Friendship

Lin Jie also sensed that something was wrong. He was far too familiar with the White Swan-class Cruiser; he had even piloted one himself.

The White Swan-class Cruiser was indeed elegant, and speed was indeed its specialty, but it definitely was not this fast.

This model of warship was something of an oddity among cruisers. Rather than pursuing balanced performance, it pursued high speed.

If its firepower were strengthened further, it might even be classified as a Battlecruiser.

But at its current speed, it had clearly left the Mad Lion-class far behind.

As an antique among cruisers, this speed was abnormal.

No matter how lacking the Mad Lion-class might be, it was still one of the era's mainstay cruisers. There was no way it should have been slower than a White Swan-class Cruiser.

"It's even faster than the latest Glory-class... No, this is the standard of a next-generation cruiser."

Lin Jie was deeply shaken. The implications of accelerating a Swan-class ship to such a degree were obvious.

An old antique had been reborn.

It was not merely a display of technological prowess, but of formidable manufacturing capability as well.

He had originally harbored some doubts about the Great Xia Empire, but they had now all vanished.

Strength was the finest hard currency.

Lin Jie's feelings were difficult to put into words.

He knew the Lin Family's standing in the Blue Star Federation. For at least another fifty years, they could forget about getting their hands on a next-generation mainstay cruiser.

They would have to wait until the new generation of cruisers had fully matured and the gap had widened before they could acquire one, paying exorbitant prices to cover the development costs.

As for the next level up—battlecruisers, battleships, and carriers—they were even further beyond their reach.

This was a