Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 311
"Storm Prison's starship experienced a serious internal explosion. Most of the magical equipment was seriously wrecked. But there must be components that are still usable.
"We still have a long way ahead of us with barely any supplies. Every usable component that can be recycled is of great value for us.
"Since you've been wandering in the remains of the ancient battlegrounds your entire life, it shouldn't be hard for you to dismantle the debris and locate the functional components, right?
"Of course, if you can't tell if a component is usable or not, just collect them all. The experienced refiners of our Society will examine them later."
Li Yao nodded.
Dismantling the debris of magical equipment and recycling the usable components was indeed a very rudimental job. It was also something that he could even do with his eyes closed because he had been doing since he was a little kid.
He was not bothered that he was handed over such a simple job. He agreed frankly, "Okay."
Bai Kaixin was a little bit surprised at his calmness. He took out a jade chip and said, "I'm told that Master Xiong was not particularly friendly to you a few days ago. But please don't feel offended. He is just a straightforward man. Even Captain Lei and I are sometimes berated by him.
"Considering that you've never received any formal education in refining, it is a remarkable achievement that you awakened your spiritual root and improved your hand movement to such a speed by studying everything on your own in such a remote area!
"This jade chip contains a complete maintenance manual of Gold Horn, as well as the structure designs and spiritual energy flowcharts of more than 1,300 kinds of commonly-seen magical equipment. Master Xiong asked me to give it to you. You can study them if you have spare time after you finish your daily work.
"But please note that there are nine levels from easy to hard. You only need to try the first three levels. It will be best if you can grasp the first level. That way, you will definitely contribute a lot in the voyage to come.
"The fourth level and beyond are not prepared for you. They are extremely esoteric. It will be a waste of your time even if you read them. So, don't.
"Try to settle yourself in, finish your daily work and train yourself. In a few days' time, when Master Xiong has more time, he will hold a new test for you. If you can pass it, he will definitely place you in a more fitting position where you will be responsible for the more important maintenance work."
The two names are two great divinities in the Dao religion.
Chapter 457: Dominator of Darkness |
Half a day later, in the center of Storm Prison's starship…
This starship named 'Ghost Jail' had indeed become a place of ghosts haunted by cold wind and queer shadows.
Collapsed pathways were everywhere. Twisted tubes, units that were riddled with holes, and some of the corpses of the space pirates together with their shattered crystal suits were lurking in every corner of the darkness.
The center of this starship was originally the training area for the space pirates.
For Cultivators, training was the most important thing of all. Therefore, training areas on starships prepared for Cultivators were definitely the largest, most extravagant places with the most magical equipment.
However, this area had been blown to smithereens after hundreds of explosions, like the debris of a sand-made temple savaged by a hurricane.
The area which looked like a broken maze was in dead silence. The illumination rune arrays emitted flickering greenish glows, as if many fireflies were wandering in the air, making the room all the more dark and creepy.
Standing in the middle of the darkness, Li Yao was very satisfied with his working environment.
Right now, the Great Horn Exo Society was seriously short of hands. Most of the refiners were occupied on Gold Horn. Those who were assigned to Ghost Jail to clear the debris were the ordinary mechanics and the beginners.
Ghost Jail was more than a thousand meters long. Its inside was quite spacious. Therefore, the scavengers had been very widely scattered, with each of them taking charge of a fairly large working area independently. No one would disturb anyone else.
The training area was Li Yao's responsibility.
He was the dominator of this world of darkness.
"Let's begin!"
Li Yao warmed up his fingers neither too quickly nor too slowly. His ten fingers were extending and shrinking weirdly like vipers, with cracking sounds coming from the joints. Eagerness beamed out of his eyes while he mumbled, "I haven't played such a game for a long time. I wonder, have my skills declined or not?"
In front of him was a bucket of detergent for magical equipment that was very commonly seen in the Flying Star Sector.
Such detergent was usually stored in the form of powder. When someone wanted to use it, the only thing that needed to be done was to pour clean water into it and stir the solution. Then, the detergent would become liquid that contained feeble spiritual energy. It was remarkably effective when it came to cleaning the magical equipment and restoring its functions.
Although it was still far from the maintenance oil that Li Yao created with the ancient techniques, it was acceptable for today's work.
Li Yao glanced around. Clusters of starry brilliance burst out of his deep, dark eyes. His computational ability soared like a surging tide, allowing him to analyze every remnant in the corner of the darkness.
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao stabbed his hands into the detergent. His pupils constricted to the size of the tip of a needle, while thousands of veins bulged out of his arms and extended to his fingers like furious serpents, before they pierced into the detergent brutally.
Countless small bubbles were rolling on the surface of the scarlet detergent which looked like a boiling lake. A lot of bright red mist was popping up from the liquid.
With the high-frequency vibration of his hands, Li Yao vaporized the detergent instantly!
Li Yao withdrew his hands, both of which were now wreathed in a ball of bright red mist. He snapped his fingers and unleashed hundreds of spiritual threads, splitting the ball into countless parts and driving them to his surroundings. A huge amount of magical equipment debris was swept over and taken back.
Li Yao brought his computational ability to its maximum while he meditated. He continued unleashing more spiritual threads into the cluster of bright red mist, dissecting, studying, and cleaning each and every piece of wasted magical equipment.
Some of them which were beyond repair were tossed away to a corner on his left precisely.
But for the debris which was of value, Li Yao had polished them carefully with the detergent to remove the impurities and restore their performance and hardness.
Half a minute later, Li Yao waved his hand. The bright red mist vanished.
126 brand new components that looked like they'd just been picked up from a refining furnace were floating in front of him!
"1.4 seconds longer than I expected! The magical equipment components of the Flying Star Sector are indeed subtly different from those of the Heaven's Origin Sector."
Li Yao smiled. "It's not bad. Through this rudimental job, I can get in touch with a lot of the basic components of the Flying Star Sector, which will allow me to be familiar with the magical equipment of this Sector in the shortest amount of time possible."
He snapped his fingers again. The hundred components were classified neatly into seven heaps according to their attributes and purposes, which were then transferred gently to an empty spot at the back of the training area that Li Yao had just cleared up.
Li Yao stabbed his hands into the detergent again. His eyes shined as he said, "The second batch begins now!
"I'm going to finish it within thirty seconds!"
After two hours of high-intensity labor, the entire bucket of detergent had been pulverized and drained. Li Yao's hands were shivering, and his skin was as red as a lobster's, but he was greatly relieved and sat in the middle of the 27,255 components that had just been taken restored.
Like an ambitions king inspecting his unstoppable troops, Li Yao enjoyed the sweet sense of achievement.
He took out a cold bun which had been stickered with a rune of the fire class. The rune was then torn open, immediately triggering a hot spiritual wave. The bun was heated and emanated a delicious aroma.
Li Yao devoured the meat buns while whistling tunes merrily.
Ghost Jail had lost all its impetus. The two starships were bound together with spiritual chains. It was impossible to go back to Gold Horn from Ghost Jail directly.
Therefore, the scavengers such as himself had all brought enough supplies and would stay and work on Ghost Jail for a couple of days in order to bring sufficient assets back.
During the time when they were on the foreign starship, they were quite free.
Cleaning more than two hundred thousand components was a workload that would take a couple of days for a regular mechanic to complete. Li Yao did not hurry to tear down the entire training area. After eating twenty meat buns, he sat on the ground comfortably and took out the jade chip that Bai Kaixin had given him.
Judging from the appearance, the jade chip was quite an old one. It must've witnessed a lot of events.
But its master had kept it in good working order. Even the tiniest stroke on the rune arrays of the jade chip was clear and distinguishable. Vague spiritual energy was flowing slowly on the jade chip, enveloping it in an air of warmth and delicacy.
On the bottom of the jade chip was carved 'Xiong'.
"It appears that the maintenance manual was written by Xiong Tao, chief refiner of the Exo Society, in person. He has been using this jade chip personally for many years, too.
"Such a maintenance manual is definitely much more elaborative than the general maintenance manuals issued by the authorities. He must've put a lot of his own experience into it and wouldn't lend it out easily.
"But since the Exo Society is short of hands and in desperate need to repair the starship, I became the lucky guy to take the advantage of it."
Li Yao inserted the jade chip into the crystal processor and adjusted the reading speed to the highest level.
At this level, the information stored inside the jade chip would surge out like an intimidating tide at the speed of more than fifty-five thousand telepathic thoughts per second. Only the best Cultivators could resort to such a reading pattern.
Beep! Beep!
For a moment, the crystal processor on Li Yao's wrist started shaking violently, as it was overloading and transforming the telepathic thoughts into images and text.
Shua!
The mini crystal processor projected six bright gold light beams which span around Li Yao's head rapidly.
The images inside the light beams changed while they were swirling, displaying the details of the structure designs of the starship at 120 pictures per second.
Li Yao gazed at the light beams and studied them carefully.
Back when he was in the Heaven's Origin Sector, his main research field was personal magical equipment, and the subject that he'd been working on was crystal suits. His dream had been to become an Armadominus who could create a crystal suit independently.
But now that he had arrived in the Flying Star Sector, where most residents and Cultivators lived in the space, starships were definitely something that he had to learn more about.
Everyone's time and energy were limited. Even with the enhancement of Ou Yezi's soul, Li Yao didn't believe that he could become a master both in crystal suits and in starships.
His goal was still to become an Armadominus who could manufacture crystal suits on his own. As for starships, it would be good enough if he could perform the simple maintenance and modification tasks.
In that case, this particular book, 'Maintenance Manual for Gold Horn', was a perfect introduction for him.
"So, this is how it works. The sealing structure of this starship is entirely different from that employed by the crystal warships of the Heaven's Origin Sector. Even when 70% of the cabins are blown up, the starship will still maintain almost half of its combat ability. Impressive! Its likelihood of survival is so much higher than that for the crystal warships of the Heaven's Origin Sector!
"The engine compartment design is remarkable too. Other than the main engine compartment at the rear of the starship, there is also an auxiliary engine compartment at the front of the starship. If so, the starship will be much swifter when executing dodging movements! But how are the two engine compartments coordinated? Huh. The telepathic thoughts are transmitted through this tube? This design…
"The twelve turrets on board, with the computations and assistance of the crystal processors, can be set in seven different attack modes. In the worst-case scenario, even a Refinement Stage Cultivator would be able to maneuver them single-handedly. A lot of manpower can be saved. What an advanced system! Such a firing control system can be implemented to Sparkle someday. We are seriously short of hands, too!"
Li Yao completed buried himself in the maintenance manual, his eyes glittering.
The maintenance manual had indeed been compiled by Xiong Tao based on the documentations when the starship was transferred to them. It included a lot of his personal notes and reflections. Many tricks about magical equipment maintenance written in the manual were very practical.
Studying the maintenance manual carefully, Li Yao felt that he was watching two top experts in martial arts practicing in slow motion. Their every delicate move was captured so that he could see them more clearly. Many questions that had bothered him for a long time were resolved instantly. He couldn't help but exclaim in exhilaration.
Soon, the files that had been marked as Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 had been cleaned up by Li Yao, who felt that he hadn't enjoyed enough of the delicious wine.
What followed was the files marked as Level 4.
According to Bai Kaixin, files marked as Level 4 or beyond were prepared for the real professionals. Green hands such as Li Yao didn't need to study them because they wouldn't comprehend them even if they did and it would only be a waste of their time.
When Xiong Tao tested them a few days later, he wouldn't pick on them with the problems beyond Level 3, either.
But Li Yao grinned and opened the Level 4 files without any hesitation. Another race of reading had begun!
Chapter 458: Appalling Expert! |
While Li Yao was reveling in the vast world of starship maintenance, the top meeting room of Gold Horn was tense. Even Lei Dalu's smile was a bit rigid today.
In front of him and Bai Kaixin were three crystal suits, or whatever was left of them, as well as many components whose purposes no one could tell.
Sitting across them, Xiong Tao said emotionlessly, "When I saw the explosion of the cockpit of Ghost Jail a few days ago, I felt that something was not right. Therefore, other than repairing Gold Horn, I've also spent some time over the past few days searching for and collecting the debris in the critical parts of Ghost Jail.
"And once they are put together, a soul-stirring discovery is revealed.
"Firstly, look at the scrap of a chest-protecting plate refined out of titanium alloys.
"Titanium is a rarely-seen, special-purpose metal that is of high value. Judging from the defense rune arrays carved on the plate, it should've been made by 'Yin Feng', a seasoned Armadominus of Spider Den.
"Although Yin Feng always hangs around with space pirates, his expertise in refining is well acknowledged among the refiners of the Flying Star Sector. He is one of the best in the trade.
"He is a respected man on Spider Den and doesn't have the habit of serving small fries. Only the most brutal and barbaric space pirates have the privilege of wearing one of the crystal suits crafted by Yin Feng.
"As far as I know, among the space pirates of Storm Prison that we pursued, only one of them was wearing a crystal suit that had been installed with a titanium-alloy chest-protecting plate. Fengyu Ming and his 'Dark Fire Battlesuit'!"
Bai Kaixin observed, "The chest-protecting plate is the most important defense magical equipment on a crystal suit. Finding that means finding Fengyu Ming. Uncle Xiong, where did you locate this scrap?"
Xiong Tao replied, still emotionlessly, "Among the residues in the bottom of a crystal reactor."
Bai Kaixin was dazed.
Lei Dalu's brows, which were as thick as brooms, shot up.
Xiong Tao continued, "I found quite a few other scraps that seemed to belong to a crystal suit. But most of them are as undistinguishable as mud. Only the few materials that boasted resistance against extremely high temperatures managed to maintain their basic form. Judging from the number and ratio of the scraps, there should've been a complete Dark Fire Battlesuit."
Bai Kaixin frowned and mumbled, "Did Fengyu Ming throw his own crystal suit into the crystal reactor to destroy it?"
Xiong Tao shook his head. "I also found a fuel transmission tube on which there were clearly traces of struggling and scratching. Many broken bones and a lot of blood stains were found, too."
Bai Kaixin was silent for a moment, but his eyes grew wider and wider. He remarked, "Therefore, Fengyu Ming was stuffed into the fuel transmission tube in his crystal suit by brute force, tossed into the crystal reactor, and burned to ash alive?"
Xiong Tao nodded. "It is the only plausible explanation."
Bai Kaixin and Lei Dalu looked at each other and both noticed the bewilderment in their eyes.
Fengyu Ming was indeed not a renowned expert. But the 'Dark Fire Battlesuit' that he'd been wearing was a powerful crystal suit modified and strengthened multiple times. Who was it that snuck into Ghost Jail without alarming anyone and stuffed him into a crystal reactor?
Xiong Tao said solemnly, "There's more to the story.
"As Fengyu Zhong's only son, Fengyu Ming must've carried a few Cosmos Rings with him on his first solo hunting trip in case he ever needed anything.
"Cosmos Rings are extremely durable. They are often made of materials that are even solider than what jade chips are made of. Generally speaking, even a temperature of almost ten thousand degrees is not enough to obliterate them.
