All constructions in space are made possible when spaceship technology became financially viable to construct and operate. Aside from the initial batch of lands that has been transformed into farmlands and industrial parks, the economic powerhouses have started building all their new farms and factories in space. Base on future blueprint, even the existing farmlands and industrial parks on the surface will be relocated to space in phases. The only exception are certain factories that are off significant strategic importance or tied to national security.
One can argue that constructing space stations to house the bulk of a country's economic activities is an expensive policy but that is only true when it comes to the initial investment. In the long term, not only does the policy better protects the environment, it also makes far more economic sense. Some treasure of natures are priceless and can't be bought regardless of how much money is being offered (off course, if the owner is to weak to protect it, that would be an entirely different story).
When it comes to mineral extraction, space mining are also far more sustainable and cost effective. Not only does surface mines generates all sort of pollution, cleaning up a depleted mine is equally expensive. However, such a problem will not arise when it comes to asteroid mining. This is not withstanding the fact that minerals that can be found from asteroid belt far surpasses what can be found on the surface of most planets.
Spirit energy generation is also much cheaper up in space. Aside from runic fusion reactor technology, Earth scientists have come up with a number of other spirit energy generation methods that are cheaper and also less demanding in term of construction materials. However, none of those methods can compare to a runic fusion reactor when it comes to generating spirit energy per square feet of surface area. Wind farms, solar farms or hydro energy dam will compel the destruction of vast tracts of land to generate the same amount of energy. All these alternative methods run contrary to the need to preserve as much of a world's environment as possible. However, the need for land usage efficiency and nature preservation is no longer an issue in space. Maximus could have as much building areas as he need and this is where solar farms became the better alternative.
On the topic of logistics and supply chain management, the introduction of spaceships, space stations and moving the majority of production facilities up to space will once again compel a change in the sect's doctrine. It is only recently that the sect has to rewrite the rule book due to the introduction of airships powered by spirit battery. The addition of space colonies and increasing human worlds will transform supply chain planning and management even more complex and a bloody nightmare. Fortunately, Earth has a viable solution. Computers and artificial intelligence.
The opening of space means humanity will never run out space to build their production facilities. Throw in the fact that the sect now has the ability to terraform worlds as well, the sect's demand for labor force and mortal population has become even more severe. Despite introducing a number of policies encouraging childbirth, the sect can't rely on natural population growth to solve its immediate need due to the small population base it has in the lower realm. At the rate his Earth cultivators and governments are developing and expanding the worlds under their sphere of influence, the sect will need at least a hundred million new inhabitants each year. Since the sect can't rely on natural birthrate, its only option is to expand the scale of population raiding and slave trading in the lower realm. At the rate things are going, it will just be matter of time before some sects realize the anomaly.
For better or worse, the discovery might harm the sect's interest but it will benefit humanity as a whole. Population doesn't appear out of thin air. It takes time for an infant to reach adulthood. Cultivators might be powerful, but there is a still a limit to how far they can defy the law of nature. Due to the foreign races, gradual expansion for new territories is out of the question. Once the secret is out in the open, humanity and all foreign races will be going on an expansion frenzy. It won't be sufficient for humanity to just declare a world belong to them, they will also need to relocate sufficient population to properly stake their claim. Even if the discovered worlds have yet to be terraformed, it is still prudent to leave a few million human inhabitants in space stations above those worlds to stake their claim. Leaving any claimed worlds uninhabited is just asking for trouble when other foreign races could feign ignorance and happily swoop in to colonized those worlds instead. Once that happens, dislodging those uninvited is more trouble than it is worth the effort under the reality. Wars have been fought for less and land disputes are nasty business. Throughout the course of history, there were no shortage of land conflicts that have escalated to a full-blown racial war.
It is quite ironic that mortal population, something Immortal Ascension Pavillion and all cultivators took for granted in the past is now an important human resource and of strategic importance in the future. In the past, the mortal population mostly function as a talent pool for the high and mighty cultivators. Beyond that, mortals are mostly only good as a source of cheap labor and even that only applies to the lesser cultivation organizations. As for those powerful organizations in the immortal realm, they have no use for mortal workforce as their entire economy can only be run by cultivators. Human population will soon hold a much greater strategic value because humanity has gained the ability to acquire new worlds much faster than in the past. Prior to this, humanity will only acquire a new main world once every few thousand years. Relocating enough population to occupy a single world is an easy task but it will be a different story when new worlds that need occupying emerge every year. When it comes to population growth, humanity does need a head start and any advantage they can get a hold on. There are a few foreign races out there that are far more fertile and could easily out birth humanity.
Population size matters but the sect has also started taking better care of its mortal population. Just because a mortal had limited cultivation talent, it doesn't mean that they are only good as a cheap source of labor. Earth is the best example of how a mortal population can also build a great civilization without relying on cultivators. Through universal education and investing in their brightest talents, they could replicate more than half the magical feat that only cultivators can accomplish. Aircrafts for flying in the sky, submarine to explore the deep ocean, surgeries and synthetic medicine to heal serious injury or congenital condition, farming machines and fertilizers to increase grain production, computers to accelerate research and solve complex calculation. The list of things that Earthlings could accomplish will only continue to grow and with time, their scientist and academicians might even be able to replicate every single miracle a cultivator can accomplish with their scientifically advance inventions.
Earth's approach to academic research and knowledge dissemination is also something that is worth learning. By encouraging the sharing of information among academicians and scientists, Earthling continue to build upon the discovery of their predecessors and strive for greater heights. Take computers as an example, the first generation of computer is massive, often the size of a room. Now, the latest generation of computers is a fraction of its former size. Maximus believes the cultivation world would have been far more advance than its current level if all the cultivators are more willing to share what they have learned. Take the subject of main worlds and minor worlds as an example, cultivators understanding of the subject has remained rather shallow despite the cultivation history tracing back for millions of years. Given the long history, he believes there should have been some cultivator that had done their own research to better understand the immortal laws governing the relationship between worlds. It is unfortunate that cultivators hold a very possessive mindset when it comes to sharing information. Their legacies are probably either lost to time or still sitting somewhere obscure waiting for a worthy inheritor. The cultivation world would have been far more advance than its current level if cultivators are more willing to exchange knowledge.
The future holds unlimited possibility but what matters now is the present. It is a nice distraction thinking about the future but Maximus will need to finalize the sect's planned re-entry to the lower realm.