Qiansen Star Lake's 'Excitement'

"Finally setting off... Is that a Matrix-type Star Weapon?!"

Wang Hao suddenly fixed his gaze on the three-dimensional environmental projection before the main screen, his eyes gleaming.

He closed his eyes, and the screen's contents changed accordingly, becoming more detailed as light spots of different colors appeared within the projection.

Of course, a Star Weapon could not possibly be represented solely through this kind of three-dimensional projection. This was merely a physical display for the other crew members to observe.

As the Matrix controller, Wang Hao, along with the captain himself, could merge a trace of consciousness into the Matrix Star Weapon, allowing every situation within its detection range to be directly relayed into their minds.

It could be understood as a technological version of Divine Sense, though it required a Star Weapon to manifest it.

Ignoring Wang Hao, who could not put it down, Feng Xiao turned to Ilde and saw the tension written all over his face.

Feng Xiao pointed to a red sphere of light on the right side of the control room—the Weapon Control Core.

"Your talent is excellent. Since that's the case, I'll leave Star Origin's attack systems to you from now on. Any problems?"

"Huh?!"

Ilde froze instantly. He had thought that after joining the starship, his work would be nothing more than recording data, doing odd jobs, or joining the assault team.

He had never expected the captain to assign him such a core responsibility.

However, his personality allowed him to calm down quickly, and his eyes filled with determination. "Since the captain believes I'm qualified, then I have no problem with it!"

Feng Xiao nodded in satisfaction, then activated Star Origin's autopilot. It slowly left the docking area and accelerated toward the outside of Qiansen Starport.

At the same time, three or four starships over two thousand meters long swiftly departed from the starport as well.

Glancing at the red dots on the three-dimensional projection, Feng Xiao sat in the captain's seat and gave a faint, disdainful smile...

"Lv18... Second- and third-generation starships..."

After Heart of Dawn's scan, the attack and defense values of those starships with ill intentions were not even one-third of Star Origin's...

Thinking about it, that was normal. Ordinary low- and mid-tier starships only had one or two Star Weapon slots, allowing them to equip at most two Star Weapons. Most of them were white or yellow quality.

Starship levels were easy enough to raise, but their actual combat power was simply hard to describe.

Especially when they were second- or third-generation starships.

The higher the level, the harder it became to advance. Once a starship reached the elite tier or above, leveling up even imposed requirements on the quality of its Star Weapons and hull.

In short, their potential had been exhausted. Their greatest possible achievement would likely be a Lv21–Lv40 advanced starship, and even then, they would be paper tigers incapable of defeating high-potential starships below Lv20.

"Not much potential, yet plenty of greed. There really are idiots everywhere."

"Boss, how do we deal with them?"

Wang Hao had also seen the red dots and immediately turned to ask.

"Once we enter Qiansen Star Lake, send them straight to meet Death. Second- and third-generation starships aren't protected by the Alliance Starship Protection Act anyway."

"Yes!"

Wang Hao and Ilde nodded. One had come from an apocalyptic environment, while the other had at least attended high school and participated in several 99% realistic simulated battlefield exercises. Naturally, neither felt burdened.

After all, modern simulations were virtually indistinguishable from reality, and pain was reproduced at 100%.

Dozens of crystalline, dreamlike energy belts stretching dozens or even hundreds of light-years ran through the starry sky.

Under the influence of ever-changing energy fields and force fields, planets and other celestial bodies of equally brilliant colors filled the region. Even many stars shone with pink, blue, or even purple radiance.

From time to time, asteroids crashed into planets under the pull of strange force fields, creating vast asteroid belts and shattered celestial bodies. Some planets had even lost half their mass as a result!

Together, these countless sights formed a paradise for a unique type of cosmic lifeform—Star Beasts!

"So this is Qiansen Star Lake. Seeing it once is better than hearing about it a hundred times. It's truly beautiful."

Wang Hao lay against the bridge window, full of admiration.

Even Feng Xiao could not help taking out recording equipment and beginning to film. He even released several mechanical spheres outside the starship to document the surroundings.

Though countless people had recorded this place before, doing it himself still held a special meaning.

Ilde, however, was not idle. He watched the three standard cuboid starships that, under the effects of Li-style Particles, could not escape at high speed.

Several blue rings in his pupils continuously expanded and contracted.

Four ship cannons, each now capable of dealing 80 damage per shot, bombarded them wildly. With a five-second cooldown, the four cannons fired almost once per second.

Most of the shots struck the three starships as they moved clumsily, steadily consuming their white shield Star Weapons.

Meanwhile, the main cannons of the three starships, with attack power of 500, could only remove less than one-tenth of the shield's energy after their extremely long cooldowns.

During the cooldown period, Star Origin's shields had already fully recovered.

A few seconds later, Fierce Star, now recharged, fired again. This time, because one starship's shield had already been weakened, it shattered under the violent torrent of energy.

The starship itself was also heavily damaged across the middle, its sturdy armor torn open by a massive breach.

As four cannon shots followed through the breach in a second wave of attacks, one starship exploded on the spot!

[Hull Damage: 60%... 65%...]

[Shield Value: 65... 60%...]

Inside the remaining two starships, the two captains turned deathly pale as they watched the rapidly falling data, not to mention the many crew members aboard.

"Didn't you say it was just a low-tier starship and that there would definitely be no problem?!

What the hell is going on now?! Explain yourself properly!"

One captain saw that Star Origin would not accept communication requests and broke down, shouting.

"How the hell would I know this starship would be so powerful? It's a Blue Matrix Star Weapon—who wouldn't be tempted? You insisted on joining, so what does that have to do with me!

That bastard Sida is already dead. We need to find a way to retreat now. Their main cannon is so powerful that its cooldown must be at least five minutes!

We still have a chance!"

"Damn it!"

Rumble!

As they spoke, both starships shook violently. Large amounts of energy sparks leaked out, and the already dim starship cores became even more unstable from the damage.

If Feng Xiao, who was admiring the scenery, had known what those two were thinking, he probably would have laughed out loud.

High power = long cooldown?

It seemed these two had not only never owned a blue-quality Star Weapon—they probably had not even looked at the data.

Thus, within a mere five minutes, the two starships were completely destroyed. Their cores dissipated, leaving behind only battered hulls and severely damaged Star Weapons.

From beginning to end, less than twenty minutes had passed.

"How's the starship?"

Star Origin, which had not moved at all from start to finish, appeared completely unscathed. After finishing his sightseeing, Feng Xiao walked over and asked.

[Shield Value: 75%... 80%...]

[Armor Value: 100%]

[Hull: 100%]

After dealing with the scene, Star Origin continued deeper into Qiansen Star Lake.

Aside from encountering a few starships and explorer fleets along the way, the journey was calm and uneventful.

They even harvested quite a few high-energy plant fruits using the Star Matrix.

"Hiss... Boss, something doesn't feel right."

Wang Hao frowned as he looked at the still-brilliant surroundings, where the scenery had become even more varied.

Feng Xiao immediately grew serious. He knew that Wang Hao's talent was detection and premonition.

"Stay alert. There's danger nearby!"

Roar!

The words had barely left his mouth when a shriek capable of shaking the free-floating energy particles in space rang out.

Several enormous figures pounced toward Star Origin from a nearby asteroid belt!

They were clearly several pack-dwelling Star Beasts, each one to two hundred meters tall, with wingspans nearing five hundred meters and appearances resembling gigantic four-winged bats!

"Sonic Bats! Activate the soundproofing system!"

Feng Xiao's expression shifted slightly.

The next instant, visible shockwaves formed by massive sound waves swept over the entire Star Origin, carrying countless asteroids and energy waves with them!