by <unknown>
One day, all the interfaces of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit would be opened to public. Every Cultivator would be able to plug their own magical equipment in, and the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit could be integrated with every piece of self-made magical equipment without any discordance.
If the wearer was really rich, he could add extensions that were far more expensive than the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit itself, so that the comprehensive ability of the new crystal suit would be greatly improved.
In an intense fight, the plug-ins and the plate armor would be the first to be damaged. With quick maintenance, they could be replaced by another set of extensions, and the combat ability of the crystal suit would be resumed immediately.
The crazy idea had sparked many debates within the project team.
But after careful consideration, most of the team members thought that it was quite feasible and were running tests to see the performance.
It was also one of the reasons why Project Mystic Skeleton came to a halt without any prototypes.
What's more, after only one year of formal study, Li Yao had passed the Refiners' Registration Examination. Now, the Demon Beast Detector that he had refined was one piece of the most popular magical equipment.
Therefore, all the professors and experts felt that Li Yao was indeed extraordinary and had been paying great attention to his ideas and proposals.
However, the suggestions that Li Yao made were mostly about the structure designs of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
The crystal reactor was quite different. Little could be done to improve the performance of a crystal reactor by revising its structure. It was the materials that mattered most.
Only with a major breakthrough of materials could a crystal reactor be refined that was lighter, smaller, and stronger against high temperatures and pressure with a higher capacity for spiritual energy.
The science of materials had no shortcuts. It could only be learnt by long-time hard work. Petty tricks wouldn't help much.
Li Yao had never shown much talent in the materials science before, yet now he claimed that he could solve the problem of the crystal reactor. It was no wonder that the professors and experts were doubting him.
"Li Yao, you can't joke about the crystal reactor. If something is wrong with other components, there are always remedies, but malfunction of the crystal reactor will lead to dire consequences, which we all understand too well," a thin, grey-haired refiner said solemnly.
His name was Bai Yede, an expert in materials science as well as crystal reactors. He was also the chief refiner in charge of the crystal reactor and the related components in Project Mystic Skeleton.
Since he hadn't made much progress, Bai Yede had been pulling a long face every day. His long brows were furrowed to such a point that one might think there were two brooms over his eyes.
Li Yao smiled.
"Don't worry, Professor Bai. When the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit is successfully refined, I will be the first pilot to wear it to go through tests under extreme conditions, and I don't intend to get myself killed.
"It's true that I don't know much about the materials science, nor do I have any secret techniques that can improve the hardness of ordinary materials to the extent of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. However, my idea does not involve the materials science. It is just a minor structural revision. Please take a look, professors—"
The light beam around the conference room displayed a series of structure designs.
The clearest one was the crystal reactor that had a crack on its shell after the big explosion.
"The problem bothering us right now is that we can't find a suitable material to refine the shell of the crystal reactor to ensure that the super-compressed spiritual energy stays inside without being leaked.
"It's not doable no matter what we try.
"However, why don't we simply change our mindset?
"Spiritual energy stored in a crystal reactor is ample, which is tens of times more than that inside the body of a Cultivator.
"Only with such abundance can the crystal suit support the wearer in battles that can last for days.
"Since there is plentiful spiritual energy, what harm is there if some of it is leaked?
"Please take a look, everybody. This is the crystal reactor that was damaged in the previous explosion. It is worth noting that the body of the crystal reactor was not too damaged except for the hole.
"In fact, the main reason for the explosion was that the rampageous spiritual energy hit the warehouse of crystals and triggered a chain reaction.
"If the crystal reactor were the only thing that exploded at that time, the blast would've been far from enough to blow the entire floating mountain apart.
"As the saying goes, it's better to guide than to block. If we can't refine a shell that is firm enough, why don't we just leave an aperture on the crystal reactor?"
Everyone was shocked at what Li Yao had just said.
Bai Yede was deep in thought. Another power system expert asked subconsciously, "But wouldn't all the spiritual energy escape through the aperture?"
Li Yao tapped on his mini crystal processor. A second structure design was displayed.
It was an intact crystal reactor with an additional gadget that looked like a gyro.
"We can install a valve to the aperture. When the spiritual energy inside the crystal reactor is burning too intensely and the pressure exceeds the warning level, the valve will be pushed open to release the redundant spiritual energy; a few seconds later, when the pressure returns to the normal level, the valve will fall back automatically and seal the shell of the crystal reactor as before."
Bai Yede shook his head.
"The valve design is indeed impressive. But the spiritual energy escaping through the valve will make the crystal suit a very obvious target. It's possible that the crystal suit will be detected dozes of kilometers away. The disguise and stealth abilities of the crystal suit will be greatly undermined."
"So what?"
Li Yao said calmly, "There has never been a real MP crystal suit in the history of the Heaven's Origin Sector. Disguise and stealth abilities are always a top priority for all the crystal suits, because the crystal suits will be worn by high-level Cultivators who will fight high-level demons in the forests of the Dark Desolate Domain or even sneak into the Blood Demon Sector for spy missions. Therefore, stealth, disguise, and assassination abilities have always been highlighted.
"As a result, although very simple, the valve design has been neglected the whole time, because it will expose the locations of the wearers in a battlefield.
"However, the situation is different right now. What we're expecting is an unprecedented face-to-face confrontation, a dual of armies versus armies, a collision of hurricane against hurricane and tides against tides.
"So, when a panoply of ten thousand Cultivators in the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit show up in the battlefield, there is no need for they to hide their existence.
"On the very contrary, they shall declare their arrival to the world with the roars of thunder.
"When they're entering the Blood Demon Sector, they will not sneak into it, but crush into it in an unstoppable formation with their suits glittering in the sunlight.
"Besides—"
Seeing that everyone had been attracted by his speech, Li Yao displayed a different structure design. He continued, "Don't forget that this is just the primary model. If the military need crystal suits for sneaking or ambushing missions, they can always choose a derivative model that has a better crystal reactor, or simple pick a whole new crystal suit model.
"Excellent as the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit may be, it will not be the sole model equipped by the army, will it?
"Compared with the loss of stealth and disguise ability, I feel that the loss of spiritual energy is more pitiful. Here's an idea that I'd like you to consider.
"We can connect the valve system of the crystal reactor to other magical e
quipment units. The attack magical equipment and the spiritual shield need to be refilled on a regular basis. Why don't we supplement them with the spiritual energy that escapes through the valve?
"Or even better, we can design an active valve system that can be controlled by the telepathic thoughts of a Cultivator.
"When the Cultivator wishes, he can open the valve and charge the spiritual shield and the flying swords, while the pressure of the crystal reactor will be kept at a low level in the meantime.
"By doing so, there's no way that any accidents will occur.
"This is all I have to say. It is still a very immature plan which definitely includes a lot of drawbacks that need to be fixed. Please feel free to speak your opinions, professors!"
Chapter 295: Mournful Mist and Sword Torrent |
After Li Yao finished his talk, the refiners didn't start discussing immediately. They were staring blankly ahead with their eyebrows knitted together.
A weird silence was hanging over the conference room.
Li Yao's plan was very simple. Valve design was a mature technique in the Star Glory Federation too. However, since all the previous crystal suits had highlighted the importance of stealth and disguise, the professors and experts had never thought that they could be refined otherwise.
Now that the old doctrine was broken, everyone felt that they had entered a new world.
"That's a good idea. Although a valve system will bring additional costs, the total cost will still be significantly reduced compared with refining the crystal reactor with Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. I estimate that the cost of the new plan will be less than one fifth of that of the previous one. Besides, since the new plan will not be bound by raw materials, we can refine however many crystal suits we want with a magical equipment factory that is large enough."
"We don't need to worry too much about stealth and disguise. After the accident, we have redesigned the crystal reactor and reduced its likelihood of explosion in the normal state to minimum. Only when it suffered intense impact and corrosion in a battlefield from concentrated shellfire and raging spiritual energy will it risk exploding."
"However, since it is a battlefield of face-to-face confrontation, stealth and disguise abilities will not be that important."
"More importantly, with the new plan, we don't need to change too much about our previous designs. The project will be able to be pushed forward at a faster speed. We might be even able to produce a prototype within a month!"
"Guiding the escaping spiritual energy of the crystal reactor into the magical equipment that needs to be refilled is an amazing idea. We can even design a crystal cannon that uses the escaping spiritual energy as the power source. It's going to be formidable!"
Li Yao's proposal was like a window for the refiners. The professors and experts had much more expertise than Li Yao did. Enlightened, they came up with countless complicated follow-up plans.
Several impatient refiners even activated the light beam and started drawing blueprints while they were arguing with their faces flushed.
The discussion remained unabated for more than three hours until it was midnight, but all the refiners were still in the highest spirits.
Eventually, Yuan Manqiu had to stand up and concluded the meeting with a smile.
"It seems that Li Yao's idea has indeed shed a lot of new lights for us. However, it's not likely that the final plan can be settled in such a short time. Let's just go home now and examine thoroughly the part of the project that each of us is in charge of. We'll continue the meeting tomorrow!"
Bai Yede smiled as he was drawing and comparing the new designs of the crystal reactor with pressure valves and asked Li Yao, "Li Yao, how exactly did you come up with such an idea? It's brilliant!"
Li Yao exchanged an eye look with Yuan Manqiu. Pondering for a moment, he said frankly, "Actually, the idea is not my own creation, but the collaborative work of my professors and senior brothers."
"Professors? Senior Brothers?"
Bai Yede and the other refiners were all dazed.
All the professors of the Refining Department were here, and apparently, none of them had ever seen such a design before.
As for Senior Brother, Li Yao was the only student in the Refining Department that was not in the freshman year. How come he had senior brothers?
Li Yao smiled and continued, "Professors, I need to tell you something—"
…
Three days later, early in the morning, inside Li Yao's No. 2 Laboratory.
After a long discussion, Li Yao and Yuan Manqiu decided to tell everyone about the discovery of the Phantom Entities.
Whatever the result was, Professor Mo Xuan and the other staff and students who passed away in the big explosion were all heroes worthy of their names and martyrs who had died for a great cause.
Their bodies were gone, but their work was not lost, nor were their fighting will and spirit.
Even if they were going to vanish one day, at least they deserved to let the world know of their hard work.
However, observation of Phantom Entities had always been a tricky problem in the Cultivation world.
Everyone else, including Yuan Manqiu, had been trying to adjust the frequency of their brain waves in order to perceive the existence of the Phantom Entities but to no avail.
Li Yao remained their sole Observer.
And the intensity of his observation had been weakening.
It was like there were two mountains thousands of meters away from each other looming in darkness and fog, with thunderstorms pouring down, and Li Yao was climbing on one of the mountains, holding a perishing torch in his hands, while Professor Mo Xuan and the other Phantom Entities were climbing on the other mountain with a few perishing torches, too.
Blocked by darkness, fog, thunderbolts and storm, it was extremely difficult for them to communicate.
However, as long as he knew that they were still there climbing the peak of infinity, it would be enough!
After the problem of the crystal reactor was fixed, Project Mystic Skeleton rapidly advanced. All the participants of the project were working day and night and had made major breakthroughs in a few critical magical equipment units.
As for Li Yao, he went to the No. 1 Refining Room where the Type-I crafting furnace was located and spent three days and three nights refining a piece of ancient magical equipment.
The innermost layer of the magical equipment was made of Flowing Silver Powder and Ice Soul Grass, which could reflect most of the spiritual waves like a mirror.
The medium layer was Smoke Mica, a kind of marrow crystal that Li Yao found in the Cosmos Ring. It was soft and mild with the special ability of nourishing souls. Scratching some powder off it was more than enough to mix a dose of mind-settling medication.
Li Yao didn't hesitate. He took out half a piece of Smoke Mica and almost emptied it.
As for the shell, he used an ordinary material named 'Star Eye Lead', which could block part of the spiritual waves. In the meantime, it looked like a beautiful black jade embedded with pentagrams. It was most common to be used as raw materials of jewelries.
Melding the three layers of materials together, with hundreds of spirit-stabilizing rune arrays in between, Li Yao had successfully refined a Soul Condensing Pendant.
It was a piece of magical equipment in the books of the Hundred Smelting Clan that could nourish the soul and spirit.
Solid as the shell of the crystal reactor may be, it was not the perfect shelter for the safekeeping of Phantom Entities after all.
Besides, there was a crack on the shell, through which electromagnetic storms and cosmic radiation could still affect the Phantom Entities inside.
Therefore, Li Yao specially refined the Soul Condensing Pendant to be the Phantom Entities' new home.
With a telepathic thought, a small hole appeared on the surface of the pendant. Li Yao pressed the hole to the crack of the crystal reactor and started calling.
H
is communication with the Phantom Entities had always been intermittent. He hadn't found a reliable way to reach out to them, except for trying his luck time and time again.
More than half an hour later, when he felt that he was in a trance, he saw many translucent fireflies flying out through the crack.
Compared with three days ago, the size of the fireflies had all shrunk by more than a half. The green light that wreathed them had become much duller, too.
It must have been because the Phantom Entities spent too much energy on transmitting the message to Li Yao three days ago.
Li Yao started enchanting the formula of the Soul Condensing Pendant in his brain.
A moment later, a gentle wind seemed to be breezing in the room, pushing the shaking Phantom Entities into the pendant in a neat line one by one.
Li Yao carefully locked the Soul Condensing Pendant with a barrier and only left a tiny hole which was large enough for one of his spiritual threads to pierce in.
Hanging the pendant on his neck, Li Yao touched it and immediately felt that his palm was being burnt, through which a weak yet firm power flowed into his limbs and organs.
"Now, professors and Senior Brothers, let's make a miracle together."
…
It was 1:00 a.m., yet the floating mountain of the Refining Department was still ablaze with lights.
Everyone was doing their work in high spirits.
But when Li Yao walked into the floating mountain, he felt the atmosphere was different from usual.
It was like a bucket of boiling oil had been added to a burning fire.
"Professor, is there anything wrong?" Li Yao asked Yuan Manqiu curiously.
He had been focusing on refining the Soul Condensing Pendant and wasn't aware of what was going on outside.
"Probably because of the stimulation of Deep Sea University, the Star Nebula University and the three major sword-training sects have held their own press conferences and showed the world their MP crystal suit models."
While she was talking, Yuan Manqiu turned on the crystal processor and played two video clips.
"The Star Nebula University and the three major sword-training sects are the two potential competitors that Zuo Feijing mentioned in his press conferences, aren't they?"
