Time passed as he waited in anticipation.
A week later, there was a knock at his door.
Opening it, he saw a middle-aged man in a crisp tailcoat standing outside.
Even facing him—a concubine-born son who received no attention from the family—the man stood perfectly straight, meticulous in every detail.
“Young Master Qing, the Master requests your presence in the conference room!”
Li Qing nodded.
“I understand.”
A quarter of an hour later, having changed his clothes, Li Qing arrived at one of the main buildings on the other side of the estate.
A servant gently pushed open the door, and a wave of noisy chatter drifted out.
As he stepped inside, more than a dozen gazes turned toward him, then quickly looked away upon seeing who it was.
Li Qing entered with a smile on his face.
He had seen this kind of thing many times, and his heart remained utterly unmoved.
It was an ordinary conference room.
A dozen or so young men and women with somewhat similar features sat on either side—his many siblings.
At the head of the room sat a stern-faced middle-aged man with black hair, looking quite young for his age.
Gold-rimmed glasses rested on his nose, and a carefully groomed mustache hung above his lips, giving him an extremely spirited appearance.
This was Li Qing’s father in this life.
Seeing him arrive, a flicker of complicated emotion passed through the middle-aged man’s eyes.
He rapped on the table expressionlessly and said in a deep voice:
“According to the regulations of the Empire, you must spend ten years pioneering for human civilization. This will determine whether, after ten years, you receive a portion of the family shares, or inherit your father’s holdings within the family.”
At this point, his gaze swept over the few most outstanding children seated at the front, and he continued in a deep voice:
“Or, if you perform exceptionally well and earn your great-grandfather’s recognition, you will have the chance to compete for the position of Family Patriarch.”
Hearing this, one could clearly see the gleam in the eyes of the young men seated in the front rows.
That gleam had a name—ambition.
Although he did not believe any of his sons had that possibility—at least among this batch of children coming of age in recent years, none were particularly outstanding—Li Xingchun still offered encouragement.
“The pioneering region designated by the family this time is located in Jinmen Province of the Second Tianjin Star Sector. Your starting ships will be delivered in advance to the Jinmen Star System in Jinmen Province. Your starting funds will be transferred to your accounts shortly. You must report to Jinmen Province’s office in the Jinmen Star System before the fifteenth of next month.”
“Prepare yourselves well and set out as soon as possible.”
With that, Li Xingchun stood up and said in a deep voice:
“This pioneering endeavor is both a chance to earn merit for the family and a means to secure your own futures and prospects. I hope you will all give it your all and leave no regrets.”
He then turned and left.
A murmur of quiet voices immediately rose in the conference room as the siblings gathered in small groups, exchanging words in low tones.
Li Qing stood alone at the edge of the room, watching as his siblings divided into three groups, each led by one of the three most outstanding brothers.
Thanks to several rounds of High-level Genetic Adjustment, Li Xingchun’s lifespan reached four to five hundred years.
At just over a hundred years old, he was still in the prime of his youth.
Besides the eleven children born to him by his primary wife and two equal wives, he had also fathered seventy to eighty concubine-born children with his many concubines.
With so many children, the hope was naturally that a genius descendant would emerge among them, making the family even stronger.
This was the universal practice of all noble houses.
The very reason Li Qing, an illegitimate child, had been brought back and raised was precisely this.
And don’t worry about not being able to afford raising them—the Qinghe Li Clan rules over a population of over eighty billion.
Beyond the Qinghe Star System, their territory includes a vast number of mining bases in surrounding star systems, along with enormous trade fleets and merchant guilds belonging to the family, earning hundreds of millions daily.
Raising this many descendants is no problem at all.
Nor is there any need to worry that too many descendants would dilute the family fortune.
According to the rules, among all descendants, any who fail to awaken an Innate Talent and obtain Player Status are given a sum of money on the day they come of age and leave the family.
From then on, they may no longer act in the family’s name—essentially a forced branch-off from the clan.
Even children who have awakened an Innate Talent and obtained Player Status, if their talent is not strong enough and their own abilities insufficient, achieving nothing in the ten-year Pioneering period, will likewise be forcibly branched off.
This way, only the elite remain, and the benefits they bring will surely exceed the family fortune divided out.
It is precisely through this method that these great noble families grow ever stronger.
Through accumulation generation after generation, quantitative change produces qualitative change, and then they launch an expedition to seize a Life Planet, expanding territory for the United Empire of Humanity, ultimately transforming from an ordinary noble family into a Military Lord, entering the Noble Senate, and becoming a member of the Empire’s ruling class.
Although Li Qing had awakened an Innate Talent, his original talent was not strong—just the most ordinary kind of talent, commonly known as a Blank Slate.
Whether he could stand out in the ten-year Pioneering period was hard to say.
If he performed poorly, he might likewise face forced separation from the family, but it would be far better than for those who never awakened a talent.
Not only would his separation payment be larger, but he could also accumulate a sum of assets over those ten years.
As long as he spent carefully, he could live very comfortably.
“What a realistic society this is.”
From entering this place to leaving, not a single person had spoken to him.
Li Qing was speechless about these eighteen years of life in his subconscious.
Without a single friend, there was naturally nothing to be nostalgic about.
The next day, he packed his things and applied to the family for Family Stargate Transmission Permission.
A micro-craft only five meters long, mixed into a massive fleet, plunged into a vast stargate hundreds of kilometers tall—about as inconspicuous as a teacup kitten sneaking into a pride of tigers.
Stargates can only be built by Star Cities, but to cross over ten thousand light-years in one go from the Empire’s core, the Fourth Imperial Throne Star Sector, to the Second Tianjin Star Sector—only a Super Stargate, one that only a Star City beyond Level Five could build, could accomplish that.
As space distorted, everything outside the craft was rapidly stretched into streaks of light slowly rotating, forming a giant kaleidoscope.
After who knows how long, the kaleidoscope slowly reverted back into streaks of light, gradually shortening.
He knew they had arrived at the Jinmen Star System.
New Galaxy, Perseus Arm, Second Tianjin Star Sector, capital of Jinmen Province—the Jinmen Star System.
“Over six hundred years ago, Yu Yichen, then Patriarch of the Yu Clan, led the Empire’s expeditionary force to crush an alien civilization entrenched here and seized a vast expanse of territory. Using the alien civilization’s home planet as the capital, he established an Overseas Province far from the United Empire of Humanity’s heartland—Jinmen Province, with the Jinmen Star System as its core.”
“Jinmen Province is a single-star system. The main sequence star, Tianyi, is a Class B blue main sequence star, with a total of 17 major planets.”
“Jinmen Colony Planet One: a Class-II continental planet, standard size 24 grids, with a population of over 18 billion. It is an urban planet serving as both an economic and administrative hub.”
“Jinmen Colony Planet Two: a Class-II ocean planet, standard size 17 grids, with a population of 5.8 billion. It is a tourism planet combining travel and culture.”
“Terraformed Planet Three: standard size 24 grids, population 9.5 billion. It is the star system’s financial center.”
“Terraformed Planet Four: standard size 15 grids, population 2.2 billion. An agricultural and pastoral planet.”
“Terraformed Planet Five: standard size 12 grids, population 1.7 billion. It is the planet of technology and academia—all of the star system’s research institutes and academies are located here.”
“Terraformed Planet Six: standard size 29 grids, population 14.6 billion. An industrial planet.”
“In addition, the Jinmen Star System has 8 large Space Habitats, the largest holding 2.1 billion people and the smallest 500 million, for a total of 11 billion people.”
“The whole of Jinmen has a total population of 62.8 billion, along with as many as 1.8 billion active players.”
“Jinmen possesses one Level-5 Star City, assisted by four Star Fortresses of Levels Two and Three, and a Division-level Fleet belonging to the Yu Clan is permanently stationed at the Star City.”
“The central Super Stargate has 11 ultra-long-range routes connecting to the heartland of the United Empire of Humanity, and 112 regular routes connecting to the Legion Stargates near Jinmen Province as well as overseas colonies and the home planets of friendly alien civilizations. It is the trade center of the entire Jinmen Province, and also humanity’s trade center in the Second Tianjin Star Sector.”
Li Qing slowly finished reading through the many files on Jinmen Province, gaining a rough understanding of the province and the Yu Clan.
The Yu Clan was a Warlord Clan that had risen to power over six hundred years ago—three hundred years earlier than the Qinghe Li Clan—yet its overall strength was on par with the Qinghe Li Clan.
The main reason was nothing more than its isolation overseas: not only was trade with the Empire’s interior inconvenient, but it also had to constantly face the many hostile alien races in the Tianjin Star Sector, making economic development difficult.
Although the Yu Clan had established an Overseas Province in the Tianjin Star Sector—a bridgehead for the human Empire in another star sector—the Tianjin Star Sector where Jinmen Province was located sat at the boundary between the Perseus Arm and the galactic core region.
It was the second star sector of the Perseus Arm counting northward from the galactic core, while the headquarters of the United Empire of Humanity was located in the fourth star sector, with an entire star sector not under human control lying in between.
It was very difficult for ordinary civilian players to cross tens of thousands of light-years from the Empire’s heartland to the Overseas Province, which meant the number of players there had always been small, and the economy naturally couldn’t take off.
It was worth noting that the New Galaxy merely happened to share the same shape as the Milky Way of the old universe—a galactic core plus four spiral arms—and was not a copy of the old galaxy.
Not only was the New Galaxy’s total mass far greater than the old Milky Way’s, its planets were completely different, and it had never merged with the Andromeda Galaxy.
It was an entirely new galaxy, named so only in memory of the old Milky Way.
So if anyone wanted to run to the end of the Orion Arm to look for a certain star system with nine planets, they definitely wouldn’t find anything.
Upon entering the Jinmen Star System, Li Qing immediately headed to the Clan’s office in Jinmen, preparing to claim the ship the Clan had prepared for him.
What he had previously reported was an Escort Ship.
That’s right—he planned to take the war route.
Whether to expand territory and conquer new frontiers would depend on how smoothly things developed.
In truth, exploration didn’t necessarily mean conquering territory or taking the war route.
Whether through commerce, trade, building a team and assembling a fleet, or even becoming a pirate—anything was fine as long as one achieved impressive results.
The reason Li Qing chose the war route was, naturally, because of the Palm Universe.
Although the thing was severely damaged, even setting everything else aside, just the massive shipyard arrays inside it and the vast space of the Palm Universe itself—it would simply be a waste to use it for anything else.
Besides, his Innate Talent was suited to this path.
Not his original Innate Talent—that original Blank Slate Innate Talent had belonged to that foolish subconscious.
When his main consciousness awoke, his true Innate Talent had overwritten the original Blank Slate talent.
“Attribute Panel!”
Li Qing called out softly, and a screen of light unfolded before his eyes—
Name: Li Qing.
Race: Human.
Lifespan: 18/108, no genetic modification.
Innate Talent: Child of the Stars (Concealed)
Acquired Talent: None.
Innate Attributes: Perception 39, Memory 30, Mind 34, Spirit 31, Charisma 28.
Life Skills: None.
Combat Skills: None.
Brain Implants: 20 slots.
Child of the Stars (Concealed): This being is the spokesperson of a bygone ancient era.
The stellar power of an entire universe is contained within the Child of the Stars, granting it immortal life and a mighty will.
Effect: Experience gain +1000%, all skill level caps +20.
Effect: Universal Brain Implant slots adjusted to 20 slots.
Effect: All attributes +20.
A normal player’s innate attributes ranged between 5 and 20 points, with every 10 points marking a threshold.
In other words, 10 points in an attribute might make you not just 10% stronger than 9 points—it could very well be 100%.
The Child of the Stars talent’s +20 to all attributes instantly boosted his already formidable innate attributes by two full tiers.
Perception encompassed the six senses and improved personal reaction speed.
Memory needed no explanation—those who knew, knew.
Mind referred to one’s mental state, a range of psychological conditions related to perseverance and willpower.
Some people cowered in fear when facing threats, while others rose to the challenge—that was the difference in Mind.
Spirit could also be called intelligence, but it was more than that—it referred to creative, logical thinking and analytical ability.
The higher one’s Spirit, the easier it was to learn all kinds of skills.
Charisma was hard to put into words.
It was mainly related to social interaction and management.
It wasn’t that high Charisma necessarily meant being handsome or beautiful, but handsome and beautiful people definitely had high Charisma.
An incredibly powerful talent granting super-high innate attributes, a tenfold experience bonus, plus a Palm Universe on top—even a dog on a leash could make something of itself with all that.
Li Qing didn’t think he was lacking in any way.
With such advantages in hand, as long as he didn’t squander them, he was bound to rise.
Although the age of Starsea Survival was over, this was still an era of magnificent interstellar exploration and expansion.
Every alien civilization that had survived was equally powerful.
Born in such an era, with so many formidable rivals, Li Qing felt his life ahead was bound to be thrilling.
His Escort Ship was a standard Swift-class Escort Ship, brand new, off the production line less than a year ago.
He immediately checked the Escort Ship’s attributes.
Escort Ship (Petrel-class): Used for patrol, escort, reconnaissance, sentry duty, mine-laying, supporting landings, and ensuring Marine Corps planetary landing operations.
Attributes:
Base Hull: 1000
Base Armor: 1000
Base Shield: 1000
Base Speed: km/h
Default Tactics: Sentry Tactics.
Fleet Slot Size: 1.
Escort Core (default)
Components: Energy Core, FTL Component, Thrusters, Sensors, Combat Computer.
Weapon Slots: s5, p1.
Utility Slots: s5, a1.
The base bare-hull price of this thing is 20 million.
It only comes with simple chemical thrusters, with no weapons or utility slot equipment included—if you want better, you pay for it yourself.
Since this one is family support, it comes with all Tier 3 weapons and utility slots, as well as Tier 3 components.