Chapter 70: Gliding Joy (1/2)

Chapter 70: Gliding Joy

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The moment had arrived! A newborn mech was to be sent into the sky soaring like a bird, freely and… When everyone saw the post-modification, their eyes were filled with confusion, looking at Ye Chong. Yining who had been working hard for the past hours went dumbfounded upon seeing the mech he modified with his own hands looking like this.

Is this crap still a mech?

This was probably what everyone else had in mind.

The mech was in a shape of an arrow, with a tampering body from cabin to the end. The body was much narrower than before, but taller, like a flattened swordfish; while the main engine was shifted to the very end. It was all according to Ye Chong’s calculation, where the placement of center of gravity would be ideal. The front was the ”arrowhead” with the side wings forming a V shape towards the fore, unlike before when it used to be a flimsy metallic strip and multiple additional engines were installed to promote a larger scope of redirection. The design was an innovation but also a challenge to the pilot as the cabin had been moved to the body of the mech, the ”shaft” where it only offered limited space for body movement, just enough to fit Ke Han sitting in. No wonder Ye Chong asked him about the height and the weight. Also as the entire cabin had became cramped, the processor was replaced with a much smaller one which served less functions. Technically if it was a mech made for Ye Chong, he would hardly need a processor and could just play manually. But Yining was the one strongly against this because a mech was believed to be worthless without a processor inside.

The mech was mainly built using light titanium alloy, which durability might appeared substandard, but it served better for its featherweight. The engine used was Firebird-III and it was not because of its dynamic, rather, again, it was because of its weight being merely half of the other engines of similar grades and most importantly it offered the largest scope of redirection in the group. Most of the main engines only served the purpose of providing momentum to the mech and it wholly depended on the additional engines to make direction changes. However, there happened to be some rare kinds that could do both, though they offer a smaller scope of redirection. Firebird-III from this category was the most outstanding in direction control being a main engine, thus it became Ye Chong’s choice. Of course, such an overpowered-sounding engine was not a common selection by the public for it consumed high amount of energy. It might had half of the weight of engines of similar grade, but in return it had twice the amount of energy depletion as the other engines in its line, which drastically restrained its application. For instance, the mech Ye Chong designed could sustain a nonstop flight for a limited duration of 8 hours when fully charged at most. Such a flaw Ye Chong thought it was that he asked Ke Han for opinion but he did not show much disagreement considering how he was only required a 2 hour flight in the tournament. That was more than enough.

Yining proceeded to paint the whole mech in blue - a blue like a pool of clear lake. The strange design did actually made the mech look much more striking, forceful with its hollowed body. The team was looking forward to its performance.

They looked at each other and nodded. Somehow they read each other pretty well. They agreed the fact that it was their first time seeing such an odd mech. It would be more appropriate to call it an aircraft instead. Ke Han was thrilled to try on his new toy that he felt like hopping into the cabin right away.

Up, up, and away! Ke Han set off into the sky!

For moments on ground, they had been anticipating Ke Han’s return to hear his words about the new craft.

Ke Han finally made it back - literally made it back. It was not as heartwarming as coming home because Ke Han crawled out of his cabin with his face drained, his legs shaking. ”H…hi…f…folks.”

They quickly went to Ke Han. ”Han!” Yang An asked hurriedly, ”What’s wrong?”

”To…tt…Ttt…Too fast! Th…Th…This is… inten…ss…intense!” He caught his breath, settled his mind, ”There were a few times I nearly crashed into people! It’s too hard to control!” But he seemed all pumped and enthusiastic, ”Still, it’s fast, too fast! I guess I could already be a professional racer at this rate. It’s too fun!”

Xuelin who was standing at the side seemed quite eager to try while Shew acted a scaredy cat holding Xuelin back at her sleeve.

Yining gazed endearingly at the mech he made out with his own hands. ”Hmmm...” he mumbled. ”What name shall we bestow this baby?”

”Glidy!” Ke Han waddled to Yining, ”How about Glidy?”

”Glidy just sounds stupid.” Xuelin shook her head in strong disapproval, ”A single-word name never worked. Hmm, how about Gliding Joy?” It was a suggestion coming from a beauty, and without a doubt, Ke Han approved and Yining seemed pleased with the name too. ”How about Ye Ch-” Ye Chong, the designer, the contractor of the construction carried on watching the folks uninterestedly, guessing the man did not bother what the mech would be named after.

And so be it!

The name of this modified mech had been decided among the folks without much discussion.

”Well.” Ye Chong looked at the time - it was time to scram for him. He stood up and spoke to Yang An, ”4 hours in total. Every hour costed you 1225 Zuan. That’d be 5000 Zuan in total. Payment at your convenience!” His tone was monotonous. He did not sound mortified as he asked for his pay.