Chapter 152: Advancing Technology

“Huaxin News Agency reports.”

“Due to the technology exchange and knowledge sharing previously achieved between our civilization and the Stuo Civilization in related fields, both civilizations have achieved mutual benefits.”

“For both Human Civilization and the Stuo Civilization, this exchange has played a tremendous role in complementing and assisting each other, promoting and inspiring theoretical and technical development in their respective fields.”

“Now, to achieve greater, more long-term technological breakthroughs in more important areas for both civilizations, and to help their related technological fields reach a new level,”

“Human Civilization and the Stuo Civilization have decided to collaborate on joint scientific research in key areas such as ‘Controlled Nuclear Fusion’!”

“According to the Negentropy Research Institute, starting this year, Human Civilization and the Stuo Civilization will launch a joint research project on ‘Heavy Nuclear Fusion Technology’. Both civilizations will provide research resources and personnel for this collaboration. Research progress will be synchronized, and results will be shared…”

Huaxin News Agency covered the event, as this was indeed a significant milestone in the relationship between Human Civilization and the Stuo Civilization.

Within the HCC, people naturally showed great interest, engaging in widespread attention and discussion.

“You know, this seems like our first collaborative research project with the Stuo Civilization, right?”

“If you include previous theoretical exchange projects, it definitely isn’t. The exchange zone near Neptune’s Orbit still has researchers from both sides doing theoretical exchanges and collaborative research across various fields and disciplines right now.”

“But purely in terms of technical collaboration, this is indeed the first time.”

“Actually, think about it; after surviving the dangerous period caused by mutual unknowns, it’s probably hard for either civilization to find a perfect partner like the other.”

“The differences in their ways of thinking mean that when tackling the same research project, each civilization can offer unique research approaches and considerations the other might have missed. Plus, the Stuo Civilization will eventually leave the Solar System and continue their migration through space, so there are no conflicting interests between the two civilizations.”

“This provides a more stable foundation for cooperation than partnerships between two nations within our own civilization before the HCC era.”

Over the past fifteen to twenty years,

with frequent news and reports about the Stuo Civilization appearing online,

many within Human Civilization had almost become accustomed to the Stuo Civilization’s presence far out in the outer Kuiper Belt.

…

To meet the needs of the joint research project,

Human Civilization and the Stuo Civilization jointly decided to expand the ‘Civilization Exchange Zone’ located near Neptune’s Orbit.

The expanded ‘Civilization Exchange Zone’ could simultaneously accommodate up to fifty thousand individuals from both civilizations.

While called a ‘Civilization Exchange Zone’, it was more like a gigantic starship,

divided internally into two equally sized sections: one suitable for the Stuo Civilization’s lifeforms and the other for humans.

Most of the time, communication between researchers within the zone was actually done through internal holographic communication devices.

Rarely would a Stuo individual sit face-to-face with a human researcher in a spacesuit or environmental suit.

Simply put, the primary purpose of the Civilization Exchange Zone was to solve the problem of communication delay.

It allowed researchers in related fields to discuss the same topic more promptly, unaffected by the lag of long-distance signals.

For this first collaborative technical research project between Human Civilization and the Stuo Civilization,

Qin Yu also occasionally participated.

He would sometimes browse the research ideas proposed by the Stuo Civilization side regarding ‘Heavy Nuclear Fusion Technology’.

It wasn’t necessarily that the ideas from the Stuo researchers were always correct or superior to those from the human side.

But even for Qin Yu, he occasionally found them intriguing.

This novelty stemmed from the different inherent thought patterns of the two civilizations, the two intelligent species.

It was like the difference between seeing the world while crouched down versus standing up – different perspectives, different sights,

neither right nor wrong.

However, Qin Yu himself hardly ever went to the Civilization Exchange Zone in person.

During this period, he focused more of his energy on researching propulsion technology and electric propulsion systems.

…

Human United Era Year 68.

With next-generation energy devices rapidly becoming widespread in both civilizations,

beyond energy technology,

the exchange of propulsion and navigation technologies naturally began.

Drawing on previous experiences with technological exchanges,

both Human Civilization and the Stuo Civilization were quite optimistic about this exchange of propulsion technologies.

However, the outcome left researchers on both sides feeling somewhat disappointed.

It wasn’t that either civilization gained no previously unavailable technical elements during the exchange,

but rather that the gains didn’t live up to the high hopes researchers had held.

First, suspicions confirmed long ago were proven true.

From observations of the Stuo Civilization’s Interstellar Fleet and Planetary Fortress movements,

Human Civilization was already quite certain the Stuo Civilization used some form of electric propulsion system.

The more detailed technical information obtained during the exchange confirmed this.

Surprisingly though, the maximum propulsion speed achievable by the Stuo Civilization’s Planetary Fortress and Interstellar Fleet wasn’t 5% lightspeed,

but actually 6% lightspeed.

However, during their interstellar travels, the Stuo Civilization usually didn’t maintain this maximum speed.

For Human Civilization, this was neither especially good nor bad news.

At the very least, if no significant breakthroughs were achieved during the exchange,

Human Civilization could still emulate the Stuo Civilization’s propulsion technology and follow their technical path,

enabling Human starships to reach 6% lightspeed as well.

…

Human United Era Year 70.

More comprehensive technological exchanges and trades between Human Civilization and the Stuo Civilization continued.

Both civilizations gradually completed the assimilation of the differing aspects in their respective Electric Propulsion Technology acquired from each other.

With Qin Yu’s participation,

Human Civilization assimilated the relevant Stuo technology somewhat faster.

Insights gained from the Stuo Civilization’s mature technology led Human Civilization to further improve its current Electric Propulsion System that year.

The new Electric Propulsion System could now push starships to a higher maximum speed.

It exceeded the Stuo Civilization’s 6% lightspeed projection, reaching 7% lightspeed.

Since this involved relatively little completely new R&D, the Stuo Civilization also achieved an improvement not long after obtaining the human propulsion technology,

similarly boosting the maximum speed achievable by their own systems.

It must be said,

in terms of technological development,

directly swapping technologies in a specific field between two civilizations of similar level and technical strength

is one of the fastest paths to progress.

Even if much of the acquired technology isn’t immediately applicable,

there’s always some mature tech that can be used directly.

However, this period of rapid joint technological advancement was destined to slow down again

as each civilization’s pool of unique, mature technologies dwindled.

Furthermore,

in Qin Yu’s judgment,

after reaching the 7% lightspeed limit, the Electric Propulsion System seemed to be nearing its theoretical ceiling.