READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 57
Chapter 57: Pirate Treasure
“Name: Lin Zhichen · Elite (Red)
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Talents: 1: Heaven Rewards Diligence (Purple): Effect 1: Effort brings rewards, skill practice leads to improvement. Effect 2: Members within the faction benefit from this talent.
2: Gate of Time and Space (Blue): Opens once a month, searches for time-space imprints, and opens temporary instances.
3: Psionic (Red): Effect 1: Awakens psionic abilities. Effect 2: Skill learning speed +10%.
Profession: Captain · Elite (Red, Expert)
Skills: 1: Psionic Cultivation (Red, Warrior 38.12%)
2: Lethal Strike (Red, Beginner 41.23%): Critical hit +2%
3: Fleet Command (Red, Expert 1.03%): Fleet formation change speed +18%
Psionic Combat Techniques: 1: Ship Command · Elite (Red): Effect 1: Ship evasion +25%*10 Effect 2: Sub-light speed travel speed +25%*10; Psionic Consumption: 50; Duration: 30 min
2: Sub-light Speed Assault · Elite (Red): Effect 1: Sub-light speed bombardment accuracy +25%*10 Effect 2: Sub-light speed bombardment damage +25%*10; Psionic Consumption: 60; Duration: 30 min
Psionic Energy: 317
Evaluation: Witness my celestial might!”
“It’s already advanced to the expert level.” Lin Zhichen smiled.
At this skill level, he could begin the process of psionification, but he was unwilling to start the transformation before reaching the peak, to ensure the maximum possible benefits.
“Big brother, take a look at this.” At this moment, Wu Tianyi sent a communication, transmitting a set of data. After decryption, it turned out to be a map of an asteroid belt:
“This is data we just acquired on the battlefield. After conversion, it became a holographic map.”
Data disks are relatively common spoils of war, often containing valuable information. It could be rare technology or the location of a pirate treasure. Unlocking it could yield a treasure or some other valuable item.
“Where is this?” he asked.
“I’ve already compared it. The target star region is in this asteroid belt,” Wu Tianyi replied. “It looks like a pirate treasure, but its value is probably average, considering it’s just a white-light loot.”
Loot was generally categorized by light color, roughly divided into gray, white, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. However, this wasn’t absolute. Sometimes, large, low-light loot could be as valuable as colorful loot.
“If it’s on the way, let’s check it out,” Lin Zhichen said casually.
After some comparison, they quickly pinpointed the location of the pirate treasure. It was on an asteroid about 11 light-seconds ahead in the fleet’s direction.
After collecting the spoils and making some minor repairs, the entire fleet set off once again.
With the radar support of the aircraft carrier, the airspace within 5 light-seconds was within radar scanning range.
A squadron of space fighters flew around the advancing fleet. The advantage of their small size was particularly evident at this time; the dense asteroid belt posed no obstacle as they weaved through it, guarding against potential enemies.
With the carrier’s support, Lin Zhichen could finally relax a bit, occasionally diverting his attention to adjust the fleet to maintain optimal combat posture.
The distance of 11 light-seconds was negligible in space. In just one day, they reached the target asteroid.
However, the fleet came to a halt because, according to radar and space fighter reconnaissance, there was a hidden space base on the target asteroid. Automated turrets were constantly operational, vigilantly monitoring the surrounding star region.
Lin Zhichen ordered the space fighter group to probe the area. Dense beams and electromagnetic projectiles immediately covered the surrounding star region. If the NPC pilots hadn’t reached expert level, there would have been casualties.
“Da Peng, can we take it down?” Lin Ke asked deliberately.
Wei Peng rolled his eyes. “Without gravity, we can’t even stand properly. How can the ground forces fight?”
“Big brother, I think we should use the space fighters. Even beam cannons can melt these turrets,” Wu Tianyi pondered.
“Only those below expert level should stay out. No more than 20 fighters at a time. It shouldn’t be a big problem, considering these are clearly automated turrets.”
The reaction speed of automated turrets certainly surpassed that of NPCs, but their drawback was their rigidity and single attack pattern. Once their weaknesses were figured out, they became nothing more than scrap metal.
“Send an elite squad to test it out,” Lin Zhichen commanded.
After all, space fighters were essentially cannon fodder, and pilot mortality rates were always high. In the military, human pilots were often more responsible for commanding NPC pilots rather than leading the charge, similar to the situation with ground forces.
A squad of 12 fighters was immediately deployed, tasked with attacking the fixed turrets.
These were carefully selected elite pilots, with individual skills generally reaching the expert level, making them the most skilled personnel in the current fleet.
“Zzzzzt~”
As soon as they approached the asteroid, the pirate turrets, guided by radar, immediately swiveled and aimed at the incoming fighter group, launching an attack.
Hundreds of metal projectiles, each weighing over a hundred grams, rained down like a storm, suddenly covering a large area of space.
The attacked fighters quickly accelerated, drawing winding arcs in space to evade the electromagnetic projectiles as much as possible.
Occasionally, yellow-glowing energy shields would ripple, deflecting the incoming electromagnetic projectiles. The sturdy surfaces of the fighters were pitted with dents from the impacts.
If this were the planetary era, planes could be brought down by birds. At this moment, the first batch of ten space fighters would have been completely wiped out. Fortunately, in the space era, the energy shields attached to the fighters absorbed most of the attacks, and the remaining damage was resisted by the outer armor of the fighters. As long as they didn’t suffer continuous hits, they could endure a few rounds.
Sensing the lethal danger, the NPC pilots used all their skills to dodge the storm-like projectiles, while their comrades, who had a moment to breathe, immediately fired energy beams at the pirate turrets.
Although energy shields had strong resistance to laser beams, the continuous strafing from multiple fighters gradually melted the metal turrets.
A few seconds into the battle, an automated turret that had been subjected to continuous fire was finally destroyed by the high temperature, exploding into a ball of flames.
At this moment, some space fighters, having sustained damage from multiple projectiles, had to quickly retreat. Their replacements swiftly moved forward to join the battle.
In just a few seconds, the fighters already rotated once, and by now, all three pirate turrets had been destroyed.
With the threat eliminated, the remaining fighters strafed back and forth, melting the alloy doors. After a brief cooling period, engineering robots were dispatched to the asteroid to open the pirate treasure.
“Big brother, it’s a batch of precious artifacts. According to estimates from the star network, their value is around 300 energy credits,” Wu Tianyi reported after quickly comparing the data gathered by the robots.