Origin

Seeing that Wang Dong was genuinely curious, Yuan Shu explained, "Generally speaking, for low-level interstellar civilizations, a warship's attack power far exceeds its defensive power. For instance, even a small-caliber electromagnetic cannon can easily tear through an opponent's armor. Even an asteroid over a meter in diameter can pose a lethal threat to a warship.

At this level, the more weapons a warship has, the more combat-capable it naturally is.

But as a civilization advances, a warship's defensive capabilities gradually stop being a weakness and begin to surpass its offensive power.

Take Kindling Warships, for example. They come equipped with an energy shield module from the start. Once the energy shield is activated, attacks below a certain strength can, to some extent, be almost entirely negated!

Only attacks exceeding a certain strength can affect the energy shield and deplete its durability.

In that situation, no matter how many main cannons a warship has, they're useless without sufficient attack strength.

So attack strength becomes an important measure of a main cannon. And higher attack strength requires a more abundant energy supply. A warship's energy supply is always limited, so main cannons are expected to be few but powerful.

As for auxiliary firepower, a few rapid-fire secondary cannons are enough. As the hull's structural modules are upgraded, the attack strength of the warship's secondary cannons rises accordingly, so they won't hold it back.

And, most importantly, the kindling aboard a warship also has its limitations. A standard warship capable of integrating a kindling can only have one main cannon slot. There's no getting around that."

Wang Dong nodded as if he understood.

By now, the War Axe had moved far from its previous position.

Wang Dong studied the Skywatch Radar's imaging display for a moment, then reached out and tapped a new set of coordinates.

"War Axe, proceed to these coordinates using Silent Navigation."

After issuing the order, he turned to explain to Yuan Shu. "The more I think about it, the less right it seems. The War Axe released Mie Particles over there just now, and they won't dissipate for a while.

"Within the Mie Particles' range, detection equipment such as Skywatch Radar, as well as communication signals, can be severely restricted. But the particles themselves are also easy to detect.

"As soon as the Jin Family's warships get nearby, they'll easily discover the area covered by those Mie Particles.

"The celestial bodies in the Asteroid Belt Mining Zone can seriously affect the range and accuracy of Skywatch Radar.

"But who knows whether the other side's warships have high-quality Skywatch Radar.

"I think we'd better hide a little farther away."

Yuan Shu chuckled. "Your prospects just improved by another three percent."

Wang Dong kept a straight face. Wasn't he just laughing at him for being a coward?

So what if he was? Was he supposed to be proud of it?

That was called "following your heart"—as in doing whatever you wanted. What an uncultured man.

"Since we still have a little time, I'll give you a brief introduction to some basic facts about Kindling Warships."

Perhaps Wang Dong's unusual moves had amused him. Yuan Shu took the initiative to speak, in rather good spirits.

Wang Dong raised an eyebrow. Before his rebirth, this hadn't happened. Yuan Shu had simply lain in his chair, saying nothing more until he drew his last breath.

It seemed the butterfly's wings had had a small effect.

Fortunately, it wasn't anything serious.

"The ancestors of our branch of human civilization were actually the seed fleet of a defeated civilization. You know what a seed fleet is, right?"

Wang Dong nodded.

When a civilization reaches a certain stage of development and seeks to expand, it sends out an exploration fleet.

When a civilization is on the brink of extinction and wants to preserve the seeds of its civilization, it sends out a seed fleet.

"After over a thousand years spent fleeing, this seed fleet was lucky enough to discover the ruins of an ancient super-civilization.

"After a long and arduous journey, they unlocked the ruins' legacy and gained access to a mysterious artifact: the Source of Kindling. Then, combining it with humanity's own technology, they extracted kindlings from the Source and integrated them with specially designed warships. Thus, Kindling Warships came into being."

Yuan Shu's eyes were distant.

Wang Dong's expression shifted, too.

He had heard a little about the history of the branch of human civilization he belonged to.

But this was the first time he had heard how Kindling Warships came to be.

No one had ever explained it to him before his rebirth.

"Normally, the creations of different civilizations can rarely be used interchangeably. After all, the technological trees of different civilizations and species tend to differ.

"Taking the main cannon off one civilization's warship and installing it on another civilization's warship is simply impossible. That's the sort of thing you'd only see in fantasy novels."

Yuan Shu continued.

Wang Dong nodded in agreement.

Take a simple example: even two countries on Earth might use screws of different sizes, making them incompatible.

How much more so for two interstellar civilizations?

You use screws, while they might use biological adhesive. How could those possibly be interchangeable?

"But Kindling Warships are different.

"Thanks to the unique module slots on Kindling Warships, creations from completely different civilizations can still potentially be used on them.

"What an achievement!

"And that's only one of the special features of Kindling Warships!"

Yuan Shu grew more and more animated.

Wang Dong nodded silently.

Just that alone made Kindling Warships incredibly powerful.