Chapter 145: Void Titan Mothership

Chapter 145: Void Titan Mothership

After Mi Xianyun and the students boarded the veteran warship Trident, she did not immediately have Li Hongshen and the others enter the protective pods. Instead, she led them to the bridge of the Trident.

Following some communication with the ship's captain, Li Hongshen and his peers arrived at the uppermost observation space of the bridge. Through the thick panoramic glass, they beheld the civilization's ultimate weapon: the Titan-class void mothership.

Resembling a giant mushroom standing tall in the void, the entire mothership was extraordinarily colossal. Even from their relatively distant vantage point, Li Hongshen and the others could not take in the full scale of the Titan-class mothership.

"Clap, clap. All right, since everyone has seen it, now be good and enter the protective pods. We will be catapulted away shortly. You are all still too weak to withstand the forces of the impending teleportation."

Mi Xianyun clapped twice, drawing the students' attention back to her. Under her direction, Li Hongshen and the others subsequently entered the protective pods.

Although the Trident was a veteran warship, the protective pods aboard were vastly superior in grade to those of a void ferry. As soon as Li Hongshen lay inside, he was immediately enveloped by life-support gel.

This layer of gel could mitigate the physical damage caused by long-distance warping while continuously monitoring the physiological status of the occupants within the pod.

Should any anomaly occur, it would be instantly fed back to the warship's central artificial intelligence, which would then formulate appropriate responsive measures according to the situation.

However, despite the exceptionally high technological standards of the protective pods, their military-grade nature meant they sacrificed a great deal in comfort. At the very least, there was no service provided for watching movies through a small screen.

Moreover, to minimize spatial footprint as much as possible, the interior was extremely cramped, leaving occupants almost unable to move once inside.

Li Hongshen and the others did not have to wait long. About an hour after they entered, the display screen inside the protective pod notified them that they were about to enter a warp state and instructed them to prepare.

Accompanying this prompt, centered around the void Titan mothership in the exterior expanse, a spatial bubble suddenly generated and rapidly expanded across a vast radius.

Surrounding battlecruisers akin to the Trident also began to systematically and batch-by-batch converge toward the Titan-class mothership.

Then, just like pebbles, they were catapulted out from within the spatial bubble, rapidly plunging into the warp corridor and hurtling toward their predetermined destination.

This was the spatial catapult system equipped on the Titan-class void mothership, capable of swiftly launching friendly warships to designated destinations without the need for jump bridges, portals, or other infrastructure, and entirely bypassing the need for the warships to slowly execute warp sequences themselves.

Therefore, aside from serving as an ultimate weapon, the void Titan-class mothership possessed a primary utility: functioning as a spatial slingshot to rapidly project combat power to the frontline during operations while effectively deterring enemy ambushes.

However, this particular Titan-class mothership did not belong to Central Lord University. As the ultimate weapon of the civilization, such motherships were the property of various legion alliances, and this time Central Lord University had merely borrowed it through a requisition.

This could be considered a characteristic feature among Lord Universities within the civilization. Generally, when conducting such military training, they would coordinate with familiar legion alliances to requisition a Titan mothership, allowing their students to rapidly reach different frontline zones.

Furthermore, to ensure that all eggs were not kept in one basket, Lord Universities typically dispersed new students and deployed them to different sectors for military training, thereby preventing a total wipeout of a single cohort that would result in a generational gap in talent.

After all, the frontline carries risks, and military training demands caution. The long river of history held numerous lessons warning everyone never to harbor wishful thinking; diversified investment was the absolute truth.

Consequently, borrowing or leasing a void Titan-class mothership was exceedingly necessary for utilizing spatial slingshots to batch-deliver warships.

This approach drastically saved time; utilizing such spatial slingshots could compress the travel time from the civilization's inner territories to the frontline down to a mere one to three days.

Conversely, if one relied on warships to execute jumps independently, the military training might already be over by the time one finally reached the frontline.

Naturally, this could also be viewed as a form of self-promotion for their university. Some universities were even willing to shoulder the heavy rental costs out of pocket just to requisition a Titan-class mothership.

This was because every Lord University was subjected to Key Performance Indicator (KPI) evaluations by the civilization. The civilization assessed a Lord University based on annual enrollment numbers, educational standards, student achievements, and various other metrics.

Should a university fail to meet the standards of its respective rating, the consequences ranged from verbal reprimands to reductions in resource allocations and demotions in institutional tier.

These factors directly impacted the acquisition of civilization merits by all faculty and staff within each school. After all, for lords at the tier of presidents, professors, and mentors, what else could possibly catch their eye besides civilization merits?

Therefore, Lord Universities were extremely eager to ensure their freshmen could depart and return early, granting them more time for student instruction.

Naturally, while some individuals spent lavishly to lease void Titan-class motherships, others inevitably sought ways to secure them for free. As one of the top three supreme Lord Universities in the civilization, Central Lord University was already a seasoned veteran in the art of getting things for free.

This university had elevated free-riding to an astonishing art form, utilizing such annual opportunities to advertise for numerous legion alliances.

This form of advertising targeted the freshmen. For instance, the void Titan-class mothership this time was provided by the Lion Mountain (Thirteen) Alliance, and introductions regarding the Lion Mountain Alliance had bombarded Li Hongshen a full five times, granting him a thorough understanding of the faction.

It felt precisely like a recruitment promotional campaign, advertising a specific legion alliance to the masses of incoming freshmen and instilling a lasting impression. Consequently, these legion alliances could quite effortlessly recruit suitable fresh blood, achieving a win-win scenario.

It gave face to the numerous legion alliances, elevated their reputations, thoroughly promoted them among the freshmen, and provided an exceptional environment for talent acquisition.

This was equivalent to providing foundational support to numerous legion alliances while ultimately guaranteeing the employment rate of each graduating cohort. Such an operation was truly worthy of study by all.

Naturally, such an operation severely tested an institution's own qualifications. But who could rival the prestigious reputation of Central Lord University? Its students were premium seedlings, and its network of connections spanned major legion alliances.

Its legendary status as a master free-rider was widely known. With numerous backup candidates vying for selection every year, its worry was never about the availability of a mothership to borrow, but rather how to distribute its favors evenly without showing exclusive favoritism to any single legion alliance and thereby unbalancing the mental equilibrium of the others.

Respected seniors, please grant some recommendation votes! I only received thirty-seven recommendation votes yesterday; esteemed seniors, please offer some support!