85: Chapter 85: Talent Unveiled! The Power of Battlefield-Level Talents

The battle had begun.

The welcome ceremony from the Watcher Legion was a bit too enthusiastic.

A fireworks display of exploding star-thunder;

A sea of flashing lights from millions of cannons firing in unison;

A death-metal storm woven by anti-aircraft networks;

But the Zerg were clearly not intimidated by this enthusiasm.

Nonsense, if they were intimidated, would they still be called the Zerg?

The people from North Star were staying inside the cockpit of the purple subtlety, preparing for battle and getting some hands-on experience.

The firepower of the Human fleet was indeed fierce, so fierce that every second, hundreds of millions of light beams, missiles, and plasma shells were plastered onto the faces of the Zerg Swarm, the light of the explosions merging into one.

But the reaction from the Zerg side was very calm.

Calm to what degree?

Li Yuan saw with his own eyes a railgun round hit a group of Mutalisks; the thick light spear pierced through a dozen of them, blowing them into biological debris that scattered across the sky—and then, more Mutalisks behind them flapped their wing membranes and calmly passed through the debris, not even deviating from their flight trajectory by a single bit.

"Don't they... feel sorry for them?" Laya lay against the porthole, her little face illuminated flickeringly by the gunfire outside, "Those that were smashed to pieces were all living Zerg."

"In the eyes of the Zerg, those probably don't count as 'Zerg'," Elia's cold voice came through the communication channel, "At most, they count as... expendable ammunition."

She was right.

On the Zerg side, units like Mutalisks, Bone-eating Skates, Void Rays, and Corruptors, although they ranged in size from dozens of meters to dozens of kilometers and looked quite intimidating, were essentially high-level cannon fodder.

As long as the two hundred or so leviathan motherships in the rear did not fall or retreat, the units killed on the front line would be dragged back to the motherships by drones at any time, re-absorbed into life essence, and then spat out again as new combat units.

They held the same status as the drones on the Human side.

Speaking of drones, Li Yuan turned his head to look in the direction of the fleet. Good heavens, the underbellies of every warship above the cruiser class had their ports wide open, and dense swarms of drones poured out like a metallic swarm of bees, so numerous that they could form a flowing nebula. They replenished every part of the defensive line; as soon as a batch was blown up by the Zerg, another batch was sent up from the rear.

A war of attrition between flesh and machinery.

Simple, brutal, and completely devoid of aesthetics.

Unless a decisive weapon from one side was deployed, or high-tier combatants completed a decapitation strike, this battle could continue until the heat death of the universe.

"What a waste..." Li Yuan watched the hundreds of millions of battle losses on the Zerg side every second, and his heart was bleeding.

Those were all life essence!

They were precious resources that could extend his life, buy new dresses for Laya, and serve as snacks for the bei ming core!

Now they were all gone, probably blown into basic particles!

Not even a scrap was left!

Just as Li Yuan was feeling so heartbroken he was about to cry—

"Ding."

A familiar, sweet, and energetic girl's voice rang in his mind.

Customer Service Miss No. 1518's voice, carrying a sweeter air than before, began to hop around happily in his head:

[Ding~ host, with so many Zerg outside, are you just going to watch?]

Li Yuan: "..."

[It's a great opportunity to pick up life essence! You won't find another village like this once you pass it! Over two hundred leviathan motherships! A trillion-level Zerg Tide! If you collect all of this, host, you could buy a house on North Star directly... ah no, you could directly feed your dual professions until they become gods!]

Li Yuan's mouth twitched: "I want to pick them up too, but my piloting skills are average. Wouldn't going out there be suicide?"

This was the absolute truth. Although his adaptive piloting practice had been decent before, that was in a peaceful environment without enemies. Now, outside was a trillion-level Zerg Tide plus a crossfire network between both sides; if he flew out with his half-baked skills, he would probably turn into space junk in less than three seconds.

However, the next sentence from Customer Service Miss made him almost jump out of his seat:

[Let the Light Guardian and Light Mage go up! They know how to fly!]

Li Yuan: "???"

His mind went blank for a second.

Then—

"Summoned beasts can fly planes too?!" Li Yuan roared internally, "Then why can't Laya?!"

[Of course they can~] The Customer Service Miss's voice carried a lightness that suggested, "Your question is so childish."

[Do you think the Angel Legion just rushes up to hack people? People play with high technology these days! The Angel Legion has warships too, you know, such as the Sky Blade-class, Sky Guard-class, Sky Palace-class... you can summon them all later, host, otherwise why would it be called an SSS-level profession?]

Li Yuan: "..."

That was a lot of information.

He needed a moment to recover.

But Customer Service Miss clearly didn't intend to give him any buffer time. When she mentioned Laya, her voice suddenly dropped, so low that even when Li Yuan pricked up his ears, he couldn't hear it clearly:

[Laya... Laya is different after all, she's a stupid nepotism hire, how could someone who fails all subjects still be a Goddess intern...]

Li Yuan didn't hear it at all: "...What did you say?"

[Nothing, nothing!] Customer Service Miss's voice instantly rose, making Li Yuan's brain tremble, [Anyway, host, go pick up the life essence! Time waits for no one! Don't ask how to pick it up, the Light Guardian knows how!]

[Beep.]

Customer Service Miss went offline.

She ran faster than that light feather class ship.

Li Yuan sat in the pilot's seat, his expression blank.

There was too much information.

Light Guardian knows how to fly planes.

The Angel Legion has warships.

...

Just as Li Yuan was digesting these shocking revelations, the command on the bridge had entered a new phase.

"Attention, everyone."

Major General Zhao Yu's voice spread throughout the ship via the command network. He stood in front of the central command seat, his hands hovering over the holographic tactical console, his eyes slightly closed.

The next second, an invisible ripple spread out from him as the center.

The entire battlefield was dragged into a higher-dimensional observation perspective in this instant; the position, status, and energy readings of every warship, every drone, and every Zerg unit were clearly presented in the form of data streams.

"Talent Unfolded."

Major General Zhao Yu opened his eyes, pale blue data halos swirling in the depths of his pupils.

"Tier 6 Talent—[Global Control]."

"purple subtlety super-brain, access my talent."

"Data synchronization—starting."

Hum—

The entire dijiang-class star cruising battleship trembled slightly. In the center of the bridge, the battlefield interface, which had originally been just a holographic star map, instantly turned into a terrifyingly detailed holographic sand table.

On the sand table, red light points representing the Zerg and blue light points representing the Human race were dense; every light point was moving in real-time, with detailed status parameters floating next to them.

What was even more exaggerated was that this data did not just appear on the purple subtlety.

It was synchronously shared with every warship in the fleet.

From the 500-kilometer-class Xihe battlecruisers to the destroyers dozens of kilometers long, and even those frigates that were only a few kilometers in size and were supposed to be responsible only for close-range defense—the same holographic sand table popped up on all bridge tactical screens.

"Holy crap..." Sai Wei blurted out, "Isn't this cheating a bit too blatantly?"

That's right, it was cheating.

[Global Control]: One of the pinnacles of non-combat reconnaissance talents. Its effect is simple and brutal: it manifests all units within the effective range into a holographic sand table, granting the commander a god's-eye view.

In front of his talent, the enemy forces seemed transparent in one direction.

"Alright, enough chitchat."

Major General Zhao Yu's voice echoed on all bridges, calm with a texture of iron and blood:

"Mega Particle Cannon, start charging."

"Ruins main cannon, start charging."

"Requiem, Genesis, start synchronization charging."

He reached out and drew a trajectory on the holographic sand table, finally pointing at an exceptionally large Leviathan located at the rear of the Zerg Swarm—

It was exactly the 100,000-kilometer-class veteran Leviathan previously marked as "No. 7."

"Lock onto enemy Leviathan No. 7."

"Combat plan: All ship main cannons and 'Genesis' clear the field first, sweeping out a firepower channel."

"Then—"

Zhao Yu paused, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold arc:

"Mega Particle Cannon and Requiem, fire one shot to test it."

The moment the order was given, the entire fleet's command system began to operate like a precision clock.

But this was just the beginning.

"Construction station, connect to the warship production line." Zhao Yu continued to order, "I need drone production efficiency increased by 30%, while optimizing energy distribution—Chen Jingyi, Chen Yao, you two newcomers are responsible for this node. Be careful to control the energy output, don't exhaust yourselves, this battle probably won't be short."

"Understood!" Chen Yao's excited voice came through the communication channel, and in the background, one could hear Chen Jingyi's calm response of "Starting connection."

"Data analysis station, launch the 'Battlefield Entropy Prediction Model', and turn on battlefield situation prediction for me."

"Mechanics station, adjust the electromagnetic force and gravitational parameters on the periphery of the fleet, and speed up the recovery of battle-damaged parts—Old Liu, I know you just woke up, stop yawning and get to work."

"Yes, yes, yes..." A lazy middle-aged male voice rang out, followed by the activation of a talent, "Gravitational coefficient fine-tuned by 0.03, electromagnetic trap range expanded by 15%, alright, now the wreckage of the blown-up drones will float back on their own."

"Firepower coordination station, mark all high-energy reaction points of Zerg units, and synchronize the data to the close-in defense gun array and escort fighter squadrons—Chu Xinghe, take the guard team and get ready to depart."

"Received." Chu Xinghe's voice was crisp and decisive.

"Medical and shield station, monitor the structural integrity and shield load of the entire ship in real-time, and issue a warning immediately if there is an overload risk—Mom Qin, stop sneaking snacks, I see you."

"Ahem... got it, General!" A girl with twin tails responded in a panic, followed by the sound of hurried swallowing.

Li Yuan listened, dumbfounded.

He knew that interstellar warfare was a system operation, but he didn't expect the system to be detailed to this extent.

Every position was managed by a corresponding team of talented individuals:

Old Liu's team at the "Mechanics station," whose talents were mainly related to the four fundamental forces, could change the mechanical constants of a designated area; Lin Feng was following them to learn;

The team at the "Firepower coordination station," whose talents were energy affinity types, could directly perceive the flow of energy of all units on the battlefield; Li Yuan's initial Intent of the Northern Darkness was judged to be a talent in this direction, just at too low a level;

Mom Qin's team at the "Medical and shield station," whose talents were structural repair or energy repair types, could see through every stress distribution inside the warship like an X-ray and repair it in time; Laya was assigned to follow them to learn, and the little girl was unwilling;

And all of this was integrated by Major General Zhao Yu's [Global Control] to form a near-perfect battlefield command network.

Soon, Chu Xinghe's guard team was also about to depart.

"Luo Lan, the data has been synchronized." Chu Xinghe's voice rang in the fighter squadron channel, "Thirty-seven high-energy threat points have been marked, mostly Tyranid Warriors and Virago beasts,—let's go, we're going to do a 'point-clearing'. Note that we only hit Tyranid Warriors, the high-tier ones have specialists to deal with them."

"Understood." Luo Lan's voice was filled with the excitement of battle intent.

Li Yuan looked at the two fighters outside the window that had begun to warm up their engines, and then looked at the "essence fireworks" that were exploding every second on the Zerg side. He gritted his teeth and shouted in the communication channel:

"Senior Brother Chu! Count me in!"

The channel was quiet for a second.

Chu Xinghe's voice carried a bit of surprise: "Li Yuan? Your fighter skills are not good."

"I am indeed not good!" Li Yuan said righteously,

"But my Light Guardian skills are excellent!"