Chapter 7.1 - Facing One Another
What followed was another entire day of traveling. Su found a satisfactory place to set up camp, and so the two off-road vehicles finally stopped in a secluded forest.
Su got off the vehicle. He looked around, and then he instructed Li Gaolei, “I’m going to look around the surroundings and find some stuff to eat along the way. You all get some rest first. Same as before, no matter who it is that tries to get close to the vehicles, kill them all without exception!”
Li Gaolei expressed his agreement, and then while carrying the high powered pistol he was used to, he began to stroll about the vehicle fleet’s surroundings. After experiencing Madeline’s treatment, Li Gaolei whose recoverative abilities had greatly improved was already fully healed. Li was also close to a complete recovery, only, she was still a bit weak right now.
Madeline then dragged the heavy sword into a vacant area in the forest. She somewhat strenuously raised the heavy sword, and then she hacked down. Then, she would stop, as if she became a statue. Every time they were resting, Madeline would always raise the heavy sword, produce what seemed like the simplest sword motion, and then freeze for ten minutes. This was the new sword training method she began to do, and these sessions often lasted for several hours, as if she would never tire.
Li Gaolei leaned against a tree as he watched Madeline’s tall and beautiful back view. He suddenly sighed. After rummaging around in his pockets for a long time, he finally found half a cigarette. He lit it and took a deep breath, before slowly releasing the smoke through his nostrils in an extremely slow manner.
It was already the seventh day since their escape, and there had not been any decent supply points along the way. Their medicinal goods had long been depleted, and there were only three containers of nutrient filled food as well. From Su’s intentions, Li, Kane, and Madeline would each have one container. A container of nutrient filled food was, in reality, just a single meal’s amount.
The fuel cells were close to their limit as well. The continuously driving with no regard for speed or terrain was extremely taxing on the expenditure of fuel. The fuel cells that would allow them to travel 4000 kilometers on the roads of Dragon City in the end wouldn’t even take them 1000 kilometers. Of Su’s current goods, apart from still having a relatively decent amount of ammunition, there was only a small case of high energy nuclear fuel they had no idea how to make use of.
After Kane helped Li set up the military tent, he found a spacious area to work at. He produced a rectangular shaped thick alloy rod, and then he began to add heat. Several minutes later, the alloy rod’s temperature already exceeded 1000 degrees, but it was still pitch-black, its color not changing in the slightest. This was Su’s electromagnetic energy rifle’s barrel. The super alloy that made up the gun barrel could endure 4000 degrees of heat, and it would only start changing shape at 5500 degrees. Back then, when that Combat Domain chosen used his full force to step on it, it still only slightly distorted.
Kane’s hands moved towards the ends of the gun barrel. The veins on his forehead continuously jumped, and the space between his brows swelled. In his hands, a small scale force field was produced, surrounding the gun barrel. Under the effects of the force field, the superalloy gun barrel slowly floated upwards. The molecules inside began to shake, the distance between them gradually increasing. Under the force field’s restriction, the vibrations between the particles seemed to gradually develop a pattern, and the way they arranged themselves seemed to change somewhat. From the outside, the superalloy gun barrel was currently changing shape at an incredibly slow speed. About five minutes later, Kane’s face suddenly became pale. His entire body suddenly produced large amounts of sweat. After trembling a few times, the force field then scattered.
The superalloy gun barrel fell down, the still scorching barrel producing smoke when it made contact with the ground. Kane waited for the gun barrel to cool down before inspecting the degree of alteration, and then he finally nodded his head in satisfaction. After experiencing five minutes of moulding, the barrel was adjusted by a centimeter. Based on this speed, in three days, the gun barrel would be completely fixed. This was precisely where the power of the moulding ability laid, able to alter something from the molecular, or even atomic level. Normally speaking, when this ability was developed to the highest level, one could basically make anything they wanted. Turning base matter into gold wasn’t only a dream anymore, only, the amount of energy expended would not make up for the gains. Truly high-end equipment were things great masters with moulding, attachment magic, or deconstruction abilities could make. For example, the superalloy electromagnetic energy rifle the Fabregas family gifted Su was created precisely by a high level moulding master. The development of three types of auxiliary abilities allowed the human race to obtain many things that surpassed the technology of the current era. However, due to the overdependence on these abilities, the availability of these items became extremely limited.
Kane currently only had two levels of moulding ability. Forget about atomic modification, he could only vaguely sense molecules, let alone transform them. He was barely enough to repair this gun barrel, but damage to the alloy’s composition was unavoidable, and as a result it would decrease this weapon’s lifespan. Kane reckoned that this rifle’s lifespan was a hundred rounds, and after his repair, it would only have sixty rounds left over. However, this wasn’t a problem, because Su only had twenty rounds left on him, and these bullets were made of another type of superalloy that was impossible to resupply in the wilderness.