Type 59 Modified?

Today's update includes Chapter 3, chapters 4, 5, and 5.3, for a total of 14,500 words.

The last fireball extinguished, the choking smoke was gradually dispersed by the airflow, and the starry sky returned to tranquility.

Nitelai and Death Knell both let out a long sigh of relief, their backs soaked with cold sweat. Despite their thorough preparations and exhaustion of defensive measures, Su Ming's attack intensity still left them teetering on the brink of being breached!

Nitelai's gaze swept over the surroundings with a somber expression. Large swathes of the magic crystals embedded in the dragon's body had lost their original luster, becoming dull and murky. A rough estimate, combined with the directly destroyed magic array nodes, suggested that the mere ten seconds of steel storm had consumed a staggering 27% of their crystals!

"What a terrifying opponent." The voice of the Death Knell carried a hint of hoarseness, as if it had survived a calamity.

She gazed towards the distant Dragon Valley, her eyes filled with unprecedented gravity. "One attack wiped out nearly thirty percent of our reserves! Such an enemy... we absolutely cannot let him live!"

Ruby Base, Information Command Center.

On various tactical screens, the evaluation data of the saturation strike effect that had just ended cascaded down like a waterfall. Every frame was quantified, analyzed, and statistically summarized.

"The dynamic trajectories of these energy flows," Zijin pointed to the shimmering light patterns on the crystal dragon's back on the screen, "Are characteristics of the Crystal Cascade Magic Cube Domain that Quail mentioned! The enemy is using it to coordinate the energy output of all the magic crystals, forming a comprehensive defensive network."

Su Ming's gaze immediately shifted to Newman, whose bony fingers were rapidly typing on the keyboard, performing calculations.

"The enemy's energy consumption is staggering!" Newman looked up. "Based on the energy decay rate and the feedback from the damage to the magic array, such a saturation attack, if repeated three more times, would absolutely be enough to completely break through the enemy's defense system!"

Upon hearing this, King Star Pickaxe's tense face instantly lit up with barely suppressed joy. Such a terrifying, world-destroying behemoth— the Final Bone Mad Machines actually possessed the means to defeat it!

"Please launch a follow-up attack immediately!" He stood up abruptly, his gaze fixed intently on Su Ming.

Su Ming slowly shook his head, "That last round emptied all our stockpiled ballistic missiles. Reorganizing a strike of the same scale will take quite some time."

The Final Bone Mad Machines also possesses a large number of other weapons, but these are all tactical-level firepower used in conventional warfare. Among them, the longest-range battlefield support rocket has a maximum range of only a little over one hundred kilometers.

In a normal combat scenario, the attack could continue. Su Ming would use his ability to Summoning of All Things to resupply from Earth and organize a second and third wave of offensives until the enemy was completely overwhelmed by the steel torrent.

But that won't work under the current circumstances!

"Once the Super Crystal Dragon reach the ' Pomegranate ' mine, which is only 400 kilometers away from us," Zijin's voice was cold as she pointed out the core predicament, "They can replenish their supplies at a terrifying rate of two million crystals per day!"

"In other words, if we can't launch an attack strong enough to stop the enemy within nine hours," Newman realized the trouble, "This colossal Crystal Dragon will quickly recover its strength like a sponge!"

"It's not about restoring vitality," Su Ming sighed, "It's about a rapid increase in combat power!"

The Super Crystal Dragon, armed with eight million Magic Power crystals, will be even more difficult to deal with than it is now!

Next, everyone considered several ways to improve attack efficiency, but all of them were rejected.

"Single-warheads have strong penetrating power, but are easily locked onto and intercepted. Multiple-warhead systems can disperse their firepower, but lack sufficient force to tear through the shield." Newman was quite troubled by this. "I don't have a better idea."

"The core of the problem is that our two sides are completely mismatched in size," said Beianqi. "Our opponent is a monster built entirely of numerical values!"

The enemy's defensive components alone, including the materials used in the magic arrays and other defenses, amount to at least thousands of tons. It's fortunate that they have such a massive vehicle as the Super Crystal Dragon.

"Perhaps we could use a solid bullet?" Zijin suggested. "Destroying a high-speed solid metal block with magic is far more difficult than detonating a fragile container filled with explosives!"

"That should work!" Newman slammed his hand on the table in agreement. "So what if it's broken in half? The shattered solid block will still smash down! Their photon interception will be far less effective against this kind of 'hard lump'!"

"This is the concept behind kinetic energy weapons (KEW)," Su Ming said.

Since traditional combat units can be detonated by the magic of the opponent's large magic array cluster, let's return to the most primitive laws of physics and smash through it with pure mass and speed!

Su Ming immediately began calculating, but his brows quickly furrowed. "The lethality per unit mass of a kinetic energy weapon is far lower than that of a high-explosive warhead." He pointed to the data, "Taking the 1000-kilogram warhead of the ' Jiangling ' missile as an example, the explosive power of 670 kilograms of explosive is approximately equivalent to 1 ton of TNT. However, its kinetic energy... is only equivalent to 200 kilograms of TNT."

This means that to achieve the same destructive effect with pure kinetic energy weapons, the scale of the projectiles would need to be significantly increased. At this rate, they still wouldn't be able to accumulate enough ballistic weapons to defeat the enemy before reaching Jinghuo "Pomegranate" mine!

King Star Pickaxe listened to their discussion in Common Tongue. He recognized each word individually, but the combination left him completely bewildered. Judging from their tone and expressions, the situation was clearly not optimistic.

He wanted to say something, but didn't know how to begin.

The first wave of attacks from the Final Bone Mad Machines failed, but at least they launched an effective strike. The mighty Dwarf Kingdom now doesn't even know how to approach the enemy.

Why have the dwarves, who were originally at the forefront of technological innovation in the Taya Plane, suddenly been left far behind by both enemies and allies? What exactly went wrong?

As King Star Pickaxe struggled with his decision, an idea flashed through Su Ming's mind.

"Kinetic weapons?" He suddenly stood up. "Don't we have the ' Vermilion Bow '?"

Although the Vermilion Bow was designed to launch satellites, no one stipulated that it couldn't be used to fight this super dragon.

"Yes!" Newman's Soulfire leaped excitedly, slamming his two bone claws onto the table. "A kinetic energy projector of that level doesn't need any penetrating magic array! Its terrifying speed and mass alone are enough to smash that magical shield, along with the magic array beneath, into the Crystal Dragon's bones like a hot knife through butter!"

This is the most ruthless and unreasonable physical rule of crushing the enemy when facing magic-based defenses!

"Besides, we have plenty of supplies!" Beianqi exclaimed excitedly, "We could shoot all day long without any problem!"

The metal spikes, being projectiles, don't need to be transported from Earth; the existing production lines at the Ruby Base can manufacture them continuously! As for the immense energy required for launch? The roaring turbines at the Celestite Hydropower Station indicate that they've been storing water for a long time!

"But the ' Vermilion Bow ' can only fire vertically," Zijin pointed out the problem. "To achieve long-range indirect fire, the entire barrel structure and support system need to be comprehensively strengthened!"

"A magic array can partially solve the cannon barrel strength problem!" Newman immediately offered a solution. "Ten thousand crystals, enough to set up a reinforcing force field and a constraint array!"

This quantity indicates that the reserves of the Final Bone Mad Machines are still sufficient.

Moreover, to demonstrate his sincerity, King Star Pickaxe brought tens of thousands of crystals of varying grades, worth millions of gold coins, as a "gift" to fulfill the "bet" on the steam engine.

"What about the base and support system?" Zijin pressed. "Where are we going to find a giant platform capable of withstanding the terrifying recoil of a tilted launch in nine hours? And how do we create a shock-absorbing mechanism?"

"And there's the motion mechanism," Su Ming added. "The current Vermilion Bow is designed for vertical launch and doesn't have the ability to quickly and precisely adjust pitch and azimuth."

These problems can theoretically be solved, but each one requires time and massive resource investment, or relies on Su Ming's "Summoning of All Things" ability to Order Projection across dimensions.

If this path is chosen, the massive modification of the Vermilion Bow itself alone will drain all the teleportation quota.

Meanwhile, the enemy is advancing relentlessly towards the "Pomegranate" mine, where a terrifying "evolution" will begin in nine hours.

"Use bones?" Newman's azure soulfire leaped, proposing a bold idea, "Transform the White Bone Fortress! Use its skeleton and Magic Power core to construct the launching base for the ' Vermilion Bow '!"

Everyone's hearts skipped a beat; this idea seemed feasible!

Newman immediately began sketching on paper: a massive skeletal structure twisting and combining to form a multi-legged, undead-style movable turret.

However, the preliminary stress calculation data is like a bucket of cold water being poured over it—whether it's structural strength, recoil buffering, or aiming capability, they are all far from meeting current needs.

It can be solved, but it will take time to design.

Miao Xin, leaning her skull head to the side, swept her soul fire across the rough sketch, [Hmm... this ugly thing, I feel like I've seen a ready-made one somewhere before?]

Su Ming's spirits lifted. "[Where?]"

"Go find Jisu!" Miao Xin said quickly, "Who cares about his 'Type 59 Modified '!"

Su Ming's consciousness instantly switched to the Earth Plane. He used his Little Spiky Head phone to speak directly in the large group chat, "@Ji Jisu! Do you have the design blueprints for 'Type 59 Modified '?"

"Huh? There are so many!" Jisu was very puzzled. "Those that run on the ground, fly in the sky, swim in the water, or burrow in the rocks, which one do you want?" "Miao Xin said you have the kind!" Su Ming typed quickly.

Jisu nearly froze. "That giant robot was something our group made as a hobby..."

"Give it to me now!" Su Ming sent the message, then turned to Jin Rongjia, "@Jin Rongjia, just two hundred ' Jiangling ' rounds only caused minor damage to the enemy's super-large target."

"The entire support team, immediately switch to Level 1 combat readiness!" Jin Rongjia announced swiftly.

A series of confirmation messages quickly filled the group chat, and all staff on standby or on leave began rushing back to work.

Jisu sprinted forward, smashing open the door to the experimental chamber and rushing to Su Ming. He shoved the tablet computer he was holding into Su Ming's hand, his voice urgent and breathless, "This piece of junk is physically isolated... it can't connect to the internet!"

Su Ming took it and his fingertips slid rapidly across the screen.

A towering diagram of a quadruped robot instantly filled his field of vision, its modern mechanical aesthetic and the strange lines of a magical creation outlining the silhouette of a skeletal behemoth. He quickly scanned the parameter list beside him, his brow furrowing slightly—there was still a considerable gap between the current state and the stringent requirements for bearing the full force of the "Vermilion Bow."

However, the scale and carrying capacity of this "Type 59 Modified" are already on the same order of magnitude!

"Summon all designers immediately!" Su Ming said without hesitation. "Priority task: Maximize its load-bearing capacity! I want to mount the ' Vermilion Bow ' on it!"

Despite the dire situation, Jisu couldn't help but clench his right fist and roar, "Yeah!" Su Ming's consciousness switched back to the otherworldly plane, and a miniature memory card quickly appeared in his hand. The card was inserted into the interface, and a drawing unfolded on the large screen. Newman's skull immediately approached, and a ghostly blue soul fire flickered rapidly in its eye sockets.

A dog's paw, covered in soft, short brown fur, reached out onto the screen with unexpected skill. The paw's pads deftly tapped across several key areas, zooming in on crucial parts of the screen and opening several sub-windows displaying the strength, stress distribution, and material data corresponding to different structural units.

"Not bad!" Newman's jaw clicked as he turned to the Newfoundland dog. "Nice to meet you, Quail!"

The Newfoundland seemed a little uneasy, its large head lowered slightly, and it made a soft sound in its throat, "Nice to meet you... Barn Swallow." Stacy walked over, sat down next to Zijin, and picked up a cup from the low table next to her.

"I brought the Quail with me," she explained to Zijin. "With me here, he'll be a little braver."

Stacy glanced at the intricate diagram on the screen, a complex network of lines and symbols that sent chills down her spine, and immediately felt dizzy. "But there's absolutely nothing I can do to help with this stuff."

"How much better do you think I am?" Zijin sighed deeply. She had only glanced at the design blueprints of that behemoth that combined a rough skeleton, geometric transmission structure, Psionic Power nodes, and magical rune circuits, and her brain felt like it had been hit by Giant Hammer.

If absolutely necessary, Zijin could reluctantly attempt to understand conventional structures. But this super-creation, a fusion of technologies from two worlds with drastically different styles, pushed the boundaries of her understanding to their limits.

But Newman and Quail became more and more excited as they watched, like two lazy bums finding a bottle of soda.

"Surely such a terrible thing exists in the world?" Stacy sighed.

She and Zijin exchanged a wry smile, then raised their teacups and clinked them together.

Quail's paws darted across the screen, a low growl escaping his throat. He leaned close to Newman and whispered a few words. Newman immediately turned and walked with small, bony steps to Su Ming.

"The overall design and framework layout of the Type 59 Modified are truly ingenious," Newman spoke rapidly, his soul fire flickering within his skull, "And simultaneously solved the needs for support, cushioning, and precise aiming required when the ' Vermilion Bow ' is launched!"

Su Ming would bet that when the Jisu team created this thing, they were definitely imagining a giant robot wielding some kind of super weapon! Although there are numerous errors in the arrangement of magic arrays, and the underlying logic of the Magic Power pathways is completely out of order—but Quail and I can correct those. The most fatal problem now is," he pointed his skeletal finger to a set of parameters on the screen, "That the bone material in this design is designed to be six times stronger than the existing materials in the White Bone Fortress!"

"Six times?!" Su Ming's brows furrowed instantly. "Jisu was modeled based on Little Spiky Head's skeletal data." He abruptly turned to Miao Xin, who was idly kicking the table leg with her hooves. "Aren't you human? How can your bones be this hard?"

"It's probably a gift from the Nether Sea," Zijin interjected thoughtfully. "High concentrations of Magic Power, or other unknown forces, could bring about this transformation."

"Could the White Bone Fortress also be reinforced to this level?" Su Ming pressed.

"Strengthening such a large number of undead is absolutely impossible," Zijin replied decisively. "The potential of bone itself has its limits. Forcibly investing resources in its cultivation will drastically reduce its marginal effect until it makes no progress at all."

"Perhaps... it's possible." Newman suddenly thought of something, but his azure soul fire remained firmly locked on Zijin's body. "As long as we can obtain a batch of skeletons with sufficiently superior 'body qualities,' we might be able to turn this ' Type 59 Modified ' from blueprints into reality!"

Zijin's pupils contracted sharply, her expression instantly turning icy. "You mean, the Bone Dragon?"

The dragon's skeleton was designed to support its heavy body during flight. The undead constructed from its remains are far stronger than any other living being. "Where did we get such a large bone dragon?" Su Ming asked instinctively.

"There aren't any 'that big' ones," Zijin's voice lowered, "But there are 'this many' ones."

Su Ming instantly understood, "The Ancestral Spirit... Land." He gritted his teeth and uttered these four words.

The entire command center fell into a deathly silence; even the hum of the instruments seemed to pause for a moment. The dragon race held the deceased in almost sacred esteem, with the Zijin Bone Dragon being a unique exception. In fact, the Dragon Race had launched a massive siege, their core objective being to eliminate the necromancer behind Zijin. Now, they were demanding dragon remains to assemble a massive undead artifact. Su Ming had absolutely no hope of success. But no matter how difficult, it had to be done; Su Ming made his decision.

"Leave this to me and Zijin." He stood up abruptly. "You two focus all your efforts on revising the design and overcoming all technical obstacles!"

Newman's skull and the Quail's dog head, both heavily.

Zijin braced herself on the table, stood up, and followed Su Ming.

"Please wait." Stacy raised her hand. "This colossal machine, a fusion of technological structural design, necromancy, and a massive array of spells... who will operate it?"

She pointed her finger at Zijin and slashed down mercilessly, "Forget about this one. If that little bone dragon of hers hadn't come from her original body, it would have tripped her up and fallen flat on her face."

Zijin glared at Stacy but didn't refute her at all.

Su Ming frowned, trying to imagine that he could handle the system controlling the giant undead tens of meters tall—the Vermilion Bow. He could manage the complex mechanical assistance, but to make it fight as if it were his own arm...

"Oink oink oink oink!" A grating pig-like laugh suddenly rang out. Miao Xin rolled on the ground with her hooves in the air, kicking wildly, laughing so hard that her soul seemed to tremble.

"Alright..." Su Ming said with a resigned helplessness, "Now we have a driver."

Miao Xin's laughter stopped abruptly, and her consciousness vanished instantly.

Earth, the Little Spiky Head suddenly burst out of the experimental pod, rampaging through the corridor and arriving at the support team's emergency meeting center. Miao Xin excitedly pounced on Jisu, clinging tightly to his arm. "Shove that Type 59 Modified into the simulator! Now! I'm starting special training!"