Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 495 - 493: Spending Amoeba Points

Chapter 495: Chapter 493: Spending Amoeba Points

After the proclamation of academic achievements concluded, the meeting that followed was about some significant choices concerning the direction in which our civilization was moving.

Among these were the allocation issues of material resources and industrial capacity. At present, the fleet’s material resources were not abundant; in any case, there could be no extravagant waste.

Humanity would not choose to leave hastily before squeezing all possible value from the trading market. After all, having spent so much time on the journey, it was normal to linger a bit longer.

It was clear that the rate of human progress during this period had been very great; there was no need to hurry away.

Moreover, the corresponding neutron star had yet to be found. People were anxious about it, but there was nothing to be done if it could not be located.

The directors of some research institutes were red in the neck, fighting for the interests of their institutes. Nearly all experiments required material foundations.

In the large conference room, the noisy clamor was like that of a marketplace.

The "Superdimensional Perception Laboratory" where Zhang Yuan worked, on the other hand, had little to fight for. They were content with just a few supercomputers, or reviving a few intelligent natives from the cryostorage to conduct experiments.

These experiments were extremely inhumane, and the approval procedures were incredibly bothersome. Humans were compassionate and moral creatures; to reduce psychological disturbances, such experiments were infrequent. After an experiment was concluded, to gain psychological comfort, it was also necessary to transfer back the quantum consciousness of the native’s life...

In any case, Zhang Yuan was just sitting and staring dumbly, listening to many colleagues’ speeches, watching them scramble for resources.

Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but recall his time as Captain, when he dealt with conflicts over laboratory interests, a scene of leaders from various labs scrambling just like this. The fleet’s productivity was indeed sufficient for public well-being, even greatly surpassing needs, but for scientific research, no matter how high the productivity was, it was never enough.

The cost of many scientific research materials was prohibitive; sometimes, a research instrument the size of a fingernail cost more than an electric car. Faced with such costs, no amount of productivity was sufficient.

These science workers were madmen; if truly given infinite productivity, they might even seriously consider constructing a Galactic Ring Accelerator!

At this thought, Zhang Yuan couldn’t help but smile...

So many years had passed, and people were no longer the same as the original group, but the overall spirit remained as it was a thousand years ago. This was a good thing!

After all productive capacities had been divided up, the next important topic arose: the consumption of AmiBa Points!

AmiBa Points were the hard currency of the interstellar trading market; many interstellar civilizations earned points by working in the market, such as participating in construction projects or calculating complex data, and so on.

How many points could one earn in a year? People estimated that, with all-out efforts, working for a year could earn only a fractional amount of AmiBa Points, never exceeding 0.3!

This indicated how hard it was to earn these points; the AmiBa Points humans currently possessed were all earned through external trade.

Since human civilization had appeared in this market for the first time, every civilization had unique avenues of thought. Other civilizations didn’t mind paying a small amount of points to purchase some new technology, to understand different perspectives.

So, under these circumstances, Human diplomats were able to rely on the foundation of thousands of years of research to earn a bit of points.

What followed was that the foundation was nearly depleted; what remained were core technologies that could not be sold.

After other civilizations grasped human thought, they would at most engage in equal exchanges, no longer as generous as before.

Mr. Chen Mu, from the Department of Diplomacy, was speaking on the stage, "...So, ladies and gentlemen, you must be clear that the spending of these AmiBa Points must be prudent. Once spent, they are not so easily earned back."

"...Also, I have good news to share with everyone; we have sold New Civilization History to several Level 4 Civilizations. Together with previous earnings, we have a total of 2455.4 AmiBa Points at our disposal."

"The discipline of New Civilization History, due to its innovativeness, sold for over two thousand AmiBa Points in total. And we have exchanged this discipline for the Star Maps of Level 4 Civilizations, as well as knowledge of Planet-level Fortress development projects."

"We might find it very difficult to obtain such a vast amount of points in the future. Unless we sell another High-dimensional Fragment, we could gain some points."

The number was indeed pleasing, indicating that the diplomats had sold the "New Civilization History" at a very good price.

Especially the Star Map obtained from a Level 4 Civilization and the knowledge for developing a Planet-level Fortress, those were priceless treasures that would definitely come in handy later on. The Milky Way that the Level 4 Civilization had explored was much more extensive than what humans had seen.

"The purchasing power of AmiBa Points is quite high; information about neutron stars costs only about sixty points, but we still cannot fully trust the Huantai Civilization Trading Market. Information about the Enlightener Civilization from 150,000 years ago costs less than twenty AmiBa Points."

However, people were reluctant to purchase such content, even briefly.

To replenish material resources, it costs less than 0.12 points, and various precious metals and rare earths are very cheap.

"But compared to our enormous needs, no matter how large the number is, it’s still insufficient."

Humans are merely a Level 3 Civilization; in the entire trading market, our strength is only considered average.

A branch technology of a Level 3 Civilization costs just sixty AmiBa Points.

A branch technology of a Level 4 Civilization, the cheapest is only four hundred!

Of course, that doesn’t include Curvature Technology; once it comes to this field, the prices soar. To fully acquire the entire Curvature Technology could cost eighty thousand, or even one hundred thousand!

These values were far beyond what humans could afford.

When it came to the issue of how to spend the points, everyone suddenly fell silent... Even experts in fields that had been stuck for a long time were blushing but said nothing.

These points were the public wealth of all humanity; easy to spend, hard to earn back—unlike industrial production, which increases every year.

And there was the hidden pride of some scientific researchers; they didn’t want to take shortcuts so easily, even though they deeply desired these technologies, they were caught in a dilemma for a moment.

Should we really buy them directly?

Can humans not develop them on their own?

Could there be any hidden dangers in taking shortcuts?

Zhang Yuan raised his hand and spoke, "I have a suggestion: Considering the interest of our entire civilization, I still think it’s necessary to purchase some life extension technologies for humans."

"Our average human lifespan has been stuck at 300 years for quite a while, with no breakthrough in sight. Perhaps we’ve collected too few biological specimens, or maybe there’re other reasons we haven’t thought of, like thought patterns, led astray by various methods from the past."

"Our human average lifespan, in the interstellar trading market, is frankly at the bottom. An average lifespan of 300 years is too little; it’s not a number befitting a Level 3 Interstellar Civilization."

Some scientists turned red with embarrassment at these words, yet didn’t know how to retort. After all, this was the plain truth.

Life span is all-encompassing, and although bionics technology is becoming more advanced by the day, the brain, which is vitally important, still cannot be replaced. Once dead, it’s over.

Scientific research often has a great deal of randomness; perhaps a scientist has a stroke of genius, then the field could make a great leap forward. Apart from this, if humans were lucky enough to encounter a Life Planet inhabited by a species with brain structures similar to humans and long lifespans, no doubt, this discovery would greatly promote human life extension technology.

But now, after traveling for so long without encountering such an opportunity, there’s nothing to be done; perhaps even wandering the Milky Way for a few million years wouldn’t guarantee a find.

Such matters require luck, or maybe such civilizations simply don’t exist in the Milky Way at all.