Global Crossing: Empire of Stars

This thing was cheap, worth one Energy Coin on the market. Better than nothing.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the Qinyuan continued onward.

Two weeks later, after consecutively destroying five wandering pirate fleets, the Qinyuan finally encountered a Formidable Opponent.

During the continuous battles, Lin Zhichen had already promoted Link and Wu Tianyi's two groups of NPC Crew to Senior-level positions and sent them to the trio heading toward the asteroid belt.

At this moment, the Qinyuan was staffed entirely by elite Expert-level crew members—a luxurious combat team!

"Unfortunately, I never learned long-range psionic attacks. Apprentice-level psionic power can't be projected tens of thousands of kilometers away, so I can't participate in interstellar warfare."

On an interstellar battlefield, a distance of ten thousand kilometers was practically face-to-face combat. Under normal circumstances, both sides began fighting from distances measured in light-seconds.

Lin Zhichen felt somewhat regretful. He had all this strength, but too little time. At most, he could only bring out one-tenth of it.

But that was enough. After a period of training, he discovered that he could fully control his psionic power to form a spiritual shield and push aside some of the meteors approaching the Frigate.

If he expanded on this ability, then when enemy missiles struck, he could use similar methods to deflect missiles that had already locked onto the Frigate, reducing his side's losses.

"Psionic power provides a considerable boost to perception, especially that sixth-sense-like precognitive ability. I can now react a second before danger arrives."

One second was enough for many things to happen at certain times.

"Beep, beep~" The shipborne radar emitted an Alarm Sound, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

"Reporting to the captain, a target has been detected in the third sector, two light-seconds from our vessel!" The Radar Operator quickly reported. "The target fleet consists of five Pirate Raiders and one Pirate Gunboat. Report complete!"

"We've finally reached the Pirate Base!" Lin Zhichen finally became serious. "Charge in from the flank!"

The Qinyuan swiftly turned and headed toward the pirate fleet.

Very quickly, even with the cover of meteors and Interstellar Dust, the other side discovered the incoming Qinyuan. The pirate NPCs soon realized that they were facing the enemy ship with their rear flank.

This position was extremely dangerous in space combat, because the most vulnerable engines were exposed at the rear of the hull. The six pirate ships immediately shut down their engines to slow down while desperately turning their bows, trying to escape this awkward position.

But by then, the Qinyuan, accelerated by its Gravity Drive, had already entered firing range. It opened fire from a distance of two light-seconds, roughly six hundred thousand kilometers.

The weapon that fired was the small Electromagnetic Coil Cannon. Due to its power limitations, the projectile fired by this Electromagnetic Cannon only reached three-tenths the speed of light, meaning it took around seven seconds from firing to impact. This was the flaw of Kinetic Weapons.

Of course, calling it a flaw still made it better than Nuclear Missiles. Even in the industrial era, missile engines remained far from light speed, requiring at least several minutes of flight after launch.

Under such circumstances, closing the combat distance was the best approach. While launching its attack, the Qinyuan did not slow down in the slightest.

"Pshh~"

The fully charged Electromagnetic Coil Cannon launched its Alloy Projectiles. After 3.45 seconds of charging, the Railgun, now fully charged again, fired the second wave of three projectiles.

After seven seconds of flight, the first three metal projectiles finally reached the target region. Guided by the Basic Combat Computer and corrected by the gunner's skills, the shells accurately struck the pirate ships.

Although the pirate ships were also Frigate-class vessels, their overall performance fell short of Federation-standard ships. According to StarNet data, pirate ships in most regions were around twenty percent weaker than the Federation's standard fleet.

But this was not absolute. Pirate fleets Spawned by certain old Administrative Planets possessed technological performance far beyond standard warships.

"Boom~"

The Electromagnetic Deflection Shield merely slowed the projectiles' advance before the high-speed rounds struck the hulls.

The instant the projectiles collided, the alloy-forged hull armor suffered a tremendous impact. Three bursts of flame immediately erupted where the rounds struck, countless metal fragments spraying outward as the armor was torn apart.

Damage like this was still not enough to inflict irreparable harm on the pirate ships. Soon, a little over three seconds later, the second wave of three projectiles struck the targets again.

One after another, the Coilgun attacks left wound after wound on the pirate ships. Cracks spread across the once relatively smooth side armor.

But they were warships after all. Their sturdy hull structures still kept the pirate vessels intact. The three main guns on each hull turned, aiming at the approaching Qinyuan.

The six pirate ships possessed a total of sixteen small main guns and one large main gun.

Most Spawned Pirate Raiders were equipped with Interceptor Cores, one Matter Accelerator Cannon, and two Red Laser Cannons. The Pirate Gunboat was equipped with one large Matter Accelerator Cannon and one small Red Laser Cannon.

As energy weapons, Laser Cannons were characterized by their high speed and concentrated, powerful energy damage within range. But their drawback was rapid energy dissipation, giving them a very short range.

At this moment, the Laser Cannons could only serve as decorations. The Matter Accelerator Cannons fired first, launching five metal projectiles accelerated by electromagnetic rails at Sublight Speed toward the incoming Qinyuan.

On the rapidly approaching Qinyuan in the distance, Lin Zhichen's mind suddenly jolted. The instant he was locked onto, he had already sensed that danger had arrived.

The Qinyuan, linked to him mentally, received the danger signal at the same time. Almost instinctively, it threw open its side engines, causing the rapidly advancing Frigate to carve an arc through the void.

This sudden curved trajectory had clearly exceeded the Basic Combat Computer's predictions. The five projectiles streaked through their predetermined paths, only to pass through empty space and vanish a second later.

Attack evaded!

Lin Zhichen's mind shook as he immediately discovered a new opportunity from this unconscious coordination.

"Qinyuan, coordinate with my Danger Sense to evade while maintaining our course. Keep our direction of advance aimed at the enemy ships' flanks!"

Qinyuan: "Understood, Master!"

Once they began coordinating actively, the efficiency was immediately different.

With victory assured, accelerating skill training was the most important thing. Expert-level crew alone had doubled the Qinyuan's combat strength. What if every crew member became a Master-level NPC Crew member?

Because he had cultivated the Yang God before awakening, Lin Zhichen still did not know that his instinctive perception of danger far surpassed Psionicists of the same rank. Whenever the Qinyuan was locked onto by an enemy ship's main guns, he immediately received the information and guided the Qinyuan to alter its trajectory.

After continuously evading more than a dozen rounds of Coilgun bombardment, four Raider Boats were Destroyed in succession, and the Pirate Gunboat was severely damaged. The Qinyuan finally closed in on the enemy ships, but now it was also time for the Laser Cannons to show their might.

Almost simultaneously, the pirate ships that had locked onto the Qinyuan fired together. Three red laser beams struck the target.

In truth, Lin Zhichen had already sensed the danger before the Laser Cannons fired. But laser fire was instantaneous, hitting almost the moment it was fired. There was simply no time to evade.

"No, it can still be dodged!" He carefully sensed it. If he evaded before the lasers were fired, he could avoid the attack. That required his perception of danger to go a step further!

Fortunately, although Laser Cannons had many advantages, their damage was weakened by the Electromagnetic Deflection Shield. The remaining attack could only leave deep scratches across the hull armor—marks left by the high-temperature lasers.

Under this extreme pressure, Lin Zhichen could feel his perception of danger becoming increasingly sharp. He could even vaguely sense when the other side would fire.

But there was no time to think carefully, because the Pirate Gunboat's flank had been exposed!

Electromagnetic Projectiles shot out one after another. At such close range, nearly every shot hit!

"Boom~"

Bursts of flame exploded across the pirate hull. The side armor, already weakened by the Electromagnetic Projectiles, was ripped apart under the continuous bombardment.

Several subsequent projectiles even passed directly through breaches in the hull and slammed into the interior, worsening the damage further.

Then, amid an even larger explosion, the entire Pirate Gunboat shattered, broken metal fragments scattering into the void.

With the Pirate Gunboat's threat gone, the remaining two Raider Boats posed far less danger. After two volleys, blazing explosions erupted from them.

Half an hour after the battle began, this fast-paced small-scale fight finally came to an end.

"Whew~" Lin Zhichen exhaled and opened the gunner panel.

Name: Gunner DQXJ

Gender: Male

Age: 19

Class: Master Gunner

Talent: Artillery Fire Light Red: Kinetic Weapon Range +19%*5

Long-Range Artillery Red: Range +22%*5

Precision Red: Kinetic Weapon Accuracy +23%*5

Skills: 1—Artillery Fire Red, Master-level 17.34%: Firing Speed +50%, Artillery Fire Damage +50%

—Long-Range Artillery Red, Master-level 23.16%: Range +500%

—Precision Red, Master-level 74.13%: Artillery Fire Accuracy +50%

Evaluation: Elite among elites, Hero reserve!

"That's insane!" Lin Zhichen stared in astonishment. He truly had not expected that reaching Master-level in a profession would provide five times the talent bonuses!

The extra Long-Range Artillery talent also had a Master-level skill, giving a direct fivefold bonus. One hundred and ten percent meant 1.1 times the range.

The Precision bonus was 115% + 50%. Of course, accuracy exceeding one hundred percent did not mean every shot would hit. A battlefield was not target practice; many negative factors had to be taken into account. But without question, those trash pirate NPCs would be hit every time.

In comparison, the Artillery Fire bonus was the lowest: firing speed +50%, Artillery Fire damage +50%, plus ninety-five percent weapon range.

From this point onward, the Qinyuan was a professional sniper ship!

"Now I know why those Titan Super Flagships and Dreadnought Heavy Cruisers in the Federation War Academy's holograms had such absurd firepower. They must have been stacked with high-level NPC Crew members!"

Name: Warship Pilot DQXJJSY, Human, Red

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Class: Master Warship Pilot

Talent: Warship Piloting Red: Warship Evasion Rate +14%*5, Sublight Speed +11%*5

Skills: 1—Vessel Piloting White, Master-level 84.53%: Sublight Speed +50%

—Obstacle Evasion White, Master-level 74.57%: Movement Speed in Complex Environments +50%

Evaluation: I am the untouchable Zhao Zilong!

"With evasion this high, could pirates even hit us if we stood still?" Lin Zhichen fell into deep thought.

The warship evasion rate bonus had reached seventy percent. Anyone with slightly worse skills would not even be able to touch them!