211: Mana Star Achievements

F-81 Star System, Mana Star.

Several years had passed since the conquest war known as "Heavenly Fire's Descent."

The once densely packed landing ships in orbit had mostly withdrawn, but this planet had not returned to its former tranquility.

The "Heavenly Fire Special Zone" located in the center of the North Continent had now expanded into a breathtaking super metropolis.

Skyscrapers and super factories rose from the ground, anti-gravity traffic networks weaved between buildings, and enormous holographic projections broadcast news and basic education courses from the Human Federation in the sky.

A shuttle bearing the emblem of the Interstellar Affairs General Bureau slowly landed on the Planetary Governor's Mansion's landing pad.

The hatch opened, and Renee stepped out, dressed in a black business suit and high heels.

Her long hair was tied up at the back, and she wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, looking capable and coldly beautiful.

She wasn't nearsighted; the glasses were just to make her appear more authoritative.

Over a hundred years of time and long experience in high positions had long since stripped away her former naivety. At this moment, she was the Federation's Special Envoy Governor with the power of life and death, the new ruler of this planet.

The commander of the Second Interstellar Fleet, also the acting governor of Mana Star, General Karl von Schneider, who had been waiting here, stepped forward to greet her.

"Miss Renee, no... Your Excellency, Governor." Karl gave a somewhat sloppy military salute, a hint of a cynical smile playing on his lips. "Welcome to Mana Star."

"You've worked hard, General Karl." Renee gave a slight nod, her gaze sweeping over the fully armed soldiers and the massive construction machinery in the distance. "How are the handover preparations?"

"All resistance forces have been eliminated. Public security in major cities has been taken over by combat robots." Karl handed over a data pad. "Those troublesome kings and lords... the obedient ones are under house arrest in their estates, the disobedient ones... have become organic fertilizer."

"However," Karl's tone shifted, "military occupation is easy. Governing these natives who are still playing in the mud isn't. They fear us, but they also hate us. To build the utopia the Director speaks of here, guns alone aren't enough."

"That's why I'm here." Renee took the data pad. "The Bureau has dispatched a new fleet to take over this star system's defenses. The Second Interstellar Fleet can begin preparations to return to the Solar System."

"Received, received~"

...Renee's first act after taking office was not to meet the anxious and fearful native nobles, nor to inspect the troops.

She directly issued Governor's Decree No. 1 - the "Mana Star Social Reconstruction and Resource Public Ownership Act."

This single decree marked the official launch of Lei Wen's grand social experiment.

On the day the Act took effect, all land, mines, water sources, and forests were reclaimed as "Federally Publicly Owned."

The land deeds once held by the lords, who controlled the lives of countless serfs, became worthless paper. Paradox Technology's engineering robots ignored their family-inherited boundary markers, directly razed the nobles' estates, and established intensive high-tech farms.

"This is robbery! This is tyranny!" protested a duke from the old era in front of the Governor's Mansion.

He had offered no resistance when the Federation's military forces entered the planet and had surrendered very cooperatively, believing he could still retain the privileges of the old era.

Renee, of course, did not see him. She merely had a security robot hand him a new identity card.

"In this new world, there are no nobles, only citizens." Renee's voice broadcast throughout the city. "If you want to eat, go to work. Want privileges? Then exchange them for contributions to civilization."

All resistance forces were more fragile than paper in the face of the Human Federation's governance system and military power. Soon, a needs-based distribution system began operating.

In the Heavenly Fire Special Zone and the hundreds of cities under its direct jurisdiction, currency was abolished.

Replacing the function of currency was a ration point system, precisely calculated by the central AI, the 'Mysterious Observer.'

Food, water, clothing, housing, medical care, education... all these basic necessities of life were supplied free of charge.

As long as you were a registered legal resident with no criminal record, you could receive nutritionally rich (though bland-tasting) synthetic food from automated dispensers daily, move into modular apartments with constant temperature and humidity, and receive free treatment in medical pods if you fell ill.

Due to overcapacity in the colony, the small number of Earth human colonists couldn't support the rapidly established production structure. Some native Mana Star workers were absorbed into this "utopian" system.

For the bottom-tier serfs and poor who once struggled on the brink of starvation and could only wait to die when sick, everything within the Heavenly Fire Special Zone was like a divine kingdom descending.

"No need to pay taxes to the lord? Don't need to spend money on a priest when sick?"

"Just go to the factory to tighten a few screws, press a few buttons every day, and you can eat your fill? And have meat?"

When the first batch of bold Orc laborers who entered the Federation factories held steaming cans of synthetic meat, the foundations of the old era began to shake violently.

What glory, what bloodline, were worthless in the face of tangible material satisfaction.

Of course, Renee wouldn't feed lazy people.

"Survival is free, but life must be earned."

This was Renee's famous quote in her broadcast address to the Mana Star natives.

Unlike the human colonists who enjoyed everything from the start, if Mana Star natives wanted tastier natural food, more spacious housing, those flying motorcycles, or longer lifespans?

Then they had to work, study, and create.

Factories needed workers, schools needed teachers, exploration teams needed guides.

Under the AI's allocation, the Mana Star natives discovered for the first time that they could truly change their fate through labor, unlike before where noble houses produced nobles, poor families produced scholars, and commoners produced laborers... Twenty years later.

The Heavenly Fire Special Zone had expanded into a super metropolis with a population exceeding fifty million.

It was home to dozens of races, including humans, forest elves (the long-eared native race of Mana Star), Orcs, dwarves, and more.

Races that once viewed each other with hostility and drew swords on sight now wore identical work uniforms, sitting side by side on maglev trains discussing the day's production tasks.

Renee stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of the Governor's office, looking down at the orderly city below, a trace of satisfaction in her eyes.

"Your Excellency, Governor, this is the social survey report for this quarter."

A tall woman with light green long hair and pointed ears entered. She was Alice, once a princess of a certain Forest Elf kingdom, now Renee's chief secretary.

"Read it." Renee turned around, picking up a cup of coffee.

"The crime rate is only 1.15%, as the extreme abundance of goods has eliminated most motives for theft and robbery." Alice's voice was clear and pleasant. "The literacy rate has risen to 70%. Thanks to the widespread adoption of Brain-Computer Interface-Assisted Education Systems, the younger generation has basically mastered at least one of humanity's two common languages."

"Most importantly," Alice looked up, "identification with the Human Federation is rising rapidly. The older generation might still miss their old masters, but most of the new generation already see themselves as part of the Federation."

Renee nodded.

This was the invasion and reshaping of culture.

All schools taught Earth human history and science. All entertainment facilities played human movies and games.

Magic? That was just a natural phenomenon temporarily unexplainable by physics.

Gods? They were just lifeforms in a plasma form, albeit powerful ones.

Emperors? They had become negative examples in history books.

In this new world, the only truth was science, the only faith was the Federation, and the only god was the one who brought fairness and justice to all.

"Well done." Renee praised. "However, have those Earth-based conglomerates been behaving recently?"

This was the problem that gave Renee the biggest headache.

Mana Star had not yet achieved complete public ownership of the means of production. Some areas still required capital investment. Apart from the human colonists who could do as they pleased, most Mana Star natives still needed to rely on labor to earn rewards, rather than treating labor as an obligation or interest.

As Mana Star's development deepened, those Earth-based enterprises—though broken up, still possessing vast capital—swarmed in like sharks smelling blood.

They tried to claim land here, bribe officials, and turn this place into another Mars, a lawless land where they could exploit freely.

"They are restless." Alice frowned. "Last week, a company called Hal Interstellar Mining attempted to illegally mine the Magic Crystal Deposits on the Southern Continent and tried to trade low-quality industrial waste for the mining rights of a local Dwarf tribe."

"Dealt with?"

"Already handled." Alice replied immediately. "In accordance with the 'interstellar anti-monopoly law' and the 'Indigenous Rights Protection Law,' the Governor's Office seized their assets, expelled their responsible personnel, and sent the relevant evidence back to the Earth Bureau."

"That's the way."

Renee walked back and sat down behind her desk.

Here, she was not just a builder, but also a guardian.

She was an extension of Lei Wen's will, the gatekeeper of this utopia.

She had to guard this experimental field for her brother, never allowing greedy capital to taint it.

"Here, money is not omnipotent." Renee said coldly. "Tell those who want to make a fortune here: Mana Star welcomes builders, not plunderers. If they want to make money, they must play by our rules—fair, transparent, and they must give back to society."

"Yes, Governor."

...Apart from social system reforms, Renee also implemented a special plan on Mana Star - [The Fusion of Magic and Technology].

Although Dr. Ilya von Klein scoffed at magic, both Lei Wen and Renee considered it a unique resource.

On the edge of the Heavenly Fire Special Zone, Renee established a massive academy named the Comprehensive Academy of Science and Magic.

It housed numerous spacious, bright laboratories and holographic classrooms. Once high-and-mighty mages were forced to step down from their pedestals and work alongside human physicists.

However, unraveling the mysteries of magic wasn't so simple. At least so far, no technological or cognitive breakthroughs regarding magic had been produced.

Another thirty years passed.

One day, thirty years later, Lei Wen took the time to have his holographic projection appear in the Governor's office.

Renee showed him an answer sheet that could be called perfect.

"Unbelievable."

Lei Wen looked at the data report, a long-absent smile appearing on his face.

"Renee, you did it. You've built a society on an alien world that's even closer to an ideal state than Earth."

"The Gini Coefficient here is almost zero, resource utilization has reached 99%, and the social conflict index is negligible."

"This is a miracle."

Lei Wen praised sincerely.

"It's not just my achievement, brother." Renee looked at her brother in the hologram, a hint of pride in her eyes. "This is the victory of the system, and the victory of productivity."

"When survival is no longer an issue, when greed is caged by the system, humans... or rather, intelligent beings, aren't actually that bad."

"Yes." Lei Wen nodded.

"This experiment was a success."

"This also means we have the confidence to thoroughly reform Earth."

Lei Wen looked intently at Renee.

"This will be a long war, Renee."

"But I'm ready." Renee replied with a smile. "I will guard this place until the day the light of the new world illuminates the old world."

The communication ended.

Lei Wen leaned back in his chair, feeling an unprecedented sense of ease.

He had planted a seed on Mana Star. Now, that seed had grown into a towering tree.

And the fruit of this tree would ultimately nourish all of Human Civilization.