Chapter 228: Galactic Upheaval: The Federation’s Ascendancy

Even though he was unwilling, Daan had no choice but to give in.

In the end, Daan was forced to compromise.

As soon as the news broke, every civilization across the Milky Way was shaken.

On that barren stretch of the Orion Spur, another fourth-tier civilization had emerged—making the Galactic High Council’s member count jump from seventeen to eighteen.

At the same time, the tea leaves and porcelain that had taken the galaxy by storm these past years—especially the top-grade tea capable of strengthening the body and even slightly extending one’s lifespan—

all turned out to originate from this newborn fourth-tier civilization.

But the most shocking news was yet to come.

The Drac Empire had previously dispatched a fleet, intending to seize control of the Federation’s lucrative tea and porcelain trade.

Yet in the end, the Federation annihilated the entire fleet in one decisive move.

Not only did the Empire lose their whole fleet, one of the Empire’s Seven Grand Generals fell there as well.

According to the High Council’s ruling, the Viayas Star Region, once under the Drac Empire’s domain, would now belong to the Human Federation.

As for the Drac Empire…

It was a complete disaster—they lost everything and gained nothing.

You couldn’t make this up.

——

Over the next three months, the Federation assembled a dedicated negotiation team.

They dove into lengthy talks, sorting out the details for joining the High Council and hashing out complex agreements among the fourth-tier civilizations.

Finally, all the accords were signed.

One key agreement stated that no military vessels from a fourth-tier civilization could enter another’s territory without explicit permission.

The signing of this agreement allowed the Federation’s leadership to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

For a long while going forward, as long as the Federation didn’t let slip that they hadn’t fully reached fourth-tier status, there was little risk of invasion from their peers.

Of course, even with these safeguards in place, it didn’t mean the Federation could afford to be careless.

That’s why phase two of the Jump Disruption Network still needed to be built out. Forget Viayas for now, but at the very least, the Desolate Star Region had to be locked down tight.

After all, this was the Federation’s home turf.

As for the Viayas Star Region—with its 1.2 million stars—there actually wasn’t any unclaimed territory left.

And unlike the Drac Empire, the Federation didn’t plan to levy taxes.

But if they weren’t taxing, and there were no open lands, was Viayas even useful to the Federation?

That meant the Federation had to take action.

As for what action…

They would fully implement the Subordinate Civilization Program.

Because of this, the Federation’s top brass were stuck in meetings for three months straight.

They debated only one topic.

Namely…

How to deal with such a massive expanse as the Viayas Star Region.

With 1.2 million stars and tens of millions of planets, it was no trivial task.

After endless discussions, the leadership finally set a number.

Twenty-three percent.

Yes, twenty-three percent—meaning that in one hundred years, just twenty-three percent of Viayas’ civilizations would be allowed to continue existing.

Over the next century, the Federation would test the potential of every civilization in the region.

Not just the second and third-tier civilizations—even the first-tier ones would be evaluated.

Ultimately, there was no set quota for how many of each level—only potential mattered.

In other words, even if all the surviving twenty-three percent were just first-tier civilizations, that would be perfectly acceptable.

Who would make it and who wouldn’t…

It all came down to one golden metric.

Potential!

Rank means nothing.

If a third-tier civilization was judged as lacking potential, that was it—they’d reached their end.

There was only one exception.

Primitive civilizations.

As stated before, in this universe, civilizations are classified into thirteen levels:

Primitive civilizations…

Basic civilizations from Level One to Level Ten…

Super civilizations…

And finally, God-tier civilizations…

All told, that’s three main categories.

So what counts as a primitive civilization?

It’s a society that can’t observe beyond its own planet and believes its homeworld is the center of everything.

These civilizations aren’t subject to Federation assessment. Instead, they’re protected, until they become first-tier civilizations and start gazing out into the cosmos—

That’s when the Federation steps in and gives them their potential test.

After that, they’re treated like everyone else.

This approach was inspired by something Lin Yu said during a meeting about the Viayas Star Region.

Back then, he put it like this:

“From the moment a civilization starts to gaze at the stars, there’s no turning back.”

“You either blaze your trail and rise to the top of the universe, or you gradually fade into extinction.”

“We humans are no exception, and neither is any other civilization.”

But those primitive civilizations…

“I think we should give them a fair shot, because at this stage…”

“They haven’t started reaching for the stars yet!”

That’s how the Primitive Species Protection Act came to be.

The law states that gazing at the stars is an inalienable right of all intelligent life. So—

Within the Federation’s borders, all interference with primitive civilizations is strictly forbidden until they become first-tier, at which point they face the Federation’s potential assessment.

From there, the Federation will decide whether these civilizations are truly ready to venture among the stars.

The entire act is both protective and remarkably ruthless.

But that’s simply the reality of the interstellar age.

If you can’t handle that, then you were never ready to dream of the stars and the vastness of the cosmos.

No civilization in this universe gets special treatment.

That goes for both ancient powers and upstart newcomers like humanity alike.

——

Truthfully, the handover of the Viayas Star Region didn’t go smoothly.

The Drac Empire had spent thousands of years cultivating this area.

Many civilizations here were fiercely loyal to the Empire—especially once they heard the Federation planned to test all civilizations for potential. They used the opportunity to stir up trouble.

The Federation didn’t waste time with warnings—the fleet marched in directly.

But there was an issue: the Federation couldn’t afford to let their true capabilities be exposed. But the moment they went toe to toe, even against a second-tier civilization…

They’d end up revealing the full might of their warships.

Obviously, that flew in the face of their strategy.

So after some quick deliberation, the leadership hatched another plan.

Why not masquerade as a third-tier civilization?

After all, the Subordinate Civilization Platform had several aliases ready, so they just picked one to use.

And as for the fleet, that was easier still.

Every warship received fresh paint and new insignias.

Some might wonder, why are a subordinate civilization’s warships identical to the Federation’s?

Is that a problem?

Of course not. It’s perfectly normal for a dominant civilization to sell warships to its subordinates.

Besides, these ships wouldn’t have energy shields, and the weapons were only third-tier standard.

As for the jump engines…

The higher-ups agreed—those needed to stay hidden.

The actual transportation would be handled by Federation warship carriers.

Officially, only the carriers were Federation vessels. All actual warships were labeled as belonging to the fake subordinate civilization—no further questions asked.

Conveniently, over the years they’d already built three thousand warship carriers to feed the arms trade.

At full capacity, they could haul tens of thousands of warships at once.

So it was that, in name, a subordinate third-tier civilization under the Federation’s wing set out for the Viayas Star Region.