Legacy of the Void Fleet

Within one of the major cities on this Tier-6 planet, there stood a compound resembling a grand villa. At its core, in a quiet office at the center of the building, a middle-aged man sat at a desk, carefully going through a stack of documents.

Suddenly, the door burst open without so much as a knock.

A young man, appearing to be in his mid-twenties, rushed in. His face was flushed with excitement.

The middle-aged man frowned immediately. Irritation flashed across his face as he looked up.

”What are you doing, Mink?” he said sharply. ”Is this how you behave? Where are your manners?”

”Forget the manners, father!!”The man named Wink, in his mid-twenties, didn’t bother with his father’s anger at all.

He quickly reached his desk, tapped it, and a holographic screen appeared in the air. ”Check this, father—this is absolutely explosive!!”

The old man frowned in displeasure, seeing his son completely ignore his words, thinking he was once again here with some nonsensical matter. Still, he looked toward the holographic screen, where a page from the Internal Ministry was open.

In bold words, it read: The First Grand Imperial Contest.

The anger in his eyes quickly vanished as he read the details below. Slowly, his eyes widened in surprise, and then he exclaimed loudly—

”Great! Great!! This is it—this is it!! With this Grand Imperial Contest, the future will soon be ours to shape if we secure one or two slots!”

The middle-aged man was excited as he spoke. Even though the rewards weren’t clearly stated, those circulating words beneath the announcement caught his attention. He even noticed a few familiar names—people he knew—talking about opportunities that would soon open up for them.

Just by this, James Redfire knew how great this opportunity would be for the Duck family.

Suddenly, the webpage flickered, and another post appeared. This one was from the Ministry of Minerals and Resources, specifically under the Department of Minerals and Ores.

It read: ”Dear citizens, under the consideration of the Imperial Commander, the ministry has made some changes. Minerals from Tier 1 to Tier 3 will soon have their control relaxed and will be opened to private entities and any interested players to bid for resource points to mine them at their own discretion.

The policy in more detail is yet to be finalized, but the process is underway, and soon you can expect this to take effect.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

— Departmental Chief, Morgan Clark.”

Hiss—

He sucked in a cold breath as he read the text in astonishment.

But before he could even recover, another post followed. This time, it was from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the Foreign Envoy Department—something James had no memory of existing before. After all, as far as he knew, there was no such department under Foreign Affairs... or was there?

These thoughts were quickly pushed aside as his eyes moved to the text below the post.

”Dear citizens, it is our pleasure to announce that, for the first time ever, we will be sending an envoy to one of the bordering neutral regimes belonging to an alien race known as the Azura Imperium.

The mission will be led by Lady Yan Shi. If everything is successful, there is a high chance that the markets of the Imperium could soon open.

Be prepared.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

— Department Head, Sasuke Hasimara.”

And quickly, multiple netizens reacted below the post in succession, flooding the page.

One commented, ”So it is true!!”

Another, going by the name Great Commander, wrote, ”Wow, this is freaking real!! And not some bull!! Great, great!!”

I’m the Mech Creator commented, ”This is great. I just checked some information about the Imperium, and this nation is in a rather troublesome position—with a huge demand for weapons of every kind. Damn, if we make it into the top fifty with rewards given by the fleet, won’t we have a chance to capture their market if we get the opportunity?!”

Greater Shipbuilder replied below the Mech Creator: ”Adding to that, didn’t you see the post made by the Ministry of Minerals and Resources? Knowing that the Imperium is only a high Tier-2 power, most of their weapons rely on Tier-3 level minerals and alloys, and anything above that—Tier-2 materials—for producing things like mechs, ships, and other equipment.

And now, seeing that control over exactly these levels of minerals and alloys is being relaxed, I think these moves by the fleet are happening in coordination.”

Replying to the shipbuilder, Noble of Eternal Ice wrote: ”Of course they are!! This is truly a super move by the Imperium!#excited #lookingforwardtoit #OpImperialCommander #HailTheFleet”

Reading these comments, James grew more and more excited. Truly, this was an opportunity for people like them—more so than for others. Because of their advantages, they could definitely bid for a share of the mining rights around the Sol region.

With money and greater prospects, as one of the richest families in the fleet—and not forgetting the talent pool his family possessed—James became even more excited.

So much so that he even slammed his own foot against the table. The pain that followed was... a little too much. Knowing he was in the presence of his son, he controlled his expression while screaming inside. Composing himself, he said,

”You did well, Mink, bringing this to my attention. If not, it would have been a huge loss for us...”

Mink, who had long noticed the excitement in his father’s eyes, tilted his head and asked, ”It’s not that exaggerated, right, father?”

James shook his head. ”This matter is indeed very serious for us, my son. This is about who moves faster and secures the greater opportunity. You should hurry and inform your uncles and the others to come here.”

He continued without pause, ”And while you’re at it, order the financial manager of the family to quickly prepare funds. Whatever can be pulled in—needs to be pulled in.”

He took a breath before adding,

”Also, call your daughter and son, along with all the other talented kids in our family. Provide them with all the resources they might need and hurry with the preparation for the Grand Imperial Competition.

Tell them—if they perform well and secure positions in the top fifty or higher, they will be rewarded with additional resources, and the family will have their back.”

”Have our own intermediate mech designers and shipbuilders act as their consultants, guiding them. We don’t have much time, and there’s a lot to do. Now hurry, my son—we’ve got no time to waste!!”

Hearing this, Mink grew more serious. He nodded and quickly turned around, leaving at once. On the way, he relayed the orders his father had given him and made his way toward the company itself, planning to monitor the financing situation personally and speed things up.

This wasn’t happening only within the Redfire family.

Many other families, especially those with abundant resources—like the pirate players—were moving as well. These opportunities were something they had long been waiting for. Now that they had finally appeared, everyone wanted a share. Some, with even grander ambitions, wanted it all—however impossible that might be. Still, in their minds, there was no harm in trying.

Meanwhile, the common people—especially those who were truly talented, or at least believed they were—quickly registered and began their own intensive preparations.

Some made full use of their time, refining the designs they had already drawn. Others buried themselves in textbooks, absorbing whatever knowledge they could.

No one wanted to miss this opportunity.

To many of them, this felt like a direct ticket to the top. And it all depended on their own talent—and a bit of luck. Thus, every citizen began to look forward to the competition.

Soon enough, another post was made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This time, it was a video.

In it, one could see Lady Yan Shi boarding a Generation One Apocalypse-class super battleship—a vessel nearly 22 km long. It carried a familiar resemblance to the Bellator, though it was larger in scale and slightly more aesthetically refined.

The ship was equipped with Generation One weapons, its main armament being the Star Annihilation Destroyer Cannon—a super laser-class weapon. This was followed by two additional Star Breaker Cluster Annihilation Cannons, and four Neutron Destroyer Cannons, along with many other secondary weapons of Generation One standard.

It was also installed with advanced anti-fighter and missile defense systems, capable of screening targets with ease. Around 5,000 mixed varieties of point defense systems operated under what was known as the Sentinel Grid System.

Beyond the battleship, the video revealed fleets of different classes of warships—frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and massive motherships.

The largest vessels stood out the most. If one zoomed in, countless frigates, destroyers, couriers, and even smaller battleships could be seen entering the hangars of these Generation One motherships.

The video then skipped forward.

Now, ten enormous motherships appeared—each at a minimum of 250 km in length