It's been about two weeks since they arrived in the capital, Karni and Siduo still had their morning routine, and Siduo was also more willing to go to the Royal Palace these days.
"How's the princess been?"
Siduo took a sip of her cocoa and smiled. "She's still cheeky, but at least, if nothing else, she's been diligent. She's there every morning on the clock training with me. There's still some hope for her."
Karni raised his eyebrow. Not because he didn't believe her, but because Siduo was clearly quite satisfied with the princess and was pretending not to be.
"All's well that ends well I guess." Karni chuckled.
Siduo was all smiles. "Mm. Mm. I'll reform this princess by the time we go back to the Douluo Continent."
"Well, good luck with that. Meanwhile, I'll be relaxing and designing in the Tang Sect."
"If you didn't make such good cocoa, I would've- mmmpf."
"There there. Just enjoy that cocoa. See you in the evening." Karni pushed the cocoa onto her so she couldn't complain.
Siduo just grumbled, but clearly enjoyed the cocoa, so she let him have his way.
Karni took off towards the Tang Sect. In two weeks, he's completed two assignments. Due to a job well done, he received a bit of a bonus from satisfied customers. By now, he was at 2300 contribution points in total.
If he could focus only on Mecha Engineering like that the whole time, he'd quickly get rich when it came to contribution points of the Tang Sect.
Just like every time he enters the Tang Sect, he first checks out any new assignments available. He's been eagerly looking for one in regards to the human body prosthetics as he wished to further his knowledge in this field, but had no contacts here who could help.
He waited in line for some time to get to the reception desk.
"Oh? Val Karni is it? Are you still on the lookout for a Prosthetics design? We've received one recently. It gives a lot of contribution points as well, but there is a catch."
"Oh?" Karni's eyes shined. "If you'd be willing to explain."
The receptionist nodded. "It would be a custom made design for multiple patients in a hospital nearby. It's run by one of our own Tang Sect member's higher ups. Now here's the catch. The designs you make are going to be created, but if the patients don't find them comfortable, you'll have to pay the contribution costs for the metal. On the other hand, if you make it well enough, the minimum amount of points you'll be able to receive is 1500."
Karni thought for a moment. It was definitely a high risk, high reward. He'd have to start gathering the points from scratch should he mess this up.
"I'll take it." More than anything though, he finally had a lead on someone who might help him further his knowledge. A higher up as well. He had to give this a try.
"Are you sure? You might not be from here so you're not aware, but everyone who's taken it before needed to pay contribution points. There were a few who were confident like you, but failed. Eventually everyone just stopped taking this task whenever it showed up. It's quite infamous."
"It'll be a learning experience if nothing else. I'll take it." Karni wasn't sure if he'll succeed, but he'd definitely give it his all. He wasn't really confident anymore, based on what the receptionist said, but he'd be damned if he wouldn't give it his all. It's been some time since his skill in Mecha Designing had been truly tested.
A large number of contribution points was worth sacrificing if it meant he could meet someone else in this field. Even on Douluo Continent, the most he's done was learn with the help of studying the human body through the Tie Family and getting blueprints. No one close to him actually specialised in this field.
He took the commission and returned to the hotel room. He had his blueprints saved up there; he wanted to take them with him. The research wasn't something he brought along just anywhere, but he wasn't about to underestimate this commission.
All of it was saved in a single Storage Ring that he kept separate from his usual one. It didn't need as much space as it was only his Mecha Engineering research in there, so it was an actual ring, whereas his normal one was a bracelet he wore on his right arm at all times.
He reached the hotel room and just noticed Siduo leaving. She noticed him as well. "Eh? Did you forget something?"
"I'm going on a little trip to a hospital to give them custom made prosthetics, so I'm grabbing my research with me."
Siduo looked at him with a bit of wondrous eyes and gave him a hug, which he didn't expect. "Go make those people happy."
Karni was taken aback a bit, before returning the hug, smiling a little. Last time he was visiting a hospital was… then. She was looking out for him. It made his heart flutter a little bit. He nodded to her and quickly ran inside to grab his things, while Siduo headed off to the Royal Palace.
He walked to the hospital in about 30 minutes. It didn't look extravagant, but it was clearly modern. Most likely due to the influence of the Tang Sect.
He entered and showed the badge of the Tang Sect; it showed that he had taken the assignment.
The receptionist looked at him with pity in his eyes, but there wasn't much he could do. He let this young boy through. Perhaps it was the youngest they had yet. The kid was overconfident.
Karni entered the room and all sorts of equipment to help the disabled was there. It didn't really feel like an actual hospital, but more like a rehabilitation centre. He saw an older gentleman, who was a bit overweight, helping one of the men with missing legs get used to their new mechanical ones.
Karni stayed silent and watched for a while. Rooting for the man in silence. The man came to the end, then turned around. His face was twisted in a bit of pain.
Reaching the halfway point while turning around, the man couldn't continue anymore. The older gentleman held him up with ease so that he could stand straight.
"Dammit. To think I'd fall this far. I want to move freely again."
The older man just stayed silent as he helped the guy to a chair. They took off the prosthetics.
"How did they feel?"
"They felt too strong and unstable. Not the kind of style I'd like." The man then happened to see a newcomer. "Director, looks like you have a visitor."
The chubby gentleman turned to look at Karni in surprise. "Young man, are you lost?"
Karni shook his head and approached respectfully. "I'm here because of the assignment from the Tang Sect."
The two men looked in surprise at each other. The chubby man gave an inquisitive look towards the man with the prosthetics, he nodded.
"Since you're here, how about you find out what he doesn't like about this leg prosthetics?"
Karni nodded. A test from the start. He walked closer and examined the prosthetic and the body of the man in front of him. Something immediately clicked.
"Mister. You're an agility system aren't you?"
The man was surprised, but nodded. "I was."
Karni shook his head. "Are. From the way these legs work, they're likely too heavy even with the use of soul power, so you were getting used to them without it. While they look quite bendable, which is good for an agility system, this gives them more weight. At the end of the day, they still can't compare with the muscles' flexibility."
The older man nodded, but then changed to a harsh tone. "It's easy to recognise all of these issues. But only recognising and not finding a solution is what differentiates a good craftsman from an average one."
Karni nodded. This guy was a part of the exam too. He had to satisfy the patients. "Of course. While I can't understand all of the complexities in this one, from what I can see, it's capable of supporting the speed of a Soul King, but it's actually a 6-star soul tool at least. I would have a few ideas. First of all, the circulatory system should stay the same. While it's heavy, if we'd compensate with lighter metal that would automatically solve it. The-"
"Boy. You think we haven't thought of such a solution yet?"
"Let me finish first." The two looked at the boy in shock. Karni was calm, but a bit authoritative. This boy was either arrogant or bold.
"The lighter metal could be compensated if you'd change the joint section and instead of connecting it to traditional Tang Sect designs, connect it to one that emulates the movements of muscles."
The older gentleman was confused, he shook his head. "We should've been polite, the name's Ju Hueyan. Most importantly though, do you have examples of what you're talking about? I haven't heard of such prosthetics yet."
Karni nodded and took out some design papers. "On Douluo Continent, the original design was made by a 7-star Mecha Designer, it was using flexible, but expensive metal that had ease of fusing together with the body, and was similar to muscle movements with simple manipulation, instead of the standard prosthetic movement when one would predict how a body should naturally react through Soul Arrays. Because they could remove that part, they were able to give Soul Receptors into the metal instead, hence they felt like actual muscles. The only problem is, the actual metal used only becomes usable for this once it's Spirit Refined."
"So." Karni showed multiple points on his designs. "The solution to that would be these fabrics."
Ju Hueyan's eyes went wide. "Like ones on Mechs?"
Karni nodded. "Yes, but smaller. There we use them, to make the Mecha more durable. When used on a smaller scale, if not using the right metal, they might actually be worse than if it weren't a fabric. So the solution I came up with is to put fabrics around fabrics. Of course, there is the downside, that, on such small fabrics, especially ones made of metal, one can't really put soul arrays onto them. You'd also need a good Manufacturer and a good blacksmith that could make the metal thin enough without hurting it."
Karni analysed Ju Hueyan's face. Despite the actual patient being there, he wasn't talking much at all. It was the doctor, the director, taking the lead. He was quite engrossed in Karni's designs.
"For an agility system, it might actually be better not to use the thicker fabrics on the outside, but only use normal ones, maybe even thinner ones. The durability would fall, but flexibility and speed would skyrocket. The only hard part would be to create all of the receptors on such a small scale."
Ju Hueyan nodded. "Mm. We can try it. I'll be your Manufacturer for now. You just create the designs for me."
Karni nodded, then turned to the patient. "If you'd allow me to measure you."
The man nodded with a smile.
While he was measuring, Karni reminded them of something. "I will be honest though, while they should be better normally, they would only support Soul Ancestor level speed. Soul King might be too much."
"I don't mind at all. Kid, which level are you? What level would these be?"
"4-star for both."
"4-star for Soul Ancestor level? Impressive. Most Soul Master prosthetics are higher level due to the durability required."
Karni nodded. "It's my main point of research. Starting with prosthetics for normal humans. For them, it's surprisingly more complicated to create one of these."
"Because they don't have soul power, yes." Ju Hueyan nodded, as did Karni when he heard him.
"The best solution would be to connect the prosthetics with the mind overall. Anyone could move their legs then, no need to use soul power or clunky predictional physics of normal prosthetics."
Karni was rambling on, but the two adults were shocked when he said that. Those sort of tools that could directly connect to one's mind were usually at complexity above the rank of 7-stars, most of them were military grade technology. Not in metal requirements per se, but pure knowledge.
This was why Karni was currently researching that part on its own completely through AR glasses. In fact, it was a level higher than that. He was reading and connecting the mind in a way where many things could be done with it. Analysing the space, controlling the glasses for complex functions, reading one's mind and words and so on. All of it would be done without one necessarily needing to be good with their Spiritual Power.
If he could achieve that, something like moving the body like one would normally, even when hundreds of tiny fabrics made part of one's mechanical parts, would become as easy as pie to do.
Ironically, it wouldn't be as useful to powerful soul masters, as they could already use their spiritual power to compensate for this, but the goal was to remove that requirement.
Easier said than done for someone who was still a 4-star engineer, discovering a simpler version of at least a 7-star level technology. It definitely wouldn't be as efficient as those tools, but he'd have an incredible foundation. Not to mention the breakthrough it would be. He was using this research to progress to the 5-star level. He knew it was impossible to create a 4-star level tool in this regard.
He finished measuring. "Is there a room I could borrow?"
Ju Hueyan nodded and led him into one. Karni entered and wanted to whistle, but held himself back. It was a room that was just as advanced as the Tang Sect one, if not more.
Karni brought out his blueprints, copied them, then started to edit them to the specifications he listed before. Ju Hueyan left him alone.
"That kid has quite some talent. Maybe you finally found the one."
Ju Hueyan nodded. "His understanding of the body is impressive. I'd never imagine someone replicating the movements of muscles to such a degree though. I wonder what will happen when he grows. He knows how to think outside the box of current trends."
… … …
After about 2 hours, Karni stepped outside. The blueprints were finished. He called in Ju Hueyan to explain them to him. After about 10 minutes, Ju Hueyan started working on them.
It wasn't even half an hour when he finished and came outside, much to Karni's surprise. Just what level of a Mecha Manufacturer was this person?
They gave the patient the leg. Only a single one, so he could compare it with the other one. Even without soul power, Karni's prosthetic fared far better than the other one.
"It really does feel like I'm actually moving my own muscles as compared to the other prosthetics. It feels like a part of my body."
Ju Hueyan also turned towards Karni. "Kid, how exactly do you create blueprints? Even without your explanation, or when I had questions, I felt like I was guided while manufacturing them."
Karni nodded. "It's because I put my intent and rhythm into it. From my martial soul. It's sound based so it can influence me on how I draw, making me show how to carve something out as well, not just the shape."
"Mm. Impressive. One last question, the fibres you designed seemed like they weren't designed with the tools of a manufacturer in mind. I had to be a bit creative with creating them."
Karni scratched his head. "It's because of the friend I usually partner up with. She can carve them with a single claw with her abilities, so she's used to creating precise soul tools."
"Mm. A good partner to have, though keep in mind that other 4-star Manufacturers may not necessarily be capable of creating these things."
Karni nodded.
"You're the first person to have so much knowledge of the body and the prosthetics from the ones that took this commission. You've piqued this old man's curiosity. So tell me, how did you go about this in general?"
Karni held in his excitement. This turned into an interview. He wanted to give a thought-out answer. It was a very open-ended question. "Well, the research in general began through medical means due to a family friend, but it turned out more into research of body and machine and how to connect the two together. My current research is a connection between mind and machine instead. I hope to fuse the two together once I figure it out."
"You. Have you designed Battle Armour before?"
Karni shook his head. "We were told to build our foundations first and then build Battle Armour with our peers. Hence, I haven't even started researching them fully. All I know is that it would cover one's own martial soul. I don't think it's that close to my research, as it isn't supposed to be understood as a connection between machine and soul."
"That's because it isn't. Battle Armour is an actual armour. It is pure amplification of the soul. Of fusing the metal with the soul, more so than making the connection complex like you did here. But I'll give you a suggestion. Once you start designing one for yourself, try both."
Karni just looked confused. The chubby man continued. "You've found something here that most people haven't truly considered. What if the battle armour would be different from what it is now? I haven't considered this, but based on what you're describing, if you'll be able to fuse all of those aspects together. The armour will be both machine, living and be fused with one's whole being. It will be like Mecha and Battle Armour fused together."
Karni thought about it for a second. He disagreed. "I don't think that would be good. From what I heard, the two-word battle armour already becomes like that, though not directly, and the higher ones have been said to be part of one's whole being. I think this might actually add an unintentional impersonal aspect to the armour."
Ju Hueyan listened to the boy, smiling. He gave him bait, and the boy didn't bite. He knew when to limit his own imagination as well, and Karni was completely correct here. A soul and Battle Armour is such an intricate connection at the high level, that a connection to the body or mind would be completely obsolete.
Karni continued, however. "If anything, it would be better to connect everything to a Mecha, the connection between armour and Mecha included, that way, one wouldn't have to include a mechanical connection to the soul, yet the Mecha would still be part of it, through that connection to the armour."
He knew the basic theories and differences between Mechas and Battle Armour thanks to Mo Qing. Mechas were like vehicles that people piloted, yet at a high level, they became like an extension of the martial soul. More accurately, one could extend their martial soul into a Mecha. Battle Armours were pure amplification and armour for the martial soul instead. The way he saw it, one connection is more symbiotic, while the other is more like a weapon.
He didn't see a future where Mecha and Battle Armour fused together, but he could see one, where the Mecha would become a genuine extension of Battle Armour. Or an armour to the Battle Armour, the way Battle Armour is an armour to the martial soul. Different things, but inseparable.
Ju Hueyan was finally, truly twisted in shock. He looked at Karni like a monster. If this came to fruition it would throw the current structure in a complete disarray.
Karni was unaware that what he just thought of was similar to what would happen ten thousand years from now in the books. People had both Mechs and Battle Armour, but the thing he saw was even wilder.
If one would bound the armour by blood to become part of oneself, then in his mind, one would bind the Mecha with Battle Armour's 'blood' to make them part of one another. That was something that the future did not have.
Karni was lost in his own thoughts, when the man pulled him out of them. "Child, never mention this to anyone. What you just said."
From what he just saw, if this child was left to thrive, he will likely bring a change in the whole soul master world, one similar to what happened when Mechas were first invented, as great as the creation of Battle Armour. He would fuse the two together.
But then again, it would perhaps amplify a Soul Master even more in their position than before. The idea of Karni's could only be implemented by Soul Masters, and Soul Masters only. Though based on what he heard from Karni, Ju Hueyan wouldn't put it past the boy to do a similar thing to normal people, since his prosthetic research was based around them.
Karni just nodded. Perhaps he didn't see it as a big deal, as he knew of what goes on in the future. Even today, people have started combining the two. But he didn't realise that he was thinking about creating a bond as special between Battle Armour and Mecha as one is between Battle Armour and Human. He couldn't be aware of the implications, when he hadn't yet learned how Battle Armour is truly created.
"I'll send you the contribution points today. I'd also be happy if you'd be willing to join us here again. Of course, the amount of contribution points you'd be able to get is not as high, but we'd be happy to have you on the team."
Karni happily agreed. This is exactly what he was hoping for to happen. A place where he can help patients and improve at the same time under people who were already familiar with prosthetics.
Karni left the hospital. They made a deal. He would visit once a week. Ju Hueyan was watching the leaving figure, as the patient and friend of him walked next to him.
"Is he the leading candidate?"
"He is the only candidate. Though unfortunately, we'll likely have a limited time with him. The boy is from Douluo Continent. As much as it shames me, he'll likely be of help for only a short time."
"That doesn't matter to me." The person who was wearing Karni's prosthetic laughed. "At least others like me of the sect will be able to contribute to it even in our state."
"Indeed. The project may progress faster than we expected. I'll take a quick leave. I have to prepare some things."
Ju Hueyan leaped into the air, flying. His body slowly turned chubbier, much rounder than before.
… … …
Karni went and delivered the mission. The receptionist looked at him in shock from afar. She could see he was getting paid. He wasn't paying.
Karni was in shock as well right now. He gained 2000 contribution points!
He jumped towards the contribution shop. He had enough to buy Controlling Crane, Capturing Dragon!