Victor held the core device under his arm, took the medicine bottle from Li Lin’s hand doubtfully, looked at the slightly viscous liquid inside, and asked, “What is this?”
“Didn’t you and Jace ask me why I suddenly grew taller and stronger when I was at Gila Mann’s house some time ago?”
Li Lin smiled and placed the other two bottles of potion on the table. “It’s called gene enhancement potion. It can greatly improve various physical qualities. The weaker the body, the more obvious the effect of drinking it.”
Victor raised his eyebrows and his eyes changed when he looked at the potion in his hand. He did not doubt Li Lin’s statement at all.
The changes in his body were there, and he had no reason to lie to himself.
“does it have any side effects?”
Victor looked down at his right leg with a metal brace fixed on it, his expression slightly moved.
If you drink it, will your body…
“The side effects…it will take at least 30 minutes to take effect, and your strength will increase dramatically, so it will take some time to get used to it.”
“It’s like there are no side effects.” Victor took a deep breath and looked at Li Lin sincerely, “This is so important to me, thank you.”
“Where are you talking? We are good friends. Shouldn’t we help each other?”
“Friend…” Victor was stunned for a long time, with a bright smile on his face, “Yes, friend.”
With that said, Victor handed the potion bottle back to Li Lin, and returned the other two bottles to him.
Li Lin didn’t understand his behavior, “…What are you doing?”
“You can keep it safe for me first.”
“Aren’t you going to drink now? Wait thirty minutes and you might be able to get rid of the cane.”
Victor shook his head, “Now is not the time. I’m afraid I won’t be able to control my strength later and damage the machine.”
He passed by Li Lin with his cane and turned back to motion for him to follow him. “The evolution day is coming. Now we mainly finish the robot. This is the result I want to show this year.”
…
…
More than ten minutes later, the two strolled to the college’s laboratory building.
Li Lin originally wanted to fly Victor over directly, but he was afraid that his body would not be able to bear it, so he did not express this idea.
Night labs are open to instructor level and above.
In addition to the attached laboratory next to the office, each lecturer can also apply for a research area in the laboratory building, but there is a time limit.
If there are no research results for a period of time, the experimental area applied for will be withdrawn, and the next application will have to wait for a long time.
Victor applied for a laboratory more than three months ago to research intelligent robots.
Since the auxiliary chips at that time were not yet intelligent, Victor’s main design was how to make a core device powered by the original crystal.
After the Gila Mann expedition brought back the original crystals and donated three of them to the academy for research, with Heimerdinger’s care, Victor immediately applied for a piece of the original crystal and began to debug his device.
Although smart chips are now available, they have not been put into use in batches. In addition, Li Lin purchased the previous batches of chips produced. Except for relevant personnel, most people are unaware of their existence.
Moreover, Victor himself firmly believes that he can create an intelligent robot even without a smart chip.
After showing their ID cards to the security personnel along the road, the two quickly arrived at a small laboratory on the second floor.
A ditch-scavenging robot made entirely of steel and bronze, with a pair of huge hands, a round upper body, short legs, and a copper-yellow color was lying quietly on a large workbench. Several robots around it were not powered on and had lost power. The mechanical arm hangs down.
Li Lin looked at the very familiar robot, which completely matched the image in his mind, and was sure that it was “Blitzcrank”.
It’s just that the original crystal is still the one from the original world line. Will Blitzcrank change if it is installed…
The wings of the butterfly have flapped, and the development and direction of the two cities have undergone tremendous changes. No matter how much you think about it, it will be useless. Li Lin is also helpless about this.
When Victor turned on the power of the laboratory, he controlled several mechanical arms to open the hatch on the robot’s chest that was originally filled with alchemical chemical fuel.
After his transformation, the robot can no longer be filled with alchemical fuel and can only accommodate his own specially made original crystal core.
Wait until Victor loads the core power supply device into the robot’s chest, closes the hatch cover and tightens the screws.
Not long after, a blue arc flashed across the bronze surface of the robot, immediately attracting the attention of Li Lin and Victor.
Immediately afterwards, more arcs jumped and intertwined, flashing with bright blue light and making a “sizzling” sound.
“This is…” Victor was surprised, “This has never happened to other robots.”
Rather than cleaning up toxic waste in ditches and following fixed code programs, robots are called “steam robots.” They are more accurately called “alchemy technology robots.”
However, they generate a large amount of heat during normal actions and use water to dissipate heat and emit steam. Over time, they were called steam robots by the people of Zaun.
According to the operating principles of these robots, they are chemically powered and have nothing to do with electrical energy. How can they produce arcs?
This is what Victor is confused about.
However, Li Lin was not surprised at all. Blitzcrank was an unexpected product, and the arc was a side effect of using the original crystal.
To be more precise, Hex crystals and energy crystals actually have similar effects, but their energy reserves are limited. Unless they are charged Hex devices, the effects of other devices are not obvious.
“Doesn’t this prove that your research is in the right direction?” Li Lin smiled.
“…”
Victor continued to stare at the robot on the workbench with a nervous expression and did not answer.
After another minute or two, when the crystal energy completely covered all the circuits inside the robot, with the sound of mechanical gears turning, the metal conduit on the robot spewed out a large amount of white steam.
Immediately afterwards, the two egg-sized eyes on the robot’s round head opened, flashing with a blue light.
It placed its two huge palms on the countertop, propped up its huge body, and jumped down from the worktable.
The pair of mechanical feet that were completely out of proportion to the body came into contact with the marble floor of the laboratory, producing a crisp sound of metal hitting the smooth floor, and some steam emitted from the gaps between the parts on the body.
It turned to look at Li Lin and Victor, and Victor’s standard mechanical voice came out from the speaker inspired by Hex Audio: “The engine has been started, ready to go at any time.”
“Succeeded! I finally succeeded!”
Victor was overjoyed to hear the robot speak.
“I didn’t enter a language code into it, but it can speak! In other words, even without a smart chip, we can still make an intelligent robot…”
No, no, its intelligence cannot be summed up with the intelligence brought by the smart chip I made.
Li Lin responded in his heart.
The robot blinked and reached out to scratch its bare bronze head, as if to express its doubts.
The excited Victor couldn’t see it, but Li Lin could see its changes through “data-based thinking”.
The original crystal in its body is still half asleep and half awake. It is only the manifestation of the subconscious level that gives this machine some thinking.
When the original crystal fully awakens, how far can Blitzcrank grow?
“Give it a name.” Li Lin patted Victor on the shoulder, “How can a great work do without a name?”
Victor rubbed his chin and looked the robot up and down.
The continuously beating electric arc on its body resonated with the electric energy in the workbench and the mechanical arm, forming an electrostatic field around it, and the “sizzling” sound of the electric current continued.
An idea suddenly flashed in Victor’s mind, and a name came to mind, “Let’s call it Blitzcrank, after the sound of arcs beating on its body shell.”
“Blitzcrank…”
Li Lin deliberately paused for a few seconds and looked like he was thinking, “It’s a very good name. It will definitely become the focus of everyone’s attention during the Evolution Day Conference.”
“Stop teasing me.” Victor said in a helpless tone and glanced at Li Lin, “Jace’s Hex Flying Gate and your flying armor alone have crushed all other works this year. I What’s a robot? What’s more…”
Suddenly, he seemed to realize something, and his voice stopped abruptly, “I think… I think it’s better not to announce this technology.”
“Are you worried about the original crystal and the shell people?”
Victor stared intently at Blitzcrank’s blue electronic eyes and nodded slightly.
Li Lin sighed, “If you don’t announce it, how will you explain it to the college?”
“I assisted Jace in researching the Hex Flying Gate. Its invention bears my name. This is enough…”
“No, you know that’s not what I meant.”
Victor and Li Lin looked at each other for a few seconds, then looked away, lowered their heads and sighed.
In Piltover, what people pay most attention to is not the team behind a craftsman, but the craftsman himself.
Even if the Hex device that holds the same platform is not completely developed by one person, whoever can give a speech on the stage at the Evolution Day Conference will be recognized as the inventor of the new device.
Originally, according to Jace’s wish, he wanted to invite Victor to come on stage with him, but unfortunately Victor was not good at handling this situation and declined him politely.
Li Lin heard this from Jace two days ago.
Therefore, if you want to make a name for yourself in Piltover, it is very important to create inventions that are truly your own and have far-reaching impact.
In this way, even if you don’t go on stage to speak, as long as your invention can go on stage and the host reads your name, it will be considered an achievement.
After all, there are countless new inventions in the Twin Cities every year, but only those inventions with widespread impact or great potential during the year are eligible to be on the Evolution Day conference booth.
Blitzcrank has this qualification, as long as Li Lin doesn’t come up with the fully intelligent mechanical engineering unit that he is producing and assembling for the time being.
As for the Tyrant aliens and Tyrant warrior mechas, with Victor’s Blitzcrank, Li Lin is now only going to show off the warriors that everyone knows this evening and can transform into tanks.
Victor hesitated, “But the original crystal…”
“That’s not what we have to worry about now. Have you forgotten what I just said to you in your office?
“As long as we have the right to speak, we only need to publish a paper to explore the relationship between the original crystal and the shell people. The parliament will definitely take the words of an outstanding scientist who is famous in the Twin Cities seriously.”
Li Lin paused and continued: “And the original crystal is very precious. At this stage, with intelligent chips, the congressmen will not think of mass-producing such precious robots.”
“By the way, when it comes to smart chips…” Victor frowned, “If I show Blitzcrank first, citizens will definitely think that I invented the smart robot first, which is unfair to you. “
Hearing Victor’s words, Li Lin couldn’t help laughing.
“Why are you laughing? I’m serious.” Victor said in a serious tone.
“I don’t need any more fame now, Victor, it’s enough.”
Li Lin’s laughter gradually stopped and he explained: “It doesn’t matter to me who invented the intelligent robot in people’s minds. What’s important is that you can gain fame through it and even be promoted to a professor.”
He turned to look at Blitzcrank, and the corner of his mouth curved, “Also, have you ever thought about…creating a real mechanical life form?”
“Huh?!” Victor was shocked, “Are you referring to the transformed life forms like the Polpok family?”
“No, at most they upload their consciousness into the mechanical body, which is different.”
Victor’s eyes widened as he seemed to react, “…Then what do you mean?!”
Li Lin was not in a hurry to explain his thoughts. Instead, he asked him a question, “Can machines have the ability to think for themselves like humans?”
Victor was stunned by Li Lin’s idea. He had never considered this aspect before, “This involves a philosophical issue…your smart chip?”
“Strictly speaking, the intelligent system I developed still runs according to fixed logic and procedures. It only simulates certain human thinking processes and does not truly have the ability to think for itself like humans.”
“You can make a machine think like a human… How is this possible?”
“So, the study of Blitzcrank is particularly important.”
