Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 634: Dormancy Period 249

Chapter 634: Dormancy Period 249

If there was a recommendation from an allied civilization, it would be even easier.

Moreover, Li Aozi had two special advantages:

First, he was the legend who repelled the Mechanical World Society, with fame and status to back him up.

Second, he was an Ascender of the Sovereign pathway.

As a relatively young narrative-level civilization, the Empire didn’t have many fully controlled pathways, only one—the Destroyer series under the Twilight Sword Saint pathway.

The advantage of this pathway was that there were no significant barriers to entry; anyone could practice it. The downside was that it lacked significant future potential, and ascending was not very difficult, especially with narrative help, which made it even easier. This also gave rise to the Empire’s slogan:

"Everyone Ascends, Heroes Gather, Form the Empire."

The Empire was inclined towards the Fine Artistry and Destroyer pathways. In other words, apart from these two pathways, anyone joining the Empire wouldn’t face much competition pressure—naturally, no one would guide you on climbing your pathway either.

Li Aozi, an Ascender of the Sovereign pathway, wouldn’t use up ascension resources by joining. The Empire probably wouldn’t make things difficult for him.

Apart from the Empire, the other two narrative-level civilizations in Layer Abyss each controlled an ultimate pathway.

The Sovereign pathway’s Torchbearer pathway was in the hands of the Obliteration Sanctum.

The Raiding pathway’s Plunderer/Gambler pathways were all under the control of the Union Group.

Besides the ultimate pathways, they also controlled a vast array of branch pathways.

In the lower Starry Abyss, the exploration and control of pathways were deeper, and the narrative-level civilizations became distinct.

"I don’t need to worry about lacking guidance on my pathway; therefore, the relatively free management of the Empire is most suitable for me."

Li Aozi wasn’t after ascension resources, so the Empire would be relatively easier.

"So next, I currently don’t have anything urgent to do."

Li Aozi sighed in relief.

Up to now, he had been busy for more than half a year.

During this time, he switched between society and small tasks, traveling back and forth between Azure Star and Baizhu Star, fighting all around, managing production, and even keeping an eye on player relations—he had lost more than half of the Baizhu Star players this time, all of whom were professional players from the closed beta.

It would take at least a year to recover in terms of manpower.

Speaking of which, his current team wasn’t enough. He had planned to train Lucite and Hobbs, but those two were still wandering in some unknown extradimensional space.

On Azure Star, the Grand Architect Banam that he was nurturing was still loafing around in the Grante Republic.

The "Bride" Alicxia had fully transitioned into judicial work, officially stepping back from the frontlines, and she was better suited for the rear anyway.

Gretto was willing to join him in space, but he was currently busy dealing with the Royalist Party’s bandit army.

Du Zexin’s life and death were unknown.

Yawen, who made fashion for him, had gone out for training, to be seen again in four hundred years.

"Why do I feel like I’m so bad at keeping teammates..."

Li Aozi muttered under his breath.

Just as Li Aozi calculated where to recruit new members, Dean Nastisha sent someone to visit him, bringing some food, books, and news that surprised Li Aozi:

"Baizhu Star is about to undergo an industrial transfer. This planet will no longer be prepared as an education planet; the highest council has abolished the education department here."

Doing so... would completely transform Baizhu Star into an ordinary planet.

Abolishing the education department was tantamount to dissolving the government for a scholar civilization.

This meant that Baizhu Star would become an independent planet, playing on its own while Crystal Tower sought new endeavors.

Li Aozi pondered for a moment and quickly understood the reason behind it:

"They transferred the Discerning Eye fragments."

The Night Butterfly Federation did not obtain all the forbidden knowledge to form a complete Discerning Eye fragment. This attack on Baizhu Star had already partly exposed the planet’s special nature. Timely fragment and resource relocation would set up a new focal point, diverting the attention of those who might covet it.

In the future, Baizhu Star might become a target due to its role as a decoy.

However, for Li Aozi, it was an opportunity instead.

"The Spirit Maggot funds will take a long time to arrive. In another year, my savings will reach 1 billion ammonium gold."

Estimating his future earnings, he quickly made a decision.

This amount was enough to buy Baizhu Star.

Thus, legally, administratively, and practically, Baizhu Star would truly come under his control. As long as the Star Gate connections linking Baizhu Star to the outside world were established and cleared, Li Aozi could then expand his trading business.

First, he needed to establish a route to Azure Star, as only this way could he bring a large number of players into the Starry Sky.

Next was establishing a communication hub with Valkyrie Fortress. Li Aozi needed to ensure that Azure Star, as an independent planet, appeared in the transport network of Valkyrie Fortress.

This, of course, required some technology, engineers, and a large number of workers to build and maintain it. Without the control of the Crystal Tower Civilization, maintenance costs would undoubtedly skyrocket, leading to significant financial strains.

However, looking on the bright side: this way, recruitment efforts wouldn’t target Li Aozi.

The current situation was getting better and better, with Li Aozi’s foundation already well-established. All he needed was time to keep pushing forward, continuously gaining advantages.

"I shall lie low for a while. It’s also an excuse to take a break."

With Nastisha’s help, Li Aozi had recently read many memoirs of war veterans and gradually discovered a key difference from his previous life’s game:

In Layer Abyss, Zeta Rank (6) was a unique node.

Below it, all living beings were mundane, with short lives, not even a thousand years, and little time to accumulate knowledge and wealth.

Above it, up to Kappa Rank (10), the leap in combat power wasn’t as exaggerated.

If Zeta (6) was the infantry, then Eta (7), Theta (8), and Iota (9) were respectively tanks, fighter jets, and missile destroyers, and once they entered the battlefield, Zeta Rank frequently engaged in close combat, face-to-face, causing rapid attrition.

Why was King’s Carriage Displacement an essential arcane energy among professional players?

Because it was the only arcane energy that could move freely, ignoring any conditions and directions.

Not everyone was a Spirit Medium who could step into the Spirit Realm to avoid damage.

Despite the existence of star-destroying weapons in the Starry Sky, capable of effortlessly obliterating areas spanning millions of cubic kilometers, the actual chance of such weapons hitting individuals was low. What truly caused casualties were large-scale satellite cannon strikes and meteoroid impacts—these cheap weapons were the real killers.

One didn’t need to run very far, just far enough to escape the range of these strikes, while the major weapons of mass destruction wouldn’t target Zeta Rank.

The cost wasn’t worth it.

In cosmic warfare, Zeta were typically slower in movement and lacking in firepower. Without the defensive cover of Eta Rank, their survival rate under various enemy weapon attacks was extremely low.

On the ground, the situation was even more tragic.

Ordinary Zeta Rank individuals like Canyue and Li Aozi were everywhere on the frontlines. Nominally, there might be tens of thousands of Zeta Rank individuals, but in reality, apart from the Destroyer pathway, everyone at this level basically had some ability to summon troops quickly. The actual situation could be a hard confrontation of a million-strong army, with Implants against golems, and machines colliding with ghosts.

In protracted battles, they would fight until supplies were exhausted, then engage in duels.

The actual duels were also quite uninteresting. By the time it came to duels, logistics had already been severed. Most were at their limits, often winning the duel only to be surrounded and killed by subsequent troops due to a logistics cut-off.

These war veterans provided Li Aozi with a new understanding.

On the interstellar battlefield, logistics were more important than hard power.

One significant flaw of magical civilizations was their dependence on magical transportation of supplies, lacking proper orbital transport. The enemy only needed to kill your mage in charge of transportation, making the logistics line useless until a new mage was trained and ready.

"Logistics capability... looks like I need to accumulate it properly."

In the future, Baizhu Star might face unpredictable challenges, and wars were not out of the question.

Li Aozi, aiming to become the master of a planet, had to consider everything.

When this period of seclusion ended, he would officially step onto the pathway of Ascending to Godhood in the Sovereign pathway.