Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The earth-digging insect’s chelicerae were like sickles, and they were the size of a palm. When Shen Cong touched them, they were not sharp, but once he infused Activity inside them, he could somewhat manage to make them gain the effect of cutting through metal like mud. If he hit a steel panel with great force, he could leave behind a gash on it.
Fortunately, the earth-digging insect did not know how to use Activity at that time, which was why when it bit down on the steel hook, its chelicerae did not have such an effect.
But driven by instincts, the mutated monsters would sooner or later learn how to use Activity, and they would become much harder to handle.
‘The chelicerae are only the size of a palm. They’re a little too small to make a saber, but if I make a dagger, it’ll be redundant, since I already have the fangs from the fanged wolves.’
Once Shen Cong thought about it, he found that he did not have a suitable plan to modify the earth-digging insect’s chelicerae, so he set them aside for the time being.
He grabbed the two incisors from the large-toothed rat. They were straight like watermelon cutters, and they were as long as one and a half fingers. The flat part of the incisor possessed a slight curve, and there was an obvious chip at the sharp tip.
This shape made it rather suitable to be made into a Sanleng thorn, but compared to the sharper fanged wolf fangs, the large-toothed rat’s incisors could not be considered as good material.
‘But they’re a pretty good choice for a smaller pick.’
However, Shen Cong was not in a hurry to use a pick, so he chose to set aside the incisors for the time being.
Because of it, he could only work on the eleven fangs. He knew the best way to use the fanged wolf’s fangs—creating daggers with them. He had been able to use the fang dagger he created very smoothly, but there was no need for him to create many fang daggers. Besides, the fangs were very sturdy and durable, so they would not get damaged easily.
‘I can make a javelin. It would just be a little too curved for my liking. I’ll have to sand it down.’
The power of a javelin was great, and with Shen Cong’s strength, once he infused Activity in it before the throw, he believed that he could break even the defenses of the prehistoric crocodile-like creature and injure it heavily.
He needed a heavy weapon with an intimidating strength like that.
The fang had a curve, and the requirements for a javelin toward its tip were very high. A curved fang would face great wind resistance, which would make its trajectory unstable. Hence, he had to sand down the curved tip of the fang until it was straight.
Shen Cong used a ruler and made some measurements. He discovered that he needed to grind down approximately the thickness of two knuckles to be able to make a javelin.
‘If I first saw off the length of two knuckles from the fang and make use of the waste, I should be able to make an arrowhead. If I switch the heads of my crossbow bolts and arrows to these arrowheads with Activity cores, their damage would definitely increase.’
Once Shen Cong thought about this properly, he immediately decided to make eight javelins and eight arrowheads.
As for the three remaining fangs, he would keep them to modify Sky Lifting Pillar 1.0. Its usage efficiency had increased by leaps and bounds once it had the fangs serving as its Activity core. Shen Cong hoped that he could modify it until it became even more perfect, and this was also why he named his Activity armor as Sky Lifting Pillar 1.0.
It meant that he could have Sky Lifting Pillar 1.1, Sky Lifting Pillar 1.5, Sky Lifting Pillar 2.0, and other upgraded versions of the armor.
Upgrading the Activity armor involved a lot of thought, and he needed to consider things carefully. He could do it at a later date.
Shen Cong first sanded the tips of the javelins and the arrowheads.
As a highly skilled person among the common people who had managed to DIY his own apocalyptic war truck, Shen Cong immediately began cutting the first fang with a steady hand once he picked up his electric grinder. Without any Activity in it, the fang was about as tough as carbon steel. As Shen Cong ground it continuously, fine powder danced in the air.
Shen Cong wore an eyeshield, and his hands were incredibly steady. He cut down the front part of the fang based on the cutting line he had drawn beforehand.
Once he cut it off, he set aside the two knuckle-long tips and began to sand down the fang. Using the electrical grinder to sand something into the shape he wanted was something that required skill. If someone did not do it constantly, it would be impossible for them to create the shape they wanted.
But Shen Cong was an expert in this. He had been doing this sort of work on his own for six years, and his skills when it came to repair had already been polished to the peak.
Once he sanded the fang to the standard shape for sharp tips, he polished it before he cut off half of the root through the middle line. Then, the tip of the javelin was done.
It was easy for him to create the javelin handle. All he needed was a steel bar. He cut off half of the front through the middle line as well before he ground the steel bar until it fit the shape of the javelin tip.
He jammed the handle and the tip together, pierced two holes in it, threaded a steel wire through the holes, and bound the handle and the tip together. Then, he melted the steel wire using his electrical welding tool so that it formed a layer of metal skin that encased the part where the handle and tip were jammed together.
Like that, a simple javelin was done.
Of course, this javelin had not been aligned, and Shen Cong needed to sand it down carefully. The best would be for him to open up a few more fullers in it. Then, its damage would be even greater.
He looked at the time. Without his knowledge, his one hour’s worth of resting time was gone.
Shen Cong exercised his body, put down the javelin, and walked into the driver cab so that he could begin his daily nine hour session of repairing Titan. Everything else held secondary importance to repairing Titan. If it were not because Shen Cong had limited stamina, he would have used all twenty-four hours of the day to repair Titan.
He had already finished fixing part of the power supply system, and he had completely fixed the main structural frame as well as the external armor. Shen Cong planned to fix the dynamical system for his next step.
*****
Days passed, and the 23rd of July, 2022 AD came.
A slight change appeared in the life that was supposed to continue remaining constant and monotonous. The plastic rabbit Shen Cong kept that only knew how to eat, drink, poop, and repeat that every day started acting strangely.
In the beginning, it started moving in circles inside the cage and growling, but Shen Cong paid no attention to it. He only threw a piece of large-toothed rat meat that was about to start rotting inside its cage.
But for the first time, the plastic rabbit, which would usually start gobbling down mutated meat once it saw it, ignored the large-toothed rat’s meat. It remained as agitated as ever in its cage.
‘Is it in heat?’
Shen Cong took a malicious guess. Then, he observed it for a moment, but he did not obtain any useful information.
Compared to real scientists, Shen Cong only knew how to make simple records and analyses. He could not obtain a lot of information through research. What he really wanted to do was to cut up the plastic rabbit and search for its Activity core in detail.
But he pushed away that thought. He then ignored the possibility of whether the plastic rabbit was really in heat.
This lasted until the afternoon. By then, it was already very difficult for Shen Cong to ignore it even if he wanted to. The plastic rabbit was no longer content with just moving in circles. It had actually started ramming its head against the metal cage and biting down on the steel bars; it seemed eager to leave the cage. This was something that had never happened before. The plastic rabbit had been very quiet as long as it could eat and drink to its fill.
Shen Cong guessed that the plastic rabbit was a mutated house rabbit brought up by artificial rearing, which was why it was rather docile.
But it was clear that the plastic rabbit was now incredibly vexed.
‘It shouldn’t cause such a huge ruckus if it’s just in heat,’ Shen Cong thought with a frown. He did not have a lot of knowledge regarding animals’ actions, and his understanding toward mutated animals was even smaller.
But after three minutes’ worth of observation, he noticed something. The plastic rabbit was ramming its head against the same spot of the metal cage, and that spot was near the wall of the truck compartment.
Shen Cong realized that the plastic rabbit’s intellect had increased, for it was focusing its attacks on one spot.
He swiftly lifted the metal cage and spun it around in an attempt to interfere with the plastic rabbit’s sense of direction, even though the plastic rabbit did not show too many characteristics of a mutated animal and could not cause any sort of damage to the metal cage.
The plastic rabbit was forced to take a turn, and just as Shen Cong expected, an error appeared in its judgment. It rammed against the spot that was near the wall of the truck compartment again, but this time, it was no longer the same spot of the cage.
“Hmm?”
This was supposed to be something funny, but Shen Cong did not laugh, because he noticed that he had made an error in judgment himself. The plastic rabbit was not focusing on attacking one spot so that it could break out of its jail.
The plastic rabbit just kept ramming its head in one direction—northwest.
Shen Cong turned the cage repeatedly, but the direction the plastic rabbit rammed against was always the same
It was as if there was something there that was attracting the plastic rabbit, and it posed a great attraction. The plastic rabbit was already bleeding, but it did not relent and just rammed its head against the cage again.