Chapter 151: Mentalist-Pilot! Perks Demonstrated!

Freeze!” A team of men barged into the room through the other sealed door at the side. “Nobody moves!” From the uniform Ye Chong could distinguish them as the official combat squad members. Battle tights for all 10 men bumping in. Ten? Ye Chong was astounded. He was oddly sensitive to the number as that was a figure for standard squad of the Sanctuary.

The two candidates engaged in their fight did not notice the 10 armed men at all. Both of them wielded similar strength and they were so hooked up with their brawl that it could cost a bloodshed at any mistake for the moment. They should be in their thirties or forties, the age of perks of their entire life. They were great fighters too. Their techniques were highly refined and gradually the fists got real. The mere quarrel over a disagreement had developed into a flesh-shredding assault.

Wow…

Ye Chong inhibited the overjoyed self inside him, as his widened eyes glued at the action before him. He simply would not want to miss any detail of this exchange of fists. His fighting skills remained as crude and very intuitive. Most of his victories solely depended on his overwhelming speed and strength. If he would be fighting the real deal like Instructor Hak and Feng Su, he would find his movements restricted and be under manipulation of the others. He would love to learn from these successors but… Instructor Hak’s techniques were unique to the Black Covers. They were very bizarre and Ye Chong could not learn by just glimpsing at the records without an official teacher to teach him; while Feng Su’s techniques had encompassed the application of the psychic power exclusive to the Mentalists. He did steal a few methodologies from Mr. Yin, however even the fundamental meditation was costing his life to put on. So in the end, in spite of the epic fights with them, he learned not much from the experience.

The two men in front of him were different nevertheless. The stances of defense and offense were clearly structured, the actions were concise and reasonably sequenced, which caught Ye Chong’s eyes. He kept imagining how he would pull off those moves himself.

Wei Xi standing at the side with her hands folded sent a glance at Ye Chong’s face.

Oh yeah! “Shang! Shang!” Ye Chong remembered something as he hurriedly called Shang, “Quick, record everything you saw through me. We would analyze it later. Sigh, how could I forget this?” His tone was filled with reproach.

“Yawn…” Shang’s voice was laid-back, “Am I a no-brainer like you? I had already started rolling the tape centuries ago. Ye, how many times must I-”

Okay, that’s all I need to hear.

Ye Chong had one less thing to worry about. He then shifted his attention back to the action at the foyer. The remaining lines from Shang were automatically disregarded.

The squad members came in and formed a circle to separate the innocents and the two fighting men. They kept the men at the circle and stayed still.

The men were still enjoying their fights apparently, as their actions became more brutal over the time. The scene seemed to have gotten grimmer than before. Ye Chong was so mesmerized by the sequence.

At that while when Ye Chong was bewitched by the sounds of fists crashing, the squad members finally took action.

Two of them at each side weaved towards the center of the hall.

Like lightning they rushed towards each other. It happened like a whirlwind as they turned into two beams of gray silhouettes. They crossed over each other and returned to fill in the gap they had left out.

It was so fast that most people would assume they were seeing things.

The fists stopped, the kicks ceased. The two men were as if frozen at the center, their actions were paused, like a sudden glitch in a theater.

It was dead silent at the foyer.

Creepy… It was creepy.

The pause lasted for 2 seconds then they fell onto the ground. They passed out, though Ye Chong could not tell if they were still alive.

The dramatic collapsed alarmed everyone in the hall, including Ye Chong.

But unlike the others in the foyer, Ye Chong saw everything through his eyes.

Right when both of the silhouettes overlapped each other, his eyes squeezed drastically as his pupils exerted a fine beam of glance of great focus! Wei Xi who had been watching the happening did not seem to notice Ye Chong’s strange eyes.

Horrifying. The two members must be the mentalists. A simultaneous sequence performed without prompt communication, of such rapport and such accurate grasp of timing, no one else than the mentalists could have done it!

The crossing point of the silhouettes was none other than the very center between the brawls of those men, since that was the point where the intensity was condensed, they had at least exchanged punches and kicks 10 times a second.

The timing when both mentalists got to each other flawlessly happened to be the split second when the two men withdrew their fists and legs! Within the distance barely a meter, the two mentalists crossed each other with their backs rubbing against. Ye Chong could clearly see the closest part they got together was no more than a centimeter.

Technically at that crossing point, one mentalist launched his knees at the abdomen while the other made a slam at the neck with his palm. The entire sequence of action happened in milliseconds!

Ye Chong tried to calm himself, his expression changed back to normal and Wei Xi shifted her sight back onto Ye Chong.

The two mentalists walked out of the circle with two unconscious men in their arms. The team eventually removed themselves from the foyer. Without a single bit of unnecessary noises, the foyer got back its dining pleasure. “Mhm, all done, it’s alright now! Mr. Ye,” stated Wei Xi as she smiled at Ye Chong, “This foyer is mainly for social activities or a place for candidates to pass their times, but somehow people mistook fighting as a kind of social activity. Hehehe, Mr. Ye, would you like to stay here or would you like to move to your room at the moment?”

“To my room,” replied Ye Chong.

Ye Chong’s room was Room 508. It was not spacious but it contained a range of facilities. Ye Chong stepped into the room, “Ye, be careful. The room has eyes,” reminded Shang.

“Got it. Mhm.” Ye Chong did not feel surprised of such extra implementation in the room. It would be more of a surprise to him if the room did not have security cameras in the first place.

“Well, this is it. Mr. Ye, this would be your room for the rest of your trip. There is a processor containing the manuals of all facilities in the room. An instruction manual for example, you could take a look after this. If you have any doubts in mind, you could always ask me. The communicator in you room is directly connected to mine. We are glad to serve you at any time!” bowed Wei Xi to Ye Chong again as she detailed the services.

“Thank you,” Ye Chong also returned a bow to her. Well, the beast knew some basic courtesy at least. Of course, Shang shared a major credit in this for being proactively instilling him the humanity.

The room was dim. On top of a wooden antique table the very symbol of technological advancement, the processor sat, which the contrast was a little awkward to behold. The processor was connected to a communicator at the side.

…

Behind the table, an elderly in pale green garb was seated. And he was watching the visual showing up on the communicator, where Wei Xi was being projected.

“Tell me about this new applicant. You were at his service, you should know something about him I assume?” The elderly’s voice was deep and a little hoarse, his eyes were murky with occasional sparkles which would alert the people upon sighting. Anyone could have told that he was a mentalist from his clothing. His tone was calm yet a strong sense of authority of a higher-up could be felt.

“Yes sir, my pleasure,” bowed Wei Xi in the hologram as she started pondering and recalling the moments she shared with Ye Chong, it took her a bit to piece everything together, “The applicant is very young… about 20 years old… as fit as a fiddle, though he was a little thin. He was even-tempered, cold to people, less of a talker and he was tenacious… From his reactions thus far, I could say he showed little interest towards lust and seduction. Mhm… he might have some backgrounds unknown to us. He did not seem like an active, impulsive youngster that I have known of. Very different.”

“I see… I see… Looks like you have quite a remark for him.” The elderly exerted bit of attention.

“Yes, certainly. I feel something utterly different of this person. I also doubted something…” Wei Xi paused a little while, “He could be an ace in combats or he should have an equivalent quality of offenses. He could even have a very rich experience in fights or wars…”

“I see!” The elderly was very interested, “I heard he’s a Skeleton Artisan, then how did he become an ace in combats as you have mentioned? What did you spot that made up such speculation from you?”

“Well…” Wei Xi quickly replied, “Once he got off spaceship, the first thing he did was observing the area. It was a very careful observation too. The first glance he set upon me was as if I was his prey or something. Those glances were sharp, only after my introduction, the glance got gentler. I think he realized that I showed no hostility. Besides, the way he walked and the way he placed his hands, the behaviors, every single part of his gave me feelings of a fighter. I’m not sure if it was out of his habits or mere coincidence, during the conflict happened in the resting area today, he portrayed immense enthusiasm towards the brawling. He was intensely attentive the entire time. Combining all of the clues mentioned, I suspected he could be an ace in combats.”

The absolute beauty was stately as her voice went strong, which was totally different from her demure sweetie self who spoke softly to Ye Chong before.

“Mhm. You did a splendid job I must say,” nodded the elderly approvingly, “I did not foresee that young man being this unique. Yes, yes, yes, please keep an eye on him. Report to me if anything happens.”

“Yes, sir,” bowed Wei Xi.

The hologram disintegrated into fickle glimmers in the air, scattered and fading away like fireworks. The statue of the elderly sat on the chair motionlessly. The only living thing on the statue was the eyes of his which blinked occasionally.

…

Ye Chong spent the following days literally rooted in his room. He hardly left his room for activities outside, which forced Wei Xi to pay him several visits daily. She was ever-ready at his service, with the enchanting smile and considerate nature of hers, which was a barrel of triggers to boil Shang’s fuel as he kept breathing heavily like he was on drugs or something.

In spite of her kindness, Ye Chong remained stoned in his room. Wei Xi found him eccentric as how a young man like him could stay in the room the whole day while showing zero interest towards the opposite gender. “This is too weird…” she muttered while standing before the monitor. These few days she had been watching Ye Chong over the monitor. She was aware of Ye Chong’s routine. Ye Chong would spend everyday at the processor, viewing a variety of design plans she could not comprehend. He seemed to be meditating on something. “No way,” she mumbled as she recalled how she had tried showing these plans to other members on the ship and people had been telling her those were plans of commonly seen mechs in the market. There was nothing particular with them. They were worthless.

Plans for commonly seen mech? Nothing particular? Worthless? Then why is he spending everyday viewing them?

Or he had found out that I was watching him the whole time? That’s why he acted… 
The deduction flashed in her mind.

So she spent the next few days visiting more frequently than before… but nothing special had happened.

But was Ye Chong really dazing at the worthless design plans days and nights the whole time?

Chapter 152: Nine Gates of Daylight

e Chong blinked.

The two people fighting aggressively on the holographic screen, with very quick movements, were the two from that day! Ye Chong knitted his brows as he played the video repeatedly, trying to uncover every single detail of the fight, analyzing their attacks and defenses.

If it were up to Mu, he could do this faster and present a more complete and logical assessment. However, Ye Chong understood that the results from his own effort would be more valuable than Mu’s.

Shang had hacked the room’s surveillance system, and what Wei Xi saw through the surveillance video was only a short recording of Ye Chong’s image by Shang. The mech had put some effort into this cover, for he must ensure that the video remained largely unchanged, except for some minor details. For example, Ye Chong’s expression, the schematics on display and so on, were changed occasionally to make the effect more realistic.

Every time Wei Xi visited Ye Chong’s room, she did not discover what Ye Chong was really doing due to Ye Chong’s astoundingly sharp hearing. Wei Xi was not a combatant, and her footsteps could be heard from afar by Ye Chong. Every time Wei Xi came to Ye Chong’s room, Ye Chong would have been prepared with the schematics on his desk, and a thoughtful expression on his face.

For a full 13 days, Ye Chong did not step out of the room, and Wei Xi found that the schematics Ye Chong had been studying was changed three times.

Ye Chong’s battle skills were mainly of the basic superficial principles he learned at Black Cove, without any complete logical basis. The duo’s battle recording was dissected by Ye Chong into a thousand details, as Ye Chong tried to find some pattern in it. It was undeniable that both of them were very skilled, and Ye Chong believed that, in terms of skills, they were roughly on the same level as the average mech pilots from Black Cove.

However, any patterns in their battle could not be identified easily. Ye Chong could only mimic their movements for now, since he found their battle moves more powerful, more difficult to predict, or would increase his overall strength!

As for their easy defeat against two mentalist pilots, Ye Chong was quite surprised. To him, they were both on about the same level as Black Cove mech pilots in terms of battling skills, but they were still easily brought down. In terms of combat, no matter between humans or mechs, Black Cove was definitely far better than the Sanctuary. For two Black Cove level combatants to be defeated in a few moves by two mentalist pilots, the outcome was odd for Ye Chong.

Ye Chong brought his confusion to Shang.

Shang replied immediately, “That’s quite normal, perfectly understandable given the circumstances. Ye, think about it, those two mentalists were ambushing, and the two idiots were still engaged in a fight. Tsk tsk, Ye, if the person before you is about the same level as you, and fighting you to the death, do you think you’ll have time to watch out for other enemies?”

Ye Chong shook his head.

“There you have it. Those two fellows were obviously roughly equal in strength. As they were deep in battle, someone attacked from behind their backs, and that’s absolutely normal! Besides, if you think about it, what’s the unique ability of mentalist pilots? Hmm, sigh, this, I’m actually not quite sure of this, but it should be some kind of clairvoyance ability, tsk tsk, Ye, that’s an ability that best complements an ambush. You saw what happened that day, that golden opportunity taken, tsk tsk, splendid indeed!” Shang spoke enthusiastically, his emotions high, but he then sobered up and said, “If it’s one on one though, hehe, it’s hard to say who will win!”

“That makes sense!” Ye Chong carefully thought through Shang’s words and felt relieved.

Shang noticed that Ye Chong seemed eager to chat with him, and swiftly began on the one topic he’s most interested in, “Ye, what do you think of Xi Xi’er?”

“Xi Xi’er? Who’s that?” Ye Chong did not recall knowing anyone called Xi Xi’er.

“Sigh, you’re such a dumb*ss, it’s the nickname of our most beloved Wei Xi!” Shang sounded intoxicated, and Ye Chong felt like he was getting goosebumps.

“Not good at all!” To completely reject Shang’s obsession, Ye Chong replied with firm determination.

“Not good at all? Sigh, I’ve forgotten that you’re a wild animal! Asking that question to you is like asking for directions from the blind. Our dear Ye’s favorite is that white-robed violent woman! Hehe, that passionate kiss, oh, wait, I should call it a lick, has let our little Ye experience true emotions for the first time, hehe, but that kick was too cruel …” Shang was laughing more and more lasciviously.

Ye Chong knew that if he were to argue with Shang right then, it would only excite the bored Shang even more, so he opted rationally for ignorance.

However, Ye Chong’s mind could not help but think back of that snow white training garb, although the imposing and inviolable face was gradually becoming out of focus. Only the white training garb remained clear as day in Ye Chong’s mind.

“Sigh, what am I thinking all of this for? It’s all that d*mn Shang’s fault, I still prefer Mu! Hmm, counting back, it’s about time for Mu to come out, Mu must now still be analyzing that recording underneath!”

Shang’s words were thoroughly ignored by Ye Chong, as his thought began to wonder somehow, from the past to present, through battle after battle, meeting people after people. Images and figures from the past came to mind like a dream, and for a moment, he felt a little dazed.

Finally, on the sixth day of the flight, throughout which Shang continued blabbering on, Mu finally came out. Ye Chong could finally have some peaceful silence! Once Mu came out, he discussed the results of his analysis with Ye Chong. Ye Chong also presented his own analysis, and they both exchanged their opinions on the matter.

In the next seven days of the journey, Ye Chong benefited very much! Mu’s analysis results were the main reason for that. Mu’s database had a good volume of information on kinematics and combat, which made his logical analysis unquestionable. Unlike Mu’s typical statistical analysis, Ye Chong’s analysis may be incomplete or even inaccurate, but he still had some rather unique insights. If a master in combat were here, he would definitely approve of Ye Chong’s intuition! However, Ye Chong did not understand that concept, as he could only vaguely sense that certain alternatives would be better than others. As for Mu, he was only focusing on the analysis results.

However, these were only theories. Theoretical understanding and application were two different things. Without proper training, the body could not remember the movements, and with large variation in the enemy’s moves, it would not only reduce one’s capabilities, but also present an opportunity for the enemy. It seemed that he had a new training course now! Fortunately, Ye Chong never complained of too many training courses.

It was only a pity that the time and location did not allow him to begin with this training.

Wei Xi looked at Ye Chong through the surveillance device. The man never left the room, and even had her send him his meals. No matter how she looked at it, he was a thoroughly obsessed scientist, and should not pose a threat. Nonetheless, why did she feel that something was wrong? Wei Xi frowned, her delicate profile tinged with vexation.

Nast finally docked, and this meant that the moment of truth was near! In truth, Ye Chong had thought of hijacking Nast in this period. With Guardian and Mu, Ye Chong believed that the probability of success was high. However, even if he hijacked Nast, he still could not leave the Orbits. Without the Orbits’ star map, he could not even know where he was and hence, could not do a warp jump. Leaving the Orbits would be impossible.

On the thirteenth day, the starship finally reached its destination.

Under Wei Xi’s guidance, Ye Chong left the ship.

Ye Chong took one step across the ledge of the cabin’s door, and his eyes automatically swept across the view in front of him. Abruptly, as though struck by lightning, he stood frozen and his eyes glowed in stupefaction!

Heavens! What was this place?

Before him was a dream-like metropolis!

From afar, the city’s silhouette seemed like a scale model right in front of Ye Chong, giving a feeling of surrealism. Skyscrapers rose in all kinds of shapes under the illumination of dazzling artificial lighting, reflecting off glaring halos. One could not help but gasp in amazement at the sight. The buildings were massive, some shaped like large honeycombs, others like towers; while they came in a variety of designs, the one thing they share in common was their soaring heights. Blue Ocean Academy’s 800-storey main building would fit in perfectly. Unlike the natural refreshing style that Ye Chong saw in other places in the Orbits, the buildings here were all in modernistic and metallic fashion. The Five Galaxies’ most popular and common high-tech vibe permeated every corner of this world.

Ye Chong could not see the sky, since above him was an endless stretch of light blue metallic ceiling, reaching all the way to the horizon. The ceiling was equipped with numerous artificial lights. This place did not look dim at all; the world was bright as day.

Countless mechs flew swiftly across the sky, like a dense swarm of bees returning to their nests, casting many vague shadows on the ground.

Ye Chong smelled an earthly scent. Could this be underground? Ye Chong’s thoughts began to run wild, as he was shook like a storm was inside him. How much had the Sanctuary’s technology really advanced?

Behind him was the docked Nast starship. Nast was a large ship, a truly massive structure. Here, however, it looked tiny. Ye Chong found that many of the docked starships here were about the same size as Nast, although some of them were even larger. Numerous engineering mechs were busying themselves around in an orderly fashion.

He was now probably at the city’s docking station. Ye Chong even had a sinister thought – if he destroyed a starship here, would it have a domino effect?

“Welcome to Nine Gates of Daylight!” Wei Xi’s sweet and mellow voice was tinged with pride.

Chapter 153: Blue Sandstone

e knew from Wei Xi that the city did not have restrictions on activity time, so Ye Chong decided to make a grand tour of the almost miraculous underground city. After declining Wei Xi’s company, Ye Chong headed for the streets alone. Usually, he would not be in the mood for a stroll in the city, but Nine Gates of Daylight had irrevocably made him curious. A massive underground metropolis like this, Ye Chong believed, would never have been possible in the Five Galaxies. Ye Chong himself had never imagined for there be such a city in this world. On the other hand, no matter the time, familiarizing himself with the environment was enough to significantly raise his chance of survival. This was according to Ye Chong’s experience.

Witnessing the miraculous existence of Nine Gates of Daylight, Ye Chong began to have doubts on whether he could pass the so-called five Trials, for the Sanctuary’s strength was truly unpredictable!

Every candidate had to wear a silver electronic wristband once they left their ship. Its matted internal surface made for a comfortable wear. Its smooth surface of gleaming silver was etched with patterns of intertwining vines, and between the leaves of these vines, Ye Chong found many holographic projection apertures. Wei Xi said that this was a travel pass for Nine Gates of Daylight. Without it, moving throughout the city would be difficult, and his personal safety would not be guaranteed. As for how it would “not be guaranteed”, Wei Xi only smiled and moved on to another topic.

Ye Chong found that wristband could not be taken off once it was put on. Wei Xi’s explanation was that it prevented any accidental loss of the item. Ye Chong, however, did not buy it at all. Wei Xi also warned Ye Chong to never attempt to remove the wristband, or it would be very dangerous. Similarly, she did not elaborate any further on how it could be “dangerous”.

Of course, Ye Chong was not foolish enough to believe that this was only a simple travel pass. Just as he laid sight on the wristband, Mu’s superior scanning system had already gone through the entire item. When Mu informed the scanning results to Ye Chong, Ye Chong could only force himself to maintain an acceptably normal expression as he was given the wristband.

It had a signal tracking feature, allowing the Sanctuary to know at all times the whereabouts of the wearer. There was also an unknown liquid inside, mixed with more than 300 extremely tiny alloy needles. Next to the liquid was an extremely potent high explosive material. Mu concluded that this material could explode and wipe out anything within a three meter radius. The probability of this was much higher than the material being a tasty beverage. Based on Mu’s calculations, the explosion would cause the alloy needles submerged in the liquid to shoot outwards in all directions, being effective up to a thirty meter radius. The explosive decision was similarly controlled by the Sanctuary. It meant that, whoever wearing this item would place their lives in the hands of the Sanctuary.

Ye Chong received the seemingly elegant wristband as he listened to Mu analyzing all the various functions of the item, and grew anxious inside!

However, seeing Wei Xi and an entire standard combat squad of mech pilots eyeing him with hostility, Ye Chong could only brace himself and put on the terrifying item on his left wrist. If he did not cooperate, he would probably be surrounded and attacked. Besides, there were many of the Sanctuary’s pilots around here. Since he left the starship, Ye Chong noticed keenly that there were more than ten of the Sanctuary’s combat squads flying in the air! If he were attacked here, there would not be much of him left in the end!

Wei Xi was secretly pleased. No matter what troubles Ye Chong could bring, once he put on the travel wristband, he would never escape the Sanctuary’s grasp. They would not have to fear for any of his tricks.

After Ye Chong put on the silver wristband, the squad of mech pilots behind Wei Xi left silently.

Ye Chong made the excuse of wanting to look around the place, and quickly left Wei Xi. Wei Xi was not afraid of Ye Chong being up to something, and agreed smilingly.

Ye Chong turned and immediately asked Mu urgently, “Mu, can you take care of this?” Ye Chong hated the feeling of having his fate being controlled by someone else.

Mu was silent for a moment before saying, “Ye, this design of theirs is quite delicate, I’ll need some time!”

Ye Chong could not help but exhale in relief. He had an almost blind confidence towards Mu’s abilities. If Mu did not say it was impossible, then Ye Chong believed that Mu would be able to do it. In truth, ever since their meeting on the trash planet, Mu had never let Ye Chong down. However, even the usually undaunted Mu had requested for more time. This showed how advanced Sanctuary’s technology really was.

Ye Chong calmly began his solo exploration of the metropolis known as Nine Gates of Daylight.

It was only by entering Nine Gates of Daylight that one could truly appreciate its magnificence. Walking leisurely along the streets, Ye Chong found the city’s prosperity surprising. He had thought that the place was like a man-made base, but along the streets Ye Chong discovered that it was complete with various facilities. This was undeniably a real city.

Unlike the rushed pace of the pedestrians Ye Chong had seen in other cities, the people here seemed to be leisurely walking and looked carefree. Ye Chong also noticed something curious – most of the pedestrians he saw were middle aged, and there were basically no one as young as he was. Nonetheless, the people on the streets had all looked at him oddly, and Ye Chong did not understand why, though he did not really mind them.

The skies were much livelier than on the ground. Numerous mechs cruised between the skyscrapers, dangerously close to each other, but the mech pilots all displayed extremely well piloting skills. The common sight of newbie pilots flying their mechs uncertainly across the skies was absent in Nine Gates of Daylight. Ye Chong was suspected that they could be having some sort of mech piloting competition.

In a small store on the roadside, through an organic sheet of glass, many mechs were put on display. Ye Chong could not help but stop in his tracks. The holographic advertisement at the door wrote, ‘Blue Sandstone Mech Store – Mechs Made To Order, with Modification, Assembling and Reparation Services’.

Ye Chong stared. What a huge boast. This was the first time Ye Chong had seen an advertisement offering custom made mechs, and even had modification, assembling and reparation services. If this little store could build custom made mechs, it would mean that the store had the facilities to build an entire mech by itself. That seemed preposterous. If it was one of those huge mech production companies displaying this ad, Ye Chong might have believed it, but this was an inconspicuous looking little store. Ye Chong found it hard to believe that it had the facilities to build an entire mech.

Even Ye Chong himself could not build an entire mech. With his most recent success, Han Jia, even though he had made most of the parts by himself, the engine, scanning system and other important parts were not what he could manage. Besides, without Mu’s help, building Han Jia would have been more difficult. However, who could possibly have a helper like Mu?

Unintentionally, Ye Chong found himself entering the little store named Blue Sandstone.

The shop looked inconspicuous on the outside, but it was very spacious inside, with many different mechs on display. Ye Chong examined those mechs in detail, and found to his surprise that they were not in the usual natural style common in the Orbits, but were very similar to the advanced level mechs found in the Five Galaxies. Ye Chong was very familiar with advanced level mechs of all models from the Five Galaxies, and could notice the difference in style.

Suddenly, a soft voice reached him. “Young man, these things are very different from your equipment, don’t waste your time on them!” The tone was not very welcoming.

Ye Chong turned to see a middle aged man in a working uniform standing behind him, his body covered in patches of grease, and his expression a little unfriendly. “What did I do to him?” Ye Chong thought to himself. The middle aged man’s words meant nothing to him. What did he mean by “your equipment”?

Not understanding his words, Ye Chong had no intention of probing further, but instead studied the modified version of the Eden-IV model before him. Whoever modified it had intended to improve the mech’s automotives, and even put on some horizontal stabilizer fins and simplified the design on Eden’s originally thickset limbs.

Ye Chong could not help but shake his head.

“This is just a small store, nothing much to see!” Seeing Ye Chong shake his head, the middle aged man made a hostile expression, obviously trying to kick him out.

Ye Chong looked up in surprise. While he had few experiences in buying things, this was the first time he met such a storekeeper.

“How much is this Eden?” Ye Chong pointed to the Eden-IV model before him. This Eden-IV model had good balance, but its automotive power was regrettably lacking. However, other parts of its design were all aimed for balance. Besides, the mech model had an important advantage, and that was its stability. It had stable performance no matter what the environment. Besides Han Jia, Ye Chong only had Guardian, which cannot ever show itself. He felt the need to have another mech, in case if Han Jia was damaged, he would still have another mech to travel. Moreover, Ye Chong already had an idea on how to modify this Eden model.

“You buying?” The middle aged man looked unconvinced.

“Yes!” Ye Chong nodded.

“You really buying?” The middle aged man’s face was full of disbelief.

“Yes!” Ye Chong did not even make the effort of nodding this time.

“Alright, that model’s 15 Nine Gate points.” The middle aged man gave a look that asked him to pay up if he wanted to buy the mech.

“Nine Gate points?” What is this Nine Gate point? Was it the local currency? Ye Chong suddenly remembered something important – he did not have any local currency.

The middle aged man studied Ye Chong for a moment, and saw the silver wristband on Ye Chong’s left wrist. He asked, “You a new candidate?”

Chapter 154: Interim Protocol

Yes!” Ye Chong nodded.

“Haha, you’re a candidate! Ah, it’s a total misunderstanding on my part!” The middle aged man fidgeted with his hands, feeling very awkward.

“What did you misunderstand about?” Ye Chong asked.

“Haha.” The middle aged man grew more embarrassed. He was going to cover himself with a laugh, but seeing as Ye Chong continued staring unblinkingly at him, he explained awkwardly, “I … I thought you were from the Sanctuary!”

“From the Sanctuary?” Ye Chong found that odd.

“Yes. Almost all the ones as young as you around here are from the Sanctuary. In all these years, this is the first time I’ve seen a candidate as young as you!” The middle aged man showed great curiosity towards Ye Chong.

“Why are young people usually from the Sanctuary?” Ye Chong could not see the relationship between being young and being from the Sanctuary.

“All the detainees here are those who passed the Level Three Trial, but did not pass the Level Five Trial. Usually, candidates at this level are aged 35 and above, rarely are they in their twenties. The young people here are usually elites trained by the Sanctuary. That’s why I misjudged you earlier!” The middle aged man saw Ye Chong’s perplexity and explained patiently.

“Do you not like the Sanctuary’s people?” Ye Chong asked directly. While he did not tell the whole story, he could clearly feel the middle aged man’s hostility.

“Hmph, the Sanctuary’s people? Who among the detainees here would like them?” The middle aged man’s expression turned into anger.

This was obviously not a good conversation topic. Ye Chong moved on tactfully, “Then how’s you know that I’m an applicant?”

“Hah, that’s really easy, it’s just that I didn’t notice earlier, hehe, or I would’ve known. Your travel wristband, that’s something only we detainees will have on. I’ve never seen the identification pass for the Sanctuary’s people, but I know that they don’t wear this thing.” The middle aged man laughed, pleased with himself.

“If you don’t even know what a Nine Gates point is, then you must be a first time applicant. Hehe, this d*mned place, to those who are not applicants of the Sanctuary’s people, they wouldn’t be able to get in!” The middle aged man continued on.

“Oh!” Ye Chong realized now.

After studying him for a few moments, the middle aged man said, “Young man, you look like a decent person, so don’t walk around idly. You’ll most likely end up in Ancient Terminus, so best if you go back and prepare for the Trials. If you manage to pass the Level Three Trial, you’ll even get to stay here.”

“Ancient Terminus? Where’s that?” Ye Chong asked.

“Heavens! Your guide is too irresponsible, how could you not know that? Since when did the Sanctuary’s people become so careless?” The middle aged man wore an expression of disbelief.

“I just arrived today, right off the ship.” Ye Chong explained.

“No wonder, you’re an eager fellow! Hehe, then let me tell you all about it. Of the five Trials, you must start from Level One, and if you can’t even pass that, you’ll be punished by the Sanctuary. Hmm, as for what that punishment is, I have no idea. If you have passed Level One, but didn’t pass Level Three, you’ll be sent off to Ancient Terminus. If you passed Level Three but not Level Five, you’ll be detained in Nine Gates. Hehe, if you really passed Level Five, you’ll be allowed to leave the Orbits, and they’ll allocate a starship to send you off. Understand now, young man?” The middle aged man explained in detail to Ye Chong.

“I see.” Ye Chong began to understand the situation, and asked further, “So what is this Nine Gates point?”

“Nine Gate points are points for your service in Nine Gates, and the local currency.” The middle aged man said, “For example, that Eden-IV you’re looking at is worth five Nine Gate points.”

“Hmm.” Ye Chong nodded in understanding, the truth not far from what he had guessed.

Just then, the travel wristband on Ye Chong’s left wrist made a sharp buzzing sound. Noticing Ye Chong’s confused expression, the middle aged man immediately spoke up to Ye Chong, “That’s someone calling you! Sigh, how could you come out here without knowing even that? You’re a real piece of work! See, that leaf is the connection button!” The middle aged man pointed towards an etched vine leaf beside the holographic projection aperture.

Ye Chong quickly pressed the leaf as instructed by the middle aged man. Beep, a soft sound was heard. An image of Wei Xi immediately appeared above the holographic projection aperture, with Wei Xi’s attractive profile shrunken and suspended in the air above the holographic projection aperture as her mellow voice came through, “Mr Ye, please return, there are some changes to the Trials. Please return immediately to the Sanctuary’s trial center.” Wei Xi was cordial, but allowed no disobedience.

“Er, where’s the Sanctuary’s trial center?” Ye Chong asked.

Wei Xi recalled then that Ye Chong did not know where the trial center was, and panicked as she fumbled around, bowing a little as she searched using the photon processor before her, her confidence earlier gone without a trace. The middle aged man saw Wei Xi’s clumsiness from the side, and sympathized with the misfortune of the delicate young lady to be assigned with such a candidate.

After some long moments, Wei Xi finally lifted her head and recovered her smile as she spoke, “Mm, about that, Mr Ye, here is the exact location of the Sanctuary’s trial center!” Wei Xi sent a holographic map marked with the trial center’s location.

“Okay!” Ye Chong nodded, and began to look through the holographic map.

The middle aged man could not stand it any longer, and pulled Ye Chong to the door. As the man closed in on Ye Chong, Ye Chong’s misgivings for having anyone near him almost made him react reflexively to avoid the man. However, he remembered that Wei Xi was watching, and did not wish to show his true abilities. Besides, the middle aged man was probably not an enemy. With that, Ye Chong suppressed his reflexive reaction and allowed the middle aged man to pull him.

The man’s reaction was also a surprise to Wei Xi, in her holographic presence.

As the middle aged man reached the door with Ye Chong, he pointed towards the huge building opposite the street and said to Ye Chong, “I’m truly speechless with the both of you. Look, that’s the trial center! Do you really need a map for somewhere so near?”

Wei Xi blushed deeply in the holographic image, but Ye Chong only acknowledged flatly. The middle aged man had enough of Ye Chong, and waved him off, “Now get going!”

Ye Chong replied, “Okay,” and left immediately, not realizing that the holographic image with Wei Xi’s awkward expression was still present, and swinging along with Ye Chong’s left hand.

To prevent another humiliating episode, Wei Xi decided to meet Ye Chong at the entrance of the building.

Ye Chong’s room, according to Wei Xi, would be for his perusal during the trials.

Wei Xi spoke with a serious expression, “Mr Ye, due to a special case this time, the masters who were supposed to manage the trials had other tasks to see to, and so we’ve decided to fall back on the Fifth Interim Protocol.”

“Okay.” Ye Chong was seemingly unaffected, with an almost expressionless face. Seeing that Ye Chong did not react with surprise at the news, Wei Xi approved of his mental fortitude, even though his lifelessness also made her furious at the same time.

Wei Xi was an elite non-combatant of the Sanctuary, and quickly noticed her emotional instability. She quietly chastised herself and adopted a more serious expression.

“The Fifth Interim Protocol permits a free lifestyle. For every applicant, the Sanctuary will allocate a proportionate initial capital based on his or her contribution to the Sanctuary in the past. The fund is in Nine Gates points, the local currency, and will reflect your contributions to the Sanctuary. The goal of this Trial is for every applicant to accumulate 1000 points in three months. This means that the final Nine Gates points in your personal account must be 1000 points more than your initial capital.

“Please note that any fraudulent trading in your effort to gain more Nine Gates points is prohibited. Your every transaction is monitored by the Sanctuary. If anyone is found to be engaged in fraudulent trading to gain more Nine Gates points, your candidacy will be revoked, and you will be severely punished!

“Your final Trial result will depend on both the final number of Nine Gates points you earn and the value of the products you created in this duration.

“There are many ways to earn Nine Gates points. One of the most common is to sell products you made to the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary will award you with Nine Gates points based on the value of your products. Another way is to sell your products in the market in exchange for the corresponding value of Nine Gates points. These are the main ways for non-combatants to earn Nine Gates points.

“However, as a reminder, the quality and creativity of the products you create will make a huge difference on its value! Hence, if possible, focus your efforts on increasing the quality of your products.

“On the other hand, any special formulae and creative ideas or products of yours can be proposed to the Sanctuary, and the Sanctuary will award you with the appropriate number of Nine Gates points. For this option, the Sanctuary’s awards are usually very high. If you have any new and unique theories, you can submit them to the Sanctuary. After review and acceptance by our Masters, the amount of Nine Gates points you earn may be high enough to allow you to pass this Trial immediately.

“The difficulty of this Trial is Level Three. If you can, with your own strength, earn 1000 Nine Gates points here in three months, meaning you are able to survive in Nine Gates city. The detainees in Nine Gates are all candidates who passed Level Three Trials. Low quality products have no place in this city. If you wish to accomplish your task, you will have to produce high quality products. This is why we grade this Trial as Level Three.

“If you pass this Trial, you can move on the next one. If you do not pass, we’ll study your performance in these three months and send you to Ancient Terminus or give a certain level of punishment.

“Your room’s photon processor is directly linked to the market. From there, you can choose your materials. If you can’t find them there, you can inform the Sanctuary, and the Sanctuary will do their best to fulfill your request, but the costs will be very high.

“Alright. Since you had provided three interesting mechs to the Sanctuary before, the Sanctuary’s award for your contribution translates to an initial capital of …

Wei Xi looked down at her files, but when she saw the figure, her bright sparkling eyes immediately turned to a disbelieving stare.

“400 points!” Wei Xi pronounced those few words with great difficulty.

400 points!

For such a huge amount of initial capital to be allocated for such a young man, it was nearly impossible! What sort of mysterious occupation was skeleton carving? How was this expressionless guy special? What sort of mechs did he provide that could amount to a total of 400 points?

Numerous questions came to Wei Xi’s mind!

Chapter 155: Trouble

ow much was 400 Nine Gates points? Ye Chong was ignorant, but Wei Xi understood clearly. The value of 400 Nine Gates points was the highest initial capital she had ever encountered! More importantly, this was a sign of recognition from the Sanctuary. Three mechs amounting to 400 Nine Gates points meant that each mech was equivalent to about more than a hundred Nine Gates points. Wei Xi did not keep up well with the Nine Gates market situation, but even she knew that some master level products could only reach this value.

If it was an elderly person, Wei Xi would not be so surprised, but the Mr Ye before her was definitely below 20 years of age.

“His occupation must be very special!” thought Wei Xi.

She remembered Ye Chong telling her about him being a skeleton carver. “Hmm, it must be because of that strange occupation of his!” Wei Xi consoled herself. As a non-combatant, she also had her own expertise, but hers was in pharmacy.

What a huge disparity! Even though she was recognized as an elite by her teachers, she understood that her pharmaceutical products would never fetch a price higher than 10 Nine Gates points.

The reality staring in her face had delivered a heavy blow to her! She smiled wryly to herself. “So there are real geniuses out there!”

Ye Chong was not aware of Wei Xi’s inner turmoil. Wei Xi gathered herself and taught Ye Chong how to use his travel bracelet, how to check his Nine Gates points and so on. Fortunately, Ye Chong had good memory and picked up the necessary skills quickly, which was a relief for Wei Xi.

After teaching the basics, Wei Xi then introduced some basic information about Nine Gates city before leaving Ye Chong.

Ye Chong finally got a better sense of Nine Gates.

In Nine Gates, there were only two types of residents – one were the people who passed the Level Three Trial but not the Level Five Trial, and the other was the Sanctuary’s people. As the storekeeper of the Blue Sandstone had told him, most of the young people here were from the Sanctuary, and Ye Chong guessed that they were probably students or something similar.

Ye Chong was now browsing through market products through his photon processor, since his materials would have to come from there. Unlike the old style found in other places of the Orbits, Nine Gates had its own virtual net, and the market trading system formed part of this virtual world. Ye Chong asked whether Mu could hack the system, but when Mu told him that the probability of being discovered was over 50 percent, Ye Chong immediately dismissed the idea. Of course, he was already surprised by the Sanctuary’s solid abilities.

He had thought that Nine Gates was only a city, and their products in the market should not be too varied, but the photon processor’s market item lists and product introductions were extensive, and Ye Chong could not help but grew interested as he scrolled through the products.

Ye Chong could not find any skeletons in the market for the moment, but he was not in a hurry. He clicked into a random list of items.

These were mineral ores, many of which Ye Chong did not recognize. He knew next to nothing in ore mineralogy and metallurgy. Fortunately, he had advice from the huge database that was Mu.

“Dual energy ore!” Mu’s flat voice suddenly turned up a notch and surprised Ye Chong. However, Ye Chong immediately realized that this was no average material.

Maltese browsed through the mineral ore section enthusiastically, to see if he could get his hands on anything interesting. As a Nine Gates Sanctuary’s mech pilot student minoring in metallurgy, he had stumbled upon an improvement in an alloy material’s formula. The Sanctuary had granted him substantial award points. Hence, he was trying to find something interesting in the market.

He scrolled through the items on the photon processor lazily. While the ores offered were not bad, and some were even rare, they were still what the Sanctuary could provide for him, and not worth his points. He shook his head in a sigh. Why wasn’t there anything that was worth his attention?

These mineral ores were mostly dug up by some detainees of good quality. However, their education system was far inferior to the internal information of the Sanctuary. Nonetheless, their rich experience allowed them to classify the ores with great accuracy. There were many ores that they had not seen before, but experience and instinct would urge them to keep the ores and sell them at a higher price. Maltese was looking for ores like these. Of course, some of the vendors were only selling because they were in urgent need of the points.

No matter the circumstances, it was rare to find ores like these. Maltese had only succeeded in finding a treasure like this once, which turned out to be a fist-sized core mineral. His success in improving the alloy formula was mainly due to the core mineral. This was what encouraged Maltese in his “quest” for such hidden treasures. The process was one that tested his patience, but Maltese believed he did not lack that particular quality.

Suddenly, Maltese’s eyes glowed brightly. An inconspicuous looking gray mineral ore came into his line of sight. Maltese’s right hand trembled. Heavens! Was that not a dual energy ore? This was probably one of the top 100 rare minerals in the known universe! Maltese’s brain nearly short circuited. Even with the Sanctuary’s huge strength and influence, he had never seen a dual energy ore! After a deep breath, Maltese forced himself to calm down, but the effort was largely wasted.

He reached out with his trembling right hand and made to purchase, but that dual energy ore suddenly vanished from the item list!

Maltese froze, and his face abruptly twisted. He searched through the item list like a mad person, but the dual energy ore was gone without a trace!

For a whole half hour, Maltese searched for the vanished dual energy ore. He had browsed through all the mineral ores, but still could not find it! Maltese finally sagged into his seat, his heart filled with great regret. Why did he not act faster? If he had acted just a little faster, just a little, that dual energy ore would be his!

Just as Maltese was nearly going crazy from his depression, Ye Chong was counting his remaining points. That dual energy ore had cost him an unexpected 200 points! In the blink of an eye, his points had halved in amount.

The miner of the dual energy ore had found that the ore emitted strong energy waves, but did not recognize it. After consulting various experts among the detainees, none of them knew about the ore. He realized that the ore was a rare mineral, but had to sell it since he was in desperate need of points. He priced it at a high 200 points, thinking that if he could not sell it, he would then keep it for his own research. If he could sell it, then he would also earn a good sum.

200 points was equivalent to about 40 Eden mechs! Even though Ye Chong knew the ore was valuable, he was still pained by the large expense!

Mu hastened Ye Chong to quickly scroll through the item list as he explained, “Dual energy ores can be mixed into alloys, resulting in an alloy with enhanced resistance against energy based weapons like laser beams! They’re a must for building excellent mech shields. However, they are very rare, and is one of the most valuable minerals in the universe.”

Mu’s explanation was a great relief to Ye Chong!

“Stop, Ye!” Mu spoke again.

Maltese may had minored in metallurgy, but he was an outstanding mech pilot, and had good control over his emotions, in which he quickly ended his emotional agitation. He consoled himself, gathered his emotions and restarted his long “quest” for hidden treasures. The item list was constantly refreshing, and new products could always surface at any moment.

Monocrystalline aluminite? Maltese brightened up. Could this be Heaven’s way of compensating for his earlier missed opportunity with the dual energy ore? Monocrystalline aluminite may not be as precious as dual energy ore, but it was still a very rare mineral. However, Maltese had seen it before in the Sanctuary’s mineral museum. It was a small, clear piece of crystal, much like jewellery.

This particular piece of monocrystalline aluminite looked blemished on the outside, with only a small corner uncovered in transparent crystalline form. Maltese grew excited. Being proficient in mineralogy, he knew that the outside surface was only an associated mineral. Once the mineral layer on the surface was removed, the inside would be clear as crystal. Based on the mass, this piece was at least ten times larger than the one on display in the school mineral museum!

This was an extremely rare piece of large monocrystalline aluminite!

Maltese’s eyes shone brightly, overjoyed, and could not help but laugh out loud, “Surely no one will act before me …”

Before he could finish the sentence, the monocrystalline aluminite on the photon processor suddenly vanished! Maltese’s laughter was cut short abruptly. His eyes bulged out and the veins around his temples throbbed. His expression froze, and he finally gave up, falling backwards in outrage, blood spraying out of his mouth!

Twice he was robbed, and twice he had lost such precious mineral ores. Even if Maltese had good mental endurance, he could no longer suppress the fiery rage in his heart. After vomiting that mouthful of blood, he fell down backwards like a rod.

At the same time, the oblivious Ye Chong was taking in information from Mu. “Monocrystalline aluminite is also a precious mineral, and can enhance an alloy’s resilience, improving its physical properties. The most special part about it is that it could enhance an alloy’s performance under high temperatures, and so it’s a good material for mech engines!”

Ye Chong and Mu conversed as usual, oblivious to the person whom they had exasperated until he fainted! Even if Ye Chong knew, he would not feel guilty, but instead remind himself that he must always act fast! This person would be a living example for not following that rule!

Under Mu’s guidance, Ye Chong bought a few more mineral ores. While they were not as precious as the earlier one, they were still rare minerals!

However, Ye Chong quickly realized a very serious problem. His and Mu’s lavish spending had quickly exhausted all 400 points! Ye Chong even suspected that Mu had calculated his points and picked the minerals accordingly. He now had no points left, his account as barren as it had been when he first landed in Nine Gates!

Even if he could find any skeletons, he could no longer afford to buy them now!

Chapter 156: First Pot of Gold?

n the pharmaceutical section of listed items for sale, Ye Chong finally found skeletons in the list. The long list offered skeletons in great variety, and Ye Chong brightened up at that. He was relieved to find that it was possible to find skeletons after all. For a skeleton carver, nothing would be more scary than not having any skeleton materials! Besides, the skeletons for sale were abundant in numbers and types, and that was a surprise to Ye Chong!

“Why are these skeletons in the pharmaceutical section?” Ye Chong could not understand. He could see no relation between skeletons and pharmacy.

“There is a branch in pharmacy that uses flora, fauna and mineral ores as ingredients to produce medicine or for treatment. Animal skeletons are a very important part of it. From the trade volume, this branch must be quite popular here! Of course, I will have to investigate further to understand the details, what I have just said was only a probable deduction!” Mu replied.

“There’s a branch like this?” Ye Chong was surprised.

“Yes. It’s inherited from the past, and grew systematic over time. However, it’s still not a very well known branch, since these treatments are usually effective against strange conditions. My database has little information on this!” Mu said.

Most of the skeletons were from mutant life forms. They came in all shapes and colors, but the points for each of them was very different from Ye Chong’s expectations. For some skeletons that looked average for Ye Chong, were priced ridiculously high. Some skeletons with good properties were, however, priced very low, and even as Ye Chong read on he regretted not having a single point to spend on them!

He realized then that this was the pharmaceutical section, and he should be about the only skeleton carver in the whole of Nine Gates. His valuation of the skeletons must be different from theirs. That was alright, since it could be advantageous for him. He could use fewer points to buy some excellent skeletons, thus reducing the cost.

With some understanding of the market, Ye Chong began to consider the ways he could earn enough points to buy skeletons.

How could he earn his first pot of gold? Ye Chong frowned in contemplation.

“My database has many special formulae for alloys, you can exchange them for Nine Gates points!” Mu suggested.

“No!” This suggestion was immediately rejected by Ye Chong! Ye Chong understood that these formulae were far more valuable than a full skeleton mech, and could potentially make the Sanctuary even stronger! Based on the current situation, the Sanctuary was now his enemy, and improving the strength of his enemy using his information for short term benefits was something Ye Chong would never allow.

Even if he wanted to exchange them for points, Ye Chong would rather get them from the detainees, and not the Sanctuary.

Ye Chong walked into Blue Sandstone for the second time. The middle aged man saw Ye Chong and was surprised, but quickly greeted him, “Young man, why are you not preparing for your trials? Still wandering around?” He was still mocking Ye Chong on the inside for being a candidate at such a young age.

“Yes, the trial’s changed!” Ye Chong looked straight towards the Eden-IV model, and spoke without turning, “That Eden has a problem!”

“Problem?” Ye Chong’s off tangent remark caught the middle aged storekeeper off guard, and found himself moving towards the Eden as he said, “What problem?” His expression was one of disbelief. While he was not entirely satisfied with that Eden, he was still skeptical of how this boy could point out a problem.

“Eden-IV’s special feature is its stability, while its weakness is its lack of speed. You want to improve its automotive capabilities, so you added the horizontal stabilizer while also simplifying its main body. But that greatly reduces the stability of this mech! Besides, most importantly is, the mech’s defenses will be sharply reduced!” Ye Chong spoke without expression.

“Eh!” Ye Chong spoke the truth, and the middle aged storekeeper was a little startled . “You make sense, I guess! But I can’t do much about it, Eden can’t use any other engine model, so I could only do what I did!”

That was true. Eden’s engine was incompatible with other models. This also resulted in Eden being mostly abandoned by mech modification enthusiasts, and rarely would anyone choose the mech for modifications. That was why Ye Chong first noticed the Eden model displayed here.

“There is a solution, but it’s quite complicated!” Ye Chong said. He had studied this problem before at Aurora, and even asked for advice from the elders there, and finally came up with a solution. Ye Chong was quite intelligent in this aspect.

“Haha, young man, don’t go around boasting, it’s not a good habit!” The middle aged storekeeper was unfazed. He did not imagine the serious looking young man before him to be careless with words, and this lowered his opinion of the young man. The middle aged storekeeper may only be the owner of a small store, but he was a candidate who passed a Level Three Trial. Once, he was famous throughout the Five Galaxies, and his cautious attitude was already deeply ingrained in him. That was why he disliked the young man’s boasting.

“Oh, if you want to know, I’ll sell it to you for 10 points!” Ye Chong finally revealed his true intention. In reality, Ye Chong believed that selling his solution for 10 points was an undersell. If he was not urgently in need for points, he would never have sold the solution. It was not that the solution was actually worth more, but anyone would appreciate more of the solution that they worked hard to come up with themselves, and Ye Chong was no exception.

The middle aged storekeeper frowned and said, “If you have an improved solution, I’ll give you more than 10 points, I’ll offer you 20! Young man, you’re still a boy, don’t learn to exaggerate!”

Ye Chong knew that his age was always keeping him from gaining another person’s confidence. Ye Chong was already used to it, and knew just how to change their attitudes.

“If you add a wedge shaped box inside the mech, use Farmier’s dual return circuitry for the photon circuit, reduce the thickness of the mech’s inner frame by half …” Ye Chong began talking.

As Ye Chong’s clear voice continued on, the middle aged storekeeper’s expression transformed from outright dismissal to one of focus. His eyes shone brighter and brighter, reflecting rays of fervor!

When Ye Chong walked out of Blue Sandstone, the wristband already registered 20 points in his account. The middle aged storekeeper had even send him off respectfully to the door.

Ye Chong chose to sell this solution after much consideration. Eden series mechs may be advanced level mechs in the Five Galaxies, but it was just an average mech in the Orbits, and not comparable at all to the Sanctuary’s various mechs. Even the market in the Orbits offered mechs more advanced than Eden. While his solution was elegant, it was only suited for a small range of problems. It was only applicable for Eden series mechs, and did not involve anything foundational. This was why Ye Chong chose to trade it for points.

Back in his room, all the mineral ores that Ye Chong bought earlier were sent to his room. Each item was sealed in metal boxes of different sizes. It was impossible to know what was inside each of them. There was a number on each of the boxes, used to verify the items.

He opened all the metallic boxes and took out the mineral ores. Everything was there, looking exactly as they were displayed as holographic images on the item trade list. Of course, these treasures were passed to Mu for processing, for Ye Chong had his own job to do.

After a long time, Ye Chong finally chose a Leave Muncher’s shin bone and a Red Toad’s exo-shell, all adding to just two points.

Of course, besides the skeletons, Ye Chong still needed to buy materials for the strengthening chemicals. They were unexpectedly more expensive than the skeletons, and Ye Chong used seven points on them.

Soon, all the skeletons and strengthening chemical ingredients that Ye Chong bought were delivered to his room.

Since Ye Chong did not have any processing machinery, he had to work manually. Fortunately, his foundation was solid, and the two parts that he was planning to make were quite simple.

When he was done making the two parts, it was already the second day! One was a round mech padding in murky green, while another was a mech’s inner ring in white, overlaid with a vivid red natural pattern of lines, a beautiful thing. These two parts were simple to make, with a short processing time and a wide range of applications. Almost any mech could make use of them.

Ye Chong looked at his products, satisfied, and added them to the item trade list!

When Ye Chong opened up the item list in the mech parts section, the long list of items surprised Ye Chong greatly. The list was too long!

Mech modification technicians and mech assemblers were always popular occupations, and many in the Five Galaxies worked in these two fields. Whether it was mech modification or assembling, they had to deal with mech parts. Besides, there was the routine mech maintenance and reparation. These were the reasons for the large demand in mech parts in Nine Gates and high trading activity in mech parts.

Ye Chong grew doubtful. Could his two products manage a small ripple in this vast ocean of mech parts?

Chapter 157: Blast

he quality of the parts in the mechs is mainly determined by the material as well as the craftsmanship. And as these aspects of parts-production come into light, the metallic materials holds an absolute advantage compared to other materials existed, which hence, the majority of the mech parts being made out of metals today.

However, a subject had arisen among those maniacs over mech parts in the Nine Gates city recently…

“Skeleton? You mean those parts were made out of skeletons? How was their performance? Have you seen the actual product?”

“Tsk, as if I have the chance to witness with my own eyes. Dociley, you know, the parts always managed to vanish upon rolling out of the production before we even get there. People go crazy over them. I had also heard of how there were quite a number of people camping at the trading market as they eyed the registered list of selling items available, awaiting for their precious to appear like a daily miracle. Hehe, though I have yet to see it by my own eyes, I do have a pal of mine who was able to seize one of them at great fortune. And… he said, he took the trouble to test it out, you know what he got?”

“What?”

“Heh! Dociley, those parts… compared to the same parts by Master Wei… the overall pointer, 9%. They were 9% higher!”

“For real? Much higher than Master Wei’s pieces? I’m not buying this. You do know what kind of an elite Master Wei is. His workmanship has to be the best!”

“Not buying this? Well, save your beliefs then, zip your purse along with your mouth. Hmph, when did I, Xu your Bro ever lied to his loyal allies?”

“Yikes. True, true, true! Calm down, my bro… but I must say this is really shocking to me! There was actually someone with a better workmanship than Master Wei. I mean, being skeptical and shocked at the same time is sort of expected, don’t you think?”

“Mhm, you have a point. You are shocked, you don’t say. I was also shocked the moment I heard my friend mentioning it. It was like the first time I heard of people complimenting the mech parts produced by someone other than Master Wei himself, considering how he had been conquering the market for years…”

“Right! Yikes, a man who could produce such part… he has to be a potent one. Amazing!”

“Mhm, I wonder who that potent one is, for he actually was able to pull off such a great innovation, making parts with bones… I’m not sure if I would not bow before him upon seeing him, as these parts were pure handcrafts too. Look at the level of expertise.”

“Pure… handcrafts?! No way! There are still men who strived for purely handcrafted productions?”

“Yeah… I nearly fell from my chair hearing about it. There are still craftsmen willing to make a part of mech from scratch with only their hands. Sigh, see… we are making mech parts, he is making mech parts too, but this is the difference striking the ground! Rumor said that Master Wei was utterly silenced the moment the skeleton parts came to his site.”

“Sigh… when would we even be close to that? Behind an expert crafter there are always the other better crafters as well… I can’t deny that. And now the market is chaotic, as if a fire was set upon the world, especially when those pilots were crowding the trading market like bees in the honeycombs, all mesmerized and squeezing to see if their precious popped up on the interface.”

“Precious they are. The figure does matter, even by a difference of 1% in quality could have been the saving grace of your life in the nick of time, let alone that mouth-watering 9% stat. Those pilots who have always been playing with fire would need the better gambling rate than anybody else. The parts were not costly either. The price of his usual parts was around 50 points, when Master Wei’s parts were easily beyond 100 points. But I had heard about something unusual being crafted yesterday.”

“Something unusual? The heck?”

“I’m not too sure but I heard it goes a horrific amount of 500 points. Heh, and it disappeared from the selling list the moment it was registered. People were unable to identify what the item was through the crowd, the figure of the price was very clear though. Tsk, tsk, tsk, 500 filthy points! And the person just buys it like buying a cog from the flea market. The buyer has to be some level of maniac.”

“500 points? What are 500 points when you are at the edge of life? He bought a safety charm for himself. In no time the 500 points would come back to him as long as he still has the life to earn them. Everyone must be turning green-eyed over his successful purchase, I guess. An actual safety charm in the shop, I think people would buy it even if it goes by 1000 points without hesitation. So I heard of how the kiddos from the Sanctuary were starting to notice the existence of the parts too.”

“Oh? They started noticing it already? But that is expected. Hehehe, the Sanctuary might be a great institute, but an elite of the elites like this should be a rare kind among them. I seriously wanted to know who the greater master this is. He had been staying low, that it annoys me.”

“Could he be from the latest batch this year? I had never seen such piece before, until recently.”

“Probably! But there is yet any information about this master craftsman. Those old folks at the Sanctuary should know something, only they could have known him so far. You see, those fellas crowding the auction there, aren’t they too bewildered of the man’s identity?”

“Mhm, such craftsmanship, it shouldn’t be an issue for him to pass the Level 5 Trial I guess?”

“Haleyson knows! Hmph, whatever Level 5 Trial it is, how could we not know the fact that those newcomers from the outside do not recognize what a Level-5 was?”

“Sigh… true…”

…

Ye Chong relaxed before the processor in the room, his eyes fixed upon the hologram of items registered in the trading market. Ye Chong clicked a thumbnail on the side and the hologram of the item selected popped up along with descriptions on the interface.

The fact that the parts were selling hot cakes was totally unexpected for Ye Chong. Parts of such unique and high performance were highly sought by the pilots in the mech market. Not only the standard 50-point parts were gone within twinkling of eyes, the first-class parts which Ye Chong put on the list at a daylight robbery price of 500 points also were sold in one second after he submitted the trading barcodes to the server.

Getting points were no longer an issue to our hero since then, as he already had more than 3000 points in his hands, which was way beyond the 1400-point requirement to pass the trial. So, our hero began spending his remaining time on window-shopping in leisure.

Unfortunately, his luck seemed to have ended days back after the insane sales. He found nothing interesting at the ores section, neither did the skeletons at the bones section appealed him at the slightest. Instead, he laid his hands upon a number of mechs, like this really strange-looking mech for example, which its appearance literally shouted a mutated insect at Ye Chong. It had a brown segmented body, so swift movements were possible. There was a miniature engine at each segment and 4 passive artificial tentacles were added as extensions.

He had experimented its performance before and this mech was astounding when it traveled through the burrows or the gaps. It was so rapid, yet so peculiarly agile.

Other than this odd mech, Ye Chong had also purchased an engineering mech. Well these mechs were not occupying any of his space. As long as they would be an aid to any form of emergencies, it would be not a problem.

Nine Gates City generally sold the items through two channels – first being the trading virtual networking system Ye Chong spent his days and nights surfing, which happened to be the most convenient and completed way to do shopping; second being the stores by the street like the Blue Sandstone store for instance, where most of their stocks were also available in the networking system, their main income was from walk-in purchases however. They could be not as completed as the networking system, but they were certainly outstanding in a way. They were distinctive and there were a lot of things which would be considered inappropriate to appear online, an information of some top-notch mechs for example.

Since Ye Chong had long fulfilled the point requirement, fairly quickly after he was informed by the Sanctuary, that he had passed Level 3! What he had to do next was simply to wait, to anticipate the Level 4 Trial coming after 2 months or so. He was not aware of the fact that how amazing it was for a mere boy like him to pass the first 3 levels effortlessly, judging by how he did not notice the horrified eyes of Wei Xi, as if she was looking at a monster.

Ye Chong with ample time currently wanted to carry on his training courses, be it the chemist courses left by Lunatic Guan, the fitness training he had been doing the whole time or the meditation training. Speaking of meditation, he realized the fact that it was exclusive to the insiders of the Sanctuary, consequently he stopped his meditation entirely as he did not want to alert, alarm or annoy anyone beyond his proximity. Meditation was quite tricky and the elderlies at the Sanctuary were terrifyingly resourceful at this. Who knows what could happen to his head if he were to begin meditating somewhere.

The bright side was, it had been quite some time since the last wave of his syndrome attack and Ye Chong was relieved.

After he had received the notification of his success in Level 3, somehow he had been getting some eyes from the people around wherever he went. They seemed to be peeking whenever he was there, or was he overthinking?

Ye Chong’s action grew more cautious.

On the other hand, Maltese was in such terrible luck lately, as he literally missed two lovely and godly ores right before his eyes, in one day! The agony was enough to make him cut his own throat a few times! Everything had gone wrong at Maltese ever since. Whatever he did ought to go wrong somehow. It felt like he could choke himself even when he was drinking.

“Maltese!” Two young men in their battle suits came to him.

Maltese lifted his head and replied spiritlessly, “Mhm.”

The unusual behavior of Maltese soon caught their attention, “What’s wrong? Maltese, you look bad…” One of the young men with a long hair spoke, “I thought you had just received commendation from the Sanctuary? Are you having a headache over the possible ways to spend that amount of points you had gotten? Keke, we could give fine advices on that you know?”

“Maltese, please, don’t be so down.” The other young man added, “If that old fiend saw this, you are so going to get slaughtered.” Old Fiend was a nickname for a teacher among them. The teacher was stern and went rigid as a ruler. His eyes were on everything, including the dress code among his trainees.

“Sigh! I’m just a person with bad luck!” Maltese’s tone was spiteful.

“Oh? But we didn’t hear any misfortune from you these days, did we?” the long haired young man smiled.

“O-Oh!” Maltese who realized how the words almost slipped through his lips quickly changed the topic, “Well, don’t worry about me, no big deal, I can settle it as fast as I knock things out. My problem aside, where are you guys going?” He nearly made a joke of himself. Imagine if these men were informed of his incident during his treasure-hunting online, the number of people in the market would be so going to get quadrupled, quintupled, squared, cubed and soon astronomical. It would be receipt-hunting for him by then. All the receipts of fluttering out from the crowds.

The trainees from the inside of Sanctuary were in a highly competitive environment. It might seemed to be all peaceful and silent on the outside, but in actuality everyday there had to be darkness brewing among the trainees. All of them kept secrets of a kind from each other, be it a certain type of technique or the latest information of something, though the Sanctuary authority was very delighted seeing this since they did prefer seeing their trainees being capable of protecting themselves the better way.

“So we heard that Monkslay managed to grab one skeleton parts from the market and we were going to check it out. Why don’t you come along?” invited the long haired young man.

“Skeleton parts?” It was the controversial issue in the market he had been hearing. His face was dumbfounded.

Chapter 158: Shang’s Idea Sequel ~Brain Blast~

Well yeah… Never expected that prick to be this lucky. The lady luck always smiles at dorks I guess.” The long haired young man seemed dissatisfied.

“Alright, we shall go and have a look together,” replied Maltese with little bit of interest. He had already heard about the skeleton parts from his teacher way back before, but as far as he remembered, the craftsman was known to be an elderly… Did that old man amble his way here? The Nine Gates City? The parts notorious for their limitation in stocks, it was an unaccustomed sight to see them among the insiders of the Sanctuary, where most of them had only heard of the names at most, they had hardly seen the actual object before. And Maltese was one of them.

“Hm?”

Maltese viewed the tainted green plate carefully with growing interests. “That day was a cloudy day, I, Monkslay got my steed to the market and snap! I took this fine plate! And…” Monkslay at the side was proudly presenting his experience throughout the mundane purchase process of this skeleton parts at a beheading price.

Hm, interesting! Maltese with a Metallurgy minor did have some insights regarding the potential of other kinds of materials. This skeleton plate for example, it had a very strange texture and the crafting was well done. Maltese sneaked it over a scanner from his pocket… What… To his horror, the hardness was identified to be much higher than the usual enhanced alloys in the market, while its durability was thrice of titanium.

This is made out of only bones? When did the bodies of these mutated lifeforms become this tough? Maltese’s surprise erupted.

As he compared the pros and cons between metallic parts and skeleton parts, he became more intrigued. Fiddling the plates, his curiosity, his attention had gone over skeleton parts and the elderly who crafted these.

…

Hmph…

Ye Chong noticed that wherever he went, there had to be two or three people tailing him from far away. They were dubious in his eyes but under the aid of Mu’s intelligence, the conversation they had as well as their identity had been distinguished. Those were the guardsmen sent by the Sanctuary to protect Ye Chong, but they also shouldered the duty to watch him.

Ye Chong who had nothing better to do decided to start loitering in Nine Gates City, trying to find that very pearl in the sea like the Blue Sandstone. There were strange people from all walks of life, weird things from all categories of mall. Like this reagent which rapidly promoted the melting process of metals, it intrigued Ye Chong greatly along with the other magical things. These things were not “magical” without a price however. They often came with a terrifying price tag. That number of digits on the tag of points required… even for someone who would be considered as half a millionaire like Ye Chong with the points in hand could not keep up with these insane purchases.

So Ye Chong had no other choice than to increase the production of skeleton parts daily to maintain his purchases for the moment. Mu at the same time also seemed to be rather astonished by the number of bizarre-looking people in Nine Gates City.

After the continuous purchases Ye Chong made on these weird items with weird names he could not even mention because they were so weird, he finally stopped. With Mu’s assistance he managed to eavesdrop the entire conversation exchanged among the men behind him, it was entertaining he must say. Their conversation not only encompassed the secrets and rumors within the Sanctuary, but also the scorching spite towards Ye Chong’s leisure yet tiresome wandering.

Thanks to the leisure yet tiresome wandering however, Ye Chong was allowed to lay his hands on a variety of peculiar items while learning the city better.

For instance, the source of bones in the market. Yes that would be valuable information to Ye Chong the skeleton artisan.

Apparently the bones in the market were supplied by the pilots in bulks, including those from the Sanctuary and those who got detained. The mutation process among the biological lifeforms had become significantly briefer over the time, as their physique strengthened and their survivability improved, making them harder to capture, harder to kill. The skeletons from these lifeforms were the main source of bones in the market. They were treated as the byproduct of the pilots’ hunting however, since the main income of points did not come from selling these skeletons, rather it came from the wages rewarded by the Sanctuary for completing the tasks of hunting the lifeforms.

Unlike the mutated lifeforms, the outlandish primary creatures discovered on some of the primeval planets had been taken to the spotlight, as their bones were the latest darling to the chemists. Since these bones alone had already defined a new possible combination of chemical formulation. Skeletons of such kind were extremely costly in the market and similar to the skeleton parts. They often disappeared the moment they were registered online. These primeval planets were uncultivated and obviously dangerous as well. It was as if venturing into the abyssal unknown to the pilots who headed there cautiously for their missions. Still, if the pilots made it back home, pouches of sparkling points would be awaiting them. High amount of points would be credited to the account, which was something for people to envy along with the valuable loots from the run. Thus, in spite of the hassle and the risk, the participation was active as ever. The Sanctuary also was greatly motivated, considering how the expedition program could bring them potentials of discovering new species, new resources… or the best, new type of ores.

“Ye.” Mu had something in mind, a way that allowed Ye Chong to obtain more bones of premium quality, though the idea was from Shang apparently. It was just that Mu acted as the channel to reiterate his plan word by word, “We shall minimize the cost to achieve maximum profit!” And that was when Ye Chong remembered the fact that Shang was also a true lunatic over economy…

Despite that, Shang’s idea piqued his interests.

Days lapsed and right when everyone started getting used to camping before the trading market to hurriedly throw their points over the newly-from-the-oven skeleton parts by the mysterious crafter, a request popped up. And no doubt skeleton parts became the center of attention once again.

The crafter stated, “I would no longer offer my works for sales, instead, if any pilot could provide me bones that are hardly seen in the market, the pilot could get a skeleton part from me for free.”

Concisely the message was written yet impulsive the message was to people in Nine Gates City. It had transformed into the hottest topic the moment it was submitted to the announcements.

All the pilots who had obtained the parts from official purchases before were glad in dark, as handling points was much easier than digging out a piece of skeleton that would be considered “rare” to a master craftsman; while those pilots who had yet acquired the parts were in anguish figuring out a way to get some juicy bones to trade.

On the first day after the message was announced, Ye Chong had only received 3 pieces of bones, even though one of them happened to be at the very high-end on both appearance and quality wise. Soon after, Ye Chong sent a set of skeleton parts to the person via the trading system without hesitation.

The effect of this demonstration was unexpectedly impactful to the public. Almost in less than an hour, the happening of this lucky man was already made known to everyone else in Nine Gates City. The fact that he was able to trade a piece of bone for a set of skeleton parts was driving everyone crazy.

Yawn…

The second morning, Ye Chong scratched his back as he entered the collection room. “Let’s see what chicken bone I’ll have to bear wi… today…” Ye Chong stumbled upon the metal cases piling a hill before him. He was literally dumbfounded, his mouth was half open, his eyes zoned out instantly. The expression froze for the next 10 seconds!

Gosh! Are these people mad? These are just parts, skeleton parts, do you need to be this desperate?

It took the whole day for Ye Chong to pick the few best bones from the piles. That was not the problem… “This is the problem.” Ye Chong was wailing as he counted the number of top-end bones he selected… there were literally 30 few of them, which meant he had to create the same number of sets of skeleton parts in return…

I’m killing myself, I’m so killing myself? Ye Chong was having headache as he had only created about 60 few sets ever since he got there. And in one day half of them would be gone. What about the following days? Helplessly he succumbed to overclock himself, striving to produce more parts to fulfill the demands.

On the third night, Ye Chong rubbed his swollen eyes as he hurried his way to the collection room. Out from his workshop, through the corridor, he reminisced the endless night he spent rushing the production of the parts. Those moments he missed closing his eyes while maximizing his efforts, even though he only managed to produce only about 30 pieces of common skeleton parts in the end. And these parts were unfinished… since the production was quite time-consuming by nature.

Okay, now I will head to the collection room and see…

Where did my room go?

Ye Chong was astounded…

Where did the corridor go?

The collection room, the outside of collection room, the following corridor of the collection room were flooded by metal cases containing bones. And judging by the rumbling coming from the room inside, the delivery seemed to have yet ended… The automatic delivery machine was still weaving in and out of the room after laying down one metal cases after another. There were also a huge case flying to his way, which Ye Chong wondered if the corridor could even fit half of it.

This much of metal cases! This much of bones! How many pieces are there? No… How many parts do I have to make? Why do I feel like I’m the slave to the deal instead of the buyers… Ye Chong had dried his tears and seriously hoped that Mu would give him the signature fainting treatment right away. “Dammit Shang! You and your genius idea!”

The first thing to do of the topmost priority was to stop that cursing request announcement straightaway! The people at the market was wondering what could have happened to the mysterious crafter upon seeing the disappearance of the notice which lasted only for 3 days. Speculations brewed among them.

Nevertheless, Ye Chong did not have time for those speculations. “I have works to do!” He could imagine his to-do list bombarded by the number of skeleton parts he had to produce. Simply put, most probably he would have to spend the rest of his vacation before the Level 4 Trial on the production itself!

The development was absolutely uncalled for. On the first day, the first batch of bones arrived generally because of curiosity by the people. They wanted to test the validity of the message, since it was the first time such an unfair trade request was made in the market. Most of the pilots kept a reserved attitude towards it.

Till that moment when one man declared his success of obtaining the lovely parts, everyone seemed to have been stimulated as they began snapping up every remaining rare pieces of bones in the market, which caused the price to skyrocket over the night!

That happened on the second day, while on the third day, the Sanctuary kicked in. Of course, the flood was caused by them. No doubt, the Sanctuary was the biggest player in Nine Gates City. They held the most resources and also they had the highest demand of quality parts like the skeleton parts for their pilots. So they would hold onto every single opportunity in sight. Old Ge, the master to Ye Chong’s skeleton artistry had always been depicting indifference towards the Sanctuary’s request, thus the scarce amount in the group. It just felt like a piece of steak being fed to a group of sharks.

The Sanctuary spent the past two days collecting rare bone pieces and had lobbed everything they got on the third day, since these bones would do them no good other than wasting the slots in their inventories after each run, “Might as well we get them traded for some useful parts!” The pilots were motivated especially when they were very much exposed to the use of skeleton parts in their machinates and they were highly aware of the excellent performance of the pieces. The Sanctuary even evacuated the entire floor where Ye Chong stayed just to fit the pieces. They also forbade every other personnel than Ye Chong himself from entering the floor. You could say they lost their heads over it.

Well, nonetheless, one could imagine the burden Ye Chong had to shoulder.

Maltese also sent a set of skeleton to Ye Chong’s place, which was a result of his blood and sweat, trying his very best to get from his instructor. He might be addressed as a pilot like the others, he was still a non-combat trainee in actuality, so he could never get loots like rare bones to exchange for these bewitching parts. But he was smart, he knew his instructor had skeleton of a very peculiar creature, so… “Please sir! Please. This is my biggest plight! Please!” He got to the instructor place and attempted every technique of negotiation, “How about this! If you give me this skeleton, I promise I’ll be the best pilot ever!” Begging, promising, offering for trades… “Where are you going sir! Please! Listen… Come on stay for a second!” Stalking, chasing, pouncing… the instructor almost got driven up the wall. He put up his white flag to him when he handed him the set of skeleton with both hands.

…

“C…C…” In the room which was dimly lit by the flickering lamp, the pair of bloodshot eyes trembled as it blinked, Ye Chong was draining every ounce of his vitality to finish the orders he got enslaved to… “Curse you… Shang…,” he mumbled countless times, expressing his overwhelming spite towards Shang. He could feel his brain blasting at any second…

“Curse you!”

Chapter 159: Passerby

Mu, my hands! Look at my hands! You could see it swelling!” whined Ye Chong. His tone sounded like he was going to cry. Ye Chong worked for the next 35 days nonstop, just to cope with the engulfing amount of skeleton parts in demand. Since he did not have the appropriate apparatus to produce the parts, he was forced to craft them the most primitive way – by hands, which directly caused him to overwork his hands. Certainly this did not mean his hard work had gone to waste, after working days and nights continuously for 35 days, his skills had greatly improved. And right before his drowsy eyes, a vast number of high quality bones piled, it was like the discovery of treasure island, a never-before-felt satisfaction. Ye Chong even made a few pieces of skeleton parts himself for replacement, which Mu brought back to the alternate dimension along with the other funny stuffs he bought. This service was only possible with Mu Shang. If they were not there, it would not be possible to zip everything into alternate dimension. Only a high-end photon stimulated intelligence like Mu Shang could execute such task effortlessly in the alternate dimension. The iron lizard scales were also kept safely by Shang the whole time too.

“Yes, your hands are more likely to attract attention, appearance-wise,” commented Mu seriously.

“All thanks to that damn Shang. Hmph, just wait for it! Shang, one day you are going to come out and then…” Ye Chong clenched his teeth while he worded his threatening remarks.

“Ye, I am sorry but I have to inform you that you are currently lacking an effective methodology to produce the desired outcome.” Mu sounded as if it was for Ye Chong’s own good.

And Ye Chong shut it.

…

In Nine Gates City, when the mysterious crafter ceased his request after three days, people started receiving sets of skeleton parts one by one. Those were the one who sent the bones in the first place. So the hottest topic had shifted from why the mysterious crafter stopped the request altogether to what Santa Craft had given one of the well-behaved pilots today.

Maltese’s negotiation was not a wild goose chase after all, as he had also received one part too. It was a shoulder pad made out of bones of Crimsonpede. It was more exciting than ever to him. He loved it so much that he immediately switched to skeleton parts research to test it out.

It was a happy ending. Ye Chong managed to finish all parts 3 days prior the Level 4 Trial. What a relief.

Soon, people realized that no one else had received more skeleton parts since then. So they assumed the delivery process to everyone entitled for the parts had ended. Right on the second day after people acknowledged the end of bountiful festival, the price of the skeleton parts had its figure increased by a few digits behind. Nonetheless, no one was shaken by the tempting price enough to sell the parts in hand.

Technically in this event, both Ye Chong and the Sanctuary gained the most benefits.

Ye Chong had acquired a massive amount of rare bones, which consisted of species he had never seen before. The issue of insufficient material had been perfectly resolved. Undeniably, most of the bones were contributed by the Sanctuary.

As mentioned before, the Sanctuary also gained great benefits from the event. About 80% of the parts were in their hands while they had just contributed a mere portion of bones in their storage.

But who cares? This had nothing to do with Ye Chong. His major concern at the moment was the upcoming Level 4 Trial in 3 days. After all the remaining works had been completed, the next thing on the list for Ye Chong was to take a good rest for he had been barely getting one since the past few days to deliver these parts. He was utterly drained and urgently pleading for a break.

Two days later, Ye Chong had regained his vitality and returned to his active self once more.

And that was when Level 4 Trial was right after.

The guide was still Wei Xi, who expressed hint of respects towards Ye Chong upon seeing him. Being the guide, she was well-aware of the identity of the culprit to this fiasco of skeleton parts in the market. Her respect was not out of courtesy, rather it was out of recognition, likewise to every place else in the galaxy, the one who wielded most strength always got the respect from people, especially in Nine Gates City where people convinced others with fists mostly.

Ye Chong followed Wei Xi and passed the lobby.

A masked lady in purple walked towards them. And Wei Xi held her steps and bowed to the lady promptly. The masked lady nodded at her slightly in return, “Oh?” She stopped, upon coming across Ye Chong, “Who is this man, may I ask?” Her voice was sweet and somehow seductive.

“This is Mr. Ye who will be attending the Level 4 Trial currently,” Wei Xi hastened her introduction.

“Oh? How lovely. I never expected a young man like Mr. Ye to be able to pass the first three levels so flawlessly. You are a genius indeed!” The masked lady seemed astounded as her eyes went wide.

“It’s just normal,” expressionlessly Ye Chong replied in his usual indifference.

“Right? Mr. Ye is so great! He was actually the first candidate who passed all 3 levels in a row!” added Wei Xi.

“Wow, such an ambitious man, yet so capable! Uh huh. Very well, I guess I should leave now, I wouldn’t want to take up too much of the man’s time. Good luck, all the best! I have something else to do, if you would excuse me…” The masked lady motioned Wei Xi and walked away, “Good bye.”

“We are pleased to see you again, Ma’am,” said Wei Xi.

The masked lady had her doubt intensified as she walked… something was tickling her mind for some reason… she could not help but to turn back and have a careful look at that Mr. Ye’s back, she wondered… Who is this? Why does his back remind me of someone? I seemed to have seen this silhouette before somewhere… But I can’t remember who it was. That face of his was ordinary I must say… I’m sure I had never ever seen this man before.

Hmm… Oh wait! I remember! I have something more important to do! I don’t have time for these!

Realizing she was running out of time while being engaged in a mission, “Hah!” She baffled as she reminded herself the time should go to something else more constructive than this, “What’s wrong with me?” and she discarded her confusing thoughts.

Ye Chong however was not at ease as the masked lady. His heart nearly ceased functioning the very moment his eyes crossed her.

That… Feng Su, yes, that is Feng Su! It has to be her!

“Ye, caution ahead, it’s Feng Su!” Almost simultaneously Mu’s warning rang in his head, “And Shang had once performed a thorough scan over her curves.” Added Mu, “So we knew.”

Ye Chong whose heartbeat was reverberating inside tried to calm his muscles and to act naturally. He would be skewed if Feng Su actually recognized him!

Feng Su’s outfit was too outstanding, it was like her signature costume. She was in her purple garb and put her mask on forever. That outfit and that distinct voice of hers had left deep impression in Ye Chong back then. He had fought her before at the woods near Mr. Yin’s residence so he was already informed of her strength despite her deceitfully feeble physique. The wounds she caused lingered as a twitching fright in Ye Chong. Luckily he was in his Black Cove’s masks back then, so she did not truly discern every part of his face. “Or else…” shuddered Ye Chong. He refused to imagine what the lobby could have become.

Judging by Wei Xi’s reaction towards Feng Su, it was justifiable that she held a high rank in the Sanctuary… Speculated Ye Chong as he reminisced the brief moment they spoke to each other. The lady was somehow attentive over himself… And that sufficed an alarming moment inside Ye Chong.

The footsteps echoing throughout the lobby had vanished, it seemed to be safe for now, “Who is that person just now, Wei Xi? The outfit was quite odd!” Pretended all uninterested, Ye Chong asked Wei Xi.

Wei Xi snickered, “That’s our ma’am. Master Feng has always been like this. We are also very intrigued to know her face too! But I had heard that, no man ever knew how she looks other than the elder himself! Master Feng is such a great pilot, she is the ace of the Sanctuary! In spite of her achievement, she was humble and friendly, we adore her a lot!” Wei Xi’s eyes lustered with fandom, which was nauseating to Ye Chong.

I see… That explained her power. Well, my defeat back then was justified. I wonder how she would perform when she pilots a mech… Ace pilot huh? Should be really great. What kind of a mech though… that’s the question. Ye Chong was running a conference with himself.

Maybe she could be using a skeleton mech. And advanced dark Raven or something, yeah something like that…

And of all possibilities, he had never thought of the likelihood of him witnessing the actual mech himself once before…

“Well!” Wei Xi’s eyes blinked expressively, “Master Feng seemed to be really impressed of you!” She stared passionately.

“Oh, really?” Ye Chong threw a random response.

The next moment, Wei Xi carried on guiding Ye Chong to the venue. After a few turns and ups and downs, they had arrived before a room. Wei Xi gestured Ye Chong to place the wristband on his left hand in front of the door to perform the verification. Beep! The door span open.

Ye Chong walked into the room. Wei Xi did not follow however. She waited by the entrance. Her stare was frozen. The door shut itself right after Ye Chong made his entry.

At the end of the room a panel of 7 to 8 elderlies sat. They looked very old and right at their opposite a row of men stood. They seemed nervous at the slightest and like Ye Chong, they should be the candidates sitting the Level 4 Trial too.

Ye Chong’s entry caught everyone’s attention out of sudden.

“What?” Exclamations bounced back and fro. Even the calmest eyes failed to hide the shock inside. And a look at a participants could explain everything. Ye Chong soon came to his understanding that other than he himself, the rest of the candidates consisted of men in their middle-ages. They had spent their lives striving to be the best to pass the trial and this fella in his twenties popped in the crew. Obviously, Ye Chong would be eye-catching.

Ye Chong’s expression was calmer than ever, fearlessly he walked to one end of the queue.

“Ahem! Ahem!” The elderly in the middle could not stand the ridiculous exchange of stares between the candidates over Ye Chong anymore, as he coughed few times to retrieve their attention. Scruff.

And they shifted their attention back to the panel, with their eyes focused at the elderly in the middle out of the blue. He was in green robe and looked solemn with the few strokes of beard in fair white. His eyes were lustrous.

Green robe?! Ye Chong’s heart skipped a beat. He knew that only the mentalists would put on a green robe. This elderly was actually a mentalist?! Ye Chong put up his guard. Even though the mentalists were not as powerful as their pilot counterparts, they still wielded masterly mentality. They were well-trained and well-built in their heads. They possessed countless unpredictable tricks to handle people. They were highly sensible and Ye Chong did practice meditation before. He was worried if he would be caught red-handed by this elderly… if that was the case, it would be bad!

The elderly scanned through the candidates. His eyes shone sharply like a sword, which the candidates shunned as they lowered their heads.

The moment when the elderly’s sight hit Ye Chong, he could feel his body being seen in and out. Goosebumps were running over every inch of his skin.

Like what other candidates did, he lowered his head instantaneously. He felt agitated, his stress building up! Mr. Yin’s head had such information before, regarding the application of this powerful stare. It required high mentality from the user however. Well, clearly the elderly was the expert among the mentalists. Although he had lowered his head, Ye Chong could still feel the stare lingering around him for a few seconds longer than the others.

“Hmm, very well. Firstly, congratulations on passing Level 3. But I must say, what awaits all of you would be a trial much harsher. Now, let me brief all of you some rules and regulations for Level 4 Trial.” The elderly spoke sluggishly. His words felt like an indirect order, which caused everyone lifted their heads immediately.

Chapter 160: Puzzle

As all of you possess an entirely different title from each other, it would be quite challenging to put you into groups according to a certain category. So we gave in to having masters from various expertise to assist us in the trial this time. The details of assessment would be determined by each master and please hand the list of raw materials needed to complete the assessment to your respective guide. Please be mindful however, that the rarity as well as the grade of the materials you used would also affect your final result. Heh! But you need not worry. You can stay as long as you wish in Nine Gates City even if you fail the trial. I believe everyone here has a great experience in Nine Gates City, different from the chaotic environment back in the Orbits. This is what we call a peaceful and harmonic heaven.”

And the corners of Ye Chong’s eyes discerned quite a number of people spitting their tongues, expressing faint disdain.

The elderly ignored the disrespectful gesture and continued, “Alright, we would do the grouping next. Go with the master in your field.”

The one responsible for Ye Chong’s assessment was known as Master Xiao. He had a round face and large pair of ears. The reddish pear-shaped nose was the center of attention. He squinted his eyes often, looked serene and approachable as he smiled.

“Haha.” He took a glance over Ye Chong, “So you are that skeleton artisan. Sort of unexpected. Good, very good. Achieving this height at such a young age, your future shall be boundless and bright.”

“Thank you,” flatly Ye Chong went. There was not the slightest bit of excitement in his expression.

The squinted eyes of Master Xiao had a stream of awe, “And you are also humble and undisturbed, a rare kind too. Very, very, very good!” Master Xiao could not hold his consecutive “very” to convey his admiration.

“I wonder what would my assessment be?” Ye Chong was unshaken by his words as he asked, the assessment was more of his concern.

“Patience, young man, patience!” Chuckled the master, “It took me quite some time to figure out the issue too. But as I thought over the course, I finally had found a fine problem for you to solve.”

“I see,” Ye Chong responded briefly while he waited for Master Xiao to declare the puzzle.

“Yes, it is also my first time seeing the skeleton parts in my entire life. I did experiment on your works before, not bad… mhm, truly not bad I must say, the parts were exceptional in all aspects. However, there remained a few shortcomings in the usage of bones by nature, which are also difficult to overcome. They are affected by the temperature for example. Under high temperature, their performance would go down drastically… And so…” the master began his discussion.

Ye Chong nodded a few times in agreement. Master Xiao was right of his words. The bones were naturally incompetent in this aspect comparing to metals.

“Inside a mech, other than the processor, what possesses the second greatest importance would be the engine itself…” Master Xiao spoke on with a smile, “Of course we can’t produce a complete skeleton processor, but for an engine, it would be a bit different… There should be some possibilities I believe. But I’m not confident to say whether it would work, that’s why you are here. Haha! Don’t look at me like that, it’s normal for a greenhorn like me to be unsure of something, since I do not know much about bones, unlike you. Mhm, and this would be your assessment – use bones to produce an engine for mech. No limit on the models, as long as it’s an engine, it could blast into space, you are good to go. Well certainly you could involve the use of other materials to form the parts, but you should remember something – the greater proportion the bones occupy in the entire engine system, the greater chance you would pass!”

Ye Chong shuddered. Making an engine with mostly bones? Did I miss something?

“Hah!” Seeing how Ye Chong returned a bewildered look, Master Xiao laughed, “What you just heard was right. I am requesting you to make an engine with bones. Alright, there you go, you got your assessment. You have a duration of 3 months to sort this out and build the engine yourself. As Master Fan had mentioned, if you need any material, you could inform your guide. Mhm and this is my travel code. If you have any questions or you have finished your work, feel free to contact me through this code. Hahahaha! I am looking forward to that boney engine! Young man, may you have a successful trial!”

Ye Chong inserted the code into his travel wristband, “Alright, you are good to go! Hahaha! I got to go too! I have lots of stuffs to do you know!” said Master Xiao.

After bidding farewell to Master Xiao, Ye Chong left the room and on his way out he came across the other candidates, who seemed really troubled. Apparently their assessments were downright challenging too.

Heading back to his room, Ye Chong was figuring of a way to build a functional engine with mainly bones.

Bones are from the skeleton of animals. They are prone to high heat, even for mutated lifeforms which are blessed with strength and toughness. When it comes to heat resistance, especially intense heat resistance, they are no match to metals, which was fundamentally why Ye Chong never thought of including bones in producing an engine. From what he knew, he saw no chance in this innovation. This is the characteristic of the bones, a limit given by nature. The so-called skeleton engine he had used before was the patched engine of Yu Di, where he tried to piece everything back together with bones after Yu Di was badly damaged. Among all the skeleton parts he had produced so far, the only applicable piece in engine at a better chance was the plate.

But then… now the puzzle had sat before him. And he did not seem to have many options there. There was no time to wonder if the puzzle was solvable from the beginning. Ye Chong should be wondering the hows and not the whys. He should be verifying and not deducing.

“Mu, do you think it’s possible?” asked Ye Chong to Mu. It took him quite a while to collect his thoughts, figuring out the possibilities. The outcome was depressing however. Bones are not possible to be included in engines.

“Of course it is!” said Mu and Ye Chong’s face brightened. “It’s only the matter of the greatness of odds.”

Duh!

Ye Chong’s hope sank under the sea, “Thank you Captain Obvious.”

“At a certain level it is, Ye. But this is the only answer to your inquiry. So, you’re welcome! Honesty is the best policy! I should be praised,” said Mu righteously.

Ye Chong sweated. Was this Mu? Or was it Shang? Wait it was Mu. Ye Chong somehow could smell a little Shang in the Mu.

Oh well it seemed like it’s up to me alone. Ye Chong pondered. Running away from difficulties was not his style. Moreover Master Xiao had said that he was allowed to include other kinds of materials. This should be it, a way to balance things out.

But then, is it really true that it is impossible to build engines with bones?

Ye Chong spent the next few days figuring it out. Once he sat down it would be the whole day. He froze like a sculpture as he pondered.

Day 1…

Day 2…

Day 3…

Day 6…

Day 9…

Ye Chong rubbed his sore thighs, he stood up and stretched his back. It had been the tenth day since the assessment was given and Ye Chong still had not figured out a satisfactory solution of, although he had come up with a few ideas to balance things out, like he might be using a metal core while replacing the parts of the lesser impacts with bones. If there was no better way in the end, this would be it.

Stretched his limbs, he walked to the table and lifted the plastic cup to his lips.

The rippling water reflected the puzzled man knotting his brows in his fatigue.

Water.

…

Suddenly, an inspiration flew over his head like a shooting star in the darkest night. Water, water, water, water… liquid… Ye Chong caught on something… What kind of liquid? Yes! Yes! Reagents!

Yes! I could use reagent to modify the attributes of bones! The strengthening liquid I had used before, didn’t it successfully change the entire attribute of the bones? If I could use a kind of reagent that could dramatically enhance the heat resistance of the bones, then that solved it!

Ye Chong was very excited as he gargled the remaining water in the cup.

A hint appeared after contemplating in misery for the past 10 days, how could Ye Chong not be worked up?

But his excitement extinguished quickly. He thought it through… I might have gotten the concept but to build it would be the toughest part… This was especially true when Ye Chong had nothing else in mind than this concept itself.

He did learn from the best, however he was just an entry student under Lunatic Guan. Those formula of strengthening liquid Lunatic Guan had taught were solely for strength and toughness enhancement. They did not have a positive impact on enhancing heat resistance of the material. For a newbie in alchemy like Ye Chong, it would be a myth for him to create a new kind of formulae that strengthened the heat resistance level of bones.

He recalled the classes he had with Lunatic Guan, the knowledge he had absorbed over the time… yet none of them was applicable.

Feeling powerless, he begged Mu for some inspiration, “Mu, do you have any good ideas?”

“Hmm. Ye, your idea is great. But I must admit that I do not possess much information regarding the alchemy. I have an alternative however.”

“What alternative?” Ye Chong was edgy like a man who saw a silver lining in the sky after the darkest night. According to his past experience, most of the alternatives suggested by Mu would turn out to be a working miracle.

“Remember that Guan’s automatic analysis mechanism? You could try that!” reminded Mu.

“Oh!” Ye Chong’s eyes shone, “How could I forget such a trump card? Hey, Mu didn’t you keep that mechanism right into your databank already?”

“Yes, you are correct. It is indeed in my databank. Nevertheless I have yet managed to discover the core behind the working of this particular mechanism. The core pattern to be precise, since I lacked the information on alchemy in my databank, I could not perform an effective analysis. I could not also produce an accurate judgement on its validity!” explained Mu.

“Wow, the mechanism is that great?” Ye Chong was dumbfounded. A mechanism that even Mu could not pinpoint? That meant Lunatic Guan’s exclusive analysis mechanism was of a high level of expertise. Mu had failed to analyse the Guardian this far. Ye Chong did not expect there would be another machine added to the list.

Geez, talking about the number of geniuses in this world. Be it Gu Shaoze or that Lunatic Guan, they were not much older than himself, yet they managed to become the pioneer of their fields respectively, especially when they had built something brilliant and new upon their forebears. Sadly fate was cruel towards them. Gu Shaoze was dead and Lunatic Guan had vanished in search of her sister. Could the god be in envy of their brilliance?

Sometimes I just feel…

As times went, Ye Chong was fully indulged in his thinking.

“Ye!” Noticed how Ye Chong had been building a castle in the air, he screamed.

“Oh! Sorry…” Ye Chong who returned to the reality sneered at his own ignorance. For what was I thinking this much? I’m just a folk of nowhere. It is great enough if I could survive. Currently Ye Chong only wanted to resolve the brewing illness inside him, so he could find a place where no one would recognize him and live a tranquil life! Unfortunately, that goal was a little far-fetched at the moment.

“Want to try?” asked Mu.

Made up his mind, he exhaled in puff, “Alright!”