Global Crossing: Empire of Stars

"Hmm?" Lin Zhichen started and grabbed Wei Peng's hand. "Let me see!"

Psionics surged, and sure enough, he sensed a faint thread within Wei Peng's dantian.

It was condensed from the body's vital essence, possessing a certain quality.

According to the cultivation principles of his previous life, this was the Innate Foundation Establishment Realm, the true beginning of cultivation. Upon reaching this step, one could cast off the mortal body, refine the bloodline, bones, and marrow, and gradually attain a physically perfect state.

"You've entered the path of cultivation." Lin Zhichen smiled and nodded. "Although Ancient Cultivation doesn't display much power at first, it is currently the only path I know of for ordinary people to become Psionicists!"

The people in the room began breathing rapidly, their hearts pounding.

Jiaoliu 53-9091-26

If they had still been somewhat doubtful before, then after Lin Zhichen himself became a Psionicist through cultivation, they all believed completely.

"Cultivation is hard work. If you rely entirely on talent, you might cultivate bitterly for a lifetime and still achieve nothing. Learning it would be pointless." Lin Zhichen said, "But if it is combined with my talent, then it becomes one of the greatest paths to heaven in the world!"

Lin Zhichen's talent was the group's greatest secret. They never spoke of it openly, but it was also the source of everyone's confidence.

Having grown up together in the Orphanage, they were closer than blood brothers.

At that moment, all of them were flushed red and overwhelmed with excitement.

Until one reached the upper ranks, one would never understand the status of Psionicists. More than seventy percent of the Federation's renowned Heroes were Psionicists, while mechanical Synths and Gene Evolvers occupied the remaining thirty percent. Ordinary people had no place at all.

Who among those willing to work desperately to become captains did not dream of becoming Heroes of the stars?

Yet talent alone had already shut out ninety-nine percent of people. Cruel reality would teach them what it meant to keep their feet on the ground.

But now, a shortcut to heaven had appeared!

"Big Brother, we'll train! Train until we drop!" Link gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

"Don't overdo it! This needs to be done slowly. If you ruin your body, then all hope will be gone!" Lin Zhichen glared at him, then added uneasily,

"Don't rush. Start training slowly. Once we have money, I plan to get a Hydroponic Farm specifically to cultivate Psionic Plants. Those things are comparable to Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. One bite will be enough for you to train for half a day!"

"There's something that good?" The others were delighted.

"Of course. I've already given this Body Tempering Technique to several of my NPC Crew and told them to practice it once each morning, noon, and night. Judging by their progress, they probably won't get started for another month. Then they can train with you." Lin Zhichen said lightly, yet his words left the others dumbfounded.

"That can be done?!" Wei Peng's eyes nearly popped out. "Big Brother, are you planning to cultivate a Psionic Trooper Unit?!"

A Psionic Trooper Unit was said to be the Federation's most elite Army Special Forces. People had only heard of them and never seen them. Their Infiltration Operations were almost always successful, and there was very little information about them On the Star Net. Much of it was likely misinformation released as a smokescreen.

"We brothers are going to do great things. How can we manage without capable helpers? When your crew arrives tomorrow, hand them all over to me. After a month of training, they'll definitely be transformed!" Lin Zhichen said. "I'll head to the Asteroid Belt first. Tianyi, once your and Ake's ships return, bring Dapeng along and come over!"

"Big Brother, is there somewhere we can use ground troops?" Wei Peng froze at those words.

"I found a Pirate Base during this trip. We'll find an opportunity to see if we can wipe it out in one go!" Lin Zhichen said.

"Alright!"

The group made a racket for a while before finally dispersing late at night to rest.

Early the next morning, Lin Zhichen piloted the Qinyuan toward the Asteroid Belt.

He did not use Space Jump at first. He wanted to test the speed after switching to an Ion Engine. Combined with the pilot's navigation skill, the ship moved incredibly fast.

"The Ion Engine adds twenty-five percent to ship speed, and the pilot adds another twenty-six percent. The ship's speed has increased by half!"

He was delighted. This was purely the Frigate's own speed. If he used the Gravity Drive, it could travel at fifty percent of light speed—and that was its normal cruising speed!

After testing it briefly, he did not waste any more time. He located the Asteroid Belt's coordinates and jumped directly into an area of space more than ten thousand kilometers away.

This time, he did not have his own crew pilot the ship. Instead, he used the crew recruited by Link and the others, training them while they traveled as they stumbled their way through the Asteroid Belt toward the Pirate Base.

"Could it be that the closer someone is to me, the better my talent works on them?"

Lin Zhichen discovered that the skills of his direct subordinates improved rapidly. Even when he trained them on behalf of others, their progress was faster than the training speed of Link and the others. Nominally, both Link and Link's subordinates were Lin Zhichen's subordinates, but their skill growth rates were clearly different when they were under Link's command.

A week later, the warship encountered three pirate vessels.

"Pirate Raiders. Not bad. They're perfect for some practice!" Lin Zhichen's eyes lit up. Just as he was about to order the new crew members to ambush them, he stopped. "Wait, I'm a fleet Commander now, aren't I? It would be a waste to just fight them like this!"

With that thought, he paused and opened StarNet to search.

Generally speaking, private forces had two development paths. One was a Mercenary Group, and the other was a Merchant Guild.

Mercenary Groups followed the path of war. They usually accepted missions from employers, while the military also released certain combat missions to guide Mercenary Groups into completing them. During wartime, they could be conscripted by the United Government, making them equivalent to reserve troops.

Merchant Guilds followed the path of commerce. In the early stages, they focused on trading between star systems, transporting and selling products. Later, they would move into industry and carry out industrial production, such as manufacturing pharmaceuticals and cultivating Psionic Plants.

The two paths sounded clearly distinct, but there was actually no obvious boundary between them. At most, their priorities differed.

"We'll take the path of war!" This had already been the plan. Lin Zhichen directly opened the Mercenary Guild homepage to register.

As a military-affiliated organization, the Mercenary Guild naturally possessed his relevant information. Such an operation would certainly not be permitted on a normal Administrative Planet, or it would turn into private armies for military officers and become impossible to control.

However, Administrative Planets that had only recently joined the Federation were treated with unusual leniency. Very quickly, a Mercenary Group named Meteor was born.

There was no need to worry about duplicate names, because each Mercenary Group's leader and other important members were its unique identifiers.

"Name: Meteor

Nature: Mercenary Group

Level: 1

Military Merit: 0

Mission Completion Rate:

Members: 1/100

Warships: Psionic Frigate ×1

Base: Earth

Evaluation: A rookie noob!"

It was a simple Mercenary Group panel at the lowest level.

He casually added Link and the others, and the Mercenary Group finally had a little life to it.

He had no mood to examine it closely at the moment. He recorded the pirate information he had just scanned and uploaded it to the military database of the Earth Defense Directorate.

Very quickly, the intelligent computer completed the review and sent back a mission listing.

Clear Pirates 562

Mission Intelligence: Fleet Scale: Tiny. Initially judged to consist of three Frigates.

Mission Level: Gray

Mission Requirements: 1. Mission Time Limit: 1 week; 2. Mission Objective: Destroy the pirate fleet.

Mission Reward: Military Merit 1, Energy Coin 1

Mission Description: As the Solar System merges into the New Universe, signs of gamification are becoming increasingly apparent over time. Some dangerous pirate fleets have Spawned, threatening the safety of Earth's ten billion citizens and the Hyperspace Lane.

"Producing and selling it myself!" Lin Zhichen happily completed the secondary review and casually accepted the mission.

This was truly seamless!

Under the normal mission release process, a space radar station would first scan a pirate fleet and send the information to the military database. The military intelligent computer would automatically evaluate and review it, after which an officer at the Commander or chief of staff level would conduct a second review. Only then would it be sent to the Mercenary Guild database and issued to the many Mercenary Groups.

Lin Zhichen's operation designated the mission recipient, bypassing the Mercenary Guild and directly delivering the mission to his registered Mercenary Group. As a high-ranking Earth military officer, he could release missions directly.

With that simple step, by destroying the same three pirate ships, he could earn one additional Energy Coin. More importantly, he would gain one point of Military Merit, which could level up the Mercenary Group.

Leveling up a Mercenary Group brought many benefits, such as raising the member limit for Natural Persons. Most importantly, only by advancing ten levels and evolving into a corps would one gain the authority to purchase Flagship-class Warships from the military!

Whether it was a Dreadnought Battlecruiser or a Heavy Aircraft Carrier, both were the soul of a fleet and multipliers of combat power!

"Now, destroy them!" Lin Zhichen gave the order with satisfaction.

"Bzzzz—"

The Electromagnetic Cannon charged and fired Electromagnetic Projectiles across a distance of two Light-seconds.

Two Light-seconds was sixty thousand kilometers. In space, that distance was very short, but for both sides in battle, it was incredibly far.

At the very least, the pirate ships' radar could not detect even a trace of them.

Even under the new crew members' clumsy shooting, five consecutive volleys missed entirely. Meanwhile, the pirates continued patrolling leisurely, completely unaware that they were already standing beneath the scythe of the God of Death.

The sixth volley finally hit. The damaged Pirate Raider had no choice but to slow down, immediately becoming an obvious target.

After the ninth volley, that pirate ship finally became a ball of fire. Yet its companions were still spinning around in confusion, unable even to determine the Qinyuan's direction.

The power of beyond-visual-range strikes in space combat was clear to see. Under technological suppression, the enemy could not even find the direction from which to retaliate.

After fifteen volleys, the new NPC Crew members, who had only just advanced to beginner gunners, finally sent the pirates back into the darkness.

"Not bad! Actual combat really does produce extraordinary training results! If we had relied on the Virtual Academy, they probably wouldn't have even mastered the skills by now!"

Lin Zhichen nodded, but a thoughtful look appeared on his face. Although they had been fast, they were not fast enough. Every second mattered now.

The Qinyuan sped forward and collected a Basic Combat Computer.

As a universal shipborne combat computer, it could improve the efficiency of certain basic tactical applications. It was particularly effective in large-scale battles and was also essential equipment for warships.