Song Chi shifted his gaze away from the attribute panel of the Fire Peony Soldier Effigy Tree component and began to tally his current financial resources.
Apart from the 1000 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin provided by his parents, there were also 2.4 million Credit Points in his account.
According to the Chenxing Principality's official conversion, ten thousand Credit Points could be exchanged for one thread of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin.
That is to say, after doing the full calculation, he had about 1240 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin at his disposal.
However, out of these 1240 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, at least 500 threads had to be reserved for purchasing medical supplies, basic-type nano-robot repair kits, Fury Tiger I Floating Land Mining Carts, Mining Cart Specialized Prospecting Instruments, etc., leaving him with only around 700 threads for enhancing the Spectral Shuttle.
Without any hesitation, the first component to enhance was the Spectral Shield, which, once activated, could form an energy shield on the surface of the Spectral Shuttle and was a Torch Warship's primary means of defense.
For Song Chi, who had access to the Zhu Tian Ruins Market, as long as he practiced step by step, he could refine his life level all the way up, so naturally, staying alive was the most important aspect while exploring the Alien Star Domain.
However, enhancing this component required not only Floating Land Origin and Spectral Energy Points but also a Life Core.
Song Chi was no stranger to such an item.
In the vast expanse of the Shattered Starry Sea, most of the Starry Sea lifeforms, upon death, would leave behind a special crystal, which contained the majority of the energy essence absorbed throughout the lifeform's existence; this was the Life Core.
In fact, the Life Core is also considered a universal special resource, as many Starry Sea Civilizations include it in their general currency system.
The Torch Human Civilization does the same. In slightly larger commerce hubs or family enterprises, it is possible to use and exchange them, and not just the Life Core, but also other common enhancement resources for Torch Warships like Fine Iron, Floating Land Origin, all of which can be freely used and exchanged.
After greeting his parents on the first floor, Song Chi left the house again and made his way to the nearby Dongjiang Torch Shopping Center, not far from Dongjiang Community.
It was just one of many Torch shopping centers within Jiangyuan City. There weren't many shops within the center, but it was sufficient for Torch Ship Captains like Song Chi, who were just beginning to awaken their powers.
After spending about fifteen minutes shopping around and comparing prices, he got his hands on the required Life Cores. Song Chi did not rush home but instead summoned the Spectral Shuttle right there in the designated Torch Warship enhancement area of the shopping center and began its first enhancement.
[Would you like to confirm the expenditure of {1 thread of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin + 100 Spectral Energy Points + 5 Life Cores} to upgrade the Spectral Shield component from lv0 to lv1?]
"Confirm!"
[Would you like to confirm the expenditure of {3 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin + 200 Spectral Energy Points + 6 Life Cores} to upgrade the Spectral Shield component from lv1 to lv2?]
...
After four consecutive enhancements, Song Chi brought the Spectral Shield component up to lv4. It wasn't that he was no longer planning to enhance it, but rather that the 1000 Spectral Energy Points stored in the Spectral Engine had been completely depleted, and he needed to wait for it to be fully recharged.
Fortunately, the recharge rate wasn't slow; with just the Spectral Engine component activated, it could store 9 points per second, and it wouldn't take more than two minutes to fully recharge.
Two minutes later, Song Chi resumed enhancing.
In the end, he brought the Spectral Shield up to lv7, spending a total of 59 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, 56 Zero Rank Life Cores, and 2800 Spectral Energy Points in the process.
Of the 59 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, 49 were used for the enhancements, and the remaining 10 were to purchase 100 Zero Rank Life Cores.
The attributes of the Spectral Shield enhanced to lv7 were indeed significantly improved.
Spectral Shield lv7
Quality: Colorless
Consumption: 10/s (Spectral Energy Points)
Defence: 18
Shield Value: 180/180
Charge: 23s; Post-overload Buffer: 46 minutes
UpRank Requirement: 15 threads of Floating Land Origin (Zero Rank), 800 Spectral Energy Points, 12 Life Cores (Zero Rank)
Having enhanced the Spectral Shield, Song Chi still didn't feel completely assured. As a transmigrator who deeply understood that the greatest thing was to remain alive, he proceeded without delay to start enhancing the Warship Armor.
Although this component's defense does not match that of the Spectral Shield, it is still one of the essential defenses for a Torch Warship, and he naturally would not neglect it.
Several minutes later, he had enhanced the Warship Armor to lv7.
However, each upgrade of this component required the consumption of Fine Iron, a special mineral resource. To reach lv7, a total of 28 tons of Fine Iron were used, and the price of each ton was 1 strand of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin.
In total, strengthening this Warship Armor consumed 77 strands of Floating Land Origin.
Warship Armor lv7
Quality: Colorless
Consumption: 3/s (Spectral Energy Points)
Defence: 18
UpRank Requirement: 15 strands of Floating Land Origin (Zero Rank), 800 Spectral Energy Points, 8 tons of Fine Iron.
...
After enhancing both the Spectral Shield and Warship Armor to lv7, the energy consumption of both when activated also increased significantly, surpassing the normal energy supply of the Spectral Engine. Therefore, if he wanted to keep the Spectral Shield activated after deploying into an unknown Star Domain, strengthening the engine was also essential.
[Do you confirm the expenditure of {1 strand of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin + 100 Spectral Energy Points + 5 Life Cores} to upgrade the Spectral Engine component from lv0 to lv1?]
"Confirmed!"
After four consecutive enhancements, he only had 9 Zero Rank Life Cores left, not enough for a fifth enhancement. Song Chi had no choice but to spend another 20 strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin to purchase 200 Life Cores.
In the end, he also enhanced the Spectral Engine to lv7, spending the same resources as enhancing the Spectral Shield. As for the leftover 188 Zero Rank Life Cores, he stored them in the Spectral Shuttle for later use. Upon checking the engine's attributes, they, too, had a significant improvement.
Spectral Engine lv7
Quality: Colorless
Consumption: 4/s (Spectral Energy Points)
Energy Supply: 24/s (Spectral Energy Points)
Post-overload Buffer: 23 minutes
Youneng Pool: 1700 points (can store 1700 Youneng Points)
UpRank Requirement: 15 strands of Floating Land Origin (Zero Rank), 800 Spectral Energy Points, 12 Life Cores (Zero Rank).
Following the Spectral Engine is the Spectral Main Cannon. Although it's a welfare drop, the Starry Sea Alien Race is everywhere, and it's hard to say that a welfare drop will surely encounter no danger, so it's still necessary to slightly enhance the firepower of the Spectral Shuttle.
The enhancement of the Spectral Main Cannon did not require Life Cores. Song Chi upgraded it to lv5, spending a total of 25 strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin and 1500 Spectral Energy Points.
The detailed attributes after the upgrade are as follows:
Spectral Main Cannon lv5
Quality: Colorless
Consumption: 20 per shot (Spectral Energy Points)
Might: 16
Charge: 4s; Buffer: 8s
UpRank Requirement: 11 strands of Floating Land Origin (Zero Rank), 600 Spectral Energy Points.
It's clear to see that the enhanced Spectral Main Cannon not only has a not insignificant increase in might but also reduced charging and buffering times, overall a rather satisfactory improvement.