The last thing he strengthened was the Sky-Patrol Radar. The starsea was vast, and the distance between one floating continent and another often began at light-years.
A powerful radar was the key to ensuring that Kindling captains did not lose their way during interstellar exploration, and to finding resource sites such as alien floating continents and asteroid belts faster and more accurately. Its importance went without saying.
The resources needed to strengthen the radar were the same as those for the main cannon, but Song Chi upgraded it to lv9 in one go.
Despite possessing the Myriad Heavens Market, he was still unwilling to give up Alien Starfield Exploration because he wanted to acquire resources faster. The better the Sky-Patrol Radar performed, the more accurately and quickly it could locate resource sites, naturally making it one of the primary components to strengthen.
Upgrading the Sky-Patrol Radar to lv9 cost a total of 81 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence and 4,500 Dark Energy Points.
Sky-Patrol Radar lv9 Quality: Colorless Consumption: 3/s (Dark Energy Points) Detection Range: 10 light-seconds Accuracy: 20 Requirements for Rank Advancement: 100 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Zero Rank), 1,500 Dark Energy Points.
As for why he did not directly upgrade it to lv19, the limit of a Colorless Kindling Starship—
(Note: The upper limit of a Colorless Kindling Starship is First Rank, namely lv10–lv19.)
The reason was simple. The current Sky-Patrol Radar was merely a standard-issue Colorless radar, and he would definitely replace it later. There was no need to upgrade it to First Rank now, since the resources spent on upgrades could not be refunded when it was replaced.
Besides, he did not have enough resources left.
According to his previous plan, he had only around 700 strands of Floating Continent Essence available for upgrading the Psionic Shuttle. After this round of upgrades, more than 300 strands had already been used. Less than 400 remained, yet he still had the white special component, the Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree, to strengthen.
Compared to Colorless ship components, white-quality special components required far more upgrade resources. Going from lv0 to lv1 alone required 5 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Zero Rank) and 500 Dark Energy Points. It was a massive drain on Floating Continent Essence.
But no matter what, Song Chi had to strengthen it. The Fire Sunflower Soldiers would be crucial to protecting him for a long time to come.
Gritting his teeth, Song Chi directly upgraded the component to lv10.
Accordingly, the nearly 400 strands of Floating Continent Essence he had a moment ago were reduced to just 104 strands.
At this point, his upgrades before Alien Starfield Exploration had basically come to an end.
He had to keep the remaining 104 strands of Floating Continent Essence for emergencies. If he encountered danger or some special situation during Alien Starfield Exploration, he would need them for the most appropriate emergency upgrades.
As for upgrading the Myriad Heavens Market and the Kindling Seed in his Kindle Ancestral Aperture, he thought it over and decided there was no rush. Ensuring absolute safety during this first starfield exploration was more important. Perhaps this welfare exploration would yield some decent gains.
Looking again at the Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree component, now upgraded to First Rank, its attributes were quite impressive.
Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree lv10 Quality: White Consumption: 100 per unit (Dark Energy Points) Effect: Fire Sunflower Soldier (Summons ten lv10 Fire Sunflower Soldiers. As long as the soldiers do not die, they can remain indefinitely. Once killed, they can only be summoned again after 24 hours.) Upgrade Requirements: 10 strands of Floating Continent Essence (First Rank), 2,000 Dark Energy Points.
Seeing the attributes before him, satisfaction flickered in Song Chi's eyes. It meant that whenever he wished, he could summon ten First Rank Fire Sunflower Soldiers as his guards—the absolutely loyal, absolutely obedient kind.
And as long as they were not killed or actively recalled, they could remain forever. Just thinking about it made him feel absurdly cool. It was simply too satisfying.
After calming down again, Song Chi began his next round of shopping. He still needed to purchase various large mechanical items, so he chose Eagle Machinery Store on the top floor of the mall.
As a major mechanical chain store in the Morning Star Duchy, it was said that one of the shareholders behind it was Marquis Eagle, a powerful grand noble of the duchy. The quality of the various mechanical products sold there was sufficiently guaranteed.
As an old man nearing sixty when both lives were combined, Song Chi was still quite eloquent. Under his repeated verbal offensives—well, persuasion—and because he was indeed buying quite a few things, the young female clerk "happily" gave him a five-percent discount.
"Basic Interstellar Medical Kit, 500,000 Credit Points; Basic Nanobot Repair Kit, 1,000,000 Credit Points; Raging Tiger I Floating Land Mining Vehicle, 3,000,000 Credit Points; Mining Vehicle Prospector, 500,000 Credit Points; Basic Duchy Civilian Exoskeleton, 200,000 Credit Points. Total: 5,200,000 Duchy Credit Points. After the five-percent discount, it comes to 4,940,000. Will you be paying with credit points or Floating Continent Essence?"
He first paid 2,400,000 credit points, then took 254 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence from his Kindle Ancestral Aperture. Under the bright gaze of the young female clerk, he completed the final payment with a pained expression.
Not until he left the mall, with only 110 strands of Floating Continent Essence left for emergencies, did Song Chi finally begin complaining inwardly. In his view, the shops selling large mechanical products were downright unscrupulous.
Take the Basic Nanobot Repair Kit, for example. Its effects were mediocre, and if a Kindling Starship suffered even slightly serious damage, it could not repair it at all.
Yet this mass-produced assembly-line product cost a full one million credit points. Worse still, it had strict limits on how many times it could be used—at most three times. After that, it was scrapped outright. What a rip-off.
The Basic Interstellar Medical Kit was the same. Its healing effects were weak, and it could likewise only be used three times.
Then there was the Raging Tiger I Floating Land Mining Vehicle. The manually operated model sold for only one million, but simply adding an autopilot system tripled the price. If Song Chi were not the kind of person who had caution carved into his bones, only a fool would buy the thing.
He made it home without any further incidents. He did not waste the rest of the day either, specifically going to the Omni Training Room in the Myriad Heavens Market to practice the Psionic Guidance Technique.
However, perhaps because his current Guidance Art had already reached lv4 while the Omni Training Room was still lv0, or perhaps because improving a lv4 Guidance Art was simply too difficult, he did not feel any obvious progress after several hours.
Time passed, and morning came the next day.
After breakfast, Song Chi first went to the academy to meet up with his classmates. Then the awakened students of the current class year from Jiangyuan First Ember Academy headed together toward the outskirts of the city. Still worried, Song Chi's father and mother followed closely behind the main group along with many other parents.
Along the way, Song Chi and the others encountered many awakened students from other Kindling Academies.
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