Returning to the Ship and a New Mission

Inside the A73 Cruiser, a lieutenant salutes a passing officer.

"Minister Lister ~!"

Although he had only spent a few days on the warship and had now been on leave for more than a month, the officers on board were quite familiar with him.

Lister's performance in the last mission, along with Captain Boren's almost overt appreciation of him, had already made Lister a prominent figure on the warship.

After the lieutenant gave a respectful salute, his expression suddenly froze.

After a long while, she finally came to her senses, and her expression became even more fervent, her eyes filled with even more adoration as she looked at him.

Congratulations!

Lister nodded silently, gave a brief nod, and then left.

Back on the ship, most of the officers he encountered behaved much like this lieutenant.

At first, there was a moment of stunned silence, followed by enthusiastic congratulations or flattery.

It's nothing more than the Merrick Civilization, to which he belongs, advancing to level two.

For the vast majority of life forms in the Galactic Federation, the advancement of their own civilization is a tremendous boon.

This represents a significant leap in the status of the entire civilization within the Galactic Federation, so congratulations are naturally in order.

The reason why the officers were stunned was that their previous private speculations about Lister's Overlord Tier strength were now being corroborated by more direct evidence.

B4 layer, block D07.

After Lister gave the authorization, Reck followed him inside.

The dedicated training room has been completed, and its interior space is much larger than expected.

What concerned Lister most was the option of spatial simulation.

While it can't compare to the training hall in the recruit camp, it's more than enough for simulating some basic moves.

"I've already registered your account. You can conduct your training here from now on."

"Sir... this won't do... please use this room yourself, I'll go to the public training room."

When Reck entered, he couldn't hide the surprise and envy in his eyes, but he immediately declined Lister's invitation.

It wasn't just that his level was unsuitable; more importantly, it was to avoid hindering Lister's training progress.

Why are you being so polite with me?

"I rarely come here, it's a waste to leave it empty."

While training can indeed increase skill experience, it is meaningless compared to the efficiency of exploiting players.

"So, tell me, nothing much has happened on the warship lately, has anything?"

"It's alright, Captain Boren hasn't returned yet; it's just routine patrolling."

What about the other officers in the Landing Operations Department? How are they doing?

A little over a month should be enough time for Reck to get a clear picture of the situation.

"Based on my current investigation, there shouldn't be any problems. Everyone approves of and admires you."

"The Landing Operations Department used to be a peripheral department, but now it's almost on par with the Shipboard Artillery Department within the ship. You can trust everyone here."

As it was originally a bottom-ranked department, it received little attention, few tasks, and even fewer military merits, so no one else was willing to recruit it.

The officers in the Landing Operations Department were originally in a position that was almost like being reassigned to a sinecure, with little future prospects.

Now that he has a leader, there is finally hope. Lister was quite satisfied with the situation reported by Reck.

"Only..."

"Just what?"

"But the sergeants are complaining a lot in private, saying that we haven't received any military merits for several years, and that we officers only care about ourselves... including you, sir..."

It was a force of 1,500 soldiers, and quite a few of them had their own agendas.

It was only after Lister became minister that he gained an understanding of the situation the soldiers were in.

They hold the lowest actual position on the warship, and are the "golden nugget" of the warship when there are no Federation Military District orders.

After all, every mission has a mortality rate assessment, so the ship's attitude towards these soldiers is basically to keep them on a leniency basis.

The military merits and tasks during routine periods are indeed unrelated to these soldiers; they do not require their efforts and are mostly just the safest resupply missions.

Therefore, it is indeed not easy to gain military merits in daily life.

"Is that what everyone thinks?"

"A small portion, but the majority have already resigned themselves to their fate."

Reck had already investigated this matter thoroughly, and now he was explaining the reasons for Lister's complaints in greater detail.

"The main reason is the warship mission before we came here. It was extremely dangerous, and the soldiers barely survived. They felt they had contributed a lot, but in the end, they didn't receive any military merit..."

Taking a deep breath, Lister finally nodded slowly, indicating that Reck could continue to stay in the training room, and then left first.

He was already aware of that mission that resulted in heavy casualties. Due to the high mortality rate, the mission was considered a major failure, and no military merits were awarded.

Even if you tell these things to the soldiers, they won't believe you.

Without realizing it, Lister felt a natural distance between himself and these soldiers.

They were never in the same social class, so their interests could never align.

It was only out of his own past life's lower-class mentality that he showed concern for these soldiers.

Ultimately, they have chosen not to respond.

A week later, Captain Boren finally returned, and headquarters finally issued a new mission.

2700 military merits, annihilate the bandit warship.

Lister thought he would have a chance to make a move, but the actual battle was faster and easier than he had imagined.

The cruiser was far superior to the pirates' warships, and it detected the enemy target first, followed by a neutron cannon shot.

Compared to attacks on planets, which required Captain Boren to be cautious about, there's absolutely no need to be cautious when facing space combat.

Two shots in quick succession, and the enemy warship was already torn to pieces.

This was followed by a large-scale electromagnetic pulse cannon attack and a final neutron cannon shot.

The mission was successfully completed in less than an hour.

This is indeed the patrol mission of a cruiser!

Lister did nothing, yet according to Captain Boren's guaranteed 5% bonus, he earned 135 military merit points for free; of course, this belonged to the entire department.

Over the next two months, their warships seemed to have a stroke of good luck, receiving a constant stream of missions and carrying out a total of seven missions.

They were all about eliminating bandits or small-scale rebel forces.

The order of operations is also the same: take advantage of the warships themselves and strike first.

Start with a neutron cannon, then use controlled suppression attacks, and finally finish with another neutron cannon.

The only survivor, or rather, the one who was finished off, was brought ashore by Lister and a few of his officers to deliver the final blow.

Only in areas with value or in the wreckage of warships would soldiers go ashore to do manual labor and replenish the warships.

No wonder the original Landing Operations Department was ranked at the bottom; it was really useless and just a bunch of lazy bums.

As for military merit rewards, after seven times, they were all calculated based on the minimum amount.

Including the earliest instance, in two months, Lister only accumulated 1,000 military merits.

After dividing it up with the officers below, I had enough military merits to exchange for two bottles of level-two standard resources.

Congratulations, your attributes have been improved.

[Attributes: Strength: 230 (Base 110 + Bonus 120), Stamina: 230, Intelligence: 230, Agility: 230]

Although military merits seem to yield more than those earned in basic training, their actual purchasing power is significantly reduced.

At the current pace, it will probably take another year to max out all four attributes and then proceed with the Third Advancement quest.

Inside the control room, as Lister entered, everyone's eyes turned to him.

Even though the Landing Operations Department had received so many military credits for nothing over the past two months, no one present expressed any mockery or dissatisfaction.

People held him in Overlord Tier esteem, and their eyes often revealed a look of anticipation.

It implies a willingness to support him now, with the expectation of reaping the rewards of his future growth.

"Lister, you've come!"

"These past two months have been a bit tough for you, mainly because headquarters hasn't assigned you any suitable tasks."

Compared to the fact that his department had received two months of military merit for nothing, Captain Boren even felt somewhat guilty and offered him explanations and comfort.

The people around him remained silent, their eyes mostly showing sympathy, which completely dispelled Lister's original doubts.

"Thankfully, the new mission has been assigned! You're a key player on our ship for this mission!"

What's the new mission?

Upon hearing about the new mission, Lister's eyes lit up.

Especially in missions where he is the main force, it's obvious that the military merits he receives will be calculated proportionally.

Gradually, he integrated into the main theme of the Civilization Army Group, understood that the mission was hard-won, and realized the rarity of military merit.