At the very front of the formation stood a dozen or so supervising masters.
Leading them was none other than Qin Feng’s "old acquaintance," Professor Gu Yue.
He wasn’t wearing his usual research uniform today, but a crisp instructor’s uniform, his expression solemn.
Qin Feng didn’t recognize most of the other masters.
Despite the large number of people in the plaza, their discipline was surprisingly good.
The students spontaneously maintained neat ranks. Even those chatting with acquaintances deliberately kept their voices down, displaying an extremely high level of personal conduct.
The entire plaza was solemn, yet tinged with the tension of an impending battle.
Just then, a low humming sound came from the horizon.
WHIR—WHIR—WHIR—
Everyone looked up in unison.
A massive black shadow appeared in the sky, breaking through the clouds and rapidly approaching the plaza at an astonishing speed that completely belied its immense size.
It was a shuttle.
A behemoth that looked like it was straight out of science fiction.
Its form was perfectly streamlined. The hull was long and slender, over three hundred meters in length, and crafted from a dark alloy that could absorb radar waves, reflecting a cold, metallic luster under the sun.
On both sides of its hull, several massive Spiritual Energy Engines spewed pale blue flames, allowing the colossal vessel to hover steadily above the plaza.
A Planet-class Type I transport shuttle.
Powered by high-purity Spiritual Ore as its core energy source, it was specifically designed for large-scale, high-efficiency transport of personnel or materials on a planet’s surface.
"My god... That’s so cool!"
Qian Duoduo looked up, his eyes filled with longing. "If only I could own a shuttle like that one day."
"Is that a Planet-class Shuttle?"
Shi Potian asked.
"Yeah, a Type I."
Qian Duoduo immediately switched into "intel-briefing" mode.
"The one in front of us is a Planet-class Type I. Its main purpose is transport. It’s huge and incredibly fast, but it only has the most basic self-defense weaponry."
"The next level up is the Planet-class Type II. Those shuttles are a bit smaller but are built purely for combat, armed with numerous Spiritual Energy Main Cannons and electromagnetic railguns."
"As for the top-tier Planet-class Type III, you can’t even call that a ’shuttle’ anymore. It’s a mobile ’space fortress’ that can hold hundreds of thousands of Star Realm Army soldiers and carry hundreds or even thousands of Type I and Type II shuttles inside."
He paused for a moment.
"A standard civilian shuttle, the kind that only seats a few people, starts at one million Imperial Coins. A Planet-class Type I like the school’s is worth at least a hundred million. As for the combat-capable Type II and Type III, you can’t buy those with money. They’re strategic-level weapons strictly controlled by the Empire."
"After all,"
He lowered his voice. "A normal person, just by sitting in the cockpit of a Planet-class Type II shuttle, can move their fingers, press a few buttons, and easily destroy a Nest Capital within minutes."
Qin Feng listened quietly.
When the Empire had just conquered a planet, it would undergo various adaptations and modifications before a Nest Capital was built. A Nest Capital would then need to develop for thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, to evolve into a planetary metropolitan area.
Qiming, where Qin Feng lived, was one such metropolitan area.
However, the distinction between a Nest Capital and a metropolitan area was merely a matter of social hierarchy. In terms of scale, Nest Capitals were enormous; some massive ones could even cover one-tenth of a planet’s surface.
’And a normal person could destroy such a massive Nest Capital with just the push of a few buttons in a Planet-class Type II...’
’Is this the power of Spiritual Weapons?’
Qin Feng marveled inwardly.
At that moment, Professor Gu Yue’s voice, amplified by a loudspeaker system, echoed clearly across the entire plaza.
"All personnel! Board the vessel in an orderly fashion by grade level! First-year students, to the first deck; second-year students, second deck; third-year students, third deck! Maintain discipline! No noise!"
"Yes, sir!"
Several thousand students responded in unison.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
The instant his voice fell, all the students began to move.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized, without the slightest bit of pushing or chaos. They formed three streams of people and quickly entered their respective cabins via the tractor beams lowered from the shuttle.
Qin Feng was mixed in with the stream of people, a hint of curiosity in his eyes, but more than that, a look of scrutiny and contemplation.
’No wonder the school strictly forbids students from using high-powered Spiritual Weapons on missions. This kind of thing can indeed give a normal person terrifying destructive power in a short amount of time. It’s too easy to become dependent on it.’
’However...’
’The practice of the Martial Dao, if one can reach a profound realm, its might must be countless times more terrifying than these Spiritual Weapons. Otherwise, the Empire wouldn’t spend so many resources and spare no effort to promote the Martial Dao.’
Records he had seen in history textbooks and online surfaced in his mind.
’Leaving other things aside, if a Martial Artist reaches the ’Planet-class’ level, they can traverse the vacuum of the cosmos with their physical body, shatter asteroids, and even destroy planets. If they reach the ’Star-class’ level, their power can even extinguish a star. Not to mention, above that, there are the ’Galaxy-class’ and ’Black Hole-class’ Martial Artists who guard the Empire’s frontier on the Starry Sky Great Wall, killing hundreds of millions of the Alien Race with their bare fists...’
As his thoughts raced, Qin Feng had already entered the spacious and bright first-deck cabin.
The shuttle’s interior was immense. Even with over a thousand first-year students entering, it didn’t feel crowded in the slightest.
He found a seat by a window and sat down. The shuttle began to slowly ascend and accelerate.
Through the massive porthole, the entire campus of Qiming First High School, and even the distant Qiming Metropolitan Area, came into view.
Countless skyscrapers soared into the clouds like a forest of steel. Between the buildings, tens of thousands of ships and civilian shuttles of all sizes zipped back and forth along fixed routes, resembling schools of luminous fish.
Gazing at the scene before him, Qin Feng felt his horizons broaden. A sense of exhilaration washed over him, and a heroic spirit surged within.
He couldn’t help but murmur softly to himself:
"A thousand towers, woven with fire; ten thousand ships, a stream of shuttles..."
"Giant towers, clad in silver armor; domed spires, streaked with golden light..."
Just as Qin Feng was lost in the moment, a hand reached out, offering him an energy bar.
"Old Qin, what’re you muttering about? Sounding all poetic. Here, want something to eat? Replenish your energy."
It was Qian Duoduo.
After two months of arduous Martial Dao training, Qian Duoduo was no longer as fat as before. He was now robust, with a physique like a bear.
"Haha, where’d you get this energy bar?"
Qin Feng smiled, took the energy bar, and started chatting with Xiaopang and Shi Potian next to him.
The shuttle was fast.
The scenery below receded rapidly.
After about half an hour, the shuttle hovered in the air, and Master Gu Yue’s command for the students to disembark rang out.
At Professor Gu Yue’s command, the several thousand students disembarked from the shuttle in an orderly manner.