Chapter 431: Compet.i.tion

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_

The Noah"s Ark was capable of cruising between galaxies without any protection, as the battles.h.i.+p itself was a flying death machine.

Needless to say that supporting the life of an entire city and such a gigantic weapon system required a ma.s.sive amount of energy. Thanks to the new battery technology, House Ma had turned a dream into reality. With the new battery technology, humans had entered a new era!

House Ma had given themselves one month to prepare for the Virgin voyage, during which they accepted applications from all over the confederation to join the crew. The application was open to everyone. However, although the qualification of becoming part of the team was not high, it was not the same regarding the captain.

The captain"s ability to control this flying death machine would directly affect the efficiency of the s.h.i.+p"s weapon system. Whoever would sit in the captain"s c.o.c.kpit would have to be the most brilliant battle strategist in the world.

To command such a mighty s.h.i.+p would be the dream of all Fleet Commanders. The world boiled over ever since House Ma had announced, and the battle-cruiser"s virgin voyage had become the second most followed news after the tournament.

Of all the candidates for the crew, the young fighters who excelled during the tournament were the most likely to be chosen. This was promising news to them, since the Noah"s Ark cla.s.s battlecruisers were bound to be the next generation mainstream battles.h.i.+ps. Studying on board the first-of-its-kind would provide the young warriors precious experience, and help them further their career. The experience gained on this battles.h.i.+p would be much more valuable than that on any other s.h.i.+ps.

Despite the promising future Noah"s Ark would bring to everyone, the Ivantians felt beaten by the earthlings once again after the defeat of Patroclus.

Before the earthlings had invented the Noah"s Ark, the moon faction had held a decisive advantage concerning fleet combat.

They were especially proud of their powerful s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. However, the Noah"s Ark had wrenched their pride away from their hearts.

This explained why the Ivantians had been so curious about the development of the new Battery Technology. The Ivantians had also invested an enormous amount of resources in developing their own batteries. However, House Ma was one step ahead of the Ivantians. House Ma didn"t invent the technology by themselves, as their success was primarily due to the technology left by the Blade Warrior. This was the advantage that had made House Ma a political powerhouse.

This was not the first time that house Ma had announced a world changing technology, as it had done that numerous times in the past.

The success of the Virgin voyage had suddenly become the most critical point in human history. Therefore, the confederation had spared no expense in collaborating with house Ma to a.s.sist in their preparation.

Nevertheless, the sudden breakthrough in the research had caught many intelligence officers off guard. They had been keeping a close eye on the development, and they were aware that the research was put on the shelf after it had reached a bottleneck. None of the intelligence officers would know that the bottleneck was successfully solved by the memory stick that w.a.n.g Tong brought back from the heart of Valhalla.

As the House Ma worked diligently on the preparation for the Virgin voyage, faction leaders contact them regarding prospective contracts on the return of the s.h.i.+p from its voyage. Every faction wanted to be the first one to own the new battlecruiser, as they knew that it would boost their political clout significantly.

On paper, the most conservative estimate suggested that the Noah"s Ark battlecruiser was equivalent to an entire squadron of s.p.a.ce fleet at the very least.

So many things with far-reaching consequences had happened in such a short time, and all of them were related to House Ma. The most low-key great house had become the center of the Public"s attention overnight.

Meanwhile, although the public media had tried all the tricks up their sleeves, they had failed to pry any information from the Templars Court regarding what had happened in the Hall of Valhalla.

Since three out of the five chosen ones were from Ayrlarng, the fame of the school kept on rising. People couldn"t stop asking themselves what had made the Blade Warrior choose Zhou Sisi and Karl. What did they have in common with the legendary fighters such as Patroclus, Princess Heidi, and Michaux?

It was common knowledge that whoever had the blessing of the G.o.d held the fate of mankind in their grasp.

The Templars kept their silence over the event, and the only information the public could get was from Karl. However, his convoluted description about the attack of the fireball painted an even muddier picture about what had really happened.

Having failed to get any information on the Hall of Valhalla, the public quickly turned their attention to the Noah"s Ark virgin voyage. They were particularly interested in the drafting of crew members.

To be chosen as a crew member was only the first step, since the closer the position was to the center of power, the more they would learn about the super battlecruiser.

"Brother s.h.i.+ming, why did house Ma keep breaking the status quo?" Porten asked.

"What is your take on this, Bother Porten?" Li s.h.i.+ming had returned home. The relations.h.i.+p between House Li and the Templar had toned down a few notches since w.a.n.g Tong had officially become the heir of the Blade Warrior.

Porten studied Li s.h.i.+ming"s face and felt light-hearted due to Li s.h.i.+ming"s misery. House Li had failed on many fronts. Not only had they let w.a.n.g Tong"s real ident.i.ty pa.s.s under their radar, they had also lost another critical political ally, House Ma, because of their oversight. The situation seemed to have turned around for everybody, except House Li.

Despite the satisfaction of seeing defeat take the wind out of Li s.h.i.+ming"s sail, Porten loathed w.a.n.g Tong and despised his rise to power.

"I would be hard-pressed to believe that Ma Dutian would ban us from his expensive toy. Two other tasks are the most urgent, the first being the captain. We have to do all we can to make sure that the captain is neutral to all parties. The second is the degree of our involvement. We can"t just be there as a tourist... You know what I am eluding to."

"I agree with you. But, it"s easier said than done. Based on the information I got, both the Dower and the Zhang will be there as well. It complicates things by a great degree."

"Hehe. We can still try."

"Brother s.h.i.+ming, if—you could excuse me—"

"Go ahead. You can be completely open with me."

"In my opinion, you are too soft on the matter of Ma Xiaoru"s marriage. If you could have done what w.a.n.g Tong did and popped her cherry first, the situation would be completely different now." Porten lamented.

Li s.h.i.+ming cracked a smile and said, "Yes, sometimes I do regret not seizing the opportunity while I still had it."

"Great! It"s still not too late. I sense that the old fox Ma Dutian is still on the fence on this matter. He had agreed to w.a.n.g Tong"s proposal largely due to that little sh*t"s connection with the Blade Warrior. Without the influence of the Blade Warrior, I bet Ma Dutian would choose you over w.a.n.g Tong in a heartbeat."

"You mean Ma Dutian is wavering?"

"Obviously! w.a.n.g Tong cast a large shadow thanks to his new t.i.tle at the Templar"s court, but when the Old Fox finally sees him for who he is, he would ditch w.a.n.g Tong right away. " Porten explained.

"If what you said was true, w.a.n.g Tong is no more than a p.a.w.n in his master plan. "