Rebirth of the Super Battleship
Chapter 183: Eternal Kingdom

At present, Xiao Yu was facing two urgent technological obstacles: elemental decay technology and Faster-than-Light Travel technology.

These two technologies were closely intertwined. Elemental decay technology was the foundation of Faster-than-Light Travel. Xiao Yu had already conducted relevant experiments. Taking the Hebei as an example, in theory, the 40 million tons of nuclear fusion fuel loaded aboard the Hebei could only support less than 100 light-years of Faster-than-Light Travel.

However, this limitation would be resolved once a breakthrough was made in elemental decay technology. Due to space constraints, the Hebei needed most of its internal space to store nuclear fusion fuel, specifically deuterium. But if the same volume of deuterium were replaced with a heavy element, such as silicon (the most abundant heavy element on Earth), the Hebei would be able to carry 1.3 billion tons.

This meant that, purely in terms of travel distance, the Hebei’s endurance would reach 10,000 light-years. Of course, in practice, the actual figure would be smaller because the Hebei required energy for many other functions such as computing, defense, weaponry, maneuvering, and more. Overall, once elemental decay technology was cracked, the Hebei’s range would reach at least 1,000 light-years.

At that point, Xiao Yu would fully step into a technological level measured in light-years.

In orbit 2 billion kilometers from the central star, Xiao Yu and the Luka scientists were working intensively on research.

A large particle collider had already been set up in orbit around the central star. Due to the sheer size of the star, Xiao Yu had to dismantle several hundred Village-Class ships and manufacture some new components to cobble it together, finally managing to assemble the large particle collider. There was no other option, within this desolate star system, Xiao Yu had no way of replenishing materials.

The central star was shedding mass at nearly 1 billion tons per second, scattering that mass into interstellar space as cosmic dust from its outer layers. However, Xiao Yu was unable to collect this mass. He had calculated that even if he built 1,000 giant collection nets, each one a square kilometer in size and powered by stellar energy, roaming through space to gather mass, they would only collect around 10 tons of material per hour.

This was obviously a losing proposition. Xiao Yu decisively abandoned the idea and instead opted to dismantle ships to obtain materials. After all, he only needed to hold out for 200 years. After that, he would either die or escape this prison, making the plan unnecessary.

Over the previous century of hiding from other civilizations, the Luka population had grown to over 200,000. Luka society was largely similar to human society but with significantly longer lifespans. Xiao Yu was unwilling to let the Luka scientists, who possessed an extremely rich variety of knowledge, age and die prematurely, so he had also undertaken some research in biological technology. Currently, the average lifespan of the Luka people had been extended to around 500 years.

After more than a century, the number of Luka scientists had reached about 2,000. Luka Three was, without dispute, appointed as the Chief Science Officer, while Luka Two continued to serve as the Supreme Social Administrator.

To properly organize these research forces and maximize their effectiveness, Xiao Yu dismantled a Province-Class transport ship. Part of the materials were used for other purposes, and the rest were used to build a brand new City-Class ship.

Xiao Yu named this City-Class ship the Eternal Kingdom. The Eternal Kingdom was, in Luka Civilization legend, the realm of the Great God. Within this ship, Xiao Yu installed the most advanced research equipment available under current technological standards, providing the Luka scientists with everything they needed.

The Eternal Kingdom was stationed not far from the Paradise, allowing Luka scientists to conveniently travel back and forth between the two ships using the small shuttles assigned to them. Inside the Eternal Kingdom, they carried out scientific research, while aboard the Paradise, they could live comfortably and enjoy recreation.

At this point, twenty years had passed since Xiao Yu had been imprisoned within this cosmic prison. Inside the Eternal Kingdom, the Luka scientists were hard at work on intensive research.

The theoretical foundation of elemental decay technology had already been established. What was needed now was extensive experimentation to determine the most efficient method of implementation.

In one laboratory, a few Luka scientists wearing white lab coats were closely watching a transparent glass chamber. Inside this glass chamber was a very ordinary object, a block of iron weighing about one kilogram, floating in mid-air.

Beside the glass chamber were densely packed wires, extending outward and connecting to various unknown devices and complex instruments.

Through these wires, strange radiation beams were emitted, acting on the iron block.

At the microscopic level, an intense reaction, invisible to the naked eye, was taking place.

This was at a scale smaller than molecules and atoms. Within the domain of strong interaction forces, the quarks that make up hadrons suddenly dispersed, spreading throughout the empty space inside the atom. Moreover, quark exchange occurred between different atoms. In other words, a quark inside one atom would sometimes move into another atom.

They diffused throughout the atomic space, forming “clouds” similar to electron clouds.

To the Luka scientists observing, it appeared as if the volume of the iron block had suddenly expanded. At the same time, it began emitting a faint infrared glow.

“This should be quarks undergoing minor collisions during the dispersion process, with energy level transitions producing photons,” one Luka scientist said.

After this scientist spoke, an assistant immediately recorded the comment and sent it via the communication system to Xiao Yu for analysis.

Scenes like this were occurring simultaneously in dozens of laboratories, with data being submitted to Xiao Yu at every moment for analysis.

After the assistant finished sending the message, the scientist instructed, “Reverse the two instruments. Strengthen the strong interaction force and weaken the electromagnetic force.”

“Understood,” another assistant responded and pressed a few buttons on the instrument.

At the microscopic level, the quarks diffused within the atomic space which previously displayed “electron cloud”-like characteristics, suddenly seemed to go wild, each rushing to collide with the nearest quark.

In the violent collisions, the quarks reassembled into hadrons, such as protons and neutrons. During this process, some quarks vanished without a trace. They transformed into photons or neutrinos and escaped from inside the iron block.

To the Luka scientists, it appeared that the iron block inside the glass chamber suddenly emitted an extremely dazzling light, which lasted for several minutes. Afterward, the glow gradually dimmed, and the iron block reappeared. However, its volume had shrunk by half.

Because the glass chamber was designed to block excessively strong light, the Luka scientists observing from outside were not affected by the intense glow.

“Neutrinos and photons detected. These photons carry very high energy. Analysis shows that in this reaction, the one-kilogram block of iron lost 48 percent of its mass, leaving 520 grams. According to the mass-energy equivalence formula, the energy carried by the emitted photons and neutrinos converts to a mass of exactly 480 grams, confirming compliance with the law of mass-energy conservation.”

“Considering the excitation energy and neutrino loss, the comprehensive energy utilization rate of the elemental decay is 40 percent. The remaining 8 percent accounts for unavoidable energy loss.”

In the elemental decay process, most of the energy was emitted in the form of photons. Along with the photons, neutrinos were also produced. These neutrinos acted like little energy thieves, stealing energy for themselves and quickly escaping thanks to their extremely low likelihood of interacting with other matter.

By calculating the energy stolen by the neutrinos, the energy lost during the conversion process, and the energy consumed by the instruments required to activate the electromagnetic and strong interaction forces, the conclusion was that 40 percent of the mass converted into usable energy during the elemental decay process.

“This is the highest energy utilization result from tens of thousands of experiments in recent decades. Moreover, this method provides solid guarantees for safety and other critical factors. Submit the full details of this experiment and our conclusions to the master,” the lead scientist instructed eagerly, unable to hide the joy on his face.

“Congratulations, Lord Wills. With these results, I think the master will certainly award you the distinguished title of ‘Luka Four’,” one assistant said with a look of admiration.

The name that Xiao Yu had casually mentioned long ago had now become the highest honor in Luka society. Out of the entire Luka population of over 200,000, only two people held such titles: Luka Two and Luka Three. One was the Supreme Science Officer, and the other was the Supreme Social Administrator. It was clear that, after Numbers Two and Three, the title Luka Four represented a pinnacle of honor.

However, Xiao Yu was not planning to hand out the title of Luka Four lightly. That title, like a prestigious crown, served as motivation for thousands of Luka scientists to strive for it.

But after receiving the latest elemental decay experiment report from the Eternal Kingdom, Xiao Yu had a strong feeling that he might have to give out that crown soon.

[T/N: Nah Xiao Yu did the Luka’s dirty, how are they fighting over such a boring title lmao.]