https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-176-A-Creature-Rivaling-the-Thorn-Dragon-Surprises-in-the-Togu-Tribe-s-Secret-Treasury/12833782/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-178-Red-Farewell-to-the-Red-Epic-Curio/12833788/
Chapter 177: A 21-Light-Year-Across Asteroid Belt
Chapter 177: A 21-Light-Year-Across Asteroid Belt
Song Chi made his way to the innermost part of the secret vault, his eyes never leaving the stone platform. If he wasn't mistaken, the resources piled on this platform were exactly what he was desperately short of—titanium crystals.
After enhancing the components of the [Silver III Generation Ultrasonic Magic Energy Detection Radar], he had fewer than 120 titanium crystals left. Although he could acquire another 50 from the market the next day, it was still far from enough.
Just the reinforcement of the [Pure Yang Sword Beam Cannon] and the [Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator] required over 30 titanium crystals each time. The few he had wouldn't last more than a few reinforcements.
Thinking about it, how long had it been since he last reinforced these two components? It seemed to have been almost half a year.
In such a long time, he hadn't reinforced them even once.
Was it because he didn't want to continue reinforcing them? Of course not. It was because he lacked titanium crystals and third-stage floating land essence.
If the resources on this platform were indeed titanium crystals, they would be like a gift in the midst of a crisis.
He picked up a crystalline piece from the platform and examined it closely. After a few seconds, a smile spread across his face as he turned to Tugu Hong and asked, "Where did you obtain these minerals? Do you have more?"
After careful identification, he confirmed that the resources on the platform were indeed titanium crystals, a strategic resource for the ember human civilization.
However, after counting, he found that the number of titanium crystals on the platform was not particularly large—only a little over 500, not quite reaching 520.
Adding the 120 he already had, he now had 630 in total.
Upon hearing his question, Tugu Hong immediately replied, but the news was disheartening. According to him, these titanium crystals were left by the ancestors of the Tugu tribe. It seemed that hundreds of years ago, they had accidentally discovered a titanium crystal vein. Even though they didn't know its specific use, they recognized its value and stored it in the secret vault, where it remained until now.
Unfortunately, the titanium crystal vein they had discovered was only a remnant, similar to the one found in the Ring White Tower fragment belt, but it produced even fewer titanium crystals—only a little over 600.
Over the past few hundred years, the weapon smiths of the Tugu tribe had been trying to figure out the use of these titanium crystals and had taken quite a few, leaving only this much.
Suppressing his disappointment, Song Chi turned back, his face regaining its joy. Regardless, the unexpected discovery of over 500 titanium crystals was a significant windfall, and he had no reason to be disappointed.
With a gentle wave of his hand, Zhao Lei, his servant, appeared out of nowhere. Following Song Chi's orders, Zhao Lei activated his storage bag with a burst of mana. Within a few minutes, all the resources in the secret vault were stored in the bag, much to the amazement of Tugu Hong.
...
Above the Tugu tribe, the Cangqiong soared into the sky and quickly disappeared into the horizon.
As time passed, the Cangqiong left its mark on every region of the Blue Blood floating land. Song Chi didn't rush to leave this floating land. After all, it was a Level 2 floating land, and even with the Blue Blood clan cleared out, it still held considerable value.
For example, there were various potential mineral resources, rare biological resources, and the floating land's core deep underground, all of which were valuable.
At the moment, the Cangqiong was exploring the mineral resources of the Blue Blood floating land. Since a titanium crystal vein had been discovered before, Song Chi had high hopes.
As for biological resources, he hadn't found any other high-potential life forms besides Tugu Hong.
The floating land's core, on the other hand, was the key to absorbing external star energy and autonomously cycling the floating land's essence. It was the most valuable part of the floating land's essence, but it was not something he could currently consider.
Except for those partially evolved floating land essence cores, all fully formed essence cores were completely integrated with the floating land.
Separating them from the floating land itself was extremely difficult and required a high-level being far exceeding the floating land's own level.
For a Level 2 floating land's essence core, at least a fourth-stage ember ship captain would need to use special methods to separate and take it away.
In the Cangqiong's main control room, Song Chi assigned the task of analyzing the energy fluctuation signals detected along the way to the semi-autonomous ship AI. He himself took control of the warship and divided his attention between the various onboard components.
With over 500 titanium crystals, 1400 strands of second-stage floating land essence, and 100 strands of third-stage floating land essence in hand, it was time to reinforce the Cangqiong again.
This time, he didn't overlook the orange and red components on the warship. His gaze flicked between the four, finally settling on the [Pure Yang Sword Beam Cannon].
The [Enslavement Medal] was not a priority. As long as it couldn't be reinforced to the fourth stage in one go, it wasn't worth considering, as the benefits were minimal.
The [Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator]...
The reason attacks on the Soul Spirit race's divine souls are ineffective is why they are not currently considered.
As for the Void Shadow Assassin Automaton Tree, it is still sufficient for now.
When it comes to the Pure Yang Sword Light Cannon, this main cannon is currently at level 30. Against ordinary third-stage creatures, its damage is substantial, usually resolving them with just two shots. However, when attacking the third-stage Chimera, which was bolstered by a near-fourth-stage Floating Land Essence Rule, it was clearly lacking in firepower.
Song Chi could understand this. Although the cannon is of orange quality, it has only been reinforced to level 30, just barely crossing the threshold into the third stage. The third-stage Chimera, with its near-fourth-stage Floating Land Essence Rule, had combat power that surpassed even the peak of the third stage.
Despite this, the Pure Yang Sword Light Cannon's performance in terms of firepower is still commendable.
However, understanding does not mean acceptance. From the current progress of the family's frontline, it is likely that within a year, the Southern, Central, and Northern domains will all be under the family's control. At that time, the two first-line elders from outside the Floating Land will also be able to descend in person.
Therefore, the time left for him is limited.
If he wants to gather as many resources as possible from the Soul Spirit Floating Land, he cannot wait for the family's frontline to advance completely. He must take action early, entering the territories controlled by the Soul Spirit race to conduct reconnaissance and searches.
This means that avoiding conflicts with high-stage Soul Spirits is impossible, and this is why he must further enhance the Skyvault's firepower.
The stronger the Skyvault's firepower, the greater the chances of success when encountering high-stage Soul Spirits, and the safer he will be.
Do you wish to consume 20 strands of third-stage Floating Land Essence + 350 Flame Sun Ores + 32 titanium crystals to upgrade the Pure Yang Sword Light Cannon from level 30 to level 31?
"Confirm!"
After seven consecutive upgrades, the Pure Yang Sword Light Cannon was reinforced to level 37.
It's not that Song Chi was unwilling to continue reinforcing it, but he ran out of third-stage Floating Land Essence.
To upgrade this orange-quality main cannon from level 30 to level 37, he spent a total of 287 strands of third-stage Floating Land Essence and 266 titanium crystals. Now, he only has 67 strands of third-stage Floating Land Essence left.
Pure Yang Sword Light Cannon Level 37
- Quality: Orange
- Trait: Chaotic Yang Sword Intent Divine Light
- Trait 2: Main Cannon Power Increased by 122%
- Consumption: 3700 per shot (Void Energy Points)
- Attack: 1,798,200
- Recharge: 4 seconds; Buffer: 5 seconds
- Upgrade Requirements: 69 strands of third-stage Floating Land Essence, 49,000 Void Energy Points, 700 tons of Flame Sun Ores, 46 titanium crystals
However, it must be said that the attributes of the level 37 Pure Yang Sword Light Cannon are quite impressive.
The resources consumed were indeed substantial, but the attribute improvements were real. The attack power alone increased from 600,000 to nearly 1.8 million, nearly tripling.
...
Ten hours later, Song Chi conducted a preliminary exploration of the entire Blue Blood Floating Land, mining a few veins of valuable minerals along the way. He then recalled all the Raging Tiger Mining Vehicles.
Including the time spent clearing all the Blue Blood tribes, his exploration of this alien domain has already lasted over 22 hours, leaving little time before he must return.
There are still many resources on this Blue Blood Floating Land that can be mined, and some biological resources, if cultivated over time, could also yield some profit. However, these require time to see results, and Song Chi has no interest in that.
With the same amount of time, he would rather head to the asteroid belt at the spatial anchor point, which spans over 17 light-years in diameter. If all the asteroids were combined into a single Floating Land, it would be at least a fourth-stage Floating Land. In other words, the potential value of that asteroid belt far exceeds the Blue Blood Floating Land beneath his feet.
Song Chi, who clearly understood this, knew the basic trade-offs.
Before leaving the Blue Blood Floating Land via the Marketplace Secret Realm, Song Chi activated the Spatial Beacon Emitter component, marking a beacon in the sky above the Blue Blood Floating Land.
Although he has lost interest in this Floating Land, he can report it to his grandfather. A second-stage life-type Floating Land, though requiring the use of components like the alien domain beacon emitter to maintain communication, is still worth the investment of manpower for the recently established Tenth Lineage.
Operations like this are not unique to their lineage; the entire Song family, the entire Morning Star Principality, and even the various factions of the Ember Human civilization generally follow this approach.
The time and resources required for remote development are substantial, but once stabilized, the subsequent benefits are significant.
After marking the beacon, Song Chi had no lingering thoughts. As he recalled the Skyvault, his figure suddenly disappeared.
In an unnamed asteroid belt, within a vacuum region a kilometer in diameter, Song Chi reappeared with a subtle spatial ripple.
With time running short, it was impossible to mine the surrounding resources, and that wasn't his goal this time around.
Glancing at the Silver III Ultrasonic Mana Detection Radar, he saw a significant number of second- and third-stage Vital Energy signatures within the radar's detection range, which extended over two light-months. Most likely, these were the same humanoid alien species he had encountered a month ago.
Ethan Song frowned. He hadn't come here to clear out these humanoid aliens but to place one of the third-stage Soul Guardians in this asteroid belt, where it could command the Roaring Tiger mining vehicles and standard civilian mining ships to slowly extract the resources from the asteroids.
However, with so many second- and third-stage aliens appearing nearby, this plan was clearly difficult to execute. A single third-stage Soul Guardian would be no match for those humanoid aliens if they encountered each other.
With this in mind, Ethan Song rubbed his forehead, wondering what to do.
There was only a little over an hour left before he had to return, and it was impossible to clear out the humanoid aliens in that time.
Thus, there was only one option left: to leave this area and find a region far from the activity of these humanoid aliens.
Only then could the Soul Guardian safely command the Roaring Tiger mining vehicles and the standard civilian mining ships to mine the asteroid belt over the next month.
With this decision made, Ethan Song no longer hesitated and quietly waited for the Silver III Ultrasonic Mana Detection Radar to generate the star map.
While waiting, he felt a faint sense of anticipation.
After being upgraded to level 30, the Silver III Ultrasonic Mana Detection Radar had a detection range of 1,530 light-hours, and the star map generated by its Stellar Cartographer feature had a radius of 44 light-years.
In other words, the star map generated by the mana detection radar would have a diameter of 88 light-years.
Such a vast star map would likely show the entire extent of this asteroid belt, and he was curious to see just how long this asteroid belt extended.
Time passed, and after several dozen minutes, just over twenty minutes before the Cerulean Horizon's return, the star map from the Silver III Ultrasonic Mana Detection Radar was finally generated.
Focusing his gaze, Ethan Song's eyebrows arched.
As expected, the star map indeed displayed the entire asteroid belt.
The final result was astonishing: the asteroid belt stretched for 21 light-years.
This was a staggering distance. Even if the belt were fully condensed, the number would still be significantly reduced, far from the scale of the Dragon's Spine Continent, but it was undeniable that the area of this asteroid belt was astonishing.
After a brief moment of amazement, Ethan Song's attention returned to the Vital Energy signature alerts. His top priority now was to find a suitable mining area.
With the help of the semi-automatic shipboard AI, he quickly identified several suitable mining locations.
The asteroid belt was large enough, and while the number of humanoid aliens was significant, they didn't cover the entire belt.
Moreover, Ethan Song noticed a clear pattern in the distribution of these humanoid aliens. Their activity formed an irregular sphere on the star map.
Clearly, their base or temporary encampment was located in the central region of this sphere.
He made a mental note to investigate this area in detail later.
Ethan Song selected a suitable mining point and then activated the Purple River Warp Device. Twenty minutes later, the Cerulean Horizon warped to a void region five light-years away.
Upon successful arrival, the Cerulean Horizon's hatch quickly opened, and ten Roaring Tiger mining vehicles and two standard civilian mining ships emerged. Additionally, a third-stage Soul Guardian and a third-stage Black Water Mystic Snake were also dispatched.
The task for the third-stage Soul Guardian was straightforward: to command the ten Roaring Tiger mining vehicles and the two mining ships to mine the surrounding resource points.
The mining vehicles and ships were equipped with semi-automatic AI, so the Soul Guardian only needed to oversee the overall mining operation. The actual mining tasks could be handled automatically by the vehicles and ships.
Before leaving, Ethan Song also handed the Market Walker Token to the third-stage Soul Guardian. This way, it could enter the Cosmic Market at any time and deliver the various minerals mined to him in real-time.
As for whether the Market Walker Token would be needed when the market opened, Ethan Song wasn't worried. He could always recall the token from the Soul Guardian if necessary.
If any alien species tried to exchange for the Market Walker Token, he could retrieve it with a single thought.
Finally, Ethan Song transmitted a copy of the star map generated by the mana detection radar to the civilian mining ship. This would help the third-stage Soul Guardian better understand the distribution of various resource points, improving the mining efficiency.
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(End of Chapter)
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