Chapter 68

Now, only the leader of Supreme Honor would be willing to spend tens of thousands of credits for a live-fire drill. Last night, in the live-fire drill around Nemia, tens of thousands of players gathered to watch, as nearly a hundred veteran players piloted frigate-class ships, launching hundreds of missiles in a concentrated bombardment of an island.

The spectacle was truly breathtaking. However, it was unclear whether the players were more amazed by the immense power of the ARP-1 ground-attack missiles or by the fact that a single salvo cost over 2,500 RMB.

This was not all; afterward, two destroyer-class ships from Supreme Honor appeared, using heavy mass drivers to fire from outside the Blue Planet's orbit. Two shots flattened a small island, and the terrifying power left all the players in shock.

According to the official explanation, heavy mass drivers are divided into five levels, with even the lowest level requiring installation on a destroyer-class ship. A single heavy mass driver shell consumes one-tenth of a destroyer's power. Adding the material costs for the heavy mass driver shells, each shell costs 350 credits!

Next, Supreme Honor demonstrated their "God's Rod," a tungsten alloy rod worth 2,500 credits, which was accelerated from outer space into the atmosphere and then struck the core of the island, instantly causing a medium-sized island to sink in a chaotic upheaval.

All the players fell silent, not so much from the terrifying power of the weapons, but from the financial might of Supreme Honor.

Indeed, whether in reality or in the game, once you encounter a player willing to spend real money, they are a formidable presence. The difference is that in this game, players cannot directly buy weapons and equipment, but can only use real money to gather players and resources to build them. The essence is the same.

The Free Emblem was very clear about why Supreme Honor was conducting military drills around Nemia. The real purpose was the rare minerals in the Nemia Triangle!

Rare minerals are the core materials for building special steel, without which neither spacecraft nor large spaceships and space stations can be built. "Endless Stars" draws from real-world industry; without raw materials and energy, you are sitting ducks.

Spending tens of thousands of RMB on a military drill to intimidate the Free Emblem into giving up the rare minerals was a well-calculated move by Supreme Honor.

Unfortunately, the leader of the Free Emblem, "Free Dragon Wing," was not a fool. Giving up the potential of 150,000 RMB worth of rare minerals was not his style.

However, after discussing with the guild members, he was also worried. The guild was not a wealthy organization. While it was not impossible to oppose Supreme Honor with skilled players and excellent strategy, the inevitable heavy losses would be a laughingstock if others took advantage of the situation.

The meeting continued, and someone suggested, "Why don't we negotiate with Supreme Honor and jointly develop and maintain the area?"

"What? Joint development and maintenance? How can that be? That's just dividing the cake we already have."

Another player objected.

"What do you suggest then? Declare war on Supreme Honor? Are you crazy?"

"Why not declare war? Supreme Honor is just a bunch of weaklings."

"Weaklings? Have you forgotten about their God's Rod and four destroyer-class ships?"

Li Dong remained silent, finding the arguments amusing. Perhaps because it was just a game, many players at the meeting supported war, eager to fight immediately.

As the saying goes, war is the blood of men. The thought of countless warships battling in the stars stirred their blood.

But...

When the cannons roar, gold flows. Declaring war is easy to say, but who would be willing to bear the cost of the war?

Therefore, "Free Dragon Wing" said, "Based on our preliminary calculations from the previous meeting, the Free Emblem has two destroyer-class ships and 600 frigate-class ships, while Supreme Honor has four destroyer-class ships and 1,600 frigate-class ships..."

Li Dong was surprised. He realized that the Free Emblem had over 600 veteran players, and his presence as one of the few dozen players at the meeting indicated that he was highly regarded.

"If we declare war, we are expected to spend over 100,000 credits..."

The initial statement from "Free Dragon Wing" was enough to make everyone frown, and the subsequent statement left everyone silent. Over 100,000 credits, or over 100,000 RMB, how would they come up with the money? Would "Free Dragon Wing's" guild pay for it all? That seemed impossible.

"Should we ask each member to contribute 100 RMB to fund the war?"

The player who suggested this realized his foolishness halfway through.

If this plan were implemented, the Free Emblem would surely disintegrate.

Don't underestimate 100 RMB; how many people would willingly contribute 100 RMB to an organization with little sense of honor?

Not to mention, the game had only been out for a few days. Even if it had been out for years, it would be impossible to get every member of an organization to contribute 100 RMB.

Moreover, Supreme Honor gave money to new members, while the Free Emblem not only didn't give money but also asked members to pay. The members might rebel and force the guild to disband.

"Let's negotiate. We cannot easily start a war; Supreme Honor's madman might be hoping for this."

"Free Dragon Wing" felt a headache thinking about the wealthy madman. A game had only been out for a few days, and someone was willing to spend hundreds of thousands. No one dared to be his enemy.

The meeting continued, deciding who would be sent to negotiate and how to contact the other side on the forum before adjourning.

However, at this moment, a notification appeared on everyone's phone: "Game update package has been pushed, please download and update."

"Huh, there's an update package?"

The update notification took up most of the screen, and no action could be taken without clicking it. Li Dong had no choice but to update.

The update package was not large, only about a dozen megabytes. Li Dong quickly updated the game and re-entered.

Upon re-entering, he immediately noticed a difference. The game now had a trading hall.

Each player could trade with others in the hall using their ID numbers, with credits as the basis and the official server as the guarantor. Once both parties confirmed the transaction, the official server would exchange the goods and credits.

This system was similar to Alipay, but the official server would charge a fee.

Li Dong took a deep breath, instantly realizing how massive this fee would become in the future. The game developers would surely make a fortune.

However, players would definitely choose to trade in the trading hall because it was much safer and more convenient than the forum.

However, the trading hall did not involve direct exchange between credits and RMB. Li Dong thought this was a smart move because the game was still a personal interest project, and involving virtual currency exchange would violate the law.

As for private exchanges between players, that was not a problem.

Another update that Li Dong found significant was the game store!

Had the official server finally succumbed to the temptation of making money?

With this question in mind, Li Dong clicked on the game store. However, the items inside were not the expected weapons and equipment, but...

Blueprints?

Yes, there were no finished weapons or ships, only design blueprints.

Unlike the free blueprints in each player's settings, these blueprints were clearly priced. Just for the ship category, Li Dong scrolled to the bottom and saw the list go up to 125.

There were even more weapon blueprints, with the list extending to 675.

The store sold not only ship and weapon blueprints but also many technology trees, such as blueprints for special alloys and manufacturing techniques.

Li Dong even saw wormhole technology, but the design blueprint alone cost over 550,000 credits, not to mention the other basic technologies and materials required. It would likely cost over a million to obtain.

At this moment, Li Dong had only one thought: the game developers were crazy...