https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-412-The-Wealth-of-a-Ten-Thousand-Year-Old-Intermediate-Civilization/12920193/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-414-The-Golden-Artifact-The-Spirit-Tongue-Codex/12920195/
Chapter 413: Two Years in the Chaos Star Domain
Chapter 413: Two Years in the Chaos Star Domain
If this campaign of expansion goes as planned without any major surprises, the Red River Star Domain will undoubtedly be incorporated into the Calm Sea Star Domain, causing its diameter to surge to nearly 5,000 light-years.
Of course, this won't be the final outcome. During this campaign, the Song family will strive to seize more resources, as a single 5th-rank Floating Continent is far from satisfying their ambitions.
...
With this in mind, Song Chi's thoughts shifted, and the Celestial Ruin Heaven's surrounding space surged as it quickly jumped to the Goat Floating Continent.
Although the battle in the Celestial Star Continent had ended, the cleanup progress across the entire Red River Star Domain was far from complete.
After all, it was a star domain with a diameter of over 2,000 light-years. Even with all the fleets working together, each one trying to clear out valuable Floating Continents as quickly as possible, it would still take several years.
In the following period, Song Chi spent most of his time accompanying the Pulse Fleet in conquering 2nd and 3rd-rank Floating Continents. For the Tenth Direct Pulse, every additional conquered Floating Continent meant a stronger foundation, which was a boost to the overall strength of the Direct Pulse.
Inside the Celestial Ruin Heaven, Song Chi handed over control of the warship to the Skyward Intellect, sat down on the ground, and began to fully digest the second fifth-rank Malefic Deity Essence.
Before he broke through to the fourth rank in his guiding technique, he had 3 semi-sixth-rank and 5 fifth-rank Malefic Deity Essences left. After breaking through the fourth rank, he tried to absorb one fifth-rank essence, which, along with the life sublimation after the breakthrough, allowed him to elevate his mind power to 'One Mind Twenty-Seven Uses'.
However, absorbing the fifth-rank Malefic Deity Essence took a long time, often more than a month.
Moreover, the effect of mind power on accelerating the understanding of laws was extremely limited, mostly improving the efficiency of controlling the warship and maintaining the Mythical Machine Armor form. Therefore, he wasn't in a hurry to absorb the remaining essences.
It was only now, with ample time, that he began to absorb these remaining essences.
...
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, nearly two years had gone by.
During these two years, the Song family's fleet had thoroughly swept and scavenged the entire Red River Star Domain, benefiting from the enthusiasm of billions of Flame Citizens (standard starships required a large number of operators). The progress was highly encouraging.
Indeed, in less than two years, the fleet had reached the edge of the Red River Star Domain. Just over a hundred light-years ahead lay the western border of the Chaos Star Domain.
Compared to the speed of the Calm Sea Fleet, the eastern main fleet of the Duchy was much faster.
Multiverse Marketplace, Inn, Third Floor, a certain walking room.
"Master, that's the situation in general!"
After Wang Zhen had provided all the information in detail, he respectfully looked at Song Chi in front of him.
Song Chi's eyes flickered thoughtfully.
Before the great expansion war began, he had carefully considered Wang Zhen. Initially, he had planned to have him come to the Calm Sea Star Domain to follow the family's Tenth Direct Pulse and also be responsible for protecting his parents and Song Ting.
Thanks to Song Chi's proactive investment, the Wolf Roar Tiger Roar was now much more advanced than when it was first promoted decades ago. With several orange-grade components and a fourth-rank enslaved creature, it was considered top-tier among ordinary Deer Hunt Ships. Having it protect his family would put his mind at ease.
However, after much consideration, he abandoned this arrangement and instead had Wang Zhen lead his men to follow the eastern main fleet. This way, Wang Zhen could provide the latest information and also acquire resources with a price difference and Star Sea Artifacts that couldn't be converted into ship components.
As it turned out, his choice was correct.
Although the real-time information about the Duchy's main fleet over the past two years hadn't played a significant role, Wang Zhen's resource and artifact acquisitions were substantial.
First, they had acquired enough special Floating Continent plant seeds to fill two storage capsules, which were highly valued by the Treant race.
Additionally, they had also obtained Terra Stones and various herbs needed in the Primordial Continent.
Most importantly, they had acquired Star Sea Artifacts that couldn't be converted into ship components. Over the past two years, the Duchy's main fleet had pierced through the southern region of the Chaos Star Domain, annihilating multiple alien civilizations. As a result, almost every Flame Captain had one or two such artifacts.
When Wang Zhen offered a purchase price of 70% of the same-rank component, these Flame Captains flocked to him. Even after Song Chi had given Wang Zhen hundreds of millions of low-rank Floating Continent essences, they were almost completely sold out.
This large number of Floating Continent essences were exchanged for over 20 red epic artifacts, more than 300 orange honorary artifacts, over a thousand purple artifacts, and five-digit numbers of blue and white artifacts.
At this moment, all of these were piled up in several storage capsules in Song Chi's hands.
Fortunately, he had obtained a large number of low-priced Floating Continent essences in the Celestial Star Continent, and with the earnings from the marketplace over the past two years, Song Chi once again gave Wang Zhen a large number of low-rank Floating Continent essences, totaling no less than five hundred million zero-grade Floating Continent essences.
This also allowed him to continue acquiring various artifacts that couldn't be converted into ship components without restraint.
After receiving these Floating Continent essences, Wang Zhen hesitated for a moment before speaking up:
"Your Highness, we're not the only ones actively collecting these Star Sea Artifacts. Several other major powers in the Duchy are also collecting them through their chambers of commerce, but their purchase price is only 65% of the same-rank component, so they can't compete with us. However..."
Wang Zhen's voice trailed off, but Song Chi could sense the change in his tone.
Song Chi slightly tilted his head, indicating for him to continue.
"But in the past few months, my men have reported several deliberate troublemaking incidents, and I've also received threats. The general message is that they want us to stop our acquisition."
Song Chi narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment.
"Do you know who it is?"
Wang Zhen shook his head.
"They haven't shown themselves, only sending messages through others. But the messenger was a Limit Cruiser Captain, and I suspect he's connected to the other four major powers."
Song Chi did not respond immediately.
The other four families Wang Zhen mentioned were easily understood as the other four major powers in the Duchy.
After a moment's contemplation, a dark medal appeared in Song Chi's hand, which he then tossed to Wang Zhen.
At the same time, he spoke sternly, "Don't pay attention to these pretentious fools. Even if they are from the other four families, they won't be the ones in power. At most, they'd be direct descendants of that level. If they were, they'd just bring up their family name; there's no need for all this roundabout talk."
"Continue with the normal acquisition. If the other party initiates a price war later, just keep up with them. If they forcefully take action, activate this Shadow Medal. I want to see just which family's people they are!"
"Understood, Your Highness!"
With Song Chi's assurance, Wang Zhen no longer had any worries. After a respectful bow, he quickly left the Ruin Market.
Song Chi stayed in the market for a few more days, only leaving after fully stabilizing his formidable mental power, which allowed him to use it thirty-four times.
It took him nearly two years to absorb all the Fifth-Rank and half-step Sixth-Rank Malefic Deity Essences he had, greatly increasing his mental power from twenty-seven to thirty-four uses.
For a Deer Hunt Ship Captain who had just entered the Fourth Rank, this mental power was absolutely astonishing. Even a weaker Battleship Captain would only have mental power of thirty uses.
Song Chi was, of course, extremely satisfied with this.
Red River Star Domain, Black Original Floatland.
This was a 3rd-Rank resource-type floating continent occupied by the 10th Direct Pulse. Recently, ordinary starships from the pulse had been constantly landing and taking off from this floating continent. The cabins of these starships were almost filled with storage capsules, which could increase the amount of resources they transported by tenfold or even a hundredfold.
Once loaded with resources, they would first pass through the short-range stargate set up in the pulse, and upon reaching the universal short-range stargate transmission point set up by the family, they would be transported back to the Thorny Star Region along with the transport starships, and finally sent back to the Dragon Backbone Continent.
Not only the Song family fleet, but other forces under the Song family's command also did the same. However, they had to hand over twenty percent of their harvest to the Song family, as agreed upon before the start of the expansion war.
Not far from the Black Original Floatland, in a nearby starry sky, adjacent to the more northern Chaos Star Domain, was the base camp of the Song family's fleet.
In the command center of a space dock constructed from a giant floatland fragment, the Celestial Ruin Heaven arrived, and nearly a hundred Fourth-Rank Deer Hunt Ship Captains had already gathered.
Song Chi chose a corner to sit down, and as he scanned the room, he could see that all the Deer Hunt Ship Captains had smiles on their faces.
It was clear that all the forces had made excellent gains during these two years.
It made sense; after all, it was an entire star domain spanning over two thousand light-years, and the distribution among them meant that the profits they could obtain were considerable.
At this moment, five figures entered the room one after another. When the five people's faces became clear, the Deer Hunt Ship Captains in the command room all stood up and expressed their highest respect to the five.
The five were none other than Song Dingbang, Song Xingru, Song Tianhao of the Song family, Wu Yuanshan, a Battleship Captain from the Wu family, and Red Alpha, a Fifth-Rank Old Ancestor from the Alpha family.
With the arrival of the five big shots, the meeting officially began.
As usual, Song Dingbang spoke first. In the absence of the Primordial Ancestor and the near-invisibility of the Progenitor, he was the one in charge of the Song family.
As for Song Xingru, although her seniority was higher, her temperament was clearly not suitable for being a leader.
"This meeting has only one purpose: to discuss the time for the fleet to enter the Chaos Star Domain."
"According to the latest news, the Duchy's main fleet has already broken through the southern part of the Chaos Star Domain and will soon enter the western star domain. If we set off now, we will face attacks from the civilizations in the western part of the Chaos Star Domain, and casualties are inevitable. However, the harvest will also be greater. If we wait for the Duchy's main fleet to arrive before taking action, most of the benefits will not be ours."
After speaking, Song Dingbang raised his eyes to scan the command room once more before continuing, "Everyone here has one vote. You are free to choose to take immediate action or wait for a while. Let's begin!"
As he finished, two buttons appeared on the table in front of each person. The red button represented immediate action, while the green button represented temporary waiting.
Song Chi didn't hesitate and immediately pressed the red button.
In the past two years, he had absorbed all the Malefic Deity Essences, and his current state had reached its peak. Staying in the Red River Star Domain any longer would be a waste of time.
Of course, more than anything, he wanted to continue acquiring more resources. Not to mention, he wouldn't refuse a Sixth-Rank Floatland Essence.
As the Deer Hunt Ship Captains finished voting one after another, the final results appeared on the light screen at the front of the command room.
Immediate Action: 88 votes
Temporary Waiting: 15 votes
Undoubtedly, having tasted a little sweetness, the various forces were now unwilling to stay in the Red River Star Domain any longer. They preferred to go to the Chaos Star Domain for a new round of plundering.
"Since the voting results are out, let's set the departure date five days from now. In five days, the fleet will officially advance towards the Chaos Star Domain."
The Song family's elders were all delighted with this voting result. With their absolute say in the fleet, the better the fleet's performance, the greater the benefits they could seize.
Five days later, the fleet, now reduced to over a million ships, set off again, heading north towards the Chaos Star Domain.
Although the Red River Star Domain had already been occupied, the resources within it still required long-term development and transportation back to the Duchy, so over twenty thousand starships were left behind to handle this task.
Even so, the fleet's strength had not been weakened, as the measure of a fleet's combat power was never determined by ordinary starships, but by the Flame Torch Ships.
(End of Chapter)
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