When Rafael announced the results of the negotiation to the public, the entire Wizard Council was instantly plunged into great joy.
They had actually succeeded in robbing a powerful interstellar civilization, and the compensation they received exceeded everyone's imagination; it was like a hardworking laborer suddenly receiving a huge inheritance. The excitement was simply indescribable.
The happiest were undoubtedly the Legendary Councilmen, because in a sense, a planet represented a divine position.
It should be noted that the council currently had fifteen legendary wizards, although the most powerful among them, Vittorio, had only recently broken through to the ninth circle. There was still a considerable distance to go before the ceremony to ascend to godhood could be held, but with the abundant resources now at their disposal, that day would surely come.
The star system they were in had only five planets, obviously not enough to go around; some councilmen even worried that Lynn, who would ascend to godhood first, might monopolize all the resources of the entire star system.
Now there was no need to worry about that problem anymore. With a little manipulation, they had gained control over three star systems. The universe was incredibly vast, with resources that were nearly infinite.
Just as the councilmen were preparing to celebrate in a big way, Lynn posed a very important question, "When do they plan to deliver these compensations?"
"That wasn't specified..." Rafael hesitated in his response, realizing at the same time that he might have made a serious mistake, which was that the concept of time for a universal civilization might not correlate with theirs.
Thanks to earlier negotiations and the intelligence they had intercepted in the satellite prison, they had figured out the basic units of time of the geometric civilization, which were divided into atomic seconds, atomic minutes, and atomic hours.
As the name suggests, this method of timing calculates according to the natural vibration frequency of atoms, very similar to the atomic clocks they manufactured, with the only difference being the element used—the other side used hydrogen, which is listed as number one on the periodic table and also has the smallest mass.
Moreover, in the language of the geometric civilization, there was also the concept of a "year," which when converted, meant that a year for the geometric people was roughly equivalent to about ten months on this side, also based on the orbit of their home planet around its star.
This was probably the easiest and most applicable method of timekeeping for a primary civilization, and it had been retained even after the geometric civilization took to the stars.
Just as Lynn had guessed, although the matter of compensation had been settled, the other side clearly had no intention of paying immediately, and instead came up with all sorts of delaying excuses.
For example, the reserves of Element 7 were limited, and the geometric civilization did not have much inventory. The mining and separation of the ore would take time, so the 500 tons of Element 7 would be delivered in batches, expected to be completed within ten years.
As for the three star systems that were ceded, they had only provided a star map indicating the locations of these star systems and had not given them specific coordinates. Twenty system-class warships were stationed within these star systems.
Rafael, who had previously been buoyant, was suddenly stunned, because from the star map, these star systems were roughly estimated to be over seventy light years away from them. Even with the power of the original god-like spacecraft, it would take a full fifty years to arrive!
"Are they planning to renege?" Aurora frowned as she looked at the star map that had been sent over.
"No, this is probably just a test," Lynn said thoughtfully.
The range of the geometric civilization was broad, and they hadn't purposely chosen those star systems more than a hundred or even several hundred light years away, which indicated that it wasn't specifically meant to be difficult, nor could inconsistency be pointed out in this regard.
The only problem was the lack of direct coordinates.
This test was assessing whether they possessed the ability to deploy to unknown star regions over long distances in a short time, suggesting that their earlier manipulation hadn't entirely convinced the other side.
Rafael was somewhat annoyed. During the negotiations, he had been so focused on discussing the pros and cons, engaging in debates over the range of compensations with the other party, and trying to increase his side's leverage as much as possible, that he had neglected the equally important issue of timing, giving the other side the opportunity to manipulate.
Of course, the main issue was that the pressure of pretending was simply too great; one careless move, and he might become the spark that triggered another war, so he really couldn't afford to fuss over these details.
"You can't blame yourself, Councilman Rafael. A minor loss in a small-scale war, expecting the other side to bleed heavily, anyone would be unwilling... even without this, they would find another excuse," Lynn shook his head, suspecting that such small tests would probably not be infrequent in the future.
The geometric civilization would most likely continue to observe their subsequent actions, whether accepting these star systems or managing these newly annexed territories into their empire's domain, all of which would become metrics by which the other side measured their strength.
If they found differences in the style of action between them and high-dimensional civilizations, or if they failed to show sufficient deterrence, it was very likely that trouble would ensue!
"Should we make them give up the coordinates?" Rafael asked, furrowing his brow.
"That would be tantamount to admitting that we can't make long-distance spacetime deployments without the coordinates," Lynn vetoed.
This technology was obviously very important; if they lacked such capability, it would mean that even if they could win a direct war, eradicating the geometric civilization would take thousands of years, given the vast territories of a star-system level civilization.
Lynn's words caused the councilmen present to frown. Without the coordinates, they certainly couldn't really pilot a spacecraft for fifty years, could they?
"However, fortunately, we've actually already obtained the coordinates in advance!" Lynn suddenly revealed a smile on his lips.
Vittorio and others paused, looking at Lynn in surprise. Harrov seemed to suddenly think of something, and his face lit up. "Could it be that?"
"Yes," Lynn nodded. "Although the nearest coordinates are four light years away, making direct travel impossible, this might actually be more advantageous for us."
Rafael listened, completely confused. When had they acquired the coordinates for these star systems?
He didn't know about it.
Rafael was utterly perplexed, but seeing the other councilmen appearing to suddenly understand, he really couldn't bring himself to ask.
"Go and notify those geometric beings right away. We'll send someone to take over these three star systems in a day. Let them not be too surprised!" Lynn declared resolutely.