Chairman; The Vision for New Energy Storage Technology

Mo Yuan's thought surfaced in his mind for about half a second before he immediately dismissed it.

In any case, it was only a concept. His current team was nowhere near enough to establish a new faction, so it was far too early to think about what to call it.

Even if he became too busy to handle everything, he could temporarily cobble together an artificial intelligence management system to manage the factories for him.

If that still wasn't enough, he could always call people over to work for free.

If artificial intelligence wouldn't do, then he could simply use capable intelligent humanoids. It was that simple.

Afterward, he set off to instruct those "rebellious disciples."

Several days later, Chen Xinjie arrived.

This time, he did not come alone.

Mo Yuan opened the door. Standing behind Chen Xinjie was a man around fifty years old. He wore a dark-gray formal suit with a silver Federal Parliament badge pinned to his collar. He was somewhat shorter than Chen Xinjie, but his back was ramrod straight. His eyes held the calm focus unique to someone who had handled files for many years. He looked plain and reserved, without the slightest trace of flamboyance.

Mo Yuan recognized that face, as well as the badge. In fact, he had already seen every face among the Federation's upper ranks in the database.

"Chairman," Chen Xinjie shifted to the side, his voice casual, as though introducing a friend who happened to be passing by. "This is Mo Yuan."

Fu Moxin.

Chairman of the Federal Parliament.

Mo Yuan's gaze paused on his face for a moment before he stepped aside and made way at the door. "Please come in."

After the two entered and sat down, Chen Xinjie took his usual seat against the wall, leaving the main seat to Fu Moxin.

After sitting down, Fu Moxin did not speak immediately. Instead, he first surveyed the room, his gaze pausing for a moment on the worn manual on the workbench before turning to Mo Yuan. He gave a slight nod.

"Xinjie has mentioned you to me many times." His voice was gentler than his appearance suggested, and he spoke at an unhurried pace. "Of course, I came this time mainly to confirm in person the technology you have for converting rare metals."

"It's the Molecular Reconstruction Soul Guidance Forging Technology," Mo Yuan corrected him. "It has already completed pilot-scale testing, and construction of the first batch of production workshops is currently underway in the eastern suburbs. The first group of trainees has also graduated and can operate the equipment independently."

Fu Moxin nodded but did not rush to respond.

He was silent for a few seconds before asking from another angle, "Can this technology produce all rare metals? Or does it only cover part of them?"

"The vast majority." Mo Yuan said, "All the known conventional rare metals—Red Gold, Star Silver, Deep-Sea Sinking Silver, Flowing Gold, Black Iron, and Cold Marrow Iron—can be produced. However, high-purity metals like Golden Water Harmony, which naturally require tens of thousands of years to form under extreme geological conditions, are still beyond the reach of our current process. But this is only at the present stage." He paused. "If it is combined with more advanced technologies later, mass-producing Golden Water Harmony isn't impossible either."

Fu Moxin's brows twitched slightly.

He had evidently done his homework beforehand and knew the grades of the metals Mo Yuan had just mentioned.

He crossed his fingers over his knees and lightly tapped his fingertips twice before raising his head again. "Let me be frank with you. More than sixty percent of the Federation's current rare-metal supply depends on imports and domestic mining. The cost of mining is enormous. It isn't merely a matter of money—the geological damage, soil and water pollution, forest degradation, and shrinking wildlife habitats caused by extensive mining have been discussed within Parliament for many years, yet no viable alternative has ever been found."

He paused, his gaze settling on Mo Yuan's face. "If your technology can achieve stable mass production, I'll have sufficient grounds to push Parliament to pass a bill gradually reducing the Federation's domestic mineral-extraction plans. This concerns not only resources, but also the ecological security and long-term sustainable development of vast regions."

Mo Yuan listened quietly, then nodded. "There's definitely no problem on the technical side. In terms of production capacity, the designed output of the first-phase workshop in the eastern suburbs is about three hundred kilograms of standard industrial rare metals per day. That amount cannot currently cover the needs of the entire Federation. But after expanding through the second and third phases, production can increase by five to ten times. As long as the material supply keeps up, replacing more than eighty percent of the Federation's domestic mining output within three years is feasible."

The corners of Fu Moxin's mouth curved slightly. It was an extremely faint smile, like a long-suspended idea had finally found a support on which it could take root.

He nodded and paused for several seconds before speaking in a more relaxed tone. "Good. Since you've done so much, I can't come empty-handed. Is there anything you want? Support from the Federation, resources, or anything else—so long as it's reasonable, I can help push it through."

Mo Yuan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not for now."

Fu Moxin looked at him and nodded. "No rush. You can think about it slowly. If you come up with something, contact me through someone at any time."

He stayed a while longer and asked several specific questions about the workshop's construction and mass-production plans before rising to leave.

Chen Xinjie stood as well. When he reached the door, he glanced at Mo Yuan, a hint of meaning in his eyes, but he said nothing and simply followed Fu Moxin out.

After the footsteps in the corridor faded, Mo Yuan stood at the door and waited for a while.

About half a minute later, another set of footsteps sounded from the end of the corridor. The rhythm was faster than before, and the steps were more casual. Clearly, someone had turned back.

Chen Xinjie's figure appeared in the doorway again. He had already undone his coat buttons and had one hand in his pocket, looking much more relaxed than before.

"Fu Moxin has left," he said.

Mo Yuan stepped aside to let him in.

"All right, tell me why you came back. Don't tell me you forgot something."

Chen Xinjie raised his brows. "Can't I have forgotten something?"

"Heh, forget it. Even if you really had, I wouldn't believe you came all the way back just for that." Mo Yuan laughed.

"All right, you really are sharp." Chen Xinjie raised his hands in surrender. "Regarding the energy supply for the fleet's long-distance operations, do you still have the time to discuss it with me?"

Chen Xinjie's eyes brightened slightly. He changed his posture, crossing one leg over the other.

He still hasn't given up on subjugating those two continents...

Mo Yuan tilted his head slightly. "Then I understand. You came to mooch off me. Fine, you don't even need to say anything."

He walked behind the workbench and sat down, then reached into a drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper. It showed a schematic: a circle about the size of a coin, with a curved line through the middle representing the energy transmission route and several lines around the outside representing a simplified diagram of a Spatial Array's structure.

He turned the paper around and pushed it toward Chen Xinjie.

"This is a new energy-storage technology I've been researching. I thought of this approach while studying Soul Conduction Arrays. Instead of storing Soul Power in matter, it uses miniature spatial structures to lock away energy. The core principle is to construct a stable, enclosed subspace inside an extremely small crystal with a miniature Spatial Array, then seal pure Soul Power or the power of heaven and earth inside it, completely isolating it from the outside world."

He tapped the area in the center of the circle on the paper. "The space is enclosed, so the energy won't dissipate, and there's no heat loss. Its energy-storage density is several orders of magnitude higher than any Soul Guidance battery you're currently using. You can think of it as a miniature energy warehouse that can be carried around. For example, most of the energy compartment on your ship could be removed and replaced with these cores. They would occupy only a few dozen parts of the original volume, while multiplying the endurance by more than ten times."

Chen Xinjie lowered his head and studied the schematic, his gaze moving over the simplified lines.

"This 'spatial structure' of yours—is it stable? Conditions at sea are very different from those on land. Energy fluctuations are much more frequent."

"It's naturally stable," Mo Yuan said. "The Spatial Locking Array has a high degree of design redundancy, and ordinary energy fluctuations won't trigger its feedback mechanism. Unless it directly encounters a spatial-level attack, the internal subspace won't be disturbed in any way. Moreover, this core has multiple applications. It can be used individually or connected and stacked as needed. Small vessels need only one or two cores, while large mother ships can connect hundreds in parallel. The upper limit of the energy depends on the number connected in parallel. In theory, there's no limit."

"In fact, my idea is to gradually replace all other energy-storage technologies with this one. After all, even at the same volume, it can be fitted with additional spatial-defense devices to prevent the effects of spatial attacks."

Chen Xinjie lightly tapped the paper twice with his finger, as though rapidly calculating some scale in his mind. "How long would it take you to produce a finished version of this thing?"

"Do you want one? If you want to see it, I can show you a finished product right now." Mo Yuan said, "As for the mass-production process, you know the drill. It still needs to go through verification. But the structure itself has already passed theoretical analysis, and there are no obstacles at the level of principle."

In fact, this was the energy-storage technology Mo Yuan himself was already using.

Chen Xinjie shook his head and sighed. "I really underestimated you. How do you have so much advanced technology?"

"Heh, in this field, if I admit I'm second, then no one can be first." Mo Yuan was not modest in the slightest.