The 3 largest rooms were made into metal research lab, alchemy room and mod room respectively and the surrounding rooms around the main control room had been made as the storage, where the mountains of things had been transferred to.
The metal research lab was not huge but was luxuriously facilitated. Ye Chong was not familiar with metallurgy. Mu made the choices of facilities, which all of them happened to be the most avant-garde models in the market. Well that came with a price, which remained unknown to Ye Chong as all he did was tap his identity card on the paying machine. Frankly speaking, he never checked out the price tag when he took them to the counter. He would be learning metallurgy here, since Mu was quite the expert in it.
The alchemy room, also a laboratory precisely speaking, was fully designed by Ye Chong himself. He had been learning the theoretical aspect of the study but never once he had been exposed to hand-on experience. Now with this new alchemist lab, he could perform all sorts of alchemy experiments. And well, those apparatuses inside the lab would be driving any alchemist mad on first sight. Self-controlled cultivation machine, thermostatic plasma room, duo enzymic mixer… all these luxuries that could only be found in the top laboratories were sitting right inside Ye Chong’s lab.
The modification room was the largest among them, which did not only contain a range of devices for mech modification, but also had a set of equipment for skeleton parts production. That was the tricky part however as there was no equipment dedicated for skeleton parts production in the market. Most of the time Ye Chong had to make them from scratch. Thankfully the devices sold in the market were of extreme variety that the mod room Ye Chong owned was way better than the top mod room he used to have at Blue Ocean Academy. As most devices were solely available on pre-order basis, he had to bear with the standard procedure of pre-ordering and waiting. The arrival was still pretty far away from him.
Finally, the 3 essential rooms were formed. A sigh of relief from Ye Chong, although he was probably a million light years away from completion. These apparatuses he purchased from the market were not perfect in Mu’s eyes, as he provided a list of suggestion on modification to each apparatus. No doubt the list took a moment of discussion between Mu and Ye Chong and Ye Chong learned something from it.
Apparatus modification was way more than a simple change of nut to bolt, as these machines were already densely circuited in the beginning. A slight inaccuracy, a slip of the hand could permanently damage the machine. The demand of cautious accuracy was not something Ye Chong used to. But his learning capabilities helped him out. After destroying a few apparatuses, he mastered the unconventional method of operating them. Ye Chong was expected to have much refined technique in handling these machines compared to the times before. Of course, to make this kind of operation a habitual one, the cost he had to bear was unimaginable for most men.
Okay… Phase 1 completed. The 3 rooms were furnished. Then… the mech training room, that would be easier. Ye Chong picked the largest storage and placed the training equipments in. Done. Ye Chong could no longer improve his piloting skills by merely striving for mastery. He got to take accuracy.
Ye Chong proceeded to Phase 2.
Phase 1 felt so angelic and harmless the moment he began the Phase 2 of the modification. It involved modification on the weaponry itself, as Ye Chong stood before the offensive system of the spaceship. He staggered. Those matrixes were just the few of the simpler types of simulation of the offenses for ships Mu claimed he could find inside the databank. He was obliged to build it since the Coxcomb would be naturally a giant bee comb if they were to encounter any foes who would fire at them. Ye Chong would have to succumb to piloting his mech to try fighting back, abandoning the spaceship in the end.
Even though the 5 major galaxies had clearly prohibited the research and development of space warship, Ye Chong did not seem to be bounded by the terms at all. MPA owned a Double Moon Corvette while Black Coves and Sanctuary also had their own warships. Probably even the Prometheus Group owned a handful of warships as well.
Ye Chong would absolutely agree to any kind of modification as long as it would increase the chances of safety. I guard my own safety! And my safety guards my own fate!
And then there Ye Chong was, stumbled upon the modification process, as he realized the process turned out to be the hardest part of the entire plan.
This was the first time Ye Chong was exposed to the firepower aspect of the system, and he realized that he could not understand the simulation at all. He was familiar with the firepower, of the mech that is. The weaponry of a spaceship was grander and more complicated than the one on mech. It would be unrealistic for Ye Chong to master the working behind spaceship weaponry. The vastness of knowledge behind the simple-looking system would be something one would take forever to capture and be unable to see the end.
But, one does not understand the weaponry would not mean one is unable to make it, especially when one has Mu by the side.
The whole operation was broken down into several hundred steps by Mu, in which the detailed instructions were specified. Ye Chong only had to follow the steps exactly the way they were written. Mu would be supervising at the side. So for the completion of this phase, Ye Chong was totally confident.
The vital component of the entire system would be the installation of electromagnetic cannon, specifically the tubes. Electromagnetic cannons would fire up after a very brief moment of charging immense energy. So the tubes would be essential for they must be able to withstand the density of the forces without transmutation occurring during the process. Any ordinary metal would have melted before the ammo got fired.
The metal lab had a storage which kept countless premium ores and Ye Chong suddenly remembered that, Mu seemed to know formula of multiple kinds of strange alloys. As expected, Mu took out a piece of black gold ore, with a diameter about half a meter. Ye Chong had once collected a massive amount of black gold ores at the asteroid belt surrounding the Black Coves, since those ores were the specialty of the planet, with excellent stats and were used in the masks of the Black Covers and their mechs.
The ores were convincingly heavy. It took a moment for Ye Chong to lift it up, carried it a few steps unsteadily and tossed it into the Magnetron-based metal separator that he had bought. He turned back and looked at Mu, who was standing there and did not intend to take out another piece apparently.
"Mu, that’s it?" Asked Ye Chong in peculiarity, "Is one piece enough?"
"Mhm, it's more than sufficient. Producing tubes for an electromagnetic cannon using black gold is already considered as a form of resources wastage itself. It is a shame that we do not have lightning stone or extracted crystal reactance in possession, while we would run out of material assuming we are making tubes for nanowave cannon instead." Mu seemed rather helpless when he was unable to carry out the optimal route available.
Ye Chong simply did not recognize the rarity of black gold to understand the context. The war machine of the Black Coves, like Cosmic Flare for example, contained only a little amount of black gold. Similarly the amount of black gold in the masks was hardly noticeable. If it was not that strange space whirlpool which dragged Ye Chong to the depth of the asteroid belt, he would never be able to collect black gold this much.
Zink! Zink! Zink! Ye Chong could feel the slight vibration from the little window on the separating machine. Shush! And there he saw the piece of black gold being fully transformed into a pile of black powder, which veiled the inside of the machine in black mist. Very quickly after droplets of black liquid splashed over the window and flowed downwards to form a black glossy stream. The inside of the machine was rather bizarre for it was hardly tainted by the liquid.
The liquid flowed smoothly over the surface and collected at one point, eventually condensed into a piece of metallic cube. Ye Chong opened the window and held it in his hand. It was hefty… strangely hefty, glossing in dark.
Ye Chong, under the further instruction of Mu, placed the crystallized black gold into the other alloys he bought from the market. The lab was of minimalist design, so he had to make the tubes one by one. He was a little clumsy at first but he managed to keep up several tubes later and he started to feel really easy with the apparatuses in the lab. Although he had no idea how most of them worked theoretically, at least he knew how to operate them.
52 electromagnetic tubes piled at one corner. Their darkness would chill one from both the outside and the inside. The polished body felt cold in the hands. Compared to those tubes popping out from the factory every few seconds, these tubes were the handmade superior products from the lab. Inevitably, the cost would also be a few times of the mass-manufactured products. That was never the 3 musketeers’ concern however.
Next up, the launcher production, then the platter for electromagnetic system, the connection of the circuits… Pant… Ye Chong was half dead. Those tasks were not for humans! Really! One could tell the tediousness of the tasks seeing how a superman like Ye Chong collapsed.
Pant… Pant… Relieved Ye Chong. Now, one last step. The installation. Mu had already set up an installation plan for this as well. According to his calculation, the 52 tubes could cover up the entire body of the ship. There would not be blind spot opened for vulnerabilities. Mu could not be one strength to lift the tubes this time. Ye Chong hopped onto an engineering mech and set his work running. Installing the tubes was nothing after all the things he had been through producing the tubes.
He ran through the locations marked by Mu. Those placements were all designed as a concealed gun chamber by nature, so Coxcomb did not look particularly different post installation. Any passerby would have assumed this being an ordinary, harmless Zika spaceship upon first glance.
The electromagnetic cannons were the important component, one of the important components that is. What scattered throughout the corners of the warship was the 180 laser firing devices, which operated at a high reaction speed, with agile movements, forming a large coverage of Coxcomb’s firepower about 50 km. This design was aimed to attack any approaching mech detected. At least the lasers were easily available in the market, as most mechs would use them. When Ye Chong placed the order at the counter in his usual nonchalance, the shopkeeper really assumed him being a staff of some major mech manufacturer.
If Shang was known for his creativity, Mu would be known for his great attention to details. His plans were well connected, with one point supporting the other, like a net that would raid anybody in his aim. It would be horrible if Mu ever turned his firearm over you. Mu’s characteristic was demonstrated clearly over his design on the offenses of the ship.
There were also countless grenade launchers paired with the laser firing devices, as inspired by the vase-shaped grenade launcher of Yu Di. Those waves of supplementary explosives were exceptionally helpful in a battle. Combining with the laser firers, It would surely be a deadly pool if any mech were to approach the Coxcomb.
The process of installing the firearms was rather boring, since most of the things did not make sense to Ye Chong. The one joy he got to experience was to prepare these colorful supplementary explosives. Fred was great. He saluted. Despite his age, he was still that resourceful and creative.
So, we finally finished the offensive system! The interior of the Coxcomb had undergone an overhaul, transforming into a real warship, a fearsome warship! Ye Chong spent literally a month on the building, which was beyond his estimation. He looked at the pile of junks, the remnants from his renovation. It was a headache as those were an absolute failure. He then tossed all of them into the crucible and made them into alloy cubes. That would be easier for storage. He had to keep the place clean since Shang had been nagging at it.
He once commented that, "The Coxcomb is the butcher disguised in his handsome look!"
Phase 3 of the modification… well Ye Chong felt the need to take a break temporarily. Coxcomb was too strong at his offenses while having nearly zero defenses, as his armor was never meant for warring, one could imagine the ship sinking in a few bombardments. But Zika spaceship was known for its size, changing the armor of the ship would be a astronomical operation to work on. Ye Chong could never complete it only by himself. The second astronomical thing would be amount of rare materials Mu required to match the standard. Ye Chong was not a member of the three forces, he did have a storage of them but those were not going to be sufficient to even plate the tip of the ship. Most of the materials were non-existent in the market as well, even though these materials were considered the lettuce and cucumbers if Ye Chong was still at Nine Gates City.
Regarding the possession of resources, Ye Chong was a beggar compared to those forces in 5 major galaxies.
But whether the three forces being filthy richer than him in resources, why would he care? Not like he would get a share.
Anyway, save the talking, the ship was finally done. For the engines of the Coxcombs, they were not that bad, even though Mu had several plans on modification, it would be unrealistic to perform it right now. So Mu, the rational one who foresaw the unequal cost and effect behind this, scrapped the plan.
Ye Chong planned to leave Windstar and make a direct travel to Rainbow after this. It took him way too long to do the basic modification on his giant whale. He felt the time was well spent nevertheless, since being well prepared would mean being likelier to succeed. And he believed that Coxcomb was no longer a warship, it had evolved into a space base. Ye Chong even imagined his life wandering on the warship if he never could find a planet that was good enough to stay. It was not that bad.
Based on the galactic map… Oh! Ye Chong surprisingly found out the Rainbow planet being rather close to the Trash Planet, which further convinced him the fact that this Gao Shichang from Prometheus Group could truly be his papa. He was excited. Well, it is natural for humans to lose their calmness and rationality over their beloved.
And he remembered the fact that his papa was also quite a prodigy in mechs. Then probably Gao Shichang from the corp could very much be his papa.
Well, those were just speculations. If he wanted to verify his speculation, he had to pursue it.