Chapter 1455: Demon Chrysalis Cla.s.s!
instantly stunned.
It was an extremely ugly wars.h.i.+p, looking like a black egg with many strange patterns carved on its exterior. It looked like some mysterious totem that the indigenous races in the Outer Frontier would wors.h.i.+p.
The usual wars.h.i.+ps all looked domineering from the outside, their thick and st.u.r.dy cannons extending forth to target distant enemies.
Yet this egg shaped wars.h.i.+p did not look like it held any weapons at all. There was not a single firing port visible, nor any missile launchers or deep s.p.a.ce bomb launchers. It was just round all over, which made it look extremely ridiculous.
!!
Lina was the first to speak, “This is the Demon Chrysalis cla.s.s destroyer, a wars.h.i.+p we seized from Natives living in the Outer Frontier. The name Demon Chrysalis could be understood as the child of the devil.
“Your eyes did not deceive you; the performance index of the Demon Chrysalis did indeed reach appalling heights, and after all our tests, we have determined that this s.h.i.+p’s combat capabilities is closer to that of an elite cruiser.”
Xia Fan was shocked. An elite cruiser could simply be understood as a s.h.i.+p that was even more powerful than high-grade cruisers. They would often be astronomically priced, and so had much lower rates of production.
The Demon Chrysalis cla.s.s was actually capable of rivaling the performance of elite cruisers?
That was impossible!
Lina laughed lightly as she continued to speak, “Actually, the strangest thing about the Demon Chrysalis cla.s.s isn’t its appearance, but its interior. Come, let me show you the inside.”
She promptly opened the landing bay of the Demon Chrysalis cla.s.s destroyer.
In Ashen Moon, people called wars.h.i.+ps shorter than 400 meters in length destroyers.
The length of the Demon Chrysalis reached the maximum limit of a destroyer, 389.42 meters long. It was by no means a small s.h.i.+p.
However, due to its oval egg-shaped hull, it gave people the sensation that it was not that big.
Only when they boarded the s.h.i.+p did they immediately feel the size of this large destroyer. The Disaster was ninety-two meters long, and Demon Chrysalis was a tier above it, but was a completely different beast altogether!
Lina used her hands to show just how wide the corridors were, how high the furniture reached, as well as the length of the cabin beds before saying, “Now do you see? The living facilities of Demon Chrysalis are all larger than you’d normally find in Ashen Moon; a cabin bed itself is almost 2.8 meters long, which means that the crew of this wars.h.i.+p was at least 2.5 meters tall on average.”
Xia Fan nodded and personally sat down in the captain’s chair.
It was a very broad captain’s chair. Xia Fan felt like a child sitting on his father’s single sofa after sitting down on the chair, his feet hanging in the air.
According to what Xia Fan remembered, there did not seem to be any such indigenous race in the Outer Frontier that was this big in size. An average height of 2.5 meters was simply far too ridiculous!
Lina shrugged, “Demon Chrysalis did not seem to be a wars.h.i.+p made for humans. It’s too ancient, and we have absolutely no way of verifying who the ones that designed and subsequently manufactured this s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p were.
“Those Natives who we confiscated the s.h.i.+p from also said they had no idea where they ended up with the wars.h.i.+p. In any case, because it was usable, they simply treated it as part of their weapon a.r.s.enal, and even dared to rob the Extraterritorial Fleet that the Union had sent to the Outer Frontier. Thus, the task force captured this s.h.i.+p and brought it back to base for experimentation and research.”
“What was the result of the research?” Xia Fan asked, curious.
Lina knitted her eyebrows together slightly. “The experts were all in agreement that Demon Chrysalis is a peak grade destroyer. It was just too bad that the Union has no way of replicating the performance of the s.h.i.+p. If you were to head over to the propulsion drive and take a look, you’d instantly see that this Demon Chrysalis came with a core base.
“That is to say, when Demon Chrysalis was first built, it was in consideration of using the Four Prime Cores. Indubitably, this was a s.h.i.+p from ancient times,because only the humans of the Ashen Moon Universe that lived in those prehistoric times could forge the Four Prime Cores. Unfortunately, the blueprints and craftsmans.h.i.+p to make these cores has long been lost in time now.”
“To us, the Demon Chrysalis is worthless. Naval wars.h.i.+ps have always demanded ma.s.s production, and this Demon Chrysalis, despite its powerful performance, is absolutely useless to the Union Navy, which musters tens of thousands of wars.h.i.+ps.
“That is why after the scientists were done with studying this s.h.i.+p and collected enough data from it, Demon Chrysalis was tossed into this warehouse. It has been thousands of years since then.
“If you wish to procure this s.h.i.+p, it is not impossible. But I have to remind you that there are no spare parts for the Demon Chrysalis, because this is far from a standard s.h.i.+p at all. Parts from the Union will not work interchangeably with it, and it’ll be troublesome the moment anything gets damaged.”
Though this was what Xia Fan had been told, he had already set his heart on acquiring the Demon Chrysalis. That was simply because its performance data was nothing short of heaven-defying; even though it only had one engine, the propulsion force it produced reached an astounding ninety-seven meganewtons!
It must be said that the standard propulsion force for a battles.h.i.+p ranged from one to two hundred meganewtons, yet this destroyer’s speed had reached that level already.
The other important equipment on this s.h.i.+p, like its energy s.h.i.+eld generator and high-performance fusion reactors, had all attained the standards one would expect from a battles.h.i.+p.
What was also worth mentioning was the fact that the Demon Chrysalis also had an extremely rare compound radar system installed.
Such a radar system was not the standard, and its performance was far greater than a radar array.
The engineer that had designed the Demon Chrysalis must have been a genius, because he had managed to combine the gravitational wave radar, photon radar, magnetic radar, planet and star-scanning radar, matter a.n.a.lyzer, and other such different detection systems, all into one!
This radar was so impressive that it could scan and detect across all bands, in every direction and function, so much so that even a nail floating in the expanse of s.p.a.ce would not go undetected by the system.
As for the s.h.i.+p’s weapon systems, Demon Chrysalis only had a laser emitter.
Indeed, this destroyer utilized a powerful laser device. It was well known that a laser weapon would often need to rest for a long time and recharge after firing a shot, due to how energy-consuming it was. That was why it was also widely mocked as ‘death after a single shot’.
But Xia Fan was not worried about the issue of energy, because he owned an energy core! With this in hand, the efficiency of the reactors would increase by three and a half times!
Though that was still not enough to make the laser weapon shoot repeatedly, being able to fire three to four shots a minute should not be a problem.
Furthermore, Demon Chrysalis also came with two light missile launchers that did not rely on energy. As supplementary firepower, the s.h.i.+p would be able to continuously attack its enemies with missiles while the main cannon was recharging.
All these weapons were designed to be hidden, which was why its exterior appearance was so round and smooth, looking like it had not a single weapon installed.
In conclusion, Demon Chrysalis looked like it was best at being a hidden a.s.sa.s.sin, suddenly appearing to use its laser weapon to cut the throats of its enemies!
As for the large-scale dogfights, Demon Chrysalis would have a hard time adapting, as it was more suited for solo combat.
With that thought in mind, Xia Fan turned to Lina, “I’ve decided. I’ll take this Demon Chrysalis, please!”
Lina sighed, “You boys are all the same, going crazy the moment you see a laser weapon, always thinking that a wars.h.i.+p with a huge cannon is the s.e.xiest thing alive. Well, I’ve already warned you of what I needed to warn you; the Demon Chrysalis has a large laser cannon, but it has its flaws. This is your decision.”
Xia Fan flashed her a bright smile. “Don’t worry about it.”
…
With Lina’s help, Xia Fan quickly finished the paperwork required of the General Armament Department, and the Demon Chrysalis cla.s.s destroyer, as well as all the necessary equipment, cost Xia Fan a total of 9.725 million Union points.
For the rest of his days off, Xia Fan devoted his entire being to the retrofitting of his two wars.h.i.+ps, especially the Disaster. Its interior was hardly recognizable after Xia Fan was done with it. Xia Fan was someone who was a perfectionist, which was why he hoped he could make these two s.h.i.+ps as perfect as possible.
—
On the last afternoon of his leave, Traveling Buddha lazily made his way to the large hangar that Xia Fan had rented.
All he saw was ground covered in various tools, from the smallest universal screwdriver to the large particle cutter. There was practically no s.p.a.ce for him to put his foot down inside.
Meanwhile, Xia Fan was seated in the corner of the hangar, drinking a cup of instant tea.
Traveling Buddha picked up Xia Fan’s tea cup and gave it a whiff, while also nonchalantly remarking, “How do you stand this c.r.a.p? The smell isn’t any different from a horse’s p.i.s.s. For someone who rarely drinks tea like yourself, you ought to be drinking something even better. A good cup of tea can treat the human soul, refres.h.i.+ng your spirits. Come, come, come, let me brew you some proper tea.”
As he spoke, Traveling Buddha took out his cherished tea set and brewed a type of green tea in the messy hangar. He claimed he had spent a lot to purchase this tea from the Union’s trade site; it was called Autumn’s Arrival.
“So? Are you done with your retrofitting work?” Traveling Buddha asked him.
Xia Fan nodded. “I finally completed it before our break’s over. Right now, aside from the ninety-seven meganewton warp engine in the Demon Chrysalis, I’ve also fit in two sets of cruiser missile launchers and four close-range rapid-fire cannons, as well as a set of deep s.p.a.ce bomb launchers.”
“As for the Disaster, I mainly tried to refurbish it back to its original state. In any case, since I no longer plan to use the Disaster as my main s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, I scaled back on its performance and firepower and increased its comforts and auto-pilot system.
“In conclusion, the Demon Chrysalis-cla.s.s destroyer now has the ability to engage in ultra long-ranged combat, and complete plenty of tasks on its own without any need for auxiliary support. At the same time, the Disaster is more suited for use inside Union territory. It’ll be quite dangerous if it is expected to be used in the Outer Frontier.”
“Oh, and I’ve already registered the Demon Chrysalis cla.s.s destroyer’s name: Black Egg.”
“Black Egg? Why do the names you come up with sound so bad?” Traveling Buddha waved his hand. “Forget it. It’s your s.h.i.+p anyway, so it can be called whatever you like. Besides, I don’t understand a word you said. All I care about is the living facilities. Don’t let it be like the Disaster, which you made a huge mess of.
“You drink your tea, and I’ll go up and have a look.” Traveling Buddha boarded Black Egg as he spoke, and in no time at all returned with a blackened face.
“Only two cabins?”
“That’s right. You and I have one each, isn’t that great?”
“How is that great?! Black Egg is such a huge s.h.i.+p, yet the cabins are even smaller! I doubt any of the cabins are even thirty meters square in area, right?”
“To be exact, they are twenty-eight meter square, including the ensuite bathroom.”
“Why are there two bunk beds in the cabins?”
“Because we don’t have much room available, so if we ever need to ferry others, a bunk bed would allow us to squeeze four crew in each cabin.”
“I have no desire of squeezing with anyone!” Traveling Buddha bellowed.
Xia Fan smiled, “That’s not up to you. Seriously, I am still considering if I should keep the dining area and living quarters.”
Traveling Buddha’s face instantly became even darker.
Actually, Xia Fan was only teasing Traveling Buddha. The Demon Chrysalis-cla.s.s destroyer was already an outstanding s.h.i.+p as it were, so the areas that he needed to modify were minor. That was why Xia Fan only made small changes to Black Egg, and the number of cabins was not actually two, but four. The rascally Traveling Buddha actually had not found the other two.
The main focus of Xia Fan’s retrofitting was to improve the wars.h.i.+p’s main combat weapon. The two battles.h.i.+p-tier missile launchers took up most of the s.p.a.ce, and the main cargo hold was converted into a fully automatic ammunition bay. Every time they set off, they would be carrying 512 high-speed cruiser missiles!
Black Egg’s main weapon was its laser cannon. By his calculations, Xia Fan concluded that its maximum rate of fire was five times a minute.
Such a fire rate meant there was no way for the s.h.i.+p to engage in large-scale battles, but due to energy constraints, there was no way Xia Fan could install a quicker-firing artillery system, given that it would also consume plenty of energy when in use.
The only option left for Xia Fan was for a missile system. Xia Fan decided to go all in and gave Black Egg powerful cruiser missiles. This way, its combat capabilities could reach a slightly frightening level.
A standard missile battles.h.i.+p would have at most four cruiser missile launchers, so Black Egg’s missile system was essentially half the firepower available to a battles.h.i.+p!
Traveling Buddha had no knowledge of wars.h.i.+p machinery, so it would just be a waste of Xia Fan’s time and breath trying to explain all that.
That was why Xia Fan did not say much, and simply brushed a finger over his spatial ring, taking out a bottle of that blood-red Immortality Wine.
“I’ve been pondering over the issue with the Immortality Wine as I worked on the wars.h.i.+p.”
“What issue could there be?”
“I reckon that those from Murder Shrine who ambushed us in that cosmic storm targeted us for it. Is this something so precious that it’s worth mobilizing a squadron for?”
Traveling Buddha licked his lips and explained, “That depends on who you’re talking about. To some old folks out there, they are willing to sacrifice it all just so they could get their hands on a bottle of Immortality Wine.
“It’s said that such a bottle of wine contains a huge amount of energy that even a Grade Nine energy crystal could not hold a candle to, and is the shortcut for some of these elders to rapidly promote themselves.”
A shortcut to rapid promotion…..
Xia Fan mulled over what Traveling Buddha had just said. He was currently stuck between Intermediate and Advanced Starbase rank, where he felt he was at a slight bottleneck. His promotion speed was very slow right now, and he had been fretting over it.
Xia Fan gently shook that crystal bottle and asked Traveling Buddha, “Say, what do you think will happen if I drink a bit of the Immortality Wine?”