Super Mothership
“Is this your new achievement?” Catherine found it hard to imagine that humans could reach this level.
“You could say it’s one of them! Hmm… judging from your surprised look, it seems the mental power manual I gave you has already started to take effect, hasn’t it?” Nie Yun gave Catherine a once-over.
Since she was able to sense the fluctuations in Nie Yun’s mental field, it meant that Catherine had already acquired the beginner skill of spiritual power… Life Sense!
“Yes! For now I can only sense living beings within three meters around me. Other abilities are still in the exploration stage—it’s really difficult…” Catherine said, a little embarrassed.
Nie Yun, however, didn’t see it that way.
For her to reach the entry level in such a short time, it seemed that the “vampire” constitution also gave a certain boost to spiritual power. He made a mental note that he must study this when he had the chance.
“Have you eaten yet?” Nie Yun suddenly asked.
“Uh… n-no, not yet.” His sudden change of topic left Catherine a bit dazed.
It wasn’t even mealtime yet…
Wait! Could he be inviting me to dinner?
The moment the thought appeared, Catherine’s heart began to pound wildly, and a flush spread across her face.
Should I say yes right away, or play it a little reserved before agreeing?
“Oh, good. Come on, give me your hand!” Nie Yun stretched out his hand.
Give… give you my hand?!
Catherine’s delicate body trembled!
Happiness came way too fast! I wasn’t mentally prepared at all!
But I haven’t even accepted your dinner invitation yet, and you’re already going to whisk me away?
Since when were you the domineering CEO type?
After hesitating a moment, Catherine, face full of shyness, slowly placed her soft hand into Nie Yun’s palm. And then… Nie Yun pulled out an oversized syringe from who-knows-where with his other hand.
Catherine: “???”
“It’s for research. I just need to draw some blood. Don’t worry, with your constitution you’ll recover quickly.” Nie Yun said with absolute confidence.
Catherine: “…”
No… you’ve completely misunderstood the situation…
Three minutes later, Nie Yun sent Catherine away, her expression extremely complicated, while he held a vial of her blood.
He looked at the syringe, where a faint green luminescence was gradually fading, and rubbed his chin in thought.
Since “vampire serum” couldn’t be mass-produced… should he perhaps try mass-producing “Catherines”?
Tens of thousands of Misaka-sisters… that sounded quite feasible!
…
Meanwhile, both sides’ negotiating delegations returned to their bases. Gemini also began urgently studying and discussing the trade goods and specific details of the exchange. The actual execution of the trade, however, would still take some time.
Both fleets pulled back their main forces, only dispatching small reconnaissance units to keep watch on each other’s flagships.
To put on a show, Nie Yun also acted cautious, sending out a “detachment to drive off Gemini’s scouts.”
Of course, with a wave of his hand, he tossed this task directly to the Earth Defense Force as practice.
Even though it was just a drive-off mission, and both sides were unwilling to escalate the conflict further, meaning the danger level wasn’t high, for the Earth Defense Force—who had only just stepped into space—this was a rare “semi-live combat” exercise!
Old Hu, Yuri, and the others treated it as a matter of life and death. After receiving the mission, they led three warships forward, releasing small scout craft and stealth space fighters to repel and counter-surveil Gemini’s reconnaissance units near the solar system’s wormhole.
At about 50 million kilometers from the wormhole, the two sides engaged in a small skirmish. Several times, their warships probed each other right at the edge of weapons range, nearly brushing past each other.
A few reconnaissance drones even got too close and were promptly blasted down by enemy anti-air fire.
If it weren’t for strict orders from both sides’ commanders to stay restrained, a direct clash might already have broken out.
At this level, it was nothing more than mutual provocation. Nie Yun didn’t even pay attention, while Isar considered it a good chance to probe the enemy’s intel, and so allowed such minor frictions.
The fleets on both sides shared a common origin. Their weapons tech and combat performance were nearly identical. The difference was that Gemini’s forces had undergone long years of training. Their grasp of space combat theory was much deeper, and their actual combat experience much richer.
By contrast, the Earth Defense Force was still fumbling through the theory of space warfare, let alone having any real battlefield experience.
Stealth and counter-stealth, recon and counter-recon, tactical missile coverage, firepower suppression…
On the tactical command level, Gemini’s officers achieved an overwhelming victory.
Their drones always managed to predict Earth’s scouting positions and shoot them down. Even several small recon boats were tagged multiple times by low-power laser locks, leaving them so shaken they had no choice but to cling to their own warships, not daring to stray far.
Being lit up by low-power lasers was equivalent to being “radar-locked.”
The captains of Gemini’s recon ships were at first bewildered by how weak their opponent’s tactical coordination was.
Either these guys were monsters hiding their true strength… or just a bunch of total weaklings.
Why was the Wanwu Guiyi Association’s fleet strength swinging so wildly?
But once they realized it was a chance to bully noobs, their confidence skyrocketed. They started “toying” with the Earth Defense Force in all sorts of ways—almost like they wanted to vent their frustration from their last defeat.
The Earth Defense Force commanders tried everything they could, but still found themselves pressured and suppressed, barely able to keep up a clumsy resistance.
After close encounters, Old Hu, Yuri, and the others finally realized: Gemini’s fleet was even stronger than they’d imagined!
Even with similar ships and weapons, the Earth Defense Force was nowhere near Gemini’s level.
The fact that the Ghost Captain could stand toe-to-toe with Gemini did not mean they could.
As the saying goes: ten years to make an army, a hundred years to make a navy. But space warfare was even more complex. Tactical command and troop quality weren’t things that could be caught up to in just a short training period.
In past battles, the Earth Defense Force had either been in mech melees or just firing support artillery. This was their very first fleet-to-fleet confrontation, and their lack of experience immediately showed.
But Earth civilization did have one unique advantage: the unparalleled realism of its virtual worlds!
Inside the virtual world Civilization Frontline, as long as both sides’ combat data was fed in, the AI could construct a battle simulation—essentially a “dungeon copy” of the real skirmish!
In this “dungeon,” Earth Defense Force officers could re-experience the battlefield over and over again.
If one attempt wasn’t enough, then ten attempts! Fail enough times, and they’d naturally discover their shortcomings and fix them. They could even uncover flaws in the enemy’s tactics to exploit.
This ultra-realistic and efficient “dungeon system” was Earth’s training accelerator, a huge advantage that Gemini—who could only run sand-table war simulations—couldn’t hope to match.
In other words… Earth had basically turned on an XP cheat!
Sure, your level’s higher now. But I level up faster!
…
Aside from these scattered small-unit clashes, the flames of war in the neighboring star system gradually died down.
But far away, beyond the distant sectors, the battlefield intensity near the Wolf Civilization’s wormhole was quietly ramping up…
TL Note- New Arc?
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