Chapter 616 - 373: Li Family Treasure Vault and the First Exotic Beast Stellar Mother Ship’s Maiden Voyage
Chapter 616: Chapter 373: Li Family Treasure Vault and the First Exotic Beast Stellar Mother Ship’s Maiden Voyage
As his Realm advanced, the power of his Crystal Gold Armor grew increasingly god-like. He could now easily craft Saint Tier and lower Extraordinary Items using his own strength alone.
However, crafting Divine Tier and Divine King Realm items was still quite difficult. Out of a thousand attempts, he might only succeed in creating five or six Divine Tier items, and he had yet to successfully craft a single one at the Divine King Realm.
At his current level of power, only Spiritual Soldiers of the Divine King Realm or higher felt suitable for him to wield. Anything at the Divine Tier or below was met with the same disdain Sun Wukong showed when picking weapons in the Crystal Palace. A simple grain of Star Sand, each weighing ten thousand tons, was more useful.
Sun Wukong’s Ruyi Golden Cudgel weighed 13,500 jin. Li Xiang’s Star Sand, on the other hand, weighed 10,000 tons per grain—the equivalent of twenty million jin. It was far heavier than the Monkey King’s Golden Cudgel.
Over the years, Li Xiang had accumulated an unknown number of Extraordinary Battle Armors and Spiritual Soldiers. Some were spoils from killing Space Exotic Beasts, some were obtained from killing potential Extraordinaries on Earth due to a past system bug, and the rest were crafted using his Crystal Gold Armor.
On a whim, he sent his Divine Thought into his Otherworldly Warehouse to take inventory. He had over 60,000 Extraordinary Items of Saint Tier or higher, a large portion of which he had crafted himself.
As for items below Saint Tier, there were far more—over eight million in total, spanning from Tier One to Tier Eighteen.
He no longer had any use for so many Extraordinary Items himself. ’I could use them to establish a Li Family Treasure Vault,’ he mused, ’and reward those who have rendered meritorious service.’
But the number of Extraordinary Items was still too small compared to the total human population. He also didn’t have the time to constantly hunt Low Tier Exotic Beasts or use his Crystal Gold Armor for crafting, as it would delay his cultivation. Therefore, the reward policy would currently only be trialed in City No. 03, Los Santos, Guanghan City, and Jade Rabbit City.
If it proved effective, he would expand it to the other domestic Underground Cities. As for foreign countries, that would depend on the situation.
City No. 03 now had a population of over 26 million. Thanks to new talent-attraction policies enacted by Jiang Cai’Er, many high-level professionals and their families had relocated there. Combined with pro-natalist incentives, the population was growing rapidly, far surpassing its original 15 million.
Los Santos had around 18 million people, while Guanghan City and Jade Rabbit City were both home to approximately 20 million each.
All told, the cities directly under Li Xiang’s command had a total population exceeding 80 million. If he included Erin’s territory, the cities under Chiba Yuki and her mother, and Yaki Toto’s domain, the total population directly affiliated with him was over 130 million.
Of course, to be rewarded, individuals had to meet two conditions. First, they must have made outstanding contributions—not limited to military exploits. Academic achievements, recognition as a model worker in any industry, and other contributions would all be considered for evaluation. The second condition, naturally, was unwavering loyalty and a sense of belonging to the organization. Those with a rebellious nature were definitely not welcome.
Besides, those with a rebellious nature rarely made any meaningful contributions anyway.
Li Xiang also helped Erin by gathering many rare metals from space. These metals were either non-existent or extremely scarce on Earth but were abundant in space. Erin’s Metal Superpower was also exceedingly rare, excelling in both combat and scientific research. With these precious materials, she could likely reach even greater heights.
The Magical Cannons and Alchemy Furnaces developed by Erin were also high-performance Magic Weapons and engines. However, they belonged to a completely different technological system from Jiang Cai’Er’s. Not only were the systems vastly different, but Li Xiang also didn’t dare let the two women meet, so their respective systems developed independently and in parallel. For now, Jiang Cai’Er’s side had the upper hand.
For one thing, the resources—manpower and materials—at Jiang Cai’Er’s disposal were on a scale that Erin’s "small-scale operation" could not hope to match.
Last time, Li Xiang had contributed the corpse of a Divine Tier Space Exotic Beast. Jiang Cai’Er was now overseeing the retrofitting project for the Exotic Beast Aerospace Carrier, which had already made progress and completed its ground-based trial runs.
This involved moving the massive mothership out of its subterranean workshop to conduct static fire tests on Earth’s surface, verifying the linkage of the engine array.
After multiple rounds of verification, optimization, and continuous improvement, it had completed its first test flight: a maiden flight at an altitude of one thousand meters above Earth’s surface.
The next step was a suborbital test flight to assess the hull’s pressure resistance and its maneuvering capabilities.
Because a large number of Space Exotic Beasts still occupied Earth, and powerful Exotic Beasts frequently appeared in space, the suborbital test flight required Li Xiang to return and provide an escort.
The time for that was fast approaching—it was just a week away.
After the suborbital test flight succeeded, there would be a deep-space voyage. It would carry a group of immigrants to Jade Rabbit City, execute an interstellar colonization mission, and collect data to optimize its energy distribution logic.
At the same time, tests would be conducted on its shipboard radar, missiles, directed-energy weapons, Laser Weapons, and High-Energy Particle Cannons, along with various operations like catapult takeoffs and landings for its carrier-based aircraft and transport ships.
* * *
After collecting enough rare metals from space, Li Xiang went to spend a few days with Erin. Part of the reason was to try for another child with her, and the other was to spend time with their children.
Their mixed-race children were adorable, but Li Xiang never showed favoritism; he treated all his children equally.
In the blink of an eye, the day of the Exotic Beast Aerospace Carrier’s test flight arrived. Li Xiang said goodbye to Erin and the children and traveled to the Aerospace Carrier’s home port on Earth, an underground base located in Western Sichuan.
When the behemoth—over three hundred kilometers long, over one hundred kilometers wide, and seventy to eighty kilometers high, like a small continent—ascended into the sky, the sight was still breathtaking, even for those who had witnessed its brief ground trials.