44: Chapter 44 Introduction to Weapon Systems! Firepower reaches the Alliance's frontier!

The morning light filtered through the dormitory window, coating the living room in a pale golden hue. Li Yuan sat alone on the sofa, his brow slightly furrowed, his fingertips tapping unconsciously against his knees.

His thoughts were still lingering on the fierce battle against the Zerg Queen, Olivia, from a few days ago. Those plump, slender legs, skin as translucent as jade, silver hair as bright as moonlight...

"Pah, pah, pah!" Li Yuan shook his head violently, trying to shake those inappropriate images out of his mind.

What he should be reflecting on were the lessons learned from that battle—the Queen's despair-inducing tankiness, the terrifying damage output capable of shattering a Light Guardian in three hits, and that flight-capable, earth-diving, almost uncontrollable mobility.

This was the first time since Li Yuan arrived in this world that he had felt truly helpless. Even though Laya had ultimately ended the Queen with a single sword strike.

But Li Yuan knew clearly that if not for that shot from the capital's defense system, if not for the Queen's obvious lack of combat experience, and if not for him taking a desperate risk by using himself as bait...

Otherwise, even facing the already heavily injured Queen, the three of them combined would have had absolutely no chance of winning.

"Damage, it's still a damage problem..." Li Yuan couldn't help but sigh.

His consciousness sank into the system interface, his gaze falling on the choice that had always made him hesitate—the second-tier promotion of the String-Controlling Weaver.

Theoretically, after the promotion, the power would increase geometrically, but the problem was that even without using new skills, he would still have to endure five times the energy consumption.

This was very unreasonable; for Li Yuan, who was accustomed to careful calculation, it was practically like cutting his own flesh.

What troubled him even more was whether he would be taken by the academy for dissection and research once he revealed the abilities of this second profession. A Light Guardian with invincible defense was already eye-catching enough; if he were to also display dual talents with super-strong damage output...

"Damage..." Li Yuan muttered to himself, his thoughts drifting to the upcoming Introduction to Weapon Systems class. He wondered if there would be any weapons suitable for a Light Guardian—preferably the type that was low-key, luxurious, and substantial, yet capable of blindsiding people at critical moments.

Thinking about how, in future assessments or sparring matches, when opponents thought the Light Guardian had no damage, his babies would suddenly pull out a massive weapon and dominate the field, Li Yuan couldn't help but chuckle out loud.

"But then again," Li Yuan's train of thought suddenly took a turn, thinking of the contract the Queen had produced at the end, "If I could keep such an inexperienced Queen as a pet, that might actually be pretty cool?"

He imagined the Queen's peerless beauty combined with her shapeshifting talent; a sense of "Which cosplay is the best? One is better than six" imagery welled up.

"Hehehe..." A lecherous grin appeared uncontrollably.

Just then, the door lock clicked, and Laya and Elia walked in, arm in arm. Seeing Li Yuan sitting on the sofa grinning foolishly, Laya immediately pounced on him like a happy little bird.

"Brother Li Yuan, what are you grinning about?" She affectionately hugged Li Yuan's neck, tilting her head to look at him, "Are you fantasizing about the Zerg Queen again?" As she spoke, she pouted, intentionally putting on a jealous expression.

Li Yuan's face flushed; the feeling of being caught in the act made him subconsciously want to deny it, but he was choked back by Laya's next words.

"Then brother, open the door tonight," Laya leaned into his ear, her breath fragrant like an orchid, "Laya will do some cosplay for you~"

These words made Li Yuan shudder. Ever since that night when Laya learned the Zerg Queen's seductive tricks from somewhere, Li Yuan had never dared to open the door for her at night again.

If it weren't for the fact that Laya had fainted from exhaustion after the power transmission that day, things would have long since...

"You two, that's enough!" Elia interrupted their interaction, pouting in annoyance, "There are other people here, you can't just flaunt your relationship and torture the single people every day!"

Her ice-blue eyes were filled with helplessness, "And hurry up and get ready, we need to go to class."

Laya turned her head and winked mischievously: "Sister Elia, if you're envious, you can join in. Laya doesn't mind..."

"You little girl, you're asking for a beating!" Elia instantly blushed from her cheeks to her ears, making a move to pounce on her.

With a "pop," Li Yuan lightly tapped Laya on the head.

"Brother Li Yuan, you snuck an attack!" Laya protested, holding her head in grievance.

Just like that, amidst the daily routine of bickering, a new day began.

The lecture hall, which could hold three hundred people, was packed. When the three of them walked into the classroom, they immediately felt an unusual atmosphere. On the holographic projection screen at the front of the classroom, a passage of text that made one's blood boil was slowly rotating:

Power is justice, the star sea bears civilization, artillery fire forges truth, and wherever firepower reaches, there is the frontier of the Alliance.

"This foreword... is quite domineering." Li Yuan praised softly, taking the two girls to sit in the middle section.

Just as the class bell rang, the classroom door was pushed open with a "bang." A petite figure rushed onto the podium like a whirlwind, nimbly leaped onto the lecture table, sat with her legs crossed, and looked down at the entire room from a superior position.

The entire classroom instantly quieted down.

It was a young girl who looked no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, probably only a little over 1.5 meters tall, wearing an improved black academy uniform with delicate gear patterns adorning the hem of her skirt. She had a standard baby face, big eyes blinking, long eyelashes like two small fans, and soft, pink lips slightly upturned, looking like an exquisite porcelain doll.

But what was most striking was her long silver hair, tied into high, perky twin tails behind her head, and her violet eyes revealing the youthful vitality of a young girl.

"I am Yimoku, a researcher from the academy's Weapons Research Institute." The girl spoke, her voice crisp as a bell, "From today on, I will be responsible for your Introduction to Weapon Systems."

She lightly jumped off the lecture table, hands behind her back, pacing back and forth in front of the podium: "I know many of you think that as long as your talent level is high enough and your rank is strong enough, that's enough, and weapons don't matter."

Suddenly, she stopped, her golden right pupil glowing slightly: "But that's bullshit!"

A suppressed chuckle rippled through the classroom.

"Laughing?" Yimoku also smiled, a smile sweet yet dangerous, "This is a military academy, and we are facing war. You are future soldiers, and your task is to use everything you can use, to use the greatest power to annihilate the enemy in front of you!!"

"And weapons are the things that allow you to annihilate more enemies." She raised her hand gently, and a tiny holographic projection suddenly appeared above her palm—it was a metal bullet head slowly rotating.

"This is a standard rifle bullet from the Old Era, with a mass of about 10 grams and a muzzle velocity of about 800 meters per second." Yimoku's fingertips tapped lightly, and the bullet's trajectory and data immediately appeared on the side, "Its kinetic energy is a mere 3200 joules."

Then, she swiped her finger, and the projection changed to the scene of a giant starship's main cannon firing.

"This is the main cannon firing of a xihe-class battlecruiser; a single shot can trigger a supernova explosion." She tilted her head, revealing an innocent smile, "Guess how many Zerg this one shot can vaporize?"

The students held their breath.

"But you must know," Yimoku changed the subject, "Whether it's that tiny bullet or that destructive main cannon, they all follow the same truth behind them—"

She suddenly raised her voice: "All weakness stems from insufficient firepower! All combat is a collision of energy! No matter how excellent the mechanism or how invincible the setup, as long as you can use energy that exceeds the target's control and what the target can borrow, you can erase any target from the material level!!"

This statement made Li Yuan deeply agree. He couldn't help but think of that high-energy particle cannon shot from the capital's defense system during the battle with the Queen...

"Current weapon development," Yimoku continued to explain, constantly pulling out holographic models of various weapons, "Due to the existence of fusion engines, and the even more advanced black hole engines, Void Engines, and their miniaturization technologies, power output itself is no longer a problem."

She showcased various individual weapons currently in service or in concept, from the most basic beam rifles to uniquely shaped phase weapons, each one drawing gasps of amazement from the students.

"The real limitation lies in the tolerance limit of the weapon carrier." Yimoku tapped her finger, and a complex energy conduction structure diagram appeared in the air, "Using fusion engines or lower energy sources for power means enduring energy dissipation; using black hole engines means enduring gravitational distortion; using Void Engines means enduring conceptual redefinition."

She suddenly winked playfully: "So the latter two are not things you need to consider right now—those are things only a xihe-class battlecruiser or a ruler-class planet battleship can touch."

Teacher Yimoku thought about it seriously: "In the student stage, the only thing you should be able to touch is the fusion engine, but even the smallest application of a fusion engine is the 'white emperor' war mecha, which is hundreds of meters tall."

Mentioning the white emperor mecha, a wave of longing and admiration immediately erupted in the classroom. Li Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of yearning; he still remembered that giant mecha on Edge 7 that had a halo above its head and decapitated a thunder beast with a single sword strike.

However, finding weapons that could be practically used right now to increase damage output was the top priority.

His gaze searched through the weapons showcased by Yimoku, finally locking onto two pieces of equipment: the Rainbow Cut Type 3 Beam Saber and the Bee Needle Type 11 Micro Ion Cannon.

The former could slowly cut through the armor of gunships, frigates, and other warships in high-output mode, while the latter was originally a vehicle-mounted small artillery weapon, but its advantage lay in its compact size. Li Yuan quickly calculated in his mind—if he equipped the Light Guardian with these weapons...

During the rest of the class, Yimoku explained in detail the principles and application scenarios of various individual weapons. But Li Yuan's thoughts had already drifted far away; he began to construct in his mind a tactical system for the Light Guardian equipped with new weapons.

Thinking about encountering enemies, with some Light Guardians using artillery to suppress the enemy's movements, and other Light Guardians using beam sabers to step forward and chop off limbs...

The scene is too beautiful! I dare not look!

Thinking and doing it immediately had always been one of Li Yuan's strengths.

As soon as Teacher Yimoku's Introduction to Weapon Systems class ended, Li Yuan stopped the loli teacher who was preparing to leave and directly asked about the weapon application process.

After giving the reply, "Training weapons can be registered for use, while official equipment requires trial points to redeem," Yimoku also explained in detail to Li Yuan the process for applying for training weapons. She seemed quite happy that a student was borrowing equipment from the armory.

Having obtained the answer he wanted, Li Yuan politely thanked Teacher Yimoku, thinking secretly in his heart:

Beam saber, ion cannon, here I come!!!