Meanwhile, Gloria was at the Spiritual Church Temple in Dry City, acting on behalf of the empire through that ancient continental institution.
Gloria was not in charge of any technology development projects, much less agricultural projects on the continent or in the underwater regions of the empire.
She focused on improving her influence within the Church while strengthening herself.
The war between Maximilian and Vico and the end of the conflict due to the threat of the extraterritorial enemy had not changed the reality of the division of power within the Church. This organization still had several factions and minor disputes over who should do what.
But while two groups had coalesced around Maximilian before his arrival, the former Supreme Pontiff's group had disintegrated, and Gloria's faction had grown in size.
Everyone who didn't want to be in Maximilian's faction was joining Gloria's group.
That continued even after Maximilian reached level 100, as many believed the current Supreme Pontiff might fall in the war in a few decades.
If that happened, many feared that the whole world and the Church would come to an end. But some felt that the death of Maximilian was more likely than the disappearance of the Church.
In his absence, some people wanted to be on the right side, on the side of Minos Stuart's wife.
So even now, Gloria's faction continued to grow, with more and more members of the Church becoming part of her group.
And how could this help the Black Plain Empire in the future war against the aliens? Basically, Gloria's job was to grow within the Church, to get better information and resources for her group, and to get in touch with renowned professionals.
She wanted to raise the level of the empire's professionals and increase the state's chances of getting specialists, but also for Church members to help them by passing on news of possible advances by their competitors.
As much as the whole world was in danger, the local powers were competitors until the enemies came. All of them, or at least most of them, cooperated with simple things about their enemies' techs, but the essentials were developed in secret by each organization.
But this wasn't as strange as you might think. That is, each group was developing what they understood about the aliens in their own way, using their individual realities and characteristics.
The Sky Whales worked according to their aquatic characteristics and their large, powerful bodies. Meanwhile, the elves dealt with the alien ways through their great spiritual affinity and intelligence.
How could they work together when one's methods might not work for the others? How could they forget millions of years of history and reveal their secrets just to help others with things that might not make a difference?
As far as each group could help the other beings in the Spiritual World without compromising themselves, they did so. But when it came to parts that involved deep secrets of their races or organizations, each group was secretive about their progress.
And, of course, everyone knew this, and there were already beings who were watching the powers around the world as if they were competitors in an arms race.
Gloria was taking care of this side of the current moment for the empire, trying to protect the empire while observing her opponents through her vast observation network.
She was in her office, dealing with this with her parents, who had also joined her faction.
"Sigh... What we're doing seems wrong." Gloria's father commented in a sighing tone after they had finished giving some orders.
"Yes, but it's necessary," Gloria said. "As much as we risk all dying very soon, we can't rule out the scenario where the Spiritual World continues long after the war.
In that case, would it be a good idea for us to share all our secrets? Wouldn't it be appropriate to have some guarantees and means to protect ourselves at least?" She said as she looked at her parents, aware of the risks of not sharing everything they knew about the aliens but also prepared for the uncertainties of fate.
If they survived the aliens, and that was Minos' plan, this state had to be prepared to deal with their fellow neighbors of the Spiritual World. If they didn't, it was almost certain that the forces working together today would turn at least some of their weapons against them in the future!
To avoid this, they had to do the same as their competitors, hide how much they had developed while secretly observing others worldwide!
"Sigh... You're right, daughter. But how long are we going to hide what we've developed? I must say, the empire seems to be more advanced than other powers I've come in contact with.
Even after Vico forced Minos to stay in the North Sea almost a year longer, it doesn't seem to have been enough for other powers to overcome our initial advantage." Gloria's mother commented.
Some of Minos' group believed that Vico had not left Minos in charge of the alien base in the North Sea so that he could integrate other people from the world with the alien technologies. They felt that God wanted the Black Plain Empire to lose the advantage of their time alone in that area, learning alien things!
No one knew if this was exactly true, but the fact was that the suspicion was there.
According to some of the data Gloria's parents had access to, even though the state of Minos had lost its initial advantage due to Emperor Stuart staying there for an extra year, the Black Plain Empire was still more advanced than some of its 10th-stage competitors.
Aware of this, Gloria answered her mother's question: "We will keep our theories and progress secret until Minos reaches the 10th stage. At that point, he will decide the best time to share what we've achieved."
Minos believed that his state's most significant progress would come after it reached level 90. So, there was no way the empire could share its discoveries with the competition before then.
"Level 90, huh? At the rate he's growing, that doesn't seem so far away." Margot commented with a sigh, remembering the first time she had met her son-in-law.
"I imagine the forces of our world still have about a decade to work on Minos' information." Gloria's father agreed, a little relieved that the empire would reconsider its current position but still worried about the world's future.
'I just hope it's not too late...'
