The longer Ziye spent with the Little Sprout, the more she felt it possessed infinite intelligence. Forget mechs; it could casually conjure blueprints for the most advanced starships, and they always appeared completely original.

Even many of the highly inventive concepts within the Ping An Mech were ideas it had guided her toward realizing. Sometimes, she wondered just how much unknown knowledge was stored within its body, which was light and airy, comparable in size to a cantaloupe.

The most magical thing was that the Little Sprout had no discernible seams anywhere on its exterior; it felt as natural as a human being. Because of this, despite her curiosity, she had no urge to dissect it for study.

To her, the Little Sprout wasn't a machine, but a companion, an assistant, perhaps even a mentor. She would never commit such a sacrilege against a comrade.

To ensure maximum security for the battleship, Ziye specified an armor thickness of 600mm, making it difficult even for heavy missiles to punch through. For outfitting, it adopted the heavy firepower assault configuration favored by Hong Fa, maximizing offensive capabilities.

In addition, a 300m³ drone bay was constructed, capable of carrying twenty heavy drones. Looking at the blueprints, Ziye felt a surge of fighting spirit throughout her body.

She could vividly imagine Hong Fa and the others sailing the battleship out into space, invincible against any foe. She loved that feeling.

Ziye sent the blueprints to the shared files, taking no rest, and immediately headed to her workshop to prepare the necessary tools for leaving Silver Rune Star. There were too many tasks remaining before departure; she had absolutely no time for idleness.

Before she even reached the workshop, a signal pinged—a message from Big Head. “Whoa, kiddo, that battleship design is seriously impressive!” Ziye felt a pang of guilt, letting out a dry chuckle.

“Not really, not really. I haven’t worked on battleships before, so the result might be quite far from practical application.

Take a look and give me some pointers?” Big Head laughed. “Pointers?

I wouldn’t dare. Why don’t you come over?

I’ll call everyone else to discuss it.” Ziye thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. Closing the communication link, she sighed inwardly.

There was no way she’d have time to pack today. However, this battleship project was too significant to just toss a blueprint at them; if anything went wrong, she would absolutely despise herself.

Putting away her preparation plans, she boarded an airship and headed toward Big Head’s residence. Recently, Big Head’s house had become the new gathering spot.

Hong Fa’s home was atop a snow mountain, which most people dared not visit; Old Dog’s place was deep in the forest, making access inconvenient; and Ziye’s own dwelling was on the periphery of Silver Rune, too distant. Since the Silver Rune Hotel hadn't been built yet, Big Head’s centrally located home was the undisputed choice.

When she arrived, she saw Little Xiao, the drone master, sitting under a tree outside Big Head’s door, strumming and singing his original composition, “Little One,” on his black guitar. “The little person sighs, for his heart is deeply wounded; the small dream still watches afar… only wishing to leave Silver Rune Star.” Ziye couldn’t help but cover her forehead.

Little Xiao heard the airship landing and looked up, waving one hand at her. “Hey, what do you think of my performance?” Ziye disembarked, patted his shoulder.

“Not bad. If you put this much effort into making drones, you’d certainly be better than you are now.” Little Xiao puffed out his cheeks indignantly.

“Who says? I work very hard on my drones!” He was an artistic youth who wore glasses, his blond hair neatly combed.

Aside from playing guitar and building drones, his specialty was acting cute. The name Little Xiao was one he specifically chose to play up this cuteness.

Two years ago, after learning that Ziye was called “Stinky Kid,” he felt a name was truly crucial to a person. Just imagine: no matter how handsome or professional Ziye was, being saddled with the moniker “Stinky Kid” turned everything into a joke.

Thus, he resolved to choose a name that suited him. Little Xiao was catchy, like a neighborhood kid’s name, yet full of poetry.

The key was that he felt Xiao (little) was synonymous with Zi (boy), and his name sounded better than Ziye’s. However, this deliberate attempt at malicious cuteness was met with universal disdain from everyone else, and it took him a full six months to get them to accept the name.

Ziye made a silly face at him. “Let’s go, brother.” Besides Little Xiao and herself, others present included relevant figures like Old Dog, Iron Hand, and Black Beard.

As for that group of total weirdos, they didn't understand high-tech things like battleships and were purely there to gawk. Big Head came out to greet her, noticing that An Junlie wasn't with her, and expressed surprise.

“The alien didn’t come?” Ziye paused, turning to him. “You don’t know the alien left Silver Rune Star?” Big Head clearly froze, scratching his head.

“Did it succeed?” He then realized what he asked and exclaimed loudly, “That Stinky Kid! How dare he sneak off without inviting us?” Little Xiao chirped, laughing, “Stinky Kid didn’t run off, Stinky Kid is right here.” Ziye rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“He’s probably facing dire circumstances; it’s better he went alone, paving the way for us.” Seeing the distress beneath her words despite what she said, Big Head quickly reassured her. “Don’t worry, don’t worry.

Good people are always blessed. Let’s get this battleship built quickly so we can go look for him.” Ziye nodded.

“Right. I recorded the route he took.

The top priority now is finalizing the battleship.” Big Head glanced around the hall, seeing that some people still hadn't arrived, and quickly started pinging them one by one on his communicator. Ziye sat down on the sofa, sipping rose tea, meticulously sorting through the battleship data in her mind.

She had put that file together in a rush, borrowing much of the information from the Little Sprout’s existing stock; she herself only half-understood many aspects. If anyone asked a probing question, she certainly wouldn't be able to answer it.

Once most people had arrived, Ziye asked the Little Sprout to project a holographic screen, displaying the three-dimensional simulation of the mech blueprint before everyone. Since she couldn’t explain the complexities as easily as she could with mechs, she focused on the major points.

“This is the result of the blueprint—the metal and alloy ratios largely reference the Dada that was shot down in the 69th engagement. The external shape is based on the kite design we flew last time.

Take a look first.” As she spoke, she stepped aside, gathered all the metal-related data, and sent it as a package to Iron Hand. “There are too many metals in the battleship for one or two people to manage.

I’m sending you the data; you’ll be responsible from now on. Prepare several robots as assistants; that will speed things up.” Iron Hand’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Sending it to me?” Iron Hand hadn't been familiar with metallurgy before. After arriving on Silver Rune Star, he had taken up mining just to survive.

He wasn't a professional, and he had no one on Silver Rune Star to teach him. Consequently, while he had figured out some things through his own exploration in mining, his knowledge of metals remained incomplete.

Ziye glanced at him. “What else?” Iron Hand stared blankly at her, looking deeply troubled.

“This is your creation; it’s your patent.” － [bookid=2405634,bookname=《The Artifact of Magic》] Finished old work, feel free to check it out ^_^