Mecha Chapter 190: Danger

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Lhachril

 

Luo XiaoLou looked at the energy tester with amazement. How could there be such a function? The second prince’s sword had already been registered…maybe he didn’t register it for the tenth level?

Luo XiaoLou casually clicked ‘No’. Again, what they needed most now was not to become famous, but to find Yuan Che as soon as possible, and then find a way to get enough energy stones to get out of here.

That night, when Yuan Xi returned, Luo XiaoLou found that Li Jay and Xiao Qiao did not behave abnormally. He smiled inwardly. It seemed that Yuan Xi didn’t intend to spread the news about his upgrade. No one knew about it except him and Li Suo.

However, this time, Yuan Xi not only gave Luo XiaoLou fourteen Level 4 Energy Stones, but also handed him ten Level 5 Energy Stones.

Seeing Luo XiaoLou’s eyes looking over at him, Yuan Xi said, “During the lunch break, I went to the Level 5 area.” Firstly, he wanted to test his current level, and secondly, Eva had followed him over and was intentionally hanging out around him.

Luo XiaoLou was surprised to see the Level 5 energy stones, which were of mixed quality, probably thanks to the fact that Yuan Xi was new to the Level 5 Zone and hadn’t learned to recognize them yet.

“This lunch break of yours is comparable to a day’s harvest of several people in your group.”

Yuan Xi didn’t really have much of a sense of gain, preferring the quickness of his ability improving extremely quickly. But looking at Luo XiaoLou’s smile as he hugged the energy stones, he suddenly felt satisfied and comfortable at the same time.

That night, when Li Suo didn’t come back, Yuan Xi and Luo XiaoLou looked at each other but didn’t say anything.

Luo XiaoLou cooked dinner for the three warriors, and they ate so much that they didn’t want to lift their heads. It was delicious, but they were also exhausted.

The next day, Yuan Xi, Li Jay and Xiao Qiao left early in the morning.

Luo XiaoLou started to build his second energy sword, and was glad that the Second Prince had sent so many materials. Because it was a different structure, Luo XiaoLou’s speed didn’t improve much, and he spent the morning making his second weapon, which was also a sword, much wider than the first, and much heavier in his hand.

In the afternoon, Luo XiaoLou sorted out the last of the materials and produced a third energy sword, which was more like a blade than a sword. It was incredibly sharp, yet shaped enough to be cool.

After finishing the last step, Luo XiaoLou removed the high-grade level 5 energy stone from the first energy sword and installed it on the second and third energy swords to check their levels. To his satisfaction, both of today’s swords also reached level eleven. Furthermore, Luo XiaoLou thought that if the swords were replaced with better energy stones, there was a good chance that they would reach level twelve.

When making them, he had discovered that the third structure could bring out the best performance of the material.

Luo XiaoLou smilingly wrapped up the three weapons, planning to take the opportunity to send them over when Yuan Xi and the others went to the competition the day after tomorrow.

He hadn’t intended to leave one for Yuan Xi, but these three energy swords could be used to negotiate more additional conditions with the prince. One of them was to ask the prince to send him some high-grade materials. It could be seen that the second prince was a great lover of weapons, and if these three weapons were really pleasing to him, Luo XiaoLou should have no problem asking for the same materials.

Luo XiaoLou then looked at Yuan Xi’s black soft sword again.

He still couldn’t see what it was made of, but he was very surprised to find that the material of the black sword was better than almost anything he had ever seen. Moreover, it contained a huge amount of energy, not grey energy, but closer to black energy, more pristine. In other words, if some of the auxiliary materials were provided, this sword of Yuan Xi’s could be completely transformed into an energy sword.

Luo XiaoLou thought of the weapon on Yuan Xi’s mecha again, and he couldn’t help but get excited. However, Luo XiaoLou didn’t take action right away. He didn’t want to use auxiliary materials that weren’t worthy of a black soft sword. And besides, they didn’t have the best grade 5 energy stones right now.

Not being able to do anything, Luo XiaoLou couldn’t help but feel itchy again, and simply designed a set of energy sword structures for the Black sword, as well as the best structure he had been able to design so far.

This led directly to the other three returning and finding no dinner waiting for them.

Xiao Qiao didn’t want to move either, so she simply sent Li Jay out to buy take-out and return. It was more expensive, but in extraordinary times, rest was more important.

On the third day, the day before the Ancient Martial Arts Competition, Yuan Xi and Li Jay, Xiao Qiao went out early in the morning as usual. Luo XiaoLou, on the other hand, sorted out his materials, and although he only had a lot of low grade and few high grade materials, the number of them was already at a terrifying number.

He had upgraded weapons for others, ordered energy swords, as well as the ones made for Yuan Xi, Li Jay and Xiao Qiao, who gave Luo XiaoLou all the materials they had stored after they had the energy swords.

Luo XiaoLou asked 125 to put most of them away and keep a copy out.

He had another mission today, he wanted to create an energy bow. It was just an idea, whether it would work or not was another story. But if it succeeded, when fighting some dangerous guardian beasts the warriors wouldn’t need to fight in close quarters, and casualties could be drastically reduced. Of course, this kind of weapon wasn’t as popular as a close-quarters weapon for those experts like Yuan Xi or the Second Prince, but it would be very useful for extremely dangerous special situations or for some people with low abilities.

According to the principle of the Energy Sword, Luo XiaoLou first designed a set of bow and arrow diagrams, and then started making them in the afternoon.

After a day of tinkering, Luo XiaoLou found that he seemed to have succeeded, except that the distance the arrows flew wasn’t ideal. But if the distance was increased, the energy support would not be enough.

Luo XiaoLou frowned and thought for a while, but couldn’t find a better way, so he put the energy bow away as well. This weapon would also be sold to His Highness the Prince, and he knew the purpose of such a long-range energy weapon.

It wasn’t perfect enough, but this place was full of experienced weapon makers, and he was sure they would solve the problem.

On the third day, Luo XiaoLou followed Yuan Xi and the others out. They first went to meet the others in front of Yi’s house and then headed to District A. Only District A had access to the Western Hills, so the Western Hills was a royal natural garden.

Luo XiaoLou needed to show his District A temporary resident permit.

During their stay in District A, Yuan Xi and the others didn’t have to pay any energy stone, but Luo XiaoLou had to pay one level 5 energy stone per day.

Along the way, Luo XiaoLou was excitedly observing that everything was much more luxurious than District D. District A was even similar to the medium-sized cities in the outside world, and it was a prosperous scene. As he passed by the majestic white temple, Luo XiaoLou noticed that Yuan Xi’s eyes changed instantly, and his whole body couldn’t even hide his aura.

This was not the highest temple. Luo XiaoLou looked at the beautiful and indifferent angels carved on the white vaulted ceiling and was slightly distracted. What was the truth? Is Yuan Che really still in the grey hole? 

Yuan Xi pulled Luo XiaoLou along unaided on the way, only letting go when he reached the entrance of the convention. He frowned tightly and instructed, “Everything is about safety. If there are any problems, have 125 contact me.”

Luo XiaoLou, as a weapons repairer, was not allowed to follow them into the convention grounds. And the convention was going to be held for three days, and all the participants would have to live inside during those three days.

“Don’t worry, I know exactly what to do.” Luo XiaoLou replied.

As they entered the gate, Luo XiaoLou only turned to the side where someone from the Ling Xiao family was waiting.

The middle-aged man politely greeted them and said, “Master Luo, please follow me. His Excellency asked you to wait for him at his other house.”

The other house that the man was talking about wasn’t far away. It was a mansion next to the Ancient Martial Competition. After inviting the man in, the middle-aged man then respectfully greeted the people inside and retreated.

Not long after, a young butler-looking man greeted him. He looked Luo XiaoLou over critically twice before asking, “Are you a warrior or a weapons maker?”

Luo XiaoLou was stunned and replied, “I guess it counts as a weapons maker…”

The young butler looked at him reproachfully and said, “Well now, everyone else is here. Hurry up.”

Others? Luo XiaoLou wasn’t too worried, since his upgraded Grade 10 energy sword could surprise that prince so much, it meant that there weren’t many people who could make a Grade 10 weapon, and Grade 11 would only be more advanced.

The young steward sent Luo XiaoLou to a large courtyard in the west and turned around to leave.

There were two rows of rooms in the courtyard, and in front of each room, almost all the people were standing. Those people were old and young, in groups of three or two, discussing something. When they saw Luo XiaoLou being sent in by the housekeeper, they all had some hostility in their eyes, and none of them paid any attention to him.

Luo XiaoLou felt bewildered. Was there competition for making weapons for the prince?

Luo XiaoLou observed the old man for two seconds, then realized that his clothes were too tattered and worn, and that these people probably didn’t like him.

Luo XiaoLou walked over to the old man and sat beside him, and the old man looked at him in surprise then smiled, and after a while, asked in a low voice, “Young man, it’s not bad to come to the Royal Weapon Maker Selection Competition at a young age.”

Luo XiaoLou was dumbfounded and turned to the old man, almost jumping up, “What did you say? Competition? I had no intention of participating at all.”

The old man was also stunned and asked in surprise, “Then why did you enter this courtyard? The Royal Weapon Maker Selection Competition is held together with the Western Mountain Ancient Martial Competition, and the top twenty can be hired by the Royal Family. If you perform outstandingly well, you might even be able to become an exclusive weapon maker for the princes. That’s the dream of the weapon makers here.”

No wonder those people’s eyes were filled with hostility, there was such a competition. But it was a complete misunderstanding, ah!

“Oh crap, there’s been a mistake. I’m not here to compete. I’m just here to drop off something.” Luo XiaoLou explained, then stood up, “No, I have to get out of here.”

The old man grabbed him and shook his head, reminding him, “Don’t go now. Those guards won’t let you out. They might even question you and make you explain the purpose of mixing in. When the selection process starts later and the competent personnel come, you can go out and explain.”

Luo XiaoLou knew that the old man had good intentions and sat down again sullenly. 125 moved in his arms and seriously instructed, “Yuan Xi explained to me that you shouldn’t hook up with other men.”

Luo XiaoLou almost threw it out in disgust. He sneered sarcastically at 125, “You are loyal! I think it would be better to give you to Yuan Xi. He will cherish and love you.”

125 suddenly felt pain all over its body as the scene of domestic violence by Yuan Xi replayed once again. It trembled and cried, “You can do whatever you want! But I have to say – there’s no one here who can beat Yuan Xi, so you- you watch yourself!”

Luo XiaoLou didn’t pay any more attention to 125. He turned to talk to the old man about the knowledge of weapon making. He had taught himself what he’d learned about the structure of various energy swords, unlike others who had a solid foundation and systematic theory. Luo XiaoLou took the rare opportunity to ask for advice.

Luo XiaoLou couldn’t stop himself from asking questions, he found that the old man knew much more than him. Moreover, the old man was very experienced, and his explanations were profound and thorough.

Luo XiaoLou didn’t find the time hard to bear; in fact, he wished he could go even slower. In the end, Luo XiaoLou was still intent on telling him about the problem he had encountered yesterday, which was the firing distance of long-range energy weapons.

The old man was also pleasantly surprised. He was the weapon maker of District C. He was able to come over and participate in the selection competition because no one in all of District C could do his craft.

But because he refused to join the weapon shops affiliated with various big powers, he was discounted by people who had an interest in his business, and his business was just average. But he didn’t ask for much. As long as he could maintain his subsistence, then more energy could be spent on weapon research.

This long-range weapon problem, he had already thought about it, and if he could really research it, it would benefit the entire gray hole. But there was one thing that he had been unable to overcome. Take the bow and arrow for example. The issue lay with the remote control of the arrow. How to get the energy of the energy stone attached to the shot arrow.

Luo XiaoLou benefited greatly from the advice of the old man, who pondered over the difficulty of the distance, and gave Luo XiaoLou two solutions, both of which he found feasible, but only needed to be tested.

The other participants didn’t know Luo XiaoLou, but they knew the old man. Although the old man was unpopular, he was a skilled craftsman, and when they saw that the old man and Luo XiaoLou were so engrossed in their conversation, they felt even more uncomfortable.

This was enough to show that Luo XiaoLou also had two brushes, so did they have another strong competitor?

While the atmosphere in the courtyard was quietly changing, a person suddenly jumped down from the west wall.

This person was dressed all in black, wearing a white ghost mask on his face, with an eerie aura. At a glance, he was not a person who should appear here. The moment he appeared, Luo XiaoLou’s heart suddenly moved and he hid behind a tree under 125’s warning, while everyone else was too scared to squeak. The gate of the courtyard had been closed, and those guards outside had no idea that such a person had entered inside.

The man in black drew a piece of paper from his bosom and asked with a deliberately altered and odd emphasised voice, “Has anyone seen this man? If you know and don’t say anything, don’t blame me for being rude.”

There was silence and no one dared to speak.

The ghost-faced man grunted, intending to search in the other courtyard.

At this time, a young man suddenly pointed behind a tree and shouted, trembling, “I’ve seen him! There he is!”

Luo XiaoLou was stunned, his face darkening. He simply walked out from behind the tree, and the ghost-faced man let out a wry laugh at the sight of him.

Luo XiaoLou glared at the young man, and that young man’s eyes flickered and looked away.

Before the ghost-faced man came over, Luo XiaoLou quickly leaned in front of the old man and said a few words. When Luo XiaoLou stood up again, the ghost-faced man had already reached him, grabbed Luo XiaoLou, jumped onto the high wall next door, and disappeared. Next door was the venue of the Western Mountain Ancient Martial Arts Competition.