Chapter 5 – The Broken Mech
Before him was a piece of machine that reached almost 3 meters in height. To him, it seemed to be something that came out of Avatar. The interior resembled that of a fighting exoskeleton vehicle.
The machine was trembling a bit, as it was hanging down from a tree. A leg was completely broken; the machine’s surface seemed to have taken quite a few hits to have formed so many craters. At the same time, the cockpit seat seemed to have been broken, like a washbowl smashed through and created a big crater. Sparks of electricity could be seen flying; it was even possible to clearly hear the crackling sound they produced. Just one glance at it, and one could immediately tell that it was dangerous.
Through the big hole, the internal mechanical structure was clearly seen. Within a radius of 10 meters, parts could be seen scattered around. Even some of the metal holes began to spiral up with smoke – the smell was extremely pungent.
Du Yuqi waited to see for a while, as he slowly began to understand what happened. He started to approach the machine to get a better view, as what he saw shocked him further. Actually, the machine that was hanging down from a “tree”, turned out to be something much more strange. The tree trunk above had eyes, a mouth, and a nose. As its branches were twisted together, looking like a bulky brown forelimb!
“This… could it be a Treant of legend?[1] Curse it! Shouldn’t this only exist on the parchment about the Medieval Ages?”
Looking at the huge branches of the tree, Du Yuqi’s brain began to draw out what happened in the cockpit. Clearly, the Treant swung out furiously with its forelimb, and with its strength, it plunged right into the cockpit. Which also caused the driver to sustain heavy injuries. After the forelimb did so, it took hold of the pilot and sent him flying.
In that case, the grave wound found on the corpse earlier could be perfectly explained. Only, that huge Treant also seemed to have slowly lost signs of life – Its leaves on top have begun to show signs of withering.
As Du Yuqi looked at it from a different point of view, he then immediately discovered that this mech wasn’t equipped with any weapons, except for a huge electrical chainsaw in its right hand. There was a deep cut in the Treant. It was hard to tell if the Treant could continue on living. The injury was extremely serious, nearly chopping the thing in half.
Thinking to here, Du Yuqi’s mood immediately lightened up. He carefully avoided the electrical sparks as he went around the mech. He found a nameplate in the middle of the cockpit; the engravings were definitely not that of Earth’s. But Du Yuqi began to understand what was engraved.
“AT-8M: civilian multifunctional and self-propelled (Crystal powered version).”
“Installed Part: Special electrical chainsaw (Civilian version).”
“Weight: 6.8 tons.”
“Maximum Carrying Capacity: 21 tons.”
“Maximum power output: 800 horsepower.”
“Energy Consumption: 3 small colorless crystals per 260 working hours.”
Standing at the head of the scrapped mech, Du Yuqi began to look around for a bit. He found that there seemed to be an area that was indeed cut down. As to what happened here, it was clear that:
In that case, the dead man should have been a logging machine operator, manipulating this machine to chop wood. But, he didn’t notice the lurking Treant, thus causing him to suffer a brutal attack. Piercing straight into the cockpit!
The operator also attacked at that time, using the mech to counter-attack. The Treant’s weakness was clearly its lack of speed since the electric saw was able to cut its body like that. Thus, causing both sides to die.
What Du Yuqi wanted to find at the moment was the man’s belongings… which should be this carry bag, which seems to have quite the amount of bloodstains on it. The bag ought to have been on his person but fell to the ground, having also been hastily opened. The bag’s interior seemed to also have a mezzanine [2] that was next to a strangely shaped bottle that was empty. The bottle was fist-sized, with a trace of liquid still left inside. Du Yuqi could be considered a half doctor, as he began trying to determine what odor the liquid came from. But without any luck, he had to angrily put the bottle down.
However, the rest of the backpack’s contents pleased Du Yuqi. If he wasn’t mistaken, the operator should have had to work a lot in the wilderness. Thus, it was inevitable to bring along a survival backpack just in case.
Aside from the first-aid kit, there were other things. A majority of the things that Du Yuqi found was an unusual firearm, a cloak that helped in sheltering one from rain, and food rations.
Finally, Du Yuqi found a machete, which should have been used to move forward in the forest – chopping down grasses and things that blocked the road. Though it was not sharp, the back of the blade was quite thick. It should take both hands to carry.
At that moment, the color of the sky began to change as it had become late. Du Yuqi’s mind also became increasingly anxious. On account of this weird forest and the tyrannical Treant, along with this monstrous machine… Who could guarantee that there were no other dangerous creatures out there?
Being mindful of this, Du Yuqi clenched his teeth as he began to identify the dangers that lay in the direction of the rising smoke. His mind’s sense of crisis became increasingly strong. Provided that he got there before dark. Else, he would really vomit blood.
****
Du Yuqi was just merely saying so.
However, to Ming Xi, such a small amount of blood was not worth mentioning.
Ming Xi was only 15, but seemed quite a dull person. Though she was young, her talent spoke of a different story. A month ago, Ming Xi had successfully passed the test to become an inner member of the Organization. In 3.27 seconds, she was able to completely summon a spirit.
The speed of 3.27 seconds broke a hundred-year record of a 4-seconds summon. Thus, causing the Organization to focus on grooming Ming Xi.
It was only through the test that one could be promoted to a 2nd Order Summoner. But, because of Ming Xi’s record-breaking summon, she was directly promoted to an elite of the 3rd Order. (Author’s note: 1st Order is equivalent to Lv10 in a game; 2nd Order being Lv20; etc… weapons and equipment are also divided as such, using analogies…)
~~~~~~~~
[1] It was tree essence but… I didn’t think that would fit well, so I used Treant instead.
[2] Kind of like a sub-layer.
Chapter 5 – The Broken Mech
Before him was a piece of machine that reached almost 3 meters in height. To him, it seemed to be something that came out of Avatar. The interior resembled that of a fighting exoskeleton vehicle.
The machine was trembling a bit, as it was hanging down from a tree. A leg was completely broken; the machine’s surface seemed to have taken quite a few hits to have formed so many craters. At the same time, the cockpit seat seemed to have been broken, like a washbowl smashed through and created a big crater. Sparks of electricity could be seen flying; it was even possible to clearly hear the crackling sound they produced. Just one glance at it, and one could immediately tell that it was dangerous.
Through the big hole, the internal mechanical structure was clearly seen. Within a radius of 10 meters, parts could be seen scattered around. Even some of the metal holes began to spiral up with smoke – the smell was extremely pungent.
Du Yuqi waited to see for a while, as he slowly began to understand what happened. He started to approach the machine to get a better view, as what he saw shocked him further. Actually, the machine that was hanging down from a “tree”, turned out to be something much more strange. The tree trunk above had eyes, a mouth, and a nose. As its branches were twisted together, looking like a bulky brown forelimb!
“This… could it be a Treant of legend?[1] Curse it! Shouldn’t this only exist on the parchment about the Medieval Ages?”
Looking at the huge branches of the tree, Du Yuqi’s brain began to draw out what happened in the cockpit. Clearly, the Treant swung out furiously with its forelimb, and with its strength, it plunged right into the cockpit. Which also caused the driver to sustain heavy injuries. After the forelimb did so, it took hold of the pilot and sent him flying.
In that case, the grave wound found on the corpse earlier could be perfectly explained. Only, that huge Treant also seemed to have slowly lost signs of life – Its leaves on top have begun to show signs of withering.
As Du Yuqi looked at it from a different point of view, he then immediately discovered that this mech wasn’t equipped with any weapons, except for a huge electrical chainsaw in its right hand. There was a deep cut in the Treant. It was hard to tell if the Treant could continue on living. The injury was extremely serious, nearly chopping the thing in half.
Thinking to here, Du Yuqi’s mood immediately lightened up. He carefully avoided the electrical sparks as he went around the mech. He found a nameplate in the middle of the cockpit; the engravings were definitely not that of Earth’s. But Du Yuqi began to understand what was engraved.
“AT-8M: civilian multifunctional and self-propelled (Crystal powered version).”
“Installed Part: Special electrical chainsaw (Civilian version).”
“Weight: 6.8 tons.”
“Maximum Carrying Capacity: 21 tons.”
“Maximum power output: 800 horsepower.”
“Energy Consumption: 3 small colorless crystals per 260 working hours.”
Standing at the head of the scrapped mech, Du Yuqi began to look around for a bit. He found that there seemed to be an area that was indeed cut down. As to what happened here, it was clear that:
In that case, the dead man should have been a logging machine operator, manipulating this machine to chop wood. But, he didn’t notice the lurking Treant, thus causing him to suffer a brutal attack. Piercing straight into the cockpit!
The operator also attacked at that time, using the mech to counter-attack. The Treant’s weakness was clearly its lack of speed since the electric saw was able to cut its body like that. Thus, causing both sides to die.
What Du Yuqi wanted to find at the moment was the man’s belongings… which should be this carry bag, which seems to have quite the amount of bloodstains on it. The bag ought to have been on his person but fell to the ground, having also been hastily opened. The bag’s interior seemed to also have a mezzanine [2] that was next to a strangely shaped bottle that was empty. The bottle was fist-sized, with a trace of liquid still left inside. Du Yuqi could be considered a half doctor, as he began trying to determine what odor the liquid came from. But without any luck, he had to angrily put the bottle down.
However, the rest of the backpack’s contents pleased Du Yuqi. If he wasn’t mistaken, the operator should have had to work a lot in the wilderness. Thus, it was inevitable to bring along a survival backpack just in case.
Aside from the first-aid kit, there were other things. A majority of the things that Du Yuqi found was an unusual firearm, a cloak that helped in sheltering one from rain, and food rations.
Finally, Du Yuqi found a machete, which should have been used to move forward in the forest – chopping down grasses and things that blocked the road. Though it was not sharp, the back of the blade was quite thick. It should take both hands to carry.
At that moment, the color of the sky began to change as it had become late. Du Yuqi’s mind also became increasingly anxious. On account of this weird forest and the tyrannical Treant, along with this monstrous machine… Who could guarantee that there were no other dangerous creatures out there?
Being mindful of this, Du Yuqi clenched his teeth as he began to identify the dangers that lay in the direction of the rising smoke. His mind’s sense of crisis became increasingly strong. Provided that he got there before dark. Else, he would really vomit blood.
****
Du Yuqi was just merely saying so.
However, to Ming Xi, such a small amount of blood was not worth mentioning.
Ming Xi was only 15, but seemed quite a dull person. Though she was young, her talent spoke of a different story. A month ago, Ming Xi had successfully passed the test to become an inner member of the Organization. In 3.27 seconds, she was able to completely summon a spirit.
The speed of 3.27 seconds broke a hundred-year record of a 4-seconds summon. Thus, causing the Organization to focus on grooming Ming Xi.
It was only through the test that one could be promoted to a 2nd Order Summoner. But, because of Ming Xi’s record-breaking summon, she was directly promoted to an elite of the 3rd Order. (Author’s note: 1st Order is equivalent to Lv10 in a game; 2nd Order being Lv20; etc… weapons and equipment are also divided as such, using analogies…)
~~~~~~~~
[1] It was tree essence but… I didn’t think that would fit well, so I used Treant instead.
[2] Kind of like a sub-layer.
