This man had come to proclaim his "sovereignty"!
Neither king was a fool; both grasped the man's intent at once.
"Great King. You are the ruler of the Lion King System; your will is the will of the whole system!" The fat king rushed to flatter first.
The thin king, unwilling to be outdone, said: "It's only a name; the great King need merely inform us. Indeed, if you but wish it, my kingdom itself is yours!"
Watching the performance of these two "clowns" before him, Zhao Chen truly tasted for the first time what it felt like to sit in a high place.
"I have no other designs. Carry on with your original order of life. Should I have any command, I'll send someone to inform you in due course. I dislike having others defy my will — you should understand well enough what the result of that would be." Zhao Chen's words seemed to carry a hidden edge.
The thin king and the fat king soon caught it: this was a veiled reference to the Fire Salamander fleet destroyed before. The masked man's meaning was — I can easily wipe out half that Fire Salamander fleet's ships, and I can just as easily crush the two of you.
After a round of official talk, Zhao Chen wasted no more time here; the T3 Blizzard began slowly sailing out of the planet's atmosphere. The other T2 Black Rhino-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigates returned to formation, then set course for the second planet.
This time, before Zhao Chen's fleet had even reached the second planet, it received the flattering, laudatory words of the second planet's leaders — who even said they'd prepare a lavish gift for Zhao Chen. For those so quick to read the situation, Zhao Chen wasn't about to waste the ship's fuel going to make a "show of force." This too was why Zhao Chen had made no move for the better part of half a month before, waiting until this battle was over to begin "cruising" this system of his. Only true strength could make these planetary powers submit to you utterly. Loyal or not was of no importance; what mattered was that they submitted to your strength.
Over the next half a day, Zhao Chen's "Lion King Fleet" ranged among the planets and the worlds of large population, one after another. No few of these planetary powers, quick to read the wind, sent messages of praise, flattery, and submission early. And the words they used were no longer "FY System," but "Lion King System." It seemed they'd taken note early of what had happened on the first planet.
Mission Two: Take control of and occupy the entire FY System.
Difficulty: B-rank
Reward: 20 task points and 7,000 points.
Mission complete — please claim your reward.
After all his ranging about, Zhao Chen had completed this mission most smoothly. He tapped to claim the reward.
Before — System points: 9,420
Before — task points: 65
Gained — System points: 7,000
Gained — task points: 20
After — System points: 16,420
After — task points: 85
System points and task points had risen once more.
From here, the Owl Dragon Fleet began its return to the third planet, where the dwarf race lived.
"Commander." Aili suddenly spoke up beside him.
Zhao Chen drew back his thoughts and looked at her. "What is it?"
Aili said, "Though we've defeated this attack of the Fire Salamander clan, they are, after all, an interstellar power that lives in this Reef Star Region; they will absolutely not let matters rest. But with our present strength and the state of our fleet, it would be very hard to settle the Fire Salamander business without taking a certain loss. At the same time, though we now control the Lion King System, it lies simply too far from the Owl Dragon Star System — a full half-month one way. If our Owl Dragon Fleet garrisons here, we'll need to establish a logistics-and-supply line from the Owl Dragon Star System to the Lion King System, at considerable cost. And if we don't garrison it, then the Fire Salamander clan's revenge, which could come at any time, will pose no end of threat to our Lion King System."
Hearing Aili's words, Zhao Chen nodded in agreement.
"I know all this. And I've long since thought out how to handle it." Zhao Chen looked at Aili with a smile.
Back when he'd first chosen to take control of the Lion King System (formerly the FY System), Zhao Chen had already thought of this problem. He'd considered many methods, but in the end he'd chosen the simplest and most direct one. And that was to draw the "distance" between the Owl Dragon Star System and the Lion King System closer.
The trip between the two systems, owing to distance, now took nearly half a month one way. But what if the one-way time between the Owl Dragon Star System and the Lion King System could be reduced to the blink of an eye? As though they were neighbors! And the only thing that could accomplish this was star gate technology!
Zhao Chen leafed through the System's T3 mall. And sure enough, he found the technology he wanted.
T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate
This star gate technology perfectly fit Zhao Chen's present requirements.
First: no need for a binary-star environment. In the Owl Dragon Star System there was only a single star, whereas all star gate technology to date required two stars. Zhao Chen's star gate technology broke this barrier outright — it could be built within the Owl Dragon Star System, with next to no environmental requirement.
Second: vast range! Ordinary star gates had a certain range of use; for instance, when Zhao Chen had earlier traveled from within the Starlight Empire to the Reef Star Region, he'd had to use dozens of star gates to arrive. It was rather like changing trains — of that half-month, two-thirds had been spent on this. He needed one of ultra-long range, best of all able to go straight from the Owl Dragon Star System to the Lion King System! The T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate could do it; its maximum distance could even span from one end of the Starlight Empire to the other.
Third: short build time. At present the star gates within the Starlight Empire came in several tiers — T2, T3, and T4. This meant star gates of different tech levels; the higher the tier, naturally, the stronger its performance. The main systems of the various star regions, for instance, used T4-grade star gates — and in the whole Starlight Empire the number of T4 gates was under 10. Some smaller systems had T3 gates; some remote systems had old, worn T2 gates. In the Reef Star Region, the great majority were T2-grade gates. But even these T2-grade gates took a full three months to half a year to build. A T3 gate took one to three years, and a T4 gate as long as a dozen years and more! Zhao Chen couldn't wait that long.
And by what Zhao Chen understood, this T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate — supposing it were built using T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships, with up to 10 T2 Iron Hammers on the construction at once — could be completed in a mere two months! Which suited Zhao Chen's needs completely. No binary-star system required, long range, short build time. These three advantages alone decided Zhao Chen on this T3 Radiant Moon-class Star Gate.