Level

The Tianhe Star Region.

This is a stretch of sky located in the Devil's Triangle star system.

Although the New Federal Government believes it has occupied and owns the entire galaxy, in fact, humans have never truly achieved this.

The Milky Way contains more than a hundred billion stars, countless star clusters, nebulae, and star regions. However, the New Federation has only truly completed interstellar colonization of fewer than a hundred thousand planets. Among them, ninety-eight percent are resource planets like mines, while less than one percent are habitable planets with a large population. On most resource planets, only one base is usually deployed, with only a very small number of people present.

Tianhe IV is one such resource planet.

Its diameter is about twice that of Earth's, producing a high-melting-point mineral. Over the past few centuries, this planet has been riddled with holes by mining ships, like a pockmarked face. After the value of this planet was depleted, humanity abandoned it to seek new targets for extraction, leaving only the base constructed here forever.

No one knew that decades ago, the base on Tianhe IV was secretly reopened.

It was like a torch in the dark, illuminating the darkness of Tianhe IV and breaking its silence. However, this time, it was no longer as a mining base but as a secret research institution of the Federal Academy of Sciences.

With the existence of the research institute, the Tianhe Star System also began to bustle.

First, a fleet with a Warrior-class mech mothership as its flagship, accompanied by six Guardian-class battleships and twelve conventional escort ships, appeared near a planet close to Tianhe IV.

Where there are people, there is trade, followed by a large number of merchant fleets serving the fleet.

Then, more people came to this star region.

Eighty years ago, people discovered magnetite ore on a nearby planet, which could be refined into high-purity magnetized crystals, often used in some induction devices or high-sensitivity triggering devices. So, some mining companies rushed in like sharks smelling blood, bringing with them a large population.

The once desolate Tianhe Star Region thus flourished again.

But no matter how prosperous it became, Tianhe IV remained isolated. The Tianhe Fleet did not allow any immigrants or miners to enter there, and people's main living area was on Tianhe II, 130 million kilometers away from the fourth star.

Tianhe II is a rocky planet surrounded by a spectacular asteroid belt. A large amount of debris accumulates here, orbiting the second star under the influence of gravity.

Tianhe II has a rotation period of 36 hours and 48 minutes and an orbital period of 4,200 days, meaning its day lasts for thirty-six hours, and one year is equivalent to 4,200 Earth days.

As it was not extensively terraformed, most people here live in base cities.

The base city is a common practice used by humans when colonizing planets.

Most of the planets in the universe are unsuitable for human habitation, and terraforming a planet is extremely costly and time-consuming, often taking centuries. For some planets intended only for resource extraction and not long-term residence, planetary terraforming projects are undoubtedly not cost-effective.

Thus, the base city was born.

By establishing a plasma force field on the planet and building its own human survival system within this force field, it is far more time and energy-saving than terraforming a planet.

Sahatok Base City exists on Tianhe II under such circumstances.

The huge canopy of the plasma force field acts like a giant bowl, overturning the base city and sheltering it from wind and rain. Outside is the desert-like planet, with temperatures nearly minus two hundred degrees Celsius, while inside is a bustling metropolis, with rows of towering skyscrapers and flying cars flying everywhere.

The people busy with their lives had no idea that thousands of kilometers away from the second star, a starship was jumping out.

The Abrodi.

"Jump completed!"

"Photon absorber activated."

"Stop engines one and two."

"Entering the dark silence."

With the final command issued, the Abrodi seemed like a flickering light in the distant night sky before swiftly plunging into darkness. Even this small photon wave that was born was absorbed by the photon absorber and disappeared completely before it could reach the second star.

In the darkness, the Abrodi was like a quiet fish, slowly approaching Tianhe II.

"Check the entire ship for wear and tear, and calibrate the distance to the star belt," Reno ordered methodically.

"Distance check in progress. Current position is seven hundred and twenty-four million kilometers from Tianhe II, and seven hundred and twenty-one million kilometers from the star belt. At standard Earth speed, it will take approximately six standard Earth days to reach the destination," a pilot quickly concluded.

"That's too slow and increases the risk of the Tianhe Fleet discovering us."

"Unfortunately, to avoid detection, we cannot jump out too close to Tianhe II, so we must proceed in silence, and engine power is forced to be reduced," Snyder replied.

Reno's fingers tapped rhythmically on the command console. After some thought, he said, "Activate the extreme mode and let the engines reach one-tenth light speed."

This answer surprised Snyder, "Undergoing extreme flight in silent mode will put tremendous pressure on all four engines and may cause damage."

Reno replied resolutely, "We must reach our destination in the shortest possible time. As for engine damage... I will bring back new engines. Carry out the order."

"Schnozzle will go nuts," Snyder said and flew out on a commuting disc. In silent mode, all commands had to be conveyed in the most primitive way.

Snyder is right. Old Red Nose is truly going mad.

Palma stormed into the command hall, seething with anger. "I've put in all my effort to ensure that the wear and tear on the four engines is minimized to the lowest point. They can even make another jump without repairs, and now you intend to destroy them for a distance of 2,400 light-seconds?"

"They're just four regular engines. The four ion engines will still be intact," Reno replied.

"Don't give me that. Without those four regular engines, the ion engines are worthless. They can't handle the massive demand for takeoff from the ground. The characteristic of ion engines is low energy consumption and the ability to continuously extract quantum vacuum energy from the void. They are the main force for subsequent operations, while regular engines provide the initial thrust!"

Reno shook his head. "The Abrodi won't land on the ground; it will stay in the debris belt around the star. Besides, I'll bring back four regular engines when I return."

"What did you say?" Red Nose was stunned. "Are you joking? How will you get to Tianhe IV then?"

"We won't go directly to Tianhe IV; we'll go to Tianhe II first, gather information there, and then make a decision," Reno replied.

With a whole fleet guarding Tianhe IV, Reno didn't believe he could take down the entire fleet with just one Abrodi. So, this matter must be kept secret.

The old man understood his meaning. "So, who do you plan to take with you?"

"Claire is gathering all the soldiers' data, and I need to make some selections based on their abilities. I mean... some suitable for infiltration," Reno smiled. "I'll purchase the equipment the Abrodi needs in Sahato. If possible, I'll try to bring back four regular engines."

The old man sneered, "With just thirty million unregistered bonds and three Yuga crystals, you can't get the engines for four Dominator-class starships."

As a starship dispatched to carry out sacred missions, the Abrodi belonged to the Dominator-class starship in the New Federal sequence, the highest level of starship, followed by the Warrior-class and Guardian-class. However, because of this, its engines were particularly difficult to obtain, even if you had the money, let alone not enough for 130 million.

"It's not a matter of money; it's a matter of people," Reno replied.

Claire arrived at that moment.

She handed Reno a document containing information on all the soldiers of the Free Heart.

To Reno's surprise, Claire had classified all the superpowers.

She divided all abilities into five categories: Enhancement, Manipulation, Mind, Transformation, and Mystery.

Enhancement primarily involves enhancing one's own abilities, such as Teck's full-body metallization.

Manipulation mainly involves energy manipulation as the primary means of expression. Reno's telekinetic manipulation, Stark's flame manipulation, and Nora's energy control all fall into this category.

Mind involves abilities that can directly affect the mind, including influencing people's thoughts, emotions, and even telepathy.

Transformation possesses the ability to transform objects and bodies. The latter usually only applies to oneself. The time, function, and effect of transformation vary from person to person. Powerful transformation abilities can even change the properties of matter from a microscopic level, forming special substances, which is significant. Soldiers who can transform into dolls belong to this category.

Mystery includes some extremely rare and special abilities. If the first four categories can still be understood to some extent, the existence mechanism of the Mystery category is difficult to understand. Its existence mechanism is not understood by people, cannot be imagined, and is difficult to fathom. In this case, it is classified as Mystery. Abilities such as prophecy, time, and space fall into this extremely rare category.

In addition, Claire also made a level division for these five categories, ranging from level one to level five.

This is because according to Sarah's research, she believes that everyone's abilities can be improved, although the way of improvement is not completely certain yet. However, in repeated experiments during this period, Sarah has confirmed that if one continuously uses their abilities, there will indeed be a slight increase. Although progress may be slow, the growth potential cannot be denied.

Since there is growth potential, there will naturally be high and low levels, so Claire has established a five-level system, and according to Claire's current classification, everyone is currently in the first level. As for when to advance to level two... that's up to Claire to decide.

In short, Claire has made a list of superpowers and established standards for everyone.

However, this system is currently just in its infancy and lacks practical application, estimation, and specific evaluation systems in all aspects, which are not yet perfect.

"I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful," Reno said with a smile.

"It's not just being thoughtful; it's revolutionary," Claire replied. "Haven't you noticed, Reno? We are ushering in a new world. And you and I are the founders of this new world order. Believe me, if superpowers really spread in human society one day, this system will become the common standard across the universe."

"And we are the pioneers of this system, as well as its creators."

"Our level, our decision!"