Chapter 1533: Chapter 954: The Path to Transcendence (3): The Age of the Void_2

Like Tony’s starship, which belongs to the most common standard version, although not the smallest model, the space is still relatively cramped, with very limited individual cabins aside from the captain’s room.

In Chosen City and Floating City, there are larger and more advanced ones, but the price... even Tony, who has long been at the Golden Rank, can only look up to them.

As for the Sky Fortress and Floating City...

Only some large guilds have the capability to build the former, even though the number of players online at any time on the entire server has long exceeded fifty million, there are fewer than three hundred Sky Fortresses, most of which are medium or small-sized.

And the latter, to this day, there is only one, and it is shared by several major guilds.

There’s no way around it, although the technology for producing Magic Energy Cores has been available in the exchange mall since players discovered the lost plane in the game ten years ago, those are only small cores.

The technology for large cores like those of the Floating City is many times more complex than that for smaller ones.

Advanced tech players like the Gugu Bird have further speculated that even if the relevant technology of this level of Energy Core were to be deciphered, it’s likely only those at Legend or even Demigod Level could manage it.

So... in the end, the players gave up.

The only reason the "Dingyuan" could barely be made was due to early players having the luck to salvage a batch of long-lost large Magic Energy Cores from the Dawn World.

As for Tony...

He already used up all his savings just to buy this small starship.

And even such a small starship is a high-end product admired by the vast majority of players.

After all, though small, it’s fully equipped.

This ship, with a magic-punk style, is specifically designed for void navigation, with armor and arrays aiming to resist Void Energy corrosion and even void storms, and with the high-cost Magic Energy Core as a power source, if it were to be categorized, it would likely be near the Legendary level.

The outrageous price... is also reasonable.

Additionally, there’s the energy consumption. The starship burns Demon Crystals, also a money burner, although it’s much better than the Sky Fortress and Floating City, but still not affordable for the average person.

In today’s "Elf Kingdom," those who can operate starships must be tycoons, and by comparison, training a batch of NPC followers capable of piloting a starship is relatively simple.

Seeing Tony enter, the awake players greeted him and continued with their tasks.

Some players were looking out the window, very excited, usually the semi-newbies who haven’t been here long, haven’t boarded many starships, and like to appreciate the scenery outside.

Tony is different; he’s been roaming in the void for nearly ten years and is already jaded by even the most beautiful views.

Compared to the magnificence of the void, he truly loves the lush, beautiful Elf Forest.

With acceleration upon acceleration, the starship passed through the plane barrier on the plane dome, entering the void.

The next moment, the hull shook slightly, then quickly calmed down.

Tony knew that this meant the starship’s Magic Shield had been activated.

In the boundless void, Void Power is omnipresent.

Besides a few void species that can adapt to survival, only Legends and above can resist the erosion of Void Power and travel between planes.

Below Legend, one must be well-protected, using special vehicles.

Like a starship.

A starship, as the name suggests, is a ship shuttling between stars.

Although the void of "Elf Kingdom" is quite different from the space of Blue Star, from the players’ perspective, there isn’t much difference.

Even though the materials of each starship are tailored to resist the erosion of Void Power, using them with shields has a better effect and maximizes the reduction of starship damage.

Of course, shields also require burning Demon Crystals.

Only in the Sky Fortress and Floating City can Goddess statues be placed, converting Demon Crystal consumption to consumption of contribution points to exchange for the needed power of faith.

These days, contribution points are cheaper than Demon Crystals.

Leaving the plane, the starship entered the void.

Tony issued the order for full-speed flight, heading towards the nearest Sky Fortress.

He had no choice, even though the starship is equipped with a directional ultra-long-distance Teleportation Array, using it once is very costly.

Generally, Tony prefers hitching a ride on the Sky Fortress, landing directly in the fortress to piggyback on the array back.

"Stay alert, keep watch of the surroundings, Magic Crystal Cannon ready, the plane ascension is over, so there might be more Void Pirates during this time."

Tony ordered in a deep voice.

Hearing his words, the NPC crew became solemn, and even the awake players focused their attention.

If there’s been a significant change with the advent of the void era, it would definitely be the Void Pirates.

The bigger the forest, the more birds there are.

This saying holds true at any time.

As the player numbers have increased over time, the gap between new and veteran players has widened, and quite a few are tempted to cut corners.

Although "Elf Kingdom" has strict red-name rules to punish violators, where there’s policy, there’s a countermeasure, these rules are not without loopholes.

The most famous among them are the Void Pirates.

Plane pioneering is a highly profitable activity, even without considering system rewards. The spoils from conquering other planes can make players rich overnight, and naturally, some set their sights on players returning from completing tasks.

These individuals often purchase starships, roaming the void, specifically targeting other players’ starships.

However, they only steal things, not kill people. If there’s any silencing involved, they hand it over to the NPCs they’ve subdued, thus avoiding punishment.

These individuals are referred to as Void Pirates.

Many years ago, Tony was also robbed once.

At that time, he hadn’t reached the Golden Rank. If it weren’t for his foresight to not transport all his pioneering spoils back at once, that pioneering effort might have been in vain.

Pioneering takes at least half a year, which translates to a month and a half in real time. If all that effort vanished, anyone would lose their composure.

However, even though Tony has now become a Golden Rank professional, he still has to be cautious.

Because among Void Pirates, there can be high-level players.

And if he really encounters Void Pirates...

It depends on the situation.

Generally speaking, including Tony, most captains prefer to pay and leave.

If they can avoid a fight, they will, as the repair cost might exceed the profit from a single trip.

Of course, encountering those who love fighting and killing is indeed troublesome.

Such maniacs do exist and are quite abundant.

Both crew and players are highly vigilant, steering the starship in the predetermined direction.

That is towards the Sky Fortress of the Mengmeng Committee.

Alongside them, there are other starships of varying sizes.

They are ships that also lifted off from the plane, and it’s common for everyone to choose to travel together, which is relatively safer.

Of course, if they encounter a large organized group of Void Pirates, it could be disastrous.

After about ten minutes of navigation, suddenly, alarms blared, and Tony’s expression changed slightly. He quickly went to the front of the ship and looked into the void.

Sure enough, ahead of the returning player fleet, a starship suspected to be a Void Pirate ship appeared.

The appearance is quite identifiable, to reduce losses, Void Pirate ships often dismantle the directional long-distance teleport devices, and when damaged, they repair them themselves instead of taking them to Segis World for an extensive overhaul.

So... these pirate ships often look rather shabby.

Fortunately, only one ship came.

After circling Tony’s fleet for a while, perhaps realizing it couldn’t win, the other party eventually chose to leave.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief.

However, he was not completely at ease, because he was not sure whether it was only this one ship or if it was just the vanguard, or... if it was merely temporarily retreating to gather more forces.

It wasn’t until he saw the Mengmeng Committee’s fortress that he finally felt relieved, ordering the crew to slow down and head towards the fortress...