Age of Cosmic Exploration
chapter-270

Chapter 270: The Hope’s Fourth Upgrade (1)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Time zipped past and the Hope had spent one and a half months in the empty space. The one and a half months had been a taxing time for the Hope’s higher officials. They wished they could split themselves so that there would be more of them to go around.

Setting up the three universities took up the bulk of their time. The universities, albeit they wouldn’t be as prestigious as most of the universities back on Earth, each of them had a large roster of faculties, like physics, astronomy, math, and even general sciences. The equipment required alone was enough to give the higher officials a headache.

Truth be told, with the Hope’s 4th revolution technology, creating the high-end equipment used back on Earth was a cakewalk. They could be completed within days. For example, the Large Hadron Collider was the top piece of equipment from the 3rd revolution, and even Earth’s 21st century technology needed several decades to build it. However, for the Hope, with an electromagnetic blueprint and 3D printing, it could be built within days. The replica would have a 0.1 centimeter difference from the real thing, and they could be produced en-masse. This was the power of advancement in technology!

Therefore, the real cause of headache for these officials was the scientists had pinpointed their desire for equipment matching the 4th revolution!

For example, there was a device called the super electromagnetic string oscillation recorder. It was a device that could test the validity of string theory. More than a simple mechanical marvel, it required electromagnetic shock implantation.

This was a technique available only after the middle stage of the 4th revolution. Such a technology did exist within the Hope’s library of knowledge, but it was still incomplete. To be precise, the technology had recently been discovered, so they had to create a few early 4th revolution products first before it could be assembled.

And such a device required about 30 plus early 4th revolution products!

It was obvious that most of the equipment requested wouldn’t be used by the universities but the Academy, but the leverage was with scientists because they insisted that the equipment was necessary for classroom experimentation. If the officials wanted to combat that, they would have to teach the classes themselves.

The scientists seemed to be collaborating among themselves, because the equipment they asked for could still be built by the Hope, only they would require a large amount of time, manpower, and materials. These were not high end fourth revolution products that were impossible to build. Therefore, even Yao Yuan relented. The Workshop increased to their maximum productivity, and OT was a common occurrence during the one and a half months. Finally, most of the simple equipment requested by the scientists was ready two weeks before the semester started. There were about ten complicated devices left unfinished, and Yao Yuan decided to play rogue with the scientists. He told them directly,

"I promise we will complete the rest in the next 6 months. The government and Workshop’s productivity is only so much because we also need to keep an eye on civil affairs, food and luxury items storage, farming, and maintenance of this ship. If you’re unsatisfied, then why don’t you come and govern instead?"

The scientists were forced into submission by the same tactic they had used earlier. The second month after the Hope idled in space, the first batch of students started their enrollment. There were about 10,000 students. The number might seem small compared to the total population, but one has to realize that even though the Hope had 210,000 people, around 90,000 were newborns, so the amount of adult citizens valid to enroll in school was about 120,000 people. Within that group, around 20,000 people were already members of the Academy, Workshop, and Barracks.

Furthermore, the Hope required a set number of workers to for the sake of maintenance and sustenance. For example, the farmers, breeders, maintenance workers, and service providers. The remaining people might not all enroll in school because a large portion of them consisted of elderly people who no longer had any interest in pursuing an education.

Therefore, 10,000 students were more than enough to make Yao Yuan and the professors excited. Plus, this was only the first semester. The number of students might increase in the future because if the Hope idled for five to ten years in space, the eldest group of newborns would be in their early teens, and they would benefit from these three universities. Therefore, in a way, the construction of these three universities could very much welcome a new wave of intellectuals to the Hope!

After the three universities started school, the Hope’s government finally got the time to take a breather. However, before they could relax, Bo Li, like she was playing a prank on them, revealed to the government that she had cracked the nanobot technology, and more than that, she had come with a proposal for the Hope’s fourth large upgrade!

Thus far, the Hope had undergone innumerable small upgrades, but only 3 large upgrades. The first was to upgrade the energy circuit to solve the issue of mass during warp. The second was after the junkyard civilization, when the Hope was fitted with Gaussian weaponry, creator’s particle, and the ECS system. The third was before they left the new planet, to solve the limited storage space on the Hope and to prepare for future population growth.

Above were all the three major updgrades undergone by the Hope thus far. Bo Li’s fourth upgrade would be the first actual large-scale upgrade because it would take more than 10 years to complete!

Using 4th revolution peak technology to conduct an overall upgrade on the Hope, the top and lowest levels of the Hope would be enlarged and the Hope’s defense space on the side would be widened. Furthermore, the four 5th revolution technologies would be added to the Hope with this upgrade, meaning the Hope could space warp as well as warp drive!

This upgrade would take more than 10 years!