Chapter 455: Joining Great Horn
Three days later, on the main deck of Great Horn, Li Yao stood silently in a corner behind almost a hundred tall, muscular men and pondered over his next step.
He was still wearing a ragged mustard suit, with patches made of strengthened cloth here and there. There was a glittering gold emblem on his chest in the shape of a blaring bull's head whose nostrils were blowing out hot steam. Two great horns stuck out, indicating that the bull was everything but reasonable.
It was the battle emblem of the Great Horn Exo Society.
Joining the Great Horn Exo Society was the most appropriate plan that Li Yao could think of right now.
When he saw Gold Horn which had been close to a total-loss appearing in front of him, Li Yao had predicated precisely that, given the serious damage to the starship, it was impossible to get it repaired in such a poor town at the far end of the sea of stars. Instead, it had to undergo major maintenance at the professional docks in the central space zone of the Flying Star Sector.
The central space zone was exactly Li Yao's destination.
Besides, the starship was unlikely to perform a space jump due to the shabby conditions. It had to drift slowly in the sea of stars like a snail.
The journey would take one or two months if they were lucky, and three to five months if they were not. Refiners were required during such a long journey to stand by and maintain it when needed.
Joining the Great Horn Exo Society as a refiner meant that he could learn a lot of knowledge about starship maintenance and modification and better familiarize himself with the refining techniques of the Flying Star Sector. He would be able to further modify Sparkle after he got the gist of it.
Right now, distinctive features of Skeleton Dragon were still left on Sparkle, which meant that it had to remain hidden.
Only after fully understanding the style of the Flying Star Sector could Sparkle be disguised as a carrier or a small cruiser and appear in the main routes of the Flying Star Sector like every other starship did.
After all, the main routes were the safest routes. Cosmic storms and meteorite cascades were everywhere away from these routes. Veering off the main routes and drifting randomly in the unknown space could be a perilous adventure.
On the other hand, as an Exo Society, there were bound to be a lot of real experts in the Great Horn Exo Society. The fact that they were headstrong enough to pursue Fengyu Zhong's only son for more than two months made the fact that they had some aces on board evident.
As he expected, after the Great Horn Exo Society ported in Star Lord Temple for half a day, Li Yao heard that their leader was an expert in the Core Formation Stage!
It was definitely not a third-rate Exo Society. It might not be large in scale, but it seemed to boast abundant capability.
Li Yao's current goal was to study the knowledge of refining in every aspect as much as possible now that he was in the Flying Star Sector. The maintenance and modification of starships, the design and refinement of crystal suits, and the brand-new techniques of operating a crystal suit. He wouldn't mind learning any of them, but he just hoped that he could learn more.
The Great Horn Exo Society would be the best school right now.
Very soon, he was informed of the destination of the journey—Thousand Sail Space Zone.
Thousand Sail Space Zone was in the center of the Flying Star Sector, not far away from Heavenly Saints City. There were quite a few world fragments in the space zone that boasted both enjoyable landscapes and abundant spiritual energy. A lot of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures could be found there, too. Some of the world fragments even included hot springs which contained tremendous spiritual energy in liquid form. Soaking inside would be both beneficial for healing and training.
Therefore, Thousand Sail Space Zone was a favorite for the unaffiliated Cultivators and the free Exos. It was also the biggest logistic base for all Exo Societies.
Many Exo Societies liked to take a vacation and relax in the Thousand Sail Space Zone after they finished an arduous task.
During its busiest season, dense starships from various Exo Societies occupied the main route to and from the Thousand Sail Space Zone as far as one's eyes could reach. They were like thousands of ships cruising on a surging ocean with sunlight reflected by the waves. Hence the name Thousand Sail Space Zone.
Since it was sort of a logistic base for all Exo Societies, naturally, a lot of Cultivation sects had established branches there. Some of them were even headquartered there. They provided various kinds of service for the Exo Societies and helped the Exo Societies communicate with the space towns and exchange information about possible missions. There were also countless starship refining bases, the best maintenance docks, and crystal suit centers.
The Thousand Sail Space Zone was mixed with all kinds of people, some of whom were real experts and some just pretended to be. It was often the first stop for many beginners who had just stepped into the world of Cultivation.
Many vigorous, ambitions young men who had just awakened their spiritual roots and did not have any possessions often travelled in the Thousand Sail Space Zone with nothing but their two fists and their guts. They slew space pirates, demon beasts, and demonic Cultivators, eager to spread their name in the Flying Star Sector and make their own achievements!
In light of the situation, Heavenly Saints City hosted a number of matches in the Thousand Sail Space Zone every year in order to help the six sects of Heavenly Saints Alliance, the major universities, and the renowned crystal suit centers find and recruit new geniuses.
Thousand Sail Space Zone would be a great platform to jump into Heavenly Saints City.
Li Yao planned to stay in the Great Horn Exo Society for a couple of months and train himself with the skills to maintain a starship. In the meantime, he could also secretly learn the crystal suit techniques from the Exos of the Great Horn Exo Society.
After they arrived at the Thousand Sail Space Zone, he would part with the Great Horn Exo Society and try to win a ticket to Heavenly Saints City, the central metropolis of the Flying Star Sector and the ultimate holy land of Cultivation!
After all, Exo Societies valued freedom more than anything else. It was quite convenient to join or quit. Besides, the Great Horn Exo Society had specified when they were recruiting that they were just temporarily in need of some extra hands in order to bring their starship back to the Thousand Sail Space Zone. After they arrived at the Thousand Sail Space Zone, whoever wanted to leave was free to go.
By then, Li Yao's identity would be unfalsifiable with the Great Horn Exo Society endorsing it. Nobody would be suspicious that he was not a native of the Flying Star Sector!
Therefore, Li Yao signed up without any hesitation.
As for his identity, he decided to join the Exo Society as a pure refiner and hide his real capability as a battle-type Cultivator.
It was not because he was fond of laying low. After all, he was in desperate need of resources, and apparently, he would get none if he proved himself to be an incapable man.
The real problem was, if he was to reveal all his strength, somebody would definitely associate him with the uncanny death of Fengyu Ming.
Fengyu Zhong, Fengyu Ming's father, was very likely to be a Cultivator in the high level of the Core Formation Stage and an unparalleled brutal bandit!
Li Yao was not ready to fight a Core Formation Stage Cultivator face-to-face yet.
Moreover, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was also his biggest secret.
He had no doubt that, once the space pirates learned of this crystal suit which had been strengthened by the flesh and blood of a deadly demon and the scraps of the ancient magical equipment from forty thousand years ago, they would definitely rush over like shark who had smelled blood. If so, he wouldn't have a day of peace and would have to be prepared for assassinations even when he was on the toilet.
Therefore, Li Yao had positioned himself to be a self-taught expert in refining who had been born in a desolate world fragment in the corner of the Flying Star Sector, raised up by an eccentric expert, living a nomadic life among the relics of ancient battlegrounds, hit by a falling star, and eaten a crimson exotic fruit which eventually lead to the awakening of his spiritual root. Although he was not familiar with any Cultivation arts, he was talented in refining and had enormous physical strength. He was also a crazy fan of magical equipment maintenance.
After getting to know the world better, he had discovered that, perhaps because of the more abundant spiritual energy, the fortuitous incidents of the Flying Star Sector were much more frequent than those of the Heaven's Origin Sector.
Many Cultivators in this sector had experienced various kinds of fortuitous incidents. Being hit by a meteorite, meeting an old grandpa living inside a ring, a broken crystal suit that could talk, a super skill card mixed in with common skill cards...
His story was quite queer, but it was pretty plausible compared to what had happened to the real lucky dogs. Nobody would be jealous of him.
Keeping a low profile was never his style. Naturally, he would need to show off his skills in maintenance in order to be noticed by the Great Horn Exo Society so that he could be assigned to the real important maintenance work, thereby accumulating experience and improving his capability.
But things went against his will...
When he thought of the interview three days ago, Li Yao's face was somehow red. He scratched his messy hair with a self-mocking smile.
He had thought the refiners of the Great Horn Exo Society would've definitely been greatly impressed by him after he showed a tiny bit of his skills in maintenance and modification.
But as it turned out, the interviewer simply offered him a piece of strange magical equipment that was round and carved with stripes and lines and asked him to repair it.
Judging from the interviewer's countenance, it should be pretty common in the Flying Star Sector.
However, there was no such a thing in the Heaven's Origin Sector, and Li Yao had never seen it before. He was greatly embarrassed, and he could tell that it was definitely not appreciation in the eyes of the interviewer.
He was going to ask the interviewer to give him a second chance by examining a piece of different magical equipment, but the angry old man whose shoulders were as wide as door planks simply waved his hands and gnashed his teeth saying that he had passed the test.
It was quite a bummer for Li Yao.
He had never expected that the Great Horn Exo Society would be in such desperate need of hands that a Mr. Nobody, or even everybody whose limbs were intact, would be recruited as long as they signed up.
Later, he learned that the bad-tempered old man was the director of magical equipment and the chief refiner of the Great Horn Exo Society.
Many a time, Li Yao was of a mind to explain to him that he was indeed an awesome refiner.
However, over the past few days, there had been quite a lot of maintenance tasks. The old man was either busy doing his job or on his way to do his job. He had no chance to talk to him at all.
Besides, Li Yao was taking an orientation for the newly recruited, too. He didn't have much spare time himself.
Alright. Maybe I'll just leave it behind and sort everything through after we set off.
Li Yao had figured it out himself. There was no way that a newcomer such as himself could get in touch with the real essential maintenance work. After all, it concerned the lives of hundreds of people. He had to start from the ground.
I'm only a mechanic right now. As long as I do my job well, they will realize my capability sooner or later. After all, the journey will take at least one to two months. If we are unlucky, or something goes wrong, we might not even be able to reach the Thousand Sail Space Zone in five months.
Right now, the personnel of the Great Horn Exo Society were badly distributed. Two thirds of the refining posts were empty. It wouldn't be enough even if every refiner on board were split in two.
Li Yao believed that he would definitely have the opportunity to surprise everyone.
At this moment, all the members of the Great Horn Exo Society gathered in the ceremony for the take-off.
It was also a memorial for their sacrificed companions over the two-month hunting game.
During the two months, the Great Horn Exo Society and the space pirates of Storm Prison had collided nineteen times. 146 members of the Great Horn Exo Society had perished. It was no doubt a great loss.
Yet, the ambiance in the memorial ceremony was not very solemn. Everybody was quite relaxed. Some of them were even wearing carefree smiles.
Lei Dalu, their captain, was jumping up and down, his hands waving and his legs kicking like a giant dancing monkey.
Seeing that he brayed and sprayed his saliva everywhere without the least concern of his image, Li Yao was greatly baffled.
Is this sloppy, messy uncle really an expert in the Core Formation Stage?