Chapter 117: Spoils of War

"That genius named David must be stunned by the spaceship I designed!" a handsome young man said to himself with a smile in a luxurious room in Na'an City.

When Mr. Boon made his request, his only condition was that no one be allowed to enter the ship he had designed without permission. The ship was to be delivered directly to David. In Bonner's mind, this was a personal gift, and he did not want it to be inspected by others during the delivery process.

After inquiring repeatedly with the factory about the configuration specifications, Mr. Boon agreed. Regardless, it was still an S600 transport ship produced by the Titan Consortium; at most, it had a sturdier structure, an upgraded warp drive, and an added energy shield. A ship prepared for the heir, Bonner, to use personally would certainly not have any unreasonable arrangements.

As for the construction costs, to someone like Bonner, the heir to the Titan Consortium, building a ship in his own family's factory hardly counted as a cost. Moreover, did a gift from Bonner really need to be measured by its monetary value? Therefore, Mr. Boon did not realize that this S600 transport ship was actually a luxury vessel disguised as a cargo ship—a "big toy" designed by Bonner for his own low-profile travels.

David finally finished inspecting the entire ship. In a word, it was "opulent." After activating the intelligent navigation butler and the intelligent service butler, he also received more detailed documentation, including the ship's blueprints. What he had assumed was an ordinary cargo hold was actually anything but; hidden within were ten space-oscillation mine launchers.

Once deployed, space-oscillation mines cause a region of space to fall into spatial chaos. While they have no lethality, they are the ultimate means of escape. This characteristic ensures that no spaceport would classify them as weaponry. If the ship were to encounter enemies in space, the pilot could activate the energy shields, engage the warp drive, and then release a space-oscillation mine to prevent the enemy from entering warp state. This would allow the ship to evade pursuit; the mines were the best insurance for survival.

Of course, weapons possessing spatial capabilities are not easily manufactured and involve many federal secrets. Each space-oscillation mine is worth tens of millions, and more importantly, they are impossible to purchase.

"I owe a huge favor for this!" The more David studied the blueprints and documentation, the more he realized the ship's true value. This was far beyond what Mr. Boon had described. However, since the ship was already in his possession, there was no returning it.

After touring the ship, David did not linger. Among the ship's credentials was a landing permit for all spaceports in the cities of Rock Star. For medium-to-large ships, entering the near-space of any city requires following designated flight paths and docking at facilities qualified to handle such vessels, of which the city spaceport is one. Naturally, this incurs a fee, but the docking fees for all spaceports on Rock Star had already been paid for three years, so David didn't have to worry about those expenses for the time being.

Back home, David finally had the chance to remove the two grade-one weapons and the two exoskeleton armor cases from the Type-II Land Tiger armored vehicle. He looked at the armor cases with a hint of disappointment. Before obtaining the Land Giant Lion exoskeleton, he had longed for one, but now that he had received the military-grade one, he had suddenly acquired two more.

He first inspected the security systems on the cases, which featured biometric verification. Clearly, the creator’s security expertise was not high enough to stump David. Using his K2 military electronic countermeasures device, he managed to extract both sets of armor from their cases after a few minutes of work.

The two sets of armor had vastly different styles. One was clearly defensive, featuring thicker plating and an additional set of passive defensive plates mounted on the exterior. These passive plates were single-use; when struck by attacks exceeding their threshold, they would automatically release energy to deflect the blow, sacrificing themselves in the process. David shook his head; it was fortunate he hadn't let the mercenaries wear them. This suit alone could have withstood the onslaught of two heavy defensive machine guns.

The other set was the exact opposite: thin armor with components designed to enhance flexibility, giving it a bizarre, agile aesthetic. David noticed that neither set of armor had a size-adjustment feature, indicating they were not mass-produced, but either modified or custom-made. To David, their value dropped significantly; if he wanted to use them, he would need to find a professional to modify them to fit his frame.

The Land Giant Lion exoskeleton awarded to him by the military was a standard-issue model, capable of adjusting itself to the user's height and build. That this armor lacked such features meant it was likely custom-fitted for someone else. For many warriors with fixed physiques, the automatic adjustment feature was often seen as cumbersome and space-consuming.

Disappointed, David put the two sets of armor back into their cases. Perhaps he could have them modified later as backups, or sell them if he ever needed credits.

In contrast to the disappointing armor, the grade-one heavy axe was quite satisfying. It was a standard double-edged warrior's heavy axe with a retractable handle, allowing it to be used for daily combat or extended for use while wearing an exoskeleton. As for the final grade-one item, a military dagger, David was quite surprised. Garen had mentioned that longswords were rarely used among warriors, but David had at least seen them; this was his first time encountering someone who used a military dagger. Unfortunately, even at its lightest, the grade-one dagger weighed over three kilograms, making it too heavy for his Shadow Servant to wield. The original sheath had not been made of grade-one material and had failed to survive the heavy machine gun fire.

After stowing the grade-one weapons and the armor cases, David felt he had finally acquired his first real batch of warrior-level spoils. He summoned his Shadow Servant and placed a hand on its shoulder. A faint warmth flowed into him, though his soul felt no particular rush of pleasure before the sensation vanished. Looking at the attribute panel, which still displayed a value of 5.01, David understood that any further progress in spiritual power would require absorbing a vast number of souls or the soul of a much stronger individual.

He felt little excitement while checking the knowledge orbs within the Shadow Servant. Having a stockpile of unabsorbed orbs, he knew the knowledge from two mere mercenaries was of limited help. However, he had underestimated them; both were yellow knowledge orbs: Heavy Axe Mastery (78% Proficiency) and Contortionism (65% Proficiency). During the previous battle, the Shadow Servant had absorbed the souls of thirty-five civilian warriors, ten of which had provided Heavy Axe Mastery orbs, but all of them had been at the "Skilled" level. This proved that the mercenary wielding the heavy axe was truly an elite.

As for the Contortionism ability, David couldn't know its full utility until he fused with it. Regardless, seeing both orbs reach the "Proficient" level, he realized just how unjustly those two mercenaries had died. They hadn't even had the chance to display their strength; their armor had been stolen, and they had been forced into the line of fire of heavy machine guns, unable to retaliate before being shredded by thousands of rounds of ammunition.