A Well-Off Family

A glimpse of the whole picture is enough to see the full leopard.

Datafication truly lives up to its reputation as the core ability of the Commander Talent—even without any other abilities, just datafication alone would increase the Alliance's military power by over a hundredfold.

Any attack that fails to deal a single, effective instance of damage to a ship or commander is essentially immune.

Let alone the other advantages.

For example, a ship with only a sliver of HP left can still maintain 100% firepower.

"Truly, even with just one rivet left, it can still fire." Qingyang recalled a meme from his past life.

After testing the datafication ability a few more times, Qingyang turned his attention to the Star Network panel.

"Star Network Express?"

With a flicker of thought, several virtual screens appeared before Qingyang's eyes.

The Star Network's virtual screens require no medium and can be deployed even in the Cosmic Wasteland.

#Star Sea Human Alliance, Fifth Era, 5-7091 Star Sea Year Graduation Season—New Generation of Starship Commanders Welcomes Another Prodigy#

#Four Super Nations Announce the Alliance Adds 10 New Council Member State Seats#

#Alliance Exploration Association Publicly Recruits New Generation Starship Commanders—Minimum Talent Quality Purple, Complimentary T8 Sca-class Cruiser#

#Eighty Civilizations' Coalition Army Routed by Alliance Army—Alliance Territory Expands by Hundreds of Millions of Light-Years—Top-Tier Elite Nation May Ascend to Third-Class Great Power Status#

Before Qingyang could look closely, a flood of information and images rapidly popped up, making it hard for him to take it all in.

Skimming through, a familiar sense of déjà vu stirred within him.

#Starfleet Classification#

#Individual Biological Classification#

This is it!

The planet Qingyang was on belonged to a second-class elite nation, the Tianyang Federation. Starship Commanders were not particularly numerous, let alone those who would come to teach in this ordinary star sector.

Their instructors were just ordinary teachers with a surface-level understanding of Starship Commanders.

Thus, what he could learn was severely limited. Qingyang still only had a half-baked grasp of the detailed Starfleet classifications.

[Starfleet Classification, Detailed Foreword]

[Starship Commander Exclusive Ship System: T-series (Datafiable)]

[T8 Ship Categories: Assault Ship, Cruiser, Battleship

At least ten ships rated as a T8 Fleet]

[T7 Ship Categories: New Addition—Starry Sky Aircraft Carrier

Total at least one hundred ships, 20% being T7 ships rated as a T7 Fleet]

[T6 Ship Categories: New Additions—Star Destroyer, Starship Mothership, Special Ships (Cannot Be Mass-Produced)

Total at least one thousand ships, 20% being T6 ships rated as a T6 Fleet]

"I see—it doesn't need to be all same-tier ships; just 20% is enough."

Qingyang felt a pang of frustration. Let alone T-series ships, even the cheapest T8 Assault Ship cost hundreds of thousands of Alliance Coins.

Talking about ten or a hundred ships at a time was enough to make his stomach ache.

After worrying for a moment, Qingyang continued reading.

[Same-Tier Fleet Strength Classification: (Based on Minimum Quantity Ratio; T8 Fleets Not Included in This Classification)

Common Fleet (20% same-tier ships)

Elite Fleet (50% same-tier ships)

Veteran Fleet (100% same-tier, with 1% being new same-tier ship types)

Silver Fleet (100% same-tier, with 5% being new same-tier ship types)

Gold Fleet (100% same-tier, minimum grade Battleship, with 10% being new same-tier ship types)]

[Recommendation: Reach the minimum quantity, then begin improving fleet quality. It's best to reach Veteran Fleet before increasing quantity.]

Qingyang's eye twitched. "This Gold Fleet basically treats Assault Ships and Cruisers as if they don't exist."

Is Dad's money enough?

The Star of Truth is still unusable—completely unresponsive.

Deeply worried about his future wallet, Qingyang only skimmed over the individual power classifications and paid them no further attention.

Foreword, Stages 1–6: Stage 3 can already counter organized ground forces; Stage 6 can cross the cosmos.

The upper limit of Individual Might is not inferior to that of the Starfleet—unfortunately, the further you go, the more it depends on talent.

The Starfleet is different. Talent only determines the strength of a Commander relative to their peers within the Commander group.

Externally, even the weakest talent is still stronger than a conventional fleet.

Besides, as long as you have resources and dare to fight, with luck, although blue-quality high-level Starfleets are extremely rare, they are not impossible to obtain.

Rumors said that a T6 fleet could even empower its commander, directly elevating them to the level of a Sixth-rank Gene Warrior.

If they had an ability to begin with, even better—it could drag that ability straight to sixth rank, not to mention that a T6 fleet could slaughter a sixth-rank like a chicken.

After roughly skimming through, Qingyang shifted his gaze to the virtual world.

The next moment, Qingyang's consciousness arrived in a vast white space.

[Welcome, new commander, Xingchen. Please set your personal space.]

After a moment's thought, Qingyang looked up, and a cluster of ancient, elegant buildings and gardens gradually took shape.

He then opened the most eye-catching page on the panel: the mall.

[Xingchen]

[Star Points: 0]

[Commercial Section:]

[Listed Items: None]

[Purchase History: None]

[Note: Star Points are the commander's universal currency. When killing enemies or hostile civilizations, their fortune and energy will be datafied into Star Points.]

He opened the Commercial Section.

[2011 Public Commercial District. Teleport?]

[Tianxing Mall. Teleport?]

[.]

"Teleport. 2011 Public Commercial District!"

A moment later, Qingyang exited the virtual world in a daze.

"Damn, a T8 Huochen-class Battleship costs 20,000 Star Points? And the blueprints are 500,000?! Sure, the model's a bit off-brand, but the purchasing power of these Star Points is really strong."

Qingyang sighed in admiration. The commander's world was even more exciting than he'd imagined!

He noticed the sky was already beginning to lighten.

Qingyang jumped off the bed and walked to the window. His eyes reflected the brilliant starry sky and the bustling starport beyond.

The starry sky... in his past life, he could only dream of it.

The next day.

After hastily packing up, Qingyang boarded a shuttle: "Destination, Sky Villa District."

Starry Sky Academy?

Of course it existed, but there was no physical location.

Starry Sky Academy was entirely within the virtual Star Network, and classes were mostly held there, so admission to the academy had nothing to do with high school.

The Star Sea Human Alliance's basic policy for commanders was that practical combat and experiential teaching had to go hand in hand.

They'd squeeze in time to attend classes on the virtual Star Network and compete for resources, but most of the time, they were roaming the starry skies.

If one day you saw a classmate or friend's profile go gray, don't be surprised—they might be dead.

You never knew if the classmate sitting next to you, listening to the lecture, was in reality fighting a heretic fleet head-on or playing guerrilla warfare with the Zerg.

Bang!

The antique wooden door shattered on impact. Qingyang's face was full of excitement.

"Dad! I'm back!"

"..."

Whir~

The cleaning bot moved, silently sweeping up the wood shavings.

A refined man with medium-length hair, dressed in a pure white Zhongshan suit, closed the blue book in his hand.

A vein bulged slightly on his forehead. "If this isn't something important..."

Qingyang grinned. "How could it be? My Commander Talent awakened!"

"Guess what quality it is?"

Qingyundao looked up. A blue light flashed across his monocle, and then he frowned.

"A Contract-type Talent?"

Qingyang was stunned. He could really tell?

Dad wasn't simple.

Qingyang quickly recovered. "What's wrong with a Contract-type?"

Qingyundao said calmly, "It's fine at the start, but once you activate certain contracts, requirements will appear.

You can think of it as you drafting an agreement with some mysterious existence. You get a powerful boost, but later you have to fulfill the terms of the contract."

Don't worry. If this agreement can appear, it proves it's been recognized by the rules of civilization—it won't let you down."

Not losing out is one thing, but I still have to be able to complete it!

Wait. Mysterious existence. The Star of Truth!?

Qingyang only pondered for a moment before dismissing the thought, a smile spreading across his face.

"Hehe, Dad, take a look at this warship."

"Hmm, it's being built."

"Dad, just how rich is our family?"

"Comfortable."

"When will the warship be ready?"

Qingyundao flipped through a book: "T-series warships are quite troublesome to manufacture. Still need a few more days."

"What model? A T8 Assault Ship?" Qingyang asked excitedly.

Qingyundao said calmly: "Shining Moon Type."

Shining Moon Type? Is that a well-known model for Assault Ships?

Then Qingyundao added: "A battleship. I'll give you the manufacturing blueprints along with it."

"???!!!"

(For a detailed explanation of the Starfleet and individual power, please refer to the related standalone chapter.)

The protagonist's additional Commander's Shield will have a function demonstration in chapters seven and eight.

However, the protagonist definitely won't often participate in individual combat; most of it will be fleet battles.