Everyone got up in shock. "Who are you?" Shang Jun roared in anger.
Steve neither gave his introduction nor did he bother to reply. He rushed forward at a speed that couldn't be captured by anyone in the room and swung his sword at the young emperor.
Before he knew what happened, Shang Jun's left hand rolled on the floor and he screamed in pain with his knees touching the floor while the blood started dripping at a crazy rate.
Picking up the hand, Steve said, "The true heir to the throne says hello."
"Who is there... Kill him..." Shang Jun shouted but no imperial guard responded. As he desperately looked at Cao Wen, he saw the monk was shaking in fear.
Steve then left the palace in a hurry, bringing the hand to the spider-ship, where Mark was waiting for him.
Mark directly placed the hand with a fresh wound in his inventory and patted Steve's shoulder, "Good job."
"But, why?" Steve asked in confusion while protecting his body from cold using a layer of ether energy. "We are supposed to abduct him. Why did you change the plan at the last second?"
"I just remembered something, that's all," Mark didn't share his secret and just gave a vague answer.
Steve didn't probe into the matter too much and reported to him about what he did down there.
Mark's spider-ship returned to the Great Plains in a jiffy, where a camp was set up and everyone was resting inside their respective tents with the beasts guarding outside.
***
The next day morning;
"Hmm hm hmmm hmm..."
Song Yue was humming in a good mood as she was walking in the corridor. After seeing her mother after so long, it seemed as if all of the traces of her sadness had gone away, atleast on the outside.
As she reached Mark's room, she saw it was open. When she peeked in, she saw Mark was with Steve as they were drawing something on a large sheet of paper and discussing something in an unfamiliar language with her.
*knock* knock* knock*
She knocked on the door three times to get their attention.
Mark sprung on his feet while swiftly hiding the paper behind him before sending it to the inventory, "Good morning, Schatz." "Good morning, Mo... Miss Song."
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Weapon design" "venue design"
Both of them replied at the same time, although differently.
"Huh? What design?" Due to the overlapping of the words, she couldn't hear it properly.
"Miss Song, we actually..." Steve was about to say something, but his shin received a sharp kick from his dad. Winced in pain, he shook his head, "Nothing important."
"Hmm... what's so secrecy?" Song Yue only became more curious.
Mark walked forward and grabbed her shoulders with a smile, "Nothing, it is just something we are working on. Once it is done, I'll let you know. Alright?"
Song Yue nodded twice, letting out a smile.
Not intending to disturb him further, she left using an excuse that she would go and meet her mother.
After she disappeared from his sight, Mark turned around and gave a serious look to Steve, who apologized right away, "Sorry, I couldn't help but become nervous in Mom's presence."
"C'mon, she won't eat you." Mark casually commented, to which, Steve replied, "The one from my time was so strict and cold that I..."
"Stop right there..." Mark hurriedly interrupted him, "Didn't I tell you not to speak anything of the future?"
"Sorry." Steve apologized once again, looking down at his feet, "Without James on my side, it is tough to control myself speaking about it. I'll try my best to keep my mouth shut."
*Sigh*
Mark could only shake his head with a sigh and comment, "Sometimes, I forget that you are still a 14-year-old. Anyway, let's back to the venue design. You focus on that. We shall make it so grand that it should go down in history."
A few hours later;
Mark returned to the Great Plains in an LNovelFire, all alone.
After making sure that no one was around, Mark opened the inventory and clicked on the image that looked like a shiny object with solar panels all around.
In an instant, a large titanium cube appeared on the ground, slightly bigger than himself.
"Uhhh... this wasn't what I imagined," Mark was stunned for a second before activating his God's Eye ability.
Length: 320 meters
Width: 240 meters
Height: 120 meters
Weight: 1,264,778 kg
Armament: Direct Energy Weapons – Laser Cannons (2)
Ammunition Capacity: Unlimited
Cartridge type: High-energy lasers
Avg. speed of vehicle: 62,132 km/hr (Orbital velocity)
Range: 32,000 km
Fuel: Solar panels for power generation, advanced propulsion systems
Cruising Range: Indefinite (Orbital)
Armor: Advanced shielding technology (Rank-7)
Additional attachments: Docking ports for spacecraft, science laboratories, living quarters, observation decks, communication array
Description: An advanced orbital space station designed for scientific research, international cooperation, and exploration. Equipped with cutting-edge shielding technology, it serves as a hub for various space missions and can be used to protect the planet from extraterrestrial attacks.
Due to the consumption of a heavy amount of solar energy, the excess is used to push its speed above its intended orbital velocity.
Note: It shall be launched into space using a space rocket. Once it is placed into the desired orbit (400km), the host can unfold it to its full size.
SKILLS:
Active:
Descent: The space station can descend back to the planet without any side effects whenever the user wishes. Cost: 30% ether energy (max). CD: None
Teleportation: The user could teleport directly into the space station in the blink of an eye. Cost: 30% ether energy per one-way trip. CD: None.
Solar Beam: Using solar panels made from special materials, the space station can weaponize the solar energy it absorbs to shoot a Solar Beam at enemies with an attack power of 200% (max:9.9). Cost: 100% ether energy. CD: 24 hours.
Laser bullets: Using the laser cannons, the space station becomes the first line of defense for the planet against any invasion from space. Attack power: equal to 7.5. Cost: None. CD: 5 seconds. Range: 100 km.
Laser Beam: The Laser cannons, together, conjure a powerful laser beam and fire at the target with an attack power of 120%. Cost: 20% ether energy. Range: 1000 km.
The Third Eye: The space station momentarily scans the entire planet it was revolving around to find the desired object/person the user wishes. Cost: 25% ether energy. CD: None
Passive:
Connection: The space station, once set in orbit, will activate its connection with the system, thereby, letting the user control some of its functions, such as tracking environmental changes, studying and predicting natural disasters, gathering data on climate patterns, monitoring the movements of enemies and allies using deep scanning, etc...
Barrier: The space station absorbs solar energy and generates a barrier that protects from unknown attacks of any kind up to the 7-circle realm.
<<<Upgrade>>>
"Man, this kind of tech really needs the best upgrades. Too bad I'm out of cash already. Should I use Upgrade Stone or use the credit limit? I think I can upgrade it all the way to celestial grade. Who knows how powerful it will get..."
After thinking for a bit, Mark became against such an idea.
The superior grade upgrade stone is best used when the item is at Mythril grade so that it becomes Celestial grade and saves tens of millions of credits.
Furthermore, he won't be staying here for a very long time. Hence, it didn't seem worth using a credit limit and upgrading it three more times.
But, at the same time, there was also this curiosity about what kind of new abilities would the space station acquire in its upgrades, leaving him in a dilemma.
So, what should he do now?
In the end, he decided to play it safe.
Taking one last look at the details, Mark proceeded to take out the rocket launching station from its inventory.
The rocket launching station was quite simple, compared to the ones he witnessed in his past life. In fact, it was so simple that it doesn't even look like a launching station at all.
There were no complicated machines attached or huge structures built for operations and everything. Rather than a launching station, it looked more like a hundred-meter-long cannon placed on a large docking port.
"Where the hell is the rocket?" Mark couldn't help but wonder aloud.