"Zhao Chen, you were really too impulsive just now. I know you hate that Zhang Haoran—he took away... Jiang Shasha... but you shouldn't have challenged him to a Starship Duel.
Now that the Starship Duel application has been submitted... there's no way to cancel it...
If it really comes down to it, I'll lend you my T2 Hyena when the time comes." Li Wei walked beside Zhao Chen, looking so anxious it was as if he were the one participating in the duel, not Zhao Chen.
"No need, I have a starship." Seeing how worried Li Wei was for him, Zhao Chen felt a warmth in his heart.
Li Wei truly treated him like a brother, ever since the day they enrolled, when Zhao Chen had helped this rich kid from a trading family by tutoring him and assisting with his assignments.
Otherwise, he would never have passed any of his exams over the past three years.
From that point on, the two had become very close.
"You have a starship? How come I didn't know?" Li Wei looked at Zhao Chen in surprise.
Zhao Chen spent almost every waking hour with him—except when sleeping or using the restroom. How could Li Wei not know if he had a starship?
"Well, we're going to exchange for one now." Zhao Chen's lips curved into a smile.
"Huh? Exchange for one now?" Li Wei was stunned, then clutched his head. "My dear Baron, you're joking, right? You want to use a starship from the academy's starship warehouse to duel Zhang Haoran?"
Half an hour later.
Zhao Chen and Li Wei arrived at the academy's starship warehouse.
This place was different from the Starport. The Starport was for starships ready to depart at any moment.
The starship warehouse, on the other hand, was for storing starships. Some of the ships here could even be described as gathering dust, having been parked for who knows how many years.
"Hello, teacher. I'm here to exchange for a starship." Zhao Chen approached the warehouse administrator's counter.
The warehouse administrator glanced at Zhao Chen. Perhaps because it was already the end of the semester, he knew that third-year students were starting to prepare the starships they would need for the next term and was used to students coming here to exchange for starships.
"Take a look yourself. Here's the list. It includes the data and required Academy Points for each starship model." The warehouse administrator opened a search window for Zhao Chen to browse.
The list was filled with starships.
Nearly three hundred of them.
However, the vast majority were T1-class Starships, and almost all of them were second-hand.
After all, who would park a brand-new starship here?
"Zhao Chen, your grades have always been pretty good. Over three semesters, you should have around thirty thousand Academy Points, right?
That's just enough to exchange for this T2 Hyena-class Medium Stellar Destroyer. It's a twenty-year-old ship with minor hull damage.
Although the model is a bit outdated, its core technology is still quite comprehensive." Knowing that the Starship Duel was now a done deal, Li Wei could only think of ways to deal with it.
Zhao Chen shook his head and continued browsing on his own.
Li Wei went on to recommend several other T2 Starships, all with excellent cost-performance ratios, but Zhao Chen shook his head at each one.
"Big shot, how long are you going to take to decide? Even though there are over three hundred starships here, only a few of them are really suitable." Li Wei looked at Zhao Chen, who still hadn't made a decision after a long time.
"I've already chosen," Zhao Chen said.
"Chosen? Which one?" Li Wei looked at him curiously.
Zhao Chen looked at the administrator teacher. "Teacher, as long as I have enough points, I can exchange for as many starships as I want, right?"
"There's indeed no limit on the number of exchanges," the administrator teacher nodded.
Zhao Chen checked a few starships in the search box. "Then I'll take these three."
Three?
Both Li Wei and the administrator teacher were dumbfounded.
The two of them simultaneously checked the details of these three starships.
T2 Hyena-class Medium Stellar Destroyer: Served for fifty-nine years, hull severely damaged, three main cannons severely damaged, now repaired... requires 9,000 points.
T2 Gray Wolf-class Light Interstellar Cruiser: Served for sixty-five years... requires 7,000 points.
T2 Devil Crocodile-class Medium Interstellar Battleship: Served for eighty years... requires 11,000 points.
Seeing the information of these three starships, both Li Wei and the administrator teacher were stunned.
Among the starships in these warehouses, these three were undoubtedly ancient vessels.
"Are you sure you want to exchange for these three starships? Won't you reconsider? Although these starships were decent models in their time, after so many years, their starship modules have aged severely," the administrator teacher advised.
Li Wei also quickly added, "Zhao Chen, stop joking around. A Starship Duel is one-on-one. Even if you pick three, it's useless."
"I'm sure. Just these three. Please exchange them for me," Zhao Chen said firmly.
After repeated confirmations from the administrator teacher, he finally exchanged these three starships for Zhao Chen.
Li Wei covered his face beside him, feeling as if he were dreaming. He couldn't understand anything Zhao Chen had done today.
"These three starships have been registered under your name. You can retrieve them anytime.
If you want to continue storing them in the warehouse, it's free for one month. After that, storage fees will apply," the administrator teacher now looked at Zhao Chen as if he were a fool.
"Teacher, points can also be used to exchange for some starship components, right? And each student has the privilege of free use of the Starship Modification and Repair Workshop. I haven't used mine for three semesters, so I should have thirty days of free access," Zhao Chen added.
"Yes," the administrator teacher nodded.
"Then I'll write a list of starship components here, and please arrange a Starship Workshop for me. Have these three starships and all the components on the list delivered there," Zhao Chen requested.
The administrator teacher glanced at the components on the list—all very ordinary.
And the Academy Points Zhao Chen had left after exchanging for the starships were just enough to cover these.
"Do you need to hire starship engineers or repair workers? They can repair and modify the starships according to your requirements," the administrator teacher asked.
"No need," Zhao Chen shook his head.
The administrator teacher didn't press further. "It'll be done within half an hour. I'll send you the workshop number then. You can go directly."
"Thank you, teacher," Zhao Chen said.
After finishing the matter, Zhao Chen and Li Wei left.
"What a strange student," the administrator teacher muttered.
Once outside the starship warehouse, Li Wei couldn't hold back any longer. He grabbed Zhao Chen's shoulder. "Zhao Chen, what exactly are you trying to do?
What use could those three broken-down starships possibly have!
You're gambling with your future."
Zhao Chen remained calm and composed as he said, "Li Wei, trust me. I'll handle this matter properly."
"You... forget it, I can't be bothered with you." Li Wei was somewhat angry, waving his hand dismissively as if he couldn't be bothered with Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen felt helpless. Even if he explained what he intended to do now, Li Wei wouldn't believe him anyway.
Rather than wasting time, it would be better to prove everything with facts later!
Ding·Third-year student Zhao Chen has obtained the usage rights for Small and Medium Starship Workshop No. 017. During the usage period, access to the starship workshop is granted by presenting the student ID card.
After receiving the message, Zhao Chen temporarily bid farewell to Li Wei and headed to the starship workshop.
Arriving at the entrance of the starship workshop, he swiped his student ID card, and the door automatically opened. Inside was a vast space, at least the size of three to five football fields.
A pungent smell of rust and starship oil immediately hit him.
Zhao Chen walked inside and saw three starships that seemed to be waiting for his arrival.
Their rust-covered hulls bore witness to their age and the battles they had fought in the past. Although the academy had performed maintenance and repairs on them, they had still served for many years.
Zhao Chen first approached the workshop's main control console, pulling up one holographic screen after another. His fingers quickly tapped on the holographic keyboard, inputting data one after another.
Finally, the data for the three starships was clearly displayed, and Zhao Chen even edited three-dimensional models.
Upon closer inspection, one would notice that the three-dimensional models of the three starships were divided into gray and red areas.
"Combining these areas will do the trick!" Zhao Chen enthusiastically overlapped the red areas, forming a vague and somewhat mismatched starship prototype.
Then, Zhao Chen retrieved a set of data from a top-secret file in his handheld terminal.
It was also a starship model.
Specifically, the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser!