As for Zhao Chen's proposal, Chieftain Ted indicated he'd give it some thought.
Zhao Chen picked out a suitable planet within the military control zone around the T3 Radiant-Moon-class star gate in the Lion King Star System, and arranged for the White Tiger tribe's people to live and settle there.
As for the relevant living facilities, Zhao Chen was well acquainted with this sort of thing.
The more so since the Lion King Star System had, besides, a whole great crowd of dwarf artisans; to build the accompanying living facilities and put up a few city districts was a matter of no more than a few days' work.
And on the food front there was even less to worry over.
First, there were nutrient rations enough to fill the belly; and then, besides, small batches of natural food to provide.
"How's it going, then? Your tribespeople are living here to reasonable satisfaction, I trust?" Zhao Chen, seated in the captain's chair, looked down over the planet before him.
A month and more had passed since bringing the White Tiger tribe back.
"My father told me to thank you for your help; the White Tiger tribe, and a portion of the other revolutionary-army soldiers besides, are living here very well indeed!" Charlotte looked at Zhao Chen, and said to him gratefully, "Lord Commander — on behalf of the White Tiger tribe, I thank you for your help! Thank you!"
"There now — we're all comrades-in-arms who've fought shoulder to shoulder; what's the good of speaking of such things." Zhao Chen clapped Charlotte on the shoulder, and said with a laugh.
Listening to Zhao Chen's words, Charlotte couldn't help but sink into thought: were she and the Lord Commander no more than comrades-in-arms who'd fought shoulder to shoulder?
Though such an estimation was high praise, for some reason she couldn't name, it left in Charlotte's heart a trace of a feeling of unwillingness — she seemed unwilling to be merely the Commander's comrade-in-arms; she wanted… she wanted more.
Charlotte suddenly gave her own head a shake.
*Charlotte!
What are you thinking of?*
*The Lord Commander has given you so much — avenged you, given you a new life, and now, even, saved your tribespeople and your own kin.
To be able to follow the Lord Commander is your good fortune; what more are you daring to covet!*
Charlotte bit lightly at her red lips, and stole a glance at this man before her.
So long as, for the whole of this life, she could follow at the Lord Commander's side, she… would be content.
Though Charlotte thought thus in her heart, in the deepest reaches of it there was, still, a seed that had been planted.
System prompt: the annual mission is complete; the reward may be claimed.
A voice suddenly sounded in Zhao Chen's mind.
The annual mission was complete!
And there was still a little under half a month to go before year's end.
It seemed that Chief Engineer Annie of his was quite something after all!
Seated in the captain's chair, Zhao Chen, without the slightest change of expression, tapped open the system interface, and looked at that most conspicuous of prompt-boxes.
Annual Mission:
Requirement One: Possess a legion-grade interstellar fleet (3,000 interstellar warships), of which 300 must be T3-grade interstellar warships. (3000/3000) (Complete)
Requirement Two: Possess one T4 combat-type interstellar warship. (Complete)
Requirement Three: The Owl Dragon Star System's average living-standard value must reach above "7." (7.0/10)
Requirement Four: Possess an imperial noble rank of Marquis or above. (Complete)
Requirement Five: Possess 20 items of system-produced T3-grade technology. (20/20)
Note: Completing four of these counts as completing the annual mission; completing all five gains an extra reward — one "T5 interstellar warship technical blueprint."
You have completed all five missions; you may claim, besides the base reward, one additional reward.
Zhao Chen felt his very heart thumping away, ba-dum, ba-dum.
It was coming!
At last it was coming!
He'd striven a whole year, and it was all for this very moment.
The Owl Dragon Star System's living standard, under Zhao Chen's ceaseless appropriations and support, had seen its welfare treatment and living conditions rise as the tide lifts the boat, and its living index, too, had all along been climbing at exceedingly swift speed.
In the end, it had reached an unbelievable figure.
And as for that matter of the 3,000 interstellar warships — in truth, Zhao Chen had found a bug in the system mission.
Such things were, for the moment, of no importance.
Zhao Chen gulped, and clicked to claim the reward.
Claiming annual mission reward…
Base reward obtained: 1,000,000 system points; 100 task points; the Industrial Manufacturing Acceleration Aura (10 months).
This reward was a lavish one!
A full million system points — this meant that Zhao Chen could, at the least, exchange one interstellar-warship technology from the T4 goods column of the system mall!
The task points went without saying.
And there was, besides, one exceedingly important reward.
Industrial Manufacturing Acceleration Aura: raises the production speed of the system-produced interstellar industrial ships under the host's command by 30%; lowers the fault rate; lowers the defective-product rate…
There followed, besides, every manner of boost; summed up, it came to one sentence — it opened, for the whole of Zhao Chen's interstellar industrial ships, a beneficial aura that would hold for 10 months.
This could, at the very least, lift the production capacity of Zhao Chen's interstellar industrial ships by 30 to 40%!
The original run of production tasks would, as a result, be able to free up a great deal more time.
But to return to the main thread — the most important reward was still that one!
Additional reward obtained: the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought.
A new ship-type had appeared!
An interstellar dreadnought?
Zhao Chen at once looked over the build blueprint — but the more he looked, the more muddled he grew, for he found that from this build blueprint he simply could not make out the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought's basic performance data.
It was for all the world as though a bank of fog surrounded this interstellar warship.
The one clue he could grasp was this: it was fitted with a super-weapon, of very strong performance, that could be called an interstellar strategic-grade weapon.
As for just how strong…
Zhao Chen did not know.
Zhao Chen looked over the relevant manufacturing data, up and down.
But apart from telling him how to build this interstellar warship, of all else Zhao Chen knew nothing whatever.
It wasn't like those earlier interstellar warships, among whose data there'd be figures to tell you just what weapons this interstellar warship was fitted with, how thick its hull armor was, how much star-shield energy it had, and so forth.
Here, everything was a riddle.
Apart from a name, Zhao Chen didn't so much as know what it was he was setting out to build.
There was, besides, one further point of peculiarity.
And that was that within Zhao Chen's system warehouse, one extra thing had appeared.
The Hades Matrix Module.
Its explanation, too, was very simple: once the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought was fully completed, this would need to be installed at a designated position aboard that interstellar warship — it was an existence tantamount to that interstellar warship's very "heart."
This was, moreover, the first time Zhao Chen had gotten a ready-made object from the system.
Did that, then, mean this interstellar warship was one Zhao Chen could build only a single instance of?
That, later on, without this Hades Matrix Module, Zhao Chen would have no way to build a second T5 Hades?
Zhao Chen knit his brows.
This T5 interstellar warship was far too peculiar; until it was built, it was for all the world like a bride beneath the red bridal veil — you'd simply no idea what the bride truly looked like.
But under Zhao Chen's searching, he did, still, turn up a few comparatively important pieces of data — data that, at the same time, left Zhao Chen in "despair."