Core Upgrade

For Duanmu Huai, this was indeed an unexpected delight.

Although he had long guessed that since he had been teleported to Elisa's side, following her would likely lead to the main quest and clues to the Holy Relic, he had not expected things to move so quickly. He had already obtained the first Holy Relic.

After acquiring the Holy Relic, Duanmu Huai temporarily parted ways with Elisa and the others, headed to the very top of Rook, and activated the system. Soon, a System Prompt appeared before him.

Holy Relic signal detected. Activate Teleport Beacon?

"Activate."

At Duanmu Huai's command, six skulls silently appeared beneath his feet. A beam of light emerged from them, and his vision flashed. The next moment, he had returned to the Core Cabin floating in space. At his side, Okegis looked around curiously, clearly fascinated by this wondrous place.

The Core Cabin was no different from when Duanmu Huai had left. Aside from a terminal and a Hibernation Pod, it remained completely empty. Duanmu Huai walked over to the terminal, reached out, and placed the Gift of the Water God on the platform above it. The terminal quickly lit up on its own, and lines of information appeared.

Holy Relic signal detected.

Holy Relic recovered.

At the same time, Duanmu Huai watched the white pearl shatter and break apart, turning into motes of light that vanished without a trace.

Construction Points +1

Construction function unlocked.

Along with the system messages, the terminal expanded again, and lines of information appeared within it.

Core Cabin (Completed) Reactor (Locked) Augmentation Chamber (Locked)

Hall of Inquisition Library (Locked) Strategic Command Room (Locked)

Power System (Locked) Defense Module (Locked) Weapons Module (Locked)

Extermination Order (Locked) Void Barracks (Locked) Warp Space Dock (Locked)

Special Building (Locked)

"Very good."

Looking at the construction blueprint before him, Duanmu Huai could not help rubbing his hands together. These were also the basic components of an Inquisitor's space fortress.

There was no need to explain the Core Cabin. It was where Duanmu Huai had awakened earlier.

The Strategic Command Room was mainly used to scan and scout the entire planetary map at a glance.

The Power Reactor was the basic component that supplied the fortress with energy.

The name Augmentation Chamber was somewhat misleading. It sounded as though it was meant to enhance the player's body, but that was not the case. In truth, the Augmentation Chamber was used to manufacture Servitors.

A Servitor was a technological creation from the ancient Empire. Simply put, a human was cultivated through cloning, then fused with machinery and transformed into a mechanical cyborg. These Servitors had no self-awareness and could complete simple tasks through internal program logic.

Of course, if players found that too troublesome, they could simply capture criminals and toss them into a brainwashing device for conversion.

As an aside, some players had once captured groups of beautiful women and turned them into Servitors, hoping to see whether they could do whatever they wanted with them... Unfortunately, a game was ultimately just a game. As for what might happen in reality... that was hard to say.

But anyone with such thoughts had basically already been corrupted by the God of Desire and could be put on the Inquisition's list to be loyally dealt with.

The Hall of Inquisition Library was a massive library, but it was far more than just that. It was also an analysis and modification facility. Players could hand over items obtained during adventures in other worlds to the Hall of Inquisition Library for analysis, thereby gaining skills, magic, or knowledge from those worlds to modify their own fortresses.

The Defense Module was the protective barrier of the fortress Space Station, while the Weapons Module was used to construct various defensive weapons. There was nothing particularly special about either of them.

Next came the Extermination Order... Well, just as its name suggested, an Extermination Order was an order to exterminate a planet. In essence, it was an immensely powerful Destruction Planet weapon. If an Inquisitor confirmed that a planet's Chaos corruption had reached an irredeemable stage, he could use his authority to sign an Extermination Order. Then, with a single blast—the entire planet would be reduced to ashes.

The Void Barracks was where an Inquisitor trained his personal forces, while the Warp Space Dock was mainly used to manufacture warships. The former was of little use to Duanmu Huai, because Soul Walkers were practically an army unto themselves in the later stages... In fact, it was already like that now. If Duanmu Huai wanted to, he could deploy hundreds or thousands of dolls at once.

Their attack power was just a little too low.

Special Buildings were additional enhancement modules. Once a player finished adventuring on a planet, if their main quest rating was high enough or their planetary reputation was sufficiently high, they might receive bonus building modules and construct buildings with special abilities.

But that was still far too distant for Duanmu Huai at the moment.

There was also a certain strategy to the order in which these buildings were unlocked.

In Star Sea Online, there were several Civilization routes. One was the default Inquisitor Imperial Technology Route. Players who chose it did not need to think too hard; they could simply select it and let everything proceed automatically. Beyond that, there were several other Civilization routes, all of which had gradually developed from civilizations scattered throughout the Milky Way Galaxy after the Black Hole Project. There were magical civilizations, technological civilizations, and hybrid Civilization routes.

Basically, only new players would foolishly choose the default Imperial Technology Route. Although the Imperial Technology Route was indeed excellent and powerful in the early stages, a little thought made the issue obvious—such a powerful Empire had still fallen flat against the Chaos Gods of Warp Space. Would choosing its route not just mean repeating the same disaster?

Instead, the best choice was to search for the technology of other civilizations and draw upon their strengths to improve oneself.

Therefore, Duanmu Huai did not immediately unlock the Power Reactor. If he unlocked it now, since he only had the default Imperial Tech Tree, it would automatically construct the Plasma Reactor, the core of Imperial technology. The benefit was that it could charge the fortress's built-in weapon systems and give players a certain degree of orbital firepower advantage in the early stages. But afterward, players would discover that different Power Systems required different corresponding modules. In other words, once a player built a Plasma Reactor, modules acquired from adventures on other planets might become completely unusable, forcing them to follow the default Imperial technology route.

A classic case of throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds.

Hmm... Duanmu Huai even suspected that the game's creators had designed it this way deliberately. After all, being able to show off with orbital strikes early in the game was indeed very tempting...

But later on, players would discover just how great the price was.

After all, building a module only cost 1 Construction Point.

Dismantling one, however, cost 10...

Fine. It was definitely deliberate.

"Unlock the Strategic Command Room."

After considering it, Duanmu Huai decided to construct the Strategic Command Room first. He did not need orbital weapon strikes at the moment. Although the Hall of Inquisition Library was also extremely important, revealing the map was currently the top priority.

"---------!!"

As Duanmu Huai's words fell, a white flash suddenly swept through the entire Core Cabin, and it began to tremble. After a moment, everything fell silent once more. At the same time, Duanmu Huai noticed a heavy hatch had appeared at the far end of the Core Cabin, where there should have been a wall. He walked over, and the hatch soon rose, revealing a large chamber before him.

It did not look like the core of a Space Station. On the contrary, judging from the magnificent gold-and-crimson decorations and architecture around it, it looked more like part of a cathedral. The edges of the nearly ten-meter-tall floor-to-ceiling viewport were decorated with ornate trim, while elaborate patterns covered the curved dome. Bright red banners hung from the walls, and through the windows, the azure planet nearby and the starry sky beyond could be seen clearly.

Starlight streamed in through the viewport, casting a dazzling golden glow upon the Double-Headed Eagle emblem.

If not for the Holographic Projection console on the central platform, this place would have looked more like a cathedral hall than part of a Space Station or warship.

Well, that was hardly strange. Players had long joked that Imperial warships and Space Stations were merely cathedrals with engines attached underneath...

But no matter what, this was enough for Duanmu Huai at present.

He walked to the Holographic Projection console and reached out. Soon, at his command, the complete image of the planet below appeared before him.

Then, it was time to set off.

When Duanmu Huai and Okegis returned to Silver City through the Teleport Beacon, everyone else had already been waiting for quite some time.

"Where the hell did you run off to?"

At the sight of Duanmu Huai, the Elf Scout asked irritably.

"We couldn't find you anywhere. I thought you'd run off with the Holy Relic."

"I merely went to make some preparations."

Duanmu Huai did not explain further. Instead, he looked at the others.

"What about you?"

"We also made some preparations. We were just waiting to depart."

The Elf Scout's words carried a sharp edge.

"However, planning the route is a bit troublesome. After all, we still don't know what things are like outside..."

"If that's the problem, don't worry."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai opened his right hand. Soon, amid flickering light, a projection of a planet appeared before him.

"Eh?!"

Seeing this, everyone's eyes widened in astonishment.