Forty Millenniums of Cultivation
chapter-646

Hou Zitao seemed to have been punched right in the chest. His face was extremely pale.

He had always been an enthusiastic and outgoing man, otherwise he wouldn't have been asked to greet Li Yao.

But, however enthusiastic he was, he was still quite depressed when Li Yao asserted that his research would only be paperwork.

The other young refiners were greatly shocked to see the formulas that Li Yao provided, too. But their studies were not focused on gun-type magical equipment, and they found many formulas very confusing.

However, they could tell from Hou Zitao's expression that he had been completely awed.

"Sister Long."

Xie Anan dragged Long Yunxin back and asked in a low voice, "Is Sand Scorpion very skilled in refining, too? I don't understand the formulas he listed nor the buffer rune array group that he constructed just now."

Long Yunxin was silent for a moment, before she replied, "I can only understand one third of them. But judging from Hou Zitao's reaction, they seem to have blown his mind!"

Hou Zitao's eyes were bloodshot. He scanned Li Yao's formulas for a long time, while his pale face gradually turned red. He tried to find a loophole in theories but failed to come up with anything. In the end, he smiled bitterly. "Thanks for the enlightenment, Master Sand Scorpion. You were right. Based on the technology level of the Flying Star Sector right now, it is indeed impossible to minimize the buffer unit without affecting its usability. My approach has been wrong since the very beginning. It appears to be a dead end to combine guns and blades!"

The redness on his face faded instantly, replaced by dull gray, and his back slouched.

"Not necessarily."

Li Yao blew at the air softly, and the patterns that he had just drawn immediately dispersed. He explained solemnly, "The vibration saber is not an option. But have you ever considered chainswords? Chainswords deal damage by revolving and cutting. The quakes from the weapon are much gentler than those from the vibration saber. Combining chainswords and spiritual guns into brand new 'chain guns' could be an excellent approach."

Hou Zitao shook his head and replied gloomily, "Chainsword, vibration saber, and heat axe. I have considered all the classic melee magical equipment. But of the three of them, the vibration saber is the simplest in structure. As for chainswords, they are too complicated to be combined with spiritual guns."

Li Yao smiled casually and drew another ten drafts in midair while he continued speaking. "Master Hou, these are some structural designs that I devised during my spare time. They can possibly combine a chainsword with a spiritual gun. Feel free to offer your input."

Hou Zitao glanced at the drafts and was immediately dazed. His two eyes seemed to have turned into bloody mouths trying to devour all the designs.

"Your papers gave me a lot of insights. Truth be told, I'd been meaning to refine a piece of magical equipment that combines remote magical equipment and melee magical equipment. However, I was not familiar with the structure of spiritual guns and, therefore, never started the real work," Li Yao said.

"I've read the preliminary reports of your research, and I think it is quite mature already. Even if you didn't come to greet me, I would have gone to you in person someday. But I'm wondering, what's your opinion about my approach?"

Hou Zitao was dazed. "What are the rune arrays utilized in the structural designs? How come I never saw them before?"

Li Yao smiled and said, "They are some of the ancient rune arrays that I found in the relics of Iron Plateau. They must've been left by our predecessors in the era of the Flying Star coalition government five thousand years ago."

"That's the golden era before the apocalypse," Hou Zitao gasped.

Li Yao nodded. "Indeed. Honestly speaking, the overall level of refining of Iron Plateau is far from that of the Cultivators in space. But as for myself, I experienced a lot of adventures when I was young and discovered knowledge from the ancient times. Therefore, I'm in possession of many secret arts that other people may have no idea about."

"That explains a lot!"

Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment, but they found it understandable on second thought.

Although Iron Plateau was a desolate area at present, it had been the pivot of the Flying Star Sector five thousand years ago. Heritages of the past buried in certain underground relics would definitely be very normal.

No wonder Sand Scorpion was so impressive.

Hou Zitao scratched his head and mumbled, "However, feeble as the quakes of chainswords may be, they will still affect the precision of the guns without the buffer units. How are we going to handle that?"

"Master Hou, I'm afraid that you've got it wrong," Li Yao said. "I don't think we need to focus on precision and damage at the same time. Even if such 'chain guns' are really developed, no real experts would be interested in them.

"It's clear that such a combinative weapon will be neither as sharp as real swords nor as precise as guns.

"For real experts, they will pursue the most professional magical equipment instead of such combinative weapons.

"However, how many real experts are out there? Ordinary people and low-level Cultivators are the majority.

"Right now, the entire Flying Star Sector is anxious. Before, a fleet of carriers only needed one or two guardian starships or a few Exos on board to protect them. But they wish for every crew member on board to be a soldier at the moment. Nobody feels assured unless they have a weapon in their hand.

"Such chain guns should be made for them when successfully developed. Therefore, it is unnecessary to pursue precision. As long as the cost and the fault rate are reduced, it should be good enough.

"Moreover, we can even utilize the quakes when chainswords are spinning to increase the dispersion of bullets in order to make up for the shortcoming that ordinary people cannot shoot precisely. Of course, many new rune arrays will have to be utilized. I need to think more carefully about them. We can discuss later."

Because of his engagement in Project Mystic Skeleton, Li Yao was quite experienced in the research and development of MP magical equipment. Since he was a believer of the grassroots ideologies, he knew better than anybody else what mattered most for a piece of MP magical equipment.

"Believe me," Li Yao smiled at Hou Zitao, "Master Hou, the most important thing for us right now is time. If we can provide the prototype of such magical equipment, it will definitely be a hit and even become a bestseller in the Flying Star Sector!"

Hou Zitao rolled his eyes and was about to comment, when one of his companions suddenly pushed him aside and said, "Master Sand Scorpion, nice to meet you. I am Ning Changfeng from the Refining Department. My main research field is defensive magical equipment. Look, I've run into a minor problem lately…"

Half way through his speech, another young refiner came close and said, "Master Sand Scorpion…"

Xie Anan and Long Yunxin looked at each other in bewilderment. Long Yunxin gnashed her teeth. "What a bunch of losers!"

She strode forward, too, and crammed in the crowd, before she put on the most charming smile and said gracefully, "Master Sand Scorpion, greetings. My name Long Yunxin. I am…"

What the heck!

Xie Anan was rendered speechless, and her lips were pouting.

It would normally have taken half an hour to travel from the No. 6 space port to the Refining Department of Flying Star University by shuttle.

But they spent an hour and a half on the road.

It was not because of a traffic jam, but because the young refiners were discussing issues regarding refining with Master Sand Scorpion.

When the shuttle slowly landed, Hou Zitao and the rest of them had already started worshipping Li Yao.

Without being reminded, they would have completely forgotten that they were welcoming an idiotic magnate from Iron Plateau who had more brawns than brains. They already considered Li Yao to be a real master of refining!

Hou Zitao bowed and said in adulation, "Master Sand Scorpion. This way, please. Watch your head. We are arriving at the No. 1 refining center of the Refining Department of Flying Star University."

Li Yao observed the scenery in front of him with great interest.

Flying Star University truly deserved to be one of the two best colleges of the Flying Star Sector. The campus was quite beautiful. He felt like he was in the middle of a forest park. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but grass, trees, and hills. Quite a few tiny and delicate floating mountains were drifting in the sky. Some waterfalls were pouring down, pushing over the sparkling drops of water together with the aroma of soil. The environment was truly entertaining.

If he did not raise his head, he might have forgotten that he was inside an enormous circular space station.

The entire Flying Star Sector was located in the third orbital ring of Heavenly Saints City. The place he was at was actually in a cylindrical structure. Therefore, Li Yao noticed that the land on the horizon gradually leaned upwards and extended over his head.

Whichever direction he was going to, he would reach the 'above' of where he was standing right now and return to exactly the same spot if he continued walking.

Raising his head, he found vivid blue sky and white clouds.

However, Li Yao was aware that they were all illusions made by magical equipment. If the illusions were gone, he would see forests and buildings dangling down from the dome of the high sky.

In the eyes of the residents there, he was also 'dangling' and attracted by the man-made gravity field.

"Nice to meet you, Master Sand."

In the hall of the No.1 refining center, Wei Wenyao, dean of the department, greeted him with a smile.

But his eyes became somewhat weird as he glanced over at the five refiners who were apparently flattering the one they had picked up. He was secretly wondering what was going on.

Although he had asked them to be warm, their behavior was a bit too much, considering that their purpose was merely some research funds. Where were the manners of an expert?

The thoughts rolled around for a while in his mind, but Wei Wenyao quickly averted his eyes and said with a smile, "It must've been an exhausting trip, Master Sand. Do excuse us. We were supposed to prepare a welcome party for you, but since the Temple of Immortals went on a rampage, the researchers here have been quite tense. Everybody is occupied in their refining projects when they are not teaching students. They've been working day and night, and it's becoming normal for them to not have any sleep for ten days. Therefore, they really don't have the time to greet you."