Military Merit Was Hard to Earn

Notification: Your communication signal has been reconnected.

"Minister Lister, Major Thorn, this is Radar Chief Truman. Can you hear me? This is Radar Satellite Department..."

The communication request was accepted, and Truman's voice came through.

Just as he was about to speak, another hoarse voice rang out.

"Is your Radar Department even capable of handling this? It takes you so long to answer a call!"

Needless to say, even if the voice is slightly distorted, this must be Captain Boren.

"Captain, we can hear you!"

"Captain, Chief Radar Truman, I can hear you."

The two paused, Lister followed Major Thorn in responding, quietly awaiting possible instructions from Captain Boren.

"Ahem~!"

Clearing his throat, Captain Boren's attitude instantly became much more amiable.

"Minister Lister, I never expected that such a genius like you would quietly join our ship!"

"It's all my fault for being delayed by the mission and not being able to find out the details beforehand..."

"Captain, I understand you're busy with official duties."

"How about we finish the task first and then talk?"

This was probably the first time Captain Boren had ever treated someone this way. Although he tried his best to be gentle, his barely suppressed, husky voice made his awkward way of speaking even more irritating and nauseating.

Lister was eager to finish his task and request leave, so he quickly returned to the task itself.

Yes! That's right!

"You're definitely more reliable than everyone else!"

"I'm leaving this mission to you. I'll have the Radar Department and the Shipboard Artillery Department fully cooperate with you to clear out the enemy."

All officers of the rank of ensign and above on board are ready to land and assist you with the final cleanup.

Captain Boren could tell that Lister would need to personally eliminate any particularly strong Black Ants.

Seeing this, the officers were naturally instructed to prepare and improve mission efficiency.

"Boom! Sizzle! Sizzle!"

The powerful pulse electromagnetic cannon blasted the surface of the resource planet once again, and Truman's voice immediately came through.

"Minister Lister, the black ants in the area to your left front have been controlled by our electromagnetic cannon."

"The center point is located at coordinates XXX, approximately 211 kilometers from your current location."

"Sizzle!"

As soon as he finished speaking, another green energy laser lit up in front of Lister.

The attack was launched from the cruiser's Shipboard Artillery Department, sweeping from in front of him toward the core.

They cleared a path for him, and with the help of the motorized motorcycle that Major Thorn pulled out beside him, the two quickly headed towards the next coordinate point.

Teamwork battles are definitely more satisfying!

The path-clearing, control, and cleanup are all handled by someone else.

The only thing Lister needs to do is Killing Intent Release at the center of the coordinates!

Under the watchful eyes of all the officers of the rank of ensign and above on the warship, a tangible killing intent capable of annihilating everything erupted from Lister once again.

Large numbers of black ants that had already been controlled or bombarded to the point of being half-crippled on the ground fell down silently.

The inexplicable tremors underground also subsided instantly.

All the officers looked at Lister with astonishment.

Compared to the captain and other lieutenants who were already aware of Lister's methods, this was the first time they had witnessed Lister take action.

The chilling killing intent and the indescribable attack methods, even though they weren't directed at them, instilled fear in them from the bottom of their hearts.

"Coordinates XXX, 10 kilometers underground; surface coordinates XXX..., a total of seventeen coordinates require final work. Particle imaging has been released."

The voice of radar chief Truman rang in my ears again.

The officers then realized what was happening and rushed to the designated coordinates to kill the black ants.

Even though the black ants that managed to evade the Killing Intent Wave would be significantly stronger individually, they would still find it difficult to contend with the lieutenants in a situation where they were outnumbered.

Lister, however, had already moved on to the next area.

Fortunately, it's just a resource planet, and its overall area isn't large.

Within a few hours, after more than a dozen trips, all the black ants on the entire planet were wiped out.

Even one of the particularly troublesome eleventh-tier black ants was slain by Lister with a single strike.

The forceful slash made the surrounding officers even more respectful.

"All soldiers, gather the black ant corpses and burn them on the spot!"

All the soldiers finally disembarked from the warship, and Major Thorn led the collection of the bodies.

Black ant corpses are not very valuable. Apart from a few high-level corpses which have some value, the low-level ones are not worth anything.

Although there are better methods for disposing of bodies, incineration is the cheapest option, so it is the preferred choice in most cases.

Lister stood quietly to the side, observing Major Thorn's command.

Don't be fooled by the simple act of issuing orders to collect corpses; the actual process is far from straightforward.

He needed to keep a record and obtain the necessary approvals for every military order he issued.

Before a task is submitted, all task details will be recorded to measure the contribution to the task and serve as a reference standard for the distribution of merit points.

"Major Thorn, how many military merits can our Landing Operations Department earn for a mission like today's?"

"This time? This time it's just a small task worth 1000 points."

"Under normal circumstances, it would be around 3%, which is roughly 30 military merit points."

"However, your Landing Operations Department is the main force this time, accounting for approximately 20-30%."

"So the highest it can reach is only 300 points?"

"Is this for me personally or for the entire Landing Operations Department?"

On the resource planet, the cruiser A73 finally docked and landed.

Most of the officers had finished their final tasks and returned to the fleet to rest and prepare reports.

Lister looked at the soldiers still busy with their final tasks, and even though he had expected it, he couldn't help but confirm it again.

A mere 300 military merit points, distributed among 1500 soldiers—how can that be enough?

"Of course, it's for your entire Landing Operations Department."

Hearing the hint of dissatisfaction in Lister's tone, Thorn continued to explain the key points to him.

"Regarding military merits, the captain will only distribute them proportionally to the heads of each department, and the heads of each department will then determine the list of recipients for their respective departments."

"The actual authority to distribute the funds is in your hands; you just need to file it with Minister Cohen at the end."

"You mean... I can take all 300 military merit points myself?"

"Can!"

Major Thorn nodded calmly.

Upon hearing this, Lister immediately understood the extent of his actual power.

The real power to divide the spoils rested with him, who commanded over a dozen lieutenants and 1,500 soldiers.

It's no wonder that the difference between a so-called "captain with real power" and a "captain with nominal rank" on the ship is so vast.

The difficulty of obtaining such military merits alone demonstrates that a captain with real power, as the head of a unit, will inevitably reap the biggest rewards besides the captain and deputy captain.

Similarly, by snowballing, more military resources can be acquired.

However, Lister was still somewhat uncertain and wanted to know the situation in other departments.

How are military merits typically distributed within other departments? Is there a standard ratio?

To be honest, he himself felt that 300 military merits were not enough.

Nowadays, level 2 resources are not like they were in the recruit camp, where you could buy them with just 30 military merits.

Currently within the Arcane Army Group, a level 2 resource exchange requires 260 points.

Not to mention that this time their Landing Operations Department was the main force.

In the past, a task like this would normally only earn the entire department 30 military merit points, which is hardly enough to feed everyone.

"Yes, but the Landing Operations Department has the largest number of sergeants, so the allocation practices for other departments do not apply."

"You don't need to worry too much. Soldiers' merits are usually awarded annually, or even every few years if there are few missions."

"Only officers are awarded points based on the merit of each mission. Of course, your department has the final say; you can combine points from several missions for the same reward."

The more Lister listened, the more he realized how difficult it was to obtain military merit.

Even in the recruit camp, he could get 180 points every month, but now that he's in the army group, he can't even guarantee that he can get 180 points every month.

Not to mention that resources are now exchanged at normal prices, and ordinary sergeants, or even low-ranking officers, can only advance by exchanging resources on a yearly basis.