Chapter 628: Progress on the t.i.tan Superwars.h.i.+p
Radix. The founder of the mechs. His origins were shrouded in mystery, and he was rumored to have been created from the formulation of an immortal soul and machinery.
He single-handedly constructed this race of mechs, which had once proudly stood tall in the universe; he was also the inventor of liquid metal alloy and other fantastical high-tech products. The last message from him had been from the Law Realm, though Xia Fei and the others had no clue just which part of the Law Realm he was located.
Dimsky’s sudden question to Xia Fei about whether he had seen Radix or not caused everyone present to be greatly shocked!
Could the super-intelligent founder of the mechs still be alive?
“Radix? I haven’t met him yet, nor have I heard of any news pertaining to him,” Xia Fei said with great certainty.
Dimsky was still very animated. He switched on a screen and displayed the war armor Edgeless.
This image was magnified, and a fairly inconspicuous seal on the quantum engine was fitted on the war armor. It looked like two cherries that were placed side by side, their plumpness mouthwatering.
“Father! That’s my father’s seal!” Sentinel G.o.ddess Sophia cried, uncharacteristically loud.
Warstar instantly froze and swiftly presented his own propulsion engine to Xia Fei. Sure enough, the same ‘two cherry’ seal could be found on his engine, though this one was a lot more obvious, looking like it had been intentionally carved. Meanwhile, the seal on Edgeless was a lot smaller, requiring a magnification of several times before it could be visible.
“Lord Radix really likes this seal. Whenever he made something that he was pleased with, he would leave the seal on his creation. It’s not just me; G.o.ddess Sophia and Dimsky also bore the twin cherries when they were created,” Warstar explained.
Sophia nodded. “My seal is on my logic processor unit. If you don’t believe me, you can search through my actual body and see for yourself.”
Dimsky was a little sad. “My actual body was ruined by Xana…”
Xia Fei shook his head. “I believe what you’re all saying. By a.n.a.lyzing what you all said, this war armor Edgeless should be a work that Radix is proud of, but due to some certain reason we don’t know yet, he didn’t dare make his seal too conspicuous, and so he could only hide it in a corner of the quantum engine.”
Dimsky suddenly seemed to have thought of something, gravely saying, “Wait a minute, you all!”
With that, he instructed his c.o.c.kroach clone to do a very complex test: metal dating.
“830 years! The metal used by Edgeless had been refined approximately 830 years ago. When creating war armor, he will first have to choose the materials before he works on it. That means that Edgeless was completed within the last 830 years.”
“This is a recent creation by Lord Radix! This means that he’s still alive!” Dimsky was beside himself with excitement.
A very, very long time had pa.s.sed since Radix was tricked into going to the Law Realm. For a recent creation of Radix to have turned up was evidence that he was still alive despite the long pa.s.sage of time!
This was most definitely a shocking discovery! If Radix was still alive, where was he?
“Dimsky, check that 100-series Precision spatial compa.s.s from Fig Corporation. The war armor, Edgeless, came from the same company as well,” Xia Fei said.
Several minutes later, Dimsky shook his head in disappointment. “I’ve already a.n.a.lyzed it, but there’s no message or seal on the compa.s.s.”
Xia Fei knitted his eyebrows. “The war armor Edgeless and the spatial compa.s.s both came from Fig Corporation. Edgeless bore Radix’s seal, while the spatial compa.s.s didn’t. This perhaps means that Radix was part of the construction of Edgeless but had nothing to do with the compa.s.s.”
“Actually, that’s not too hard to understand. Every single piece of the war armor is different, while the compa.s.s is an a.s.sembly product that’s ma.s.s-produced. There’s no way for Radix to put his seal on an a.s.sembly product.”
Sophia asked somewhat uneasily, “What kind of business is Fig Corporation?”
Xia Fei answered, “This company is very renowned across the Law Realm, belonging as part of the G.o.d Race, widely acknowledged as the ultimate pinnacle of the universe’s technology. It’s the most powerful tech company in the Law Realm, and each and every product it makes is considered exquisite. All its products are highly priced and the company is very eye-catching in the entire Law Realm.”
“The ultimate pinnacle of technology?” Dimsky was confused. “How could there be a pinnacle of technology?”
Xia Fei answered, “Oh, actually, pinnacle doesn’t mean that they’ve stopped improving, but it just symbolizes the extreme high-end technology that Fig Corporation has mastery of. The company has essentially done such crazy research that the technology it developed has gotten to a point where further research and development is deemed nigh impossible.”
Sophia was still concerned over Radix, so she gently asked, “Father has a near maniacal pursuit toward technology, so could the Fig Corporation be something that he himself established or where he’s working at?”
Xia Fei shrugged. “Sophia, it isn’t that I don’t wish to help you, but Fig Corporation is currently out of my league, belonging in the G.o.d Race, a peak region where only the strongest of the universe congregate. It is still far from what I can reach. We can only speculate that Radix is a part of them.”
Sophia nodded her head understandingly. “I understand. After such a long time, I’m already satisfied to learn the news that my father is still alive. Thank you, Xia Fei.”
The atmosphere in the room became somewhat heavier once they began reminiscing about the past. Xia Fei exited the room, leaving those survivors of the mechs to themselves. They had finally gotten news about Radix, so they must have plenty to talk about, while Xia Fei also had plenty to share with Avril, too.
……
The care of the robots was ever present; they had practically created an artificial sun so that Xia Fei and Avril could live a twenty-four-hour day cycle. Robots were always working, so there was no need for them to consider the issue of time.
They even filled their Metal City with plenty of green plants all around, making it look like this was a human city with lots of greenery around. Basically, the robots had already done everything they could so that Xia Fei and Avril would feel at home while they were seeking asylum here.
Early in the morning, when the artificial sun rose, Avril was still like a lazy cat, cuddling under the covers. Xia Fei climbed out of bed and pushed open the window after was.h.i.+ng up, gazing out to the busy robot city.
Metal City was a lot more orderly than human cities, with everyone knowing what they should do and not wasting any time at all, going about their tasks like hard-working ants.
Without waking Avril up, Xia Fei left a note and turned to leave. He headed toward the most important location in the Hidden Realm, the t.i.tan-cla.s.s superwars.h.i.+p dock, for inspection.
*Whoos.h.!.+*
A small wars.h.i.+p ferried Xia Fei and Dimsky out to the s.p.a.ce where they were constructing the t.i.tan.
Far away, he could see that the humongous dock was already complete, and it was as wide as three earths, with over millions of robots working day and night non-stop.
This was just the site, and working behind the scenes were even more robots in the factories, which were producing all the parts necessary and then transporting them to be fitted on the site.
Dimsky proudly pointed at the s.h.i.+p’s window to the dark s.p.a.ce and said, “This here is the first dock. The second and third dock are still in the middle of construction, and it would not be long until they could be put to use. Right now, about 90% of the robot population is devoted to the service of t.i.tan, and every month, there are over a million specialized robots who are being created for this huge project.”
“The Hidden Realm will construct ten superdocks, thereby decreasing the construction timeline from four years to three, or maybe even two years as more and more construction materials are acquired, and manufacturing bottlenecks see breakthrough, allowing productivity to be pushed to the maximum.”
Xia Fei nodded. While a three- to four-year construction timeline seemed long, it was actually a practically miraculous speed. After all, the t.i.tan superwars.h.i.+p was larger than Earth, and the cost of the construction was simply astronomical.
In the Alliance, constructing a supercarrier would take decades, and the even larger t.i.tan might not be complete after several hundred years, not to mention the technological restrictions they faced. If not for the superior intelligence that mechs possessed, a killer machine like the t.i.tan would surely just be a blueprint.
“Is there enough metal stored in the Hidden Realm?” Xia Fei asked. The Hidden Realm was an independent s.p.a.ce, and though it was nothing small, the construction of the t.i.tan expended an insane amount of high-quality metal. If there ever was a shortage, they would have to risk leaving the Hidden Realm to mine them.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I already did the calculations; given the stores we have here in the Hidden Realm, we have enough to construct over 120 t.i.tan-cla.s.s superwars.h.i.+ps. By that time, you’ll really have so many killer machines; I doubt if there’s anyone in the entire universe who can defeat you still,” Dimsky jokingly said.
Xia Fei shook his head. “That’s not necessarily true. The higher I get, the more I realize that this universe is vast and filled with mysteries. There’s too much we still don’t know, so it’s best if we play it close to our hearts.”
Dimsky thought about this. “You’re right. Come and take a few blueprints. While I was reading through the data materials, I found something very interesting.”
With that said, Dimsky turned on the projection screen in the wars.h.i.+p and displayed several blueprints, which were as complex as an image of a galaxy.
“This here is the strangest blueprint for the t.i.tan. The others, be it the weapon system or the power a.s.sembly, might be intricately designed, but nothing achieved such a level of incomprehension from me. No matter how I look at this, I simply can’t tell just what this is being used for.”
“It’s designed to be around the power system, and from what I can infer, the activation of this equipment will draw a huge amount of energy upon activation. Such a complex design simply can’t be there for no reason, so what is it truly used for?” Dimsky was like a scholar as he stroked his chin, wondering out loud.
Xia Fei was also puzzled because he could not make sense of the blueprint, either. It was profound, mysterious, and well-beyond the knowledge that Xia Fei had acc.u.mulated thus far!
“No matter what it is, it must be very important to the t.i.tan, or else it won’t be situated around the power system. Are we able to create it in accordance with the blueprint?” Xia Fei asked.
“That’s possible.”
“Then let’s temporarily give this system the callsign Equipment X. When the t.i.tan-cla.s.s superwars.h.i.+p is complete, I’ll find time to test it myself.”
Time pa.s.sed very quickly. Xia Fei and Dimsky went around the t.i.tan as they began detailed discussion over the project. Xia Fei had no idea how such a large killing machine like the t.i.tan would be of use to him in the future, but there was a rule that he had faithfully etched in his mind: ‘A warrior must keep their own trump cards hidden as best as they can, so as to better deal with the unexpected.’
Take his trip to Snake Isle as an example; if he did not have the Law of Primal Chaos, Blood Crystal, or Furball, there would be no way for Xia Fei to still be alive in the Hidden Realm right now.
A so-called trump card could not be used to brag, and its existence should only be revealed at the most crucial juncture, used to solve a critical problem. A trump card might very well be used once in its entire life, but just that one time would be worth all the effort put into it previously.
Looking at the time, Xia Fei said, “Let’s head back. Avril should be awake by this time, and it’s the important day to help her open her seventh brain region.”
Dimsky chuckled. “Look at you being so worried. Relax. We have the best medical center; it will surely be a success.”