Anticipation and a Boarding

Several hours later, Lister finally woke up slowly in bed.

He clenched his fist, and a powerful sense of strength surged within him.

The feeling is the same as after every significant improvement, only this time it's especially intense.

It's not just strength; I feel that my entire being, including my breathing and perception, has truly evolved.

Having undergone Third Advancement, it is now able to adapt well to the space environment.

Like Major Qi, they will actually conduct combat operations in the space environment.

The only thing that Lister regretted was the overall combat strength.

I thought that with the addition of the Battle Intent Potential," my overall rating would break through to the World-Ending Level."

Unfortunately, he ultimately remained at the Overlord Tier, which could also be because his basic four-dimensional attributes had not been fully improved.

At the same time, the experience points for leveling up and improving skills increased again, which made Lister gradually give up the last bit of hope in his heart that was about leveling up by killing monsters.

Just like in my previous life, the most difficult stage to improve combat power is after the Third Advancement.

The massive increase in experience points for leveling up has led to the most significant disparities in player levels and combat power.

Meanwhile, players who focused on systematic upgrades from the beginning began to rise, namely, focusing on upgrading the skills of a certain major system to the top level.

Instead of the current situation, where most players, even top players, still rely on their own skill combinations to improve their abilities.

It would be even more difficult for Lister to improve on his own. With fifteen passive skills at his disposal, the experience required would be unimaginable to most players in the previous life.

Just as he was about to use his free attribute points and the 'Evil Shadow Civilization Core Eye Drops' he had saved,

"Boom!"

The warship suddenly shuddered, Lister immediately realized what was happening.

He was on an exploration mission, and the impact of that tremor was definitely not from an ordinary attack.

He quickly got up and, while preparing to head to the control room, checked the notification messages sent to him by the warship.

"Minister Lister! Please come to the assembly immediately; there is an important meeting that requires your attendance."

"Minister Lister? Are you alright? The meeting is about to begin!" -- Captain Cohen

"Lister? What's wrong with you? Do you need a therapist?" -- Thorn

"Lister! Please respond upon receipt."

"No need. Please come to the control room as soon as you've evolved! The ship needs your help!"

"Lister, hurry up! The ship can't hold on much longer!" -- Captain Boren

In less than half a day, there were already dozens of notification messages on the ship.

"Minister Lister ~!"

As soon as the door opened, several lieutenants stood straight outside; Lister recognized them all quite well now.

Two of them were from the Administration Department, and the other two were Reck and Mila.

It is indeed undergoing three evolutions, and the energy fluctuations during the evolution process have caused quite a commotion.

He hadn't expected there to be someone specifically guarding the outside.

He silently nodded to the group.

The way the others looked at him now held even greater reverence and fervor.

After all, this is the third evolution, reaching the strength evaluation standard of a colonel-level officer. They are still far from achieving this evolution, and may not even have the opportunity to do so.

Not to mention that the officer who was promoted on the ship this time was Lister, Hegemon star in the operations department.

According to current rumors on the ship, even Captain Boren's abilities are inferior to Minister Lister's.

Now, after three evolutions, their strength has likely increased even further, greatly increasing their chances of surviving this mission.

"Sir! Captain Boren is informing you that after the evolution is complete, proceed to the control room as soon as possible."

In the end, it was Reck who excitedly reported the news to him.

I'll be right there.

Seeing how close he and Mila were, Lister didn't say anything and quickly headed to the control room.

"Beep~!"

The moment the access verification was successful and the control room door opened, all the officers inside turned their gazes toward him.

The eagerness and respect in their eyes were no less than those of junior officers and ordinary sergeants, and perhaps even more so.

Captain Boren, in particular, had just looked extremely grave.

She stood up from the front with a light smile on her face and walked over, carefully looking him up and down.

Congratulations, Lister!

As Captain Boren spoke, countless congratulatory messages rang out from everyone.

A dozen probing senses instantly focused on him, a Lister had never experienced before.

In the past, one could only vaguely sense the other person's good or evil; now, one can fully measure and clearly discern the source of one's perceptions and inquiries about others.

In particular, he believed he could directly sever these senses by using the Killing Intent Wave.

It's still difficult to determine whether the Killing Intent Wave is due to the overall improvement in the body after the Third Advancement, or the enhancement of Battle Intent Potential, which has led to such a significant increase in this aspect.

"Ten... fourteenth level?"

Captain Boren paused involuntarily as he was about to pat him on the shoulder.

His eyes were filled with disbelief, and it took him a moment to come to his senses.

His smile widened, and he showed even more respect for Lister.

"To be able to advance to the fourteenth rank after evolution, he truly is Hegemon!"

"Lister, you should be... a 'Quasi-Hegemon' now, right?"

"Um."

He nodded silently. The main reason the entire ship cared about him was his status as a 'Quasi-Hegemon'.

The significance of this is self-evident, and it also marks the birth of a new third-level civilization.

"Boom!"

The warship shuddered violently once more.

This immediately brought everyone back to reality from their complex feelings toward Lister.

Now is not the time for sighs and excitement; the most important thing is the current exploration mission.

The crisis is not yet resolved; in fact, the shadow of death still looms over everyone.

"Captain, the midsection of the stern has been hit by a neutron cannon!"

What are the specific details of the damage?

"Still investigating! Please wait!"

Radar Chief Truman was still in the projection, and he was the busiest person on the entire ship.

The investigation and control work was constant and continuous, and it can be said that it was carried out throughout the entire process.

Lister was sitting next to Major Thorn, silently gazing at the star map in the center of the round table.

The next moment, his brows furrowed slightly.

There's no other reason than that they'd only been exploring for a few hours.

Even if A73 enters the core area, it's impossible for it to go very deep.

However, the coordinates on the holographic map showed that their ship had already entered halfway into the core area, and that if they went any further, they would soon be able to detect the headquarters area of Silver Mutual Aid Society.

"Captain Thorn, how did our ship end up in this area?"

Are you going all out this time?

Lister's face was full of confusion. Logically speaking, given A73's past practices, it should have been mainly trying to take advantage of the situation during this exploration mission.

They can explore as little as they want, unless the Ship S27's command headquarters issues an order, forcing them to continue.

To enter such a deep area in just a few hours—isn't that just creating problems for themselves?

Captain Thorn looked helpless and was about to explain when Captain Boren was sitting in the front, spoke first.

"It's not that our ship wants to go deeper."

"They had only been exploring for a short time when they were surrounded by two cruisers and one destroyer."

"One of the cruisers was very powerful, and its retreat route was blocked, so our ship had no choice but to plunge in."

Upon hearing this, Lister's brow relaxed.

So that's why they were stuck in there and burrowed in so deeply; no wonder their ships changed their tactics and burrowed in so thoroughly.

At that moment, Truman's voice came through the projection again, his expression much more serious than before, and his voice trembling slightly.

"Captain! We're in trouble!"

"The neutron cannon has severely penetrated our ship, and the stern area has already been breached by enemy personnel who have landed and attacked."

"The junior officers from the Administration Department and the Landing Operations Department have already led their men to surround and block the enemy. What's our next move?"

Captain Boren frowned upon hearing this; if the enemy were to land, things would become troublesome.

Unless the enemy can be quickly wiped out, the enemy forces will fight inside the ship.

Not only did it cause enormous damage to the entire ship's interior, but with continuous reinforcements, its eventual annihilation was an inevitable outcome.

"Lister..."

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"