Where I write my poems whenever inspirations strike, or when I'm procrastinating.

Special thanks to Lonelytree for the cover design.

Gun-Ho was reading an economic newspaper in his office when he received a call from Jae-Sik Moon.
"What's up?"
"I have something I want to talk to you about."
"Why are you calling? You could just come to my office to see me."
"I didn't want others to see me—a security guard—to enter the president's office. That could look inappropriate to other workers. So, I decided to give you a call instead."
"You don't have to worry about that kind of thing. So, what's up?"
"The high school alumni directory book is almost completed. I've already done proofreading and editing. The design for the cover is finished as well. It's ready to be printed out."
"Okay, that's good."
"I want to show it before I print it out."
"Haha. I don't have to see it. Just have a printing service company print it out. I am busy with my own work."
"I received the fund for the alumni directory book, which you sent to me. I will give you a report on the expenses' details later. I also received the amount of 30 million won that you sent me for me to pay off my debt. I did pay off all of my debt with that money."
"That's good."
"I will set aside 500,000 won from my monthly salary and send it to your bank account that you gave me the other, every month."
"Sounds good."
"I am no longer a person with a bad credit score. I can freely get a service from a bank, and I don't have to worry about my salary being seized anymore."
"That's good, but will you be okay with your current salary? You won't have much left once you send me 500,000 won from your monthly salary."
"I am planning to look for an editing work that I can do during the day. Oh, maybe I shouldn't say that to my current employer. You might not like the idea that I have another work that I have to commit to."
"Haha. I don't mind at all as long as that doesn't affect your work with the company."
"Thank you. As to the alumni directory book, I will send one to you as soon as the printing work is completed."
"Sounds good."
 
Gun-Ho was thinking of Jae-Sik; the security guard position that he was currently working in didn't seem to fit his talent or interest.
"He can do better than a security guard work, but he is not an employee type either."
Gun-Ho couldn't yet figure out the perfect work position for Jae-Sik that could fully utilize and develop his natural talent.
 
Gun-Ho flew to Japan to pay for the remaining condo price for Mori Aikko's condo. He didn't visit Amiel's office in Nihonbashi this time. Once he fully paid off the condo price, the real estate sales agent handed the condo's key to Gun-Ho. Gun-Ho then gave the key and the condo registration document to Mama-san Segawa Joonkko.
"Mori Aikko is coming back in town the day after tomorrow; she is still in a province for her dance performance. Since this is a newly constructed condo, we don't have to do the wall; I guess I will buy some basic household stuff for her."
"I can pay for furniture."
Mama-san laughed.
"We can't ask the sponsor to pay for furniture. You purchased this expensive condo for her after all. Mori Aikko saved up some money by working at the bar; she can get the furniture on her own. She will be able to buy a refrigerator, a washer, and other things with her money that she saved up so far."
 
Gun-Ho stayed two more nights at New Otani Hotel and went to Chiba Prefecture to see the auto parts exhibition held in Makuhari Messe—a convention center outside of Tokyo. It took him two full days to see them all thoroughly. On the second day in the convention center, when he was collecting some useful pamphlets, he received a text message in English.
"This is Mori Aikko. I just returned to Tokyo. Please come to the condo in Daikanyama, Shibuya at 6 pm today."
 
Gun-Ho arrived at the condo that he purchased for Mori Aikko. He was carrying a fruit basket. The condo had a keyless entry-lock system and Gun-Ho knew the access code, but he rang the doorbell, instead of entering the condo on his own.
Mori Aikko ran to the door and opened it. She was wearing a pink apron. Gun-Ho could smell the food; it seemed that Mori Aikko was in the middle of cooking for him.
"Oppa*!"
Gun-Ho was wondering where she learned the Korean word, "Oppa." Mori Aikko jumped into Gun-Ho holding his neck and kissed his cheek several times.
"Haha. Let me take off my tie first before us doing this."
Gun-Ho put the fruit basket down on the floor and hugged Mori Aikko.
Gun-Ho then looked around.
Mama-san Segawa Joonkko seemed to have an excellent taste. The furniture in the condo looked sophisticated and very well placed in an organized way even though they were not expensive. The sofa, the dining table, the bed, and other furniture, they all looked cozy. There was a huge picture hanging on the wall in the living room; it was Mori Aikko wearing a Kimono, and she was smiling broadly in the picture.
"That's the poster from the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto!"
 
Gun-Ho was enjoying looking at Mori Aikko on the poster when Mori Aikko called for him.
"Yushoku no junbi ga dekimashita (dinner is ready)."
"I think she is saying the dinner is ready. Nice. Idesu (good)."
Gun-Ho went to the dining table while smiling.
On the table, there was warm cooked rice, a piece of fish, Kimchi, dried seaweed, Miso soup, etc. It seemed that Mori Aikko cooked them all by herself. She also didn't forget to prepare sake.
"O meshiagari Kudasai (Please eat.)"
Gun-Ho felt happy. Mori Aikko seemed to feel the same way; she often looked at Gun-Ho and smiled.
 
After dinner, Gun-Ho and Mori Aikko watched TV in the living room while having some fruit. They talked a lot using the mixed languages of English, Japanese and Korean for a while before they both fell asleep on the sofa. Gun-Ho woke up a moment later and looked at Mori Aikko who was sleeping next to him; she looked happy. When Gun-Ho kissed her cheek, Mori Aikko opened her eyes.
"Come here."
Gun-Ho pulled her close to him and Mori Aikko completely came into Gun-Ho's arms. Gun-Ho could feel her warm body temperature.
"I don't want to go back to Korea. I want to stay here with her forever."
Gun-Ho turned off the light and hugged her tight.
 
When Gun-Ho returned to Korea, Mr. Sakata Ikuzo who used to be the best engineer in Dyeon already entered the second phase of the product development. He was kneeling in front of the extruding machine; he already took a bath and shaved neatly, and he pulled his hair back in a ponytail. He surely looked resolute and determined.
"What the he*l is he doing?"
Mr. Sakata Ikuzo looked certainly strange to Jong-Suk.
"What the fu*k is he doing while kneeling in front of a machine? I just don't understand many Japanese people who act really strange."
However, Jong-Suk didn't laugh at Mr. Sakata Ikuzo's behavior. His eyes looked so serious and determined.
 
Note*
Oppa - the word is used by a female to a male who is older than her. It is often used between people in a romantic relationship as well.

This is the story of a poor young man whose poverty even shreds apart their family willing to climb his way through society and into the top. A very realistic novel that moves away from fantasy and sci-fi and focuses solely on the issues of society and life.

Just how terrible is my luck? I didn't let anyone see my card, that's for sure. So this pairing must be a coincidence, right? I turned my head forward again when I saw my opponent for Round 1.


The guy earlier who was wearing formal clothing, coal black hair and white skin, was my opponent. Even I can tell that he's a veteran at this.


I just released a heavy sigh in front of this dilemma I'm facing right now. 


"I guess we could struggle for a bit. But I have to tell Ayano Katachi that our chances of winning is very slim."

I reached my hands to my pocket and pulled out my card. 

"I guess, this is useless now."

I stood up, walked towards the trash can and dropped the card there. When I dropped it, the back cover of the card was shown. It was pretty, but I think It's very showy. As expected of the rich guys.

For some reason, I can't get my eyes off that back cover. Somethings not really right! 

"I see!"

At that time, I realized. I was fooled!

To confirm my hypothesis, I ran towards a beginner, and asked them to see their card. The card number is 18, but I don't care about that! I flipped the card and saw the back cover, and like I thought! This is rigged!

For further confirmation, I asked a random rich guy to let me see their card. He's so arrogant and was I about to give up but in the end, he let me see his card. I flipped the card again to the back cover. I just clicked my tongue because of my anger and clenched my fist.

It's confirmed! This lottery is rigged!

+++++

When the moment I was about to go to the platform, I noticed that the light is bright. It's not the normal brightness you'll see at an event room. The room was dark, so It's practical to use a bulb that's not really bright.

The reason for the bright light is for the announcer to see the back of our cards. For some reason, there are different kinds of designs at the back cover. 

Why would they bother to create different designs to each cards for beginners while the veterans don't have any designs at all? For creativity? I doubt that.

I checked my card again and compared it to the card of the other beginner that I borrowed earlier. My card has a yellow background design and a black main design, forming curves and other kinds of lines.

While this card that I borrowed has a light green background design and a black main design. I noticed that the background designs is a light colored, I confirmed at the other beginners. I asked them to let me see their cards for a while. Out of 10 people that I asked, there are exactly 10 people who has a light colored background design.

I don't think It's a coincidence. While the background design is indeed light colored, the main design is all black. I think they made it black so that It will stand out. 

Normally, a dark color will stand out more if It was paired with light colors. That means that there's something hidden at the black design.

So that the announcer will easily see the number of our cards, they made the light brighter, and made some kind of signal with the black design, so he can know our numbers.

But what kind of signal could this back covers possess? Directly writing numbers on it would be too obvious, but If they came up with something too hard, the announcer would have a hard time deciphering it.


As if our numbers can be written as a bunch of lines. Wait, a bunch of lines? I looked at the back cover again, but this time, I focused my eyes to the curve lines.


After I discovered the truth, I crumpled my own card and mixed up feelings was welling inside me. Anger, Regret, and more! 


The numbers could be converted to lines. The curve lines was our numbers all along, since their light is bright and the background color is light colored, he could easily see it. 

If our numbers would be converted to lines, It would be... The Roman Numerals! At first glance, the curve lines looks like a normal design. But that's where everyone's wrong!

The number 26 was written at the back of the card, but instead of the numerical form, they made it like this XII VI! With this, they can convert the number 26 to a bunch of curve lines.

It's not easily noticeable, for two reasons. No one really suspected this lottery to be rigged so there's no reason for them to suspect the back design! Second, even if someone would suspect it like me, they wouldn't look at the back of the card. Why?

Because he's too focused to the number and protecting the number he got! And if he looked at the back of the card, the announcer will see his number! I just clenched my fist because of the regret and anger that I'm feeling right now.

I'm so stupid! Checking the back of the card didn't even crossed my mind! Now that I already raised my hand, I can't just complain and demand that the lottery should be restarted.

In the first place, I don't have any solid proof. Even if I show them this card, they can just feign ignorance and say, "That's only a design."

I just looked at the ceiling, accepting the fact that I'm completely cornered. So this is utter defeat, huh? 

"Round 1, Ryota Kaneshiro's group, Sunflowers V.S Araragi Hideki's group, Cherry Blossoms. May you have a fair match with no regrets."




                  

                   END OF CHAPTER 11

Araragi Hideki is an ordinary high school boy and he attends a prestigious high school called Ahogane High School. But his normal life all changed when he was asked by the popular girl called Ayano Katachi, to be their school idol manager. With that, Araragi Hideki enters the world of Idol Managing.

Ron turned his head.

He could see the rest of the group laying down on the ground.
Beacrox, Choi Han, and the children averaging nine-years-old looked especially tired.
Only Eruhaben was still by Cale's side and looking through a book.

It was at that moment.
Someone entered through the library door.

"…It's almost been a week."

It was Bud Illis.

One week.
That was how long Cale had been in this area.

Cale had been reading through the books here while saving the smallest amounts of time for necessities.

"How about you take a break?"

Bud could see that Cale was reading even as he was talking. It would be exactly one week in about two or three hours.

Bud had no choice but to be brutally honest.

"You couldn't find the first in the end."

The first incarnation.

Everyone started to frown.
Even the ancient Dragon stopped reading the book.

The White Star was said to have reincarnated for about 1,000 years.
That was how he was able to create the Dragon half-blood who had lived for 900 years.

'That means that the first incarnation should have appeared on the Eastern continent about 1,000 years ago.'

Eruhaben had already heard from Cale that the Dragon Slayer village was supposedly located in the Eastern continent's Castle of Light.

In that case, there was an extremely high chance that the first White Star would have been recorded in the Eastern continent's strong individuals directory.

'We also looked two hundred years after that, just in case.'

However, there was nobody they suspected of being the first incarnation.
Of course, they looked at records of people who used ancient powers or earned them, but there was nobody in possession of any ancient powers with enough destructive powers like the White Star.

"Cale, think about it."

Bud approached Cale.

"The White Star must have hidden his powers. He survived for 1,000 years by pretending to be weak. That is how he avoided the Directory."

That was what Bud had proposed three days after they arrived here.

"Don't you agree? We only just learned about how he is a reincarnator or even his appearance for the first time in 1,000 years. I don't think looking through the Directory would help us learn about his past."

However, what Bud heard back was not Cale's voice.

Shhhh. Shhh.

All he heard was the sound of pages turning.

The Mercenary King could also see Cale's red face and the sweat on Cale's forehead and back.

"…Crazy bastard."

He ended up sharing his honest sentiments.
It could not be helped.

The Mercenary King had rubbed his arms that were covered in goosebumps quite often these past few days.
He could see the path that the quiet bastard had walked as he read.

He could see the large number of bookshelves behind Cale.
All of the books on these bookshelves had been read by Cale.

One week.

Cale had read 10,000 books while the others had managed to read two or three at max.
In fact, it looked more like turning the page was the thing taking the most toll on Cale.

'Is he human?'

This was not a human's level of memory.
Nobody could have expected that Cale Henituse had such an ability.

However, Bud could not understand why Cale was using such an ability for such a useless task.
It was at that moment.

"Human-"

He could see others slowly approaching Cale.
It was On, Hong, and Raon.

"Human, isn't it tiring? Should I give you an apple pie?"
"He's sweating so much."
"He can't faint again."

The children averaging nine-years-old roamed around Cale with concerned expressions. However, they could not get right up next to Cale.
They could not easily approach Cale, who was reading even as he sweated so much.

"Huh?! Human!"

However, Raon suddenly charged toward Cale.
Cale had stumbled as he reached his hand toward the next book.

His body started to fall forward.
Cale was about to faint as his entire body was burning up.

"Human, human!"
"Young master-nim."

Ron supported the stumbling Cale. Everybody was shocked to see Cale stumble for the first time since they arrived here. Bud did the same as well.

Bud could see Cale looking at him as he stood there being supported by Ron.
That gaze made him subconsciously stop walking.

It was a chilling gaze.
It was an extremely cold gaze that was contrary to Cale's face that was red from heat and full of fatigue.
Those eyes looked at Bud as he started to speak.

"There are records of the past Mercenary Kings as well."

Bud nodded his head and answered back.

"Of course. We are strong individuals as well."

Bud could see Cale start to smile at that moment.

"It looks like there is nobody here that is suspected of being the White Star."
"I already told you that!"

Bud thought that Cale had given up and continued on in a concerned tone.

"So get some rest now. You need to think about the future! Why would a smart person like you do such a usele-"
"Mercenary King."

Cale cut Bud off.

"Mercenary King? What about it?"

Bud asked back.

'What about the Mercenary King?'

"It's not there."
"Huh?"

Cale's smile started to grow wider as he looked at Bud.
He thought he figured out the identity of this Directory.
The Directory had a record of the majority of strong individuals on the Eastern continent.
However, the person who should have been on this Directory the most was not here.

"The first Mercenary King."

Cale thought about the person that should have been the easiest for the Mercenaries Guild to record when they created the Directory, but was not included.

"There's no record of the first Mercenary King."

Bud turned grim after hearing that.

He felt as if he had been smacked on the back of the head.
It was not something he had thought about until now.

"…Perhaps?"

There were records of Bud and the other Mercenary Kings.
Cale quickly responded back.

"The first Mercenary King. Who was he? What powers did he use?"

Cale's smile became bright.

"I feel like he is the White Star. Why is my intuition telling me that?"

The White Star would have come out into the world after destroying his village and killing his family and friends.
No matter how strong that bastard was, he would have been alone.
He would have needed some sort of foundation.

He would also have needed a job that he could easily start in his situation.

Being a mercenary.
That was a job that anybody could do.

It was especially easy for a strong individual to build a foundation through it.
Most importantly, there was no need to bring up his past or for it to be discovered.

And this Directory had no record whatsoever of the first Mercenary King.

The White Star.
If that bastard tried to hide himself…

"Where are the records of the first Mercenary King?"

Cale's gaze was focused on the current Mercenary King and the books behind him.

"…It is not here."

Bud could not hide his shock.

"It's not there. It's really not here."

Bud's pupils started to shake as he looked at Cale.

"There's absolutely no information. The title of first Mercenary King and his name are here, but that's the only thing here when the Mercenaries Guild system he created is still here after 1,000 years!"

Bud finally realized the odd situation.
A fact so obvious that he had not even thought much about it resurfaced in his mind.
He had looked for this information before.

"When I first became the Mercenary King… I found it odd. The first Mercenary King was the only one whose powers and details of his life were not recorded here!"

Bud brushed back his hair after feeling both frustration and a sense of clarity.

"That is why, that is why… That is why I! I contacted the city's library and libraries around the Eastern continent and asked for information on the first Mercenary King."

Cale, who was calm unlike the frazzled Bud, asked back.

"You asked, and…?"
"Ha!"

Bud let out a gasp-like laugh.

"Do you know what information I got?"

Although he was a sword master and the Mercenary King, Bud had always liked books since he was young and enjoyed searching for and thinking about things.
This was the information such a person had found about the first Mercenary King.

"The Great Mercenary King who created the large faction that managed to survive on the Eastern continent while many kingdoms rose and fell for 1,000 years. He was the role model for all mercenaries and the mercenaries did not hesitate to act on his behalf."

Bud scoffed as he continued on.

"That's all I found."

That was all of the information on the first Mercenary King throughout the entire Eastern continent.
Yet they had all of the other records of the beginning of the Mercenaries Guild.

"…I thought it was like this because he was a hero of legends…"

He looked at Cale who was smiling with a tired expression and continued to speak.

"He did it on purpose?"
"Who knows?"

Cale gave a short response back.

"I don't know. I don't know whether the first Mercenary King is the White Star or not. I don't have any definite proof yet. However…"

Choi Han chimed in at that moment.

"It is enough to be suspicious. The first Mercenary King is someone who suddenly appeared in the world."

Choi Han had an odd smile on his face. Bud had a feeling that there was some sorrow in that smile.

Pat. Pat.

Cale patted Choi Han on the shoulder and responded back.

"It doesn't matter whether someone just suddenly appears in the world. Something like that can happen."

Choi Han's smile disappeared as he looked toward Cale. However, Cale was looking at Bud and the others as he continued to speak.

"However, the fact that there is absolutely no information on that person's history from that moment is definitely suspicious."

Choi Han could see Cale turn his head to look at him.
He recalled what Cale had told him before.

It was during the Henituse territory battle against the Paerun Kingdom.

'It's your turn.'
'…There was something for me to do?'
'Use all of your strength.'
'…Is this the new history you were talking about?'

Choi Han suddenly remembered Cale's response to his question. He clearly remembered it.

'Yes. It is your history that you will write here.'

Choi Han slowly started to smile.
Cale's eyes then naturally moved toward Bud.

"In addition."

The Mercenary King's mind was a mess because of the story about the White Star and the first Mercenary King.
He felt an odd chill after seeing Cale trying to say something else. That is why he said something first.

"I don't think you would have spent all week to figure this out about the first Mercenary King."

Bud gulped before continuing on.

"Right? That is something you could have figured out within 100 years worth of records, but you spent all week reading thousands of the record books. Why did you do that?"

The others agreed with the question and looked toward Cale.
They could see that Cale was still smiling.

"I think what I was about to say will answer that question."

Cale had continued to read through the records even while having this suspicion about the first Mercenary King.

It was because he found it to be weird.
He felt as if something was fishy.

"Do you really think this is just a space to hold the records of strong individuals?"

A space with records on the Eastern continent's strong individuals.

"If, just if, the White Star really was the one to start this Directory…"

Then why did that bastard need to leave a record of the Eastern continent's strong individuals?
Why was this necessary even if he had the desire to make the Mercenaries Guild stronger?

The final Dragon Slayer.
Would the strongest human fear other strong individuals?

That question was what made Cale look through the records all week.

"I started to look at these records and the entire Directory in a different light."

The White Star.

One of the things he had done until now.
And a record of the Eastern continent's many strong individuals.

These two facts came together in Cale's mind to create a narrative.

"Humans are said to have heavenly luck if they manage to find just one ancient power. Apparently, that is how hard it is to find ancient powers."
"Ah."

Eruhaben let out a gasp.
He seemed to have realized something as well.

"There are records of the strong individuals who revealed the ancient powers they had."

Cale closed his eyes. The recorded information flew through his mind.
It was something that could be missed while hearing that it was a record of strong individuals.

Ancient powers were not most people's main source of strength.
However, information about them was included in this 1,000 years worth of records.

Cale had not read through all of them, however, this would be the only place with that much information about ancient powers throughout both the Western and Eastern continents.

"In addition…"

He slowly opened his eyes.

"The easiest way to gain an ancient power."

Bud suddenly felt his hair standing up.

"Is to kill the user and collect it before it disappears."

Bud repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists. His hands were about to go numb from having them clenched for too long.
Cale then asked him a question.

"The first Mercenary King would be able to sneak in here if he was alive today, right?"

Cale smiled as he pointed at Bud.

"Just like you did."

If the White Star was the first Mercenary King, he would have sneaked in here in order to check the information.

He did not need to come often.
He just needed to come maybe once every ten years, or maybe even twenty years.

He would just need to come find information on the people who possessed the ancient powers he needed.

"Ha, haha."

Bud thought he could tell why Cale was smiling.
He had the chills, but oddly, he continued to laugh.
He seemed to finally understand.

Bud quickly responded back.

"The White Star is trying to get my ancient power."

The White Star is currently lacking only the Earth attribute of the five natural attributes.

"If he had my ancient power and these records, it would be much easier for the White Star to find that earth attribute ancient power."

'That is why…'

"That is why he tried to kill me. That is also why he is trying to have Arm gobble up the Mercenaries Guild."

The White Star who had not appeared for 1,000 years was not hiding anymore.
He was slowly showing himself.

"Because he is feeling a sense of urgency as well."

This time, it was Bud who pointed toward Cale.

"Because you appeared."

The White Star would have never seen someone like Cale before.

You needed heavenly luck to obtain ancient powers. It would be amazing if someone had two powers, but this bastard had over five.

He also had the Earth attribute ancient power that the White Star wanted.

"That bastard is probably thinking that he only has two options. Kill you and gain the Earth attribute ancient power, or be killed by you."

Bud thought he could tell why Cale was smiling. He opened his mouth to speak.

"He's panicking. You made the bastard become anxious."

Cale was smiling even though his entire body was covered in goosebumps.
Riding the line of life and death was something that Kim Rok Soo and Cale had been doing for over fifteen years now.

He opened his mouth to speak. His calm voice flowed out.

"Yes. Just like us."

The White Star was in a state of urgency just like them.

They each needed to kill the other.

When I opened my eyes, I was inside a novel.
[The Birth of a Hero].

[The Birth of a Hero] was a novel focused on the adventures of the main character, Choi Han, a high school boy who was transported to a different dimension from Earth, along with the birth of the numerous heroes of the continent.

I became a part of that novel as the trash of the Count’s family, the family that oversaw the territory where the first village that Choi Han visits is located.

The problem is that Choi Han becomes twisted after that village, and everyone in it, are destroyed by assassins.

The bigger problem is the fact that this stupid trash who I’ve become doesn’t know about what happened in the village and messes with Choi Han, only to get beaten to a pulp.

“…This is going to be a problem.”

I feel like something serious has happened to me.

But it was worth trying to make this my new life.

Now I am going to listing all the specs of the memo that I have in my hands:

---------Air transportation----------

Stealth Fighter [LJH Swift1]
-Combined Design of F22 Raptor and Northrop Grumman X-47B with 1 pilot.
-Speed of 2.5 Mach (3087 km/h)
-2 vulcan 20mm chain gun and inside the fighter are: 2 JDAM, 4 Slammer and 2 Sidewinder.
-At least a life expectancy of 30 years of continous flight.

Passenger plane [LJH AirX1200]
-Design of Airbus A380-800 with 6 crews.
-Speed of 1.5 Mach (1836 km/h)
-Max takeoff weight of 1000 tons.
-1200 passengers in a single class or 800 in 4 classes.
-80X80X30 meters lengthXwingspanXheight
-At least a life expectancy of 30 years of continous flight.

Air cargo transportation [LJH Carrier400]
(Antonov An225 design a little bit bigger but with more space and capacity of carry 400 tons)
-Design of Antonov An225 with 10 crews.
-Speed of 1.7 Mach (2080.8 km/h) due to the added turbines and fulled with cargo.
-Max takeoff weight of 1500 tons.
-11000 m^3 of cargo hold.[55X10X20](LengthXWideXheight)
-90X90X40 meters lengthXwingspanXheight
-At least a life expectancy of 30 years of continous flight.

Helicopter carrier[LJH Eagle99]
-Combined design of the Mil Mi26, King Stallion and S97 raider with 6 crews.
-Speed of 0.7 Mach (856.8 km/h) and fulled with cargo.
-Max takeoff weight of 150 tons.
-Double principal rotor in top that also can fold to the length of the helicopter.
-1200 m^3 of cargo hold.(LengthXWideXheight)
-40X10X15 meters lengthXWideXheight
-At least a life expectancy of 30 years of continous flight.

Fastest helicopter [LJH Falcon]
-Design of the S97 raider but with more aerodinamic design.
-Speed of 0.8 Mach (979.2 km/h)
-Double principal rotor in top that also can fold to the length of the helicopter.
-6 persons on board.
-At least a life expectancy of 30 years of continous flight.

Combat helicopter [LJH Vulture]
-Design of the S97 raider but with more aerodinamic design, bigger and with weapons included.
-Speed of 0.6 Mach (734.4 km/h)
-Double principal rotor in top that also can fold to the length of the helicopter.
-Equiped with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System enhanced by me that have an enhanced version of the FalconBox but with higher distance of scope.
-80 SPEAR(20 for armored vehicles, 30 for blasting area troops and 30 for air vehicles) and a modified XM813 Chain gun of 30mm. 
-8 persons on board.
-At least a life expectancy of 30 years of continous flight.

Combat drone [LJH Wasp]
-Design of the Northrop Grumman X-47B but smaller automatic and 2 land pilots.
-Speed of 0.7 Mach (856.8 km/h)
-Altitude 12,000 m with a 24hr of flight.
-Equiped with two (top and bottom) Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System enhanced by me that have an enhanced version of the FalconBox but with higher distance of scope.
-10 SPEAR(3 for armored vehicles, 4 for blasting area troops and 3 for air vehicles).
-At least a life expectancy of 30 years of continous flight.

Medical drone [LJH Hornet]
-Combination Design of the Ehang and the Zipline with 2 land pilots.
-Speed of 0.4 Mach (489.6 km/h)
-Altitude 5,000 m with a 12hr of flight.
-Equiped with Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System enhanced by me that have an enhanced version of the FalconBox but with higher distance of scope.
-Set of darts for the pacient to resucitate him in case there's no one near or with common medicine for many sickness or poisons.
-Set of resizable gauze that might wrap and constrict the limb to control the bleeding as well it close at vacuum with medicine for the infection.
-A cabin for one person(The pacient).
-A compartment with a full medical kit that can be parachuted.
-At least a life expectancy of 30 years of continous flight.

------Naval transportation-------

Cargo Boats [LJH Atlas]
-Design of CSCL Globe but bigger and faster.
-A lot of sizes but the biggest have 500x60X16 (LengthxBeamxSummerDraft)
-Maximum Speed 32 knots(59.26 km/h)

Petrol Boats [LJH Titan]
-Design of Knock Nevis but bigger and faster.
-A lot of sizes but the biggest have 500x70X20 (LengthxBeamxSummerDraft)
-Maximum Speed 30 knots(55.56 km/h)

Cruiseship [LJH Poseidon]
-Design of the Symphony of the Seas with 20 decks
-A lot of sizes but the biggest have 400x70X10 (LengthxBeamxSummerDraft)
-Maximum Speed 30 knots(55.56 km/h)
-6,000 passengers at double occupancy up to a maximum capacity of 8,000 passengers, as well as a 2,500-person crew.
-There are 18 decks for guest use, 30 restaurants, 32 pools and 3,600 cabins.
-Water park, a full-size basketball court, ice-skating rink, and two 43-foot rock-climbing walls.
-There is also a 'central park' which contains over 30,000 tropical plants.

Aircraft carrier [LJH SeaLion]
-Design of the USS Gerald R. Ford.
-Maximum Speed 35 knots underwater (64.82 km/h)
-5000 tripulation members
-Radars : AN / SPS-48E 3-D air search radar, AN / SPS-49 (V) 5 2-D air search radar, AN / SPQ-9B objective acquisition radar, 2 AN air traffic control radars / SPN-46, AN / SPN-43B Air Traffic Control 
Radar, AN / SPN-44 Landing Assistance Radar, 4 Mk 91 NSSM guidance systems, 4 Mk 95 radars
-Armament: Sea Sparrow Mk 57 Mod3, RAM RIM-116, CIWS Phalanx
-Aircraft space for more than 80 aircrafts with equipment of 6 catapults and 3 elevators.

Submarine [LJH Shark]
-New design more water dinamic.
-12 needed crew and support more 160 tripulation.
-Anti air torret gun and 30mm chain gun.
-Depth greater than 1000ft
-Speed of 35 knots underwater (64.82 km/h) and 25 knots on the surface.
-12 26-inch torpedo tubes, 60 Nautic SPEAR torpedos and missiles, or 100 mines

Destroyer [LJH Barracuda]
-Design of the Zumwalt.
-Speed of 40 knots(74.08 km/h).
-200 tripulation.
-MK 57 VLS 24 modules, with a total of 100 cells releases 6
-RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) 5 per cell 
-Tactical Tomahawk 2 cell 
-Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC) 2 per cell 
-2 155 mm advanced cannons
-2 Mk 110 57 mm guns (CIGS)
-2 LJH Falcon and 1 LJH Wasp.

Stealth and fast boat [LJH SeaGhost]
-Design of the Ghost of JMS
-Combining a supersonic design on water.
-4 needed crew and support more 16 tripulation.
-Anti air torret gun and 30mm chain gun.
-40 Nautic SPEAR torpedos, automated by sonar and heat sign.

-------Land transportation--------

Fastest automated electric car [LJH Roadster]
-Design of the Tesla Roadster.
-Maximum speed 450 km/h.
-Full bullet proof.

Tank [LJH Bear]
-Combined design of Leopard2A7+ with Karlmann King
-Maximum speed 100 km/h
-Primary weapon: Rheinmetall L55 120 mm caliber barrel with two vulcan chain guns on the sides.
-Secondary weapon: Vulcan chain gun on top.

Armored vehicle [LJH Knight]
-Combined design of Inkas Huron with Karlmann King.
-Diamond design of KK and the size of Inkas Huron with the bottom side in V shape for antimining.
-It also have adjustable-height ram-bumper and the armor cover the tires.
-A lot of holes for shooting from the inside and bigger stacked XNZ01 bulletproof glass.
-Suicide doors and high range radio system
-Vulcan chain gun on top.

Armored carrier [LJH Goliat]
-Combined design of BTR4 with Karlmann King.
-Diamond design of KK and the size of BTR4 with the bottom side in V shape for antimining.
-Armor cover the 4 pair of tires.
-A lot of holes for shooting from the inside and bigger stacked XNZ01 wire mesh stacked bulletproof glass.
-Modified XM813 Chain gun of 30mm top.

Dirt motorcycle [LJH Mole]
-Design of the Honda CRF250X.
-Armor covered all the motorcycle.
-Better shock absorbers and suspension.

Sports motorcycle [LJH Cheetah]
-Design of the D Panigale.
-Armor covered all the motorcycle.

Bomb disposal robot [LJH Hound]
-Design of the MarkV-A1 but with two robotic arms.
-Better motors and more precise movements.
-Heat,night and x-ray vision.
-Shooting device for remote exploting just in case.
-Nitrogen shooting device for freezing electric components.

-------------------------------
I finally make the MBPS (Medical Bracelet Perfect Sensor) with a lot of help of Cortana we program and I make two versions (Metalic and cloth) it uses (XM01 or XNZ01) and sends your data to your galaxy phone, computer and also to the hospital.

Long sleeved uniform made of a soft mesh cloth made of XNZ01, the combat gloves, shelbow, knee, undergarment and neck protectors made of soft mesh cloth made of XNZ01 with a plaque of XM01.

Tactical glasses made of XM01 and XCF01 that have a short lenght work distance of the L/EL rangefinder, medic status of the squad thanks to the MBPS, it also comes by with a visor version that also protects all your head and it has a more enhanced version of the rangefinder. 

Armor Vest called NemeanBA that uses a soft mesh cloth made of XNZ01 that cover a stacked diamond shape of XM01 making it light, comfortable and extremely bullet and knife proof.

Also the boots came with a similar design of the nike shoes of back to the future to hermeticly seal the boot from the exterior it is completely waterproof.

Thanks also to this new materials I change this materials for the weapons in Sig Sauer and also the ammo I design a bullet that when it makes contact with a solid body it shatters in 20 debris parts that damage everything its an enhanced version of the RIP bullet.

What would happen when a pervert and delussional teen passed away meets a pervert ROB in the afterlife and he gives him 5 wishes, but you mix in this messed up situation that they have both a twisted obsession with Korean entertainment and Harem stuff... I know this is just too much.

WARNING- Author is not an English native speaker, jeez please he has problems with his own native language so you have just three options: be patient, deal with it being an editor or FU** OFF, also I am a western guy so I think that I migth going to pissed of some eastern guys there and for that I am sorry I also dont have a lot of knowledge about Korean or Asian culture I am just going to write on the way and If i get something wrong please just leave a comment and I am going to do the best to edit it, Thank you.

Now I have 2 stories of my own in HIATUS I kinda just get lost and if you saw this new story SORRY I kinda handle my own creative writer mind in a deep rollercoaster shit type so please all readers that keeps my stories in their own collections keep them there because I am not the guy that just cant finish is just that sometimes I have the need to write and the time to do it.

Now I am telling you that this story is going to messed up with a lot of you its going to be a huge harem/entertainment/romantic/military deep shit so you were warned.

It was a long slim tube which the white spots scattered like powder snow upon the sky blue body, about 1.65 meter in length, 34 kilograms in weight, of a condensed structure which could be disengaged into several parts that could be again combined into different forms of miniature firearms. A fancy mix-and-match design that could be equipped on one's arm, thus the convenience of shooting upon free will. The weight of the miniature version had hardly 8kg weight which also contributed to portability. 

"Do you have a place to try this out?" said the lady, with intense expectation brewing inside her. She had never seen such revolutionary design before, it was extremely foreign to her eyes yet miraculously fitting to her hands. She had the urge to test the strength of this new weapon she was bestowed upon. It was that passion every shooter like her had which drove her. "Is there any place to test shooting?" said she loudly.

Kristen was shocked back into reality, she nodded hurriedly, "Yes, yes, yes, come with me!"

They arrived by the basement under her lead. She unlocked the gate and turned on the lights, "This is the shooting room, the standard setup." She gave a brief introduction before retreating herself to the "auditorium" at one side with the rest of the crew who were equally interested of this strange-looking weapon.

Into position! Without further ado, the lady raised the gun and made her first shot promptly.

A stream of red beam about breadth of one's thumb struck the very center of the bullseye. Her accuracy as a professional had been justified, still she could not hide that excitement of a little girl on Christmas as she hurried her way to the front to remove the bullseye from the attachment. She was there to examine the strength of the new weapon, likewise the others. "Such strength!" Astonishment filled Kristen's words upon seeing the charred edges of the pierced center. 

A standard setup was the typicality in most shooting rooms, where bullseyes were made out of nubis stones which had a mediocre energy-absorbing attribute, perfect for making bullseye but not protective shield due to its brittleness. People used such material to examine the capabilities of an energy-based weapon.

And that red beam just penetrated a 5 centimeter thick bullseyes made out of energy-absorbing stones. 

The few spectators froze upon the astounding sight.

Mr. Mo could not help but to compliment dramatically, "I might be considered a novice when it comes to weapon but this ray gun has earned my fondness. Such masterpiece."

The lady lowered her head, caressing that gun with a unique appearance lovingly. It needed no word to describe her joy at the moment.

Ban Meng coveted that new toy, he continued marveling at it mindlessly, unaware of the stream of saliva dripping off his mouth's corner. Kristen, his cousin had her mentality shattered to the ground, the invention of this ray gun had utterly deconstructed what she knew about weapons for the past few years. It was only a stick made out of speckled blue yet it actually impaled a piece of nubis stone. She could not believe her eyes, reality was standing right there. She was the witness to every step, every flick of finger the lady made. The mystery intensified... she could not help but to have questions overloading her head.

How comes it could make such strong shoot? What is that structure? How the heck did it even work? What are the effects of this strange design? What is the concept behind it? 

She could even imagine the shape of each component involved, however, she could never replicate the design. It was of techniques she had never seen before, it was of foreign structure design, everything was unfamiliar to her, even the way the boy crafted the gun was something revolutionary. These were so new that she realized, to her horror, that she hardly learned anything from this master craftsman. 

And that was when the lady performed a multi-shot which landed across the bullseye like a shower. None of the beams had missed. It was a goddess's accuracy that had mesmerized everyone at the scene, well, except for our craftsman, Ye Chong. He was terrified since he realized how the lady could be a highly skilled parakinetic shooter and it would be a hard nut to crack if he did not have Celest by his side. His schemata ran wild, piecing together a feasible plot to handle such opponent.

"Mhmm..." The lady placed the ray gun down with satisfaction, she loved its portability and the hand-on experience, everything felt truly made for her, that it almost felt like a part of her.

"Here is your reward, as promised." The lady passed Ye Chong amapolla wood with a hint of respect in her hoarsely spoken words. The amapolla woodpiece was about size of one's palm, a grayish brown with cravings like the shell of the turtle. It was totally different compared to what Ye Chong had seen in the workshop. He could feel the weight the moment the wood was placed onto his hand. But, other than the strange craving and the slightly greater weight in comparison, he could not tell anything extraordinary about this wood.

"Oh, allow me to introduce myself," said the lady formally, "I'm Sha Ya, a Level 8 shooter."

The moment the title was mentioned, the atmosphere seemed to have frozen. 

Ban Meng felt he was in trance upon hearing the rank. Did a Level 8 shooter, an almost-mythical figure just walk into his cousin's place and begin walking around and actually performed her skills? He nearly pinched his cheeks to confirm he was not dreaming.

Kristen had never regained her color since the last shock. A level 8 shooter? Were her ears acting up? She was impressed of her courage, that she virtually offended a Level 8 god!

Ye Chong remained expressionless. He was not aware of the meaning behind that title.

Ye Chong's indifference did not enrage Sha Ya, as she took out a piece of golden leaf from her pouch, "This is plucked from the Darkniss. A token of appreciation for your great work." 

"Golden leaf?!" Everyone was so close to making a leap, even Mr. Mo.
The golden leaf was reflecting the world in amazing shine, where the veins could be clearly discerned, as if the finest gold craft of a piece of leaf. But Ye Chong could tell it was not a sculpture, rather it was truly something offered by nature.

It should be from a highly "metalized" plant.
"Thank you," said Ye Chong as he took the leaf, now a little intrigued of the "Darkniss" Sha Ya mentioned. 
"I should be the one thanking you." She looked overjoyed, "I have been searching for a fitting weapon and I can't believe I'll ever lay my hand on one." Her words were sentimental as she recalled the journey she took in search of her weapon.
"Alright, I have to go now. I'm staying at Bisley City. If you need any help, don't hesitate, call me up. Asking someone on your behalf works too," said Sha Ya, well, she was in fact the right person to provide solid help. 

Ban Meng fired his stare of pure envy at Ye Chong for this inhuman boy was actually able to win over a level 8 shooter's friendship. It was as if dreams.
"See ya." And Sha Ya left. Ye Chong walked to Kristen and lifted the piece of wood. "Let's trade," he said.

Ye Chong, with his pocket full of a million ao and a new ally in his social circle, led Ban Meng back home. Ban Meng had become one of Ye Chong's believers by then, he was overawed by Ye Chong's capabilities. 

"I need a house. Large and somewhere isolated. Would you help me?" asked Ye Chong abruptly. 
"Uhh... let me think..." Ban Meng began searching for the matching item in his mind. That sounded sufficiently a good news to him, he would never want a potential explosive to follow him home daily. It would be great if he could send this walking bomb somewhere else. 

Then a place came into his mind.

... 
They took a few detours and finally stopped by one house.
"How about this place?" asked Ban Meng, as he looked at this particular house which fulfilled Ye Chong's requirement - it was spacious, about 3500 meter^2 including the lawn, while being at a quiet corner of the region close to the Duality Forest. He could not imagine any visitor frequenting here. It was a pretty good deal too - 100,000 Ao and it was all Ye Chong's. 

"I like it," Ye Chong nodded expressively. 
"Of course! Let Ban Meng make the choice, it'll never go wrong!" responded Ban Meng proudly.
"Right. You can go now," ordered Ye Chong the guest-vanquisher. 
"Geez, that fast?!" Ban Meng sobbed, "Fine, good bye." 

And he left.
The quiet home was very quiet again. 
It was rather empty as there was nothing else than the few pieces of furnitures. Well, that was what Ye Chong desired. He needed a place to sleep and store his loots. 

He quickly deployed Celest which stood there solemnly at his service. Ye Chong hopped into Celest and performed a thorough scan to see if there was anything suspicious.

To his relaxation, system returned no detection of any form. He had finally some me-time and actual security to think about his next move.

What would be my priority? To find Mu/Shang of course. 
Where's Mu/Shang? They must be at Gray Valley.
Well, if that's the case, I would have to first return to Gray Valley, or He Yue galaxy at the very least. Only then I would have the slightest chance of reuniting with Mu/Shang or the Sangs if I have to. Next, we shall reconnect the pathway connecting both He Yue galaxy and Gray Valley. 

Alright, the ultimate goal would be to return to either of the regions.
But then... how should I do it... Hmm...
Wait...

Ye Chong remembered the three microchips Kui gave him, which contained researches by Consortium involving Space Science, Mechanical Science and Biologic Science. And he did mention something about Space Science that interested Ye Chong. Perhaps the answer lay within that chip. 

He took the chip out and slid it into the processor of Celest.

"Reading..."
"Welcome to the Directory."
"Please select from one of the available processes:
1. Read data
2. Create database
3. Perform Simulated Calculation"

Ye Chong dazed at the prompted interface. He had zero knowledge regarding Space Science, it would take forever before he mastered the basics, he had no more time to initiate his first Space Science class.
"Perform Simulated Calculation," stated Ye Chong. 
"Error : Database not found. Database required for operation," replied the processor coldly.
Ye Chong sighed, "Create database." 
"Command received. Creating database, estimated time remaining : 5hours 30minutes." 

And Ye Chong rooted himself at the seat for the next 5 hours and 30 minutes, finally after that, "Perform Simulated Calculation - Ways to Travel to He Yue Galaxy." Somehow Ye Chong could feel his heart twitching by the little searing anticipation growing in him. 
"Creating the necessary platform...
...
Creation completed!"
"Inserting the given properties...
...
Insertion completed!"
"Simulation performing..."
"..."

"Calculation completed. Estimated time needed: 32years 5months 23days." The time length was so unexpected that Ye Chong's mouth remained partially open.

THIRTY TWO years?! He could not accept that... It would be too long to fix anything... 

Ye Chong was blown at first, but he took a breath and calmed down, "How to reduce estimated time needed?" 

"Processing..."
10 seconds later, "Matching Solutions found:
1. Provide more properties for calculation
2. Enhance memory processing ability."

"How to enhance memory processing ability?" asked Ye Chong.
"To enhance memory processing ability, you could:
1. Enhance my capacity.
2. Connect additional processing unit." 

Enhance the capacity? The preposterously vague idea was immediately scrapped. Ye Chong was too unfamiliar with such avant-garde mechanism. He could not even find the sealing board to unscrew. 

He could add in more processors by producing them but... he naturally did not excel at it.
"How to produce processor?"
"Error: Insufficient information." The reply was not helpful... 

And that was when Ye Chong recalled the second microchip that contained Biologic Science researches. Well, a standard photon processor might sound far-fetched at the moment, but he could have crafted a bio-photon processor like Celest's. The chip should contain the necessary information. He quickly replaced the chip and booted the interface.

"Welcome to th-"
"How to produce bio-photon processor?"
"To produce bio-photon processor, you would need..."
The reply was also extremely helpful. Most materials mentioned were unavailable within his grip, especially when most of them required additional handling like cultivation. 

Well... he got to build a biological science lab then... It would be a major project, still he had to complete it. To never give up on even the slightest hope was his motto since childhood. 

The saving grace was he scavenged everything useful from the Consortium at their central lab back then, including those technological fascinations, or he would have to really start from scratches.  

Though bestowed with fancy technologies, there were still lots of works to do.

The kingdom of organisms, the flora and fauns, were already different across regions, let alone across planets and across the galaxies. Most materials used by the Consortium could not be found here, especially samples of a few organisms. 

The first feasible move would be to establish a working database which contained attributes of the native organisms at his place. But before that, there was one last thing he got to do first. Security, security, security. He might have not detected anything, that did not guarantee he would be safe from unwanted attention in the future. He would not want to be pointed with a parakinetic firearm before he even began assembling the new processor. 

He first examined woods like speckled blue using the facilities available. He was able to identify that speckled blue had three times the energy compatibility compared to most metals. That was not it, Ye Chong had also performed other examinations and the conclusion? It was earth-shattering! All these plants were excellent on both energy compatibility and physical attributes, which made them few of the best materials to produce any sort of machines. The downside however, was the poor compatibility with circuit... which justified the non-existent photon processors here... 

After understanding the attributes of these materials, Ye Chong could finally produce a stronger and a more efficiently designed weapon. 

Ye Chong made bulk purchases on the mentioned materials, including the "honorably mentioned" speckled blues. He began a massive production.

With these utilities he got from Consortium, he no longer would need to rely on dagger to carve simple weapons. His efficiency accelerated the progress significantly. It only took him 7 days to produce over 100 types of weapons.

He then installed these firearms at all corners of the lawn, while equipped them with an advanced detection system. Any unauthorized personnel or "thing" would be destroyed immediately.

A real tactical annihilation! 

The installation points were all after Ye Chong's careful calculation which formed a firewall that covered the entire region. No blind spot while being tenacious. Most of them were the real heavy firearms, they were heavy to be carried around but they would be perfect for a fixed point tower defense. A prime example would be the Spheric Beam Scattered Launcher, which launched 160 spheric light beams in one wave thrice per second, covering up proximity about 4 meter^2. 

It was the flawlessness of this firewall that made any intruder defenseless. It was a densely layered security which was unknown at one glance. The penetrability of these beams were much stronger than the little toy gun Ye Chong made for Sha Ya and the detection system further enhanced their accuracy.

The only problem was... the defense matrix would need a processor to provide command. Celest's processor? That intelligibly expressive processor? Maybe not.

He then succumbed to one processor previously installed on one supportive unit in his inventory. It was not a powerful processor but was more than enough to take charge of basic matrix management. 

Now, he could sleep at last. 
Area 9 meters away from his accommodation was his territory.

The day seemed to be ending.
But his work had just started.

**Legend of the Supreme Soldier ( Legend of the Mastermind) is the first novel that was created by Fang Xiang**

Ye Chong was a denizen of Trash Planet-12. On one fateful day, he discovered a treasure that would forever alter his destiny from a pile of junk - Mu Shang, an unknown machine with artificial intelligence and a lost memory. Together, they venture into the vast galaxy as the isolated "caveman" that was Ye Chong began absorbing all sorts of knowledge and meeting people from all walks of life. He gradually discovers more and more about his own mysterious past as well as his partner’s. Read to find out more!

"Ah, rifleman mechs. I can tell you a lot about them." Marcella smiled as she leaned back on her comfortable chair. "Ranged mechs form the dominant types of mechs in this day and age. Do you know why that is so?"

"The advantages and tactical flexibility afforded by these weapons are too convenient. If not for the proliferation of heavily armored mechs that could close the gap and take them out up close, every mech would be a rifleman or a cannoneer."

Despite this caveat, rifleman mechs formed the core of today's mech doctrine. The rifleman mechs among a unit of mechs dictated their actions.

"Rifleman mechs work best at medium range. Since they explicitly wield external rifles, they have the flexibility to drop their weapons and take up a backup knife, although it's highly inadvisable for them to do so. It's best they take our their opponents before they close in. And unless they are built to snipe, they aren't able to take out distant opponents."

At that range, it would be easy for the target to hide behind cover or dodge incoming shots. Ves tapped the desk with his fingers as he summed up his thoughts.

"Rifleman mechs can be divided into two general categories. You have the run-and-gunners that are meant to fight and shoot on the move, and you have the marksman types that fire their weapons behind cover."

"A fair amount of people in the mech industry believe that's a false dichotomy. Rifleman mechs are vulnerable up close, so the best and most reliable way to fend off any melee mechs is if you can run and remain out of reach of any approaching mechs. Also, it is not as if these high-mobility mechs can remain stationary and use any existing cover to their advantage."

"I don't believe a mech can excel at both, and neither do I believe that a slow and sluggish rifleman mech is automatically a bad design."

He once designed the 2-star Old Soul rifleman virtual mech, which became a cult classic among the local gaming community. The Old Soul's rifle only possessed enough heat capacity to unleash a couple of shots, but all of them landed with a lot of power. Combined with its moderate stealth features, it functioned well in its niche as an ambush predator.

Still, the Old Soul never caught on outside of Cloudy Curtain due to its extreme design choices.

The way Ves intended the mech to be used diverged too wildly from what everyone else thought rifleman mechs should be capable of. Even though Ves had developed a love for this type of mech, it did not fit with what Melkor and the market demanded.

He could only give up on developing a real and modern version of the Old Soul.

Marcella collected some reports from her terminal and transferred them to his comm. "Read these when you have the time. They contain all of the recent sales charts and market trends for rifleman mechs. Right now, ballistic rifleman mechs are surging in sales."

The second way to distinguish rifleman mechs was to look at their weapon types. In the Bright Republic, rifleman mechs either wielded lasers or ballistic rifles. Both of them took an equal share of the market.

Some rifleman mechs possessed optimizations to wield either types without penalty. However, this typically resulted in slightly lower overall performance while costing drastically more, so most of the times, only elite mechs might come with this feature.

"That's odd." Ves rubbed his chin. "The next generation of mechs will be the golden age of lasers. Won't these outfits be better served if they can hire and train their laser specialists?"

"These forces don't have the luxury to dream about their future. They have to secure their present first. Right now, mechs that incorporate laser-resistant armor plating are selling like hot cakes. Your Blackbeak is among their number. Can you tell me why you chose to go for the Veltrex armor system?"

"That's because I'm trying to future proof my design. The Blackbeak won't be too much out of date once the new generation of mechs arrive."

Marcella pointed a finger at him. "Well, you're not the only mech designer who thinks so. Every recent design is future-proofed against laser that it's quite a challenge to find a new design that's geared against withstanding kinetic and explosive damage."

Now he understood her point. "I see now. There's such a slant on laser-resistant mechs that ballistic rifleman mechs must be having their greatest time."

"If you aren't concerned with designing a mech for long-term viability, it's a good idea to design a mech that specializes in ballistic rifles."

Ves firmly shook his head. "I can't do that for the moment. One of the reasons why I'm designing a rifleman mech is because I want to design the perfect machine for one of my relatives. He pilots a laser rifleman mech."

"I see. So you are doing it for another Larkinson."

"I do have a friend who's a decent shot with a ballistic rifle, but he pilots aerial mechs, and that's not something I've got a lot of confidence in designing at this moment."

Dietrich's Harrier was in bad shape, and while it could be repaired, it would never return to its prime. Ves would be more than happy to gift him with a mech of his own design, but the technical challenges of tackling this advanced scared him off.

Even though one of his earliest virtual designs also consisted of a ballistic rifle-wielding aerial mech, the Seraphim was based on a four-hundred year old primitive Fantasia 2R design.

Aerial Mechs had come a long way since then. The vastly increased complexity of a currentgen aerial mech was not something that a dabbler of the arts could dip their toes in. Ves first had to learn to crawl before he could learn to walk.

"Maybe it's easier if you laid out your vision. What kind of rifleman mech are you aiming to design?"

What kind, indeed. "I admit I don't have a solid vision as of yet. I'm still figuring things out. For now, I've only set a couple of parameters. It's going to be landbound, so no fancy flight systems with all the complexity associated with it. It also has be mediumweight but it should be fairly fast and agile. Finally, it should come with compressed armor."

That final portion raised Marcella's interest. "That's going to be fairly controversial, depending on your price point. If you are aiming for the same price tag as your Blackbeak models, then it's only barely acceptable."

"I know. It's not quite cost effective to clad ranged mechs with expensive armor when they hardly form a hindrance due to their lack of thickness. Still, even a thin layer adds a lot to a rifleman mech's survivability. I think the tradeoff is worth it even if the dominant market trend advises against such a design choice."

"So long as you are aware." She said. Marcella didn't seem very eager to argue the point even if she knew it didn't entirely make sense in the current market. "Just be aware that the private market is used to spending up to 40 million credits for a premium rifleman mech at most. You can't charge the same exorbitant prices you charge for your knight models because your buyers already know it costs a lot to add all of that armor."

"I'm not looking to design a mech that conforms to the market. This is a mech that I want my relative to excel in. As long as I succeed and design a good enough rifleman mech, I believe the market will be able to swallow a base price of 50 or 60 million credits."

"Good luck with that."

Ves sounded fairly ambitious when he made that boast, but he fully believed he was capable of reaching such a height. He possessed an abundant amount of Skills and saved up an enormous amount of DP to spend on additional Skills and Masteries.

He particularly looked forward to the latter.

Their discussion lasted for another half hour before he had to go. As Ves stood up and walked back to the elevator, he turned around and left some final parting words.

"About the decision to extend a licensing contract to Vaun, I'll forgive your complicity this once. Don't let me hear you lead the LMC astray again. As a shareholder, I know you are only acting on behalf of your own interests, but don't forget who owns the majority."

Ves turned away and disappeared in the elevator, leaving Marcella slightly perplexed.

Previously, if Ves spoke at her with that tone, she'd dismiss it out of hand. In her eyes, he was a kid after all. It was impossible to feel threatened by a toddler.

This time, Ves had changed.

It took a lot of guts to put a former mech pilot and war veteran like Marcella on guard. Ves somehow managed to make her pressured, if only slightly.

She grinned long after Ves had left her office. "Looks like the kid is growing up."

Ves had little else to do once he left Marcella's brokerage. He figured he could pay a visit at the LMC's branch office, but he had no involvement with what went on there. He remembered from his talks with Jake that the branch office primarily dealt with marketing and after-sales support.

"That's not something I can stick my head in at this time."

He returned to the Barracuda and proceeded to set course for Cloudy Curtain.

At this time, the grand return of the mass expedition to the Glowing Planet had riled up the entire Komodo Star Sector. The incredible harvest made a lot of other states jealous, especially the territories that the Glowing Planet had previously drifted past.

Many states were green with envy at the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom to occupy a majority of the early harvest of the Glowing Planet.

Prices of a number of exotics had already dropped a fair amount. Meanwhile, a large number of newly enriched outfits started placing mass orders for new mechs to replace their losses and bolster their numbers to reflect their newfound wealth.

This newfound surge came just in time for mech manufacturers who feared that the previous spike of sales had already run its course. This new and explosive surge in demand shifted Bentheim's mech industry into a newfound renaissance.

"Everyone is going crazy right now." Ves said to the egg that held Lucky. He stroked its solid bone-like surface with care. "How long are you going to take to level up? It's already more than a week."

Hopefully, Lucky wouldn't take months to finish his evolution. He needed his pet to stand guard when he finally used up his Transcendence Pill. Even though it was a little premature, Ves looked forward to increasing one of his mental attributes past 2.0.

Despite the excitement in the Bentheim System, the Barracuda effortlessly transitioned into FTL at one of Bentheim's Lagrange points. A brief journey later brought the corvette at the edge of his home.

A short time later, the Barracuda finally touched down at Cloudy Curtain's spaceport. Once he entered the armored shuttle, Ves ordered it to bring him to the upcoming manufacturing complex.

Once the shuttle and its escorts flew halfway around the rural planet, they eventually reached an expansive construction site.

A massive site had been cleared in the middle of a lightly forested plain. Picture-esque mountains surrounded the site in the distance, providing the location with an ample amount of peace and harmony underneath the planet's everpresent cloud cover.

Dozens of contractors from Bentheim worked together with the security and construction specialists of SASS to erect a majestic set of offices and fortifications aboveground. Naturally, bots of various shapes and sizes did all the heavy lifting.

This was merely the tip of the iceberg. Ves knew that a lot more bots and people excavated and reinforced the chambers dug underneath the soil. All of the actual production happened several kilometers below ground, more than enough to shield the vulnerable production equipment against incidental raids and bombardment.

"Still, it won't do any good if a giant tunneling machine like the Gregarious Wrath decides to knock on my doors."

There was a limit to everything. Ves believed that a tunneling machine the size of a capital ship should be rather unique. The Vesians wouldn't bother to deploy an equivalent war machine to mess up his production facilities.

Not with Bentheim next door.

Humanity has conquered half the galaxy and the Age of Mechs reigns supreme!

Ves Larkinson lacked the genetic aptitude to become a famed mech pilot. Fighting against his fate, he studied mech design in order to express his love for mechs as a builder instead of a soldier.

When Ves graduated from college, he returned to a new but empty boutique. Left with a small, newly founded mech workshop that his father painstakingly built with a mountain of debt, Ves somehow needs to make ends meet with the bank breathing down his neck.

In the midst of his despair, he found salvation from another legacy his father had left.

"Welcome to the Mech Designer System. Please design your new mech."

--Join The Mech Touch's unofficial Discord server: https://discord.gg/APB5KCU

The first page was the title page, empty and white as snow, with only these eight words written in dark ink. They were abnormally vivid, such that anyone who opened this book would not be able to miss them.

If a normal person were to open this book, they would assuredly begin to carefully consider what sort of meaning was hidden in these words. Then, with an understanding of these eight words, they would continue to read. But Chen Changsheng was different from the rest. He did not turn to the next page, instead standing up and walking to the bookshelves, seeking out several other books on Purification. After quickly flipping through them, he realized that the title pages of all these books also contained these eight words. After this, he sat back down and placed all of his mind on the pages of the book, forgetting everything else.

The words of On Purification were very simple. As he attentively read it, it didn't take long before he had finished reading the first chapter. This chapter was concerned with how one should nurture their spiritual sense. He did not stop here to think or to try, but continued reading. The following chapters were also gradually noted down in his mind. The primary topics of these chapters were how to nurture the spiritual sense, search for one's Fated Star, and how to draw starlight into the body.

He needed only one hour to finish reading it. He then closed the books, closed his eyes, and began to think.

After a dozen or so breaths, he opened his eyes, opened the book once more, and began to read.

He needed even less time to finish than the first. In the time needed for several incense sticks to burn, he had finished reading.

He then once more closed his eyes to contemplate the contents of the books.

After a few breaths of time, he opened his eyes and began to read once more.

As he repeated this procedure, the sunlight spilling in from the window was as fierce as ever.

He closed On Purification for the last time and opened it no more.

He took out a brush and ink and, without opening the book, began to record from the memories in his mind his thoughts from his readings.

It didn't take long before the paper was densely covered in words.

The instant he placed the brush on the inkstone, all the contents of On Purification were remembered in his mind like they had been carved in stone.

Crucially, this was not rote memorization, but true understanding.

This was Chen Changsheng's reading method.

This method was very special, the precious treasure he and Senior Yu Ren had obtained after ten-odd bitter years of reading books. Although the old temple of Xining Village did not seem very remarkable, the books contained within were as boundless as the sea. If one wanted to memorize so many books in the shortest time possible, one naturally required a very special ability.

With this reading method, one did not need to read a book until it was on the verge of falling apart—in reality, the vast majority of the books in Xining Village's old temple were like new, but the contents of these books had all been completely memorized by the two.

The most important phase of this method was the final step of notetaking. Whether these notes were taken down on paper or remembered in the mind, these notes were the final sorting and confirmation for the entire session of reading, and it was only after completing this step that the reader could say that they had taken all the contents of a book and made it into their own knowledge.

To finish reading On Purification and close the book was naturally not an end. Learning and constant review could be done in the mind and in notebooks, but what was the goal of reading and study? It was practice, and his goal in reading On Purification was so that he could succeed in Purification and begin to cultivate.

The first step of Purification was to condense one's spiritual sense. The spiritual sense was a human's mental strength. To explain it in more everyday terms, it was 'thought'. As long as the idea one thought was intense enough, if one concentrated enough, thoughts could transform into a sort of strength.

It did not sound difficult, as if one only needed to do the utmost to crease their brows into mountain valleys and then be able to freely travel across the magnificent mountains and rivers of their imagination, but the fact was that it wasn't this easy at all. This was because whether or not one could form a spiritual sense was completely dependent on the strength of one's soul. The strength of one's soul was purely a matter of innate talent, nothing to do with effort. No matter how much an ordinary person worked, could his soul be stronger than the reincarnation of the Heavenly Phoenix?

Chen Changsheng had prepared for cultivation for many years. To be more precise, from the moment that peculiarity with his body appeared at the age of ten, he had been silently waiting for that day to come. He knew that there was a problem with his meridians, the illness his master said he had: his nine meridians were severed and could not connect, so his soul could not circulate through his body and could only be forced out with his sweat. Although after the age of ten, his master had used medicines to suppress his illness, preventing the continued loss of his soul's essence, it was still a problem. Otherwise, why would that black Sensory Stone in the Heavenly Dao Academy's assessment have failed to sense the slightest spiritual sense in his body?

If the soul was not strong enough, how could one condense the spiritual sense?

Without spiritual sense, how could there be dispersion?

This first step of Purification—how should he take it?

He did not feel disappointment like those other people who found out that they had no hope of cultivating, let alone despair.

He firmly believed that countless years ago, there must have been countless incredibly intelligent people that had resolved this problem, because there were many people like him. In the books of the Daoist Canon, he had read accounts of how these disappointed people would find some genius method and thus become peerless experts, like Wang Zhice for example. However, he was not prepared to work in this way because he had never found a case in the Daoist Canon similar to the problem with his meridians. Even his master had said that it could not be treated, that it was just fate. He did not have the surplus time to struggle with fate, nor did he believe that he could think of a new and genius method in such a short amount of time. He enjoyed moving with the current, and he believed that if he followed existing methods, he would also be able to condense his spiritual sense. No one believed more than him in the knowledge of his forebears.

"Read one hundred times, naturally grasp the meaning."

All books related to Purification had these eight striking words. It was very obvious that these eight words were the most important part of Purification, and also the part that his predecessors wished to communicate to those that followed. But which book should he read?

Chen Changsheng looked at the dense directory on the back cover of On Purification, gazing at those sometimes fair and honest, sometimes unconventional book titles. He shook his head, somewhat surprised that after coming to the capital, he would still have to continue the life he had lived in Xining Village.

If this was a place like the Heavenly Dao Academy or Star Seizer Academy, if students needed to break through the bottleneck of Purification, a teacher would naturally tell them that the most crucial part of Purification was reading a large amount of related books, thus strengthening the soul and reaching the goal of condensing the spiritual sense in one stroke.

On Purification merely provided the general principles. What one truly needed to study was the forty-nine books listed on the back cover.

Of course, this did not at all mean that all students needed to read every one of these forty-nine books one hundred times before their soul reached a level at which they could condense the spiritual sense. In the vast majority of cases, in the process of reading, the reader's spiritual sense would be condensed and they could stop this process.

This process was not one in which the earlier one finished, the better it was. If one needed to only read one book ten times and be able to successfully condense spiritual sense, that person would presumably be the cultivator with the weakest spiritual sense in history. On the contrary, the more books one read and the more times one read them, the stronger the soul would become, yet it would still be unable to break through that thin layer of paper. When the spiritual sense was finally condensed, only this sort of spiritual sense could truly be called powerful.

If someone could read all forty-nine books on the back cover of On Purification one hundred times before finally condensing their spiritual sense, then when they drew starlight into their bodies to undergo Purification, they had a chance of reaching the level of perfection. But this sort of situation was incredibly rare. Other than those lucky enough to be born with incredible innate talent, it was basically impossible.

This was a very stimulating process. As time passed, as the number of books and the number of times one read them gradually increased, one could anticipate becoming a genius with a powerful spiritual sense, but there was also a high chance that one could ultimately fail at condensing the spiritual sense and be resigned to the life of an ordinary person.

Hope and disappointment would continuously increase over this process, ultimately becoming a gamble of epic proportions. No one knew the result of this gamble. Only after reading those books, one hundred times each, would the result appear on its own.

Read one hundred times, naturally grasp the meaning.

This was its meaning.

...

...

After reading On Purification once, Chen Changsheng did not feel any change in his body, did not sense his soul, so he naturally could not sense his spiritual sense either. He did not begin to immediately read the books listed on the back cover, but instead began to calculate.

He believed that his reading efficiency was higher than an ordinary person's, so perhaps he might not really need to read each book one hundred times, perhaps twenty to thirty times might be enough. There were forty-nine books in total on the back cover, so calculating with his average reading efficiency, for the very first round, he could only finish reading seven books, seven days to finish reading all of them once. Even if he gradually got faster with time, to completely read all these books would at least take half a year. Did he have half a year? No, so what should he do? This was the first time he felt rather vexed ever since coming to the capital.

If other people were to learn that he was feeling vexed, they would definitely be feeling something different. This was because in his calculations, it was very obvious that he only intended to condense his spiritual sense after reading all forty-nine books—if he could condense his spiritual sense, that is. In other words, from beginning to end, even if subconsciously, he was truthfully placing himself on the same level as geniuses, or even higher.

It was no wonder Tang Thirty-Six thought him very arrogant on their first meeting. He looked reticent, cautious and courteous, but in reality, in many aspects, he was inexplicably confident, making people feel that he was extremely arrogant.

...

...

As he was thinking, he was suddenly caressed by a breeze and a shadow fell, covering the words on the back cover.

Chen Changsheng raised his head and saw a pretty girl sneering at him.

At the moment, he was sitting on the floor, so this girl was naturally somewhat looking down on him from up high.

This girl was precisely Shuang'er of the Divine General of the East's estate. She looked at the books concerning Purification next to Chen Changsheng and knew what he planned to do. She jeered, "To begin Purification at the age of fourteen, you don't think you're somewhat late?"

Chen Changsheng seriously replied, "Seeking the Dao can come early or late. The early might arrive late, the late might arrive early."

Shuang'er did not expect to hear such an answer. After staring blankly at him for a few moments, she disdainfully retorted, "Forty-nine books, one hundred times, ten days, —these are the numbers left by my young lady when she condensed her spiritual sense at the age of four. The late might arrive early? Where do you plan to arrive early?"

Chen Changsheng pondered this question, but he realized that he didn't know how to answer.


To pick is to choose. This is a story about choices. Three thousand worlds full of gods and demons, with a daoist scroll in your hand, you are able to control the entire universe…

At the beginning of time, a mystical meteor came crashing down from outer space and scattered all over the world. A piece of it landed in the Eastern Continent, with mysterious totems carved upon it. Through the observation of these totems, humankind comprehended the Dao and established the Orthodoxy.

Several thousand years later, the fourteen years old orphan Chen Changsheng left his master to cure his illness and change his fate. He brought a piece of marriage vow with him to the capital, thus began the journey of a rising hero.

He was in disbelief. 
The head of the department laughed at his reaction. "Snap out of it, Aihara. You look like I've just fired you."
"I'm sorry, sir!" Kaoru regained his composure. "I didn't expect this. Thank you very much."
The older man sitting opposite him in the meeting room just smiled kindly. "It's a great achievement for someone at your level. Hakusen should have hired you when they could."
Kaoru stared at the mock-up of the cover of the book with his design. It was for an up and coming novelist, who wanted a cover expressing separation.
A senior designer had overseen the project and Kaoru was staffed on the team. They spent weeks trying to meet the novelist's demands, on top of other assignments.
It came to a breaking point when his senior threw in the towel.
"I give up! He's just being fucking unreasonable. What's wrong with our ideas? Screw this."
Kaoru had been helping to polish his senior's work up until then. When the team went home dejectedly that day, he stayed back and thought about what the novelist wanted.
They had been fixated on a darker, wintry look. It made sense since the novel was equally dark and tragic.
To Kaoru, separation was on a warm autumn day, when leaves fell together with the hearts that followed. The memories which kept resurfacing during the entire project. 
He sketched out an idea and showed it to his senior the next day.
His senior was going to throw it into the bin when one of the team leads of the production department passed by and noticed it.
"Hey, let me look at that."
Kaoru had seen him before during meetings. Confident, effective and with a personality which  engaged with others easily, Fujiwara Ren was one of the rising stars in the company.
His senior handed over the sketch grudgingly. Fujiwara's hazel eyes scanned it and then asked Kaoru, "Is this your work?"
"Yes," Kaoru admitted.
A warm smile crossed Fujiwara's face. "I'll ask his editor to show it to him."
Both his senior and Kaoru had been shocked. 
That was three days ago. Now, he was sitting in the office looking down at his first book cover. Kaoru couldn't believe it.
He was on cloud nine for the rest of the day. His co-workers who have heard congratulated him heartily, except for the senior designer who muttered something to the effect of him lucking out.
Kaoru didn't mind if it was luck. It gave him a tiny confidence boost. 
Even if his inspiration was…
Don't think about it at work, he told himself. When he went home, then he could try to piece his heart together, as he often did ever since that day.
He tried to look for Fujiwara to thank him but the man was out for meetings. He did manage to speak to Miss Tachibana over the phone to convey the good news to her. 
When he left the office, he finally saw Fujiwara at the lobby.
Kaoru waved to get his attention.
Fujiwara looked up from his phone and grinned. "Aihara!"
Kaoru went over quickly and bowed. "Thank you so much. For the cover."
"It's your design," Fujiwara reminded him in a friendly manner. "Thank YOU. If not, the project would have been delayed and I'm probably still in the office."
Kaoru was embarrassed. "No, I..it was just an idea which came to me."
"Don't be so modest," Fujiwara chuckled. "You're such a cute junior!"
"Who's cute?" a deeper voice asked, amused.
A taller and very good-looking man appeared beside Fujiwara. In a suit and still carrying a briefcase.
"Shin! You're on time," Fujiwara exclaimed happily. "Meet Aihara Kaoru. From the design department."
Then to Kaoru, he introduced the man easily, "This is Kurosawa Shinobu. My partner."
Kaoru was surprised. 
"Nice to meet you," he said.
"And you," the man returned and added wryly. "Ren isn't giving you trouble, is he?"
"Of course not!" Fujiwara protested with a pout. "I'm the perfect senior."
"He's very kind to me," Kaoru agreed. "I got my first book cover because of him."
"He's just being unnecessarily humble," Fujiwara countered and told his partner, "My project is back on track. He's the reason you can take me out to dinner today."
"In that case, you have my thanks too," Kurosawa told Kaoru.
They made a dangerously attractive couple. It was clear that they were in love. Kaoru could see the adoring laughter in Fujiwara's eyes and although his partner seemed to be the more reserved type, the glances he gave Fujiwara contained a certain softness.
"Not at all! Anyway, I shouldn't take up more of your time." Kaoru smiled. "Have a good evening."
"Bye! See you around in the office!" Fujiwara waved cheerfully.
He could still make out bits and pieces of their conversation as he walked away.
"Just dinner? I haven't seen you for a week."
"What else?"
"Shin, don't tease me. Unless you don't want to..."
"Fine. A quick dinner."
"Now we're talking."
It didn't take much imagination to know what they could be referring to. Kaoru found himself smiling at how comfortable they seemed with each other.
When he got into the packed train, he finally let his mind wander. 
What was Keigo doing right now? Was he still in the office or traveling for work? Did he find someone who could make him happy?
Somehow, seeing Fujiwara and his partner together made him missed Keigo so intensely. What wouldn't he give to have just one dinner, free of any consequences and repercussions?
Kaoru knew back then that it would crush his heart. 
He hadn't expected that it could possibly be irreparable. Unlike the defect from his childhood, this could not be healed by any surgery or medication.
The human heart, once scarred, was never quite the same.

"You need money. I want company. It’s a fair trade.” That was the start of the relationship between Wada Keigo and Aihara Kaoru. How far will they go?

directory cover design

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