Chapter 242: Chapter 238: Rune Stacking

Translator: 549690339

Bai Qi once again picked up the blueprint and indeed noticed the presence of these discarded runes.

“Discarded runes?”

Upon hearing Bai Qi’s words, Lu Qing appeared somewhat puzzled and took a look at the blueprint, saying, “These runes are familiar to me, they’re used to buffer external energy impacts, not discarded runes.”

“I see.”

Bai Qi gave a slight nod, still feeling like something was off. His eyes darted around, and he immediately rushed to the hall to study the White Meeh.

Even though all group data was shared, the processed data still wasn’t as clear as observing the original object.

“Found it.”

Soon enough, Bai Qi found the runes he had just noticed on the heels of the White Meeh’s feet.

As Lu Qing had mentioned, these runes seemed to be used to buffer energy impacts, and didn’t serve any apparent purpose.

Bai Qi stared at the runes in front of him with a confused look, unable to figure out the issue. He decided to hop onto a flying device and conduct a thorough inspection on the White Meeh, and, indeed, found similar runes in other locations.

“They’re evenly distributed at varying contact points, ostensibly working as buffers, but something seems off.”

Bai Qi looked down at the White Meeh in front of him, all the while recalling the battle scenes with the Black Sky Meeh.

“It seems like the Black Sky Meeh only reacts after absorbing an impact?” Looking at the various random arrangements of runes, Bai Qi seemed to have an idea and ran over to a holographic projector and started operating it.

Lu Qing, who had followed Bai Qi to the projector and noticed him drawing on the holographic image of the White Meeh, was curious but didn’t interrupt, simply observing silently.

Simultaneously, the composed President Qin and Xiao Ding, having noticed Bai Qi’s actions, set aside their tasks and gathered around Bai Qi to watch.

After a short while, Bai Qi finally stopped. The holographic projection of the White Meeh now displayed a brand-new rune structure that Bai Qi had highlighted.

This structure ran through the entire rune structure of the White Meeh, yet none of them served as a core rune.

It seemed more like a link connecting these different rune systems.

“So that’s how it is, a base rune structure, with multiple rune structures designed on top of it in three dimensions, each independent yet interconnected. When the exposed sensing runes detect external energy, they can react accordingly. This layered design; the Law Emperor really was ingenious.” Looking at the endlessly rotating new structure in front of him, Bai Qi had an epiphany. The multi-rune structure of the White Meeh, which had previously puzzled him, instantly became clear as crystal.

“But why does this thing look so much like a slave contract? The Rune Meeh shouldn’t need this, should it?”

Having solved one problem, Bai Qi was struck by a new question.

“Because within this mech, the soul of a legendary ferocious beast is bound.”

Hearing the voice beside him, Bai Qi woke from his reverie, realizing that he was surrounded by people.

“Uh, what’re you all looking at?”

Being stared at by so many people, Bai Qi awkwardly scratched his head, quickly realizing they were all drawn in by the hidden rune system he had just uncovered.

Xiao Ding let out a heavy sigh, saying, “I never thought that the hidden core system we were searching for all this time would be found so easily by you, should we just admit that we’re getting old?”

“This is the core system?”

Bai Qi froze upon hearing the words, clearly emerging with a sense of newfound importance. Xiao Ding continued, “The Law Emperor wasn’t the first person to invent a Rune Puppet, but Rune Puppets reached their peak during the Era of the Law Emperor because of the layered rune system he invented.” “Expanding runes from two-dimensional to three-dimensional is the primary objective of our analysis group.”

Upon hearing Xiao Ding’s words, Bai Qi was surprised, “So, does that mean I finished early?”

“In your dreams.”

President Qin smacked Bai Qi’s head with irritation, saying, “The core system is just the foundation. The additional subsystems are the source of the White Meeh’s abilities, but you have indeed saved us a whole lot of trouble.”

At President Qin’s words, everyone nodded in agreement, once again acknowledging the incredibly gifted young man.

As renowned Rune Masters of the Federation, they of course had an understanding of the layered rune system from the Era of the Law Emperor.

However, this system doesn’t have many constraints, and the more additional subsystems there are, the harder it becomes to detect the core system.

For legendary combat powers like the White Mech, which had over ten additional subsystems, it was definitely a challenging task to identify them. That’s why they were divided into smaller groups, intending to identify all the additional subsystems, then find a common thread.

Unexpectedly, Bai Qi had managed to uncover them all at once using some “discarded runes” they had overlooked.

Although it hadn’t been verified yet, it seemed highly likely given Xiao Ding’s expressions.

“So, it’s not finished yet…”

Upon hearing this, Bai Qi came to an understanding and asked Xiao Ding curiously, “Master Xiao, you mentioned earlier that the soul of a legendary ferocious beast was bound here, is that true?”

Xiao Ding nodded and said, “You didn’t think that Rune Meehs were all controlled remotely by Beast Masters, did you?”

Bai Qi painted an awkward smile, quite frankly, that was exactly what he had originally thought.

“The Era of the Law Emperor was not like the present time, where the Mechanical Engineering Department can possess computational abilities far exceeding that of ordinary pets through a spiritual awakening. Back then, humans did not have the means to control spiritual awakenings. So, in order to ensure the flexibility of the Rune Puppets, the Law Emperor came up with a way to replace human control with the souls of Ferocious Beasts.”

Xiao Ding looked at the White Mech in front of him and said, “The strength of the soul bound by the Mech determines the number of rune systems it can bear. If a Mech, like the White Mech, possessing Legendary Combat Power, did not possess the soul of a Legendary creature, how could it carry such a powerful energy?”

Upon hearing Xiao Ding’s words, Bai Qi finally understood.

He devoted a huge amount of effort into wondering where the Rune Meeh’s control system was located, only to find out it was the soul of a Ferocious Beast. That said, the power and energy that drove the General Terracotta and kept it moving could also be the soul of a Ferocious Beast?

The act of extracting the soul and placing it in the Mech seemed very interesting…

Pure curiosity appeared once again on Bai Qi’s face, while Lu Qing was still immersed in Bai Qi’s previous actions.

He had effortlessly solved the problem that the analysis team had been working on for several weeks. Was his talent really that monstrous?

“Don’t belittle yourself. You have done quite well so far, it’s just that sometimes you have to learn to look at a problem from a different perspective.” Professor Dong walked up to Lu Qing and smiled gently, “The reason Bai Qi can see what we don’t see is that he never becomes obsessed with the problem itself.”

“Since I met Bai Qi, I have been able to figure out many problems that have puzzled me for years.”

“Not obsessed with the problem itself?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Qing pondered. It seemed that Bai Qi never really focused on studying one thing in depth, but he always found some unexpected breakthroughs.

So, being distracted isn’t necessarily detrimental?

Lu Qing shook her head, dispelling this absurd thought.

As human ability has its limits. If she were to do as Bai Qi did, she would probably end up achieving nothing.

It’s better to stay on your own path.

With that thought, Lu Qing’s expression became firm, and the shock caused by Bai Qi previously also completely disappeared.

Bai Qi didn’t notice Lu Qing’s changes. He was bursting with curiosity, after learning new knowledge from Xiao Ding, and kept questioning him.

“Master Xiao, does such a core contract also have the effect of preserving souls?”

“Since the soul of a Ferocious Beast can assist in fighting, it should retain consciousness, right? Wouldn’t it rebel?”

“Also, what exactly is the method of extracting the soul and sealing it? A Slave Contract should not have this capability.”

“And there’s also…”

Looking at Bai Qi, who was continuously asking questions, Xiao Ding frowned slightly, but before he could interrupt Bai Qi, President Qin at his side seemed a bit impatient.

“The legend is busy, I can answer these questions for you.”

President Qin looked unhappily at Bai Qi, “If someone misguides you in your cultivation path, that wouldn’t be good.”

Upon hearing President Qin’s words, Xiao Ding’s face turned sour, “Your method is wrong, isn’t it? You only focus on external supplementation, ignoring the training of the pet’s self-recovery ability. Such reliance on the battlefield is a death sentence.”

“Hmph, seems like I’ve spent more time on the battlefield than you, are you sure you want to argue about that with me?”

Seeing the two about to argue again, Bai Qi had a bit of a headache.

He still wanted to ask more confidential information, but how could he ask when these two were arguing?

“Well, I actually think you two don’t need to argue at all.”

As soon as Bai Qi finished speaking, the two instantly stopped. President Qin directly asked, “Then Bai Qi, who do you believe is right?”

Xiao Ding also stopped speaking, his eyes fixed on Bai Qi, apparently interested in Bai Qi’s views.

Feeling the intensity of their gaze, Bai Qi also felt somewhat intimidated, but in order to be able to ask the questions he needed, he said, “Master Xiao focuses on long-term development, and even the slightest advantage can accumulate into an absolute lead; while President Qin focuses on immediate effects, recovering combat power as quickly as possible to avoid accidents, right?”

The two nodded. In truth, both of them possessed these two healing methods, but they were unwilling to compromise on which one is more important.

Finally, someone has put these two items together, and they wanted to hear Bai Qi’s opinions.

Seeing the two agree with him, Bai Qi quickly stated his point of view.

“Since both of you believe your ideas are correct, why not combine them?” Upon hearing this, Xiao Ding shook his head and said, “Although pets can master multiple healing skills at the same time, if put on the battlefield, there will inevitably be a focus. After all, these two types of skills require different precision control of energy.”

“But if it’s like that, why not just not give it to the pets?”

Bai Qi pointed towards the stack of rune systems and said, “Didn’t we study the White Mech in order to create pet healing machinery?”