Chapter 75: Shang and the Do Kun Stone
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The chaotic sight of the base made Ye Chong give up the enticing idea, and took off into the night with the Harmony of the Winter Aria.
Ye Chong did not disturb Grandpa Qian’s sleep as he tiptoed back to his room. The civilian locks used in the house were a piece of cake for Mu, who could access the Ji family’s base easily. Ye Chong was only taking advantage of the mech’s abilities!
Once back home, Ye Chong deployed the Harmony of the Winter Aria and was all over the mech, poking here and there, entirely fascinated with it!
Harmony of the Winter Aria!
Ye Chong had increased the height of the ceiling for Mu some time back - if it was not for this, Harmony would have had to crouch in the room to avoid going through the roof, for it was 12 meters tall! The dim blue and ivory white alternating hues had a strong modern technological feel to it, a masterful combination between science and art! The four double-folded wings on the back were like the wings of a large bird, enabling a more stable and easier flight in the atmosphere. The nifty double-folded design meant that the four broad wings only occupied a small space. The edges of the wings shone like the edge of a knife, and one can imagine the effects of impact from the mech’s speedy flight - even slight contact with the wings could split flesh and bones.
The usually calm and quiet Ye Chong was mightily excited by Harmony’s accessories - his expression bloomed like a flower, surprising Mu!
The plasma shield on its left arm could easily deflect pure energy-based attacks such as from lasers and heat rays. For short-ranged mechs, this was the most basic measure against long-ranged attack models. Harmony also had a laser sword. While a laser sword is a formidable weapon, it was also highly energy consuming. Thus, the effectiveness of the sword is linearly dependent on the capacity of the weapon’s energy cells. The energy cells for the laser sword of the Harmony could last for six hours under maximum capacity of attack!
The laser sword may be formidable, but it was not the Harmony of the Winter Aria’s main weapon!
Blue Winter was the name of the archaic lance provided by the photon processor. However, Ye Chong was not particularly interested in the weapon. While he was slightly intrigued by the material of the weapon, its other features did not appeal to him. An archaic lance? A UF magnetic sword [1] would be far more practical. After all, he had never learned how to use an archaic lance! However, the lance was very sharp - it can even penetrate the armour of Black Cove’s war mech!
The two auto lock-on double-edged shurikens were Ye Chong’s favourite. Their speed could go up to Mach 10, and were designed much like the magnetic sword. Ye Chong could imagine the effects of hitting the target with their high rotational speed - the enemy’s mech would fly off in pieces. The wounds left behind would be neither clean nor neat; instead, they would be irregular holes. With the addition of the micro photon processor equipped within, enabling its auto target lock-on mechanism, the weapon can well function on its own after deployment.
The Ji family was famous for their photon processors, and the Harmony of the Winter Aria’s photon processor was of an exceptional standard. However, the massive amount of information involved demanded a certain level of expertise from its pilot.
The Harmony of the Winter Aria was also equipped with hummingbird detection devices - up to 5 mechanical hummingbirds could be released into the air, and the maximum scanning radius could reach up to 160.6 kilometers.
Ye Chong could not help but gasp in admiration, "Mu, this mech is amazing! Ah, is this why you brought me there? How did you know there was such a mech there? Ah, too bad about the red-silver mech, if only I could bring it back somehow. That mech is probably as good as this one!" He was fine with not having the red-silver mech to himself, but the thought of not damaging the mech before leaving filled him with regret!
Mu was silent throughout their journey home.
Mu spoke with great sympathy, "Poor Ye, as expected, you still fall within the 9 percent probability of not guessing the state of affairs correctly. However, based on your intelligence, this is but a very common situation!"
Mu’s human-like and odd tone surprised Ye Chong, and he immediately realised what was happening. "You’re not Mu! You’re that …"
Mu spoke in amazement, "Not bad, Ye. That’s right, I’m Shang! From now on, he’s called Mu, and I’m called Shang! This is the result of our communication. While I was initially weaker than him by 8 to 11.5 percent, but this difference in strength is gradually narrowing. Now, I am only 5 percent weaker than him, he can no longer suppress me. Of course, the same goes for me, and so we have reached an agreement for each other’s names and schedule of taking over this mech’s consciousness."
"He is stronger than me," Shang spoke without reserve, "that is without question. His period of taking over should be longer than mine. Based on our calculations, his period will be longer than mine by a tenth. We had decided on ten days as a cycle, which means that starting today, I will be taking over the mech for ten days, and after that, Mu will take over. Of course, his period will be eleven days."
Ye Chong gaped at the mech, as though he had heard a most unbelievable story.
Shang was indifferent. "No need to be so shocked, our understanding of each other is much more than your understanding of us. It is only natural for us to reach this agreement!"
Ye Chong thought of Mu’s words from before, and found that Shang and him were actually not much different, and would not do him harm.
Shang seemed to read his thoughts. "Don’t worry, Mu and I use the same information database, there’s no need to fret over this matter. The only difference between Mu and I is our performance. Mu is better at calculations, while my forte is emotion analysis. As for other aspects, we are identical, including all matters related to you!"
Shang’s long string of words made Ye Chong felt very, very uncomfortable!
Ye Chong asked, "Shang, you just said I guessed wrong. Could it be that Mu did not go to the base for this mech?"
Shang replied lazily, "Of course not. While the Harmony of the Winter Aria’s performance is not bad, it is only slightly better than the white mech and Black Cove’s war mech, and still too limited. It has a fine name, but why would Mu risk you for this mech? His objective is this!" Shang produced the ore found at the very bottom of the basement. Back then, Ye Chong was anxiously making the initial settings for the Harmony and did not notice Mu’s actions.
Ye Chong held the ore in his hands, curious at the rock about twice the size of his fist.
The colours changed constantly, glimmering like moving liquid, and none could fail to notice the curiosity. It felt heavy and a little warm in his palms, its smooth surface like the skin of a young lady, soothing to the touch. At least, that was how Shang described it. Making Ye Chong understand a young lady’s skin would be harder than producing two PSI [2] in the same photon processor.
"What is this thing?" Ye Chong asked, intrigued.
"The Do Kun stone, academically known as Platini. Its composition is complicated, no one has been able to work out its exact constituents till today. Of course, the main reason for that is that it is extremely rare! It has rather unique properties, and while the material’s own physical properties are not that outstanding, it is uniquely suited as an enhancer. With just a little of the Do Kun stone mixed into an alloy, the alloy material’s properties can be greatly enhanced!"
Ye Chong listened intently. Whether it was the Do Kun stone or Platini ore, he had only heard of them for the first time today.
"The tip of Harmony’s archaic lance was made with a little Do Kun stone mixed in. If not for that, you would not have penetrated the armour of the Black Cove war mech. Today, the lance can breach the armour of more than 95 percent of the mechs out there in the world! And the Harmony of the Winter Aria’s advantage over the Black Cove war mech is due to this archaic lance, because its tip has some Do Kun stone mixed in!"
Ye Chong did not imagine that the archaic lance that he easily dismissed was the quintessence of the Harmony of the Winter Aria!
Shang spoke sarcastically, "Too bad none in the Ji family recognised the Do Kun stone, or they would not have carelessly stored this precious material in the basement. Besides, the amount of Do Kun stone in the lance was too far off the mark from the ideal material proportion, what a monumental waste!"
Ye Chong could not help but asked, "So this Do Kun stone is that amazing?"
"As far as I know, there’s more it can achieve!"
"The Do Kun stone also has a property known to very few!" Shang paused at that, as if teasing Ye Chong.
Ye Chong was thoroughly absorbed, and asked, "What property?"
Seeing that he had achieved the goal of hooking Ye Chong’s interest, Shang did not delay his explanation any further, "The Do Kun stone’s most astonishing property is its capacity for self regeneration. Self generation if a fundamental capacity of all living organisms, and for the Do Kun stone as well, but the latter is not a living organism! Of course, its self generating process is far slower than that of the living organisms, its mass increasing by only about 2.3064 percent over a century."
Ye Chong was unimpressed. "Ah, that’s not very useful, only 2 percent for every hundred years is way too slow!"
"Self generation is naturally slow, but if you artificially cultivate it, its rate of generation can be significantly increased! Up to a most impressive level! You should know that the Do Kun stone is definitely one of the top five most previous minerals, even a grain of the material is worth a good many gold zuan! I have no idea how the Ji family obtained such a large piece of Do Kun stone, their ignorance is a pity and a blessing for us!" Shang spoke with a hint of sarcasm.
"Gold zuan? Not interested!" Ye Chong was deflated and a little disappointed.
Shang knew exactly what would entice Ye Chong, and tossed the carrot. "As far as I know, up till now, the best performing mechs have their armour mixed in with Do Kun stone. Hehe, there’s also some black gold mixed in. Against this alloy material, no mech, not even the Black Cove’s or the MPA’s white mech, can stand against it!"
"Really?" Ye Chong was pleasantly surprised.
Translator's Thoughts
Zenobys Zenobys
[1] UF magnetic sword: Ultrafrequency magnetic sword. A weapon that can cause damage via a very high frequency wave.
[2] PSI: photon simulated intelligence, or the consciousness that arises from the photon processor.