'Little Herta', while contemplating how to tackle the issue of Entropy Loss Syndrome, also tried to investigate the situation in the Republic of Glamoth.
Originally, the game had never mentioned exactly how many years the Republic of Glamoth had lasted, nor when exactly the Swarm Disaster had struck it.
'Little Herta' had subconsciously assumed that Glamoth's fall would have happened relatively early.
But after listening to Elio's explanation and correctly understanding what Entropy Loss Syndrome truly was, that default assumption clearly got overturned.
Sundered bugs hastened their own death, and Firefly's promotional animation had also mentioned that the Glamoth Iron Cavalry's standing orders forbade leaving the unit without permission.
It was a form of control, but also a measure to prevent them from randomly dropping dead.
Perhaps the armor on their bodies could slow down Entropy Loss, but there was no way it could ever be associated with longevity.
That meant, after that final battle where the Iron Cavalry was wiped out, it was theoretically impossible for Firefly to have really drifted for a very, very long time before being found.
For all we know, the time Firefly was found might have been very close to the main timeline.
And the original fall of that civilization, Glamoth, most likely happened not long before the main story events.
Of course, now not only has that not happened, but it's actually already in a state of being split apart.
That's what really catches one's attention.
However, most of the information on the StarNet was pretty meaningless.
'Little Herta' could indeed find many entries related to Glamoth.
But because of the ongoing Swarm plague, contact between the entire Republic and the outside world had been almost completely severed.
The swarm filled the galaxy where Glamoth was located.
Even with Star Rails, ordinary people didn't dare go near that place.
And for Glamoth itself, the resources of one galaxy were enough for them to be self-sufficient in fighting the locust plague.
As for the major factions… almost none of them offered aid.
Otherwise, the Glamoth Iron Cavalry wouldn't have needed to be created in the first place.
Well, the Land of Light did go, and quite a few of them at that.
After realizing this, 'Little Herta', in order to learn more detailed information, went to the Land of Light again to check their records.
And according to the Land of Light's archives, the complete break between the Glamoth Iron Cavalry and the Republic was inseparable from the Land of Light's involvement.
The records showed that Zero's brother, a powerful and hot-tempered giant of light, after perceiving the true nature of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry, led a group, including giants born locally in the Republic, to infiltrate deep into the Glamoth Republic's heartland.
They fought their way in and out seven times, and rescued the Queen of the Iron Cavalry.
The Queen's cage was shattered, the Empire's lie was exposed.
And during this operation, they caused the once-despairing Queen to also begin believing in light.
When the Queen evolved into a Giant of Light, it was only natural for her to hitch her wagon to the Land of Light's cause.
And to save those Iron Cavalry riders who had fallen into nihilism because their lie was shattered, their Queen had to step forward and truly establish the Glamoth Empire.
As for the Republic of Glamoth, in their eyes, the Land of Light was practically a bunch of bandits taking advantage of their crisis.
But the threat of the swarm remained, and the Iron Cavalry had all left.
So the Republic of Glamoth had to hold their noses and accept this huge loss, changing their artificial human project.
Instead of trying to use humans to control the units, they would directly manufacture autonomous bio-armor.
This was to avoid the risk of being tricked by the Land of Light again.
The newly established Empire, also because of the swarm, could only continue to focus on the war against it.
They couldn't go and attack the Republic, but their covert struggles never ceased, to the point where the Glamoth region fell into an even more chaotic state.
The Empire and the Republic each wanted to destroy the other, and the swarm did too.
The three factions were locked in a mutual struggle.
And the Land of Light only helped both sides when they were fighting the swarm.
But although they helped, when it was time to intervene, they showed no mercy either.
If any exceptional individual emerged from the Republic, the Land of Light would immediately come down hard on them.
If any extreme ideology appeared within the Empire, they would correct that too.
Their philosophy was basically: I'll save you, but I won't spoil you; if you're wrong, you get hit.
Where they picked up that behavioral habit, who knows.
In short, the Land of Light has been continuously monitoring the Glamoth region right up to the present.
They're even still committing combat power there.
'Little Herta' skimmed through it a bit.
Worlds like Glamoth, under the Land of Light's long-term attention, formed a long, long list in the archives.
Just this one list alone must have tens of thousands of entries, each one a civilization requiring long-term observation.
And this was just one category representing situations that hadn't yet become that serious.
There were other categories, for more severe situations and less severe ones, which also contained who knows how many worlds.
And even now, this entire archive grows every single year.
More and more new worlds receive aid from the Land of Light and are then documented.
Some were saved, some perished because help arrived too late, some had their civilizations shattered to the point of needing the Land of Light's assistance again…and so on.
Especially those cases where rescue came too late—they contained a vast number of analytical records and notes, as well as countless reading logs.
Annotations from many different giants were left within, and despite their varied personalities, the message they conveyed was almost unanimous.
They were deeply pained, and time and again they used these cases to remind themselves, when facing a critical choice, how they should act and what they should choose.
'Little Herta' could viscerally feel where the pressure of the Land of Light's manpower shortage came from.
With this countless number of afflicted civilizations, given the Land of Light's sense of responsibility, even if their scale were increased tenfold, it still wouldn't be enough.
They would just multiply that massive directory tenfold too, and then once again find themselves barely hanging on by a thread.
No wonder Divine Herta, as proud as she is, chose enhancement props and enhancement systems as her first project in the Land of Light.
If that enhancement system could be completed and implemented among the Giants of Light, every single giant, and even the non-giant light beings, would get a tremendous boost in power.
The Land of Light's overall strength would at least double.
The current situation should then be greatly alleviated.
--+--
As for that sundered Iron Cavalry rider, back when the Empire's lie was exposed, there was considerable turmoil within the Iron Cavalry ranks.
Even though the Queen stepped in promptly to establish the Empire, the former lie and the harsh reality still existed.
After all, they were a group of clones who never even had names, born solely as expendable fodder to fill the ranks against the swarm.
Glory and duty were all falsehoods, people who couldn't even find meaning in their own existence.
After breaking away, they didn't even get a moment to breathe—not only did they still have to fight the swarm as cannon fodder, they even had to fight an additional enemy.
The fact that these Iron Cavalry riders didn't fall into nihilism was already a testament to how timely the Queen's intervention was.
In 'Little Herta's' eyes, mass suicide would have been a perfectly normal outcome.
And Elio's word choice was 'sundered', not 'defected'.
Who knows what that rider's situation really was.
"I somewhat understand…"
'Little Herta' closed the files.
She now had a basic grasp of the Glamoth civilization.
"Come to think of it, Elio specifically asked me to go there—could that person be Firefly? But what was Firefly's original designation again…"
Mulling over these trivial details, 'Little Herta' barged into Divine Herta's laboratory.
"D Herta, I need to go out for a bit on some business. Mind if I borrow your equipment to make a sample?"
"…Don't call me by weird abbreviations. What's the point of shortening one word from my name?"
Regarding this nickname that had suddenly appeared in the last couple of days, Divine Herta expressed her inability to comprehend.
"So, what urgent matter did Elio want you for?"
"She wants me to pick someone up. Said there's a risk that person might turn into a Lord Ravager related to Propagation, so I need to take them away and prevent that possibility. "
"Propagation-related? Different from yours? Now I'm a bit curious. "
Divine Herta blinked. She herself had been pulled out from inside a Lord Ravager, so hearing about the possibility of another one piqued her curiosity.
"If you're curious, just run a simulation in the Simulated Universe and see for yourself. The current Simulated Universe can really dig up stuff like that. "
'Little Herta' casually tossed out this remark.
And then started building a new system from scratch.
She planned to make a transformation device similar to the Glamoth Iron Cavalry's. As for the access props to connect it with, she could use the Swarm King she had on her.
That thing was also the Swarm King used to replace the Lightning-Lord. By borrowing its power, it should be feasible to temporarily make an Iron Cavalry rider become part of the collective.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL