I Am The Swarm

The Ji population was unknown, but with over 200 native star systems and nearly 200 garrison points, it was evident they were numerous. Given such vast numbers, the idea of someone casually ascending to the Elder’s Council seemed highly unlikely.

Thus, Luo Wen believed only about 60% of what Humes had said about his accidental rise to power. Still, Humes appeared to have a decent temperament. Despite Sarah’s relentless riddles and cryptic responses leaving him mentally exhausted, he never lost his composure.

Impressed by Humes’ patience, Luo Wen decided to gift him a token of goodwill—a Swarm bio-armor. The armor came with bloodline binding, allowing instantaneous activation and deployment.

It could sustain the host in a vacuum for over seven days and featured a simple exoskeleton that enhanced physical capabilities. Wearing it, even an ordinary individual could run up five flights of stairs without breaking a sweat.

Of course, the armor had some hidden features as well, but they weren’t worth mentioning in detail.

Humes was visibly delighted with the gift, expressing endless praise for the Swarm’s innovation.

During the meetings, Humes also formally expressed the Ji’s interest in Swarm technologies and suggested that the Swarm make them available for exchange in the Confederation’s point system.

“Ha, the Ji know us better than I thought,” Luo Wen remarked with a chuckle as he observed Humes presenting a proposed exchange list from his hidden vantage point.

The list included a variety of items: biological weapons, portable bio-armor, primary color encryption technology, gene encryption technology, and more. Each item was accompanied by an astronomically high point cost.

Take primary color encryption, for example. This was the Swarm’s publicly acknowledged communication encryption method. It used over 30 primary colors and their derivatives to encrypt information, making it uncrackable by any known civilization.

Despite seeming like a relatively minor technology, its point value was set at an eye-popping 20 million.

For context, the Riken’s 100,000 researchers had earned their civilization only 100,000 points for decades of labor. The Longevity Serum’s associated data, despite its perceived importance, had been valued at just 10,000 points. Even the basic warp drive blueprints, a cornerstone of advanced civilizations, required only 50 million points.

To accumulate such sums, even a well-established original civilization would typically need thousands of years. For a mid-tier power like the Daqi, 20 million points would likely exceed their total reserves.

Confronted with these staggering numbers, Luo Wen’s amusement waned. Though the Swarm’s technologies were unique, they weren’t indispensable to the Ji. Furthermore, biological and mechanical pathways had their respective strengths and weaknesses, with many mechanical alternatives available for similar functions. In practice, some technologies simply weren’t worth such exorbitant costs.

To the Ji, however, points held no intrinsic value—they could generate as many as they needed. For them, spending generously to acquire practical technologies was a worthwhile trade. Yet, as points had become the universal currency within the Confederation, the Ji had to be cautious. Overprinting points recklessly could destabilize the Confederation’s economy, undermining their long-term interests.

And yet, they had attached such exaggerated values to Swarm technologies. In Luo Wen’s estimation, there were only two possible explanations. One is that the Ji urgently needed Swarm technologies. Or the Ji were confident they could rapidly reclaim the excess points they issued, ensuring the surplus wouldn’t destabilize the Confederation.

If the first explanation were true, it would be manageable. However, if the second were correct, it could spell trouble for the Swarm. A short-term oversupply of points could incentivize intense competition, allowing the Ji to indirectly pressure and weaken the Swarm while maintaining the appearance of diplomacy.

Luo Wen fell into deep thought. The Ji’s strategy, if centered on the second possibility, would require careful navigation. The Swarm’s actions and responses in the coming months would be critical in shaping their standing within the Confederation.

Luo Wen furrowed his brow, deep in thought. Perhaps there was a third possibility.

Considering the hypothesis that some unseen mastermind required the Swarm to not only grow in numbers but also in quality, Luo Wen entertained the notion that this sudden influx of Ji points might be deliberate. Perhaps the mastermind intended for the Swarm to use these points to strengthen themselves rapidly.

Luo Wen performed some calculations. If the Swarm were to exchange all the technologies on the Ji’s proposed list, it could theoretically push the warp drive to achieve speeds exceeding five times the speed of light. If combined with associated weaponry, radar, materials, and supporting technologies, the Swarm’s overall technology tree could leap to a level capable of sustaining speeds of nearly four times the current limit.

This “golden package” would place the Swarm’s technological capabilities beyond those of the Troi civilization, a longstanding power in the Outer-ring. Surpassing Troi entirely would then become merely a matter of time.

But herein lay the problem, the mastermind seemed to grossly underestimate the Swarm’s true capabilities. Many of the technologies listed for exchange were already mastered or even surpassed by the Swarm. Spending precious resources to acquire outdated technologies was a proposition Luo Wen couldn’t justify.

Ji points, therefore, held limited utility for the Swarm. Technologies that the Swarm genuinely needed were far too expensive in terms of points, and their acquisition risked attracting unwanted attention and triggering cascading effects within the Confederation—most of which would be decidedly unfriendly to the Swarm.

Rushing development could lead to an early “harvest,” where the Swarm might find themselves targeted and uprooted before their plans came to fruition. For this reason, Luo Wen resolved to slow down the process, regardless of the mastermind’s intentions.

This cautious reaction was likely within the mastermind’s expectations. After all, an intelligent force like the Swarm would naturally take countermeasures against external manipulations.

However, the mastermind wouldn’t simply give up. Other means of exerting pressure would undoubtedly follow, but with the current lack of information, Luo Wen could only prepare to counter each move as it came.

In the following days, the Swarm engaged in minimal exchanges with the Ji, trading only marginal, low-priority technologies. The total transaction value amounted to just a few thousand points. The key technologies that the Ji had marked as high-value items remained untouched—not even their prerequisites or foundation-level theories were exchanged.

As expected, the Swarm’s apparent indifference toward cutting-edge technologies did not provoke any overt retaliation. It seemed the mastermind couldn’t yet override the rules of the Confederation, or perhaps they could, but at too high a cost.

Regardless, Luo Wen remained vigilant, prepared to counter any covert maneuvers.

Contrary to Luo Wen’s expectations, things remained calm. After leaving Swarm territory, Elder Humes returned to the Riken homeworld and formalized the Riken’s entry into the Confederation.

A few months later, however, the Swarm received a purchase order from the Ji.

Having brought multiple research teams to the Riken homeworld, the Ji had constructed numerous laboratories nearby to facilitate experiments. The demand for experimental materials surged, rapidly outstripping the Riken’s production capabilities. What had once been a robust supply chain now found itself strained under the increased demand.

The Ji naturally turned to the Riken’s nearest neighbor: the Swarm.

The Swarm’s territory, being the original site of the discovery of the Longevity Plants, was an obvious choice for sourcing these materials. Furthermore, there was widespread speculation that the plants were either a Swarm creation or a byproduct of some other Swarm technology. Thus, this purchase order also served as a test of the Swarm’s involvement.

However, Luo Wen wanted nothing more than to distance the Swarm from anything related to the Longevity Plants. Becoming a supplier for the Ji would only entangle the Swarm further in their web of intrigue. Yet, an outright refusal might also raise suspicions.

After much deliberation, the Swarm responded to the Ji’s request with a carefully crafted reply.

“We regret to inform you that, while the Swarm can provide some assistance in producing these materials, our capabilities are far from meeting your requirements. This is due to limited availability of necessary resources such as nuclear waste and the lack of sufficient Godzilla-scale bio-organisms for large-scale cultivation.”

Luo Wen smirked at his own response. It struck the perfect balance: plausible enough to avoid arousing suspicion, while clearly indicating the Swarm’s unwillingness to be overly involved.

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