Ke Yunyao lightly patted her forehead. Ah! How did she forget this?
She injected spiritual energy into the model, activating the mecha’s weapon compartment.
She had actually forgotten that every mecha came equipped with basic weapons. Now it was fine—no need to hesitate anymore. She could directly modify them here.
Inside were only two weapons: a laser sword and an energy rifle. Both were A-rank weapons. Ke Yunyao didn’t bother choosing—she would modify both.
Anyway, she hadn’t spent much time making the coating earlier, so there should still be enough time.
……
“Eh? Is this candidate drawing inscriptions?” the female examiner enlarged the feed of Ke Yunyao’s lab.
“There are fewer than ten publicly available inscription patterns on the StarNet, right? What is she trying to draw?”
“Can you figure it out?”
The red-haired examiner observed carefully and said, “This looks like an inscription for energy amplification, but also not quite. It might be a private design.”
“But did you notice what material she’s using to draw it?”
Inscription carving wasn’t as simple as copying a diagram. It required precise spiritual control and careful material selection. The type of pigment used also affected the final result.
The female examiner shook her head. “Let’s just watch. Her movements look quite practiced. She probably trained at home a lot.”
The male examiner agreed. “Indeed, she’s very skilled.”
Although the pattern didn’t look exactly like what they expected, it carried a certain rhythm to it—enough to tell that it was functional. It was definitely effective, though the exact effect was still unclear.
……
In the footage, Ke Yunyao took out a dedicated engraving pen from the lab and filled it with pigment made from minerals she had extracted and refined with spiritual energy.
The pigment would flow from the pen tip. The engraver had to guide it with spiritual energy along the required path, following the design. Not a single stroke could break—once interrupted, the inscription would fail.
Ke Yunyao took a deep breath and focused, beginning the inscription.
After some time, the inscription was finally completed. The moment she stopped, a streak of flowing light flashed across it—the sign of success.
She felt a surge of joy.
Heh. She succeeded!
She didn’t check the effect immediately. Instead, she quickly proceeded to carve inscriptions onto the energy rifle as well. This one took longer.
She lost track of time. Before she could test the effects of either weapon, the time limit ended and she was instantly ejected from the space.
Ke Yunyao was annoyed. “Why wasn’t there any reminder?”
“I haven’t even checked the results yet. What if it doesn’t work?”
Thinking of this, she started worrying.
If she didn’t do well, could she still get into the Federation First Military Academy?
Sigh.
If only she had applied for the pharmacy department. Once enrolled, she could still audit mecha courses anyway. But there were no “if onlys.”
Why hadn’t she thought of that before applying?
Sigh.
She lay in the star pod, sighing.
The results would only be released in two days. No matter how anxious she was, it was useless now.
She composed herself and left the pod.
“Junior, you may leave after completing the exam. Results will be sent to your StarNet device in two days.”
“Alright, thank you.”
She no longer addressed them as seniors—she still didn’t know whether she had passed.
……
Ke Yunyao was the earliest to finish. The three examiners immediately checked her work after she was ejected.
There were specialized machines to evaluate the mecha model, but weapons required actual usage to determine their effects.
After scanning the modified mecha model, most parameters showed little change—except one that was astonishing.
The red-haired examiner screamed: “What?! The defense of the mecha model increased by 50%?”
“How did she do that?”
The three examiners stared at the result in shock, then immediately pulled up the exam footage.
After watching, they fell into confusion.
The male examiner murmured, “How did she manage the combination of Flowing Light Stone and Black Iron Stone?”
“Black Iron Stone can increase hardness, but I’ve never seen such a large boost.”
“Could it be that her spiritual energy is different?”
Everyone’s spiritual energy is slightly different. Even within the same grade, it can have unique characteristics. That’s why some people excel at refining materials and others do not.
The female examiner speculated, “Maybe it’s just the proportions of materials she used.”
Since it was a personal formula, they couldn’t investigate too deeply.
In any case, the result was real—this alone was enough for her to pass.
The red-haired examiner said, “Let’s look at the two weapons next.”
“Alright.”
The three of them immediately shifted attention.
The mecha model’s weapons were scaled down, but once an A-rank star core was installed, they could still be activated.
A star core was the energy nucleus inside star beasts, storing energy, and its rank corresponded to the beast’s level.
One examiner took the laser sword, installed the star core, and activated it.
“Holy—” all three of them widened their eyes.
What is this?
The one-meter linear laser blade had turned into a one-meter-radius fan-shaped laser field.
“…How is this supposed to be used?”
Silence.
The female examiner guessed cautiously, “Does this count as increasing attack range?”
It turned from a line into a fan.
The red-haired examiner and the male examiner: “……”
After a moment, the male examiner asked, “Isn’t the reason laser swords are linear because they concentrate energy? Wouldn’t spreading it out weaken it?”
“Just test it,” the red-haired examiner said.
So the female examiner measured the energy output.
“Huh? The energy output isn’t weaker than a normal laser sword. But it will consume the star core faster.”
The red-haired examiner rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that obvious?”
Energy is fixed. Can a single line be compared to a fan-shaped output?