Chapter Eight: Final Preparations Before Exploring the Starry Sea

The final component to be upgraded was the Sky-Surveying Radar. The sea of stars is vast, and the distance between floating continents is often measured in light-years. A powerful radar is the key to ensuring that a Fire Captain does not lose their way during interstellar exploration, and is even crucial for locating resource points like exotic floating continents or asteroid belts more quickly and accurately. Its importance is self-evident.

The resources required for the radar upgrade were the same as those for the main cannon, yet Song Chi upgraded it to level 9 in one go. Even though he possessed the Heavens Market, he refused to give up on exploring exotic star regions because he needed to acquire resources faster. Since the effectiveness of the Sky-Surveying Radar directly dictates the accuracy and speed of locating resource points, it naturally belonged to the category of primary components to be upgraded.

Upgrading the Sky-Surveying Radar to level 9 cost a total of 81 strands of Tier 0 Floating Continent Essence and 4,500 Psionic Points.

Sky-Surveying Radar (Lv. 9)
Quality: Colorless
Consumption: 3/s (Psionic Points)
Detection Range: 10 light-seconds
Precision: 20
Upgrade Requirement: 100 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Tier 0), 1,500 Psionic Points.

As for why he didn't upgrade it directly to the limit of a Colorless Fire Ship, which is level 19 (Note: The limit for a Colorless Fire Ship is Tier 1, i.e., Lv. 10 to Lv. 19), the reason was quite simple. The current radar was merely a standard Colorless model that would certainly need to be replaced later. There was no point in pushing it to Tier 1, as the resources spent on upgrades cannot be refunded upon replacement. Furthermore, he was running low on resources.

According to his previous plan, he only had about 700 strands of Floating Continent Essence to allocate for upgrading his Psionic Shuttle. After this series of upgrades, he had already consumed over 300 strands, leaving him with less than 400. However, he still needed to upgrade the Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree, a special White-quality component. Compared to Colorless hull components, White-quality special components consume significantly more resources; even rising from Lv. 0 to Lv. 1 required 5 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Tier 0) and 500 Psionic Points. It was a major drain on his resources.

Nevertheless, Song Chi had to upgrade it; these Fire Sunflower soldiers would be his primary means of self-defense for a long time to come. Gritting his teeth, he pushed the component’s level to 10. Consequently, the nearly 400 strands of Floating Continent Essence he had moments ago were reduced to just 104.

With this, his preparations before exploring the exotic star region were essentially complete. He decided to keep the remaining 104 strands of Floating Continent Essence for emergencies, in case he encountered danger or special situations during his exploration that required immediate, targeted upgrades. As for upgrading the Heavens Market or the Fire Seed within his Ancestral Aperture, he felt there was no rush. Ensuring the absolute safety of this first interstellar expedition was the priority—who knew what kind of harvest this maiden voyage might bring?

Looking at the Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree now upgraded to Tier 1, the attributes were quite impressive.

Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree (Lv. 10)
Quality: White
Consumption: 100/unit (Psionic Points)
Effect: Fire Sunflower Soldier (Summons ten Lv. 10 Fire Sunflower soldiers. The soldiers exist as long as they are not destroyed; once killed, they require 24 hours to be resummoned.)
Upgrade Requirement: 10 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Tier 1), 2,000 Psionic Points.

Song Chi felt a flicker of satisfaction as he reviewed these stats. This meant that whenever he wished, he could summon ten Tier 1 Fire Sunflower soldiers to act as his bodyguards—all of whom were absolutely loyal and obedient. Furthermore, as long as they were not killed or voluntarily recalled, they could exist permanently. The sheer coolness of the prospect left him thrilled.

Once his mood settled, Song Chi began his next round of shopping. He needed to purchase various heavy machinery, so he chose the Eagle Machinery Store on the top floor of the mall. As a large chain store in the Morning Star Principality, it was rumored that the primary shareholder was the powerful "Marquis Eagle." The quality of the mechanical products sold there was guaranteed.

As a man who was nearly sixty years old across two lifetimes, Song Chi possessed excellent eloquence. Through his persistent "persuasion" and the fact that he was making a substantial purchase, the saleswoman "happily" granted him a five percent discount.

"A primary interstellar medical kit (500,000 credits), a basic nanobot repair kit (1,000,000 credits), a 'Raging Tiger' Type I floating continent mining vehicle (3,000,000 credits), a specialized mining scanner (500,000 credits), and a basic civilian exoskeleton (200,000 credits). The total is 5.2 million Principality credits; after the five percent discount, it comes to 4.94 million. Will you be paying in credits or Floating Continent Essence?"

He swiped 2.4 million credits and then withdrew 254 strands of Tier 0 Floating Continent Essence from his Ancestral Aperture. With a pained expression, he completed the final payment under the glittering gaze of the saleswoman.

By the time he left the mall with only 110 strands of Floating Continent Essence left for emergencies, Song Chi was filled with resentment. In his view, these shops selling heavy machinery were utterly unscrupulous. Take the "basic nanobot repair kit," for example: its effectiveness was mediocre, and it couldn't even handle serious damage to a Fire Ship. Yet, this mass-produced item cost a million credits and had a strict limit of only three uses before it became scrap metal—a total rip-off. The medical kit was the same: weak healing effects and only three uses. Then there was the "Raging Tiger" mining vehicle; the manual version cost a million, but adding a simple autopilot system tripled the price. If not for his cautious nature, he would never have bought it.

Returning home without incident, he did not waste the remainder of the day. He specifically went to the All-Purpose Training Room in the Heavens Market to practice his Psionic Guidance Technique. However, perhaps because his technique had already reached Lv. 4 while the training room was only at Lv. 0, or perhaps because the difficulty of leveling up the technique at this stage was too high, he felt no significant progress after several hours of practice.

Time passed, and the next morning arrived. After breakfast, Song Chi rushed to the academy to assemble with his classmates. The entire graduating class of Jiangyuan First Fire Academy then headed toward the outskirts of the city, followed closely by anxious parents, including Song Chi's own. Along the way, they encountered many other students from different Fire Academies.