Is Unlocking the Stellaris Tech Tree in Star Rail Really Okay? [328]

The Next Day.

Early Morning.

As the first light of dawn broke, the scholars of the academy were just beginning to rise. However, Jing Yuan had already prepared the necessary warship and assembled the support troops.

At this moment, he stood at the docking area before the Jade Gate, watching as the well-equipped Cloud Knights and craftsmen from the Artisans’ Guild boarded the ship one by one.

Standing beside him was not Yanqing but Chen Lin’s young apprentice—Li Sushang.

"Uncle, why isn’t Master here yet?"

The phrase itching for action perfectly described Sushang’s state of mind today.

It was simple—going on an expedition with seasoned veterans, earning merits in battle on foreign soil—this had always been her dream.

And today, this rookie soldier had actually been granted the chance to march alongside the main force. Even more exciting was the news that her very own Master was leading the expedition!

Who are we fighting? How many do I get to kill? How should I kill them?

Sushang was practically trembling with excitement. Her greatsword was already thirsting for battle. If she could, she would charge onto the battlefield right this moment, swinging her weapon with reckless abandon.

Jing Yuan glanced at Sushang with mild amusement, then nodded slightly and checked the time. "He should be here soon."

The moment his words fell, a small black dot appeared in the distant sea of clouds. The dot grew larger and larger, and before long, a vessel docked at the port.

Two figures disembarked from the star skiff—it was none other than Chen Lin and the Master Diviner, Fu Xuan.

"Master—huh? Why are you grabbing my head?"

"Don’t move. Let me have a look."

Sushang had originally wanted to greet her master with the proper etiquette befitting a disciple. After all, this was her very first Master! But just as she called out to him and was about to bow, he grabbed her head before she could even complete the gesture.

Hearing his command, she dared not resist. She weakly let out an “Oh…” and obediently stood still.

Truth be told, Sushang’s presence here was entirely orchestrated by Chen Lin. She was his first apprentice, after all. If there was an opportunity to train her, how could he possibly let it slip away? So, he had asked Jing Yuan to drag her out of the barracks and bring her along.

Chen Lin’s fingers rested on her head, warm like jade. His lips twitched slightly, his eyes filled with doubt.

Because, despite this little apprentice having clear potential for psychic cultivation, a whole year had passed, and she showed no signs of awakening her psionic talent.

"You have been studying what I gave you, haven’t you?"

"Of course I have!"

Sushang lifted her chin slightly and answered truthfully, "Master, the technique you gave me works wonders as a sleep aid! My energy and spirit have never been better!"

Chen Lin: "…"

I see. So you’re well-rested, and that’s why you feel energized? That has absolutely nothing to do with psionic abilities…

Sushang quickly noticed that Chen Lin’s expression wasn’t quite right. Realizing that her progress might be slightly disappointing, she nervously pressed her lips together and tried to explain, "Master, it’s not that I’m not taking it seriously—I just don’t understand any of it!"

As she spoke, she fidgeted with her fingers, her pupils trembling as if recalling something truly terrifying.

"What even is a Riforian Indeterminate Formula? Or a Pavich Mental Transmutation Model…? Every individual character and number makes sense on its own, but when put together, my head starts spinning. No matter how I look at it, it’s all just a jumble of nonsense… Master, I really can’t tell them apart!"

"Stop right there."

Chen Lin pressed a hand over her mouth, hesitated for a moment, and sighed. "I see what the problem is now. The issue isn’t you—it’s me. I didn’t explain it to you properly."

When he handed Psionic Theory to Li Sushang, he had overlooked something crucial.

Most of the people Chen Lin had met along his journey were natural prodigies. Even Seele, who barely had any formal education, had awakened her psionic potential on her own thanks to the Great Awakening’s surge. That same surge not only unlocked her latent abilities but also revealed her hidden academic genius.

But Sushang was different.

She hadn’t benefitted from the Great Awakening’s blessings. While she had an extraordinary gift for martial arts, tackling psionic theory—laden with advanced mathematical and scientific concepts—was a completely different beast.

In the past, her poor academic performance had even earned her the nickname Li the Pillow from exasperated scholars.

Expecting her to self-study Psionic Theory was simply… too much.

If anyone could pull that off, it would probably be Que’er.

Yeah… Que’er might actually be able to teach herself psionic theory…

"After this mission, you’re coming with me to Belobog for a while," Chen Lin declared. "I’ll arrange for someone to teach you the fundamentals of ‘mind techniques.’ Once you’ve mastered them, then you can focus on your swordsmanship."

"Oh…"

Sushang didn’t dare object. Though her Master’s mind techniques felt like indecipherable nonsense to her, she knew that he was as powerful as he was because he had mastered them. If she wanted to inherit his legacy, she had to study them seriously.

Besides, the martial traditions of the Xianzhou were strict and deeply ingrained—obedience to one’s master was absolute.

A disciple’s respect for their Master was no mere formality.

"Master" means "teacher" and "father."

A disciple must always treat their Master with the utmost reverence. Their master’s command was as weighty as a parent’s. As long as it did not violate the Ten Heinous Crimes, a disciple had to obey their Master’s every instruction—without question!

And truthfully, Sushang did want to grow stronger. She understood that her Master was merely fulfilling his duty, and as his disciple, she had to endure whatever hardship came her way.

Clapping her cheeks to steel herself, she made a silent vow:

I absolutely cannot fall asleep this time!

With Sushang’s future training settled, Chen Lin and Jing Yuan conducted a simple handover for the warship and its stationed Cloud Knights.

From this moment forward, the ship and everyone aboard it were under Chen Lin’s direct command.

Until they returned, Jing Yuan was no longer their leader. The authority now lay with Chen Lin, the one holding the command token.

"If you encounter danger, you can contact me through the Jade Talisman," Jing Yuan instructed. "I will dispatch reinforcements as quickly as possible. If you need guidance, consult Diviner Fu—but act with extreme caution!"

"Understood."

The warship that Jing Yuan had assigned to Chen Lin was none other than the tower ship he had once taken to Jarilo-VI.

Onboard were hundreds of craftsmen responsible for maintaining the ship’s various systems, over 170,000 Cloud Knights, more than 5,000 single-pilot combat star skiffs, and an array of high-powered energy-based ship-grade weapons…

That alone would be enough to wage war against a regular civilization…

And yet, Luofu had over thirty of these warships. Who knew how many more were hidden away?

One thing was certain—among the many civilizations of this universe, the Xianzhou people ranked at the very top when it came to martial prowess.

At last, after half an hour, all preparations were complete. The Ship accelerated, sailing out of Jade Gate and disappearing from Jing Yuan’s sight.

However, he did not turn to leave. Instead, he stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the countless star skiffs moving in and out of Jade Gate, completely still.

Several minutes later, the sound of unmasked footsteps suddenly echoed behind him. Jing Yuan kept his eyes closed as if resting.

The smile on his face faded slightly as he spoke in a calm tone.

"All Xianzhou arrivals must submit entry documents to the Divination Division. Once approved, they are forwarded to the Artisianship Division for a qualification review. Finally, the Cloud Knight Office issues entry permits for all foreign visitors. I wonder… do you have the necessary documents to prove your legal entry? If not, I’m afraid the next stop for you will be the Prison."

"Oh, I do! Whatever documents you need, I have them all. That’s no big deal."

Pop!

Jing Yuan turned around just in time to see a bubble burst in the air.

The girl who had been blowing it flashed him a peace sign, her expression playful.

A smile crept back onto Jing Yuan’s face.

Though, this time, it failed to mask the sharp, murderous glint in his eyes.

"First-class fugitive of the IPC, core member of the Stellaron Hunters—Silver Wolf. Last time, I pretended not to see you. This time… I don’t recall inviting a Stellaron Hunter to Luofu for a visit."

"Hey, hey, hey—no need to be hostile! I didn’t come here to pick a fight, and I’m definitely not here to cause trouble."

Seeing Jing Yuan suddenly unsheath his blade, Silver Wolf immediately stopped chewing her bubblegum and raised both hands in surrender.

"I’m just looking for a job. I want you to be my referral. As for payment… how about I help you completely dismantle the IPC’s branch office here in Luofu? Fair enough?"

"…?"

"I’ll take the fall for it. I’ve wrecked plenty of companies before—no one will suspect you. So? What do you think?"

Jing Yuan was utterly baffled. "A job? You? What kind of job are you even looking for?"

"One under Chen Lin, of course." Silver Wolf shrugged, rolling her eyes as she muttered, "That guy’s security is insane. Elio wants me to work for him for a while. But as you can probably guess, my reputation makes that impossible. There are checkpoints everywhere, scanning every ship that comes and goes. Seriously—who needs that many security checks?"

Just thinking about it made Silver Wolf furious.

She had always come and gone freely between civilizations, slipping past any firewall with her Ether Editing abilities.

But when she arrived at Jarilo-VI?

That was the first time it had failed her. The system there was split into an intranet and an extranet—extranet for external communications, intranet exclusively for Jarilo-VI citizens. All incoming digital records were stored in the intranet.

Every time Silver Wolf tried tweaking something to sneak her way in, the moment her intrusion was detected, the system immediately booted her out.

After half a year of failed attempts, she was at her wit’s end. She had even messaged Elio, demanding to know whether this mission was really meant for her. But all he ever said was: Keep trying.

Then, just recently—after yet another failed attempt to breach Jarilo-VI’s intranet—while she was in the depths of burnout, Elio had suddenly sent her a message.

Telling her to go to Luofu.

And that was how she ended up here.

After hearing all this, Jing Yuan looked at her with an amused yet exasperated smile. He twirled his finger near his temple.

"You actually think I’d agree?"

Silver Wolf looked completely indifferent. "Nope. I just thought I’d give it a shot. If it works, great. If not, no big deal. It’s not like you can catch me anyway."

---

A galaxy released from the nano nebula—it was called the Tamz System.

It wasn’t far from the main Xianzhou vessel, just next door in cosmic terms. But at normal travel speeds, this ship would take about five to six days to break through the interstellar spatial bubble and reach the Tamz System’s interior.

Fortunately, Chen Lin had made a trip back to Belobog and borrowed a prototype device from Clara.

This device could help spacecraft locate hyperspace pathway rupture points. As long as the Ship reached the right coordinates, Chen Lin could manually force it into hyperspace travel, cutting down the time needed to breach the spatial bubble.

Even so, reaching the hyperspace jump point was expected to take another two full days and nights.

There were still flaws in Chen Lin’s current mastery of The Shroud Traversal. He couldn’t teleport to places he had never been to before. Or rather, if a destination didn’t exist in his mind as a known concept, The Shroud simply wouldn’t open a pathway for him.

Otherwise, he could’ve just grabbed a set of coordinates and warped there with his fleet, sparing the Cloud Knights the hassle of accompanying him.

That said, the Imperial Research Institute had recently made progress in developing a simplified version of hyperspace navigation. Now, finding hyperspace rupture points was a trivial task.

This little gadget was just one of the many toys Chen Lin had commissioned them to make.

In addition, he had also provided blueprints for some rudimentary hyperspace engines—tech that he himself had from the start. Chen Lin had no intention of hoarding such basics.

For Jarilo-VI, this kind of technology was too elementary. Sooner or later, they would have to learn it anyway.

People act in pursuit of benefits. That’s even truer when entire civilizations are involved.

The only technologies he considered worthy of being classified under Heaven’s Machination were Tier Two and above.

Basic starting-tier tech?

That was just bait—enough to appease corporations and attract other civilizations into joining the Interstellar Commonwealth. Keeping it under lock and key would only make him seem petty.

Shared interests were the easiest way to bind people together.

And the more people he controlled, the more civilizations he could place under his dominion.

---

Chen Lin stared at his young apprentice with dark lines forming on his forehead.

He had taught plenty of people before, and the results had always been excellent.

But this time…

For the first time, he was beginning to question his own ability to educate.

Fu Xuan, meanwhile, was flipping through a thick book, her expression frosty as ever.

But it had been a long time since she had turned a page.

And every now and then… the corners of her lips twitched upward, as if she were struggling to hold back laughter.

"Master, why does adding this symbol between two numbers make a completely different number and symbol appear?"

"It’s calculated, just like how 1+1=2. This symbol represents multiplication—you take the two numbers, multiply them, then divide the result by the sum of their squared values."

"Oh, oh! I remember now! …Wait, uh… what does ‘divide’ mean again?"

Chen Lin: "…"

Holy hell.

He was this close to cracking open Li Sushang’s skull just to see what the hell was inside.

How could she grasp complex theoretical concepts so easily, but forget every single thing involving numbers?!

He was on the verge of a breakdown.

If only he could just shove all this knowledge directly into her head…

…

Wait.

Chen Lin froze.

His gaze sharpened as he looked at his innocent, clueless little apprentice.

That might actually be an option…

"Master… why are you looking at me like that? You’re scaring me…"

---

This is a fan translation of 在星穹铁道点群星科技树真的没问题吗? by 杏雨诗韵 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!