The Military Commission meeting lasted for several days, with the first few days mainly dedicated to various universities reporting their achievements.
Xing Chen hadn't expected that bringing just a few things would lead his colleagues to produce so many results.
Originium battery-powered power armor, new metal materials, reinforced building materials, and more, were all presented.
Theresa was astonished by humanity's scientific research capabilities; despite completely lacking the ability to perceive Originium Arts, they were able to reproduce Originium technology so quickly.
This filled her with deep worry, just as Originium was both a gift and a curse to the Sarkaz, she wondered if humanity would also follow in their footsteps.
"Don't worry, Theresa, our laboratory allocates all their Originium quotas, so they're just doing research; they don't have the capacity for industrial production."
"Alright," Xing Chen's words slightly reassured her.
But on the last day, the leadership suddenly began to announce the global distribution of Originium to everyone.
Yu Bo had given Xing Chen and Theresa a heads-up before, and they thought they were mentally prepared.
However, the actual situation seemed worse than expected.
"The Eastern Country, Western Great Power, Northern Country, and even the island nation all have Originium distribution, and their Originium reserves are larger than ours, with a faster proliferation rate."
"Although their Originium is less stable and prone to self-disintegration, the amount of Originium they can obtain annually is still higher than our country's."
"Information indicates that the Northern Country has long begun research in Originium-related fields and has established an organization called Babylon."
Hearing the word Babylon, Theresa, who was next to Xing Chen, immediately perked up.
The military leader projected a satellite image on the screen, with coordinates showing a small town in the eastern region of the Northern Country.
The most prominent feature in the satellite image was the giant structure in the center of the town; its base was a hollow reinforced concrete structure, and the upper part was a sphere covered with cylindrical protrusions.
It looked somewhat like a naval mine that Xing Chen had seen in books.
Large numbers of tanks and armored vehicles were parked on the outskirts of the town and in the town square.
Their equipment on the western front was already becoming strained, yet they were deploying so many tanks and armored vehicles to the east; to say it was purely to guard against the Eastern Country seemed excessive.
"Xing Chen, don't you think this image is a bit... blurry?"
Theresa seemed to notice an anomaly; her eyesight was much better than anyone else present. In her eyes, the outlines of objects in the image seemed to be shifted.
"Satellite images, blurriness is normal."
Xing Chen had seen more blurry satellite photos than Theresa had taken in her entire life. His remote sensing classmates still had to extract information from these, and just thinking about it gave Xing Chen a headache.
"But this is a military satellite, isn't it?" Even if the Sarkaz were poor, the Military Commission's equipment was the best in Kazdel.
"It seems so. Then it is a bit blurry... Surely there's no interference."
"Generating optical interference using Originium Arts is very simple; it can even create fictitious objects that temporarily appear in reality."
"Are you talking about the Soul Forge?"
"That's just a more typical example. Even specially selected repairmen can only operate in the shallow layers—who knows if they'd ever return to us after delving deeper."
This meant that the Northern Country had already conducted extensive research on active Originium, and the overflowing Originium Arts had begun to affect the real world.
"Xing Chen, look over there." Theresa pointed her finger at a tank in the image; there seemed to be something on it.
"I can't see clearly, it's too blurry."
Theresa widened her eyes, and soon, she asked Xing Chen for a piece of paper and quickly sketched on it with a pencil. Soon, a clear image of a soldier cleaning a tank appeared on the paper.
"Your precision is definitely A." Xing Chen took the paper and could see a subtle, irregular object on the engine compartment cover of the tank.
"This is the initial stage of Originium crystal growth, a condition that usually only appears in the early stages of a Catastrophe gathering."
"You mean Catastrophes will appear on Earth?"
"You won't contract Oripathy; Catastrophes are just ordinary natural disasters or phenomena to you," Theresa said, a look of deep envy on her face. "For us, a Catastrophe storm can completely lay waste to fertile land. For you, it's merely watering your crops a bit more."
Hopefully so. Even a meteorite impact would be fine; after all, there aren't many people in that area of the Northern Country.
And looking at that building, it should have been constructed to permanent fortification standards; ordinary disasters certainly wouldn't damage it.
The fear was that they might suddenly pull off something big, like a Subspace rift, or even a 'mutual fusion and competition' with Lao Pu.
"Oh, right, Xing Chen, isn't the Northern Country on good terms with you? Can we go there and take a look?"
"Who said we're on good terms with them? We just share a common enemy, which is the Western Great Power."
Theresa was initially puzzled, but she quickly understood, as Xing Chen had taken her to several countries during this time.
International politics doesn't change just because you're Terra and I'm Earth; everyone is a civilization crawling on a planet.
After discussing the Northern Country, the leader briefly skipped over the Western Great Power because there was too little information, and related research only began after the Eastern Country started theirs.
Even their initial reference materials were public articles written by Xing Chen. And there was quite a significant difference between stable and unstable Originium.
Xing Chen estimated that he wouldn't be able to publish his articles so casually in the future.
Next was the island nation; their situation was quite special. One piece of Originium was found on a riverbank on a northern island, and another came from a magnate's collection.
Furthermore, intelligence indicated that they seemed very interested in the stable Originium samples held by Xing Chen and his team.
So, laboratory security might need to be strengthened in the future, and he wondered if they could get a better laboratory.
"Regarding the Originium sources of the Northern Country and the Western Great Power, we are not clear," the leader summarized most of the available intelligence in the meeting room. "For such a precious meteorite mineral, I hope the several researchers can accelerate their research progress. No matter what, we cannot fall behind."
The meeting concluded there. Xing Chen's mentor stayed behind, while he and Theresa followed the main group to the cafeteria.
"Senior Xing Chen, may I speak with you for a moment?"
The two turned around to see a meticulously dressed girl following them.
"What is it? Can't it be said here?"
The trio's actions quickly attracted everyone's attention, and they all gathered around Xing Chen.
"Uh, this..."
"If you can't say it, then forget it. I have my own matters."
Xing Chen could roughly guess what these people were thinking.
Originium sample quotas, of course. His two senior brothers looked cunning, and his mentor had his own established connections. If they wanted to find a breakthrough, they could only choose Xing Chen.
Xing Chen turned to leave, but she quickly reached out to grab him. However, midway, her wrist was caught by Theresa.
"Ow, ow, ow!!! What are you doing!"
Theresa said nothing; she sensed unfriendly emotions from this person.
Just as things were about to escalate, Yu Bo appeared in time, standing between the two.
"Junior sister, some matters, you should discuss with your team first." Xing Chen had never seen Yu Bo so overwhelmingly imposing; a group of peers, and even older people, didn't dare to breathe.
"Xing Chen and Theresa are tired and need to rest. Everyone else, please return to your residences as soon as possible. This is a military management zone, so please do not loiter."