The impacts of the decision were almost immediate.

It immediately caused a global stock market crash.

Not because of any underlying financial bubble being popped or anything of the sort, but simply because investors immediately began redirecting capital away from standard investing opportunities in financial markets towards opportunities that would open up in the stars.

And those opportunities began popping up the very moment the General Assembly passed the legislation.

"The Kurlun Family hereby announces its colonial ventures into the stars! We have committed towards establishing a colonial mining enterprise, the Kurlun Exo-Mining Enterprise in the Vega System! We plan to launch an IPO in six month’s time, please invest if you wish to reap from the tremendous resources that we will extract from the stars!"

"Solaris Energy Enterprises hereby announces its expansion into interstellar energy extraction and generation systems. We offer partnership contracts with aspiring colonialists to build and develop their own quasi-Dyson Spheres in their own stars through our services to create their own self-sustaining exo-colonies!"

"Interstellara Transit Systems has tripled internal investments into long-range negatron-oriented warp drives for spaceships. We will be quintupling our private shipyard expansion to produce warp drives and spaceships for aspiring explorers, conquerors, and colonialists!"

"In accordance with the provisions of the Laissez Faire Intestellar Expansion Act, Spacefra Inc has expanded its customer base from just the Gaian Alliance to, now, any and all private actors that wish to acquire sophisticated fixed space infrastructure such as space stations, satellites, observatories and telescopes, reconnaissance systems, and even planetary fortresses and planetary engines!"

"Terrestria pvt ltd will be going public in nine months time. We will be expanding our catalogue to offer convenient sales packages for terrestrial technological systems for any aspiring colonial power! Turn your own planet into a high-tech, modernized hub!"

"We hereby announce the creation of the Panamic Consortium!" Prime Minister James declared in an emboldened speech. "We open the consortium to all Sage-level powers within the Panama Continent—Transcendent powers are strictly forbidden—and announce our collectivized commitment to the expansion of humanity across the stars!"

"The Mallarkian Martial Consortium announces the creation of the Mallarkian Martial Mercenaries. We endeavor to create a space force with Martial Artists that will offer the services of protection of colonial enterprise that seeks to protect their colonies from belligerent forces in return for a monthly subscription!"

"Genoran Elven Civilization offers mutually beneficial partnership agreements, as well as free trade agreements and armistices with all entities that seek to reach the stars. We seek peaceful co-existence with all powers in the stars under the banner of human civilization."

"The Bournvyrne Empire announces two ventures! A Bournvyrne Colonial Enterprise and the Bournvyrne Artifact Commission that will allow any and all entities to possess powerful weapons, devices, and artifacts across a large number of scales, classes, and technologies for virtually any purpose! You may make a customized commission or purchase from our wide catalogue!" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"The Evolutionary Army announces the venture of the Evolutionary Star Empire!" Deputy Commander Wiles fiercely declared in a televised announcement. "We have released a map of the stars and star systems that we seek to conquer! Any colonial power that dares to try and touch those star systems will suffer our wrath!"

To say the market exploded was to make an understatement. Each and every single private power in the entirety of Gaia understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime, no, once in history moment where the very fundamental structure of a civilization was going to change and was going to explode to a scale entirely unfathomable otherwise.

Each and every single power, private or public, state or non-state, understood that if they didn’t get a piece of pie, then they would forever be rendered insignificant within Gaian Civilization.

Each and every single power rushed to join the race. And there was more than one kind of race. There was, of course, the race for territory. Many people dreamed of conquering an entire planet and creating their own planetary sovereign state. There were some, like the Evolutionary Army, that aimed to create a star empire that stretched across many star systems.

Then, there was the resource extraction race. A lot of power, especially private corporations, cared not for simply establishing territory, but rather cared for the resources that could be extracted from it.

Then, there was the goods and services race. To actually travel to another star system, set up either a colonial or extraction system, or both, and protect it from other powers required many goods and services that were extremely difficult to create by oneself and could only be acquired from specialized third parties. This included spaceships, space infrastructure, and terrestrial infrastructure, not to mention pathwalkers needed to protect one’s territory.

These three broader categories contained within them an explosion of competition across countless entities, reshaping the flow of capital almost within twenty-four hours of the passing of the Laissez Faire Interstellar Expansion Act.

"Good."

Rui’s voice was one of satisfaction as he read through the reports prepared for him on the immediate impact of the legislation. He sat in his office, skimming through all the information with a pleased and enthused expression.

"With this, human civilization will accelerate into the stars at an extraordinary pace."

This would not have happened to this degree if the Gaian Alliance monopolized or even directly controlled interstellar expansion with minimal intervention. Only when the gains were absolute and limitless could all of humanity be whipped into an expansionary frenzy.

He couldn’t wait to see how human civilization shaped up over the next ten years as countless powers dedicated every ounce of resource and capital at their disposal towards expanding outwards even more than they had before.

CLACK

The door opened, drawing his attention.

A little girl popped her head in, her amber eyes glistening with excitement at having found her father. "Papa!"

A smile emerged on Rui’s face instinctively. "Ah, my precious baby girl. Come here."

"Ria isn’t a baby," she insisted, even if she ran into his arms, snuggling into his embrace, before turning towards the table with all the reports scattered across it and on his screen. "Papa, what is all of this?"

Rui’s smile deepened.

"This is the future of human civilization."