Global Crossing: Empire of Stars

A slight mistake in this process would result in a head-on collision with an enemy ship or even a planet, leading to immediate destruction of the ship and death of its crew. Only with extremely strong psychic perception can the probability of accidents be minimized.

At this time, the pirate fleet had not yet retreated from the firing range of the pirate base's ship cannons, while the space fighters had already flown deep into space, heading for the deep unknown.

Suddenly realizing the speed of the "Qinyuan," both the pirate base and the fleet frantically turned their turrets, preparing for battle.

But at this moment, the Psionic Warship was ready. It made a light turn in space, and its three turrets completed their targeting and fired in a short period.

"Boom boom~"

Three starships exploded. At this moment, beams of light passed right through the pirate fleet. This was the counterattack from the pirate base's turrets. With the aid of the electronic control system, friendly fire in the space age had been reduced to a minimum, but the presence of the fleet still affected the firing trajectory of the turrets. The "Qinyuan" didn't even move from its spot; instead, it cunningly turned its hull, positioning itself directly in line with a space carrier.

The energy shields of large warships had far greater power than those of small and medium-sized warships. The "Qinyuan's" turrets could penetrate frigates and destroyers, and even most types of cruisers could be barely destroyed, but battleships were out of the question.

Without wasting opportunities to attack the carrier, its three turrets aimed at the cruiser with the best firing angle and two destroyers. After another round of bombardment, three fireballs appeared in space.

But this was the limit. The next moment, the pirate fleet's turrets had already turned, and beams of light cut through the darkness, disappearing in an instant.

The "Qinyuan" once again turned into a beam of light and vanished, dodging the bombardment from the pirate fleet and base with a few turns, disappearing in an instant.

"Big Brother, with a fleet of this scale, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to take them down," Link said with some worry. "And the pirate base... Big Brother, did you notice? There's also a hidden pirate base within that lava planet!"

Lin Zhichen nodded slightly. He silently activated the holographic projection, which showed the lava planet. Within the interstellar bases, with their exposed menacing cannons, there were also obvious shipyards.

It turned out that before the battle began, he had used the brief moment to photograph the surface of the lava planet.

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And in the brief footage, a magnified section showed starships rising from the magma surface.

It was clear that within the seemingly uninhabitable lava, there was indeed at least one deeply buried base.

"We need a base like this!" Lin Zhichen sighed. He had already seen the greatest advantage of this base: its extreme concealment, which was exactly what they needed.

"Big Brother, it's difficult," Link said, his throat feeling dry. "This base cannot be captured by conventional ground forces at all!"

"There will be a way," Lin Zhichen said. The "Qinyuan" drew an arc in the darkness, space trembled, and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared into space.

With a Space Warp, the starship had vanished from this galaxy.

When it reappeared, it had reached the solar system, with Earth within sight.

At the headquarters of the Meteor Mercenary Group, in a lounge, Link was vividly recounting his shocking journey to the Dark Galaxy to Wei Peng and another person.

Wu Tianyi pondered slightly, "Big Brother, are you planning to sell the Tachyon Light Spear and build an aircraft carrier as soon as possible?"

"That's right. We need a batch of space fighters and pilots," Lin Zhichen nodded slightly. "Currently, Jupiter's asteroid belt is the best training ground."

The Dark Galaxy was too dangerous, with battles involving hundreds or thousands of starships at any moment. A single slip-up could lead to being surrounded by NPC fleets.

"Then, shall we check it out now?" Wu Tianyi asked. "We still don't know the market price for this rare, super-powerful warship main cannon."

Lin Zhichen thought for a moment, then shook his head and asked, "No, I'll do it. Tianyi, when the space carrier arrives, the main force of the legion will move to the asteroid belt. How is the training of those pirate crews going now?"

"Their loyalty is basically not a problem, but their professional skills are mostly at the beginner level, making them unfit for important tasks," Wu Tianyi shook his head. The skills of wild NPCs were generally low. Individual combat strength of the pirate faction was often inferior to that of the Rebel Army faction, although their numbers would be greater.

Lin Zhichen nodded slightly. He didn't have high expectations for these pirate NPCs; as long as their loyalty was up to par, their skills could be rapidly improved in combat later.

"What has Dr. Will been doing lately?" he asked.

"He's studying the ship data from the Federation Academy of Sciences," Wu Tianyi pondered for a moment and replied, "Should I call him over to ask?"

"Let's go take a look. Now that we have a Draftsman, the modification of frigate-class ships should be put on the agenda," Lin Zhichen said, getting up. The group walked towards the research institute together and, under the reception of Dr. Li Ping, quickly found the Ship Design Department.

"Welcome, Your Excellency Commander. I hope you bring good news," Dr. Will said, modifying ship parameters on a holographic computer with the assistance of a group of research assistants. Upon seeing the base's senior management arrive, he did not show any signs of familiarity.

Due to the lack of a Draftsman, the ship design work had stalled. He had repeatedly requested assistance from the base's senior management, but had never received an effective response.

Lin Zhichen was not offended and smiled, "Of course, Doctor. I've found you an excellent assistant, and you will definitely like him."

Saying this, he pointed to the Draftsman.

"Draftsman? This is truly good news." Only then did a hint of joy finally appear on Dr. Will's normally indifferent face. The rules of the New Universe made it difficult for him to adapt. The most serious issue was that even for modifications to existing ships, a Draftsman was needed to draw the corresponding modification blueprints.

"Doctor, if I wanted to modify a frigate-class warship, what difficulties would there be?" Lin Zhichen asked.

"Money, of course, a lot of money," Dr. Will replied. "To be honest, the rules of the New Universe are truly unreasonable. Do you know? To upgrade a frigate to a true second generation, you would normally need to spend three times the cost of building a frigate!"

Wu Tianyi, standing nearby, was confused. "Doctor, what do you mean? Isn't upgrading a frigate just upgrading its associated onboard equipment to the second generation? It shouldn't cost that much, right?"

"No, you're talking about equipment upgrades, while I'm talking about warship modification!" Dr. Will shook his head. He opened the holographic display, showing two seemingly completely different frigates.

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The reason they could be identified as frigates was that one of the holographic images was clearly a holographic projection of a standard Petrel-class Frigate.

Everyone's gaze fell on the second frigate. Compared to the standard frigate, its size and parameters were much larger and taller.

"Petrel-class Frigate

Scale: Length 207 meters, Width 95.8 meters, Height 39.4 meters

Hull Value: 600

Armor: 8

Shield: 300"

Shield charging rate: 4%

Damage: 15.02

Speed: 150

Evasion: 55.1%"

The second-generation Frigate's various standards have almost doubled, but the speed and evasion are slightly reduced.

The most prominent feature is the number of turret mounts. If small Electromagnetic Cannons are installed, six can be equipped at once, doubling the firepower density compared to the first-generation Warship!

"How much will the refit cost?" Lin Zhichen's heart pounded. With doubled firepower, the second-generation Frigate's combat power could easily defeat twice its number of enemy ships of the same tier, equivalent to three first-generation Warships.

"1200 Energy Coins!" Dr. Will stated a price that made his heart race. "If you want to upgrade to the third generation, it's another 2400 Energy Coins!"

"This price is no lower than a Cruiser's!" Link gasped, trembling at the cost of upgrading the ship's hull.

Although the third-generation Frigate's turret count would double again, allowing it to equip twelve small turrets simultaneously, the exorbitant price meant it had no advantage against Cruisers, which were equipped with large turrets!

The attack capability of a large turret against a Warship far surpassed that of medium and small turrets. This gap couldn't be bridged by numbers alone.

"Doctor, can we only upgrade to the third generation at most?" Lin Zhichen asked, looking at the third holographic image.

"Yes, currently up to the third generation." Dr. Will shrugged. "Perhaps there's a fourth or fifth generation, but what's the point? It's still just a Frigate."

Above Frigates were Destroyers, above Destroyers were Cruisers, and above Cruisers were Battleships. With so many ship classes, why fixate on the most basic vessel?

"In your estimation, what's the highest a Frigate can be upgraded to?" Lin Zhichen pressed.

"I estimate its maximum potential is level 5, capable of equipping 48 small turrets. Your Excellency, such an upgrade is not worth the cost." Dr. Will pondered for a moment before reaching his conclusion. "For it, we would have to pay 18,000 Energy Points, enough to build a Battleship."

Hearing this price, their hearts skipped a beat. They would spend the cost of a Battleship to build a 'monster' Frigate with a large number of small turrets.

"Doctor, if we push the Frigate template to this level, how long would it take?" Lin Zhichen asked.

"If you insist, about a month." Dr. Will mused. "We also have NZT-50 to thank; our researchers have made considerable progress during this time. Otherwise, it would have taken at least three months."

Lin Zhichen opened the personal panels of the dozen NPC assistants in the laboratory and found that their main skills had all reached Expert level.

Clearly, Dr. Will had overestimated the effect of NZT-50. A monthly dose was insufficient for such a qualitative leap in a short period. These NPC assistants had transformed so quickly due to his talent, but there was no need to mention that.

"Very well, Doctor. If upgrading the Warship requires a step-by-step process, then I want to take the Blueprints for the first two upgrades now." Lin Zhichen said.

"No problem." Dr. Will instructed the Draftsman. "It's up to you."

The newly recruited Warship pilot finally returned to his old profession. He took over the holographic computer and quickly entered some information.

They were patient. The value of these strategic NPCs was immeasurable, and they wouldn't feel impatient at the opportunity to learn more.

Dr. Will had already completed the most labor-intensive design work. The Draftsman only needed to output it and use his skills to convert it into a Blueprint. The speed was not slow; just an hour and a half later, a Blueprint radiating a strong white light appeared in Lin Zhichen's hand.

"Petrel-class Frigate Upgrade Blueprint (White)

Activation Effect: Allows upgrading and refitting a selected Petrel-class Frigate upon activation.

Cost: 200 Universal Alloy"

Universal Alloy was about 900 Energy Coins, plus other components, totaling around 1200 Energy Coins.

Lin Zhichen glanced at it, put away the Blueprint, and looked at the still busy Draftsman. "Doctor, do you have any refit plans for the Pirate Raider?"

Dr. Will activated another holographic projection, displaying a completely new vessel – the Pirate Raider.

"The design philosophy of the Pirate Raider is completely different from that of the Frigate. It focuses more on speed, while relatively neglecting hull strength. Even with further upgrades, its hull strength will still be weaker than a Frigate of the same tier.

Conversely, its speed and evasion capabilities will surpass those of a same-tier Frigate.

Lin Zhichen nodded. "We'll likely capture quite a few pirate ships in the future. If you have time, optimize and upgrade it. The second generation is sufficient; anything higher is unnecessary."

"I understand," Dr. Will nodded.

An hour and a half later, the group finally emerged from the laboratory.

"Big Brother, drawing Blueprints is really slow. With this efficiency, if we need to upgrade tens of millions of ships, how will we ever finish?" Link asked doubtfully.