The Minotaur Clan, being a Tier-Two Lower State, did not possess such an ability or the technology to realize it.

No. It wasn't that they didn't possess the technology, but a failure to access it. Their history was the source of this irony: the inheritance their race had stumbled upon—while fleeing a racial enemy to this galaxy—was a treasure.

Contained within this inheritance, specifically in the archives of a Feather Race, were detailed records of mana technology. If fully utilized, this treasure, even in its novice stage, could propel the Minotaur Clan beyond the level of a Star Empire—and that is an understatement.

The potential value is immeasurable, especially considering that the top seven hidden rulers of this galaxy have merely reached the basic level of mana technology utilization, yet still dominate and are on par with many galactic-level organizations.

A cloud of regret and helplessness dimmed Helran's gaze as he considered the heavens' unfairness. They held a treasure—a technology many races couldn't even dream of discovering despite years of research and hard work—yet their own race could not utilize despite having it just yet.

Their innate racial capabilities and abilities hindered them from even uncovering the technology, much less utilizing its power.

This is the pain of many Minotaur Clan senior leaders.

Many efforts were made on their side of the race to uncover the technology, but within a few centuries, they realized that depending solely on themselves, they could not uncover technology of this level. They might need the help of other races who held an advantage in this aspect.

But realization is one thing; acting upon it is another. They knew they could not do it themselves, yet they also knew they simply couldn't reveal it to another race and let them get their hands on this knowledge. Doing so would risk exposing that their race was in possession of such a thing.

There were choices to make, like attempting to subdue the other races, specifically the Genomes and the Asura. Both races possess high talent in the aspect of technology, though the Genomes held a slightly greater advantage. But that, too, was easier said than done. After all, how could they subdue a race that rivaled them in power without suffering a setback themselves?

That is why, even though they maintained hostility with the two races in their region, they never fully committed to outright war.

Such a complete conflict was unrealistic—a realization they came to after a few small wars with both the Asura and Genome Empires. While they won some, they also lost some.

Their defeat against the Asura, the youngest power in the region, was particularly devastating: they lost one major fleet and many minor ones. It was a huge setback on their part.

For a reason they still don't understand, the Asura didn't utilize that loss themselves, but the GenomeEmpire utilized it immediately to deal a devastating blow—one the Minotaur managed to defend against, but only with steeper losses.

Thinking about the power now apparent in front of him, Helran realized the truth: had their clan mastered the mana tech, they would possess the same power and could have easily obliterated the Asura Empire and the Genome Empire in a few moves, and would not have suffered such heavy losses.

But he knew, once again, that this was nothing but wishful thinking. If it were that easy, would they have needed to bow down against the Star Empire and others, asking for help and surrendering the holy region they had discovered? "No, right?"

Realizing they couldn't subdue the Genomes or the Asura, the clan's focus shifted. Finding another race with similar technological capabilities would be close to impossible. Finding one specific race in this vast ocean of space, after all, is like telling someone to find a needle in a huge grassy field without a magnet or a guide.

So, the clan shifted its focus onto nurturing a warrior on the level above the World-Building Realm. If even one made such a breakthrough, their race would be able to jump from their current racial limit to one level, or even several levels, higher. Only then could they possibly complete the uncovering and utilization of this technology.

"But that was easier said than done," Helran spoke to himself in a loud voice, attracting the attention of those already watching him, and throwing them into confusion as they had no idea what he was talking about at all.

Helran was unconcerned by his crew's confusion, diving deeper into his memories. He was trying to grasp what could have been possible, and what their situation would be now, if all their goals had been achieved. He wouldn't have struggled, if it could be called that, against this enemy he still knew nothing about.

Looking ahead once again, he watched as an enemy space fighter squadron dove down on his left flank, beginning to decimate one of his intercepting fighters as if it were nothing.

Then he saw one of the enemy's most bizarre, yet sharp, space fighters diving down from high above. Faint blue energy began to surround its blade-like wings, with a few weird symbols glowing on its hull that he couldn't make sense of.

Then, with a speed he could only call unheard of—a speed he couldn't even follow despite being a Quasi World-Building Realm expert—all he could see was a flash of blue light that tore through the spatial barriers.

It sliced through a line of ships in his left-flank fleet, passing through one destroyer after another, and finally a battle cruiser, before retiring to a normal state and joining the other group of enemy fighters.

The ships it had penetrated (not merely passed through) began to shake before bursting into flames from the inside, one after the other.

All the ships that this strange fighter passed through were quickly destroyed in but a second.

Many who saw this had their hearts filled with dread and fear, and Helran was no different.

He came to a chilling realization: this unknown enemy wasn't just using mana technology at a novice level — the technology in their possession but were operating on an entirely different level altogether.

His spiritual sense—enhanced by a special Heavenly and Earth Treasure he possessed—could detect even minor differences and fluctuations in energy and spatial barriers. He had maintained this scan since the fortress shields were destroyed.

This was fueled by his caution: he had realized all external signals were cut off and they were alone. He knew the enemy might attempt to infiltrate the fortress or ships with spatial movement—a tactic he'd seen in many past battles—so he was operating with extreme cautiousness.

Shaking these thoughts away, he focused on the fluctuations and changes in mana and how it was interacting with the technical stuff of that weird space fighter. As he carefully thought of it, only a few words appeared in his mind: near-perfect harmony between mana and the machine.

A level, he could tell, that was out of reach of any power in this galaxy, or even beyond, based on his intelligence.

And beyond that, the power the weird space fighter had displayed was clearly over the top. This was achieved solely by its speed and the control of mana—using it like a blade to slay the ships' defenses and hull. Such catastrophic obliteration was conventionally impossible.

By conventional understanding, and done by a mere space fighter, he would have found the feat unbelievable. If he hadn't watched it happen in front of him, these would have been his immediate thoughts.

And in this process, he also came to the realization that he couldn't rely on the plan he had made initially. It wasn't working, and for the looks of it, it wouldn't. He had been outwitted not only strategically but in strength, and by a huge margin at that.

He realized he needed to act, and act quickly, because the enemy was speeding up, evidenced by the vast destruction happening on his left and right forward flanks. At this very instant, the Minotaur's right flank was undergoing a similar, though different, disaster.

Helran watched the zoomed-in display: a mecha from the enemy side, accompanied by a group of other mechs that looked different from the one leading the charge, much like that weird space fighter.

Suddenly, he felt an increase in the mana fluctuation of a special attribute. The space near that black mech beganfluctuating before it suddenly calmed. Helran was stunned: the mech suddenly disappeared from its position and reappeared right in front of the right-flank fleet.

This gap-closing maneuver was staggering. He realized the mech used that particular mana attribute as a medium, along with something within itself, to achieve such short-range teleportation.

He desperately wanted to dive deeper to discern how this was achieved, despite knowing he didn't have the time to spare. But suddenly, his spiritual sense sent a warning that made a shiver run down his spine. He instantly diverted his focus toward the right flank and made a hasty announcement through the comms: "Pull back! Quick, pull back from there!"