Chapter 220: Chaos Has Arrived
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Energy ores, the mineralites imbued with a kind of energy, either by nature or by artificial means and here they were, lying within the hands of Ye Chong, exerting an amazing glow. They were formerly uncommon ores of metals which never contained any energy activity. It was then the exposure to the Teardrops they transmutated, as they gained the energy and began giving off that beautiful glow.
It was as if a metamorphosis for the ores, a transformation that lifeforms would have undergone, a mutation in their state, thus the name, Transmutated Energy Ore.
It was Mu’s speculation that these energy ores were transmutated due to the influence of the Teardrops, which sounded really stunning to Ye Chong for it was his first time of hearing such strange theory, where the ores were glowing merely over the effects of those specks of Teardrops.
And Ye Chong’s curiosity was one again rose by these seven little stones of tears.
He felt the Teardrops within his palm carefully. They were warm, giving off faint glow in pale green. They were not really sizable, with the largest being slightly bigger than his thumb. And the one which Ye Chong snatched from Tai Zuo was the smallest among them, while having the closest shape to a teardrop.
He rolled the seven stones between his palms. He took a glance, he took a second glance… Nothing was coming out in his head. Eventually he surrendered to the mystery and gave up observing, declaring the stones were useable but, "Not yet… not yet…" Bitterly he smiled.
The lower-graded transmutated energy ores were of much better use to Ye Chong currently. And he had a fruitful excavation of them, where ores of the entire cave were picked up by Multipede. If what Mu had stated was true, those ores were rare mineralites before. That was truly unbelievable for a small cave underground containing that many variety.
Ye Chong poured the piles of ores over the floor.
Within twinkling of eyes, colorful glows illuminated the room, dazzling as before to Ye Chong’s eyes. There was one untold fact from Mu, the energy ores, despite being a slightly lower grade than the Teardrops, they were also extremely precious kind of gems, while Ye Chong were fortunate enough to have a mini mountain of them. Imagine if Ye Chong were to auction these ores, he would be richer than the billionaires in the 5 major galaxies.
Well, Mu knew his information choice well. Even if he told Ye Chong so, Ye Chong would not be reacting much as he lacked the interest towards wealth acquisition, till maybe at some point where he needed that money to make the necessary purchases then perhaps he would realize.
Contrary to the tinkling coins, the strategic resources, the necessity of life were something he would go strongly possessive of. Trash Planet was known as a planet which severely lacked useable resources, where one could take months or even years to ever dig out anything useable. No one else in the galaxy recognized the importance of consumables than he himself. As he was raised in a place where the strong lingered, the weak be eradicated, every second could lead to a different outcome standing in between the dead or alive.
Ye Chong took a look at the pile of ores and he began sorting them. One could say it would be an entertainment to view the glow of the pile of ores, but one could also say sorting that pile of ores could be potentially a maltreatment.
No doubt, the sorting process was carried out under the guidance of Mu, since technically Ye Chong was "ore-blind". But it was not as smooth-sailing as one would imagine even under Mu’s valuable tips and assistance, Ye Chong - for he lacked the basic understanding of these ores - was having a headache 10 minutes after the commencement, since technically Mu had never stopped his explanation for one second. Ye Chong could have a superior memory, but anyone could have gone mad under this constantly goose-feeding like lecture.
Ye Chong truly felt that it would be a much more brilliant idea to have Mu sorting the ores himself. Nevertheless, he knew the artificial intelligence’s purpose of doing this. It was, like always, for his own good, as through this he would not only gain experience but also knowledge. Well, it would be a different story if Shang was standing there. "That Shang would do it out of plain laziness." Ye Chong swore, the corners of his lips were slightly raised. Shang should be coming in a few days.
"Ye, focus. Focus," reminded Mu the very second he noticed the boy before him was thinking of something nonsensical. Ye Chong hurriedly carried on sorting, as he was all ears of the lecture on the composition, as well as the reactivity of the ores.
The colorful ores were sorted into different piles. The smallest pile before Ye Chong was the one that would come in handy immediately. There were actually varieties in these ores, and they were sorted quite equally in amount. But the number was discouraging, it would not be sufficient for basic mass-production.
The uncommon ore of the highest amount in Ye Chong’s inventory was surprisingly the black gold.
And according to the information obtained from Mu’s databank, these ores apparently were obliged to fuse with other uncommon metals to maximize their capabilities. And judging by the number of other uncommon minerals Ye Chong had, the tiny pile of transmutated energy ores would do him the greatest favor in long run. Well, he could have also used the other piles of energy ores but he would have to discard the few types of energy ores in that tiny pile before him to fit into the formula instead.
Ye Chong’s current supply of resources could be said as vast, although the utilization was a joke. That tiny pile before him for example, to even begin using them Ye Chong would need to first arrive at Tappero galaxy to make purchases of the minerals not inside his inventory.
Regarding the happening at the cave underground that day, despite long exchanges between Mu and Ye Chong, there was yet a definite conclusion, even though Ye Chong had made sense of parts of the phenomena. The disc for example, was a result of intensive spatial distortion, which then formed some kind of a portal.
The study of space science had matured and was well facilitated by today’s standard, the dimensional keystone for mech-deployment for example was the masterpiece of space science application. Then there was also space-warp which could also be considered as an impeccable technique developed by space scientists. And within the 5 major galaxies, space physics were the compulsory introductory course among the trainees. Well the study was not all that fancy like its name, for it had already become the part and parcel of our daily lives.
Except for Ye Chong probably… who had never participated in the education system once before. The dimensional keystone for mechs was one of the few parts he could not craft from scratch, reason being, no one had ever mentioned the working of it before, not even the Aurora or Mu. Among the few expertise in the hands of Ye Chong, alchemy and combats were currently at their greatest, while mech-production and piloting were at a very strange stage. Regarding mech-production and piloting, Ye Chong probably knew what an advanced senior pilot would know, but he would know nothing of a pilot on his first week would have been taught.
For space physics, he practically believed that he already had the best teacher in the entire galaxy, Mu. But Mu still was unable to calculate the exact figures of the spatial distortion that day. Man… what lies beyond that dark disc of distortion? What kind of lifeforms lingered within the world beyond, being all mighty and horrifying? Who or what had created such distortion? Was it a part of natural phenomena? Or the lifeforms were the culprit of this mischief? Or… Ummm…
There were so many mysteries unsolved to quench Ye Chong’s thirst for the truth. There were hardly anything intriguing to Ye Chong currently and he bit the bait on this case was due to his experience and recognition of the strength of this mysterious living thing.
This was probably the strongest organism he had ever seen.
The strength was not considered negligible for Mu, which probably triggered Mu’s motivation to fix himself. Ye Chong could feel that but he was also helpless, as it was truthfully impossible to fix Mu. There were too many obstacles to overcome. Yes, Mu’s databank did consist of detailed information on formation of his components, there were even the methodology to extract certain ores. The catch was, it would include about 52 types of metals of various colors and 17 non-metals in a formula, which none of those were found in Ye Chong’s inventory. Furthermore, among those materials, 11 of them turned out to be materials as rare as the Do-Kun stone. One could state that Mu was a conglomeration of uncommon materials. And that. That was only the first obstacle standing in their way. The second… well… Mu’s damaged components included the engines, the cabin and the left arm. Cabin was not much of an issue, unlike engines… Ye Chong remained puzzled looking at the blueprint of the engine. Arm? With his skill, it would be a miracle if he could finish building an arm before the next nova happened.
The journey to fully repair Mu was far and nearly unreachable. But building weapons for him was quite a practical goal at the moment. Mu lost most of his firepower for being unarmed the whole time but it was no longer the same because they had collected quite an amount of energy ores, whereby it would not be far-fetched to at least build a weapon for the artificial intelligence.
But this rose Ye Chong’s curiosity again. What kind of weapon would Mu use? The anticipation…
Other than that, they had also obtained the fluid of Twin Sisters, which was safely kept inside the alchemy lab. And he had a collection of the best bones he could think of. The only pity in his inventory could probably be that dagger, it was a gift from Gu Shaoze and he had spent all these years having it as his life savior, his loyal partner. But then… mhm… maybe it was time to build a new dagger. Thought Ye Chong as his eyes rolled over the ores.
Ye Chong spent the whole day in his room and never entertained the 5 guests on his ship. Well, not like they could do anything to the ship. They seemed to have transformed into the scaredy cats since the moment war was mentioned. It had been rooted in their conversations whenever they grouped together at one table, where Meng Fei’er would lose control of her tears without fail.
It was soon when the Coxcomb hit the edge of Tappero galaxy. The folks were feeling great, they seemed to have the look of lost souls finding the way back home, except for Ye Chong, as usual.
Getting back into the 5 major galaxies signified that they could obtain signal, they were connected to the world once again. Under the demand of the 5 frightened cats and Ye Chong’s curiosity over the status, Mu turned on the signal transmitter.
"This is Tappero daily. We are sorry to inform you that…"
Ye Chong was right.
The war had already happened.
It was chaotic inside the 5 major galaxies. The one who initiated the war… contrary to Ye Chong’s prediction, was none of the 3 forces, rather it was the Freedom alliance, a group he had never heard before. It was probably the organization those 5 mechs and that ancient-looking warship were from. It had to be them. They should be avenging the insults they had been getting all these years while being in the dark.
They were the first alliance to declare ownership of the Fal. Then Black Coves declared their ownership over Tappero. Almost immediately after, MPA also declared their influence over Tappero. Of course the Sanctuary would not sit back and watch their territories disappearing, they stood up and also declared their ownership over Cyana. Csebesini, strangely, retained its unowned status, even though being surrounded by the 4 major galaxies.
And the galaxies were at a fiasco.
Very soon after their declaration, the 4 forces began cleansing their territories to strengthen their rulership. The trainees, the members of the foreign forces in the territory shall be wiped away from history. It began with the Freedom alliance, where they brutally murdered the other forces in their territory, like eliminating the cockroaches in the kitchen. It happened too abruptly that none of them could make it out. And the Freedom alliance took a smart turn for they had already withdrawn all members lurking at the other galaxies to minimize their loss.
The residents were stupefied by the chaos. It was a mutation in their residence. Within a night, the peace, the harmony were no longer a fact, but a history.
The war was gruesome.
The Freedom alliance gained the most from the plot twist this time, while the other 3 forces, as much as the foreign forces had implanted their influences within the territory, it was challenging for them to eliminate the "others" in their place. The cleansing was hindered. One could already imagine the situation seeing how a handful of mechs could already cause such devastation back on Windstar. And the 3 forces were obviously holding a vaster amount than that.
The galaxies which their ownership were declared had been turned into ruins of flames and screams. Csebesini was surprisingly looking like a heaven among the hells, where flocks and flocks of residents hurried their way moving there.
As the war went on, major inflation happened in the market. Shortage was everywhere when the residents thought it happened once and only once hundred years ago. Resources like the metals were a goner in the market. The safety control was horrible, where pirates rampaged throughout the area. They filled the place as they plundered. Pilots were at high demands, for they wielded the strength to protect people. Everyone would need a pilot at their home and companies began employing the pilots batches after batches.
Warships were no longer a rare and frightening sight to behold as the 4 forces started sending out their armies in ships. Residents were horrified at first, then they grew numb of them.
Listening to the transmission… the folks were on the ground, except for Ye Chong. The hologram of the planets was then projected, where craters and flare could be clearly seen.
"No…No…" The tears of Meng Fei’er fell off her cheeks.
And that… was when chaos has arrived.