After Diablo sent someone to notify my wives that I had woken up, the first one to arrive and relatively fast was Hela, but that should be credited to the fact that the Headquarters of the Imperialis Militarum was not far from the Imperial Palace.
When Hela entered the room, she scanned me from tips to toes before crashing into me as she hugged me closely.
Because nobody aside from us was present, she could act more intimate than on the outside.
Clearly, even strong-headed Hela was worried, and that was something to behold because of all of my wives; she was always the calmest and not acting emotionally in decisive situations, very similar to Fia.
"Where are the rest, Vena and Fia?"
I asked after Hela reluctantly separated herself from me as we sat on the nearby sofa.
"Vena is out of the Baator right now; she is handling some business of the IMC in the Ancient Eternal Star Region; after the fall of the three hegemonic species, we are extracting every possible natural resource we can find there and using it to fuel the research, innovations or to strengthen our Army and experts at the same time. There are far more resources than we can store, so we need to use everything we obtain."
Hela answered as they had right now too much work on their hand.
While the strength of the Baator was practically increasing with each passing shipment of resources to the Baator from the conquered territories, what they right now lacked was manpower.
Because they were preparing for the project of elevating the Baator into the Universe, they wanted to obtain as much as possible things from the Astral Boundary when it could still be done.
Due to that, most senior officials of the Imperial Administrative decided to use all of their forces at their disposal to extract resources from the Ancient Eternal Star Region and other conquered places by the Chthonian Empire of the Baator.
Of course, the ones who benefitted the most from this entire ordeal, aside from the local population, were the Nobility and Army.
Tens of commoners were promoted to the Nobility; some Noble Houses rose through the Ranks, some were demoted and some were even stripped of their Titles as Noble because they lacked the appropriate strength.
Though the last one applied only to the Chthonian Equeses, who were previously required to have a Tier 8 personal strength, during the past century, this requirement was changed to Tier 9 because the collective strength of the Chthonian Empire has been increased several times over.
Right now, there were tens of Tier 10 experts across the entire Chthonian Empire of the Baator, and hundreds of Tier 9 experts from the various Tiers.
The overall count of the Tier 11 powerhouses was something little above ten, as people who were closest to reaching Tier 11 got practically everything they needed, this time without a contribution point exchange because right now, the Empire had far more resources than it could use.
"And Grayfia?"
Fia should be present at the Baator because she still filled the position of the High Chancellor of the Senatorum Imperialis.
Thus she rarely left the Empire, as she tended to her duties.
Clearly, she loved her paperwork too much, and in truth, it would be extremely hard to find a suitable replacement for her.
"She will arrive shortly after; right now; she should be on inspection of the new Mechanical Legions."
I cocked my head in interest; while seeing this, Hela continued in the explanation.
"The one thing which we have an excessive amount of are various ores and minerals; thus the Senate decided to drastically increase the Mechanical Legions and especially the Void Fleet, from the current 10 Fleets we possess right now to twenty-five and also increase the composition of each fleet, by 20% of all ships."
When I heard that, I was shocked but also delighted to hear such good news.
The Voidfleets were a crucial aspect of any Interdimensional Empire, especially ours, which should be technically able to traverse the Endless Void itself.
Right now, every Voidfleet was composed of x5,000 Lunar-Class Cruisers, x2,500 Avenger-Class Grand Cruisers, x500 Destroyer-Class Battle Cruisers, x50 Emperor-Class Battleships and one Adjudicator-Class Juggernaut Capital Ship, which acted as the commanding ship of the entire fleet.
The new composition with the increased numbers should be x6,000 Lunar-Class Cruisers, x3,000 Avenger-Class Grand Cruisers, x600 Destroyer-Class Battle Cruisers, x60 Emperor-Class Battleships, and a single Adjudicator-Class Juggernaut Capital Ship; this would remain unchanged.
After that, Hela started telling me what happened during the years that I have been unconscious, including the fact that she managed to reach Tier 12 only a very short time after I blacked out, which was like heaven-sent luck.
It was clear that those other Tier 12 experts that still remained in the Astral Boundary would make a move on the Chthonian Empire of the Baator because we have grown too powerful.
If not for Hela, the results would be grim.
She singlehandedly defeated several of them, of which the most notable were the Blood Ancestor of the Divine Blood Planen and Dragon Primogenitor from the Dragon's Nest, as both of them were added to the conquest after we became the Universe.
Hela decided that it would be most prudent first to finish all the plans and projects and after everything has been settled and all gains have been properly digested, then and only then would it be the right time to expand the Baator once more and integrate more species into it, especially strong ones with an even longer history than the Baator itself.
"Good, you have done the best thing you could... the Astral Boundary Universe has not mattered anymore, and after we finish becoming the Universe, we can invade this place... in the end, due to Mercurius, this place is doomed as the Psionic Beacon is still active and sooner or later, it will lure here something worse and more powerful than just Tier 12 Hivemind."
I stated grimly as I gave Hela a kiss on her forehead and praised her for her efforts.