Pillar of Yita

At the Artisan’s Office, Fang Hong first updated his woefully outdated identity information, upgrading from a third rank Silver Star Craftsman (level 3) to a first-rank Golden Star Craftsman (level 14). The Silver Star and Golden Star artisan system is a standard classification for alchemists that is universal in Colin Ishurian and above the Sky Sea—where Silver Star, in particular, refers to those alchemists between unofficial and official designation, which of course, also includes the vast army of apprentices.

Compared to the Summoners System, each level in the Silver Star system is a rank, with one to three stars being apprenticeship ranks. Craftsmen considered official alchemists after four stars, are still regarded as greenhorns by the internal community of the Artisan Association. However, for any contemporary town functioning on Magic Guided Engineering, maintaining a sizeable group of Silver Star craftsman is indispensable.

Silver Star craftsmen are like the large and small parts on a precise construct, seemingly insignificant yet essential; furthermore, these individuals are the reserves for full-fledged craftsmen, and no prominent artisan has been without such a phase.

Only after reaching level 10 could an alchemist receive their first Golden Star. However, there are only five ranks within the Golden Star, each ten levels apart, with a five-star craftsman basically capable of holding the position of department head in any local Artisan Association. Beyond that, craftsmen are not differentiated by levels, but by three titles instead: Grand Artificer, Great Alchemist, and Legendary Alchemist.

Like all other professional guilds, rank symbolizes prestige and of course brings a lot of practical benefits, such as free access to certain knowledge and skills. Fang Hong, having missed an opportunity in Elpaxin, naturally would not let it pass here—

However, leaping from a third-rank Silver Star Craftsman to a first-rank Golden Star Craftsman naturally caused quite a stir, and the staff hurried over to see who this eminent person was who had not updated their identity information in many levels.

Such individuals are either madmen or geniuses, essentially akin to the Sword Saints in certain ancient games.

Fortunately, this was the Royal Capital, where such occurrences, though rare, weren’t unprecedented. After a bout of curiosity, the crowd finally dispersed, and to Fang Hong’s relief, no one recognized him.

The staff member assigned to attend to them was an elf lady from Avenquin, about the age of Princess Briana. She curiously glanced at Miss Fairy on his shoulder before asking,

”Do you need to acquire some skills and knowledge?”

Fang Hong nodded, ”Naturally.” That was precisely his purpose for coming here.

He presented a form listing the designs he needed, first among them were the ’Screeching Banshee’, ’Ts-1 Stalker’, and ’Engineering Machine’—various flexible constructs.

The ’Screeching Banshee’ was developed from the basic model of the Clockwork Fairy; it was about a foot long, sized midway between a Clockwork Fairy and the Annihilator QV700, shaped somewhat like a slender-waisted wasp. However, its attack mode is not a sting but seven floating bombs it carries.

Its attributes are as follows:

’Screeching Banshee[Basic Model] (Equipment Level, E grade)’

Basic Attributes: Attack 11-16, Melee Accuracy 113, Balance Value 172 (Flight Level: Agility)

Protection Attribute: Armor Value 4, Durability Rating 22, Evasion Value 450, Block Value 4

Core Attribute: Output Power 112/170M (Flight Power System 41, Precision Components 15, Subsystems 17, Cooling System 32, others 7), Overload Permitted (11 seconds), Core Heat Value: 22/220

Self Weight 13Kg, Combat Bearing 5kg

Weapon: Needle Sting, 7X Floating Bombs (max 4-second hang time [adjustable], 3-7 damage (ignores shield, armor), five-meter radius, causes 1-second stun), or 2X Flash Bangs (15-meter radius anti-invisibility)

Skill Set—

Dive Bombing: When dive bombing, accuracy increases by 50%, core heat +7

Rapid Balance: Balance Value returns to full within 2 seconds, cools down in three minutes, core heat +30

The concept here is essentially that of a small bomber, although its damage is nowhere near that of a Fire Giant. However, the one-second stun from the floating bombs (without immunity) and the anti-invisibility from the flash bangs are particularly useful features, and are among the special constructs most commonly used by Combat Artisans.

After personally experiencing the power of invisibility potions in the underground of the Black Holy City, Fang Hong became particularly interested in this device. If invisibility is on his side, well and good, but if it’s on the opponent’s side without suitable countermeasures, it could be very uncomfortable.

Although the Screeching Banshee itself is quite expensive, roughly equivalent to an Energy Angel, the floating bombs it carries are quite cheap, costing less than one-sixth of a Clockwork Fairy, and can therefore be equipped in large numbers. The cost of Flash Agents is somewhat higher, but still within an acceptable range.

Then, its calculative power usage is 62, which drops to 31 when halved, just over half that of an Energy Angel’s 102 (if not stated otherwise, all are basic computational power usage values), which is also within his endurance range. And after this leap of five or six levels, his computational power will also increase significantly.

The other two types of constructs, ’Ts-1 Stalker’ and ’Engineering Machine’, are similarly special type constructs. The ’Ts-1 Stalker’ is actually a Variant Walker, similar to his ’Sword Hong’ construct—its main function is to generate a gravity trap within its range equivalent to an Annihilator QV700.

Then although this thing is extremely fragile, with hardly mentionable attributes, it possesses a very high mimetic ability, and its concealment value is off the charts at this level, making it a mobile mine on the battlefield.

In unexpected situations, it often plays some surprisingly critical roles. And since it’s a neutered version of the QV700, its computational power usage is only 32 (16), just slightly higher than a Clockwork Fairy’s.