"But it would be good for the Kandrian Empire," Minister Rui pointed out.

"Bad for human civilization is bad also for the Kandrian Empire," Rui shot back, shaking his head. "Enough about this. I do not have to explain myself to you or to anybody else. What is the agenda of this meeting?"

Minister Ru heaved a sigh. The other ministers also appeared less than pleased by his unwillingness to commit everything to the good of the Kandrian Empire as his father did, but alas, they had absolutely no leverage over him. He could do as he pleased, and there was nothing that anybody could do about it.

"The agenda of this meeting is the creation of a new ministry," Ru continued with a more perfunctory tone. "The reality is that now that interstellar space has become the single greatest strategic resource of the world. We must have a more dedicated wing of the central executive government."

Rui’s eyes lit up. "That sounds good, so some kind of Ministry of Space Affairs as opposed to just having the Kandrian Space Organization take care of it?"

"Precisely, we need to have a more dedicated bureaucracy that will handle affairs," Minister Ru remarked. "Additionally, I believe that we should aggressively pursue an extremely powerful and expansionist apparatus into outer space to control as many stars as we possibly can. After all, we have the largest number of Martial Artists, by far, in the Kandrian Empire, we have the second-best technology, we have the most resources, and we have absolute control over the supply of negatron matter."

She directed a pointed gaze at him.

Rui’s smile grew wry. "Yes, we do."

The reality was that the Kandrian Empire had nothing to do with negatron matter; it was Rui who primarily controlled it with his control over the sea monster population. But if he said that, then he would truly undermine the claims that he cared about the Kandrian Empire. He ultimately decided to allow the Kandrian Empire into the chain of command over negatron matter as a sort of consolation prize for why he refused to use his Transcendent power to benefit the Kandrian Empire.

And the reality was that even controlling all supply of negatron matter was enough to give the Kandrian Empire a truly expansive capacity to dominate the world. Of course, Rui had ensured that ultimately the Gaian Alliance would control negatron matter, but only because the alliance itself would secure it with an exclusive contract with the Kandrian Empire where it would be handsomely compensated for its contributions to humanity.

It was not an exaggeration to say that of all the entities out there, the Kandrian Empire was one of the favorites for winning the new age of interstellar conquest that had already begun.

"According to an assessment report compiled by the Director of the Kandrian Space Bureau, there are ten thousand stars within a hundred light-years of Sol," Ru said, reading from a sheet of paper. "They believe that the Kandrian Empire alone can secure a whopping five percent of those if we institute the right policies."

Five percent didn’t sound like much, but that was hundreds of star systems, all within the control of the Kandrian Empire. A wave of murmurs spread across the ministers as the report ignited the fire of ambition within them. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"This report concludes this on the availability of capital, resources, technology, and Martial Artists at our disposal," Ru remarked, turning towards Rui with a knowing expression. "I believe that we should aim to at least maximize this capability, if not pursue an even greater expansion into the stars. It should be possible for us to create a continuous star empire that connects to our Solar System and to the Kandrian Empire’s territory here in the Panama Continent. Ideally, I would have liked to work with the other powerhouses in our continent, but..."

Her voice trailed off with a hint of disdain. Everybody had heard of Prime Minister James’ declaration of the Panamic Consortium, a consortium of Sage-level powerhouses that would work together to expand into outer space.

Not a single person in the meeting failed to understand exactly what this represented.

It represented a desire to achieve more of a balance of power between the Panamic Alliance and the Kandrian Empire, for the latter essentially owned the former. By pooling all of their power and resources together, they could create a truly formidable force that could conquer a large swathe of interstellar territory.

Rui nodded with an appreciative expression. "Then let’s do it. I believe we should conquer as many stars as we can. We have capital from the negatron matter we access and supply to the Gaian Alliance, we have the largest number of Martial Artists and Sages out of any nation in the continent, and we have a lot of power esoteric resources that will allow the Kandrian Empire to gain an edge. We should be able to lay claim to many worlds."

It was decided that the moment he made up his mind, he passed the order for the creation of a Minister of Space Affairs, while ratifying a private-public model for interstellar expansion.

The Kandrian Empire itself would expand, but its citizens could invest their own capital into their own fleets to work alongside the Kandrian Empire and own their own space real estate. The goal was to ensure that the state and the citizenry worked together.

The Martial Union was also integrated into the equation; its representatives insisted on forming its own fleet to expand Martial infrastructure into outer space.

By the end of the meeting, the Kandrian Empire had committed to at least five percent of all stars within a hundred light-years. However, there were many people who believed that they would be able to conquer many more.

The reality was that nobody wanted to mess with them because of the Transcendent shadow of Rui lingering over them. It was simply not worth the risk to bring out a Transcendent to defend his people; this would reduce the friction that they would endure, making it easier for the Kandrian Empire to thrive in outer space.