LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 2 - First Battle
Chapter 2: First Battle
“Can you tell what it is?” Lin Zhichen asked.
“Captain, it’s pirate raiding boats! Three in total,” the radar observer replied confidently.
Lin Zhichen quickly began to think. Pirate raiding boats were small pirate ships that appeared, with a ship class equivalent to that of a frigate.
Of course, as the weakest wild monsters, pirate raiding boats were measured by civilian ship standards. Although their size was not much different, they were not comparable to professional warships like frigates.
He opened the frigate’s panel.
“Haiyan-class Frigate I
Dimensions: Length 183 meters, Width 56.1 meters, Height 21.5 meters
Hull Value: 300
Armor: 0
Shield: 150
Shield Recharge Rate: 1% + 1% + 1%
Damage: 7.46
Speed: 160
Evasion: 60.3%”
The Haiyan-class Frigate I had three standard weapon cores: the Sentry Core, which focused on fleet defense; the Missile Core, which focused on offense; and the Interceptor Core, which he was using, with three S-slot weapon slots.
It was said that the Missile Core was the best for solo combat because it could be equipped with torpedo launchers, which were powerful weapons for small ships.
However, torpedoes were too large, and a frigate couldn’t carry many of them. After a single battle, it might need to return for resupply, which was not suitable for a solo player like him.
One had to consider that a single trip from the asteroid belt to Earth took over 20 days. In comparison, S-slot laser cannons or railguns did not have this drawback.
“One against three, it’s a bit risky, but as long as the tactics are used well, it’s worth a try.”
Thinking this, he looked at his crew.
“Name: Gunner DQXJPS** (Human, White)
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Profession: Gunner (Junior)
Talent: Bombardment (Gray): Kinetic Weapon Range +1%
Precision (Gray): Kinetic Weapon Accuracy +1%
Skills: 1: Bombardment (White, Junior 0.21%): Firing Speed +10%, Bombardment Damage +10%
2: Ultra-Long-Range Bombardment (Light Red, Apprentice 1.23%): Range +50%
Evaluation: A double-talent piece of trash!”
Just as wild monsters could appear, according to Federation regulations, civilians could also purchase various refreshed NPC assistants from clone stores.
As a free gift from the Federation, the frigate’s crew naturally did not include any exceptionally talented individuals, but at least they weren’t completely talentless; they all had some talents.
With empty pockets and no family to support him, Lin Zhichen, who grew up in an orphanage, was used to making do with what he had.
“Three gunners, all junior level.”
He felt a bit helpless. If he had family support during his studies, he could have purchased a batch of crew members in advance and then entered the virtual world to learn how to pilot the ship. Although skill learning was slower in the virtual world compared to the real world, he wouldn’t be stuck at the junior level now.
Without wallowing in self-pity, he knew that having a purple talent was already an excellent start. He commanded the ship’s pilot to steer the frigate deeper into the asteroid field.
According to the radar display, he chose a battlefield and hid behind an asteroid, shutting down the engines and lying in wait.
As the most basic wild monsters, the pirate raiding boats had poor configurations, and their radar range was far inferior to that of the frigate. So, when Lin Zhichen commanded the frigate to finish its ambush, the pirates were still completely unaware.
It wasn’t until an hour later that three gunboats, with uneven surfaces and faint rust spots, slowly approached.
They were completely unaware of the lurking frigate, as their outdated radar couldn’t distinguish between alloy and asteroids.
“Charge the ship’s cannons and prepare to fire!” Lin Zhichen ordered calmly.
The three NPC gunners quickly activated the ship’s cannons, charging them while rotating the turrets to aim at the pirate ships.
If they were facing a regular army at this moment, the opponent’s radar would have already detected the electromagnetic changes caused by the frigate’s energy activation. However, the pirate raiding boats had no reaction and swaggered into a relatively open area, which was precisely the burial ground Lin Zhichen had chosen for them.
“Aim… Fire!”
From a distance of one light-second, three small electromagnetic railguns fired simultaneously.
“Zzzzzt~”
The three projectiles, accelerated by the electromagnetic rails, instantly reached sub-light speed and shot towards the three pirate raiding boats.
A little over a minute later, the results of the first volley came in—all three electromagnetic projectiles missed their targets!
Even the closest shot missed the pirate ship by a hundred meters!
Lin Zhichen remained calm, having anticipated this situation, given the distance of one light-second, which was 30 kilometers.
Such a long distance far exceeded the optimal range of the electromagnetic railguns.
According to the virtual ship training descriptions, the optimal range for this model of railgun should be 0.3 to 0.5 light-seconds, two to three times shorter than his current distance.
At this moment, he focused on the skill bars of the three gunners. Under the influence of the Heaven Rewards Diligence talent, the progress of the ultra-long-range bombardment skill was rapidly increasing.
“Skills: 1: Bombardment (White, Junior 0.42%)
2: Ultra-Long-Range Bombardment (Light Red, Apprentice 1.56%)”
…
“Skills: 1: Bombardment (White, Junior 0.56%)
2: Ultra-Long-Range Bombardment (Light Red, Apprentice 1.73%)”
…
“Skills: 1: Bombardment (White, Junior 0.71%)
2: Ultra-Long-Range Bombardment (Light Red, Apprentice 1.87%)”
…
“Skills: 1: Bombardment (White, Junior 0.85%)
2: Ultra-Long-Range Bombardment (Light Red, Apprentice 2.36%)”
The small electromagnetic railguns completed a charge cycle every 3.45 seconds, and the frigate completed a bombardment cycle every 4 seconds. In just one minute, they fired 15 volleys, totaling 45 alloy projectiles!
Under such a dense barrage, even an apprentice had a chance to hit the target. After missing three consecutive volleys, the radar finally showed a hit marker.
In the starry sky, the pirate raiding boats, still leisurely drifting, had no idea they were in the midst of a storm. It wasn’t until an alloy projectile, traveling at sub-light speed, pierced through the electromagnetic deflection shield and struck the hull heavily.
The fragile hull was directly torn open, with shattered alloy fragments scattering.
Taking a moment to glance at the radar, Lin Zhichen was delighted to find that with one hit, the progress of the NPC gunners’ ultra-long-range bombardment skill surged by 3%!
It was only then that the clueless pirates seemed to wake up from a dream, hurriedly stopping their ships, activating their radars, and scanning the surrounding starfield.
But they quickly discovered, to their astonishment, that there was nothing but asteroids within their radar range. Believing that the enemy ship was hiding, the unwilling pirates frantically flew in evasive maneuvers while firing at suspicious asteroids around them.
The result, of course, was fruitless. Apart from receiving more hits, they still had no idea where the enemy was hiding.
Ultra-long-range bombardment was akin to being a sniper among artillerymen.
These gunners, attacking from the edge of radar visibility, were elite within their tier. They had to make rapid judgments based on the radar’s vague feedback to determine the enemy’s evasive direction and plan where the current projectile would land a minute later.