, the amount of firepower the Blood Parliament's troops were equipped with was almost ten times that of Sun Empire, a wide gap of technology that could not be crossed.
The sky gradually dimmed, the exhausted slaves currently returning to Vibimore one after another. The large and heavy wicker baskets on their backs bent their thin, weak, and dark bodies, the slaves' mouths releasing a downcast grunt each time they took a step, and only then could they prevent their knees from buckling under the heavy weight. The soldiers had guns on them, whips in hand as they stood at both sides in a disordered manner, monitoring the slaves. Whenever the slaves moved a bit slower, the whips in the soldiers' hands would whistle out towards their bodies. After being struck by the whip, the native slaves would scream miserably, but they had to endure it, not let the large wicker basket fall, ensuring that not a single one of the fruits fell out. Once one of these expensive goods fell on the ground, even if it was the underripe fruits, they would suffer a life-threatening beating. Many of the soldiers wearing military uniforms were natives with the same skin tone as these slaves, but the ones who used the whips the most, acted the most viciously, were also them.
The last of Vibimore's crops were gathered, now was the time to eat. That was why Su stood up, walking towards the designated dining room below.