Ketis had somewhat unwittingly unleashed a new frenzy among red humanity. Everyone who was far-sighted or quick-witted enough knew what this meant.
Superdimensional materials had become the new rage.
Beyond phasewater, beyond hyper materials, superdimensional materials had become the new wonder material that red humanity sought to rely upon to defeat their alien foes and gain supremacy in the Red Ocean.
The new fever had spread far and wide in this formerly undisturbed dimension.
By using the Dimension Blade to open a tear to the Blue Dimension, she had forever broken the peace and stability that had reigned in this seemingly lifeless domain.
She was almost afraid of what would happen once the tear in space finally sputtered out. People would be demanding her to open up another dimension breach. They would claim that it was 'for the greater good, and their words would ring true more or less, except it would also serve their selfish purpose.
Ketis was ready to bear this burden.
She did not ask for this responsibility, but she did not eschew it either. She felt a sense of purpose and duty that went beyond her own wellbeing and the wellbeing of her clan.
Red humanity needed to survive in order to provide a better future for herself, her husband, her children and everyone she cared about and did not care about.
This was what she fought for. This was the reason why she was willing to misdirect. everyone about the true reason why she was able to create the dimension breach in the first place.
By giving the public the impression that she was only able to create a dimensional tear by borrowing the power of the Heavensword, the authorities would more easily accept that she was not able to do so again so easily.
Because she had no agency in the act. It was all up to the Heavensword, and no one had the right or the courage to command an ancient grand work.
In fact, the real reason why she was not able to create an identical dimension breach was because she had just squandered her last Ascension Points.
She could not afford the whopping 200 AP price to create a new tear in space!
To that end, she hoped that everyone but particularly the Larkinson Clan harvested as many superdimensional materials that they sought in the 24-hour timeframe.
As Ketis continued to stand on top of the original shuttle that brought her here, she glanced at the mechs that had continued to act as an honor guard of sorts.
The machines no longer comprised the cheap and shabby second-class demimechs that had been fabricated in a hurry.
The Red Association's much better and stronger first-class demimechs had insisted on guarding her as well.
What also stood out were the larger and more formidable full-sized first-class multipurpose mechs.
The mechers had found a way to build a temporary fortification inside the Blue Dimension and set up enough materializers to fabricate full-sized mechs with the help of imported materials.
The machines were not on par with proper first-class multipurpose mechs, but the ones the RA managed to materialize in a hurry were nonetheless a lot stronger than the smaller demimechs!
Though Ketis thought that their protection was unnecessary, she did not voice her opinion.
She knew she was banking too much on the Heavensword's protection. She recalled Ves' warnings about relying too much on the strength of an external object and knew she was growing too dependent on the powerful relic.
The only sword that she could truly trust above all else was her life blade.
It was too bad that her Bloodsinger was too weak and inadequate to help her in times like these.
Yet word about superdimensional materials gave her hope that she might be able to change the truth about her weapon.
The Bloodsinger was inadequate compared to the Heavensword for all sorts of reasons, but the most basic one was that the material composition of the former was equivalent to garbage compared to the latter.
If the Larkinson Clan was able to gain enough weapon-grade superdimensional materials, then Ketis may be able to reforge the Bloodsinger and turn it into a weapon that was truly worthy for her grip!
Even if the new version of the Bloodsinger still fell short of the Heavensword in terms of artifact spirit and other qualities, at least her life sword had made a significant. amount of progress.
To that end, Ketis inquired about the spoils that the Larkinson Clan had obtained up to this point.
Venerable Vincent did not mind acting as a messenger and courier. He regularly flew around to keep an eye on what others were doing and to pass information around.
When he next stopped by Ketis' position, the blue island that she was staring at had almost disappeared.
Shuttles and makeshift mining demimechs had devoured all of the rock and dirt. Soon enough, there would be nothing left as greedy humans did not let off a single grain of
blue sand!
"Hello again, Vincent."
"Heya. I see you haven't moved. Don't you get tired?"
"I need to stay here."
"Sheesh. You are taking this way too far. There is nothing to see here. Why don't you
take a break and eat a meal? Don't you need to visit the bathroom?"
"No need. My suit of combat armor takes care of everything"
"Tell me about what the Larkinson Clan has gained."
"The spoils are great, but not as huge as everyone was hoping for. Don't get me wrong. The patriarch and many people are still happy, but they couldn't help but wish for
more."
"Please elaborate."
"Well, this Blue Dimension is largely empty if you discount this blue mist." The demimech waved his hand and disturbed the mist that looked blue when illuminated by external light sources. "This place is only sparsely populated with these strange cone-shaped islands. Many scout shuttles and scout demimechs have traveled further away in an attempt to explore and map this location, but all they have found is more blue mist as well as a blue island here or there. As far as these islands are concerned, there is plenty of structure-grade superdimensional material to go around, but very little of the higher grades.
"Ah. I understand. The harvest of higher grades of superdimensional materials is not as much as we have hoped." Ketis surmised.
"Yup. We have plenty of structure-grade superdimensional materials to reinforce our bases and headquarters and such, but that is not what people truly want. From what I have heard, our clan managed to harvest a decent amount of hull-grade superdimensional ore, enough to construct a destroyer-sized vessel or strengthen the prow of the Spirit of Bentheim. People are still arguing about whether we should construct the former or do the latter."
"Has Ves issued a verdict?"
"Not yet. I le is rather divided over the decision. He has a RF Frigate Token that would be perfect for constructing a superdimensional frigate, but he is also very partial to the Spirit of Bentheim. What would you choose, Ketis?"
"The latter." Ketis did not hesitate in giving her answer. "Ves is beginning to waver about his commitment to retain the Spirit of Bentheim as his flagship. It would be