Damon's Ascension-Chapter 71: Growth Of The Human Race 3

They moved on, stepping through a translucent gateway that flickered with elvish symbols, which led to the environment changing by taking on a mystical and otherworldly glow. Glowing items and special artifacts hovered in display cases, while various figures conducted negotiations.

"This is the Excavated Goods District." The elf explained with a wave of her hand.

"Magical relics, enchanted weapons, as well as special items are sold here. Unlike technological goods, these are bound by natural laws unique to their origin world’s instances. However, this also means that certain items can only be used by specific races or require rituals to activate." She added with a hint of interest, glancing at the humans and wondering what the excavated goods from their instances would be like.

Xela’s eyes gleamed with fascination as she examined an ornate dagger suspended in midair, glowing with an ethereal blue light.

The group moved to the next area, passing into a high-security district where mechanical constructs and robotic entities were displayed in pristine showcases. Engineers and cybernetic specialists were in deep discussions over the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and bio-mechanics.

"This is the Cybernetics & Robotics District." The elf announced with a disinterested glance.

"Here, one can purchase anything from replacement limbs to fully sentient AI assistants. Cybernetic augmentations are highly sought after by many low-ranked species, though many top 50 civilizations ban or heavily regulate such modifications for obvious reasons."

Damon glanced at a towering battle drone armed with plasma weaponry, its price tag blinking in six different currencies. "Seeing how it is openly sold here, am I correct in assuming Vritu Enterprises takes no stance on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction?"

"Trade is trade. It is up to our buyers to adhere to their respective homeworld’s laws." The elf replied smoothly.

Damon smirked without turning his gaze, noting that the elves were truly politicians, fully capable of avoiding culpability with just a few words.

After this short exchange, the group resumed their journey, eventually arriving at a heavily fortified area guarded by flickering force fields. Unlike the other districts, where merchants openly displayed their goods, this one operated behind private interfaces.

"This is the Restricted Goods District." The elf explained in a lower tone despite the area being open.

"While we do not allow illegal activities, certain rare and dangerous materials like biological samples, prototype technologies, and controlled substances are sold under strict regulations." The elven avatar clarified gravely.

Felicia shot her a skeptical look. "So, not quite a black market... more like a gray one?"

The elf met her gaze with a calm, almost amused expression. "A regulated one." She corrected. "Everything here has a buyer’s liability contract. You will find no stolen goods or unauthorized weapons, only things too sensitive for general trade."

Finally, they arrived at the last area, which had a tower that shot bluish-white into the sky that seemed to pulse with an immense data flow. Digital storefronts were arranged neatly around the base of the tower, with vendors neither hawking their wares nor bartering, just seated quietly while waiting for the next customer.

"This is the Digital & Knowledge Trade District." The elf concluded.

"Blueprints, patents, restricted knowledge, and even artificial consciousness constructs are exchanged here. Many civilizations buy and sell intellectual property, whether it be technological schematics or historical records." freёnovelkiss.com

The elven avatar smiled. "In fact, our current top seller are the theoretical starship designs from your human race’s fictional media. While widely considered grandiose and impractical, they have nonetheless captivated engineers across the galaxy. Many see them as a challenge, yet a few successes have already been achieved."

Damon studied the virtual environment silently, his mind already calculating its utility. "An interesting place overall."

"It’s great that you’ve enjoyed this little tour, now... are you ready to do business?" The elf asked, offering a slight bow.

Damon smiled. "There is a plethora of purchases we need to make, so prepare a VIP room for us. I will make the orders from there and interact with the vendors in private."

The elven avatar showed no surprise at his behavior and simply nodded. "Getting material for your racial ascension? We have a process for that. Please follow me."

The group was led off the streets as Xela reluctantly looked away, figuring that after all this, they would at least visit each stall to see what they had, but it seemed Damon had a different idea.

Soon, they were settled into the VIP room, which was a high-tech lounge with amenities fit for a bar, restaurant, and private lodge. It seemed a bit superfluous to use it for short transactions, but that was not the concern of the host.

The host was only concerned with providing everything that could facilitate comfort and achieve the best transaction possible, so even if the client did not use it, that was fine as well.

When Damon and the two ladies were seated, Xela couldn’t hold it in anymore and asked the obvious question.

"What exactly are we here to buy?"

Damon did not seem impatient and answered smoothly. "We now have the major technologies to reach the level 2.0 civilization, but we also need many things to supplement our growth to that stage."

Damon raised a finger. "First is the supplementary technologies. For example, we now have access to warp technology, but that also requires one to be able to build starships. That doesn’t come as part of the package, so we have to buy starship construction tech in order to progress."

He raised a second finger. "Second is materials. The number of alloys in the universe are too diverse and varied. If we, for example, buy starship construction tech, the metals on Earth may not be able to fulfill all the necessary roles required of it."

"Not to mention that even if our basic steel could be used for starships, we simply do not have enough of it for planetary expansion, which was why asteroid mining was something humans looked forward to after achieving controlled nuclear fusion."

Damon shrugged. "This is the consequence of acquiring technologies all at once rather than discovering them naturally. The required industries and facilities to support those technologies do not exist and have to be hastily assembled."

Damon raised another finger. "The third thing we need is to buy certain devices. No matter how generous the IUAS are, they cannot give everything, and even the digital marketplace here will not sell certain core lucrative technologies."

"For example, VR technology is monopolized by certain groups and species who discovered it, so selling their core technology would be the equivalent of declaring war on them. Only the goods, like VR pods or helmets, are peddled for consumers to buy."

After explaining this, Xela seemed thoughtful while Felicia already began operating the terminal in front of her, glancing through various goods with a look of interest. Damon chuckled and activated his terminal, beginning to make the necessary purchases.

The first were the sub-technologies of each field, which were numerous.

Now, let’s talk about the actual workings of the technologies so that things would not be confusing.

First things first, Controlled Nuclear Fusion was something that one might have heard from various sci-fi works until their ears were calloused, and one might have a fair idea of how it worked, but how did it actually work?

Was it like the jokes that people made where it said by boiling water, one could achieve infinite energy? Well, sort of.

At its core, Nuclear Fusion was a simple concept.

It was basically the process of forcing lightweight atoms - like hydrogen - to merge under extreme heat and pressure. When these atoms fuse, they release an immense burst of energy, far greater than what was put in.

If Xela were to explain, she would say that it was the same logic used for Pokemon evolution that the villains in Sinnoh wanted to harness.

If Felicia were to explain, she would say that this was the same process that fueled the Sun, an endless cycle of atomic fire that had burned for billions of years.

Nuclear Fission - which humanity had right now and what is being argued about in Climate Change and Energy 4chan/Reddit threads - was the opposite, mainly about splitting heavy atoms apart while leaving behind dangerous radioactive waste, while Nuclear Fusion produced only harmless helium and an incredible amount of usable energy.

It was simple if you thought about it. It was difficult to put glass that had been sliced in two back together, not to mention that there would always be some loss in the overall mass compared to fusing two pieces of glass together to form a bigger panel.

Nuclear Fusion was the dream of limitless power as it was clean, efficient, and without the risks of catastrophic meltdown like Nuclear Fission.

However, to achieve it, scientists had to overcome nearly impossible challenges.

The first was temperature. To break through the natural repulsion between atoms, the hydrogen fuel had to be heated to over 150 million degrees, far hotter than the Sun’s core.

At such extreme temperatures, matter transforms into plasma, a chaotic state where electrons and nuclei roam free. No simple material could contain it, as any solid structure would simply disintegrate.

So, humans turned to magnetic fields, shaping invisible walls of force to hold the plasma in place.

Massive superconducting coils wrapped around the chamber, generating a powerful magnetic bottle that could suspend the volatile energy.

Still, even this solution was unstable as plasma was unpredictable, always seeking to escape, requiring constant adjustments to keep it under control.

And then there was the final obstacle, which was efficiency. The energy required to start and sustain fusion still outweighed the power it produced.

It was much like a car. A battery provides the initial spark, but if the alternator can’t produce enough electricity to sustain the vehicle’s systems, the battery gets drained.

If you can ’spark’ your Fusion Reactor but it couldn’t produce enough power to keep running without its ’battery,’ then what was the point?