Several days passed in a flash.
Along a certain subspace route, the Eternal Truth Fleet advanced at an unhurried pace.
Having fully adapted to his T8 (Perfect) Mental Threshold, Qingyang opened the Star Network panel. With his current Mental Threshold, even if every ship was high-grade, he could still datafy ten of them!
He could even control two Chichen Type Battleships of that caliber!
His main concern now was how to gather resources. Even with around a hundred thousand Star Points, he only had enough resources for two Chichen Battleships.
Although he had gained an additional Long-range Type cruiser among his other warships, the shortage was still immense.
He was still seven warships short of a full fifteen-ship configuration!
Of course, if he did not pursue high-grade warships and settled for mid-grade or ordinary ones, controlling forty or fifty ships would not be difficult.
Naturally, Qingyang would not do something so shortsighted.
For a Starfleet, if conditions allowed, the higher the quality, the better.
Numbers alone were not particularly useful. It was true that a T7 Fleet required at least one hundred ships.
However, even the weakest T7 Fleet had to contain at least twenty T7 warships.
Even an ordinary T7 Assault Ship required about the same Mental Threshold capacity as a high-grade T8 cruiser.
He took out the Purple Crystal Pearl.
"A purple-quality Star Crystal can raise a purple Star Armament from Zero Star to one star?"
After thinking for only a moment, Qingyang directly used the Star Crystal.
[Confirm using Star Crystal ×1 (Purple) on Star Cover Phase]
Compared with the Assault Unit, improving the Starfleet's capabilities was the proper path.
Although datafying crew members was powerful, it was ultimately an individual enhancement.
"Confirm."
[Star Armament: Star Cover Phase] [Quality: Purple (One Star)] [Basic Effects: Fleet detection range +25%, precision +25%, fleet concealment effect +20%] [Additional Effect: When hostile units appear within detection range, red dots will appear on the star map] [Note: Detection equipment energy consumption will increase by 10%. Effects on fleets above T6 will be reduced (One Star)]
Qingyang was delighted. The detection range and precision had increased by 5%, which counted as a basic enhancement.
More importantly, the concealment effect had increased by 20%. That was no minor improvement.
It would be highly useful at critical moments.
After closing the panel, Qingyang suddenly received a notification from the Star Network assistant.
"The Star Network mailbox received a large number of emails?"
Only then did Qingyang remember that after the first Dimensional World results were evaluated, Commander Academies would decide whether to admit students based on their overall performance.
Entering the Star Network, Qingyang felt slightly nervous and expectant for some reason.
Perhaps it was an instinctive reaction from his previous life?
Taking a deep breath, he said, "Open the mailbox and arrange Commander Academy invitation emails by priority level!"
[Authorized to access emails. Sorting in progress.] [First Tier—Kyushu Republic: Magic Sea Commander Academy, Shangjin Commander Academy] [Note: As the commander's soul meridian belongs to the Kyushu Soul Meridian, Kyushu Republic Commander Academies are displayed first.] [Second Tier]
He did not bother looking at the other tiers. Qingyang stared blankly at the Kyushu Republic and the note beneath it.
He recognized every individual word, so why was it so difficult to understand when they were put together?
But one thing was certain: he seemed to have been identified by the Kyushu Republic as a Kyushu native?
Could it have something to do with his soul meridian?
"Assistant, what is a soul meridian?" He had never learned about it, so he asked when he did not understand.
[Similar to a bloodline, it is the essence of the soul. If both parents possess the same soul meridian, the next generation will possess that same soul meridian.] [If one once possessed a soul meridian, then the one who gave birth to that soul meridian must also possess the same soul meridian.]
"..."
Qingyang immediately thought of many things. Did the Kyushu Soul Meridian come from his parents, or from his previous life?
"Forget it. There's no point thinking about it. No matter what, it won't affect me now. I choose Magic Sea Commander Academy!"
Shaking his head, Qingyang pulled his attention back.
[Confirmed. Invitation activated. Admission agreement opened. Please sign.]
After roughly reading through the simple agreement, Qingyang signed his name.
Immediately, a brand-new panel appeared on the main interface of his Star Network Personal Space.
[Commander Academy]
"So simple?" Qingyang froze before understanding.
That made sense. The Commander Academy was established within the Star Network's virtual world rather than being a physical school. How could its procedures possibly be complicated?
He confirmed with a click.
Qingyang immediately appeared in an entirely new area.
Boundless, dazzling rivers of stars surrounded him, while beneath his feet lay a continent—a continent stretching beyond sight! Numerous enormous floating islands could also be seen above it.
Countless classically luxurious buildings stood throughout the area. Chinese-style sci-fi structures tens of thousands of meters tall were everywhere. There were even cities scattered across the islands, while the remaining regions were covered by all kinds of fantastical, gigantic plants.
Qingyang curiously looked around. "So this is Magic Sea Commander Academy?"
[Welcome, new student of the Fifth Era, Class of 7091, to the academy.] [Please keep your virtual pass: 709186868.] [New students, proceed to the nearest academy city hall to verify your identity and claim your academy newcomer reward.]
That was quite a lucky number.
Qingyang smiled faintly, then headed toward a nearby city.
At the center of the continent, within an enormous city whose diameter rivaled that of a star, several middle-aged men and women sat around a tea table.
A rather burly man said helplessly, "What do you think? Is there really not a single outstanding prospect? If all else fails, pick a few students with high overall ability and cultivate them!"
A woman in Hanfu lifted her teacup. "Including the 86,867 new commanders admitted this year, our academy has fewer than six hundred thousand students of eligible age to participate in the Youth League a few years from now. Most have purple or red talents.
There are fewer than fifty thousand with gold or purple-gold talents combined!
Although talent does not determine everything, an ambitious Epic Commander is stronger than an equally hardworking gold-grade commander. That is a fact.
Besides, among the four hundred and fifty-three young Epic Commanders from Magic Sea Academy preparing to participate in the Youth League, which one of them is not ambitious and hardworking?
Pick a few with strong overall ability? You mean the lucky ones? We might as well cultivate a few Epic Commanders with high combat boosts instead!
If necessary, we'll heavily provide top-grade Starcraft!"
Another refined-looking man spoke up. "Recently, other Kyushu academies have all had students with talents surpassing Epic. Even Shangjin Academy, whose situation is similar to ours, has a Four-Ring Epic Commander!
You should all understand how powerful those commanders who inherit their direct elders' fleets are at the same level. That is a legacy fleet passed down through a full four cycles!
Their talents have been enhanced four times! They may not be as powerful as those little freaks with talents surpassing Epic, but they are not much weaker.
Besides, even if that kid can only datafy a few dozen Starcraft, do not forget that those Starcraft were at least T4 in the past.
Even if they are suppressed to T8, they still far surpass warships of the same level. If you do not believe it, try having a Shining Moon Type, Beishan Type, or another top-tier ship clash with his battleship.
Not to mention the enhancement from all kinds of Star Armaments. Providing top-grade Starcraft is useless."
"Let me add that among our three strongest new students, apart from one top-tier Epic Commander, the other two are merely Three-Ring Legacy Commanders."
The last person added with a smile, completely ignoring the sharp looks from the other three.
The woman received a Star Network notification and spoke. "Hm? A student has entered. Their Epic talent is obscuring them from the Star Network's detection."
"Even another hundred Epic students would not change the fact that, among our Kyushu peers, we rank at the bottom in new student quality."
The last person continued twisting the knife.
"..."
The Alliance was vast, and geniuses were countless. Even over hundreds of millions of years, it was impossible for a single person to appear who could truly dominate all the prodigies of the same generation.
Therefore, the Alliance Youth League was not divided by rankings, but by tiers.
The current problem was that Magic Sea Academy might not even have a single participant capable of entering the highest tier!
In the end, the four fell silent for a long while, speechless with grief.
"Forget it. For now, give more resources to students with high evaluations and assign them some trial missions. As for the rest, let fate take its course."
These two chapters expand on some background. If it gives you a headache, you can probably just skip them; there is not much description.
--Chapter 23 begins involving the main storyline
Before you continue