Chapter 1873: Chapter 1266: Hope for Revival
After obtaining the two magic mounts, Duanmu Huai left satisfied. Meanwhile, the open area behind the Stormwind City auction was strictly sealed off.
“Is this the mecha that the adventurer brought out?”
Varian stared at the over four-meter-high mecha before him with a serious expression, while the gnome merchant stood nearby, not daring to breathe heavily.
Duanmu Huai didn’t know that the royal family was actually controlling this transaction from behind the scenes. Even when they first came to the auction house, SI:7 had been keeping an eye on them. After the transaction between Duanmu Huai and the gnome merchant fell through, SI:7 agents immediately approached the gnome merchant to inquire about the situation.
Upon learning that the gnome was willing to barter due to lack of funds, SI:7 realized it was a great opportunity to investigate the gnome’s background. So they asked the gnome merchant to negotiate again with Duanmu Huai to see what could be exchanged.
Of course, thermite bombs were out of the question; their power was too great to safely store anywhere. Eventually, the agents suggested limiting transactions to non-military uses.
As for the money for the two magic mounts, it naturally went through the royal treasury.
Thus, while on the surface Duanmu Huai was trading with the gnome merchant, he was actually trading with the royal family.
Well, Duanmu Huai himself didn’t care; as long as he got the two magic mounts.
However, Varian had much more to consider.
“How do we use this thing?”
Varian wasn’t unfamiliar with mechas, as gnomes were best known for their engineering, having created similar contraptions before. However, this mecha was unlike anything Varian had seen, which piqued his curiosity. Fortunately, Duanmu Huai’s mecha had an instruction manual, and gnomes, being proficient in engineering, could deduce much from the diagrams even if they couldn’t read the text.
Upon hearing Varian’s inquiry, the gnome merchant hurried forward and pressed a button, opening the rear hatch of the mecha, which revealed a space large enough for a person to stand.
The original knight mecha wasn’t designed like this; during the Human Empire era, knight mechas required a mechanical throne to be controlled. To operate the mechanical throne, one needed to surgically connect the throne’s wires to the driver’s brain and cerebellum nerve interfaces.
Just thinking about it shows how cumbersome this method is, which is why Duanmu Huai never cared much for knight mechas or Titans.
It wasn’t until Duanmu Huai obtained Steel Bastar’s sonic-light control system in the Mech Battle World that things changed.
Steel Bastar’s control method is straightforward: a cylindrical control platform where the driver stands inside and synchronizes with the mecha. In other words, the driver’s movements inside are mimicked by the mecha outside.
Isn’t this much more user-friendly than the mechanical throne?
Afterward, Duanmu Huai replaced all the Tribunal’s mechas, including knight mechas and Titans, with Steel Bastar’s sonic-light synchronized control platform. This way, he only needed to place a puppet within the control platform to activate the mecha for an attack.
Moreover, since the puppets came from Duanmu Huai’s soul cards, there was no worry about contamination or invasion by electronic demons like smart AI.
In fact, to fend off cunning deception and electronic demons, all the Tribunal’s mechanical devices are strictly manual. However, since Duanmu Huai didn’t have enough empire soldiers under his command, he had to use puppets. Luckily, most of the time, puppets only need to perform basic tasks.
Hence, Duanmu Huai decided to trade away the knight mecha, because under his modification, all Tribunal equipment was manually operated. As long as the Kingdom of Stormwind found enough manpower, they could even fly a destroyer.
Of course, Duanmu Huai wouldn’t trade a destroyer. During the Human Empire era, knight mechas were often used on several medieval civilized planets to “maintain order”, and some planets even featured medieval cavalry with knight mechas displayed as a show of force.
If a university student traveled to a knight planet during the Human Empire era, saw themselves surrounded by corrupt medieval noblemen oppressing the poor, decided to lead a rebellion with all their knowledge to fight at the Lord’s gates, hoping to give them a small shock of modern civilization, only to see a knight mecha emerging from the castle gates…
Tsk tsk tsk, what a beautiful yet horrific sight.
So Duanmu Huai didn’t mind placing this mecha in Azeroth.
Alright, back to the point.
After the gnome merchant briefly introduced the control method, a knight loyal to the royal family volunteered to be the operator. Varian and the others stepped back a few paces, watching the knight enter the cockpit as the hatch slowly closed. Moments later, they saw the mecha’s eyes suddenly light up and the machine stood up.
Then the mecha turned and looked at Varian.
“Your Majesty.”
“How does it feel?”
“Very convenient, Your Majesty.”
The knight operating the mecha sounded astonished.
“I can synchronize all my movements within to the mecha outside.”
“Oh? Really?”
Upon hearing the knight’s report, Varian’s eyes lit up.
“Give it a try.”
The ensuing tests naturally couldn’t be conducted behind the Stormwind City auction, but fortunately, SI:7 was quick to arrange for the group to move the mecha to a nearby secluded location. Watching Varian, the knight began a series of experiments with the mecha.
Of course, since Duanmu Huai was lazy and didn’t install any ranged weapons on the knight mech, this knight mech can only use the chainsaw sword and flamethrower now.
But even so, the combat power exhibited by this knight mech still greatly shocked Varian.
Its chainsaw sword can easily cleave through the thick walls of Stormwind City, and the flames it spews are not only extensive in range but even melt stone completely. Varian even specifically ordered heavy armor and oversized shields, the latter of which was directly reduced to a pool of molten iron by the flames.
“He said this is used for logging?”
Looking at the molten iron and the battered stone wall before him, Varian’s expression was rather spectacular, and Madayas and Reginald standing beside him were equally speechless.
Strictly speaking, this thing can indeed be used for logging, and it’s even more efficient than a regular logging site.
“Does the Tribunal have this kind of mech?”
Varian turned to look at Madayas, who shook his head.
“I have seen some tall warriors wearing thick armor, but I haven’t seen this kind of mech.”
Since this thing can only be operated by puppets, and puppets cannot execute very complex tasks, Duanmu Huai’s Tribunal generally wouldn’t use knight mechs for auxiliary purposes like assisting Titans. After all, puppets have limited response capabilities; for Titan’s heavy firepower fortress, they work well, but for solo missions, Night Guards are more cost-effective.
“But their emblem is the same.”
No need for Madayas to speak, everyone had already seen the skull pattern on this mech—well, if they didn’t know about the Tribunal, they might’ve thought this was some undead’s emblem.
After all, who in their right mind would use a skull as their emblem?
But after seeing the Tribunal manual, everyone can understand this approach.
“So that adventurer is indeed with the Tribunal, are they here gathering intelligence?”
“I really can’t tell.”
Madayas shook his head helplessly. SI:7 agents had been watching them for a while, only to find that these people mainly eat, drink, and play, then shop at the market, almost indistinguishable from tourists. He even suspected they were purposely trying to fool him, thus ordering his men to stay vigilant and investigate thoroughly.
But after a stretched-out investigation, they finally discovered… alright, they were just here for fun.
“In any case, this is an opportunity for us.”
Varian’s eyes locked onto the knight mech before him, his expression excited. Although he couldn’t understand most of this mech yet, its performance already shows that a knight mech could almost rival a squad of elite troops!
The Kingdom of Stormwind is currently far from peaceful, especially with threats like ogres and trolls in the south. Moreover, the unrest caused by Onyxia before, as well as the menacing Horde army, make Varian very anxious. He is eager to enhance the combat power of the Kingdom of Stormwind now.
Not to mention the Dark Portal…
The appearance of the knight mech brings a ray of hope to Varian.
After the court mage confirmed it was not a magical creation but purely a mechanical device, Varian’s mind began to race.
Since Duanmu Huai can casually bring out such a device, does it mean… the Tribunal has more of these mechs to handle?
Forget other things, just acquiring around a hundred knight mechs would leap the combat capability of the Kingdom of Stormwind!
After all, real wars aren’t games; in games, players can click and drag, and soldiers can fight without retreating until the last man.
But in reality, when you witness your companions get burned alive by raging flames or shredded by giant chainsaw swords, while facing an almost unbreakable steel mech, the blow to morale is devastating.
“Madayas.”
Thinking of this, Varian made a decision and again looked at the head of SI:7.
“It seems we need to send a delegation to the Tribunal to talk things over carefully.”
“That’s not a problem, but here…”
“Let them go.”
Varian considered for a moment before decisively agreeing.
“Let the court mage open a teleportation portal and send them to Silithus. No matter what they want to do, it’s at least not related to us.”
In Varian’s view, at this stage, it’s a good move to establish good relations with the mysterious Tribunal. He’s definitely not going to provoke Duanmu Huai; besides, Silithus is far in Kalimdor, so whatever Duanmu Huai might stir up over there can’t possibly affect Stormwind across the sea, right?
Not to mention, Varian now has a new goal in mind.
Make the Kingdom of Stormwind great again!