Chapter 730: Director Kenneth

Chapter 730: Director Kenneth

“To be honest… It’s a lot harder than we thought. This is different from the Golems or Traps that require energy cores. It’s too complicated.” Eiralenya replied.

Controlling Golems and movable traps was also difficult. However, the Mech Frames were just too different. The weapons, the humans controlling them, the combat method, and even the Spirit Energy factor, made it more complicated for them, especially if the battles took more than 20 minutes.

“Well.. That’s not surprising…” Shane muttered as he knew that it wouldn’t be that perfect in the first place.

Soon, Shane confirmed that they were working on massive reactors… In the center was one of the high-purity Mana Stones.

Suddenly, the stone flared violently.

A ripple of raw magic burst outward, shaking the workshop.

An elven technician was thrown back—but before he hit the ground, vines slithered up from beneath the tiles, cushioning him.

“Mana surge. This is the third time since yesterday night…” Eiralenya murmured. “Tsk…”

Shane narrowed his eyes. “Getting too unstable for a combat application?”

“Hmm… Not really. Just a little…” she replied with a wry smile. “That’s where your New Genesis tech comes in anyway. With the magnetic dampeners from your Mech Division and our rune harmonizers, we’ve started seeing ‘mana equilibrium’—a stable state lasting over 40 minutes.”

The operation time had increased by 100%… It was already considered a success. However, it was still not the perfect Mech they needed.

Shane then started sharing some of his ideas to Eiralenya, as he also had a bit of knowledge about Mana Stones as a battery during his time in the Fairy Realm Collision Apocalypse.

After some time, they entered the next chamber—a test facility unlike any Shane had seen. Yes, he didn’t even know that this place existed.

There, embedded in the center of a containment column and floated a stabilized Mana Core. Soft-blue rings of energy rotated around it, perfectly aligned.

It doesn’t feel like he was in the Zombie Apocalypse anymore. It felt like he was back in the Fairy Realm, a world of fantasy and magic instead.

“Watch,” Eiralenya suddenly said, and gestured.

A dummy AEGIS-core unit was wheeled into the room. At her signal, the Mana Core linked to it via fine magical threads. The dummy reactor lit up—first blue, then brilliant white. The test frame levitated slightly off the ground, powered solely by the refined mana.

“Auto-levitation… from a single Mana Core?” Shane’s brows rose.

“You can already do this?” He was shocked.

This was already beyond his plans. In his mind, it would take them several years to make it happen.

“Indeed. We’re doing secrets research, you know? The World Tree that you planted for us. It was still young, but it’s giving us the inspiration we needed. Anyway, the stone provides gravitic modulation and sustained high-output channeling. Theoretically, it can replace or supplement the current fission-mana hybrid reactors used in AEGIS frames. You could reduce weight by 40% or more.”

Before Shane could respond, alarms flared red.

“Containment fluctuation detected. Core destabilizing!”

Inside the chamber, the Mana Core pulsed violently—blue turning red, then white-hot.

“Emergency dampening!” Eiralenya snapped.

Three elven technicians sprinted to the mana pillars and began channeling stabilization spells or magic…

Shane instinctively stepped forward, but Eiralenya raised a hand.

“No. Just Watch.”

One of the elves, a young Crystalwright named Caelyr, thrust his hand forward, his palm etched in complex patterns… Then, he murmured an ancient invocation in Elvish, and released a spell that wrapped around the core like a silken thread.

After a few moments, the unstable surges faded. The lights dimmed, and the core settled into a low, steady pulse.

The chamber sighed in relief.

“Caelyr…” Eiralenya said proudly, “…will be our first test pilot for pure Mana Core-powered Mech Frame. No Power Cores or Fuel… It means that only those with affinity with Mana can drive this thing.”

“What?” Shane was shocked. He didn’t want that. He wanted this to be mass-produced after all.

However, Eiralenya just laughed after seeing his reaction.

“Hahah! I’m just kidding. This thing can also function with human pilots. Don’t worry… The controls will be a bit trickier than before but it will work.”

“Haa… You got me there…” Shane said with his eyes on the elf who had saved the day.

But Caelyr approached him and looked hesitant. “Commander… forgive me, but… I was hoping that your pilots would understand both mana flow and battlefield intuition. Someone like you.”

‘Ohh… He knows that I can read the Mana Flow?’ Shane mused while looking at the young elf.

Eiralenya added, “We were going to ask eventually. It heard that sync rate is already at 92%… Do you want to pilot this Mech instead?”

Shane looked at the suspended Mana Core.

“Let’s do a few more tests… I’m not really comfortable piloting a Mech Frame.” Shane replied as he still had his Bio-Armor and his Metal Slime, Silver.

He believed that it was already more than enough for him. He knew that these elves just wanted to give him more protection once he went outside the shelter to raid Zombie Lords.

However, they shouldn’t worry about him at all.

***

Shane stepped out of the elven’s workshop…

He had learned much today—far more than he expected. But there was still another critical stop to make before the day ended.

New Genesis’ Research Division.

Unlike Eclipse Domain, where Anna and her Alchemy Corps worked tirelessly on the antivirus program, New Genesis handled something far older… and arguably more dangerous: weapons research, derived from the relics of the previous civilization buried deep beneath the shelter’s foundations.

He soon entered the eastern region of the shelter…

He passed through the restricted corridor marked Sector C-0: Vault R&D Access Only.

A retinal scan under Cloud’s control confirmed his identity, and the armored door opened to reveal a descending lift platform.

There was a female operator on the lift who greeted him.

“Welcome, Commander Shane. Deep Research Bay?”

“Yes…” Shane replied.

As the lift descended, Shane was already looking forward to the result of the research team…

This lab, hidden from public knowledge, had been uncovered, and the reason why New Genesis Shelter was built here…

When the lift finally halted, the air inside the chamber felt heavier…

Waiting at the base was Director Kenneth, an older man who was previously recruited by his Territory Lord Talent and became a teacher in the Springriver Manor and Bart’s drinking buddy!

This time, however, his degrees in education were fully put to use instead of just teaching children. He had become the leader of the Research group!