Song Chi withdrew his gaze from the attribute panel of the Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree component before him and began taking stock of the funds he currently had.
Apart from the 1,000 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence provided by his parents, he had 2.4 million Credit Points in his account.
According to the official exchange rate of the Morning Star Duchy, 10,000 Credit Points could be exchanged for one strand of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence.
In other words, if he counted everything, he now had 1,240 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence.
Of those 1,240 strands, he had to reserve at least 500 to purchase medical supplies, Basic Nanobot Repair Kits, Raging Tiger I Floating Land Mining Vehicles, Mining Vehicle Prospectors, and so on. That left him with only around 700 strands to upgrade the Psionic Shuttle.
There was no question about the first component to upgrade. Song Chi chose the Psionic Shield without hesitation. Once activated, it could form an energy shield around the Psionic Shuttle's hull, making it the primary defensive measure of a Kindling Starship.
For Song Chi, who possessed the Myriad Heavens Market, he only needed to cultivate step by step to continuously elevate his life level. Therefore, survival was naturally the most important thing when exploring alien starfields.
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 no stranger to such an item.
In the vast Shattered Star Sea, after most starsea lifeforms died, they would leave behind a special crystal within their bodies. This crystal contained the vast majority of the energy essence they had absorbed throughout their lives. It was precisely a Life Core.
Speaking of which, Life Cores could also be considered a universal special resource. Many starsea civilizations included them in their general currency systems.
The Kindling Human Civilization was no exception. They could generally be used and exchanged at slightly larger trading companies or family businesses. 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 informing 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 businesses inside, but it was more than sufficient for a newly awakened Kindling captain like Song Chi.
After spending over ten minutes comparing prices and acquiring the Life Cores he needed, Song Chi did not rush home. Instead, he directly summoned the Psionic Shuttle in the mall's designated Kindling Starship upgrade area and began its first round of upgrades.
Confirm spending {1 strand of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence + 100 Dark Energy Points + 5 Life Cores} to upgrade the Psionic Shield component from lv0 to lv1?
"Confirm!"
Confirm spending {3 strands of Zero-Rank 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 want 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 would have to wait for it to refill.
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 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence, 56 Zero-Rank Life Cores, and 2,800 Dark Energy Points.
Of the 59 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence, 49 were used for upgrades, while the other 10 were used to purchase 100 Zero-Rank Life Cores.
As expected, the lv7 Psionic Shield had improved significantly.
Psionic Shield lv7 Quality: Colorless Consumption: 10/s (Dark Energy Points) Defense: 18 Shield Value: 180/180 Charge: 23s; Post-Overload Cooldown: 46 minutes Upgrade Required: 15 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Zero Rank), 800 Dark Energy Points, 12 Life Cores (Zero Rank)
Even after upgrading the Psionic Shield, Song Chi still did not feel entirely reassured. As a transmigrator, the principle 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 also upgraded the Hull Armor to lv7.
However, each upgrade for this component required Refined Iron, a special mineral resource. Raising it to lv7 consumed a total of 28 tons of Refined Iron, and each ton sold for one strand of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence.
Altogether, upgrading the Hull Armor consumed 77 strands of Floating Continent Essence.
Hull Armor lv7 Quality: Colorless Consumption: 3/s (Dark Energy Points) Defense: 18 Upgrade Required: 15 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Zero Rank), 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 substantially, already exceeding the Psionic Engine's normal output. Therefore, if he wanted to keep the Psionic Shield active after being deployed into an unknown starfield, upgrading the engine was also essential.
Confirm spending {1 strand of Zero-Rank 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-Rank Life Cores left, not enough for a fifth upgrade. Song Chi could only spend another 20 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence to purchase 200 Life Cores.
In the end, he also upgraded the Psionic Engine to lv7. The resources spent were exactly the same as those used to upgrade the Psionic Shield. As for the remaining 188 Zero-Rank Life Cores, he stored them in the shuttle for future use. Looking at the engine's attributes, they too had improved considerably.
Psionic Engine lv7 Quality: Colorless Consumption: 4/s (Dark Energy Points) Output: 24/s (Dark Energy Points) Post-Overload Cooldown: 23 minutes Psionic Pool: 1700 points (can store 1700 Dark Energy Points) Upgrade Required: 15 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Zero Rank), 800 Dark Energy Points, 12 Life Cores (Zero Rank).
After the Psionic Engine came the Psionic Main Cannon. Although this was a benefit deployment, alien starsea lifeforms were everywhere. It was difficult to say that he definitely would not encounter any during a benefit 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 strands of Zero-Rank 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 Required: 11 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Zero Rank), 600 Dark Energy Points.
It was clear that the upgraded Psionic Main Cannon had not only gained a considerable increase in power, but also seen its charging and cooldown times reduced to a certain extent. Overall, the improvement was quite good.
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