Chapter 143: Han Jia
A mech’s most important part were its engine and photon processor. The engine’s problem was dealt with, but Ye Chong knew nothing of photon processors. Fortunately, he did not rely heavily on them, and a simple photon processor bought from the streets was enough to satisfy him.
Besides the photon processor and engine, other components such as scanning systems were not things that Ye Chong could make himself. Scanning systems found in the market were probably not up to par, and effectively useless against mechs from Black Cove, the Sanctuary and the like. However, Ye Chong did not plan to install a scanning system. As long as he had Mu, who had the most advanced scanning system, all he needed was a device that could link to Mu via photon processor. This was not too hard for him.
However, these was all work in later stages. For now, Ye Chong must understand which materials he had for disposal. This was unique to full-skeleton mechs - they were designed based on available materials, unlike the usual method of finding materials based on the design.
Rare skeletons were often chanced upon, and so the method of choosing the right materials based on design was impractical in the process of making a full-skeleton mech. Even when using the same type of skeletons, the quality would differ, since factors such as the animal’s age and living environment would greatly affect the skeletons’ density, strength and other properties.
Looking at the myriad of rare skeletons laid on the ground before him, Ye Chong was suddenly struck with much anticipation. What kind of mech would he come up with?
As he familiarized himself with all the skeletons, Ye Chong began to design the mech. With Mu’s assistance, this process did not take too long. He also prepared a few backup schemes in case he mishandled some skeletons by accident. However, Ye Chong hoped that they would not be needed in the end.
After that, he set to work!
The early processes were mundane. Crude processing of the skeletons demanded patience. No one had ever single-handedly produced a full-skeleton mech, and Ye Chong did not expect the heavy workload. Fortunately, Ye Chong was physically well prepared. Ye Chong worked like a tireless machine, continuing on and on.
Ye Chong’s went through every step with great care, since most of those skeletons were unique, and if damaged, could only be replaced by another different one. If the replacement was in any way different to the original intended skeleton, it would reduce the overall performance of the mech. That was something Ye Chong hoped to avoid.
Every day, Hei Zi would send food to Ye Chong, but never interrupting him. Even little Nan Nan was sensible enough to not keep pestering her elder brother to play.
For an entire month, Ye Chong worked in an insane but peaceful condition. Even when it was Shang’s turn to come outside, the mech knew that bothering Ye Chong would have dreadful consequences. Hence, the mech made the rational choice of keeping quiet.
Ye Chong stared longingly at the mech.
He admired the result of his month-and-a-half of hard work, and felt a great sense of accomplishment bubbling in him. This was definitely a masterful work, an impressive work! Ye Chong was most thankful for the fact that he did not damage a single skeleton in the whole process.
The mech stood at 12 meters tall, its main body made of giant whale’s vertebrae and titan scarab’s exoskeleton, shaped like a human. Ye Chong loved Yu Di’s four-armed design, since it could effectively make use of his impressive hand speed. However, Yu Di’s four-armed designed was too out of the ordinary, and would leave a strong impression in anyone who had seen it. The Sanctuary was still searching for Yu Di. If he made a similar four-armed mech, would that not invite trouble?
Ye Chong worked around it. He thought of the Dawn mech’s two electric whips, and then of the four semi-crystallised thousand-segment worms among the skeletons the old man had given him. Ye Chong used those, but the inner photon circuits took him much effort to set up. The thousand-segment worms could not be made into electric whips, so Ye Chong attached bone spikes at the ends instead. These spikes were from the beater-eater’s back, and were quite tough. Ye Chong had punctured high-strength alloy boards with them. Besides that, the spikes were resilient, and did not break easily from bending. Ye Chong spent much time whetting the spikes, exhausting one whetting machine for each spike, a sign of the weapons’ toughness.
The four thousand-segment worm whips with spikes were kept in four concealed shooting chambers in the lower back of the mech, inconspicuous from the outside.
The mech’s named was decided early on to be Han Jia. If it were up to Ye Chong, he would probably not want to take too much trouble in naming and just call it Number 1. However, since Mu had provided the name, even if using a random algorithm, Ye Chong did not mind it.
Han Jia’s main weapon was its daggers. These were made from a fangbeast’s canine teeth, with some heavy processing. The two daggers were slightly longer than the average mech’s daggers, arching slightly and lined with natural serrated edges, with razor sharp tips. The daggers were as black as night, and as soon as Ye Chong was done making them, he found himself loving them very much!
Of all the weapons, Ye Chong found the daggers most handy, but their attack range was very limited. If only he still had Yu Di’s UF magnetic sword, the work of Fred the Great! The UF magnetic swords sold in the streets were far inferior to the original, and Ye Chong could not see himself using them.
On Han Jia’s left arm was a shield, its surface etched with scale-like patterns. It was made of iron lizard’s scales gathered on the trash planet. These scales could survive unscathed from Mu’s attack, and that left a deep impression in Ye Chong. He immediately thought of them when he began working on the shield.
After that, Ye Chong found that the iron lizard’s scales could not only shield against physical attacks, but also energy based weapons. This impressed Ye Chong. It was as if the material was destined to be used for defense shields. There was also another advantageous property, and that was its light density. This made the shield much lighter than conventional metal shields.
Ye Chong accepted Mu’s advice and made the shield with an overlapping method. This produced the scale-like patterns. Of course, Ye Chong sharpened the edges of the shield as per his habit. If he could add another function to the weapon, then why not?
Other than this, Ye Chong also removed Harmony of the Winter Aria’s two auto lock-on double-edged shurikens and attached them on Han Jia. With that, Han Jia had some limited long range attack capabilities.
Ye Chong also wanted to add some barbs on Han Jia’ shoulders, elbows, knees and feet, since they were unexpectedly useful in close range combat. However, Ye Chong rejected those in the end, since a mech like that would be too eye-catching, and that would be against his intention of keeping himself under the radar. Aside from that, it was similar to Black Cove’s style, and Ye Chong did not want to be mistaken as one of them.
Han Jia’s every detail was the result of Ye Chong’s meticulous considerations. However, in the end, Ye Chong was still quite satisfied with it.
The most satisfying feature of Han Jia for Ye Chong would be its astonishing speed!
Han Jia’s main body was made of skeletons, making it significantly lighter than metals. With the same propulsion force, Han Jia could move a good two Machs faster than Harmony of the Winter Aria! While Guardian could go up to Mach 10, it was only for a short burst. Han Jia, however, could fly at its top speed for long journeys. Compared to Harmony, Han Jia was definitely faster!
On the battlefield, just a tiny advantage in speed would provide a great overall advantage. With a speed of Mach 9, Ye Chong would definitely gain an upper hand going against the likes of the Sanctuary, Black Cove or the MPA. On top of that, with the ability of long range flight at Mach 9, it would be easier to escape!
After completion, Ye Chong used Guardian to make a thorough analysis of the mech, and fixed a few small but potentially fatal flaws.
Hei Zi gasped and marvelled at Ye Chong’s work from the sidelines. While the old man said nothing, his eyes were shining brightly, staring up to the first full-skeleton mech in history. The two of them watched the mech, fully observant, and did not notice that Ye Chong had already left.
Ye Chong was exhausted! A month and a half of nonstop working with high concentration had drained him. Once Ye Chong had finalized his mech, he could no longer bear it as he found a passably tidy spot and slept! He fell asleep almost immediately after he lay down.
When Ye Chong woke up, it was already the third day. He was awakened by hunger, his empty stomach growling in protest. Seeing some food placed beside him, Ye Chong started devouring them without hesitation. "These must be from Hei Zi," Ye Chong thought as he ate.
After he finished, his hunger was slightly lessened. Ye Chong picked himself up and went to the now completed Han Jia.
In terms of design, Han Jia was considered sparse, with no signs of decoration on it. Nonetheless, its natural style was refreshing. In terms of color, however, Han Jia was quite a handful. Each skeleton material was in a different hue - black, white, light green, dark red … This gave Han Jia a unique enigma. Besides that, the unique texture of skeleton luster made Han Jia looked more like a carved sculpture of abstract art.
With the exception of the metallic shine from the titanium scarab’s exoskeleton, other parts looked like jade, or wood, and some even looked like synthetic material. The mech looked odd, but it was undeniable that such a strange mech would draw attention from everyone!
Ye Chong could not help but knitted his brows.
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