Purple Atomic Fusion Nuclear Engine

Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives. Just a second ago, Song Chi had been rejoicing inwardly that no first-rank White-Wing Clan had caught up to him. The next moment, the Cangqiong's rear hull shuddered violently as a first-rank White-Wing Clan pursued from behind, its thrown attack striking the Cangqiong's stern with precision.

Warning: Hull Armor damaged by 34%, hull damaged by 13%. Please repair immediately.

Song Chi's expression changed drastically.

Although the White-Wing Clan's attacks were generally rather weak—as demonstrated by the fact that the attacks of over a dozen zero-rank White-Wing Clan members had damaged the Hull Armor by less than 6%—an attack that crossed an entire rank was still absolutely terrifying, no matter how low its damage was.

A single strike from a first-rank White-Wing Clan had destroyed one-quarter of the Hull Armor. This meant that if the Cangqiong took another two or three attacks from it, the hull itself would suffer irreversible damage.

"Activate the Basic Nanobot Repair Kit."

After hurriedly issuing the command to the semi-automatic onboard AI, Song Chi did not dare let his attention wander in the slightest. He continued controlling the Cangqiong at full speed as it raced upward.

His plan was simple. As long as he could escape this rift, he could activate the shuttle's lightspeed cruise without restraint. No matter how fast the first-rank White-Wing Clan was, it could never reach the speed of light on its own.

Warning: Hull Armor damaged by 36%, hull damaged by 14%. Please repair immediately.

Basic Nanobot Repair Kit activated. Hull Armor repaired by 3%, hull repaired by 4%. Current damage level...

Warning: Hull Armor damaged by 35%, hull damaged by 12%. Please repair immediately.

Amid the repeated alerts of damage and repair, who knew how much time had passed when the Cangqiong trembled violently once more, followed by an even more urgent warning from the AI.

Hull severely damaged. Current Hull Armor damage: 80%. Hull damage: 62%. Once hull damage exceeds 80%, the shuttle will lose mobility. Please repair immediately.

The second attack from the first-rank White-Wing Clan behind them arrived, causing the Cangqiong's hull damage to instantly surge past fifty percent.

Yet at that moment, intense delight suddenly burst forth in Song Chi's eyes. After relentless effort, the Cangqiong had finally escaped the rift space and returned to the skies above the fragment.

Without any hesitation, the engine began operating under overload.

Below, the hundred-plus pursuing White-Wing Clan members let out strange shrieks in unison, launching their attacks one after another, including the sole first-rank White-Wing Clan.

One could imagine that if this barrage of attacks struck the Cangqiong's shuttle hull, its damage level would certainly exceed 80%. However, the Cangqiong was ultimately faster. Before the hundred-plus attacks could reach it, it had already transformed into an afterimage and vanished from above the fragment. When it reappeared, it was already at the edge of a distant void region.

Only after charging back into the debris belt did the highly focused Song Chi finally let out a long breath, while intense exhaustion swept through his mind.

Beneath the rift, his extreme concentration had pushed him beyond the limit of handling two tasks at once. He had not noticed it earlier because he had not dared relax at all, but the moment he did, the aftereffects immediately surfaced.

Song Chi was not surprised by this. If anything, he felt a faint excitement in his heart.

Generally speaking, even if a zero-rank Kindling Captain's Guidance Art had reached lv9, they could only handle two tasks at once. Handling three tasks at once required Guidance Art lv10 or above, something achievable only after one's life level had undergone an evolution.

The reason he, with his Guidance Art at only lv4, had been able to briefly enter a state of handling three tasks at once was entirely because he had severely overdrawn his mental strength. Naturally, his mind would languish for a period afterward.

Of course, this did not mean every Kindling citizen with Guidance Art below lv10 could enter such a temporary limit-breaking state through intense concentration. On the contrary, those capable of doing so were one in ten thousand. Entering, let alone controlling, this limit-breaking state often required a particular opportunity as well as certain special talents.

As a result, very few people could master this technique, and every one of them could be called exceptionally gifted.

That was why Song Chi was delighted. Even if this single accidental breakthrough did not mean he had completely mastered this special technique, with this experience, he was confident that through long-term practice and experimentation, he could eventually master it fully.

He continued controlling the Cangqiong through the debris belt for several more minutes. Once he had made sure that the White-Wing Clan could not catch up again anytime soon, Song Chi brought the Cangqiong to a stop on a small fragment.

If he remembered correctly, the Cangqiong's time for automatic return was only a few minutes away.

Taking advantage of the time, he turned to look at the shuttle's only currently installed special component, the "Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree."

As expected, seven of the ten points of light on the white component had already dimmed. This meant that of the ten Fire Sunflower Soldiers at the bottom of the rift, seven had died so far, with only three still struggling to hold on.

However, it was not without an unexpected gain. At some point, two wisps of zero-rank Floating Continent Essence had appeared aboard the Cangqiong. This meant that before dying, the seven Fire Sunflower Soldiers had also taken down two first-rank White-Wing Clan members.

That was right. Aside from a Floating Continent Essence Core continuously producing Floating Continent Essence, a Kindling Starship could also obtain Floating Continent Essence by killing alien civilization lifeforms in foreign starfields. Since the Fire Sunflower Soldiers were products of the Cangqiong's "Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree" component, they could trigger this trait as well.

As for why a first-rank White-Wing Clan member only yielded one wisp of zero-rank Floating Continent Essence, that was perfectly normal. After all, obtaining the same single wisp of zero-rank Floating Continent Essence would require killing ten thousand zero-rank aliens.

As he pondered, the remaining three points of light dimmed in succession. All ten Fire Sunflower Soldiers had perished.

Song Chi did not feel sad about this. It was not as if the ten Fire Sunflower Soldiers would be gone forever after dying this time. After a twenty-four-hour cooldown, they could be summoned again.

After checking the condition of the Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree component, Song Chi swept his gaze toward the cabin. He was extremely curious about the starship component transformed from the level-1 Floating Continent Essence Core that he had obtained only after tremendous effort.

The instant he entered the cabin, Song Chi's eyes lit up. His attention was not on the palm-sized starship component near the cabin door itself, but on the dazzling purple light it emitted.

Clearly, this Kindling Starship component transformed from the fusion form of a level-1 Floating Continent Essence Core was a purple-quality component.

Atomic Fusion Nuclear Engine lv0

Quality: Purple

...

Before he could finish reading, a faint sensation of weightlessness suddenly struck him, and it continued to intensify with time.

Realizing something, Song Chi immediately withdrew his gaze and returned to the pilot's seat as quickly as possible.