Global Crossing: Empire of Stars Chapter 15

Sublight Assault Red: Effect 1: Sublight Cannon Barrage accuracy +21% * 5; Effect 2: Sublight Cannon Barrage damage +24% * 5;

Class: Captain Red, Master-level

Skills: 1—Psionic Cultivation Red, Apprentice-level 92.24%

—Ship Command Red, Master-level 100.0%: Effect 1: Ship evasion +25%; Effect 2: Sublight Speed +25%;

—Sublight Assault Red, Master-level 13.21%: Effect 1: Sublight Cannon Barrage accuracy +21%; Effect 2: Sublight Cannon Barrage damage +23%;

—Fatal Strike Red, Beginner 13.27%: Guaranteed kill +2%

Psionic Energy: 128

Evaluation: Watch me become a Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens!"

"Sublight Assault had directly reached Master-level and even upgraded into a talent!" A smile appeared on his face. This assault had yielded far more than he had imagined.

Especially the additional new skill, Fatal Strike.

The words "guaranteed kill" made him think of many things. It often represented a one-hit kill, with an effect entirely identical to a crotch-bursting attack.

Considering how low this skill's probability bonus was, the skill was surely extraordinary and worth looking forward to.

Lin Zhichen checked the few NPC Crew members under his command. Their main skills had all advanced to the peak of Master-level, and they only lacked some condition to advance to Grandmaster.

It could be said that the crew configuration aboard the Qin Yuan was, even among the Federation military's main force and powerful Psionic Warships, about the best one could get!

"Just one more step. I can feel it—the Pirate Base is my opportunity!" He looked toward the Pirate Base and began making calculations.

A Psionicist's advancement was not only an accumulation of quantity, but also a sublimation of quality. There were two mainstream methods for advancing from Apprentice-level to Psionic Warrior. One was pure Psionic Cultivation, pushing one's psionic energy to its ultimate sublimation, even becoming a Psionic Creature and surviving as an Energy Body.

The other was Skill Spiritualization. By spiritualizing skills above Expert-level, one could advance into an Elite. If one further sublimated one's own skills, a domain would form. That was a Hero. Once deployed, a domain could empower an entire fleet. They were the pillars of the Nation of Wisdom, the backbone of expanding territory and resisting invasions by NPC monsters.

The second method was far more difficult than the first because it required cultivators to involve themselves in fields beyond psionic energy.

Without question, Lin Zhichen chose the second path. Only this route could bring his talent to its fullest potential.

"Beep beep~"

The Holographic Communication rang, and Lin Zhichen casually opened it.

"Big Brother is awesome! 666, Big Brother! You became famous in a single battle! From now on, who in the Solar System won't know Meteor's mighty name?" The moment the communication opened, Wei Peng began shouting excitedly.

"What?" Lin Zhichen frowned slightly. It seemed something had happened that he did not know about.

"Big Brother, you haven't looked at the Star Net? Well, you did just finish a battle." Wu Tianyi stood beside him with a broad smile, clearly in an excellent mood. "For some reason, footage of you piloting the Qin Yuan against the pirate fleet was posted online. Everyone is discussing who you are now."

"Is that so?" Lin Zhichen was slightly startled. He activated his wristband to search, and sure enough, he found the relevant information dominating the Earth Star Net interface.

"It was a deep-space probe, a spy model." Link explained from the side. "It was probably an accident. That Pirate Base had been watched by someone for a long time. You just happened to be there."

"Clean it up afterward." Lin Zhichen nodded and shut off the Star Net.

"I think this is an opportunity. We can use it to promote Meteor." Wu Tianyi reminded him. "Big Brother, if we want to grow stronger, we can't rely solely on us brothers. Even a beginner Mercenary Group can recruit over a hundred people."

"That's right. It makes sense. I'll leave it to you, then." Lin Zhichen agreed, looking at the others. "Next, we need to figure out how to take down that base!"

"It won't be easy, Big Brother." Wei Peng frowned upon hearing this. "Even if you destroy all their starships, there are still plenty of turrets inside the base!

"Besides the turrets, there must be many automated close-in defense batteries, Mechanical Persons, and pirate ground troops guarding the interior. With just the ground forces we have, we'd be crippled even if we fought our way in.

"Unless we use orbital bombardment and directly blast the base to pieces!"

"Then we'll cripple it before attacking. That base isn't of much use to us anyway, so minimizing losses comes first." Lin Zhichen made the decision. "I'll send you the coordinates. Come over. I'll circle around for the next few days. After the Pirate Base was attacked, they'll definitely summon all their fleets back. Then I'll wipe them out in one go!"

"Big Brother is awesome!" Wei Peng said excitedly.

Just as the plan had been settled, Link said in surprise, "Huh? Big Brother, someone is looking for you on the Star Net. They're descendants of several European noble royal families, and there are North American conglomerates too.

"One named Kadir Rockefeller is even apologizing to you. He says one of his subordinates was negligent and directly posted your information online, causing this livestreaming accident. He hopes to offer you some compensation!"

"Who's he trying to fool? How could that be a mistake?" Wei Peng cursed harshly. "Big Brother, don't be polite with them. Demand whatever compensation you deserve!"

Lin Zhichen pondered for a moment. "Kadir Rockefeller? I've met him before. He's the descendant of a financial tycoon I extorted."

"It's him?" Wu Tianyi frowned. "Big Brother, if he knows your identity, could it have any effect on us?"

"It won't." Link said coldly. "In this era, strength rules supreme. Never mind whether he'd dare make a move in secret while risking discovery by the Federation—even if we do face him, are we supposed to be afraid?"

Lin Zhichen nodded. "Ake is right. Take the call and see what he wants to say."

The communication was quickly connected. Kadir Rockefeller was about to bow politely when he blurted out in surprise, "It's you?!"

Lin Zhichen said calmly, "Lin Zhichen. We meet again."

"Mr. Lin, it is a pleasure to see you again!" Kadir Rockefeller truly was a member of a great family. He quickly composed himself and gave a slight bow. "First, please allow me to apologize to you on behalf of the Rockefeller Family. Due to our personnel's negligence, your information was accidentally exposed on the Star Net!"

Lin Zhichen frowned. "Please get to the point."

"Mr. Lin is straightforward, so I'll be direct." Kadir Rockefeller wore an aristocratic smile. "My family intends to take over the Pirate Base you are attacking. You may name a price, and we can discuss it."

"You want to buy this Pirate Base?" Lin Zhichen was slightly surprised. He pondered briefly. "You can have the base, but the spoils are mine."

Every Pirate Base contained valuable spoils, especially the warship blueprints that were sure to be present. A base of this size could not possibly have Cruiser blueprints, but Destroyer blueprints were highly likely.

"Of course. You may take all the spoils, but please leave the equipment in the base and the captured pirate NPCs behind. My family can purchase them!" Kadir Rockefeller immediately agreed.

Lin Zhichen shook his head. "The pirate fleet is mine. Attacking the base is your business. I don't want any of the equipment or pirate NPCs inside."

"This..." Kadir Rockefeller hesitated slightly, then immediately agreed. "It's settled!"

After agreeing on the time of attack, Lin Zhichen looked at the others. "Now we no longer need to consider attacking the base."

Without interference from pirate warships, more than half of the Pirate Base's defensive capabilities would be useless.

A fortress alone was ultimately just a stationary target. There were plenty of ways to take it down.

"Big Brother, we'll head over right away!" Wu Tianyi said.

Lin Zhichen nodded slightly. "It'll be good for you to experience the atmosphere of the battlefield. At least for the next five days, I won't make a move. Let the pirates gather properly, and then we'll try to wipe them all out at once!"

Link and the others showed envious expressions. He did not ask how many enemies there were, only where they were. That was the true bearing of a Hero!

"The Gate of Time and Space has opened again~" Lin Zhichen emerged from his meditative seclusion. Several days had passed since the last call. Aside from cultivating psionic energy, he had circled the Pirate Base once every other day during this period to inspect the surrounding situation.

Sure enough, frightened by the previous sudden attack, the pirate fleets that had been patrolling outside had gradually returned. They patrolled nervously around the base, never daring to leave the range of the base radar.

His psionic energy fluctuated slightly as his talent activated, and another subspace instance rapidly took shape.

"Another new Instance World? Limitless? This is the one!"

He already knew the rewards from Black Hole Surface. Civilization Relics were unique, so he could forget about the Gravity Drive. Characters were unique as well—there could only be one Dr. Will in the real universe. The greatest benefit was the Killing Ship Soul.

However, two Frigates appearing in a short period would inevitably attract the attention of interested parties. Once anyone discovered something suspicious, with the Federation's vast reach, he could only flee for his life.

The plot of Limitless was about a destitute Pan Jun taking a special pill. His brain overclocked, transforming him from an ordinary person into a genius with extraordinary thought and logic. He could learn anything at a glance, then swept through the city and rose all the way to become Federation President. Pan Kenguai's underdog comeback story—if he did not use cheats, he would have to be crazy!

NZT-50, the perfect version of the little blue pill, had no side effects. One pill let you ascend for twenty-four hours!

"Civilization Relic * NZT-50 White

Special Authority: Allows the Meteor Mercenary Group to produce NZT-50. Note: This authority cannot be transferred. If the Meteor Mercenary Group disbands, the authority disappears; production scale is positively correlated with the size of the Meteor Mercenary Group.

Activation Effect: After orally taking NZT-50, enter a brain-overclocking state. Learning ability +30%, lasting 24h.

Cooldown: 1 month"

"A perfect learning tool. It's absolutely the perfect match for my talent!" Lin Zhichen's eyes lit up, and he immediately beamed with joy.

Although it could only be taken once a month, limiting NZT-50's effects, as long as he learned a skill within those twenty-four hours and got it onto the skill panel, he could continuously improve it through the Diligence Repays the Heavens talent.

"As expected of an authority-type Civilization Relic. The ingredients needed to produce NZT-50 are all common as well." He searched online for the relevant medicinal ingredients and immediately found a huge pile of them, putting his mind at ease.

An authority-type Civilization Relic could be the production authority for a certain potion. Someone else could use the same ingredients and the same process, yet produce nothing but crap. With the authority, however, the result would be a treasure.

It could also be a certain technology that could only be produced by that faction, while other factions could not produce it.

The forms varied, but they were all a form of authority, similar to blueprints.

In high spirits, he checked the time. Five days had already passed. Calculating that the pirates had gathered together, it was time to harvest another wave.

The Qin Yuan started up and slowly advanced toward the Pirate Base, picking up speed. Like a mounted general on an ancient battlefield gradually accelerating with weapon in hand, it charged fearlessly toward an army of thousands.

Outside the Pirate Base, nearly three hundred pirate ships clustered together like ants, cautiously drifting through space.

The sudden lightning strike days ago had scared the pirates out of their wits. Its speed, freely coming and going amid an army of thousands, still filled countless pirates with dread. They did not even dare conduct normal patrols, fearing they would encounter this god of death while alone.

Suddenly, another strange shadow flashed across the base radar. The shrill alarm made every pirate's heart leap, and soon, a warship as fast as lightning came hurtling toward them.

"It's him!!" A panicked cry suddenly rang through the communication channel, chilling every pirate to the bone and sending morale plummeting!

"Shut up, idiot! He only has one ship, while we have three hundred! Attack together!"

The pirate leader tried clumsily to raise morale. The disparity in strength between the two sides quickly restored the sluggish NPCs, and they hurriedly turned their ships around.

However, the speed advantage brought by Sublight Assault became overwhelmingly apparent at this moment. Before the pirates could even complete their stopping maneuvers, the first wave of god-of-death strikes had already arrived!

Three rapid shells streaked through space, precisely striking the rear sections of three Raider Boats and blasting them into three bursts of fire.