Chapter 277: Sang Family Village - Battle for Survival III
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There was no communication system, no photon processor, no holographic scanning system, no mechanical arm, no nothing. This was such a bare unit. If it was in the Five Galaxies, Ye Chong would be too embarrassed to show it. Now though, he had no choice.
Ye Chong sat in the pilot cabin, studying the primitive control levers, more than vexed. Was this really a control dashboard? What a joke! How can there be a dashboard without a photon processor?
As the designer, Ye Chong was at least familiar with the control levers.
He tried pulling the lever up, and the machine lifted off silently into the air. The Destiny engine was truly powerful, even in its simplified form. The engine was the part that Ye Chong was happiest with. The performance of a simplified Destiny engine powered by mildstone was much better than he anticipated.
"Good Heavens, it can fly?"
"Is this a mech?" Ye Chong’s helpers all stared in wonder, discussing amongst themselves. They all looked very excited. Mechs were their biggest dreams. No one had thought that the good sir was actually building a mech!
Swish! The mech flew off swiftly like an arrow.
After the initial confusion, Ye Chong quickly got used to handling the control levers. He maneuvered the mech more confidently and easily. The empty sky allowed him to fly without worry.
All in all, Ye Chong was quite satisfied with this flying machine.
The machine’s main strength was its wonderful speed. While he could not exactly measure it, Ye Chong estimated from his experience that it could reach around Mach 15 to Mach 20. This was within the atmosphere. If it was in outer space, Ye Chong believed that it could go even faster.
Another advantage was its ability to change course. The machine was fitted with many auxiliary engines that allowed high motion flexibility in space.
Collision - that was the name Ye Chong had in mind for this flying machine, even if it was not really a mech by any standards. It’s main means of offense was the skeleton spear at its tip, and the attack method was by a collision with the enemy. Ye Chong had prepared two types of skeleton spears for the mech. One was the five-meter long spear fitted on his unit right now. At high speeds, its sharp tip could break through very thick barriers. Ye Chong believed that even Han Jia could be penetrated if it was hit. However, the spear broke easily, and was not suitable for prolonged combat.
The other type of spear was only two meters long, with a thicker shaft, and looked more like a rounded stump. While it could not deal as much damage as the former type of spear, it was harder to break, and suitable to use repeatedly. With Collision’s speed, Ye Chong believed that any mech would suffer a dent from the attack of this spear. It it was a mech with thinner armour, it might even be reduced to a wreckage.
Aside from the spear, Collision also had its four sharply honed skeleton fins.
It was obvious that Collision’s power came from its excellent speed. Without it, the mech would be totally useless. If it was not for the current situation, no one would have built a machine so full of weaknesses. After all, with such a powerful engine, it could be fitted into an actual mech, complete with far superior combat abilities, and not a simple machine like this.
Ye Chong felt helpless in this situation. Given the resources available, building a flying machine was already a huge success. Collision’s cabin was specially reinforced, since attack by collision was a typical self-damaging means of attack.
Ye Chong did not have high hopes on Collision. As long as they can fight on even ground with the steelbats, he would be satisfied. It would be foolish to use the mech to battle against another mech. Collision was too fragile for that.
Ye Chong never imagined that this third-grade flying machine that he built out of desperation, the primitive and backward Collision, would leave its deep mark in the upcoming battle, the legendary war that would be told for generations to come!
If the Sang Family Village was like a bonfire, then the birth of Collision was like feeding the rage of the fire.
The good sir’s following instructions further stoke their emotions to a higher point.
He personally selected the 500 villagers whom Sang Pu had led into the hunting operation to be the first of them all to learn how to fly Collision. Everyone went crazy! They quickly worked on the skeleton parts, hoping to be the next ones to learn to fly Collision. Everyone realised that the dream they always had was now close within their grasps.
The busiest villagers were Sang Fan and his team. If the 500 villagers were to all learn how to fly Collision, then there must be 500 Collision mechs ready for use. Sang Fan received permission from Ye Chong to expand his assembly team to speed up production. As the crew of skeleton carvers grew more familiar with their tasks, the parts began to arrive faster. Collision’s production accelerated every day.
Ye Chong admired the Sang family villagers greatly. They were down-to-earth, hardworking, brave, and disciplined. They were excellent warriors in all respects.
These qualities were apparent from the 500 villagers learning to fly Collision. None of them backed out. They did not fear death, only lack of action. They improved so fast that even Ye Chong was surprised. It was as though they were all talented in flying Collisions. Their hands moved quickly, and they did not suffer any undesirable side effects from flying.
However, Ye Chong quickly realised the reason for this. The villagers were all combat experts. Ye Chong was certain that even a Jie expert from the Five Galaxies would have a hard time facing any of the villagers. The villagers were quick and sensitive, their numerous battles for survival strengthening their determination and mental fortitude. Those were the reasons for their swift improvement.
If it were conventional mechs, they would not have improved so fast. Conventional mechs were far more complicated than Collision. The control dashboard was more convenient for normal mech pilots, allowing them more flexibility in the mech’s movements. However, for the uninitiated like the Sang family villagers, primitive control levers were easier to learn.
The only thing they needed to learn with Collision was how to fly it.
Ye Chong taught them everything he knew, and their performance continued to surprise him. For example, when Ye Chong taught them evasive maneuvers, they quickly came up with their own techniques, and most of them were quite effective. They quickly mastered Collision’s only way of attacking. It occurred to Ye Chong then that if the mechs from the Five Galaxies were to face these villagers in Collision, it would not be an easy battle.
What impressed Ye Chong the most was their cooperation. Ye Chong was not aware of this, but while the villagers approved of individual strength, then did not subscribe to solo heroism. Here, an individual’s strength was too little. Without cooperation, one would live a short life.
The intuition they developed from a long history of fighting together now provided them with a strong advantage. Everyone knew their roles, and what they could do to improve their position. This was intriguing to Ye Chong, since he knew that Collision was not equipped with any communication device.
Time was growing short. The beast stampede continued before the valley in front of the village. The day the steelbats arrived was approaching. However, all the villagers felt confident, as they continued with their tasks.
The second batch of mech pilots to receive training numbered 10,000. Their instructors were the first 500 villagers. Ye Chong handed over the training to Sang Pu, since he noticed that the man was actually an excellent instructor. Sang Pu was more skilled in strategizing and analyzing battles, unlike an amateur like himself.
Everything proceeded as planned. There was Sang Pu for flying instructions, Sang Fan for mech assembly, Sang Rube for engine manufacture, Sang Ling for mech parts, and the village head himself, Sang De for mildstone shaping and mayaberry harvesting. Ye Chong suddenly found himself idle.
He thought of Han Jia with its nearly empty energy cell, and decided that it was time to do something about it. With nonlinear cobalite, Ye Chong planned to insert a teardrop mineralite into Han Jia. He was already very familiar with how to harvest energy from teardrop mineralite, so the modification on Han Jia did not take to long. He was surprised, however, to find that the teardrop mineralite could amplify the power of the Destiny engine.
If Mu and Shang’s theory was right, then this teardrop mineralite could last Han Jia for a century.
Ye Chong really wanted to do some research on this mysterious teardrop mineralite, but he only had two pieces with him, and they were too precious to experiment with.
Now that he was in the mood for research, Ye Chong directed his enthusiasm towards mildstone. Ye Chong thought highly of this mildstone as well. While it was not as powerful as teardrop mineralite, it was still the only mineral here that could store enough energy to power their hopes.
Energy was the core of modern science and technology.
Besides, there was another thing about mildstone that Ye Chong noticed. The last time he accidentally caused a mildstone to explode, he remembered the huge destructive power clearly. Milestone could definitely store a huge amount of energy. If all these energy could be released in a short burst, it would be quite destructive.