Chapter 512: Unexpected Profit III
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Celest had shocked Ye Chong beyond words. It basically overturned everything he believed in about mechs. This mech was new territory.
"Cough cough!" Abruptly, Kui coughed violently, and brought Ye Chong back to the present. He turned to see Kui's chest rising and falling rapidly, his face reddening quickly.
"It's time," Kui smiled at Ye Chong, returning his gaze.
For some reason, Ye Chong felt deeply sorrow for the man. He watched quietly, not knowing what to say.
Kui's expression turned solemn and he spoke, ignoring his condition, "Celest is not invincible, though. There isn't enough time, and it's not quite completed yet. Take off the armor on its leg and have a look."
Ye Chong did as told, and saw exposed metallic structure underneath the black armor. The metal structure was half covered by muscle tissue, but the other half was exposed and shining with a typical metallic glimmer.
"According to the schedule, Celest needs another 15 days to complete. However, I don't have much time left, I can't see it completed." Kui looked at Celest with an unreadable expression. He was equal parts dismayed, regretful, proud and hopeful.
"Take it," Kui smiled at Ye Chong, "Celest is yours, our legacy will live on. You must take care of it, the leg will be its weakest spot. Moreover, maintenance work on Celest will be tricky. You have to study enough biology to know how to do it, or the bio-mech will be useless if it's too heavily damaged. Don't worry about minor scratches since it can heal itself, much like actual living organisms."
"Thank you!" Ye Chong bowed to Kui respectfully.
Kui waved away his gesture, "Don't worry about it. Take care of the mech, and unleash its true potential. And, if you're interested, expand on our work. I will be eternally grateful."
"I will," Ye Chong said. His voice was soft but resolute.
Kui smiled, satisfied. He took out three memory chips and a ring from some hidden corner. "These three chips contain the bulk of the Consortium's research work in three different stages across time. The chips are made of special biological material and have a large memory space. They can only be read with a bio-mech, Celest's bio-photon processor. Haha, all the mechs out there are fakes, to confuse outsiders. This is Celest's dimension keystone. Take it. But first, you have to enter Celest and activate it. Take anything in here that catches your eyes.
"Look," Kui pointed towards the mainframe computer in the lab, "All the information is there. You can check it out yourself. This ring unlocks the information."
Celest's dimension keystone was a simple metal ring. Ye Chong put it on his finger, and the ring tightened immediately like a life animal, latching on to his finger. He could not take it off now.
"The dimension keystone has other features. A lot of our work on spatial science is incorporated into this dimension keystone. You'll find out more when you try it out yourself." Kui was pale as a sheet by now.
"Cough," he coughed out a mouthful of blood.
"It's time," Kui smiled wanly, "I'm so lucky to have met you.
"Live well." Suddenly, Kui fell backwards.
Ye Chong was surprised, and quickly stepped forward to catch him.
Ku had stopped breathing. Ye Chong felt something slippery in his hands. He looked down and found that Kui was already bleeding everywhere. His skin was cracking all over into many tiny slits, where blood began to flow out.
Kui's pulse and breathing stopped.
Ye Chong put him down. Right after that, the man's body immediately burst open like a balloon. His bone and flesh exploded into a mess.
The blue poison was strong, that was for sure. Ye Chong looked at Celest. The bio-mech stood with its eyes closed, like a magnificent warrior. He looked back at Kui's ruined corpse and felt sorrow for him.
The joy of obtaining Celest was dampened by Kui's death. However, Ye Chong recovered quickly, and began to inspect the bio-mech.
The more he looked, the more surprised he was.
He realized then that the Research Consortium was at the forefront of biological sciences.
Celest's pilot cabin was at its chest. Unlike the metallic pilot cabin in normal mechs, Celest had a pilot cabin made of organic material. There were modified plant substrates and compound materials used everywhere in there. The pilot cabin's oxygen supply system was unique. A kind of plant that Ye Chong had never seen before made up its main structure. It could produce large amounts of oxygen, maintaining the balance of air composition in the pilot cabin. The insides of the pilot cabin were covered with these green plants. They exuded a nice, faint scent that was refreshing.
The most interesting part of the mech was its bio-photon processor.
It looked nothing like any of the photon processors that Ye Chong had seen before. The object was a semi-transparent hemisphere, suspended on top of the main control console, made of some unknown material. It was soft like taffy, and malleable as well. For example, it could stretch out into a thin, flat disc to display images.
If a memory chip was put on top of it, the photon processor would engulf the chip and display the information within.
Aside from the usual controls, the photon processor can be accessed directly via brain waves. Placed beside the pilot's seat was a helmet. Through it, the pilot can communicate directly with the photon processor and even control the mech through the helmet.
However, this novel method of using brain waves required the mech pilot to be mentally well trained. Ye Chong felt that a mentalist would be able to better make use of this bio-mech. He himself had no talent in skills of the mental sort.
The weapons were just staggering.
He felt like he was looking at a weapons exhibition. There were all sorts of them, from archaic weapons to modern laser based weapons. There were too many for the mind to absorb. The weapons were mostly in black and red. It seemed that the researchers had put in a lot of effort to make the weapons look matching with Celest. Many of the weapons were either carefully polished or decorated with patterns, mostly out of aesthetics. Longer weapons like the archaic lance and spears were either foldable or could be easily disassembled.
Ye Chong also saw the weapons box that Kui mentioned. It looked like a black colored emergency medical box. On top of the box was a large, red flower. The weapons box had an auto latch that could be secured to a slot on Celest's back. The pack itself could store up to six weapons. When in combat, the weapons could be accessed from the sides of the box, making it very handy.
He picked a black colored lance of archaic design, a dark red colored alloy sword, a diamond shaped shield, a laser cutter, 20 auto lock-on shurikens, and a small sized egg-shaped light grenade launcher.
There was a slot on Celest's wrist, which could hold two parrying spears. Han Jia's daggers were taken, while Celest's original daggers were left behind.
Shang also had a huge makeover. The G-Z was relinquished in exchange for a high accuracy sniper rifle, Pierce. Shang commended its shooting accuracy and impressive rate of fire.
Celest also had a cutting edge engine. It was suitable for both short bursts and long distance flight. The only thing Ye Chong thought regretful was the fact that the engine ran on conventional energy sources.
This was not a big problem. Ye Cong had a few teardrop mineralites on him still. Just one would be enough to solve his problem. Ye Chong had wanted to modify Shang's energy source as well so that he could run on teardrop mineralite. Shang's body structure was unique, and any modifications would require all kinds of equipment. That was an issue that he could not solve before. However, here he was now, in the most advanced laboratory of the Research Consortium. What more could he want?
Han Jia was heavily damage. The mech already had many tiny cracks on its structure in the beginning. After that intense battle in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, it was now close to breaking down. Ye Chong thought that Celest was an impressive mech, but Han Jia was still easier to use. However, upon closer inspection with the equipment around him, Ye Chong found that the mech was now beyond saving. It was not only the exterior that was damaged. The mech's internal parts, such as the engine, were also showing many cracks that he could not hope to repair.
Ye Chong was surprised to find Han Jia so heavily damaged. He knew that the mech was in bad shape, but the severity of it left him taken aback. He had been flying in a mech that could have broken down at any moment. The thought left him with a chill down his spine.
Han Jia was the mech that he had used the longest. All these years, he and the mech had conquered powerful foes here and there. However, it was now time to retire it. Ye Chong suddenly thought of Kui. If Han Jia had a conscious mind, it would probably count itself luckier than Kui.
When Ye Chong realized what he was thinking, he was surprised that such a bizarre idea came to his mind.
He took out the teardrop mineralite in Han Jia. The teardrop mineralite was truly the pinnacle of all energy sources. It remained largely unchanged after such long usage.
Now, Ye Chong faced his next obstacle.
Celest's unique structure presented a challenge. Ye Chong knew little about the bio-mech, much less how to modify its engine to use teardrop mineralite.
He recalled then the bio-photon processor in the pilot cabin.
"Perhaps it's worth a shot," Ye Chong thought to himself. Celest's pilot cabin was at the mech's chest, where the armor was thickest. Ye Chong slipped into the pilot cabin and approached the photon processor. It looked like liquid metal, or a chewy candy. Ye Chong found the photon processor's appearance odd.
Ye Chong held the teardrop mineralite in his hand for a moment, hesitated, then finally placed the mineral on top of the bio-photon processor.
The bio-photon processor engulfed the teardrop mineralite quickly, like a slug eating its meal.
Crack crack crack! There was a series of faint noises. The bio-photon processor glowed suddenly in a rainbow of colors.
"Structure evolution commencing," Ye Chong heard a cold voice spoke.
"Skeleton fortification complete!"
"Structural fortification complete!"
…
The cold voice spoke again and again from the bio-photon processor. The pilot cabin was changing rapidly. The green plants growing along the walls turned a brighter green. The controls altered into a more comfortable texture. The bio-photon processor itself changed the most, the semi-transparent glob now a fully transparent crystalline hemisphere.
Ye Chong still had a shred of calmness left in him. He spoke to the voice, "Commence full inspection of the mech's structure immediately." He needed to have at least a general understand of Celest as soon as possible.
The bio-photon processor replied sternly to Ye Chong's order, "Commencing."
When Ye Chong saw the numbers displayed on the bio-photon processor, now changed into a holographic screen, he was shocked once again.
The teardrop mineralite had been moved to the engine. The original energy storage space was no longer there, having been rendered obsolete by the bio-photon processor in favor of the teardrop mineralite, and therefore relinquished. Celest's incomplete leg grew new tissue quickly, triggered by the vast energy source it received. The bio-mech was now fully completed. Its muscles and the external metal armor fit into each other seamlessly, providing a whole new level of defense.
The original muscle tissue was also triggered to evolve by the teardrop mineralite. Under the bio-photon processor's assessment and modification, Celest's body structure was now enhanced.
Since the armor was also able to absorb energy, it now shined in a polished jet black, like molten black metal.
After some calculations, the bio-photon processor found that the remaining energy in the teardrop mineralite was enough to for Celest to fly for another 62 years. This meant that Ye Chong did not have to worry about its energy source for a long time to come.
It was a pity that there was not enough space around him right now. He would have liked to test the mech.
After that interesting series of changes, Ye Chong did not do anything more to Celest. He had not figured out what happened just now. Celest was a mystery to him. This was new territory to explore. What he did just now was just a lucky guess. He would not try it again.
Shang's modification works were also progressing rapidly. The lab was well equipped, offering advanced machinery that would never be found outside. Shang would have been able to fix his arm had there been enough coraplatinum. Unfortunately, the rare metal was not found in the Consortium's inventory.
Ye Chong regretted it very much. Fixing Shang was his greatest dream. He thought of the huge mass of coraplatinum in the sunken starship in the free space zone, and felt like jumping straight into the sea to get it.
However, even escaping Gray Valley was a problem for him now.
Ye Chong quickly composed himself once more and began to search the lab with Shang.
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Arwa's fleet had entered the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Arwa was not the only one who had been into the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Mech pilots from Gray Valley and the He Yue Galaxy would often brave the journey in their younger days. This risky endeavor offered them combat experience, allowing them to improve faster. More importantly, they would do anything to get the money to fund their journey, be it in mech repairs or buying more advanced mechs. Many of the mech pilots came from a poor background, and had to work dearly for their dreams.
The Calamitous Asteroid Belt was deadly. Almost every mech pilot would hear the same story from their seniors. Nonetheless, many were brave enough to enter the place. Mech pilots would enter either solo or in groups, but they would usually keep near the edges of the asteroid region.
Their mechs were not like Ye Chong's, equipped with almost infinite energy. Hence, they had to stay near the edges. Starships were still the default choice for long distance space travel. No mech can achieve long distance space travelling without a starship.
However, no one had ever heard of a starship entering the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. That would be suicidal! Rocks were flying everywhere in the asteroid belt, enough to destroy even the strongest hulls. With the massive structure of a starship, avoiding the rocks would be impossible. That was what made the journey dangerous.
Entering the asteroid belt with a starship fleet was even more unimaginable.
However, in just a short space of time, two starship fleets had already entered the Calamitous Asteroid Belt.
No one knew if Sir Jay's fleet survived the journey, but now Arwa's fleet was already following his footsteps.
Arwa's experience was not enough to guide him in this journey. He would need his wisdom and trust from his people.
Like Ye Chong, Arwa was not short of followers. The young genius tactician was a hero of the common people. He was widely respected in Gray Valley, especially amongst the middle lower class. Countless young people viewed him as their role model.
Before Jay appeared, Arwa was the most famous young man in Gray Valley. However, Jay's appearance had robbed him of the people's attention. Now, the only person who could be on the same level as Jay was Arwa.
Arwa approved of Jay's assessment of their situation, and later facts came to prove his judgment. His fleet members trusted him even more after that. They called him and Jay as the Twin Stars of Gray Valley. People commended him and Jay, calling them Gray Valley's last hope.
In fact, there were also many people who disagreed with this sentiment, especially Arwa's supporters. They thought that Jay was a genius in truth, but still lacking compared to the experienced Arwa.
Whenever his subordinates vented their frustrations about this, Arwa only smiled.
He knew exactly how strong Jay was! He was a truly formidable opponent. In fact, he believed deep down that of the two of them, Jay was probably more likely to bring everyone to victory.
This was a humbling thought. Arwa was a generous man who thought little of fame and self-interest. However, underneath it all was a sense of pride that few knew about.
This was their first day in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. So far, the fleet progressed slowly and smoothly. No one slacked, however. They all knew that this was just the beginning.
As expected, they faced tremendous pressure on the second day. This was apparent from the casualties they suffered.
Arwa remained calm. Underneath his amiable appearance was a resolute heart. Whenever Xiao Wan watched his not-quite-handsome profile, she would feel a touch sentimental. The man was much wiser beyond his age.
Arwa knew that his fleet had a strong advantage that Jay's fleet lacked.
They had long range weapons.
Jay's fleet had almost no long range weapons. While this allowed him to face the red-tailed beasts more easily, it would render them powerless in the asteroid belt. Arwa's fleet had long range weapons, powerful ones, and this made their journey in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt much easier.
Only large rocks could damage the ship's hull, and their weapons allowed them to destroy these large rocks before they hit.
However, the threat of the Calamitous Asteroid Belt was far more severe than Arwa and his fleet mates could have imagined.
They were not aware of how Jay's fleet had pushed their way through the rocks, creating stronger currents of asteroids in the place that were far more dangerous than before.
It was only on the third day that they came to realize this mistake.