by <unknown>
"You'd better choose option one. If you wait here for a while longer, someone will pick you up and send you home. 95% of your tuition fees will be refunded.
"But if you have completely lost your mind and decide to see if I was joking, then just follow me!"
Mao Feng finished his words without any pause. He jumped on his skeleton shuttle and moved off like lightning, never looking back.
Li Yao dazed. He cursed in his mind, 'This guy is outrageous. It's true that my performance hasn't been very satisfactory. But that's because I've never touched any crystal suits before!
'The reason why I'm here is exactly because I don't know the first thing about crystal suits. If I was already good at it, I'd be applying to be an instructor!
'The more you look down upon me, the more I will prove you completely wrong!
'Want to eliminate me? It's not that easy!'
Li Yao gritted his teeth and followed the skeleton shuttle at the fastest speed he could.
After more than half an hour's running, they'd already covered almost 100 kilometers. Finally, the two of them stopped at a rugged area crowded by a lot of rocks in bizarre shapes.
Under the bare rocks stood a giant, rusted, steel gate which looked like an entrance to a semi-underground warehouse that assumed the place of the original cave.
Mao Feng waved his hand. The rune arrays on the gate lit up dimly. After a long cracking sound, there were sounds of gears grinding and hinges stretching on both sides of the gate.
The gate opened. A strong moldy smell, resembling that in a tomb, hit their face.
Mao Feng looked back with obvious disdain and walked directly into the warehouse.
Li Yao tried to hold back the thought of kicking Mao Feng in his ass and followed.
It was not a big warehouse. One could tell that with a single glance. Metal wreckages that looked like decayed bones were scattered all over the place. They were scarred, battered, and in all kinds of shapes.
It took Li Yao a long time before he recognized that they were all crystal suit leftovers.
Then he realized that this was not a warehouse of crystal suits, but a graveyard for them!
Mao Feng glanced at him and said, "146 crystal suits reside in this place. All of them were too seriously damaged to repair. We could only retrieve the crystal stones and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from them and declared them to be a total loss.
"Look, most of them have been corroded by the poisons of the demon beasts before they were left in the open air for decades. Therefore, their components have all rusted together.
"Your talent is lousy and you don't know anything about crystal suits. If you've made up your mind to learn about being an Exo, this will be your start point.
"This jade slips contain all the structural designs and maintenance manuals of the crystal suits here. What you're going to do is to dismantle them, clean up their components, and assemble them together.
"The time you have finished your maintenance for all 146 crystal suits lying here with absolutely no rust on them anymore is the time when I will consider assigning an instructor to you for you to receive regular training like everybody else does."
Li Yao was stupefied. "This is the basics?"
Mao Feng replied coldly, "Of course it is. As an Exo, you must have knowledge of how to conduct fundamental maintenance on crystal suits. Such training is best for you to learn the deep structure of crystal suits. Very suitable for an idiotic newbie like yourself!
"However, it is indeed a little bit difficult to do the training on 146 total-loss crystal suits altogether at the same time. You can say no and get out of here now!"
Li Yao blinked. There was sharp light in his eyes.
Mao Feng grinned hideously.
"Your guess is correct. I am purposely making things difficult for you. This is a simple game that I just came up with. It won't get any easier as you walk further down this path. There's no way that you can complete it."
Li Yao looked at him in the eyes and asked carefully, "Will I be able to learn some real crystal suit skills after I tear down all the 146 crystal suits, remove their rust, lubricate them, and make sure they can work again?"
Mao Feng gave an affirmative by a grunt.
"Alright. I'll start now!"
Mao Feng stared at him coldly. He said, "You're going to stay here for some time. Maintenance tools and materials will be sent here in a moment, together with food and water for the next month.
"Contact me again when these crystal suits are as fresh as when they were first produced.
"Naturally, you can also contact me when you feel you can't bear it any longer and wish to give up."
"I won't," Li Yao replied with a thin smile.
"Very good. Let's see how long you can persist."
While saying it, Mao Feng took two pieces of magical equipment that looked like shining shells out of his pocket and handed them over.
"Besides, you'll need to stick these to your temples."
Li Yao accepted the magical equipment. He weighed them in his hand and pinned them in his temples.
The magical equipment seemed to become magnetic all of a sudden. They were attracted to each other and wouldn't let go no matter how hard Li Yao tried to shake them off.
For a moment, the sky and ground were swirling before Li Yao, who completely lost balance and fell to the ground. He felt like vomiting.
"The magical equipment is called 'Balance Breakers'. They're particularly useful in the training of balance control."
Mao Feng smiled, "We Cultivators often need to fly on a sword, or fight in the sky. When you're in a crystal suit, your speed will be greatly enhanced, which makes balance control all the more important.
"Like back when you were in the testing field, you could barely walk after you put on a crystal suit for the first time. Although you moved quickly enough to create a sonic boom, you weren't able to control your direction.
"They're all because of the same reason: you couldn't maintain your balance.
"Balance of a human being depends on their vestibular apparatus.
"Balance Breakers possess a strange magnetic power that can disturb the functioning of your vestibular apparatus, which will put you in a constant state of imbalance.
"And you're going to find the subtle balance in the overwhelming imbalance. During this process, your vestibular apparatus will be stronger and you'll have better balance control, so they'll help prepare you for the high-speed combat to come when you're in a crystal suit.
"Stop fiddling with them. Their switch is in my hands. You'll never dig them out.
"While you maintain the wrecked crystal suits, you'll always be in instability and you will find yourself hardly able to stand.
"How about it? Want to give up yet?"
Li Yao closed his eyes, breathing heavily. He lay on the ground, with all his limbs stretched out. Still, he felt like a chestnut that was being fried in a pan. Just spinning, spinning, and spinning!
"Instructor, I have a question for you."
After a long time of adaption, he finally regained the ability to talk. There was not the slightest hint of blood on his face. His skin was drearily pale. But his eyes were deeper and darker than before.
"Yes?"
"Will I be eliminated if I use profanity to an instructor?"
"Good, that's my boy. However, I hope you are as bold as today in ten days' time, instead of begging me to eliminate you!"
Mao Feng snorted and went out, slamming the gate of the warehouse.
His angry expression disappeared in no time. He hurriedly turned on his crystal processor and reached out to Xu Tianyou, the experienced Training Planner.
"Mr. Xu, the boy has accepted the challenge.
"According to our deal, as long as he can survive 5 days and 5 nights in the scrapped crystal suits' warehouse, you'll design a set of training plans for him. Let's start the countdown now, shall we?"
Mr. Xu nodded. He answered, "Of course.
I've already started reading his profile in order to write the best training plans possible for him.
"But whether or not he'll have the opportunity to use it depends on himself.
"Not that I'm being pretentious. It's just that my training plan is harsh enough for even a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator. A Refinement Stage Cultivator will never be able to make it without strong determination and an ultra-solid soul.
"So, 5 days and 5 nights. No less for even a single second."
Mao Feng grinned. "There's something special about the boy. I'm very confident in him. But just to be clear, our deal was meant to test his willpower and persistence, and it is okay as long as he makes it to the end of the fifth day even if he fails to renew a single crystal suit, correct?"
Mr. Xu smiled. "Of course. Those crystal suits are pure scraps. They're nothing but piles of garbage which would demand a hell of a lot of time to be fixed up. What's more, he has the Balance Breakers on him that have basically crippled him. All in all, I don't have any requirements as to the number of the crystal suits that he recovers. Suppose he does recover eight or ten of them miraculously, then he will have earned my true respect."
"I reckon it's going to be more than that."
Mao Feng beamed. "Something tells me that this boy will make miracles. It's possible that he will renew—"
He raised two fingers, then added one after thinking for a moment.
Mao Feng said, completely seriously, "30 of them!"
Chapter 236: Seven Ways to Hide Edge |
In the dim light of the crystal suit graveyard, Li Yao was left alone with 146 wrecked crystal suits.
Li Yao felt that his entire world had become a small boat floating in the surging tides of stars and sea.
And he was merely an ant on the boat which was completely stunned by the overwhelming dominance.
He stood up shaking, and tried to keep balance by stretching his two arms.
But he suddenly found that the whole world was tilting leftwards and he was falling to his left beyond his control into the crystal suit ruins.
Just like quicksand, the 146 crystal suits flew towards him and swallowed him.
Li Yao screamed. Then he recognized that all the crystal suits were in their original place.
They didn't fly towards him. Instead, it was him who staggered towards them like a headless fly.
"The balance system of my brain is totally in disorder now. I can't even stand straight, and whenever I sit down, I feel like vomiting. How can I maintain the crystal suits like this?
"No! If things remain unchanged, I'm never going to finish the maintenance work within a month. And even if I do, there will be no time left for me to learn any crystal suit skills. I'm definitely going to be eliminated!
"It might be exactly what the chief instructor hoped for!
"I won't let it go your way, asshole!
"First, stand up and hold on for three seconds!"
Li Yao gritted his teeth. Veins were appearing in his pale face.
He shouted and stood up, and it took less than half a second before he fell down on his face again.
10 minutes later.
Li Yao had tried 79 times. Not once did he successfully remain standing for more than two seconds without falling over. His face was swollen, his body covered in bruises.
Then Li Yao tried to stand up for the 80th time. But this time his body couldn't bear it any longer and he leaned backwards before he kissed the knee of a solid crystal suit with the back of his head.
"BANG!"
The thump echoed in the small graveyard for a long time.
The back of his head was wet. Blood was running out.
But Li Yao opened his eyes with wonder and astonishment.
"What's going on?
"The dizziness was relieved when my head hit the crystal suit?"
He lay there for a while to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. No, he wasn't. The sense of balance had returned to his body. He was able to sit up and take a deep breath.
But before he enjoyed himself enough, the swirling feeling crawled back and devoured him like a giant beast. He was locked up in darkness again.
Li Yao lay down again. He gazed at the ceiling and started pondering.
A moment later, he fumbled around the floor and found a crystal suit component.
He weighed it. It was neither too light nor too heavy and exactly fit for his purpose.
He clutched the component and hit it really hard in his head.
"BANG!"
There seemed to be a giant bell ringing in his brain. Li Yao blinked with a twisted face due to the pain.
But with the sharp pain came the ease of dizziness. He was able to sit up and enjoy his freedom for a couple of seconds again.
What's more, there was joy of insight in his eyes.
He finally understood what had happened.
Even though a small boat was floating in surging tides, an experienced sailor would still be walking with ease on the bumping deck.
Their trick was to anticipate the direction and degree of each bump the moment it happens.
Then they would impose a force of the same degree, but in the opposite direction, to offset the impact of the tides.
Normally, when someone was hit in the head, there would be concussion and dizziness. Sometimes they'd even see stars dancing before their eyes.
But Li Yao was already extremely dizzy before he was hit.
The second wave of dizziness, caused by the knock, offset the first wave of dizziness triggered by the Balance Breakers, resulting in a new subtle balance.
It was exactly the same as the experienced sailors who used their own movement to offset the movement of the sea.
Or rather, it was like two rapid shuttles at the speed of 800km/h, which were in the state of relative rest although they were both moving fast.
"This is why!
"The Balance Breakers has completely overturned the balance system of my brain. There's no way that I can subvert it.
"However, by introducing a second interference, I can activate a second wave of imbalance.
"When the two waves of imbalance confront each other, they will offset, and my balance system will probably be restored to normal again!"
After figuring out the mechanism, Li Yao started trying.
He shook his head at an astonishing speed.
When one shakes his head too fast, he would feel dizzy because there's a lot of liquid contained in his brain which will hit the skull when it's being recklessly shaken.
Just like when the brakes of a shuttle are slammed on, the passengers in it will lean forward uncontrollably even though the vehicle has stopped.
"Ew!"
Li Yao couldn't hold it back any longer and started vomiting.
Since he'd failed to control the intensity, the two waves of dizziness didn't offset. Instead, they combined together as if a stun grenade had detonated in his brain, which immediately put him down.
But Li Yao was not the least frustrated. On the contrary, he was excited.
Because his theory had been proved. An external impact could influence the dizziness inside his brain.
If the dizziness could be strengthened, of course it could be weakened.
"Come on now!
"I've got it!
"Let's see who can stop me now!"
An hour later.
47 new wounds and 209 new bruises were added to Li Yao's body.
He finally grasped the frequency of dizziness, as well as a special skill named brain concussion.
Although it was not enough to extricate him from the swirl of dizziness, he was able to stand and get back to work now.
"Balance training can't be done in a day. I'm already doing well with such recovery in such a short time. Let's improve it later in the days to come!
"Now, start the crystal suit maintenance!"
Li Yao couldn't wait any longer.
Magical equipment maintenance was what he had always bee
n best at!
But after checking the total-loss crystal suits carefully, he found that things were a bit tricky.
What the chief instructor left for him was nothing but scraps that couldn't be scrappier.
Crystal suits, as the top magic equipment, boasted a high level of precision.
Key components in the total-loss crystal suits, such as the Super Compressed Crystal Reactor, had all been torn away. The only thing left on each of them was the bare framework.
Just like a dead body without muscles, arteries, nerves, and organs. A pure skeleton.
But still, it was much more complicated than Li Yao had imagined.
It was not Li Yao's biggest problem, since the jade slips that Mao Feng left for him had all the structure designs and maintenance manuals in them.
He had not been asked to modify or upgrade them. Therefore, he only needed to decompose and assemble them according to the illustrations in the jade slips.
It would take some time, but it was not undoable.
The trickier problem was that those crystal suits had decayed in the open air for so long that their components were all utterly rusted, which were as rotten as bones that had been buried underground for decades.
The garbage that had been overlooked for almost a hundred years would be maintained by him and him alone.
"What a bunch of scrap! They're not crystal suits; they're pure garbage. They're even worse than the rubbish that I used to gather in the magical equipment graveyard!
"Any other refiner would find himself unable to do anything about it.
"But it's me and I have to do my best now!"
Li Yao gritted his teeth and sat cross-legged.
He closed his eyes. His soul returned to the deep down of his brain.
In the middle of the depth of his mind, Ou Yezi's Tree of Memories was flickering brilliantly.
40,000 years ago, the Hundred Smelting Clan was a major sect for refiners. It had considerable expertise on magical equipment maintenance.
In the Hundred Smelting Clan, the novices would serve as workers or assistants to help maintain the magical equipment before they started refining formally.
