svetikya Page 274
Page 274
Even if the effort and reward are completely disproportionate, and some people even criticize it as wasting resources and throwing precious resources into the trash—it is not uncommon for the Möbius Laboratory to cut funding for such reasons.
As for this True Self Armament, well—according to MEI's assessment, if everything is calculated according to normal costs, its cost is still extremely high.
One piece is almost equivalent to dozens of Titans (a single Titan costs hundreds of millions to build). There's no way around it; Soulsteel is just too expensive.
Originally, the cost of the two large Divine Keys that Velve created was enough to make the entire Firemoth's finances falter.
Fortunately, the information provided by Paradise Mebius seems to contain technology on how to innovate the production of Soul Steel, which may reduce the cost of this project to some extent.
In addition-
MEI's gaze slowly fell on Jiang Qiao, as if she were looking at some kind of creature that had become popular for its hard work and excellent cost-effectiveness.
Chapter 210 It's you I choose, Palu!
Soul Steel is essentially a special metal made of nanorobots with extremely high adaptability to Honkai energy. This special metal does not come from nature, but is a result of accidental synthesis by Mu Continent in the process of studying Honkai. It is not only very expensive to produce, but also takes a very long time to produce.
If it weren't for the urgency of collapse, the previous civilization would most likely not have considered such a material with extremely poor versatility and excessively high cost.
"Soul Steel..."
Regarding MEI's question, Jiang Qiao rested her chin on her hand—although the Herrscher of Reason does indeed have the ability to create technology using Honkai energy, this ability has limitations.
If it's just a temporary construction, that's fine; it only requires consuming a certain amount of Honkai energy to maintain its existence.
Long-term construction, like repairing the Moon Throne or repairing the Moon Gate, requires an extremely terrifying amount of Honkai energy.
The same applies to the manufacture of Soul Steel.
Furthermore, due to its unique characteristics, Soul Steel cannot, like the True Self Crystal Flower, directly create a growing 'mother ore' through its powers.
At least, it's impossible for him to do such a thing at his current level—only someone with a masterful grasp of the power of the Herrscher of the End could achieve such a level of 'falsification of facts'.
The creation of the 'True Self Crystal' was merely a clever trick. Although it looks somewhat like a 'Honkai Energy Conversion Device,' the core power source of the True Self Crystal is actually the 'Origin Space' behind the Origin Herrscher.
By extracting and pouring out power, and with the injection of the truth authority and primordial authority on an end-of-the-world scale, this miraculous 'new substance' was finally born... No, it's not quite a new substance.
In reality, it should be described as more of an 'amplifier for the user'.
Jiang Qiao pondered how to solve this problem. It was impossible for him to handle it. Even with the power of the End, it would be difficult for him to perform so many 'Eternal Construction's' in a short period of time. Furthermore, if he frequently used his authority to pry open the cocoon's backside, he would need to consider whether this would trigger the cocoon's counterattack and countermeasures.
This is also why he doesn't use this tactic often—it's too short and carries unknown, high risks.
For Jiang Qiao, it was more like a helpless 'table-flipping tactic' or a 'trump card' when necessary.
At that moment, a girl's voice, faintly smelling of baby powder but with a strong mechanical quality, rang in my ears:
"Doctor, it's been more than three hours since the scheduled rest time."
Jiang Qiao looked up and saw an image pop up on the screen in front of her—the familiar face was none other than Prometheus 17, the "Pu Ya" with a very high plagiarism rate.
Mei rubbed her forehead and sighed:
"This isn't the first or second time; there's no need to worry about it."
Since becoming the leader of the Fire Moth, she has often worked late into the night, and staying up all night has become a regular occurrence.
"Doctor, I must remind you that your last break was 179 system hours ago," Number Seventeen said emotionlessly.
This also surprised MEI somewhat:
"Oh, so it's been that long."
Because she was working and working without end, she couldn't even remember when her last break was.
Jiang Qiao, listening from the side, twitched her eye – it's a good thing MEI is a Herrscher now, otherwise, with this workload, she would have died of overwork long ago.
If you calculate it this way, then I saved Mei's life.
Thinking about this, Jiang Qiao couldn't help but feel that she had done another good deed.
but--
His gaze fell on Prometheus on the screen.
“Prometheus, the AI I created, now serves as my assistant,” MEI explained briefly—because the Divine Key project was canceled, and due to various changes, there is currently only one Prometheus.
Therefore, there is no need to add a naming number like 'Seventeen' for differentiation.
For MEI, while the high-intensity work was bearable, it was somewhat easier with Prometheus sharing the workload—for example, someone could now remind her when it was time to sleep.
Of course, the end result of this habitual setup is often that Prometheus urges him again and again, and then it's another beautiful new day.
"Oh, Prometheus."
Jiang Qiao stared at Prometheus on the screen and revealed a very kind smile.
He seems to have a solution to the shortage of Soul Steel.
—With the help of the kind-hearted Mr. Jiang.
Miss Prometheus has successfully acquired a body with hands and feet—MEI had originally planned to prepare a body for Prometheus later, but this has made things much easier.
And after having a body...
I cannot understand your intentions.
Watching Jiang Qiao groping for something on her chest, Prometheus's little face remained expressionless—because she was newly created, she had little understanding of such matters. However... recalling some information she had seen, Miss Prometheus revealed a look of disgust—according to data obtained online, showing such an expression was the most appropriate response to such behavior.
MEI had no expression—after all, it was just a mechanical body... Surely no one would have designs on a robot, right?
People can't, at least not right now, you can't force your way in.
But unlike Kosmo and Desdobia, who left after completing the test, Miss Alicia, who remained at the scene, witnessed the entire event.
Silently puffing out her cheeks, she kept repeating to herself, "It's just a lump of iron, it's just a lump of iron..." but her anger level remained unabated!
"...I can't understand this feeling, search failed."
Pu Ya's little face was slumped, but her expression had become slightly rosy—a strange feeling, something had invaded her body... swollen... uncomfortable—her body was malfunctioning. Prometheus tried to perform a self-examination, but her body was still adjusting and she couldn't move for even a moment. She could only watch as the man in front of her arbitrarily did whatever he wanted to her body.
Her crimson eyes became hazy... After a long while, Jiang Qiao nodded in satisfaction.
"what have you done?"
Mei walked up to me, which seemed a little strange.
"I placed the core of the Herrscher of Reason into Prometheus's body."
“Its body shouldn’t be able to support the power of a Herrscher core, and besides… isn’t the risk too high?” MEI frowned. Honkai energy has extremely strong corrosive properties, and even human mechanical creations can be affected and corrupted. This is why the Titans created by Anti-Entropy in later generations had such low cost-effectiveness. Prometheus’s body is very ordinary. If a Herrscher core is placed inside, it is easy for it to be corrupted. At that time, although it might not directly create a Herrscher of Reason, Prometheus might very well be destroyed as a result.
Although Prometheus was merely a functional AI created by her to share the workload, she did not want to see her 'creation' so carelessly 'head towards destruction'.
"Don't worry, this body is entirely constructed of soul steel."
As she said this, Jiang Qiao looked at Pu Ya, who was standing there looking bewildered, and smiled.
Just like the Key to God—Prometheus at this moment is undoubtedly a disguised Key to God.
Its effect is to convert Honkai energy through the authority of the Herrscher of Reason, and then create Soul Steel.
Although it is far from being the law of truth, it is excellent in terms of durability and practicality!
First Divine Key: Forging Furnace (Prometheus)!
"With this, there's no need to worry about not having enough Soul Steel."
As long as there is enough Honkai energy, the operation of permanent soul steel can be performed continuously.
Even other metals can be produced directly.
Of course, there are also disadvantages.
Because its form is similar to the Key of God, or rather, to perform a perpetual construction, a high-intensity 'activation authority' is required. When running, Prometheus must invest a large amount of computing power into the 'perpetual construction program'.
"Because the soul steel in my body is all constructed by myself, there is no need to worry about metal fatigue."
Jiang stared at Prometheus with considerable satisfaction—in order to conserve Honkai energy, Prometheus's current body was actually 'temporarily constructed' by him using the power of the Herrscher of Reason. After all, constructing a Soul Steel the size of a person would be far too laborious.
But he doesn't need to worry about these temporary constructed soul steels disappearing—after all, Pu Ya's body contains the core of the Herrscher of Reason, which can maintain itself and even produce and consume its own, replacing these 'temporary bodies' made by Jiang Qiao with permanent constructed soul steels during 'work'.
Most importantly, because Prometheus is AI, he doesn't need to hibernate at all.
What a perfect creation!
As long as cheap 'Honkai energy' is provided, and even the Herrscher of Reason's core itself can extract Honkai energy from the imaginary space, it seems that Prometheus is fully capable of self-production and self-sales, providing a 'one-stop service' from raw materials to finished products.
Do you understand the value of the entire industry chain?
"..."
Pu Ya looked blankly at her—she didn't quite understand what this meant; for a machine, working all the time wasn't anything strange.
But... for some reason, looking at Jiang Qiao's face, Prometheus felt an urge to rush up and punch him—no... according to information obtained from the internet, the best way to deal with this kind of behavior is to 'hang him on a street lamp'.
Coincidentally, as a product of Soul Steel, Prometheus himself has the 'function' of changing forms—and the street lamp is naturally among them.
After learning about Prometheus's situation, MEI remained silent for a moment, then smiled.
Excellent! This will save the organization a lot of money, and because it can produce, sell, and maintain itself, even the 'body repair period' and 'maintenance expenses' planned for Prometheus can be omitted.
You did a great job, Jiang Qiao!
At this moment, the two seemed to have reached an agreement on a certain degree of compatibility.