Chapter 647: Turning Points: The Song Family’s Thousand-Year Dilemma

Unfortunately, no matter how much he coveted them, these rewards were far out of his reach for now. He simply didn’t have enough Civilization Merit Points.

After careful deliberation, Song Chi finally settled on his exchange choices.

Silver Star Bangle-Core, one piece—20,000 points.

Ninefold Spirit Fruit, one piece—120,000 points.

Tier Eight Golden Apple, one piece—100,000 points.

Titanite Crystal, forty-five thousand pieces—9,000 points.

With that, his entire stash of Civilization Merit Points was wiped clean.

There was no need to elaborate on the Silver Star Bangle-Core and Ninefold Spirit Fruit—these were to help the Heavenly Ruin soon break through to Star-Annihilator-class.

As for the Tier Eight Golden Apple, Song Chi had his own plan in mind.

He’d already decided who would use this Golden Apple. It wouldn’t go to Last Aegis, Plasma Guardian, or the Master‑Servant Pact, but rather the Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl.

His upcoming plans hinged on that particular component, and even its silver quality wasn’t enough to keep him at ease.

Besides, he’d already prepared another similar component in advance.

Radiant Prism Disc lv0.

Quality: Red.

Trait: Assimilation and Color Morphing.

Trait 2: Warship Phantasmic Transformation.

Trait 3: Illusion Effect Upgraded by One Tier.

……

Meanwhile, in the secured chat group of Calm‑Sea Dragon‑Xiang:

Song Xingru: “@everyone, so what did you all pick?”

“Here’s what I exchanged for: four portions of Silver Upgraded Fire Source and one portion of Stellar Spirit Liquid.”

Song Shiyuan: “One portion of Stellar Spirit Liquid and a Tier Eight Golden Apple.”

Song Shixing: “A Tier Eight Golden Apple…”

As family core members posted their choices, Song Chi noticed that quite a few people had picked the Tier Eight Golden Apple.

Soon, Song Wujian spoke up as well.

He had chosen a unique golden Oddity.

Azure Dragon Starlit Array Chart lv0.

Quality: Gold.

Trait: Azure Dragon Battlecruiser.

Trait 2: Azure Dragon Starfield Formation.

Trait 3: Azure Dragon Law Domain.

Trait 4: Guard—Azure Dragon’s Protection.

Trait 5: Wrath—Azure Dragon’s World-Destroying Breath.

Consumption: 500 per second (Eon Energy Points).

Effect: When installed, the warship becomes the core of the Azure Dragon Starfield Array. Once a million Azure Dragon Battlecruisers are assembled nearby, it can designate two Subordinate Azure Dragon Fleets of one hundred thousand each. These subordinate fleets can fight above their tier, but if losses exceed thirty percent in a fleet, their blessing fades.

……

{Azure Dragon Battlecruiser: Spend 100 Eon Energy Points to bind a warship, at least one tier below your own, to become an Azure Dragon Battlecruiser—up to one million can be bound at a time, all by voluntary consent.}

{Azure Dragon Starfield Formation: With over one hundred thousand Azure Dragon Battlecruisers gathered, it can autonomously form a grand starfield array, transforming the group into an Azure Dragon Fleet that can challenge higher-tier enemies. As long as you have enough Azure Dragon Battlecruisers, this effect persists.}

{Azure Dragon Law Domain: When formed, the Azure Dragon Fleet generates its own Law Domain, greatly boosting the war capabilities of all ships within by twenty percent and suppressing enemy units entering the domain.}

{Guard—Azure Dragon’s Protection: The core ship spends 200,000 Eon Energy Points to summon a phantom of the Azure Dragon’s spirit for sixty seconds, protecting the fleet. Cooldown: 24 hours.}

{Wrath—Azure Dragon’s World-Destroying Breath: The core ship consumes 500,000 Eon Energy Points, gathering the entire fleet’s might into a cataclysmic breath attack at a designated target. Cooldown: 240 hours.}

This Azure Dragon Starlit Array Chart was clearly a gold-quality strategic part. Even at lv0, it could bind up to a million Azure Dragon Battlecruisers and launch cross-tier battles as long as a hundred thousand ships clustered nearby.

No question, once upgraded further, its attributes would only become more impressive.

But the disappointment lay in the ‘Azure Dragon Battlecruiser’ feature’s limitation—it could only bind ships up to one tier below itself.

That meant, if installed on a Zhulu‑class Cruiser, it could only bind Tier Three or higher warships. That severely restricted its practical value.

After all, even for the Song Family, there were only a few tens of thousands of Tier Three Torch Battleships, and that’s after their rapid recent growth. Otherwise, they’d have even fewer.

If later upgrades relaxed this restriction, only then would this part be truly top-tier.

If not, it was barely suitable for Tier Three cruisers; in that case, what was the point of its cross-tier combat advantage?

Was the Song Family lacking a single Tier Four combat force?

Song Chi had seen this part earlier too. It was precisely this limitation that made him pass it up.

Plus, its price wasn’t cheap—200,000 Merit Points, meaning Clan Elder Song Wujian had spent nearly all his points for just this part.

Time slipped by. The Song Family worked fast, quickly compiling every member’s exchange list, then Song Wujian reported them in bulk via the Torch Network to the Imperial Court.

Afterward, as they waited for the court warfleet to arrive, the Song Family launched another round of discussions about their next moves.

There was really only one topic: their plan for the next thousand years.

Thanks to a resolution by the Four Great Empires, they now had the right to decide whether to keep fighting on the front line for the next millennium. If they chose not to, the family fleet could focus the coming thousand years on building up the Chipan Galaxy. The rewards they’d amassed over the past few centuries would surely be enough to turbocharge the family’s growth.

But if they wanted to keep sending their fleet to the front lines, they’d have to carefully choose which advance fleet to join.

The Eleventh Advance Fleet was now basically defunct after the last war. Not long ago, the Divine Dynasty ordered it rebuilt, and it’s obvious the new Eleventh will be packed with new forces.

So whether they returned to the Eleventh or joined another court advance fleet, it didn’t make much difference; the choice was entirely theirs.

The Song Family debated intensely about this, but no conclusion was reached.

From the highest elders down to junior and ordinary members, opinions were split almost perfectly in half.

The split was between those who advocated a thousand-year respite and those who pressed to keep fighting—neither side convincing the other.

Faced with this deadlock, Song Chi and the other core members found themselves unable to decide.

In the end, it was Song Wujian who came up with a solution.

“Since it’s hard to choose, how about this: once the Torch Judgement Court delivers our exchanged items, let the Azure Dragon Starlit Array Chart decide.”

“If, after strengthening, the limitation on Azure Dragon Battlecruisers is greatly eased and we can bind nearly all our lower-tier ships together, then we’ll head back to the front lines. Otherwise, we’ll focus on the Chipan Galaxy for a millennium. Sound good?”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s do it your way, Elder!”

“Fine by me! I agree!”

“If we really can merge our lower-tier warships into the Azure Dragon Array, our safety will skyrocket. We’ll keep gaining experience and stockpiling strength for the Song Family by staying in the fight—a win-win!”

……

Time slipped by. In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

At last, to everyone’s great anticipation, the transport fleet from the Xian Qin Divine Dynasty’s Torch Judgement Court arrived in the Chipan Galaxy.

Strictly speaking, the court’s speed was already astonishing. The court sat on the Xian Qin Continent nearly two hundred million light years away, and yet they’d managed this delivery in just a month. Unimaginable.

Still, to the eager captains, that detail hardly mattered—they were just too caught up in the excitement.

……

Command Center of Heavenly Ruin. As soon as Song Chi got his exchange items, he hurried back aboard his battleship.

Soon, silver and gold light tangled and surged throughout the ship until it shone with a dazzling golden glow.

The Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl had successfully evolved to gold quality.

It wasn’t over yet. Song Chi then took out the Radiant Prism Disc, transferring its ‘Illusion Effect Upgraded by One Tier’ trait onto the Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl, making it the Pearl’s fifth trait.

With the extra trait, the Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl’s disguise and stealth powers shot straight up to the black tier. With a little luck, it would now be nearly impossible for outsiders to discover Heavenly Ruin’s true identity.

Once that was done, he carefully stowed away the Silver Star Bangle-Core and Ninefold Spirit Fruit, then turned his attention back to the Song Family’s encrypted group chat.

At that moment, the Clan Elder had just posted the stat block for the upgraded Azure Dragon Starlit Array Chart, now at lv80.

Song Chi glanced through quickly. The next instant, his gaze hardened.

Even after strengthening to Eighth Tier, the part’s stats had improved only a little—but nowhere near as much as they’d hoped.

Azure Dragon Starlit Array Chart lv80.

Quality: Gold.

……

Effect: Installed ship becomes the core of the Azure Dragon Starfield Array. With over one million Azure Dragon Battlecruisers in the vicinity, it can appoint five Subordinate Azure Dragon Fleets of one hundred thousand each. With over five million Azure Dragon Battlecruisers, it can appoint ten such fleets. Subordinates can fight above their tier, but if losses exceed thirty percent, the bonus disappears.

……

{Azure Dragon Battlecruiser: Spend 1,000 Eon Energy Points to bind a warship, at least two tiers below your own, to become an Azure Dragon Battlecruiser—up to ten million can be bound, all by voluntary consent.}

While the number of ships that could be bound jumped to ten million, the tier limit improved by just one level. At most, this meant the part was only useful for four-tier Zhulu‑class Cruisers—far short of their expectations.

The core members were deeply disappointed.

Even with ten extra Subordinate Azure Dragon Fleets, each with cross-tier prowess, it only meant eleven-tier-five combat units—hardly enough to change the flow of battle.

But none of them noticed how a glint of anticipation appeared in Song Chi’s projecting eyes.

He had just thought of the Market’s Oddity Essence Refinement Platform—and a certain trait he’d put to use not long ago.

Leave of Absence.

As the title says—taking a day off!

“Era of the Universal Starsea”—Leave of Absence.

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