The datafication of Starcraft was far more than it appeared on the surface.
Upgrading was one of its key functions.
Starcraft of any level could continue to be upgraded. A T8 vessel could be upgraded into a T7 vessel by integrating the corresponding materials and Star Points.
However, different base levels resulted in differences in strength and potential after upgrading.
In terms of cost-effectiveness, Qingyang believed that aside from Chichen Type, Shining Moon Type, and Long-range Type cruisers, it was better to directly purchase or build other Starcraft than spend resources upgrading them.
In his view, there was absolutely no need to upgrade high-end vessels and mid-range Starcraft with mediocre performance.
"This mission has no fleet-level restrictions. Not bad." Qingyang was increasingly tempted.
Moro Metal would definitely be useful in the future. The collection mission also rewarded thirty thousand Star Points, and accepting it came with a map of Moro Metal production areas.
No matter how he looked at it, this was a huge profit.
The greatest difficulty was finding Moro Metal, but for the Eternal Fleet, which had a lucky mascot, that was not a problem at all.
Guxing noticed Qingyang's gaze and looked slightly confused. "What is it?"
"Nothing, nothing. Hahahaha." Qingyang waved his hand.
Guxue glanced at Qingyang, then at her confused older brother, and suddenly understood.
"Brother Qingyang must need your luck, Brother! The fleet's lucky mascot! Hahahaha!"
"..."
Faced with Guxue's uninhibited laughter, Guxing chose to remain silent.
Seeing this, Guxue laughed even louder.
The Eternal Truth Fleet did not remain at the Starport for long. After only a few hours of simple repairs and restocking, it departed from the Starport.
It charged straight into the endless Qian Sen Star Lake ahead.
"Moro Metal is produced in many parts of Star Lake. We'll head to the nearest area, over five hundred light-years away."
Qingyang studied the star chart section provided by the mission issuer and quickly memorized several dozen production sites.
The vast Qian Sen Star Lake definitely had more than a few dozen Moro Metal production areas, but the other party could not possibly give Qingyang all of them.
Providing several dozen locations was merely to help fleets that accepted the mission complete the collection task as quickly as possible.
A fleet of merely twenty Starcraft swaggered into Qian Sen Star Lake, immediately drawing the attention of quite a few people.
T8 Fleets rarely ventured into Qian Sen Star Lake alone. They either followed powerful Starfleets or operated in groups.
Those who dared enter alone clearly had something to rely on.
And Qingyang's reliance was the Yuan Sha Main Cannon.
Its lethality level of a full twenty thousand was enough to rival the main cannon of an ordinary or mid-range T7 Battleship.
With all sorts of enhancements, it would have no problem exploring the outer regions of Star Lake.
As soon as the Eternal Fleet entered the Star Lake region, it entered subspace travel and headed straight for its destination.
Dark Space routes were faster, but they were more likely to attract the attention of certain special creatures. To be safe, Qingyang decided to play it cautiously.
"So beautiful."
Not long after entering the Star Lake region, Guxue looked at the Star Lake Scenery formed from dozens of energies—pink, blue, yellow, and more—and exclaimed in delight.
From time to time, they could even see colorful planets wrapped in vast masses of energy.
Liquids condensed from high-purity energy gathered into oceans across the surfaces of those planets, while Energy Storms occasionally formed above them.
They were incomparably ferocious, whipping up towering energy tsunamis in an instant.
Even so, Qingyang and the others could occasionally see several massive, indistinct figures emerging from the energy oceans on those planetary surfaces.
Dreamlike, yet deadly.
[Alert! An Exotic Space Rift has appeared ahead. A Level 3 Energy Storm is expected.]
An alert from the Star Lake Local Star Net suddenly rang out aboard the Taiyi.
It jolted everyone awake from their immersion in the scenery of Star Lake.
Changxi reacted instantly. At the same time, she controlled all twenty warships to leave subspace travel and jump directly toward the upper left.
The next moment, a pale purple Particle Storm large enough to cover several light-days instantly spread through the area where the Eternal Fleet had just been!
Dozens of massive planets had no ability to resist at all and were reduced to fragments in an instant.
Then, under the gathering force of a special force field, the planetary fragments slowly began to converge again.
Under the reinforcement of that powerful force field, they would likely become planets again in only a few decades.
Several light-days away, Qingyang and the others watched it all in amazement.
"Did you record it?" Qingyang murmured to Changxi.
She smiled. "Yes, Commander."
Even the Guxing siblings rarely saw such violently beautiful scenery.
After lingering for a while, the Eternal Truth Fleet set off again.
However, this time, the fleet traveled with even greater caution.
Two days passed in a flash.
The Eternal Fleet avoided yet another storm caused by an Exotic Space Rift.
Looking at the massive, dazzling vortex in the distance that could cover several light-years, Qingyang wiped away non-existent cold sweat.
"If we hadn't avoided it, even a top-tier T7 Fleet wouldn't be able to withstand this kind of Cosmic Disaster, right?"
This was really thrilling.
Roar!
A furious roar suddenly came from behind the Eternal Fleet.
Intense overfrequency sound echoed through everyone's minds.
Boom!
The Taiyi suddenly shook violently, and the Joint Shield directly dropped by 2%!
Everyone's expressions changed slightly. The Yuan Sha Main Cannon immediately locked onto the source of the attack as blinding radiance gathered.
A crimson beam directly struck the target. At this distance, unless the other side could instantly enter subspace or Dark Space—
—it would be impossible to evade the Yuan Sha Main Cannon's bombardment!
The blast wave stirred countless ripples through space, and an Energy Blast Wave engulfed thousands of kilometers around them.
No one relaxed. The Eternal Fleet quickly entered Near-light Speed Travel.
They moved away from the blast zone.
Judging by how the previous attack had stripped 2% from the entire fleet's Joint Shield, the Yuan Sha Main Cannon could not possibly kill it in a single strike.
Sure enough, less than ten seconds after the Eternal Fleet departed—
a colossal creature thousands of meters long burst from the explosion zone. It had an irregular crystalline body, a savage head, and dozens of blade-like limbs.
Its utterly incongruous appearance brought an exceptionally oppressive presence as it chased after the Eternal Fleet.
"A Crystal Shard Blade Worm. At minimum, a Level 6 Star Beast!"
"I remember there's a kind of Shard Crystal inside its body. It seems pretty expensive—eighty thousand Star Points per ton?"
After thinking for a moment, Guxue revealed the origins of the massive Star Beast behind the fleet.
Qingyang's mouth twitched. "The issue isn't whether it's expensive. The issue is whether we look tasty to it.
"With the fleet's current strength, even eight hundred thousand Star Points per ton would be useless!"
"It's fine. Because of its own characteristics, Crystal Shard Blade Worms can't enter subspace travel." Guxue smiled mischievously, completely unconcerned.
Qingyang froze, then sighed in relief.
It could not enter subspace travel?
Then there was nothing to worry about.
The Eternal Fleet immediately prepared to enter subspace and shake off the frenzied Crystal Shard Blade Worm behind them.
However, in the next moment, a ripple silently spread through space.
Then, a disc-shaped warship measuring a full hundred thousand meters appeared in front of the Crystal Shard Blade Worm.
[Mingyue Star Beast Park—Wild Star Beast Capture Ship]
A notification sounded through the control room. Then, the capture ship fired five Space Containment Beams, instantly locking the Crystal Shard Blade Worm in place.
It then loaded the creature into the warship and drifted away.
The entire process lasted only around twenty seconds.
"..."
After a moment of silence, Qingyang finally commented, "The 'liveliness' of Qian Sen Star Lake truly lives up to its reputation."
You could casually come across powerful warships capturing Star Beasts.
That warship clearly was not Starcraft.
However, there was no doubt about its power. Those containment beams could at least restrain a high-end T7 Battleship.
The Eternal Fleet continued onward. This time, they encountered no further unusual situations until reaching the Moro Metal collection area.
Yes, they encountered one after arriving.
"That's... the Lost Mecha Fleet?" Qingyang looked at the large number of red dots marked on the star chart in the distance.
Qingyang's gaze shifted from helplessness to solemnity.
What were the mecha collecting Moro Metal for?
The second update will be a little slower today. It's almost New Year, and I still haven't bought any New Year's supplies.
Before you continue