The difficulty of protium fusion is so high that even massive stars like the Sun and Pegasus V342 cannot achieve it; they can only barely maintain it through quantum tunneling, a method almost like "cheating."

But now, having mastered the Unified Field Formula, gaining a deeper understanding of the Strong Nuclear Force, and even being able to further influence microscopic particles through X and Y bosons, Tom has truly created an environment in his laboratory capable of sustaining stable protium fusion!

It is true protium fusion, not protium fusion caused by quantum tunneling!

At this moment, inside the mountain-like colossal device presented before the numerous clones, a mere few grams of hydrogen entered a fusion state.

Due to excessively high temperature and pressure, the Coulomb barrier between atoms was overcome, and two protium nuclei were forcibly squeezed together, then combined, and through a series of processes, finally fused into products such as deuterium and helium-3.

During this process, immense energy was released.

However...

Although the energy released by protium fusion is higher, with a mass-energy conversion efficiency of up to 0.7\%, meaning that for every kilogram of protium that fully fuses, 7 grams of mass are completely converted into energy, which is twice that of Tom's primary fusion mode, Deuterium-Tritium fusion, the Q value of this entire system is currently only around 0.5.

That is, Tom has to input two units of energy to produce one unit of energy.

From an overall perspective, it is operating at a loss.

But... it doesn't matter!

Just like when Tom first mastered nuclear fusion technology, the Q value was also very low.

This is not scary; as long as he has truly mastered the technology of protium fusion, he can continuously iterate and improve it, gradually increasing the Q value, and at that time, protium fusion will exhibit superior performance compared to Deuterium-Tritium fusion.

Tom was filled with excitement.

How could he not be excited? Originally, one unit of mass energy could only contribute one unit of energy, but now, one unit of mass energy can contribute two units of energy, doubling it out of thin air!

It's like people in the Earth era buying stocks, and then the stock price directly doubles; how could they not be excited?

After a major breakthrough in protium fusion, entering the subsequent iteration and optimization phase, another major scientific research project achieved a breakthrough.

High-Speed Ion Propulsion Technology!

Still based on a deeper understanding of the Strong Nuclear Force, Tom finally overcame the key obstacle to increasing the ion ejection speed, and thus, in the laboratory, the ion propulsion engine newly manufactured by Tom directly increased the speed of the ejected ions tenfold, from approximately 2,000 kilometers per second to 20,000 kilometers per second!

Consequently, one unit of propellant originally could only provide one unit of thrust, but now, the significant increase in ion ejection speed has led to a huge improvement in propellant utilization efficiency, allowing one unit of propellant to provide ten units of thrust!

This is like people living in the Earth era buying a stock whose price doubles, and that's not all; they then turn around and find that prices have also plummeted to one-tenth of their original value.

Multiplying the two results in a twentyfold increase in wealth!

"No wonder only by reaching the Strong Nuclear stage can fleet speeds increase to seventy or eighty percent of the speed of light; so that's how it is..."

Tom was filled with emotion.

At this moment, he understood everything.

The breakthrough in protium fusion technology allows a Strong Nuclear Civilization to obtain more energy.

The development of High-Speed Ion Propulsion Technology allows a Strong Nuclear Civilization to utilize energy more efficiently.

Combining the two allows a fleet's speed to surge from approximately 4% of the speed of light in the electroweak stage to seventy or eighty percent of the speed of light, an increase of more than ten or twenty times.

But at this moment, breakthroughs in energy technology and energy utilization are not enough; a crucial condition is still needed.

Energy shield.

Don't forget, at this moment, although Tom's fleet speed is only 8% of the speed of light, it is already severely affected by interstellar particle collisions, which forces them to cover the outside of each spaceship with a layer of plastic sheeting to avoid damage.

If the speed increases to seventy or eighty percent of the speed of light, even covering it with ten layers of plastic sheeting would be useless.

Because the impact of interstellar particle collisions does not increase linearly with speed but exponentially.

If the speed increases by twenty times, the impact of interstellar particle collisions might increase by two hundred times!

Energy shields are not only crucial in battle but also indispensable in interstellar travel.

Fortunately, Tom has already mastered preliminary energy shield technology.

At this moment, with the three essential factors in place, Tom immediately began the research and development of new, truly Strong Nuclear Civilization warships, while further iterating and optimizing related technologies.

Of course, a true warship cannot do without a weapon system.

And conventional electromagnetic cannons are far too outdated and unsuitable for Strong Nuclear Civilization warships.

Then develop energy cannons!

The core technology of energy cannons lies in using X and Y bosons to influence the projectile material, causing it to be in a stable "strong nuclear excited state."

At this moment, inside a massive experimental vessel, through various complex environmental influences, and most crucially, the influence of unified force bosons, the tiny projectile, weighing only 1 gram, floated silently, then quietly turned dark red, and then bright white.

This means that its internal Strong Nuclear Force has been truly activated, and it is now in a strong nuclear excited state!

Before he could even get excited, the tiny projectile, which had turned bright white, exploded with a roar, directly destroying the experimental equipment.

If an energy shield had not been deployed outside the experimental equipment, the entire spaceship would likely have been affected.

No wonder, the overall energy of a projectile in a strong nuclear excited state is simply too high.

After the Strong Nuclear Force was activated, the mass-energy conversion efficiency of this projectile reached approximately 0.005\%, which is about 1/180th of the mass-energy conversion efficiency of nuclear fission.

After a 1-gram projectile explodes, it loses approximately 0.05 milligrams of mass. And this 0.05 milligrams of mass, according to the mass-energy formula, will be converted into approximately 4.5 billion joules of energy, roughly equivalent to the explosion of 1 ton of TNT explosive!

From the perspective of energy source and intensity, it is a genuine miniature nuclear bomb!

The most terrifying thing is that such a projectile, with such immense energy and high lethality, is merely the most conventional and ordinary weapon of a Strong Nuclear Civilization.

These projectiles can be fired like the electromagnetic cannons of an Electroweak Civilization, at a rate of dozens per second, with muzzle velocities of hundreds to thousands of kilometers per second, sweeping like a violent storm!

Imagine, thousands of miniature nuclear bombs flying at hundreds of kilometers per second every minute—what a terrifying scene that would be. Even a real mountain would probably be leveled in a short time!

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