During this time, Zachary Chase had also been observing Jenna Hong.
He had also looked into Jenna's background.
Jenna was a little girl the eldest miss of the Chase family had picked up on a planet in another star system while out traveling as a child. At the time, she was staring blankly while lying on her mother, who had already starved to death; she wanted to cry, but she was so hungry she couldn't make a sound. It was the eldest miss of the Chase family who took Jenna in and buried her mother.
From then on, the eldest miss of the Chase family treated Jenna like her own younger sister, teaching her how to read and write, and imparting all kinds of knowledge to her.
Gradually, Jenna's talent began to show. She was a quick learner and was exceptionally good at management. In fact, for years, Jenna had been secretly managing some of the affairs of the Little Dragon Star System for the Chase family, with Old Madam Chase then relaying the orders.
Zachary was merely a lord in name; the eldest miss of the Chase family had already comfortably become a hands-off manager years ago.
Gradually, Jenna became very skilled at handling various matters.
Most importantly, she was absolutely loyal to the Chase family—or rather, to the Chase family that had raised the eldest miss!
Currently, Zachary had no usable talent around him. He couldn't stay in the Little Dragon Star System forever; after all, it was too impoverished here. Charlotte was a general; she was fine at commanding starships in battle, but letting her govern the Little Dragon Star System? Forget it.
Therefore, Zachary chose Jenna.
This woman who didn't even respect him.
"You're willing to hand over the management of the Little Dragon Star System to me?" Jenna asked, voicing her doubt.
Zachary nodded. "I feel at ease leaving it to you to manage."
Jenna didn't know what to say for a moment.
Zachary then began to speak about the plan in his mind. "For the Little Dragon Star System to rise and prosper, it needs three opportunities.
"The first point: Star Gates. A star system without a Star Gate has no development prospects. This problem cannot be solved in the short term, but I will find a way.
"The second point: Industry! The Little Dragon Star System has always only had very low-level T1 technological industries, which can only maintain the system's self-sufficiency. In fact, whenever an emergency occurs on those planets, starvation is a common occurrence. If I remember correctly, the Galactic Alliance has a rating system based on the living conditions of a star system's people, from 0 to 10, right? Our Little Dragon Star System's rating is only 0.3—it's not even a fifth of the average of 5!
"So we must develop a promising industry, one that has a competitive advantage in foreign trade! Only then can we draw funds from the outside to build up the Little Dragon Star System. I've already figured out what to do about this point, but I still need some preparation time.
"The third point: A new order! Most of the old aristocrats are either gone or have left. Now the Little Dragon Star System needs a new order. Although I'm not fond of those aristocrats, there still needs to be some large families. Your mission during this period is to reconsolidate the order of the Little Dragon Star System, an order centered around the Chase family. You can elevate the status of some small families loyal to the Chase family, or support and establish new loyal families. I assume you can handle this task."
Hearing Zachary talk incessantly about these things, Jenna considered the first two items to be sheer fantasy, impossible to achieve. However, the third point was the only one she agreed with. Currently, the Little Dragon Star System was waiting to be rebuilt, and first and foremost, it needed a new order and system.
"The task the eldest miss gave me was to guard the Little Dragon Star System and the Chase family while she is away." Jenna looked at Zachary coldly. "I'm not doing this for you; I'm doing it for the eldest miss."
This woman was still acting tsundere at a time like this.
After reaching a simple agreement, Jenna left.
Zachary used his handheld terminal to project a holographic map of the Little Dragon Star System, looking at the star system. Zachary raised his hand, as if stroking the starry sky.
"Since this was your previous wish, I'll fulfill it for you." Zachary seemed to be speaking to someone, a faint smile on his face.
Then, he opened the system page.
text
Host: Zachary Chase Profession: Top Starship Engineer Special Attributes: Fleet Luck Bonus, Eye of Insight Points: 1100 Mission Points: 8 Number of Starships: 2 Missions: None Warehouse: T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser technical blueprints, T1 Wolf Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer technical blueprints, T2 Bee Queen-class Heavy Carrier Starship technical blueprints, T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship technical blueprints
He now had 1100 system points and 8 mission points.
He checked the conditions to upgrade the System Mall again.
[T2 System Mall Upgrade Conditions]
First item: Exchange for two T2-level items (1/2)
Second item: Complete two C-rank system missions (1/2)
Third item: Consume 2000 system points for mall upgrade (1100/2000)
Zachary's face darkened; it turned out his meager savings were completely insufficient to upgrade to the T2 System Mall.
Forget it. He'd handle the upgrade conditions one by one. The third item couldn't be rushed. The C-rank missions for the second item depended on luck. So he'd settle the first item first: exchanging for two T2-level items. Exchanging for the T2 Bee Queen earlier already counted as one T2 item, so he was just one short.
Coincidentally, Zachary already had a plan in mind.
"I remember seeing it before. Where was it?" Zachary rummaged through the T2 items section of the System Mall.
Finally, he found the 'item' he had seen before.
[T2 Bronze Eden-class Starship Technical Blueprints]
Because he hadn't exchanged for it yet, he couldn't see the detailed data, but he could see a simple introduction.
[T2 Bronze Eden-class Starship: An auxiliary-type starship capable of developing and operating agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries in an infinite cycle without consuming resources.]
Simply put, this was an interstellar farm, ranch, forest, and fishery! And it had zero operating costs!
[Do you wish to consume 400 system points and 3 mission points to exchange for the 'T2 Bronze Eden-class Starship' technical blueprints?]
"Confirm."
[Congratulations on obtaining the 'T2 Bronze Eden-class Starship' technical blueprints.
Remaining System Points: 700
Remaining Mission Points: 5]
Zachary immediately began to review the data for this starship.
Just as the introduction stated, the T2 Bronze Eden was an auxiliary starship that could navigate between the stars and use nutrients converted from cosmic particles to infinitely cultivate agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries within the starship. In simple terms, it could grow grain and raise livestock without consuming any resources.
Actually, the Galactic Alliance had also researched this kind of technology, but the cost-effectiveness was far lower than the cost of growing crops on a planet, so it had never achieved commercialization or mass production.
But Zachary's side was different. The construction cost of a single T2 Bronze Eden was only three million star coins! By comparison, it might seem a bit expensive. After all, a T2 Bee Queen only cost 1.5 million star coins; the difference between the two was double!
But the key lay in the fact that the monthly crop yield of a T2 Bronze Eden was equivalent to a market value of about 1 million star coins, with the specific amount depending on the species cultivated. And this yield could satisfy the living needs of at least one million people!
Calculated this way, as long as he built five hundred T2 Bronze Edens, the Little Dragon Star System would never face a food crisis again!
Moreover, naturally grown crops had always been a hard currency in interstellar trade! In the future, it could also become an important part of the Little Dragon Star System's foreign interstellar trade.
This was why Zachary had told Jenna earlier that he already had a plan for the second point.
This was his plan.
He wanted to achieve 'food freedom'!