Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1393
Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao said, "There is a reason why I suggest Fellow Cultivator Jin repair your hands with liquid metals. Tell you the truth, I have a very special production plan of liquid metals, which is a top secret among the top secrets and cannot be provided to Fellow Cultivator Jin easily. However, I can supply Fellow Cultivator Jin with the liquid metals after they are produced. Trust me, the enhancement of such a new strengthened external skeleton will be much better than the traditional rigid external skeleton!"
Li Yao was not exaggerating.
The new liquid alloy was not his invention either. His main focus was the design and modification of crystal suits, and he did not have a profound understanding of material science, the purification of metals, and other fundamental disciplines.
The production plan of such a liquid metal was come up with by Professor Mo Xuan.
Professor Mo Xuan lost his body of flesh and blood in the laboratory explosion more than a hundred years ago and turned into weird "Phantom Entities" together with his four disciples. Later, due to the radiations of the cosmic storm, their self-awareness and their memories of the past were awakened, and they evolved into "star spirits".
During the process when they evolved into the star spirits, their souls were somehow melted with the liquid metal repairers on the starship, which gave them a very unique artificial body made of liquid metals.
Although their bodies became liquid metals, Professor Mo Xuan and his four disciples had been persisting in their dream of refining. In a time span of a hundred years, they had been refining and experimenting on liquid metals repetitively, hoping to produce body materials that were more sensitive to spiritual energy, faster in condensing and melting, and more suitable for refining.
What they eventually got was a new material named "Water Soft Crystal", which could fully carry out the characteristics of the liquid metals, which were both hard and soft and full of variations.
The experiment data of the liquid metal materials in the hundred years had all been sealed in the enormous heritage and delivered to Li Yao and the mental devil.
That was why Li Yao was confident that he could solve Master Jin Tianzong's problem.
Of course, both the ancient medical fluids that could cure the hands and the rare metals and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures needed to produce the "Water Soft Crystal" were precious ingredients that were hard to come by.
Li Yao estimated that even Queen Li Linghai had to spend at least a couple of months searching for all the materials.
However, after raising such enticing conditions, he could win Master Jin Tianzong's trust immediately.
If Master Jin Tianzong and he could monopolize the maintenance of the magical equipment of all the super experts among the "reformists" as two cores, wouldn't there be a lot of room that he could take advantage of?
"Of course, none of this comes free."
Li Yao did not want to raise the suspicion of Master Jin Tianzong and other refiners by being too generous. He simply said with a smile, "But I do trust Fellow Cultivator Jin's integrity. I believe that you will certainly offer a price that will attract me, say, applying Fellow Cultivator Jin's 'hybrid' design to my crystal suit, or giving me a hand when I craft large magical equipment, right?"
Master Jin Tianzong's throat was rolling fast.
For a man who had melted the refining arts into his blood and soul, who had offered his entire life to the furnace as a sacrifice, and who was ambitious enough to challenge the entire circle of refiners, could he have given a second answer except "yes"?
What happened next was within Li Yao's expectation.
His astonishing performance in the maintenance workshop completely disrupted Li Linghai's arrangements.
At first, Li Linghai was still pondering how she should settle Li Yao.
The participation of a warrior in the Divinity Transformation Stage was certainly a good thing, but she wondered if Li Yao should have access to the most central personnel and secrets when he was not on a mission.
However, now that Li Yao had proved him to be not only a warrior in the Divinity Transformation Stage but also an excellent refiner who was on par with Master Jin Tianzong in terms of level and even much better than him in terms of practical operations, the situation was entirely different.
Besides, Li Yao had proved that he was not from the Imperium through his incredible refining arts, which indirectly suggested that everything he said was true.
Of course, Li Linghai did spend like thirty seconds considering if Li Yao was a spy from the Covenant Alliance.
However, Li Linghai had never heard that the Covenant Alliance, which had suffered a crushing defeat in the past ten years against the Imperium, boasted such an extraordinary person as "Vulture Li Yao" who was as remarkable in fighting as he was in refining.
Such a man would play an irreplaceable role wherever he went. Why would he have been sent to the enemy's rear alone as a spy in such a preposterous way?
Although Li Linghai was not entirely reassured about Li Yao yet, she did reach a conclusion after quick calculations, which was that the value Li Yao could provide far exceeded the insignificant suspicions about him.
As the leader of the "reformists" who intended to overthrow the four Kurfürst families' reign of the Imperium despite the small chances, Li Linghai was a wild gambler, and she took a wild gamble regarding the use of Li Yao.
While his identity of "personal guard" remained unchanged, Li Yao was added with a rather absurd new identity—the queen's personal magical equipment consultant.
The identity that equaled "deputy director of magical equipment in the Deep Sea Fleet" would allow Li Yao to gain access to the top confidential magical equipment projects in the Deep Sea Fleet as well as the crystal suits of most of the leadership. He was almost on the same level as Master Jin Tianzong.
In any organization, two masters of refining with similar capabilities would be more or less in conflicts.
It was especially so when Li Yao had assumed a high place as a newcomer. It was inevitable that he gave the feeling that he had stolen somebody else's power.
At such a moment, the two "gifts" that he offered played a vital role.
Master Jin Tianzong was not very passionate about power or fame in the first place but was completely dedicated to his project of "hybrid crystal suits".
Before, when he looked at his wounded hands that bordered on completely destroyed, there had been little hope in the heart of Master Jin Tianzong, who was only catching his last breath.
But Li Yao's arrival poured a bucket of hot oil on the flames in his heart, making him see the light of hope clearly again.
Master Jin Tianzong was still counting on Li Yao to repair his hands for him. Why would he fight for power with Li Yao at such a moment?
Therefore, their cooperation had been rather smooth and neat since the first day.
Despite the disabilities, Jin Tianzong was one of the best specialists in refining in the Imperium of True Human Beings after all, and he had been formally educated in the Imperial Polytechnical University. His head was almost an encyclopedia of the magical equipment in the Imperium. Li Yao couldn't help but feel that he had entered a mountain of eye-opening treasures, and he just couldn't dig out enough of them.
Also, when Li Yao casually mentioned the ideas or the structure designs that he got from the ancient Cultivators or the Kunlun relic, Jin Tianzong was secretly shocked too, and he felt more and more that the mysterious expert "Vulture Li Yao" whom the queen had hired from he did not know where was too immeasurable.
Chapter 2181: Deep Sea Palace |
With their cooperation, the maintenance work of the Tempest God was pushed forward fast. The preliminary maintenance procedures had been drafted in only half a day.
The maintenance and adjustment work of the crystal suits also moved on smoothly.
Li Linghai had opened almost all the maintenance clearances on the crystal suits in the Deep Sea Fleet.
Experts such as Tu Zhengdao also came to visit Li Yao, asking Li Yao to help them adjust their crystal suits earnestly.
After all, the crystal suit was the Exo's life. On the battlefield, even an improvement of 1% in performance would significantly increase the final odds of survival.
In only one day, Li Yao had got in touch with more than thirty most advanced high-level crystal suits.
Through their crystal suits, he made acquaintances with the myriad of experts and commanders in the Deep Sea Fleet and grew a profound understanding of their battle styles and basic levels according to the tiny scratches on their crystal suits and their own narrations.
Master Jin Tianzong observed Li Yao's adjustments on the crystal suits carefully nearby. After watching Li Yao adjust more than thirty crystal suits in different styles and models, he was completely awed by the dexterity and precision of Li Yao's hands. After the day's work was done, he offered to present a lot of structural designs of the "hybrid crystal suit" for Li Yao to study.
It was exactly what Li Yao wanted.
However, after studying them carefully for a night, Li Yao could tell why Master Jin Tianzong's research stagnated.
The design of "hybrid crystal suits" was too advanced after all, with too many complicated rune arrays and structures, which meant that they absolutely could not be manufactured on a large scale under current technological circumstances.
In many cases, the precision demand on many details was appallingly 0.05 threads, which was not only beyond the abilities of the tools on the assembly lines but also barely possible for experienced refiners with their manual work.
The crystal reactor, on the other hand, was the most important unit on the crystal suit. Even an error of 0.1 threads might result in the loss of control, paralysis, and even the explosion of the crystal suit.
No wonder the Imperial Polytechnical University scorned at Master Jin Tianzong's design, and he even lost his reputation in the entire circle of refiners, who regarded him as a liar fishing for fame.
It also explained why Master Jin Tianzong offered the structure designs that he deemed most valuable to Li Yao the first day they met. That was because only Li Yao's astonishing hand speed and senses could possibly produce the special components and the ultra-thin chips that Master Jin Tianzong needed.
"Fellow Cultivator Li, I have tried all the methods possible, and they all failed."
Brilliance as thick as magma was spurting out of Master Jin Tianzong's eyes, and thick veins were wandering on the back of his hands, his neck, and his forehead. He was almost roaring as he said, "Right now, your hands are my only hope! I believe that fate has sent you here, and the experiment this time will definitely be a success! Let's join our hands and shock all the refiners of the Imperium!"
…
Twelve hours later, in the test field for crystal suits on Dragon Abyss, three crystal suits were fighting fiercely in three streaks of brilliance; one red, one yellow, and one black. Occasionally, ripples of spiritual energy were raised in collisions and spread to the defense rune arrays around the test field like overwhelming tides, causing deafening noises.
In the battle, the two crystal suits that were surrounded by yellow and black haloes were attacking the red crystal suit from the left and the right at the same time.
But the red crystal suit was not intimidated by the opponent's aggressive and incessant attacks. It was simply wandering between the two opponents at ease.
The red crystal suit was tall, heavy, and thick, with a highly-rising protrusion on the back. It was a standard heavy crystal suit.
However, as the crimson exhaust flames spurted out dazzlingly, its movement was as unpredictable as a ghost and as agile as a butterfly that was hovering among flowers.
It was not stalled by the two opponents at all. Instead, taking advantage of the flawed teamwork of the two opponents, it dodged to the opponents' back and used them as its shield again and again.
Aooooo!
The opponent in the yellow crystal suit finally could not withstand such "tease" anymore. In crazy roars, his body expanded nonstop, and even the Cosmos Rings embedded to the crystal suit spurted out even more units and components, which were gathered by the electromagnetic forces and made the crystal suit even bigger, fiercer, and more hideous. The sharp battle spurts appeared on the shoulders, the breastplate, the elbows, and the knees, truly making it look like a fully-armored, dominating crab!
Exhaust flames that looked like a tsunami burst out of the back of the black crystal suit too, improving its level to a higher level. Almost a hundred blurred shadows trapped the red crystal suit tightly.
The glittering "crab" was about to pinch the red crystal suit's arms with its "pincers".
The super-alloy high-frequency vibration blade in the hands of the black crystal suit was also slashed at the spiritual energy tube at the back of the red crystal suit from bottom to top sordidly.
Either of the attacks from the two crystal suits would be enough to cripple the red crystal suit if they hit the target.
The red crystal suit, however, was enshrouded into a dazzling ball of lightning by the exhaust flames that spurted out of its body crazily.
The deafening noises raised by the ball of lightning even stunned the two crystal suits that were performing the attack for a moment.
In the middle of the roaring lightning, countless streaks of brightness split apart and dodged all the attacks from the two crystal suits at ease, only to condense again at the back of the yellow crystal suit.
One heavy and aggressive kick, as unstoppable as the barrage of the main guns of a crystal warship, hit the waist of the yellow crystal suit brutally, blowing the plate armor into pieces immediately. The crystal suit that weighed several tons crashed into the defense rune arrays like a kite whose string had been cut off. Taking advantage of the moment when the broken pieces disrupted the vision and probe the magical equipment of the black crystal suit, the red crystal suit sprinted forward. The brilliance condensed by spiritual energy pierced into the chest of the black crystal suit like a bloodred saber, and flames entangled the black crystal suit like crimson vipers, completely paralyzing every rune array on the surface of the black crystal suit!
The yellow crystal suit collapsed to the ground, unable to rise again, with sparks spurting out crazily. Lubricants and the user's blood were everywhere on the ground.
The black crystal suit kept the attacking posture, like a statue that had been frozen, and did not fall until three seconds later.
BOOM!
The red crystal suit had serious faults after crushing the two formidable enemies in the counterattack. Fulminations burst out of the highly-rising unit on the back, and disgusting black smoke popped up too.
Shua! Shua! Shua!
The yellow crystal suit and the black crystal suit split apart, and Li Jialing and Tu Zhengdao crawled out of them. They eyed the red crystal suit in disbelief.
The red crystal suit dissected like a blossoming flower too. Li Yao walked out in deep thought.
"Master Jin Tianzong is quite right. The hybrid structure is indeed the next-generation power output pattern that is more advanced than the parallel structure. It represents the future of crystal suits. However, it is indeed technologically tricky to craft them. This prototype has been worked on by Master Jin Tianzong for years and polished by me carefully, but it is still not steady enough. Faults were already happening when I just moved it casually. What do you think?"
Li Yao looked at Tu Zhengdao and Li Jialing, who were sweating hard, their chests moving up and down quickly.
"I think you are a monster," Tu Zhengdao panted and said.
Li Jialing shook his furry big head and nodded heavily.
Right then, the starship slightly shivered, and there was a brief slowdown.
The "Deep Sea Palace", the nest of the Deep Sea Fleet and home camp of Queen Li Linghai, was not far away!
…
On the bridge of Dragon Abyss, Li Yao and Li Jialing observed the broken, ragged planet that had almost been entirely modified into machines on Li Linghai's left and right sides respectively.
The planet was somewhat similar to the "Ice King Project" that Li Yao had seen in the Flying Star Sector. The purpose of the project was to hollow an entire planet, install a great number of power rune arrays, and transform it into an enormous star fortress.
The Ice King Project of the Flying Star Sector originated from a magnificent project of the Star Ocean Imperium. The planetary fortress that had been highly modified was left from the age of the Star Ocean Imperium too.
Otherwise, with the technological power of the Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector at that time, it was absolutely impossible to perform such grand and complicated modifications on a planet.
The small planet at the edge of the cosmos was certainly not the only target involved in the magnificent projects of the Star Ocean Imperium.
The planet that Li Jialing used as her nest had been through similar modifications, and the modifications were even more thorough. More than 80% of the surface of the planet had been mechanized and militarized and could be used for real battles.
But it too was heavily damaged in the bloody battles ten thousand years ago, like a skull that was hollowed and riddled with holes.
The planet and the vast space zones around were not recorded in any space map of the Imperium. Barely anyone knew their existence.
They had spent the past ten thousand years in silence and loneliness deep inside the dark and profound universe.
However, in the recent century, and especially in the recent thirty to fifty years, countless rebels who were discontented, ambitious, and hated the authorities of the Imperium had come to this place, excavating the spaceports, arsenals, and relics from the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago. They had also recruited the highly dangerous schemers and desperadoes from everywhere and built the place into an impenetrable base together!
