"How do things stand with us ourselves at present?" Zhao Chen asked.
Lilith answered: "Both the Owl Dragon Star System and the Reef Star Region are developing very well; everything's proceeding to plan. Besides that, the Northern Goose Starship Technology Group's T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships have completed their expansion task, reaching 10,000 ships. Their production capacity has grown very fast, more than enough to meet the production tasks for the T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships, along with the other production plans' needs. And besides, the North Wind and Chu River Star Regions have both placed a great many military-procurement orders with the Northern Goose Group — a huge quantity. The Chu family among them. By your earlier authorization, for now we supply the Chu River and North Wind Star Regions' orders only in small amounts — 1,000 T2-grade interstellar warships a month."
Zhao Chen nodded; this was something he'd instructed.
1,000 T2-grade interstellar warships a month — it might seem a touch ungenerous, for it came to under 10% of the Northern Goose Group's present capacity.
Zhao Chen too would have liked to throw everything into producing interstellar warships and sending them to the front.
But the trouble was, a matter can't be looked at from a single angle.
Producing interstellar warships needs raw materials — which first requires stabilizing the resource-extraction work of the five outer star regions.
And resource-extraction needs interstellar mining ships — which requires producing those mining ships.
Besides which, to block the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth's expedition plan, he had to keep reinforcing Charlotte's Dragon-Tiger Legion.
One thing leading to another, the capacity he could just now allot to the two star regions truly came to only this much.
Still, old Chu had no idea the Northern Goose Group had so vast a capacity; under the present circumstances, to manage a monthly supply of 1,000 T2-grade interstellar warships was already quite decent.
"For now we can only have old Chu hold on a little longer. Once we've finished producing the T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships and freed up that portion of capacity, we can produce combat-type interstellar warships on a large scale," Zhao Chen said helplessly.
Zhao Chen had Lilith go on.
"Next is the state of our Owl Dragon Legion's in-service interstellar warships. Up to now, the count of our in-service combat-type interstellar warships has expanded to near 5,000; very soon we'll have the establishment-count for two standard legion fleets." Lilith went on: "Of these, the T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruisers are undergoing further expansion; it's projected we can build them up to the standard of 30 ships before year's end. And besides, the first batch of 30 of the newest-model T4 Paladin-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Frigates has been delivered and is now in the training phase; very soon it'll be combat-ready."
Because the T4 Paladin-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Frigate was the newest T4-grade interstellar warship, much of the relevant training data still had to be felt out by trial, so the first batch's training period would run a little longer.
"How's the expansion task for the T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships coming?" Zhao Chen asked with concern.
This bore on the key to the Owl Dragon Legion's qualitative leap!
Lilith said: "The expansion plan for the T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships is proceeding normally; the second ship's construction is now more than half done. Finishing the third before year's end is no problem. By then we'll have three in-service T4 Geminis, which will greatly increase our capacity to produce T4-grade interstellar warships!"
Three T4 Geminis.
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes.
Using T4 interstellar industrial ships to produce T4 interstellar warships was indeed no hard thing.
But on the strength of just three, to try to produce Zhao Chen's dream-ship — the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought — was still a touch beyond reach.
It would need, at the very least, 10 T4 Geminis; and factoring in not disrupting the other production plans, it would likely need around 30 T4 Geminis.
Zhao Chen heaved a long sigh; who knew when he'd ever get to own a T5-grade interstellar warship.
"Do we have any difficulties on the funding side at present?" Zhao Chen asked.
Lilith said: "Up to now, we have still 100 billion star coins in funds and raw-material reserves left on the books. And considering that the mining production in the No. 2 and No. 3 star regions is about to normalize, this will greatly offset our production-plan outlays. As things stand, meeting our expenditure is no problem at all."
Zhao Chen let out a breath.
Of late the Owl Dragon Legion had been striding rather large — not only expanding the interstellar industrial ships, but running them all at full load, and on top of that having to support the combat expenditure of Charlotte's side in the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth.
Every facet of it needed money.
The monthly outlay alone had already broken 50 billion star coins.
Even with Zhao Chen's ample family fortune, without fresh income coming in, he truly couldn't have borne it.
Happily, there were those five resource star regions in Zhao Chen's grip.
Once they were fully developed — just think, a monthly income of 500 billion star coins — Zhao Chen could laugh himself awake in his dreams.
And then he'd have the funds to build his dream-ship!
"Here's hoping it all goes smoothly." Zhao Chen stretched, stood, and looked toward the huge 'viewport' behind him.
This was in truth a viewport made by holographic projection; the scene beyond was the cosmic view outside the T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser, ship number one.
One could see the blazing host of stars.
Just then Zhao Chen thought of a thing that had been on his mind.
The quarterly mission.
Strangely enough, it was already early October, yet this year's last quarterly mission still hadn't refreshed — which puzzled Zhao Chen greatly.
A thought stirred, and the system window appeared before him.
Quarterly Mission: this quarterly mission is delayed. Please wait……
This was the first time such a thing had happened.
For some reason, Zhao Chen felt that the system playing this trick on him must have some cause behind it.
Zhao Chen's gaze fell lower.
There lay the annual mission.
Annual Mission:
Requirement 1: The monthly earnings of the Owl Dragon Legion's directly held enterprises reach '20 billion, 30 billion, 40 billion, 50 billion, 60 billion' star coins. Progress — 63 billion: (five stars) (Complete)
Requirement 2: Possess '3,000; 6,000; 9,000; 12,000; 15,000' interstellar warships of T2 grade or above. Progress: 10,000-odd (three stars).
Note: the interstellar warships counted toward this mission's completion may not be sold off within half a year of the mission's completion, or the system will impose a penalty — consequences to be borne by the host!
Requirement 3: Possess '1; 2; 3; 4; 5' classes of T4 combat-type interstellar warship. Progress: two classes (two stars).
Requirement 4: In-service T4 interstellar warships reach '10; 20; 30; 40; 50' ships. Progress: 50 (five stars).
Requirement 5: Star regions under the host's direct and indirect control reach '1; 2; 3; 4; 5'. Progress: 5. (five stars)
Current total: twenty stars.
Note: the standard for demarcating star regions, and the standard for judging mission completion, are determined by the system.
Mission reward: for the above five requirements, each completed from one star up to five stars, for a maximum of twenty-five stars. A completion of twenty stars counts the annual mission as 'passing,' and earns the base reward; a completion of twenty-three stars counts as 'good,' and on top of the former earns one additional reward; a completion of twenty-five stars counts as 'excellent,' and on top of the former earns one mystery reward.