Applying What He Learned

Zhou Yi had long since memorized the materials needed for the simplest Mech Masters. As for some of the knowledge in the most difficult books, he could never truly understand it without getting his hands dirty.

Zhou Yi roughly surveyed the mechs in the warehouse. Most were damaged parts, and it was impossible to tell which ones had originally belonged to the same body.

There were five relatively intact mechs still capable of standing. Of those five, one was exceptionally complete, with even its surface looking brand-new. It was impossible to tell what damage had caused it to be scrapped.

The standing mechs were all over three meters tall, nearly four. Zhou Yi's thin, one-meter-seventy frame looked especially frail before them.

Fortunately, after cultivating the Star Gathering Art for so long, coupled with the energy he had absorbed in the energy pod when his Star Pattern awakened last time, Zhou Yi's body had been strengthened considerably. His strength was several times that of boys his age.

He chose the smallest-looking mech among the standing ones, one that was slightly damaged, then wrapped both arms around it and tried to lift it.

"One, two, three!"

Zhou Yi gritted his teeth and shouted a cadence for himself.

But as someone handling a mech for the first time, he had clearly misjudged its weight.

After straining for quite a while, the mech did not budge in the slightest.

Fine. Give up.

Since lifting it would not work, he would drag it instead. Zhou Yi immediately changed tactics, wrapping his arms around the mech, shifting his angle of force, and dragging it toward the open space in the center.

After exerting all his strength, Zhou Yi finally dragged the mech a full meter.

That was only because its heaviest energy device and all of its weapon components had been removed. If it had been a fully armed mech, even two Zhou Yis would not have been able to drag it.

Zhou Yi frowned at his arms, where veins had bulged from overexertion, and immediately decided that he needed to eat more and exercise more from now on.

He had fully realized that being a Mech Master was not merely a job that required brains. It was also physical labor.

After all, without some strength, he would not even be able to move a mech component.

And so, he moved it one meter, rested for a while, moved it another meter, rested again. Zhou Yi finally got the mech to the open space in the center.

Retreating seven or eight meters, Zhou Yi burst forward and flew toward the mech with a kick, driving all his strength into a single point on its waist.

With a loud crash, the towering machine more than three meters tall toppled to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that made Zhou Yi cough repeatedly.

He had read that a mech's waist was a relatively vulnerable point. During battle, as long as force was applied at that point, it would be difficult for the mech to remain standing.

With Zhou Yi's strength, he could not lift this big fellow, but if he targeted the right spot, kicking over a mech with no energy device, no pilot, and aged components was quite easy.

After much effort, he laid the mech face-up in the position he wanted, and he could finally begin his research.

There was a reason he had not chosen the most intact mech. Zhou Yi felt that he was still a complete beginner when it came to mechs, so it would hurt less to practice on an ordinary one first.

Zhou Yi knelt before the enormous machine, utterly unconcerned by the thick layer of dust that had accumulated on the warehouse floor after so long without visitors.

Starting from the top of the mech, his hands slowly traced every inch of it, his eyes gleaming with fanatical light.

He had to admit, the way he looked right now really... did not resemble a good person. He looked more like a pervert.

Not all mechs were humanoid. A mech had only one ultimate purpose: to unleash greater combat power.

But although their forms differed, their general structures were much the same.

They needed legs capable of walking and running, as well as two arms equipped with weapons.

The two arms generally carried two types of weapons. One was for close combat, such as blades, drills, spikes, and the like, convenient for physical attacks. The other was for long-range attacks, generally laser-based, such as laser cannons.

A laser cannon on the left and a sharp weapon on the right was a fairly standard configuration.

But the mech before Zhou Yi now had nothing on either side.

The weapon mounts were probably undamaged and still useful, so they had been dismantled for reuse.

The mech's chest was covered by an iron plate. Zhou Yi tapped it with his knuckles. It was hollow.

His fingers deftly felt around nearby, and he found a tiny clasp in a hidden spot.

"So this is what the catch mentioned in the books looks like."

Zhou Yi explored as he compared it to the knowledge in his books.

With a real object in front of him, the points that had once been difficult to understand suddenly became much simpler.

Applying force in the opposite direction with a bit of finesse, he opened the clasp.

After finding and opening five such hidden catches, Zhou Yi lifted the entire iron plate from the mech's chest, revealing a square opening.

The opening was not large. Zhou Yi knew it was for placing the energy device.

Though it was called an energy device, the mech did not rely entirely on it for power. It was mainly driven by the user's star power.

For a humanoid mech like this one, a person entered through its back and stood inside it, extending their limbs naturally within the mech's limbs.

When the person moved, the mech moved, and star power was exerted along with the person's motions.

Non-humanoid mechs were also called aberrant mechs. Generally, people sat inside them. The person did not need to move at all; the mech was operated entirely through star power.

Generally speaking, aside from certain uniquely designed aberrant mechs with extremely powerful combat strength, most mechs were still humanoid, with heads and limbs.

"If only I had an Energy Crystal Stone to study right now."

Zhou Yi looked at the empty square compartment, somewhat dissatisfied.

But that was naturally impossible. Every Energy Crystal Stone was exceptionally precious, and it was consumable energy.

Put simply, an Energy Crystal Stone was a crystal with one hundred percent purity. Across the entire Alliance, only a few crystal mines capable of producing crystals with one hundred percent purity had been found.

Most crystal mines were like those on D72 Star Block, with extremely high impurity levels and usable only as construction materials.

A small portion of the purer crystals were made into Crystal Coins for use as circulating currency.

An even smaller portion with higher purity was used as material for energy pods.

As for Energy Crystal Stones with one hundred percent purity, they were almost completely monopolized by the Alliance. Ordinary people could not even catch a glimpse of them.

A single Energy Crystal Stone was even more valuable than an entire mech.

If a mech was scrapped, its Energy Crystal Stone would naturally be removed and recycled for reuse.

Zhou Yi was completely immersed, body and mind, in everything before him. As he flipped through his books, he began dismantling the mech in his hands.

Compared with the exterior, a mech's internal structure was what truly mattered to a Mech Master.

The exterior structure determined hardness, which largely depended on the materials used. The internal structure determined flexibility, and this was where a Mech Master's ability became crucial.

Today's update was a little late. I'll still try to update on time at eight in the future~