Chapter 00058: New Recruit Mission
# New Recruit Mission
Chapter 58
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 58: New Recruit Mission
The Star Expedition Army is completely different from the military on Earth. After joining the new army, recruits enjoy complete freedom, or rather, they are relaxed until the first preparatory mission for new recruits arrives. However, all new recruits in the Star Expedition Army are aware that the mortality rate for preparatory missions is extremely high, sometimes exceeding fifty percent.
Despite this, joining the Star Expedition Army remains the best choice for every fallen star. Otherwise, one can only wander the starry skies, and the outcome of wandering the stars is inevitably death. If one does not wish to drift through the cosmos, then they can stay on True Promise Star and become a lowly citizen subject to oppression.
Once you join the Star Expedition Army, as long as you pass the rookie period, the sky is the limit. You can retire and become a true resident of True Promise Star, or you can continue to stay in the Star Expedition Army as a veteran. If you can manage to become an officer, that would be even more impressive.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the preparatory mission that the new recruits of the Star Expedition Army dreaded had finally arrived.
On the third day, just as dawn broke, the sharp assembly whistle echoed throughout the new recruit camp.
"Junior Lieutenant Commander, we're heading to the Star Expedition Army Mission Hall," Ding He was the first to call out to Lan Xiaobu.
Lan Xiaobu felt a twinge of disappointment; after three days of cultivation, his progress with the Spirit Refining Technique was slow.
When Lan Xiaobu stepped out, he saw many new recruits rushing out of the camp, all heading in the same direction. During these past few days, Lan Xiaobu had been cultivating and had no idea where the mission hall was located.
"We're not in a hurry; we have an airship. I'll pilot the airship; this is my forte," Ke'er said as he stepped out, chuckling.
In the entire West Cloud Lake new recruit area, there were only five teams with airships, and one of them was Lan Xiaobu's team.
Lan Xiaobu tossed the airship key to Ke'er and greeted A Xu and Qin Yue, who had just come out.
Amid the envious gazes of many new recruits, Lan Xiaobu's airship drew a white line across West Cloud Lake, swiftly heading toward the Star Expedition Army's mission hall.
...
Although they arrived later, when Lan Xiaobu and the others reached the mission hall, only ten new recruits from this batch had come. These ten also had airships and were ahead of Lan Xiaobu's airship.
The mission hall of the Star Expedition Army was extremely grand, and it did not have any main doors.
Inside the hall, various electronic screens displayed a multitude of messages. Among them were numerous war updates from the Star Expedition Army, as well as tasks taken over from various empires.
"I didn't expect other countries could also commission the Star Expedition Army for missions," Lan Xiaobu remarked, seeing that the tasks taken over by the Star Expedition Army were not only from the Hanlan Empire but also from some ordinary nations.
"Yes," Ding He replied, "although the empire directly governing the Star Expedition Army is the Hanlan Empire, it's actually more profitable for the Star Expedition Army to take on tasks from other countries. Because the remuneration is extremely high, poorer countries simply can't afford it. I heard that a few years ago, the South Huo Nation on True Promise Star hired the Star Expedition Army for a starry sky mission, and the reward reached over a thousand boundary stones..."
Lan Xiaobu immediately asked, "Isn't the boundary stone a type of fuel? How can the reward be paid in fuel?"
Not quite right. As soon as Lan Xiaobu asked, some vague memories surfaced. The boundary stone could indeed be used as currency, and it seemed that it could also be used for cultivation.
The memories of Lian were overwhelmingly vast; he had lost some, but many memories could only be recalled when triggered. Moreover, Lan Xiaobu suspected that if he didn't activate certain memories for a long time, he might slowly forget them.
Alas, there was no way around it. Not to mention absorbing others' memories, even one's own memories would fade over time. He could only hope that when he cultivated the Spirit Refining Technique to the second stage, he could perfectly resolve this issue.
Sure enough, as soon as Lan Xiaobu's question was posed, the others looked at him in surprise.
A Xu speechlessly said, "If you weren't from Blue Asia Star along with Ke'er, I would doubt whether you belong to this star system. This is the most basic common knowledge; don't you understand?"
Ke'er, who was usually carefree, was also puzzled by A Xu's words. In fact, Lan Xiaobu did not come from Blue Asia Star with him; they had merely met in the starry sky and then came to True Promise Star together.
But soon Ke'er dismissed the thought. Even if Lan Xiaobu wasn't from Blue Asia Star, so what? He and Lan Xiaobu were friends, all part of the same team; where Lan Xiaobu came from was of no concern to him. Lan Xiaobu rubbed his hands awkwardly, "I have been learning martial arts in the deep mountains since I was young, so I haven't been exposed to these things. But it's fine; I'm very humble and eager to learn. Ding He, please enlighten me."
This time even Qin Yue looked at Lan Xiaobu speechlessly; that was too dismissive, claiming to learn martial arts in the deep mountains...
Yet Lan Xiaobu was completely unconcerned. Whether it was Ding He, Ke'er, A Xu, or Qin Yue, they all shared the same pot of rice. Even if they knew he wasn't from Blue Asia Star, they wouldn't expose him.
Ding He quickly seized the opportunity and said, "Actually, using boundary stones as currency is something only advanced technological civilizations have. On True Promise Star, it's only occasionally used between nations. I heard that boundary stones are also classified into levels, but I've never seen them, so I don't know what the different levels look like. Generally, on lower-level technological planets, the main currency is still starry sky gold..."
"Starry sky gold?" Lan Xiaobu asked Ke'er in confusion, "Is that purple gold? What about gold?"
The name purple gold popped up in Lan Xiaobu's memory when Ding He mentioned starry sky gold.
Ding He replied, "The color of starry sky gold is purple, so it's also called purple gold."
Ke'er scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed as he said, "I can't get my hands on starry sky gold, but gold is also good; it's universally accepted."
Ding He hurriedly added, "Yes, below starry sky gold is gold, then silver, and copper coins."
Lan Xiaobu estimated that Lian must have used at least purple gold, which was starry sky gold. It seemed that there were still some purple items piled up in a corner of Kunlun; those were probably the starry sky gold that Ding He mentioned.
Qin Yue noticed that Lan Xiaobu lacked knowledge in this area, and she explained, "Actually, boundary stones are primarily used as currency; very few people use them as fuel. This thing has a wide range of uses, and using it as fuel for battle shuttles is too wasteful. Moreover, regular battle shuttles cannot use boundary stones as fuel; at least level five battle shuttles can use boundary stones as fuel. For instance, the fuel used by my battle shuttle is synthetic fission fuel..."
"I use synthetic fission fuel too," Ke'er said proudly.
In Ke'er's view, Qin Yue was a princess of the empire; the fuel she used and the fuel for his battle shuttle were not the same.
"What about chiselite?" Lan Xiaobu asked. Currently, Kunlun was using chiselite. Kunlun's fuel was down to about a quarter; if he had the chance, he wanted to replenish Kunlun's fuel.
"Chiselite is too expensive; it's only used when crossing star systems. Moreover, even synthetic fission fuel is very costly. When flying within a planet, most battle shuttles use refined snow oil as fuel," Qin Yue explained.
Lan Xiaobu roughly understood that the best fuel was boundary stones. However, obtaining boundary stones for fuel was not easy because they had too many uses and were hard to come by. Next was the chiselite that Kunlun used, followed by synthetic fission fuel, and lastly refined snow oil.
While everyone was chatting, new recruits from the Star Expedition Army continued to arrive at the mission hall one after another. The vast majority of new recruits approached Lan Xiaobu with friendly greetings when they saw him looking their way.
In this place, strength is everything. They did not know how strong Lan Xiaobu was, but one of his subordinates could easily defeat Lenna, so how could Lan Xiaobu be simple?
As more and more people arrived, Lan Xiaobu refrained from asking further questions and instead discussed what the new recruit's mission would be with everyone.
About half an hour later, a military officer in his forties walked over.
Lan Xiaobu glanced at the officer's badge; it was a four-star blue badge, and the name on the badge was Xiong Jinli.
He thought to himself, wow, this is a four-star marquis. In the Star Expedition Army, he could be considered someone of some standing.
Xiong Jinli walked slowly to the front of the new recruits. Without him needing to speak, a group of recruits instinctively lined up, at least appearing somewhat orderly.
Xiong Jinli nodded and then said, "Welcome to the Star Expedition Army, and congratulations on becoming a part of the Star Expedition Army. Before announcing the new army mission, I will first distribute the mission tokens."
(End of Chapter)
