https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-200-Plasma-Guardian-Song-Chi-s-Initiative/12833863/
Chapter 199: The Ember Fleet Pass and the Unexpected Purple Curio
Chapter 199: The Ember Fleet Pass and the Unexpected Purple Curio
In the transfer hub of the Stabilizing Sea Star Domain, eleven ring-shaped spatial gates dominate the interior of the spherical station. Each gate is over a million meters wide and tall, capable of transporting ten thousand Ember Fleet ships at once.
On this day, the spatial gate connected to the Golden Lion Star Domain began to flicker with a faint light, signaling the start of the next transmission.
In the control room of a twenty-meter-long psychic energy airship, a little girl pointed to a few Ember Fleet ships in the corner of the projection screen and asked her grandfather, "Grandpa, weren't those Ember Fleet ships that came with us yesterday? Why can they transmit directly while we have to wait for eight more days?"
The old man, with his hair already gray at nearly 150 years old, smiled and shook his head. "They are all big shots from the Stabilizing Sea Song Clan. And the Stabilizing Sea Song Clan is the sky over the entire Stabilizing Sea Star Domain."
As he spoke, the spatial gate ahead was completely enveloped in light, followed by intense spatial fluctuations. When the light finally dissipated, the nearly ten thousand warships within the gate had vanished.
...
In the Golden Lion Star Domain, a small fleet was speeding through the pitch-black expanse of space.
"We're almost there. Just a few dozen light-years more, and we'll reach the Golden Moon Star Region."
Uncle Song Shan's voice echoed through the communication channel.
Since they were not far apart and within the range of the magnetic fields of their warships, the group had been in constant communication.
Then, Grandfather Song Ming Song's voice followed closely.
"Is the warp drive fully buffered? If so, let's start the warp!"
Soon after, the nine warships almost simultaneously initiated their spatial warp.
In the Golden Moon Star Region, on the Golden Moon Floating Land, a Level 1 life-type floating land, it was far from a strategic location or a border floating land. Compared to the White Tower Floating Land, the Golden Moon Floating Land seemed particularly modest.
While the floating land had over a dozen city clusters, the number of high-ranking Ember Fleet captains was minimal, almost pitifully few. The entire floating land had only a handful of Second-Rank Ember Fleet captains, and not a single Third-Rank captain, let alone a Fourth-Rank Pursuit Ship like the one guarding the White Tower Floating Land.
The arrival of Song Chi and his group was a monumental event for the entire floating land. As soon as they landed in the outskirts of a city called Red Leaf City, five local Second-Rank Ember Fleet ships arrived shortly after.
They not only arranged the highest hotel in Red Leaf City for the group but also invited them to various banquets, fearful of any slight.
In the end, it was Grandfather who directly rebuked them, but the group did not show any displeasure; instead, they seemed relieved, smiling as they left one by one.
Song Chi, who witnessed the entire process, did not show any surprise or curiosity. This was the era of the star seas, not the Earth of his past life. The notion that a powerful outsider would not dominate a local power did not exist here.
In the civilization of the Ember Humans, where the power is directly linked to the individual, the rank of the warship represented everything. As long as they did not massacre ordinary citizens and did not overstep, actions like a Third-Rank Ember Fleet ship killing a few local Second-Rank captains would not be questioned by the official Ember Human civilization, nor by the Morning Star Principality.
Thus, the behavior of these local Second-Rank Ember Fleet captains was entirely reasonable.
In the hotel, Song Chi did not go to the underground warship summoning room to enter the ruins for practice. According to his grandfather, the Bai family would arrive in a couple of days, so he was not in a rush.
In his personal room, he closed his eyes, his mind sinking into the Ember Ancestral Acupoint to communicate with the Ember Seed, connecting to the Golden Moon Floating Land's local network.
As soon as he connected to the Ember Network, the familiar prompt sounded in his ear.
The first message was the usual "Welcome to the Ember Network."
The second message was sixteen characters long.
[Star Sea Odyssey, the path is long and arduous, the flame of civilization, eternal and unyielding.]
Following that, it informed him that he was connected to the Golden Moon Floating Land's local network.
[Respected Captain of the "Azure Sky," you are now connected to the Golden Moon Floating Land's local network.]
Hearing the words "Golden Moon Floating Land's local network," Song Chi's eyes narrowed.
It was said that after advancing to Third Rank, one could connect to the intermediate local network of an entire star domain. If one reached Fourth Rank, they could directly connect to the advanced local network of the entire Morning Star Principality. Honestly, he was looking forward to it.
After a brief pause, Song Chi successfully logged into the "Golden Moon Floating Land Local Network." The first thing that appeared before his eyes was the general communication channel for the "Golden Moon Floating Land" Flame Fleet captains.
However, the current discussions on the channel made the corners of Song Chi's mouth twitch.
"{Yellow Earth}: I guess they must be some big shots from the Principality's capital star domain, with two cruisers and seven frigates. The sight is utterly intimidating!"
"{Wolf}: To be honest, this is my first time seeing a cruiser-level Flame Fleet ship in real life. It's no wonder they can suppress a low-level floating land with a single ship. The sense of oppression is incredible."
"{Old Wang}: But why would such big shots come to a small place like ours? Could it be that something high-tier has appeared around our Golden Moon Floating Land? Shocking JPG."
...
Song Chi had no interest in these trivial conversations. After closing the chat channel, he opened the Flame Fleet Marketplace on the local network.
As expected, this Level 1 floating land had nothing of value. There were no purple rarities, and the highest quality items were just a few blue-grade components, followed by a large number of white-grade components. However, none of them caught Song Chi's eye.
After about ten minutes, Song Chi opened the forum panel.
He typed in "ship components" and clicked search.
Although he hadn't expected much, the search results included a post that caught his interest.
The post featured a blue-grade ship component, not some obscure one, but a highly sought-after component.
"Really? A [Flame Fleet Crew Access Certificate]?"
Surprised, Song Chi quickly opened the post and scrolled to the bottom.
The latest reply from the poster was from the day before yesterday. From the tone, it seemed the component hadn't been sold yet.
Seeing this, he quickly sent his inquiry.
"Is this component still available? If so, can we meet in person?"
It was no secret that he wanted a crew access component.
Components like the [Flame Fleet Crew Access Certificate] were relatively common and appeared frequently, but their popularity far exceeded the norm. After all, almost every Flame Fleet captain would want to equip their ship with such a component.
This had made it difficult for him to acquire one despite multiple attempts.
Now, he had stumbled upon it by chance, and he couldn't help but feel a bit excited.
The captain of the ship named [Green Pea] seemed to be online. Shortly after Song Chi sent his message, he received a reply.
"Yes, I have it. If we meet in person, can we do it in South Inlay City?"
Song Chi had no objections to the location. South Inlay City was another city on the Golden Moon Floating Land, not far from Red Leaf City.
"Sure, let's meet at 3 PM today at the northern outskirts of South Inlay City!"
...
South Inlay City, West Suburbs, Hundred Flowers Street.
Hundred Flowers Street was a notorious slum in South Inlay City. The environment was poor, and the security was terrible. Only those with no savings would live here.
In a secluded alley, several tents made from scrap materials stood, housing a few families.
Inside one of the tents, a hoarse voice spoke.
"Another meeting?"
After the hoarse voice, a weak female voice followed.
"Yes, this time it will definitely be sold. Mom, stay at home and wait for me. I'll be back soon!"
With that, a piece of tattered cloth at the tent's entrance was lifted, and a slender, frail figure emerged.
As the girl disappeared down the dirty alley, the hoarse voice spoke again from inside the tent.
"Foolish girl, how could a blue component be worth ten thousand strands of zero-grade floating land essence, unless... cough, cough, cough!"
Before he could finish, a fit of coughing interrupted him, cutting off the hoarse voice.
North Suburbs of South Inlay City.
This was a small park. After arriving, Song Chi began to leisurely stroll around.
His life had been almost entirely focused on exploring other star domains and training.
Practicing Dao-guiding techniques and visualizing the mythic mech projection diagrams.
His daily routine was filled with training tasks, leaving him little time to relax like this.
Occasionally, he would take a moment to enjoy such peace, and he couldn't deny that he found it refreshing.
This sense of relaxation, both physical and mental, brought to mind a certain figure, one that he had long kept in his heart, trying hard not to think about.
As the thought crossed his mind, a poem from his past life involuntarily surfaced in his thoughts.
There is someone I yearn for, far away in a distant land.
The land is too far to reach, yet I gaze upon it every day.
...
"It's been a year and a half, I wonder how that girl is doing now..."
When he first arrived at the Song family, he was unfamiliar with everything and had no means to inquire about the affairs of a Level 1 floating land from over ten thousand light-years away. It wasn't until many of the clan members from the tenth direct lineage joined him that he managed to send someone to White Tower Floating Land.
However, the result was that Shen Youran and her entire family had already moved from White Tower Floating Land, seemingly to the capital star domain of the duchy.
Fortunately, the clan members who went to Jiangyuan City's Ember Academy learned that Shen Youran had successfully awakened the Ember Seed, and it seemed to be of high quality.
For a moment, Song Chi's thoughts drifted.
But the sudden light tremor from the Ember Seed in his mind pulled him back to reality. The captain of the Green Bean was contacting him.
A few minutes later, Song Chi successfully found the person at the park entrance.
At first glance, he was somewhat uncertain about the thin figure before him. After all, how could a captain with a blue component to trade end up looking like this? It wasn't until the person revealed their identity that he was sure.
"Ten thousand strands of zero-stage floating land essence?"
The moment the other party quoted the price, Song Chi's brows furrowed.
His first thought was that the other party had no intention of making a deal.
A common blue component usually had a market price of around fifteen thousand strands of zero-stage floating land essence. Even if the Ember Warship Passenger Certificate was highly sought after, it would top out at thirty thousand strands. There was no way it could reach a price of one hundred thousand strands.
Unless the other party didn't really want to sell!
With this suspicion, he didn't plan to talk much more and turned to leave.
Seeing him about to go, the thin girl became flustered and quickly spoke again, her voice trembling subtly.
With his hearing, already at the second stage of the Guiding Technique, Song Chi could easily detect her effort to control her sobs.
"It's not an exorbitant price. My mother is severely ill and needs a high-level treatment potion that costs one hundred thousand strands of zero-stage floating land essence to fully cure her. If you think the price is too high, we can continue negotiating..."
Song Chi paused in his steps.
Instead of rushing to haggle, he offered to see the supposedly ill mother mentioned by the girl.
Half an hour later, in the western suburbs of Nanxiang City, on Baihua Street.
Following the girl, the two of them navigated through dirty and remote alleyways.
By this point, Song Chi was almost certain that the girl's earlier words were true.
Seeing the ill mother and the genuine concern in their interactions, he was convinced.
After some thought, he offered his highest price.
"Forty thousand strands of zero-stage floating land essence. If you accept, we can make the deal."
While he felt a bit of sympathy, Song Chi wasn't about to be taken advantage of.
Forty thousand strands of zero-stage floating land essence was a few thousand strands more than the normal market price for the Ember Warship Passenger Certificate, a fair price to pay for his sympathy.
Hearing his serious tone, the girl thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement.
Song Chi handed over the forty thousand strands of zero-stage floating land essence and took the Ember Warship Passenger Certificate component. He then gently said to the thin girl in front of him:
"If I'm not mistaken, your mother has a special spore infection. It must be treated all at once. It's best to wait until you have one hundred thousand strands of zero-stage floating land essence and buy the high-level treatment potion. Using a mid-level treatment potion to alleviate the symptoms won't work!"
With that, he turned and left the tent.
Inside the tent, the thin girl turned to look at the middle-aged woman, who hesitated for a moment. Remembering Song Chi's final words and his willingness to pay a premium, she finally nodded lightly.
"Please wait!"
The weak call from behind made Song Chi pause again. He turned to look back, and his heart skipped a beat.
In the thin girl's slightly opened ancestral acupoint, he saw a shimmering purple light.
"A purple rare item?"
(End of Chapter)
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