The two hundred warp beams quickly vanished, leaving behind blue-skinned humanoids clad in Energy Heavy Armor and standing around three meters tall—the Protoss.
Shen Jun could barely contain his excitement. Protoss—he had actually seen living Protoss. He had truly become the leader of the Protoss.
Every Protoss warped in by Rohana received the information she transmitted, including Shen Jun's current identity as the Protoss commander and Shen Jun's native language. After all, Shen Jun did not speak Protoss.
The moment Shen Jun walked before the two hundred Protoss, they immediately placed their right hands over their chests in salute and said in unison, "Please issue your orders, Commander."
Shen Jun looked around... Hmm, face blindness. He could not tell what the difference was between these two hundred people. They all had the same damn face—the classic lack of mouths, noses, and eyebrows, with blue-glowing eyes. No normal person could tell who was who!
Other than the few whose wrinkled faces told Shen Jun they were elderly Protoss, the rest truly looked exactly the same, didn't they?
This problem... was rather serious.
What if several outstanding figures emerged in the future, and he could not even recognize them? Wouldn't that make him a laughingstock? How could a leader not know the names of their exceptional employees?
"Looks like I'll have to ask Rohana to get me some kind of Protoss identification device..."
As Shen Jun pondered these strange matters, the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of two somewhat unusual Protoss. The first was not wearing armor at all, merely draped in a few strips of cloth, and his eyes glowed green. That was a characteristic of Nerazim Protoss.
The other Protoss who caught Shen Jun's attention did not stand out because of his appearance, but because of his armor. His face had no wrinkles, proving that he was young, yet he wore the same Psionic Armor as Shen Jun. Only higher-ranking Templars were qualified to wear such armor.
Normally, Protoss of that age could at most serve in the Zealot Legion, and the Energy Heavy Armor they wore was much cruder in workmanship.
"You two, come here."
The two Protoss who had been called were briefly startled, then obediently walked over to Shen Jun. Both were young and powerfully built, standing over three meters tall. Even among the Protoss, they were considered particularly tall.
"What are your names, and how old are you?"
Shen Jun considered focusing on training these two, because Rohana had detected that they possessed the greatest psionic talent among the two hundred. It definitely was not because they were the only two he could recognize...
The sole Nerazim Protoss among the first batch answered first. "Commander, my name is Zeratul. I am a Dark Templar. If I remember correctly, I have just turned three hundred this year."
What?!
Zeratul?
Shen Jun nearly bit through his tongue. He had guessed that this man might be a Dark Templar, but he had never expected such a major figure—the Dark Prelate Zeratul, practically one of the strongest Protoss heroes. And now he had submitted to him?
Before Shen Jun could recover from the shock, the other, even more explosive figure announced his own name. "Commander, my name is Tassadar. I only recently became a High Templar, but I will forever carry on the glory of the Protoss!"
Tassadar cast Zeratul a faintly provocative look. "I also happen to be three hundred years old."
Zeratul glared right back at him, unwilling to be outdone.
Shen Jun rubbed his forehead with one hand, wondering helplessly how these two rivals had ended up together. They were even the same damn age! In the game's storyline, Zeratul was actually several hundred years older than Tassadar. They respectively represented the Nerazim of Shakuras and the Khalai of Aiur.
Dark Templar and High Templar.
Just from the names, one could tell they were naturally at odds, the sort who would butt heads the moment they met. Yet Old Man Zeratul had a good enough temper to turn Tassadar from an enemy into a friend. He even taught Tassadar the Dark Templar's exclusive secret technique, Void Psionic Energy, boosting Tassadar's combat power by several levels.
Old Man Zeratul, you were a good man!
Among the Protoss, psionic energy was broadly divided into two attributes. One was the mainstream Purification Psionic Energy cultivated by Aiur's High Templar, while the other was the Void Psionic Energy used by the Nerazim Dark Templar, whom Aiur regarded as heretics.
The Protoss Rohana warped in had been randomly selected from across all of Protoss history, resulting in the arrival of a young Dark Prelate. Of course, every Protoss who arrived had already learned of the destruction of their original universe. They bore immense responsibility, and their former prejudices and grudges had to be set aside.
But that did not mean they could not compete. For example, Tassadar did not know that Zeratul would later become his best friend. He believed the commander had called their names because he thought highly of their potential. As an outstanding Khalai Protoss, how could he possibly lose to a Nerazim?
It had to be said that Tassadar had some skill. He had guessed eighty or ninety percent of Shen Jun's thoughts correctly, with only one point wrong...
The equally young Zeratul had yet to acquire the mystic air he would have in old age, and his ambition was no less than Tassadar's. Though he said nothing aloud, the fighting spirit in his eyes had clearly already marked Tassadar as a rival.
"Ahem. Tassadar and Zeratul, very good. Your psionic talents surpass everyone else's. That means your futures may become extraordinarily powerful. High Templar? Dark Templar? Those are merely your starting points. In this universe, we will create an unprecedented golden age for the Protoss, and I hope the two of you can become the foundation upon which that future is built."
Shen Jun sensed the nonexistent smell of gunpowder in the air. He figured that if he did not say something soon, these two might start fighting, so he casually spouted a few words. Unexpectedly, the two were rather innocent and ended up looking completely fired up. (How Shen Jun could tell, nobody knew, and nobody dared ask.)
Shen Jun directly appointed Tassadar and Zeratul as the captains of the two hundred Protoss. After an enthusiastic round of introductions, he learned that this batch consisted entirely of Templars, without a single scientist or engineer—though those were the same profession in Protoss society. Most were Zealots, numbering one hundred and eighty. There were also sixteen Adepts and only two High Templars.
After gaining a general understanding of the situation, Shen Jun opened the panel again. Now he had to solve the housing problem for two hundred people. He clicked on Housing Cluster, and his resources dropped by another 150 minerals and 100 gas. Just like that, 950 minerals were gone. Three hundred Vespene Gas remained, but it was damn useless.
Housing Clusters were cheaper than Crystal Towers, yet covered nearly a hundred times more land. Two hundred neatly arranged two-story Protoss houses appeared on the open ground, taking up nearly half of it. Due to the Protoss' size, their floors were not three meters high but five. The two hundred small buildings gave Shen Jun a faint feeling of being back in a city.
After thinking it over, he decided that since they had residential buildings, they could not go without a clinic. Shen Jun saw that the Medical Center cost one hundred more gas than a Housing Cluster, then looked at the remaining fifty Crystal Minerals, and finally at his 1,550 Biological Essence. He gritted his teeth and bought it!
He first converted 1,550 Biological Essence into 155 minerals and gas. Then, watching his resources diminish, Shen Jun's heart ached so badly that he could barely breathe.
My minerals... were gone...
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