Cangqiong Component Upgrades (Please Follow)

Song Chi withdrew his gaze from the attribute panel of the Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree component before him and began tallying the funds he currently had on hand.

Aside from the 1,000 wisps of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence provided by his parents, he had 2.4 million credit points in his account.

According to the Morning Star Duchy's official exchange rate, ten thousand credit points could be exchanged for one wisp of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence.

In other words, counting everything, he currently had 1,240 wisps of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence.

Of those 1,240 wisps, he had to reserve at least 500 for medical supplies, Basic Nanobot Repair Kits, Raging Tiger I Floating Land Mining Vehicles, Mining Vehicle Prospectors, and so on, leaving him with only around 700 wisps to upgrade the Psionic Shuttle.

There was no need to deliberate over the first component to upgrade. Song Chi chose the Psionic Shield without hesitation. Once activated, it could form an energy shield over the surface of the Psionic Shuttle's hull, making it one of a Kindling Starship's primary defensive measures.

For Song Chi, who possessed the Myriad Heavens Market, as long as he cultivated step by step, he could continuously elevate his life level. Therefore, when exploring alien starfields, staying alive was naturally the most important thing.

However, upgrading this component required not only Floating Continent Essence and Dark Energy Points, but also an item known as a Life Core.

Song Chi was naturally familiar with such an item.

Within the vast Shattered Star Sea, most starsea lifeforms left behind a special crystal within their bodies after death. This crystal contained the majority of the energy essence they had absorbed throughout their lives. It was precisely what was known as a Life Core.

Speaking of which, Life Cores could be considered a universal special resource. Many starsea civilizations included them in their universal currency systems.

The Kindling Human Civilization was no exception. They could generally be used and exchanged at any moderately sized chamber of commerce or family business. And it was not just Life Cores—other commonly used Kindling Starship upgrade resources, such as refined iron and Floating Continent Essence, could also be freely used and exchanged for one another.

On the first floor, after greeting his parents, Song Chi headed out again and made his way to East River Spark Mall, not far from East River District.

This was merely one of Jiangyuan City's many Kindling malls. There were not many merchants stationed inside, but it was more than sufficient for a newly awakened Kindling ship captain like Song Chi.

After spending more than ten minutes comparing prices at several shops and obtaining the Life Cores he needed, Song Chi did not hurry home. Instead, he directly summoned the Psionic Shuttle in the mall's designated Kindling Starship upgrade area and began the shuttle's first upgrade.

Confirm spending {1 wisp of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence + 100 Dark Energy Points + 5 Life Cores} to upgrade the Psionic Shield component from lv0 to lv1?

"Confirm!"

Confirm spending {3 wisps of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence + 200 Dark Energy Points + 6 Life Cores} to upgrade the Psionic Shield component from lv1 to lv2?

After four consecutive upgrades, Song Chi raised the Psionic Shield component to lv4. It was not that he did not intend to continue, but the 1,000 Dark Energy Points stored in the Psionic Pool attached to the Psionic Engine had already been completely used up. He had to wait for it to fill up again.

Fortunately, its storage speed was not slow. With only the Psionic Engine component activated, it could store 9 points per second, filling up in less than two minutes.

Two minutes later, Song Chi began upgrading again.

In the end, he raised the Psionic Shield all the way to lv7, spending a total of 59 wisps of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence, 56 zero-tier Life Cores, and 2,800 Dark Energy Points.

Of the 59 wisps of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence, 49 were used for upgrades, while the other 10 were used to purchase 100 zero-tier Life Cores.

As expected, the lv7 Psionic Shield's attributes had improved considerably.

Psionic Shield lv7

Quality: Colorless

Consumption: 10/s (Dark Energy Points)

Defense: 18

Shield Value: 180/180

Charge: 23s; cooldown after overload: 46 minutes

Upgrade Requirements: 15 wisps of Floating Continent Essence (zero-tier), 800 Dark Energy Points, 12 Life Cores (zero-tier)

Even after upgrading the Psionic Shield, Song Chi still did not feel entirely reassured. As a transmigrator, the belief that nothing mattered more than staying alive was practically carved into his bones. Thus, he immediately began upgrading the Hull Armor as well.

Although this component's defense was inferior to the Psionic Shield's, it was still one of a Kindling Starship's important defenses. Naturally, he would not neglect it.

Several minutes later, he had upgraded the Hull Armor to lv7 as well.

However, each upgrade of this component consumed a special mineral resource known as refined iron. Reaching lv7 used a total of 28 tons of refined iron, and each ton cost one wisp of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence.

Altogether, upgrading the Hull Armor had consumed 77 wisps of Floating Continent Essence.

Hull Armor lv7

Quality: Colorless

Consumption: 3/s (Dark Energy Points)

Defense: 18

Upgrade Requirements: 15 wisps of Floating Continent Essence (zero-tier), 800 Dark Energy Points, 8 tons of refined iron

After both the Psionic Shield and Hull Armor had been raised to lv7, their energy consumption upon activation increased significantly, already exceeding the Psionic Engine's normal power supply. Therefore, if he wanted to keep the Psionic Shield activated after deploying into an unknown starfield, upgrading the engine was also necessary.

Confirm spending {1 wisp of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence + 100 Dark Energy Points + 5 Life Cores} to upgrade the Psionic Engine component from lv0 to lv1?

"Confirm!"

After four consecutive upgrades, he had only 9 zero-tier Life Cores left, not enough for a fifth upgrade. Song Chi could only spend another 20 wisps of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence to purchase 200 Life Cores.

In the end, he upgraded the Psionic Engine to lv7 as well. The resources spent were exactly the same as those used to upgrade the Psionic Shield. As for the remaining 188 zero-tier Life Cores, he stored them inside the shuttle for later use. Looking at the engine's attributes, they had likewise improved considerably.

Psionic Engine lv7

Quality: Colorless

Consumption: 4/s (Dark Energy Points)

Power Supply: 24/s (Dark Energy Points)

Cooldown after overload: 23 minutes

Psionic Pool: 1700 points (can store 1700 points of dark energy)

Upgrade Requirements: 15 wisps of Floating Continent Essence (zero-tier), 800 Dark Energy Points, 12 Life Cores (zero-tier)

After the Psionic Engine came the Psionic Main Cannon. Though this was a welfare deployment, starsea alien lifeforms were everywhere. It was hard to say that he definitely would not encounter any during a welfare deployment, so it was necessary to slightly improve the Psionic Shuttle's firepower.

Upgrading the Psionic Main Cannon did not require Life Cores. Song Chi raised it all the way to lv5, spending a total of 25 wisps of zero-tier Floating Continent Essence and 1,500 Dark Energy Points.

Its detailed upgraded attributes were as follows:

Psionic Main Cannon lv5

Quality: Colorless

Consumption: 20/shot (Dark Energy Points)

Power: 16

Charge: 4s; cooldown: 8s

Upgrade Requirements: 11 wisps of Floating Continent Essence (zero-tier), 600 Dark Energy Points

It was obvious that the upgraded Psionic Main Cannon had not only received a considerable increase in power, but had also seen its charging and cooldown times reduced to a certain extent. Overall, the improvement was quite good.