Chapter 646: War Merit Rankings and the Spoils of Victory

It had already been three months since the Song Family’s group returned to the Chipan Galaxy through the spatial wormhole when they received word that ten Star River-class Battleships were arriving together.

The news came directly from the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty’s Torch Judgement Court via the highest-level Torch Network, delivered to both Song Wujian and Luo Yi, the two Star-Annihilator-class Captains.

Reportedly, these ten powerful Star River-class ships were dispatched under the command of the Chigu Luo Clan’s King Shihu. Although their reinforcements arrived late, after witnessing the brutal war, these ten Star River Captains pursued the Serpent Demon Dominators deep into Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization territory, chasing them for a million light-years and sparing no expense to destroy them.

In the end, they slaughtered more than thirty Seventh-Tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demons and two Eighth-Tier ones. The blood of Dominators became a tribute to honor those Torch Human Civilization citizens who had fallen in this disastrous battle.

Besides this, they received another important message.

Their force wasn’t the only one ambushed during the advance. The other three Great Empires also lost similarly sized advancing fleets, each suffering dimensional sniping. The worst was the Sankt Empire’s Eighth Advance Fleet—apparently all of their Star-Annihilator-class ships were destroyed, one Star River Captain died and another was gravely wounded, and over ninety percent of their fleet was wiped out.

News of this enraged all four empires of Torch Civilization. They not only increased the number of Star River-class ships patrolling their fleets but also accelerated their main forces’ advance. As long as the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons’ front lines were put under enough pressure, they wouldn’t be able to spare top combatants for similar ambushes in the future.

One more thing—and this was what Song Chi and the other surviving captains cared about most.

The four empires had decided: All captains who perished during these ambushes would be granted the title of Torch Human Civilization Martyr. The territories gained under these fleets’ banners would receive the four empires’ protection for ten thousand years—no outside power could annex them by any means within the restricted period.

What’s more, every survivor from these ambushes would have their accumulated war merits doubled, and for the next millennium, they could rest and recuperate in the rear rather than being forced to return to the front lines.

With such sweeping resolutions, no group or individual could object. Both the fallen and the living had been fairly compensated. If anything, outsiders’ doubts would be eased, and everyone’s determination to advance would only grow.

……

Song Family Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang-class Battleship—Encrypted group chat:

“The war merit rankings are out! Everyone take a look!”

As he spoke, Song Wujian posted a screenshot of the war merit rankings he’d just received from the Torch Network and explained:

“A Torch Captain’s Torch Seed is awakened with the help of Torch Source Seeds, which are all linked. The Torch Source Seeds themselves split from the Original Source Seed, whose authority is held by the Four Divine Dynasties. Thanks to this connection, every Torch Battleship’s accomplishments are flawlessly logged, so don’t doubt the accuracy of these war merit lists!”

Everyone seemed to realize the truth and let go of their doubts, immediately turning to see their own merit points.

Song Chi did the same.

But what surprised him was that he didn’t have to search through a dense list of names. The rankings were sorted from highest to lowest merit, and his own name was right at the top.

[Civilization War Merit List—Xian Qin 11th Advance Fleet Sub-Ranking (Survivors)]

[1: Heavenly Ruin · Song Chi – 124,500 points]

[2: Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang · Song Wujian – 108,960 points]

[3: God’s Crossing Sea-Scourer · Zhao Li – 101,588 points]

[4: Fenglang Juxu · Liu Shu – 98,832 points]

[5: Northern Skies Blade’s Edge · Shen Wei – 95,774 points]

……

[14: Scorching Sea Blazer · Song Yan – 81,455 points]

……

[22: Unmoving Vajra · Song Shiyuan – 75,990 points]

……

[30: Violet Moon Longsong · Song Xingru – 71,660 points]

[32: Calm-Sea Rising Dragon · Song Shixing – 70,856 points]

……

[2,220: Star River-class Minglong · Song Yiming – 5,689 points]

……

As Song Chi’s eyes scanned the merit rankings, he was initially surprised but soon understood.

Clearly, the merits for destroying the Mirror Warships had been factored in too.

And don’t forget—during this period, to quickly max out the Soul-Devourer Sacrificial Altar’s capacity, he’d been constantly using Heavenly Ruin’s mass-attack abilities like High-Energy Particle Storm, Ten-Thousand Sigil Violet Lightning Prison, and Neutron-Star Fission to ruthlessly mow down mid- and lower-ranked Eight-Armed Serpent Demons and Serpent Motherships.

Stacking all those up was enough to push Heavenly Ruin right to the top of the merit rankings.

Though it felt a bit ostentatious, Song Chi took comfort knowing these points would soon be doubled and could be traded for all sorts of rare items from the Divine Dynasty’s war vault.

Besides, in its current state, Heavenly Ruin would most likely advance to the Star-Annihilator-class within a century or two, and no matter how low-key he tried to be, he’d be thrust into the spotlight then.

After all, his age was no secret—he was just over 900. Even after another two centuries, he’d be barely over 1,100. A Star-Annihilator-class Captain in his early thousands—who wouldn’t notice?

As these thoughts spun in his mind, Ru Zu suddenly raised the question many had secretly wondered about but were afraid to ask.

“Clan Elder, why are there fewer than twenty Star-Annihilator-class Captains on this list? Wasn’t the Lingyue Zhao Clan Patriarch known for some remarkable battle records in recent centuries? Why isn’t he here?”

Song Tianhao, who had witnessed those two ambushes firsthand, answered.

“I don’t know about the others, but the Lingyue Zhao Clan Patriarch was struck by an Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon. Before we could evacuate through the spatial wormhole, his flagship had already been sunk.”

Following Song Tianhao’s explanation, Song Wujian added:

“And it wasn’t just the Lingyue Zhao Clan Patriarch; this time, fifteen Star-Annihilator-class Captains perished in battle—including Yaohan Kingdom’s King Dongli.”

They’d already suspected as much, but seeing it confirmed left everyone in the group chat momentarily breathless.

Fifteen Star-Annihilator-class ships—Torch Civilization’s peak fighting force. Each could prop up an advanced civilization of the Shattered Sea of Stars. They were certainly not expendable.

And that was just this fleet. If you tallied the other three empires’ losses, close to a hundred Star-Annihilator commanders likely died in the ambush.

For the Song Family, newcomers to the Immortal Houses, it was almost unimaginable.

……

Noticing the gloom settling over the chat, Song Wujian quickly spoke up:

“Alright, that’s all in the past now. No point dwelling on it. For now, we need to focus on two things. First is how to spend your merit points. That’s vital—the Divine Dynasty’s war vault is packed with good stuff. Figure out your exchange choices as soon as you can. The clan will tally everyone’s picks and submit them to the Imperial Court, and a special fleet will deliver your items afterward!”

With that, he sent a flurry of screenshots into the chat.

“These show just a sample of what the war vault offers, along with their required merit points. And remember, all your current merit points will be doubled! So choose what fits you best—don’t waste this chance!”

After that, he fell quiet, checking the exchange items himself.

As second place on the merit list, Song Wujian would have nearly two hundred twenty thousand points when doubled—plenty for several high-grade components.

This wasn’t unique to the Song Family; the Chigu Luo Clan, Stark Family, Philip Family, and more were all doing the same.

In the main control room aboard Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi’s gaze was glued to the screenshots posted in the group chat.

Ru Zu had uploaded ten images in total: seven were elementary exchange lists, two were intermediate, and just one was advanced.

Naturally, the elementary lists held the cheapest options, with exchange prices ranging between one and ten thousand merit points.

Glancing through, Song Chi saw items like Titanite Crystal, Eternal Stone Brick, Tier-Four to Tier-Six Silver Apples, and Fourth-Tier Timeworld Fruit among them.

These resources didn’t mean much to him, but for ordinary Torch Captains below the fifth tier, they were treasures that made countless clansmen’s eyes light up.

He didn’t linger over the elementary list, only noting the exchange details for Titanite Crystal.

[Name: Titanite Crystal]

[Category: Strategic Resource]

[Use: Reinforcing purple and above-grade components.]

[Exchange Limit: None]

[Exchange Cost: 1 merit point → 5 pieces]

Seeing ‘None’ listed under exchange limits relieved him—a clear sign that the Imperial Court’s stockpile was abundant enough, so there’d be no shortage later on.

The intermediate lists mostly demanded between ten thousand and one hundred thousand merit points. Even Song Chi’s eyes glimmered—some of these items were quite tempting.

[Name: Silver Apple]

[Grade: Tier Seven]

……

[Exchange Cost: 20,000 merit points → one piece]

————

[Name: Dominion Soul]

[Grade: Tier Seven]

……

[Exchange Cost: 10,000 merit points → eight wisps]

————

[Name: Ion Starlight Cannon]

[Quality: Gold]

[Type: Supercannon]

……

[Exchange Cost: 50,000 merit points → one piece]

————

[Name: Geothermal Venom Blaze]

[Quality: Silver]

[Type: Torch Seed Upgrade Source]

……

[Exchange Cost: 20,000 merit points → one wisp]

————

[Name: Silver Star Bangle-Core]

[Type: Special Resource to advance Dreadnoughts to Star-Annihilator-class]

……

[Exchange Cost: 20,000 merit points → one piece]

————

[Name: Stellar Spirit Liquid]

[Type: Extra Promotion Resource for Torch Battleships]

[Grade: 10% boost from Tier Five to Six; 4% boost from Six to Seven]

……

[Exchange Cost: 50,000 merit points → one share]

————

As Song Chi read each entry, his gaze eventually settled on Stellar Spirit Liquid and the Silver Star Bangle-Core.

One of them was a rare resource needed for boosting to Star-Annihilator-class. The other could boost a Dreadnought’s advancement success rate by 4%.

Key point: there were strict limits here—each person could only take one. The war vault clearly didn’t have many in stock.

Song Chi didn’t have to ponder long. His eyes quickly firmed as he confirmed his pick: the Silver Star Bangle-Core. After centuries of searching, Heavenly Ruin now lacked only this piece to complete the promotion formula to Star-Annihilator-class—there was no way he’d miss this chance.

Once all the ingredients were gathered, that meant a 10% boost to promotion success.

Besides, with his war merit points doubled, he had nearly two hundred fifty thousand—so spending twenty thousand didn’t hurt at all.

As for the Stellar Spirit Liquid, he didn’t rush to exchange it; instead he turned to the final advanced exchange list, curious if it offered even rarer promotion resources.

To be honest, 4% wasn’t really enough to impress him.

But as his gaze landed on the advanced list, Song Chi’s eyes burned with excitement—every item there was plain irresistible.

Though these were much fewer than on the other lists, their value was simply on another level.

[Name: Golden Apple]

[Grade: Tier Eight]

……

[Exchange Cost: 100,000 merit points → one piece]

————

[Name: Golden Apple]

[Grade: Tier Nine]

……

[Exchange Cost: 1,000,000 merit points → one piece]

————

[Name: Divine Frostfire]

[Quality: Black]

[Type: Torch Seed Upgrade Source]

[Exchange Cost: 800,000 merit points → one wisp]

————

[Name: Peacock Divine-Light Energy Shield]

[Quality: Black]

[Type: Energy Shield]

……

[Exchange Cost: 500,000 merit points → one piece]

————

[Name: Phoenix Nirvana Stone]

[Quality: Gold]

[Type: Resurrection Ship Component]

[Limit: Only effective for Star-Annihilator-class and above Torch Battleships]

……

[Exchange Cost: 700,000 merit points → one piece]

————

[Name: Ninefold Spirit Fruit]

[Type: Extra Promotion Resource for Torch Battleships]

[Grade: Adds 20% for Tier Five to Six upgrade, 10% from Six to Seven]

……

[Exchange Cost: 120,000 merit points → one piece]

————

Reading down the list, Song Chi felt tempted by every single item—especially the black-quality Divine Frostfire, which could upgrade a Torch Seed to the black tier. Unfortunately, the price was far too high.

That Tier-Nine Golden Apple made anyone drool too—it could evolve a gold-grade Oddity into black, and the same went for upgrade sources.

The moment he spotted the Golden Apple, Song Chi thought of the Mirror Image Split component. If he evolved it into a black-grade part, then the highest-level warship component he could copy would increase to lower-color grade. While it might not show immediately, over time, its potential would become downright terrifying.