Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 480: The Energy of the Fruit Core
"Take me away? How do you take me away? Blow this thing up again?" The corner of the hound's mouth twitched twice. "Are you sure that this will allow me to escape instead of entering the small dark room where you were just locked up?"
"Of course not, but using this thing as a medium to trigger the teleportation mechanism in the tunnel." Ke Lan said.
"Transmission mechanism? Where is it?"
The second piece of memory that Ke Lan saw in the abnormal space was Park Sang-woo standing inside the tunnel and stuffing the things in his hands into the crystal slots on both sides of the tunnel used to power the lighting equipment.
Although Ke Lan could not see clearly what Park Sangyou was holding in his hand, the voice-over in the memory fragment told him clearly that it was a "super-pure crystal" from the inside of Leviathan.
Arasaka Yui once said that the energy contained in a "super-pure crystal" the size of a grain of rice is equivalent to one thousand four hundred standard units of level nine energy crystals, and the one in Park Sang-woo's hand is obviously much larger than a grain of rice.
Those crystal slots are not just used for lighting!
" Leighton, is there any equipment that can be used to test the level of energy crystallization?" Ke Lan asked.
"Yes." Layton searched in his backpack and took out something that looked like a vernier caliper. "It's a crystal measuring ruler. Although its accuracy is not as high as the equipment used to grade energy crystals in the trading house, it's almost the same. Those who buy crystals on the black market like to use this."
In fact, Layton's explanation was a bit redundant. People like Ke Lan were old hands who had been in society for many years. They knew exactly how many public toilets there were in several famous black markets in the Ark, not to mention these props that were almost necessary for opening a store.
The status of the crystal measuring ruler in this era is as important as the cash register computers and barcode scanners in stores in the old era. If we go back thousands of years, it would be equivalent to the ancient abacus and beam balance.
Although experienced people can roughly determine the level and remainder of energy crystals with just their eyes and hands, specialized tools are still required for precise measurement.
This is like those butchers in ancient times who had been selling meat for decades. They could tell the weight of a piece of meat just by weighing it with their hands. However, when actually making a transaction, the cut meat still had to be weighed to convince the buyer.
The operation of the crystal measuring ruler is very simple. You only need to place the energy crystal in the middle of the measuring claw, turn the nut to clamp it, and then turn on the power switch. The specific level of the energy crystal and the remaining energy balance inside will be displayed on the display screen on the ruler.
Crystal measuring rulers are divided into two types: A and B. The most common ones in the black market are B-level measuring rulers, which can only detect energy crystals of level 5 or below, and the minimum unit of balance measurement accuracy is one percentage point. The measuring ruler that Layton took out is an A-level measuring ruler that can only be seen in large merchants or official trading houses in the black market. It can measure energy crystals from level 1 to 9, and the balance measurement is accurate to two decimal places.
Of course, better things are naturally more expensive. The price of a second-hand Grade A measuring ruler is enough to buy a whole box of brand new Grade B measuring rulers, and they are often out of stock. The price-performance ratio between the two is simply a world of difference.
The price of a new Class A measuring ruler is almost as much as a desktop measuring device weighing several tons.
Among them, the most important reason is that the core component of the A-level measuring ruler adopts a part of the crystal structure excavated from the Alpha ruins to "stabilize the beam" of the output power of the energy crystal - this thing cannot be made by human technology, and even cannot be imitated. More than 95% of the cost of the entire ruler comes from this small crystal structure chip.
"This thing won't work. It will explode." Ke Lan took a glance and shook his head.
"This is an A-grade measuring ruler, not the cheap stuff you can find everywhere. Even a ninth-grade crystal can't make it exceed the limit." Leighton said. When he saw Ke Lan say no, he thought Ke Lan had mistaken the A-grade measuring ruler he took out for a B-grade measuring ruler that could only measure a maximum of fifth-grade crystals.
"Do you remember the 'ultra-pure crystal' that the miners of the Soma Consortium found in Leviathan? The energy contained in that thing is several thousand times that of the ninth-level energy crystal. Even the crystal structure of the A-level measuring ruler can be burned in an instant."
"What? You said this thing is equivalent to several thousand level nine crystals?" Layton looked at the black "fruit core" in Ke Lan's hand in surprise, and his lips trembled. "The stability of this thing should be fine, right? If it explodes... I'm afraid that our group will not even have a residue left."
"Valkyrie has just blown one up. It seems that the safety performance of this thing is acceptable." Ke Lan tossed the "fruit core" twice in his hand, which immediately scared Leighton so much that his face trembled.
"Okay... If this player is really that terrifying, perhaps only this thing can test its energy strength." Layton raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, walked behind Valkyrie, and pulled out a metal cylinder with a diameter of 30 centimeters and a length of nearly one meter from a sealed cargo hold. The surface of this metal cylinder is even covered with a layer of silicone film to isolate the air.
"What is this?" The Hound walked around the thing, with a strange expression on his face. "This shape, and the silicone cover on the outside... It's easy to think of that thing, but to be equipped with a 'prosthetic' of this size, it must be a giant taller than the mecha, right?"
"Old dog, why is your head full of yellow garbage?" Layton rolled his eyes at him and said, "This is an energy converter specifically designed for the Phoenix series skeleton. It took the Ye Group six years to develop it. The cost of one unit is 7 million credit points."
"My goodness, if you pull out the things, won't the mecha be scrapped?" asked the hound.
"This is a spare. Can't you see that the sealing film has not been torn off?"
"What's the maximum energy intensity that this thing can withstand?" Ke Lan walked up to the converter and asked.
"This... I don't know. The limit test data is the business secret of the Ye Group and will not be released to the outside world. Moreover, this kind of data has no practical significance. No one will spend a lot of money to buy a converter for testing. After all, even if the converter is filled with level 9 crystals, it cannot be overloaded. But then again, who would use the precious level 9 crystals on this kind of single-soldier mecha? In my opinion, -"
"Alright, alright, stop talking - can we just tear this layer of membrane apart?" The Hound patted the converter that Layton had placed upright on the ground and pulled out a dagger from his waist.
Whenever the topic of equipment came up, Layton would immediately become more talkative. If the hound hadn't interrupted him in time, he would probably have talked for half an hour.
This is based on the premise that he is performing a one-man show. If there is a like-minded person discussing with him, this guy can even talk about the issue of a screw for a whole day.
"Well, but be careful not to scratch the heat dissipation metal tubes on the surface. In order to achieve the best heat dissipation effect, the walls of these metal tubes are made very thin." Layton supported the converter and reminded the hound.
"So fragile? Can it be used as a weapon?" Hound made a knife flower, selected a position, and cut the silicone film. "This thing is going to be installed in the mecha. It is inevitable that it will jump up and down and bump into things during combat. If it is really so fragile, what practical value does it have?"
"The base of this thing is magnetically levitated. If you have enough money, you can even replace it with a small anti-gravity device. The converter will not touch the inner wall of the engine when it is working, so there will be no problem of bumps." As Layton spoke, he held the pull ring at one end of the converter, rotated it ninety degrees counterclockwise, and carefully pulled out the inner core.
The inner core of this converter is made of graphite, gold and a special superconducting material. After power is applied, the temperature of this thing will drop to more than 200 degrees below zero. In that state, the resistance of the superconducting material will become zero, and the electrical energy converted by the crystals can be transmitted to the body with almost no loss.
After unscrewing the lid of the inner core, there was a space with a diameter of a fist. Ke Lan estimated that if it was filled with level-9 energy crystals, at least more than a hundred of them could be stuffed in. The energy converted from more than a hundred level-9 energy crystals was enough for a heavy cruiser to fly around Alpha several times. If it was a "lower" energy consumption unit such as a single-soldier mecha, there would be no problem in continuously operating for four to five years.
But compared with "ultra-pure crystals", it is still a long way off.
"For safety reasons, everyone please stand as far away as possible." Ke Lan asked the others to step back, while he himself stood in front of the converter holding the "fruit core".
Layton sprayed a large amount of curing foam on the tail of the converter, fixed the converter to the ground, and pulled out two wires from inside the Valkyrie and connected them to the electrodes of the thermostat.
Layton did not connect the output of the converter directly to the Valkyrie, because no one knew how much energy was stored in the "core". Once the output was overloaded and the engine was burned out, the mecha would be scrapped directly, and the reconnaissance team would lose their strongest combat unit.
The converter has spare parts, but the mecha engine does not.
Layton connected the output end to the power armor of the dead Security Bureau agent. Of course, in order to achieve the test effect, he removed the limiter of the armor's power furnace.
"That's it. Let Valentina take over the activation opportunity. Ke Lan, just put this thing in - hey! Wait a minute!" Seeing that Ke Lan was going to throw the "fruit core" directly into the converter, Layton shouted immediately.
"Be careful! It's better to be careful!" Leighton quickly handed a tube of gel to Ke Lan.
Ke Lan squeezed out a little gel on the "fruit core" and stuck the core to the inner wall of the converter.
"Stay away, I can't guarantee what will happen." Layton stared at the converter intently and slowly took two steps back.
"Yeah." Ke Lan nodded and retreated behind Valkyrie.
"Open the shield and get ready!" Leighton shouted in a deep voice.
Valkyrie and he opened their energy shields at the same time and stood in front of them.
"Three, two, one, power on!"
Valentina pressed the button in the cockpit.
The thermostat made a slight "hum" sound, and then the entire converter began to tremble violently -
"Why is this thing shaking so much? Layton, is this normal?" the hound in the distance asked nervously.
"Not normal! Not normal at all!" Layton's voice trembled a little, "Push the shield power to the maximum!"
The outer shell of the converter began to clang, and the outside of the armor's power reactor gradually began to melt!
Immediately afterwards, a large amount of black smoke came out from the cracks in the converter casing!
"The temperature... the external temperature of the converter has exceeded 500 degrees... this thing is going to explode!"
As soon as Layton finished speaking, the converter, which had reached its limit, exploded with a loud bang. The broken metal pieces hit the top of the tunnel and bounced back to the ground.
A large amount of blue and white electric arcs raged outward from the center of the exploding converter, and the power armor placed on the ground, only half a meter away from the converter, was instantly vaporized for the most part!
"Maximum power!! You must hold on!" Layton roared.
He and Valkyrie's two energy shields were at the front, constantly absorbing the arcs coming in this direction - these arcs were actually just the aftermath of the converter overload, but the aftermath alone was enough to almost penetrate the two energy shields.
"Cut off the circuit, cut it off quickly!" Layton shouted, "My shield is about to collapse!"
"It's already been cut off!" Valentina replied. "I cut it off when the converter started to smoke!"
Just when Layton's energy shield had become so thin that it was almost invisible, the raging electric arc finally disappeared, and a large pit more than half a meter deep appeared where the converter was originally placed.
As for the converter itself and the power armor, they were completely vaporized. The ultra-high temperature metal vapor slowly cooled down after coming into contact with the tunnel wall, forming a layer of colorful metal coating on the wall and ceiling.
"Huh... Huh... I almost... I almost got into trouble..." Layton gasped.
"A converter worth seven million... not even a scrap is left?" Hound swallowed with some difficulty, "Could this thing be the same as the super-pure crystal found inside Leviathan?"
"From a certain perspective, they are all energy carriers with huge reserves." Ke Lan walked forward despite the high temperature that had not completely subsided. The black "fruit core" was now lying quietly in the center of the bottom of the pit, and it looked completely unchanged.
"This thing doesn't conform to the law of conservation of energy at all!" Layton whispered, "Why does a monster transformed from a human have this kind of thing inside his body? If he can possess so much energy, wouldn't he be a superman?"
"It has nothing to do with Park Sang-woo." Ke Lan bent down, "The monster was not transformed by him, but was 'summoned'."
