Birth Of The Crafts-God

The Versoa team's mini circuit was a plain circuit in Drift racing terminology. This was a type of track that has no danger zones and is pretty much the same as those on Earth. The Verso team had built this plain circuit to help train drivers and test vehicle performance. So, even though the circuit didn't have any traps, dangerous terrains or the likes, it was quite complicated and windy.

*Voom*

*Sieuuu*

The two Vipers sped from the starting line and flew on the track at insane speeds. Although they were still below the speed of sound, they formed aerodynamic waves that seemed to encase the vehicles as they sped forward without regard. The thirty seconds countdown period was enough for the two engines to be warmed up and transition into the active phase. As for what that is, the active phase of a racing shuttle was the stage where the shuttle could almost instantaneously reach marginal top speed.

Usually, in standard vehicles, acceleration towards top speed is a process that takes time. However, to judge the performance of a vehicle, the time it takes to reach a certain speed is considered. This speed is known as the marginal top speed in Drift racing. For instance, on Earth, a vehicle's speed performance was judged by the time it took to reach 100km/hr (60mph), but in drift racing, the marginal top speed was even higher, about 370km/hr (220mph).
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To reach this marginal top speed, it was inevitable that one would have to take some time to do so. Hence, vestige-smiths thought up a solution which was the phase development of racing shuttle engines. The warm-up phase was actually the basic phase of the racing shuttle. On the other hand, the active phase was the top performance mode of the shuttle, similar to Racing mode in luxury and sport cars on Earth.

The thirty seconds countdown became the period where drivers transitioned their vehicles from the warm-up phase to the active phase. In this way, once the countdown was over, the racing shuttle would be in peak mode right from the start.

"What an impressive active phase. It's already capable of rivalling the L2.13o." Lerman remarked.

Even though the racing shuttles moved extremely fast, vestige-smiths had good eye sight and judgement. The stronger they were, the better these qualities, and for the peak sixth level Apertures Opening stage Lerman, it wasn't an issue for him to discern the vehicles clearly. The others had to use special goggles or watch the slowed down live stream of the race.

"Indeed. The L2.13o is a joint effort of the team and the material used for the transmission system and the core engine is an alloy we recently produced. That kid didn't even use it, yet his engine seems to be able to handle the stress even though it's a similar technique to the Linear drive system." Jovä, the department head of the Material manufacturing department said with praising tone.

He was the one who led the development of the new alloy that was suited for the Linear drive system used in the L2.13o. Jovä knew the difficulty involved in producing that alloy as well as its uniqueness. For that reason, it hadn't even been released to the market yet, even though the profit would be incredible. The Versoa team had instead held back and decided to begin selling the material, or even the formula, to the material market after the season was over.

Even though Lucas didn't use the Linear drive system, based on the performance of the Viper clone in a straight path, it was obvious that a similar transmission technique was applied to it.

Despite that, he had somehow acquired a different material that seemed to provide a similar structural boost for his engine. Jovä admired his skill but also felt challenged by this.

Jovä was captivated and began to wonder between the L2.13o and the Destroyer, whose engine was more powerful and efficient in this regard.

"That's where you're wrong." Lerman said.

"Huh?" Jovä glanced at him.

"The Destroyer doesn't use a linear transmission technique like the Linear drive system."

Jovä was waiting for an explanation, but seeing Lerman remain quiet, his lips twitched before he said with a slightly frustrated voice.

"What is it then, sir?"

When it came to the engine of a racing shuttle, Jovä couldn't compare to Lerman. Even when the focus was simply developing a racing shuttle, Lerman was well ahead of the former. He had also taken a good look at the installation script, so it was only natural that Lerman knew more about the Destroyer than anyone else.

"His transmission system employs the Boyannës Principle which is the direct opposite of the linear transmission technique. As for how his racing shuttle achieved a similar marginal top speed in a straight line with a Linear drive system, it's because his energy unit applies the linear transmission technique." Lerman explained.

Jovä was stunned for a moment before he exclaimed,

"What?!"

The concept of imbuing a transmission technique into an energy unit could be described as insane and generally impossible. It wasn't unheard of, but not many vestige-smiths could pull it off. This was because there were a ton of complexities and complications involved. If a single mistake was made, even if it was as tiny as a bolt being only one micrometre wider, the engine might collapse and implode while operational. As such, one would have to be at least a peak rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith or better to be able to pull it. Even Orvel, who was only a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, couldn't pull it off; and that was a rank he had attained just recently. In fact, the agreed upon standard was actually Tier 1 Grandmaster, but most of the vestige-smiths at that level didn't participate in drift racing tournaments, even more so the underground leagues.

On the other hand, Lucas was a human. There was nothing else needed to be said.

As if reading Jovä's thoughts, Lerman continued,

"He utilised a unique shape known as a triquetra, and moulded his energy unit into that shape. This helps with creating an active flow of stellar energy within the unit."

There were a couple other complexities involved, but those aren't mentioned nor obvious in the installation script. Hence, even if Lerman could identify the shape of the energy unit, he still couldn't produce an exact functioning replica.

"If he actually made that with his own hands, then he's..."

"A genius." Lerman completed.

Meanwhile, the racing shuttles had already exited the straight line track. It wasn't clearly obvious at first, but the L2.13o was leading the charge, only by 10 centimetres.

Before the two racing shuttles approached the first bend, the Racers at the helm immediately switched their driving style and abruptly turned the wheels. Because of the speed the two vehicles drove at, even a three hundred metres gap was nothing and they arrived at the bend within three seconds.

The Viper original slightly decelerated before it made forceful yet somewhat clean turn. There was also a drop in speed during that moment, before it abruptly picked up again and sped away.

However, the Viper clone made a clean turn, and although it has decelerated right before, it was almost unnoticeable to the general public. As such, it was able to pull ahead of the Viper original in that instance.

This was only the first curve and a second one was before the two vehicles after just seven seconds. The same scenario took place once again and the Viper clone extended the gap again.

The mini circuit has at least twelve shape curves and only four straight tracks, while the rest of the circuit consisted of narrow tracks. It was obvious that the track would be advantageous to engines suitable for curved terrains, however, that was not necessarily true. The linear transmission technique performed great in narrow tracks —just as good as its adversary— so long as there were no sharp turns.

In other words, an engine that excelled in sharp curves and bends wouldn't necessarily beat the L2.13o engine on this track because while there were more sharp curves than straight tracks, the majority of the track was averagely narrow, and the Viper original would excel at them.

But what if the Viper original's opponent was one who excelled at sharp curves but also did almost as good as it on straight and averagely narrow tracks?

As the Viper clone began to pull away from the Viper original, it became obvious even to the VIPs on the other side that the Viper clone might just be a better vehicle.