https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-100-Boarding-Pass-for-the-Ember-Fleet-Ship/12833475/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-102-Star-Sea-Secret-Realm-Secret-Realm-Tier-Classification/12833477/
Chapter 101: The Crimson Yu Divine Dynasty of the Ember Civilization, Orange Components Reappear
Chapter 101: The Crimson Yu Divine Dynasty of the Ember Civilization, Orange Components Reappear
Compared to Song Chi and Song You, Song Lin had been awakened for a much longer time, experiencing far more, and thus had a certain level of understanding of the 0155 Star Region. This piqued the curiosity of Song Chi and Song You, who eagerly asked for more details.
After two minutes, the two of them had a basic understanding.
They, of course, knew about the First Dawn Star Great Expedition. It was a well-known event in the history of the Dawn Star Principality, which was launched shortly after the principality's founding to expand its territory through interstellar warfare.
According to historical records, the principality had deployed twenty fully equipped fleets, with over 600,000 ember warships, including more than twenty Chilung-class and above warships. The expedition took fifty years to secure vast territories.
However, the specific territories and the opponents faced during the war were only briefly mentioned in history books, leaving the two with little in-depth knowledge.
Now, after listening to Song Lin's explanation, they learned that the territories secured by the principality included the Golden Shark Star Region and several nearby star domains. The main opponent was the Moro Clan, a medium-sized civilization.
The Moro Clan had once been a dominant force in the Chaotic Star Region, controlling nearly ten thousand light-years of star domains and possessing unique technological advancements. The Great Expedition was plagued by the Moro Clan's resistance, and it was only through the large-scale use of spatial collapse bombs that the Moro civilization was finally eradicated.
Of course, due to the spatial collapse bombs, the Dawn Star Principality's expeditionary forces gained nothing from the Moro civilization's core resources, which were all annihilated in the spatial rifts. They only secured the territories of the Golden Shark and surrounding star domains. This is why all factions of the Ember Human Civilization are extremely reluctant to use spatial collapse bombs unless absolutely necessary.
This battle also prompted other civilizations in the Chaotic Star Region to unite and collectively resist the Dawn Star Principality's subsequent expansions, leading to a significant slowdown in the principality's territorial advances over the next few thousand years.
As the three of them conversed, the Qingkong continued its journey. In the main control room, Song Chao activated a special component aboard the Qingkong with a mere thought.
Void Membrane Level 20
- Quality: Blue
- Trait: Void Stealth
- Cost: 500 per use (Shadow Energy Points)
- Recharge: 20 minutes; Buffer: 9 hours
- Duration: 2 hours
- Effect: Conceals the ship's presence, priority level 350
- Upgrade Requirements: 15 strands of Floating Land Essence (Tier 1), 1500 Shadow Energy Points
Void Stealth: Grants the ship special resistance to the void, allowing it to ignore the effects of spatial rifts and void gales to a certain extent.
This component, which has special effects in the void, was reportedly obtained by Song MingSong, the elder, through unknown channels at great cost.
Not only did the Qingkong have one, but Song Hai's flagship also had a similar component. This was to ensure that during shift changes, they could enter and exit this star region without being detected by the Blood Blade Pirate Group.
The Blood Blade Pirate Group had been entrenched in this star region for a hundred years, and their control was far from a joke. Without sufficient stealth, the family's repeated entries and exits over the years would have been noticed long ago.
After cautiously traveling for two hours, the transparent Void Membrane on the ship's surface reached the end of its duration. Before it dissipated, the Qingkong found a small asteroid with a diameter of several hundred meters to dock on. After shutting down the ship's power, the Qingkong blended seamlessly with the asteroid, emitting no energy fluctuations whatsoever.
It wasn't until nine hours later, when the Void Membrane component completed its buffer period, that the Qingkong resumed its journey.
This process was repeated four times over the next two days. Finally, the Qingkong arrived near a small fragment belt.
This fragment belt was minuscule, with a diameter of only a few thousand meters. It was incomparable to the vast fragment belts that often spanned over a hundred thousand kilometers. However, in the 0155 Star Region, such tiny fragment clusters were common, a characteristic of the spatial collapse star region.
Just as Song Chi and his companions thought the Qingkong would bypass the fragment cluster and continue on, the ship suddenly turned and rapidly entered the cluster.
In the central area of the fragment cluster, various-sized Floating Land fragments were scattered haphazardly, appearing utterly ordinary to the naked eye. However, Song Chi and his companions soon noticed something amiss.
As the Qingkong passed through an invisible isolation barrier, the scene before their eyes suddenly shifted.
The chaotic fragments of floating lands had transformed into a nearly kilometer-wide vacuum region, with a fragment over five hundred meters in diameter at its center.
On this fragment stood a small, temporary alloy base, and at each corner of the fragment, a mechanical device was positioned.
A continuous flow of energy streamed from the temporary base, feeding into these mechanical devices. Four deep red beams shot out from these devices, connecting to form a hidden space concealed within the cluster of fragments.
"Combination Illusion Construction Devices, I remember these things are ridiculously expensive. A complete set costs hundreds of strands of Tier 3 Floating Land Essence. Are we really that wealthy?"
Inside the Azure Sky, it was still Song Lin who first recognized the four combination mechanical devices.
Hearing this, Song Chi and Song You quickly understood.
The Combination Illusion Construction Devices were reportedly developed by the "Virtual Technology Corporation" within the "Red Yu Divine Dynasty," one of the four super-empires of the Ember Human Civilization.
Although the illusions created by these devices were realistic and effectively shielded energy fluctuations, they were extremely expensive and had a very limited coverage area, making them unpopular in the market. However, compared to techniques like spatial curtains, they were still more cost-effective.
Soon, the Azure Sky landed in the single-person warship docking area next to the base.
Whoosh!
After Song Chao stored the Azure Sky in the Ember Ancestral Aperture, Song Chi, Song You, and Song Lin finally disembarked. Although the restrictions from the warship's passenger verification components were no longer in effect, they still couldn't use their dark energy for 24 hours.
A short while later, Uncle Song Hai, along with Song Qi and Song Wen, came out to greet them. They had been here for over a month, and the arrival of the four Song family members meant they could leave soon.
"Third Brother, Little Lin, Little Chi, and... Little You has advanced as well? Great job!!"
Uncle Song Hai was the first to greet them, and the seven of them began to chat animatedly.
Especially the five younger ones, who had a lot to talk about.
Song Qi walked up to his younger brother, smiling and patting Song You's shoulder.
"You little guy, not bad. When did you advance? Five times or six times?"
Hearing this, Song You lifted his chin and proudly gestured.
"Five times. Not bad at all, worthy of our little prodigy!"
Song Qi was particularly pleased. He and Song Lin had both advanced their warships to the next tier after ten star domain explorations. Seeing his younger cousin advance so quickly, he felt genuinely happy.
Up front, Song Hai and Song Chao were having a quiet conversation.
"Any other unusual activities from the Blood Blade Pirate Group?"
In response to Song Chao's question, Song Hai first shook his head, but then added:
"However, a few days ago, 'Blood Wolf' left the base with a group, probably to raid. They haven't returned yet."
Song Chao's eyes narrowed, quickly recalling all the information he had on this person.
Blood Wolf, the deputy leader of the Blood Blade Pirate Group, a Tier 2 peak Ember Captain, commanded the "Demon Wolf," one of the most powerful frigates. He was undoubtedly the second-in-command of the Blood Blade Pirate Group.
After some thought, Song Chao made a guess.
"Could he be out to advance?"
Song Hai didn't answer immediately. In fact, he had similar suspicions, but couldn't confirm them.
"The possibility is low. According to our information, Blood Wolf is less than two hundred years old. Although he holds significant power and has substantial long-term earnings in the Blood Blade Pirate Group, advancing to Tier 3 is no small matter. His current experience is far from enough."
"Moreover, he is a close confidant of Blood Blade. If he were to advance to Tier 3, the pirate base would be the safest place. Why take the risk outside? I believe he's just out to raid."
Song Hai's reasoning was sound, and Song Chao largely agreed. However, given the importance of their mission, which had been planned for decades, they couldn't afford to make subjective assumptions.
"Should" or "low possibility" might be acceptable in ordinary missions, but not in this case.
The two exchanged a glance, and then Song Hai spoke up:
"Understood. When we return to White Tower Floating Land, I will report the situation to Grandfather. We will thoroughly investigate Blood Wolf's movements to ensure there are no mistakes."
Song Chao relaxed at this, but Song Hai continued:
"By the way, how is the situation with the elder?"
"What are the chances of promotion?"
"Pretty good. After the promotion mission was initiated, Grandfather personally led us through two rounds of exploration in different star domains. With his assistance, the leader managed to take down a peak third-stage alien, significantly increasing our success rate. Currently, the success rate is nearly 50%. If Grandfather continues to guide us through a few more explorations, pushing the success rate to over 60% shouldn't be too difficult."
Song Chi's response left Song Hai extremely satisfied. In just under two months, the success rate had already reached nearly 50%, which was a very promising start. As long as they didn't encounter any major setbacks, reaching a 60% success rate should be achievable.
As they walked into the base, Song Chi noticed that it wasn't very large, but he understood that it was only temporary. Besides a few single-person quarters, there was only one room at the far end—the remote monitoring room.
Standing behind Song Hai and Song Zhao, the three of them curiously craned their necks, eager to see the room that Song Qi and Song Wen had spoken about, which could monitor distances spanning over a light year.
As the door opened, the three of them followed Song Hai and Song Zhao into the monitoring room.
Upon entering, their eyes were immediately drawn to the massive projection screen in the center of the room, which almost filled the entire space.
The screen, over ten meters long and five meters wide, resembled a giant black-and-white curtain, spanning the room. However, the real attraction was the real-time imagery displayed on the screen.
In the pitch-black starry expanse, numerous terrifying spatial rifts of varying sizes were scattered. Not far away, a massive floating land fragment, over ten thousand meters in diameter, floated silently. An even larger, elliptical energy shield enveloped the floating land fragment.
Through the transparent energy shield, they could see various sizes of Ember Fleet ships drifting within. Below, towering alloy buildings, over a kilometer high, stood on the fragment. Crimson energy flowed from the tops of these buildings, feeding into the energy shield above, maintaining its integrity.
"This mechanical base on the floating land fragment is the base of the Blood Blade Pirate Group. It's over 1.5 light years away from our current position. This base has been here since we arrived several decades ago."
Hearing Uncle Song Hai's deep voice, Song Chi and the others snapped out of their daze. Song Chi didn't know what Song Lin and Song You were thinking, but he had a question on his mind.
"How is this projection screen generated? It can monitor a star domain 1.5 light years away in real-time. This is beyond astonishing."
Noticing the confusion in his son's eyes, Song Zhao explained slowly:
"This projection screen is generated by a piece of orange equipment that Grandfather brought from the clan."
Song Chi's confusion didn't completely dissipate.
Ship components need to be installed on an Ember Fleet ship to function. Could it be that this orange component is currently installed on Uncle's ship? But if that's the case, what happens when Uncle leaves? Do they have to dismantle it and reinstall it on the Azure Sky? Or does Uncle's ship remain here?
Before he could ask, Song Zhao continued:
"This component only needs to be upgraded to level 19 to have a range of 1.5 light years. Each time it's dismantled, it doesn't waste much in resources."
Hearing this, Song Chi nodded. If it only needed to be upgraded to level 19, they wouldn't need titanium crystals, which are strategic resources. As long as they didn't waste such valuable resources, it was acceptable.
Understanding this, Song Chi's attention shifted, and he thought to himself:
"An orange-quality special component. Indeed, our elders have quite a few good items in their possession."
At that moment, Song You suddenly spoke, asking a question that had been on everyone's mind:
"Uncle, Third Uncle, since the family has used an orange component, what exactly have we been planning for these past few decades?"
(End of Chapter)
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