With the name "War Axe" out in the open, he would definitely be exposed. Once the damage to the armor at the stern was discovered, he would be highly suspect, and there was a nine-in-ten chance of being exposed.
If it became the intact "Pond," it wouldn't be exposed right away, but there would still be suspicions. If the first large-scale search failed to find the "wreckage" of the War Axe, the next search would be even more thorough.
Whether it was the Jin Family or the local forces in the mining zone's star region,
or even the hyenas who came running after hearing the news,
given his identity as an ordinary miner, Wang Dong couldn't explain where he had gotten ownership of the "Pond." So he and the "Pond" were still in danger.
Fortunately, the Source Points he had gained this time far exceeded his expectations, enough to carry out the "ultimate plan."
As he pondered, repairs to the armor at the stern were also completed.
But Wang Dong didn't immediately choose to upgrade the armor. Instead, he ordered the ship to continue making repairs.
"Repair the armor across the entire ship."
The original intention behind repairing the stern armor was naturally to give the "Pond" a new appearance. When it had been in Yuan Shu's hands, the original "War Axe" had clashed with Jin Family warships several times. The ship's armor had been damaged in many places, especially at the stern, where its distinctive features were obvious.
But repairing the stern armor didn't mean the "Pond" could completely achieve that transformation. By comparing images, anyone with the right intentions might still spot clues in the damaged armor elsewhere.
Although the "Pond" had just fought another battle against the Yatai civilization, sustaining some light attacks that obscured many of the original marks, the damage from the battle against the Yatai civilization was also something Wang Dong needed to conceal.
So ordering repairs only to the stern armor had been somewhat careless. Wang Dong quickly noticed this oversight and corrected it at once.
"Repairing the armor across the entire ship will consume 29 Source Points and take 29 minutes."
It took a little less time than the previous repairs.
The severity of the damage was different.
The stern armor was severely damaged, clearly unlike the minor damage to the rest of the ship.
After a while,
the Pond's armor module was as good as new, with no trace of the previous battle left.
The effects of Source Points were truly wondrous and powerful.
"Upgrade the armor from LV.1 to LV.2."
Only after confirming that the armor across the entire ship had been fully repaired did Wang Dong issue the upgrade order.
"Consume 200 Source Points and 20 tons of Ghost Titanium Ore to upgrade Standard Armor (Green) from LV.1 to LV.2. Time required: 1 hour. Confirm?"
"Confirm!"
The auxiliary materials required to upgrade a low-quality Shipborne Module like this were fairly common. They could be mined in the Asteroid Belt Mining Zone in the mining zone's star region.
Wang Dong had already gathered a certain amount while mining.
Remaining Source Points: 617.
The time needed to upgrade a Shipborne Module depended on its upgrade level. Going from LV.1 to LV.2 took only one hour.
Going from LV.2 to LV.3, however, took two hours.
Time passed quickly.
"Standard Armor (Green) (LV.2) upgrade complete. Current attributes:
Defense Strength: 13; Material: Alloy; Defense Attribute: Kinetic Energy 13%, Particle 13%, Laser 13%, Mystery 0.
Upgrade requirements: 1. 200 Source Points; 2. 25 tons of Ghost Titanium Ore."
The changes weren't great.
Green-quality Shipborne Modules required 200 Source Points for each upgrade. That hadn't changed.
Only the amount of auxiliary materials required had increased.
Wang Dong checked the time. There were still around five hours before this Otherworldly Space battlefield ended.
There was plenty of time.
"Upgrade the Skyward Radar from LV.1 to LV.2."
"Consume 100 Source Points and 3 tons of Aotong Ore to upgrade the Standard Skyward Radar from LV.1 to LV.2. Time required: 1 hour. Confirm?"
"Confirm!"
"Upgrade commencing. Countdown..."
Remaining Source Points: 517.
He waited some more.
"Standard Skyward Radar (LV.2) upgrade complete. Current attributes:
Exploration Range: 11; Precision: 11.
Upgrade requirements: 1. 100 Source Points; 2. 3 tons of Aotong Ore."
A module without a quality rating required only 100 Source Points for each upgrade.
It was cheap, but its growth was also low, with limited potential.
Each upgrade only increased its attributes by a small amount.
If they had a choice, most Kindling Warships wouldn't spend their precious Source Points on modules without a quality rating.
Compared with modules without a quality rating, green-quality modules had greater potential for improvement.
Take the two modules Wang Dong had just upgraded, for example.
After the upgrade, the green-quality armor module had gained two points in both Defense Strength and Defense Attributes.
But the Skyward Radar, which had no quality rating, had gained only one point in both Exploration Range and Precision.
The difference was obvious.
As Wang Dong issued several upgrade orders just now, the Auxiliary System had simultaneously displayed a prompt in his mind each time.
"Consume 1 unit of Low-grade Energy Crystal to double the module's growth value?"
Wang Dong had indifferently selected "No" each time.
This was the second optional function that had appeared after the Auxiliary System was activated: Module Growth Value Doubled.
Depending on the quality of the module being upgraded, the function consumed the corresponding Energy Crystals to double the module's growth value.
If he had chosen "Yes," the green-quality armor module's increase in Defense Strength and Defense Attributes after upgrading would have been four points instead!
Even after upgrading the Skyward Radar, which had no quality rating, its Exploration Range and Precision would each have increased by two points, matching the growth of a green-quality module!
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