by <unknown>
In the small meeting room, the three of them waited solemnly.
Two proposals of planetary-level magical equipment would be discussed in the Millennium Meeting, the better of which would be selected and implemented later.
Of course, if there were too many objections about the two proposals and they were believed to be impracticable, the participants were allowed to modify or put forward new proposals on the spot.
Ten o'clock in the morning.
Hundreds of mystic rays in various colors gradually appeared in the meeting room, transforming one of the walls of the meeting room into a translucent Grand Illusionary Land that seemed like a podium.
Streams of information regarding the background of the Millennium Meeting, an introduction to the Temple of Immortals, and files about the sharpest claws and teeth of the Temple of Immortals—the space pirates—fell down from the top of the Grand Illusionary Land.
A giant map of a space zone popped up in the Grand Illusionary Land, but it was covered in clusters of lackluster dusts. At first glance, although it did not look as rough as the Iron Plateau Space Zone, it was even more mysterious and unpredictable than it.
It was the Spider Den Space Zone where Spider Den, the base of all space pirates, was located, and also the darkest place in the entire Flying Star Sector.
A grey-haired but magnificent-looking old man, who appeared to be made of steel, gradually walked to the podium.
Li Yao's pupils constricted violently. Despite the blockage of the Grand Illusionary Land, he could still vaguely feel that unwavering belief that seemed to be a mountain in the old man's body.
"He is Si Koulie, leader of the 'Star Fighters Alliance'. He is also one of the best experts in the refinement of starships, and he is now in the Nascent Soul Stage!"
Xue Yuanxin said in a low voice, "The first proposal of the planetary-level magical equipment was drawn up by the Star Fighters Alliance."
Li Yao was quite startled.
Compared with battle-type Cultivators, the advancement of creation-type Cultivators was very difficult. Core Formation Stage creation-type Cultivators were already rarely seen.
It meant that Si Koulie must be one of the most awesome refiners in the Flying Star Sector.
It was a pity that their research fields were different. Li Yao did not know much about the construction of starships.
If Professor Mo Xuan were here, he would definitely be very interested in talking with him.
Professor Mo Xuan had been focused on crystal suits, too, when he was alive.
But after he reached the Flying Star Sector, in order to upgrade Sparkle, he and his students had dedicated themselves to the modification of starships day and night and accumulated a lot of experience during the change of research field.
After they became 'Star Spirits', they boasted the uncanny ability of increasing their computational ability by manipulating crystal processors. Therefore, their Cultivation improved quite fast.
Li Yao estimated that Professor Mo Xuan would be at least in the high level of the Core Formation Stage if he were alive.
However, the spectral Cultivators were gauged by a different evaluation system, and 'Star Spirits' such as Professor Mo Xuan were different from normal spectral Cultivators. Even Li Yao did not know how terrifying they would be when they unleashed all their potential.
The Edge Sharpeners' Meeting was very likely to be the Temple of Immortals' target. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Li Yao did not ask the five Star Spirits to come to Heavenly Saints City.
The Star Fighters Alliance was not a sect but an association formed by 28 sects that specialized in the production of starships. It was sort of a 'starship manufacturers' guild'.
It was not hard to guess that the proposal Master Si Koulie was about to present should be some sort of starship.
Li Yao's guess was correct.
However, when Si Koulie projected the illustrations of their proposal for planetary-level magical equipment into the Grand Illusionary Land, Li Yao still gasped.
What appeared in the Grand Illusionary Land was a blue planet.
The planet was named 'Ice King'. It was the seventh planet in the Mystic Ice Space Zone with a diameter of more than 5,300 kilometers and a density slightly higher than that of Iron Plateau. The temperature on the planet was fifty degrees below zero all year round.
The Star Fighters Alliance's plan was to refine the planet into a monolithic starship!
"It is well known that we failed to eliminate the space pirates because Spider Den was an important planet of resources in the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago. The planet is full of facilities for refining and defense systems. Together with the space pirates' enhancement in the thousands of years, the planet is basically an iron hedgehog right now.
"Also, the natural environment of the Spider Den Space Zone is very complicated. Cosmic dust, space storms, and electromagnetic swirls are everywhere.
"Hundreds of years ago, an enormous fleet of a thousand crystal warships was deployed hoping to annihilate the space pirates once and for all.
"But the space pirates simply waited patiently and waged a war of attrition by relying on Spider Den. After years of tug-of-war, the supplies of the fleet gradually ran out, and the fleet encountered a rarely-seen double disaster. Barely any crystal warship returned from the battle.
"The hard lesson tells us that normal starship cannot expect to compete with such a planet of resources that has been armed to teeth.
"Therefore, the only solution is to modify a planet into a starship and to fight the planet with a planet!"
Chapter 677: Ice God Clash! |
In the soundproof meeting room, Li Yao could not hear other people's reactions, but he vaguely sensed strong spiritual waves. The other participants of the Millennium Meeting must be as shocked as he was.
Transforming a planet into a starship!
How bold and how unbelievable!
Li Yao was fascinated by the data, files, and structural designs that were being manifested in the Grand Illusionary Land.
Although he had witnessed the power of the planetary magical equipment at the periphery of Iron Plateau, it was merely debris left from five thousand years ago.
However, reading the structural designs for a new one, he felt that he was about the create history.
Si Koulie continued his speech. "Turning a planet into a starship has always been the highest dream for the starship designers. However, it is too technologically difficult, and the resources needed are too many. Even in the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago, there were not many successful examples.
"Therefore, although the partners of the Star Fighters Alliance already had the idea hundreds of years ago, we never had the opportunity to implement it.
"But thirty years ago, we discovered a relic of the Star Ocean Imperium from the war remains. From the relic, we learned of a project named 'Ice God' was carried out in the Flying Star Sector back in the era of the Star Ocean Imperium.
"The content of the project was to carve overwhelming power rune arrays on the surface of the planet with its geothermal energy as the source of power so that the planet's trajectory would be altered, and it would march into the universe as an invincible warship of mankind!
"According to the files, the Ice God Project was fully initiated in the last days of the Star Ocean Imperium. A planet with appropriate quality, density, and orbit was selected, and the modification work was begun.
"However, half way through the project, the Armageddon Rebellion took place. As the civil war broke out, the Flying Star Sector became one of the most heated battlefields. The Ice God Project was thus put on hiatus.
"The Star Fighters Alliance explored for more than twenty years after we retrieved the file and finally ascertained that the 'Ice God' mentioned in the file was actually 'Ice King' in the Mystic Ice Space Zone!
"Later, we sent a large number of Cultivators to investigate Ice King, and they reported numerous traces o
f modification in the style of the Star Ocean Imperium!
"Ice King is enveloped in a low temperature all year long, and the spiritual energy activities are not strong. The modification materials employed by the Star Ocean Imperium were all processed to work at low temperatures. Today, most of the rune arrays and facilities are still usable.
"Besides, thousands of tunnels leading to the core of the planet have been excavated, so thermal energy is readily available.
"According to our calculations, 55% of the Ice God Project has been completed. What we need to do is to restart the project and finish it!"
Si Koulie's tone was determined, resolute, and gave a blood-boiling feeling, as if the craziest dream would come true as long as he waved his hands.
While he was giving the speech, information flooded into the meeting rooms through the Grand Illusionary Land.
In the Millennium Meeting, the meeting rooms were classified into ten levels according to the capability of themselves and the strength of the organizations they represented. Information of different details was presented to them.
The meeting rooms at the edge were reserved for the low-level Cultivators of the small sects.
The information they received was that a project named Ice God—in which a planet would be refined into a starship—was to be implemented.
As for the technological details, they had no access to them at all.
The VIP meeting room that Li Yao was in, on the other hand, presented most of the details of the technology and the key data.
Li Yao and his two companions both maximized their computational ability. Six eyes were glittering while they sorted through the information like human-shaped crystal processors.
In a moment, white steam was popping up from their heads, which seemed to have turned into chimneys. The meeting room was wreathed in fog, as if it had become public baths.
Xue Yuanxin focused his eyes on Li Yao and asked solemnly, "What do you think, Master Sand?"
Li Yao's eyes were particularly deep right now, and a bouncing brilliance was beaming out them. Deep in thought, he replied, "… I don't know."
Xue Yuanxin and Huangpu Bo frowned at the same time.
"You really think I know everything, don't you, masters?"
Li Yao scratched his hair that was as messy as bird nest and opened his hands reluctantly. "We only know what we know. Refining a crystal suit and refining a starship the size of a planet are vastly different. Hundreds of starship designers of the Star Fighters Alliance must've work on it carefully for a long time. How could I understand all of this so quickly?"
Xue Yuanxin and Huangpu Bo looked at each other and laughed in amusement.
It did make sense. But Li Yao had left too deep an impression on him recently, and they subconsciously took him for an omniscient man.
Xue Yuanxin and Huangpu were also experts who specialized in small magical equipment such as crystal suits. But they were much more experienced after all, and they had worked with other refiners on extremely complicated projects before. Therefore, they all had some understanding about such projects.
Pondering for a moment, Huangpu Bo said, "Judging from the files, if the Ice God Project is restarted, it is very likely that Spider Den will be destroyed once and for all!"
Xue Yuanxin smiled bitterly. "However—there's always a 'however'—is it an easy task to transform a planet into a starship? Can we really finish the project that even the Star Ocean Imperium failed to accomplish?"
The two of them shook their heads and continued reading.
When they got to the budget of the plan, they all exclaimed in shock and stood up.
"Are you kidding me? According to the budget, all the Cultivators would have to pawn their pants before the Temple of Immortals is destroyed!"
Li Yao felt a headache coming on.
He finally felt the hesitation that his predecessors must have experienced five thousand years.
The super magical equipment at the planetary level would indeed drain the resources of the entire Sector!
None of them were specialists in starships. Therefore, they simply discussed among themselves and did not say anything.
But the Grand Illusionary Land had connected the entire meeting hall. The participants were free to raise questions at any moment, and the speaker could reply to the questions or change the pace of their presentation accordingly.
In a moment, Si Koulie received a lot of messages from the experts and scholars. He browsed through them for a moment, before he raised his head again, the confidence on his face undiminished. He said casually, "Just now, a lot of fellow Cultivators offered valuable input. Most the questions are on the feasibility of the Iron God Project. Are we able to produce a real planetary-level warship based on our current technology?
"My answer is no!
"We definitely do not have the capability to build a real planetary-level warship."
His words dazed Li Yao.
He could almost hear the hums in the entire meeting hall right now.
Si Koulie smiled and said confidently, "However, everyone, our purpose is to strike Spider Den, which does not require a real planetary-level warship at all!
"Please take a look, everyone. This is the new Ice God Project after our revision.
"We don't need to empty Ice King; we don't need to alter its environment; we don't need to build cabins that are vital for the survival of the soldiers; we don't even need to install weapons!
"Ice King itself will be the most invincible weapon!
"All we need to do is to install a super-large engine system for Ice King, which will be powered by the spiritual energy deep below the surface of the planet. We will make Ice King perform a space jump and appear outside the Spider Den Space Zone. Then, we will set Ice King's trajectory toward Spider Den.
"In the meantime, the coalition fleet of Cultivators will sail behind Ice King.
"When Ice King is close enough to Spider Den, after precise calculation, Ice King will be accelerated and hit Spider Den heavily!
"Ice King is one of the smallest planets. Its size is only 1.1% the size of Iron Plateau and 4.9% that of Spider Den.
"However, as long as its momentum is high enough, it will be more than easy to destroy all the defense systems on the surface of Spider Den after a huge collision with the mass of Ice King.
"After the collision, and when the surface of Spider Den is ruined, the coalition fleet will be able to launch attacks on Spider Den freely. We will finish the chaos of space pirates once and for all!
"Space pirates are the claws of the Temple of Immortals. As long as we chop off the claws, the Temple of Immortals will become a lake without an inlet and a tree without leaves. It will no longer be able to cause any problem!
"The most crucial thing about the project is not the modification of Ice King, but how to move such a large object to the periphery of the Spider Den Space Zone through space jumps.
"Naturally, we cannot reveal the core technology to the public yet. But I guarantee that the magical equipment installed inside Ice King by the Star Ocean Imperium can support such a long-distance space jump!"
After finishing his speech, Si Koulie bowed and left the podium.
The new budget plan was sent to Li Yao and the other refiners.
It was a commonly-seen trick.
The first budget plan was the cost of transforming Ice King into a real starship.
But the revised plan was the cost to crash Spider Den with Ice King by only keeping the normal functions of its engine parts.
Although the budget was still quite high and endless resources would be consumed, the numbers were much smaller than the astronomical ones in the first plan and gave a feeling that the new plan was not totally unacceptable.
Of course, the decision was too important to be made so quickly after he gave a short speech. This was only a brief introduction, and there would be countless meetings to discuss the details later.
In the next, the second proposa
l, a competitor of the Ice God Project, was introduced.
The presenter of the second proposal was the Grand Illusionary Group.
"He is Xiao Xuance, CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group and the previous leader of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood. Some people even say that he is the crownless king of the Flying Star Sector!"
Xue Yuanxin pointed at the man who had broad shoulders and a solemn face with mysterious charisma beaming out of his eyes and introduced him to Li Yao. The guy was walking to the podium in the Grand Illusionary Land.
Chapter 678: Xiao Xuance's Proposal! |
"Xiao Xuance, from the Grand Illusionary Group!"
Taking a breath slowly, Li Yao had complicated feelings.
The human civilization of the Flying Star Sector was scattered in the dozens of space zones of the Flying Star Sector. For such a civilization, the most important thing was not water, food, or air, but network.
Water, food, and air could be generated by the self-recycling mini biological system in any space town.
However, without the network, all the space towns would become lone islands in a boundless ocean. There would not be a society at all.
In every space zone of the Flying Star Sector, countless Spiritual Beacons were floating in the vacuum.
Through the Spiritual Beacons, the overwhelming Spiritual Nexus connected the dozens of space zones together closely.
Although people lived in dark, cold starships in reality, they could appear in the virtual great outdoors in the Grand Illusionary Land and talk to their friends several space zones away as if their friends were next to them.
Moreover, training facilities that were indispensable for Cultivators, such as the Crystal Suit World, could not function without the Spiritual Nexus.
The Grand Illusionary Group was a major conglomerate that was funded by the six sects of Heavenly Saints City and provided network services for the Flying Star Sector.