Chapter 37: Perfect Persona

After flying in the sky for more than 40 minutes, An Wen finally descended back to the ground.

"Everything is perfect, except for the fact that it is extremely strenuous on the knees."

Upon climbing down the Ancient Flying Eagle, An Wen began rubbing his thighs. His calves were slightly cramped, partially due to the fact that he was inexperienced in flying, however.

In actual fact, once the Ancient Flying Eagle was in the air, he no longer needed to continue pedalling. Only when he wanted to change direction or speed up did he need to pedal forcefully.

Nevertheless, An Wen had continued pedalling hard in the air, since he was not flying normally. He flew in all directions and performed all sorts of challenging stunts, which required propulsion force to support and carry out.

This was also partially to blame for An Wen's legs being slightly sore despite his physique. 

"I still need to modify it - I'll remove the pedals and replace them with electric motors."

Such a modification was extremely simple to implement, since it would not affect the core structure of the Ancient Flying Eagle.

After all, it would be too tough to continue using the pedals.

When An Wen placed the Ancient Flying Eagle back into the warehouse, he queried its attributes and found that its Durability had decreased by 137 points.

He had used an excessive amount of force, performing many challenging aerobatic stunts, so it was natural that the condition of its parts had deteriorated significantly.

Under normal circumstances, it would already be considered a high deterioration rate if the Durability dropped by 100 points in one hour.

"This means that the Ancient Flying Eagle can certainly fly for more than 500 hours, given its Durability."

An Wen gave it some thought. It would already be slightly too long to fly for two hours each time.

Even if he flew the Ancient Flying Eagle for the same duration every day, he could use it for more than half a year.

Moreover, unlike a car, he did not intend to fly the Ancient Flying Eagle every day, so 500 hours of flying time was sufficient.

After storing the Ancient Flying Eagle in the warehouse, An Wen turned around to look for Yuan Pan.

However, after scanning his perimeter, he realized that he had 'lost contact' with Yuan Pan once again.

Seriously?!

Did he have to be so scared?

An Wen began looking for Yuan Pan. Finally, he found him inside one of the toilets, still hiding inside his shell like a scaredy 'tortoise'.

"Alright, stop pretending to be dead now. That isn't a real raptor; it's just a wooden machine. It's just like the computer at home and there's nothing to be afraid of."

An Wen scoffed as he kicked Yuan Pan twice.

What?

The raptor isn't real?

Yuan Pan opened a small gap between his claws and began observing his surroundings with his small eyes. After confirming that the Ancient Flying Eagle was no longer vacant, he finally stretched his four legs out of his shell.

"I'm going to take a bath now. Stop hiding in the toilet and go out to bask in the sun."

After finding Yuan Pan, An Wen went to take a bath.

If he did not take a bath that day, he would surely be unable to walk the next day.

Yuan Pan followed behind An Wan, his small eyes darting from side to side - should there be any threats, he would immediately retreat back into his shell.

Lying in the bathtub, An Wen felt the water jets massaging his entire body as he closed his eyes and pondered.

The emergence of the other world had completely turned his life 'upside down'.

Originally, he believed that his entire life would be dull and uneventful.

Before he was thirty years old, he would play computer games at home every day and enjoy a blissful life of a couch potato.

After he was thirty years old, he would find a good wife and have a child. Every day, he would play computer games while raising his child.

When he grew old, he would arrange for an elderly home to be built at a scenic location, and get a group of friends to stay with him there. Although he would no longer be agile enough to play competitive games on the computer at that point in time, he could still play table games with his friends.

In the end however, fate did not let him have his way with a dull and ordinary life. Instead, he was given a 'cheat'.

How annoying!

Regardless of whether An Wen was willing to admit it, his ambitions had been provoked due to the emergence of the other world.

In reality, every person in the world had their own ambitions - or in other words, desires.

It was just that after people experienced setbacks and experienced the harsh realities of life, they would get to better understand their own capabilities, usually only to give up on their ambitions.

To put it nicely, they were discouraged and disheartened, disappointed in the world and in reality.

To put it harshly, it was simply a means of escape for them, retreating into their shells like tortoises did, after they encountered difficulties in life.

Eh?

Yuan Pan looked up and shot a glance towards An Wen.

Regardless, An Wen was such a person in the past - he felt that he was not talented enough to stand out amongst the sea of people in the world, and neither was he suited to set up a business, given his trouble-averse personality.

As a result, he leveraged on his 'capability' to be reincarnated and turned into a couch potato, avoiding any troublesome matters.

Now, however, even if An Wen wanted to escape, the other world would somehow make him stand out in the world.

By then, he would be unable to hide even if he wanted to; there was nowhere for him to hide.

Currently, he was only selling some stone material, but as it turned out...

Thinking about the future developments of the other world, if An Wen were to reveal something even more outstanding than the stone material, would his father still be able to support him?

No!

What about his father's idea of finding a reliable and trustworthy person as support? He could pass on that as well. Indeed, it would still be a reliable source of support in the beginning that could help to diffuse some of the trouble.

However, when the benefits grew sufficiently large, such a pillar of support was sure to collapse - even relatives would be untrustworthy at such a juncture, unless they were one's parents.

Unless An Wen gave up completely on the other world, such situations would be unavoidable in the future.

His parents would be unable to support and cover up for him, and neither could he rely on others.

What else could he do?

Of course, he had to rely on himself.

Becoming a businessman was out of the question - he couldn't survive as the most powerful wielder of money in the country neither now or in the future.

Becoming a politician... Well, that would be even more impossible. Pass.

After some deliberation, An Wen thought of only one profession that was influential but would not be harmed by others, and would even be protected instead - being a scientist.

It was not just any scientist, but a top scientist.

For example, look at the special treatment that Lu Dan (from the novel Scholar's Advanced Technological System) received.

After pondering on the thought for a long while, An Wen realized that he actually had no other choice other than to become a top scientist.

He should not think about going overseas, or he would be digging deeper into his own grave.

"I aspired to be a scientist when I was young, it looks like I'm going to fulfil my dream this time."

A smile emerged on An Wen's face.

Thinking about it, it was actually quite decent to be a scientist.

As for whether or not he could become one, An Wen was absolutely unconcerned. 

Was it a joke? He could use a 'cheat' whenever he wanted.

After his bath, An Wen returned home with Yuan Pan, and it was time to eat.

Buzz buzz...

Just after he returned, his mobile phone rang.

It was a message from Ye Zhihua.

"President, the venue has been set. The competition will be held by the lake at Shanghai Oriental Land, and it will start at ten o'clock in the morning."

"There will be aeromodelling performances from 10 to 12 o'clock, followed by lunch at the same location. The aeromodelling competition would begin at two o'clock in the afternoon, so you may just come in the afternoon. There's no need to arrive so early."

Upon seeing the two messages, An Wen grinned.

It was the perfect opportunity and stage for him to begin his career.

Just imagine the scene when An Wen would fly the Ancient Flying Eagle to the site, while others were playing around with their aeroplane models. Would it not be extremely awe-striking?

Furthermore, there would be professors from Zhendan University and Ze University present, who were all experts in their field. They would certainly know the amount of technical expertise required to construct the Ancient Flying Eagle.

If that were the case, he would not even need to explain personally. He merely needed to land the Ancient Flying Eagle at the location.

As soon as he landed on site, there would be 'narrators' explaining to the audience how difficult such a machine would be to construct, and how outstanding An Wen was for having constructed it.

He only needed to stand there and bask in the glamour, accepting others' compliments.

If anyone of the professors topped it off saying how terrific the Ancient Flying Eagle was, it would be the icing on the cake.

What about the consequences of showcasing the Ancient Flying Eagle?

What consequences could there be?

Could an Ancient Flying Eagle not be constructed using modern technology?

It certainly could, but it would be complicated to the point of impracticality.

Aeroplanes, especially the older types that used propellers, which had a simpler structure and were safer, were much more straightforward to build than an Ancient Flying Eagle. 

The technical value of the Ancient Flying Eagle lied in its use of the top woodworking skills and particularly ingenious structural designs, and not in its manufacturing skills.

Even the mechanisms it utilized were not extremely amazing, since such skills could already be found in textbooks for the Power Machinery and Engineering major in university.

The fundamental theories and various formulas involved were explained in detail in such books.

Ultimately, the skill of making mechanisms was merely the union of woodworking skills, experience, and intelligence; it was not an enhancement or augmentation of fundamental theories.

As such, even if An Wen showcased the Ancient Flying Eagle, he would only be seen as a genius who thought differently from others, and not be thought to have acquired an impossibly advanced technology.

It was similar to two people playing with Lego bricks.

One of them could build a tall tower out of the Lego bricks, while the other could simply make a cube.

No one would think that the person who built a tall tower was extraordinary, but merely that he had some talent in that aspect.

The word 'talent' was truly an extremely intriguing concept.

In the future, he, An Wen, would also be a talented person.

The Ancient Flying Eagle was a key stepping stone in the process so that his emergence as a genius would not seem too sudden.

After all, such a complicated machine could not have possibly been constructed in a day or two - the Ancient Flying Eagle would surely have required an extremely long time to build.

Since he majored in Aerospace Design and Engineering, as long as his woodworking skills did not pose any problems, would it be unbelievable that he constructed the Ancient Flying Eagle?

Moreover, he was preparing to take part in the National Postgraduate Entrance Examination at the end of the year, and then study while 'cheating'. In the end, his rise and emergence would naturally follow.

Such a character persona was...

Absolutely perfect!