Aston turned his attention to the green-tier blueprints. Excluding the engine, there were only three: the Food Synthesizer, the Navigation Console, and the Danger Scanner.
He began the upgrade process systematically. Each blueprint, when upgraded, required exponentially more resources, but Aston's careful mining expeditions and management of inventory made it feasible. Over the course of several minutes, he pushed all three green-tier blueprints to their maximum, level six. The total iron consumed was less than twenty thousand units—less than he had expected, a testament to the efficiency of his prior mining operations and the twin laser mining units now integrated into the ship.
What truly surprised him, however, was not the iron spent, but the qualitative transformation that occurred when each blueprint reached level five. Aston realized that the upgrade was more than a mere numerical improvement: each blueprint acquired a "supernatural"enhancement, an effect not described in the standard manuals or system guides. It was as if the ship itself was imparting an intuitive leap in capability, a form of emergent intelligence that went beyond technical specifications.
The Navigation Console's transformation was immediately evident.
Navigation Console lv 6 Max (Green)
Provides accurate star maps and trajectory plotting, allowing the ship to chart courses through space.
Lv 5. Supernatural Entry: Map plotting: Generates and stores star maps and route data of the places you have visited , enabling faster plotting of complex interstellar paths.
Previously, it had displayed routes and positions relative to known points, but now, level five unlocked Map plotting. The console automatically generated and stored star maps of every region Aston had traversed. Beyond simple cartography, it began compiling route data, optimizing interstellar paths to account for obstacles, asteroid fields, and the presence of other ships. Aston could now plot complex courses across vast sectors in a fraction of the time it would have taken before. Every new system visited was logged, annotated, and ready for instantaneous reference—a tool that turned exploration from guesswork into precision.
The Danger Scanner underwent a subtle but profound evolution.
Danger Scanner Lv. 6 MAX(Green)
Monitors surrounding space for threats and energy fluctuations.
Capable of detecting potential threats within range of 12 km
Lv 5. Supernatural Entry: Adaptive Filtering: Automatically filters out false positives, reducing unnecessary alerts and prioritizing real threats.
Adaptive Filtering activated as soon as the level five upgrade completed. The scanner now automatically filtered out false positives, reducing the constant interruptions and alerts that had previously made Aston anxious. It prioritized real threats, flagging entities based on size, energy signature, and movement patterns, giving him a more precise understanding of nearby dangers. The early warning system became intuitive, almost predictive, capable of highlighting the ships, anomalies, or hostile creatures that truly warranted attention. Aston felt a measure of relief he hadn't known he could experience; the void suddenly seemed less unknowable.
Finally, the Food Synthesizer underwent the most practical yet subtle transformation.
Food Synthesizer lv 6 MAX(Green)
Produces basic meals using stored materials, providing essential nutrition.
Lv 5. Supernatural Entry: Material Efficiency: Reduces raw material usage by 50% while maintaining meal quality.
The Material Efficiency upgrade cut raw material usage by fifty percent while maintaining meal quality. Aston realized the implications immediately. The energy-intensive system that converted bionic metal into synthesized meals would now consume half as much metal for the same output, essentially doubling his available rations without additional resource input. For long expeditions, this would significantly reduce dependency on trade or rare raw materials, granting him a new layer of self-sufficiency.
As he reviewed the changes, Aston felt a surge of calculated confidence.
......
With that, Aston turned his attention to the regional chat to see what was happening. As usual, it was chaotic. Lines of messages scrolled past in rapid, disordered bursts. Some captains argued over resources and trade, others formed cliques or small alliances, while a few were panicked, asking desperately for guidance. Aston scrolled carefully, absorbing as much information as he could.
He was struck by one recurring theme: death. Several messages described captains who had been attacked and killed by adult insects. The warnings were vivid. The insects were described as fast, resilient, and capable of breaching low-level hulls if given enough time. From these accounts, Aston inferred that even a level 2 white-tier hull, like the one he had upgraded, offered only minimal protection against prolonged assaults from certain creatures. Immediate danger would have to be avoided rather than confronted with brute force.
The chat also revealed a crude but highly informative standardization system emerging from experience.
From the messages, he began to understand the monster ranking system. Monsters were categorized as normal, elite, rare, epic, and beyond. Normal monsters were equivalent to white-tier ships blueprints—basic weapons could harm them, but nothing more. White-tier weapons could not significantly damage elite monsters( equivalent to green tier), let alone rare or epic ones. A weapon could only do full damage if it was at or above the monster's level; otherwise, it could inflict some minor damage only if the monster's level was no more than two levels higher than the weapon's.
The chat also clarified how monsters were related to ship tiers. A white tier weapon was only Effective against normal monsters(white tier) It had no effect on Elite monsters(green tier) and so forth, In simple terms a higher tire blueprint was always better .
Secondly The Blueprint/Weapon level also Affected the damage costs to a monster . A level 1 weapon could kill a level 1, harm or even kill level 2 monsters and slightly harm level 3 monsters,; but level 4 or higher would be mostly immune. In simple terms a weapon can only harm a monster up to a maximum of two levels above the level of the weapon no more than that .
Aston realized that even upgraded white-tier weapons, like his X-Ray Ion Laser, were mostly effective against normal monsters, and could barely affect stronger ones. Using a white-tier weapon in a higher danger zone would be almost suicidal.
He also learned that the galaxy was divided into zones, each with a different danger rating and resource density. He discovered he was in what the chat referred to as the White Zone, a relatively safe region abundant with beginner-level minerals but also home to the most common threats. Higher-ranked zones—green, blue, purple—offered rarer and more valuable resources but demanded far greater preparedness. The chat indicated that the quality of resources scaled with the danger of the area: the more dangerous the zone, the rarer and more lucrative the minerals, metals, and materials one could find, but also the higher the probability of encountering deadly creatures.
Aston pieced together another key insight: most attacks occurred when captains underestimated monsters or ventured beyond their ship's tier limits. Even normal monsters could be deadly if the ship's sensors and weapons were weak or slow.
From the chat, Aston also gleaned operational details about the monsters themselves. Adult insect-type creatures, often encountered in asteroid belts, had predictable behaviors: they moved in swarms, prioritized vulnerable hulls, and could inflict cumulative damage that eventually overwhelmed weaker ships.
By the time he finished reading, Aston had a clear understanding. His white-tier weapons and upgraded blueprints were enough for normal mining zones, but he could not rely on them in higher zones. The galaxy was structured around a balance of danger and reward. Resource-rich areas promised valuable metals and materials but were guarded by monsters of increasing rank.
The regional chat made it obvious that his advantages were rare. Most captains could not perform continuous mining because their energy reserves, powered by hydrogen, depleted quickly—one session of mining could use 40 percent of their energy. By comparison, Aston's infinite energy allowed him to mine relentlessly, giving him a massive edge. He also noted that surviving in the White Zone could allow him to build resources safely before venturing into zones with higher-ranked monsters.
Aston closed the chat, letting the information settle. He understood the rules of the galaxy now: the White Zone was safe but limited, higher zones were deadly but rewarding, and white-tier weapons could only harm normal monsters. Anything stronger would require higher-tier blueprints, better systems, and careful planning. Survival was not about strength alone; it was about understanding limits, conserving resources, and making the best use of the tools at hand.