149 Mecha 101

The S.V. Swanson Battle Cruiser was bigger than Altair thought. Since it wasn't possible for her to see it when she was entering it, she had no reference to use for its actual size. However, having been dragged from Marissa's room to another room, that took over an hour of walking, Altair decided that the ship was stupid large. Even after moving that far, there was still a hallway that seemed endless before her.

Her arms were actually getting tired holding up the bottom of the shirt after walking for so long without a break. Along the way, she had also received no end to odd looks. However, no one said a thing about it, at least as far as she could tell.

On the way to their destination, Altair's stumble complained loudly several times. The first time was the loudest and even drew an amused look from Serius. He then messed with his communicator for a moment but didn't look back again even when it happened once more.

The room Altair was taken to was a sort of conference room. The table spanned the whole length of the room, which could seat at least a hundred people, and Altair wondered how you could even talk with the person on the other side of the table without shouting at them. The chairs were made with a comfortable cushion on them and there was a different, strangely colored plant in each of the corners of the room. There was also a single massive window on the far side of it, which revealed the outside of the room. However, all that could be seen right now was a black sky and white clouds below that stretched into the distance.

Serius sat down in the closest seat and Altair lifted herself to sit next to him. He frowned at her and point to the seat opposite him while saying, "Sit over there. Sitting next to me implies that we are either family or in an intimate relationship."

Altair pushed herself off the chair immediately. She didn't really want either of those so she had no problems with moving herself. She walked over to the seat he pointed at and lifted herself into it. Her feet dangled in the air as she grabbed the table to pull herself closer. The chair's had wheels, which made this far easier than it would have been otherwise.

Serius asked, "I suppose I shall have to start with the basics." He fumbled with his communicator before her. There was no Holodisplay on it right now so she had no idea what he was doing. His movements paused before he said, "But first." He then turned his attention to the door and it opened with his gaze.

Behind it was the steward looking man from before. He pushed a cart into the room with a food tray on it and walked right over to Altair. He put the tray before her and took the dome off to reveal its delicious contents and the aroma of food quickly filled the air.

It caused Altair's stomach to instantly grumble in annoyance and she felt the pangs of hunger more deeply as her mouth salivated at the dish.

The steward bowed to Serius and walked out of the room, door closing behind him.

As he did so, Serius gave Altair a smirk and said, "Eat up. You won't be able to concentrate on an empty stomach."

Upon hearing those words, Altair grabbed the nearest utensil that she deemed appropriate and started to eat the food that was prepared for her. It wasn't anything too special, just some noodle dish with plenty of vegetables and a side of meat that was covered in a dark brown sauce. There was even a glass of juice next to the plate. However, for Altair who had been basically starving herself for several days, it was a glorious meal and she couldn't hide the delight from her eyes when she took her first bite.

She could finally eat her fill without having to worry about being poisoned with some drug that let these people manipulate her.

After she had finished half her food, Serius began, "Alright, listen up. You can keep eating, but there isn't much time so I should start now." He cleared his throat and then said, "I shall start with the Spiritual Self. All the races have it in some form and they each have their own unique versions as well. Some are even able to change theirs, which is very strange but will make sense in a little."

He messed with his communicator as he spot and a display of a humanoid figure popped up that was completely empty. Then, the insides started to glow as all the veins appeared and became highlighted in a blue light.

Serius continued, "A Spiritual Self is, basically, a creature's soul. The Spiritual Self is the interface in which a person can use to draw power from their soul. This power takes shape and develops naturally over time even if the person isn't attempting to make it grow."

The veins on the image pulsed lightly as a small and lighter bead of light ran through the veins, "That doesn't mean that people cannot stimulate their Spiritual Self. That is what training and practice is for. With a certain mastery of your Spiritual Self it allows you to access your Inborn Ability. This is a power that manifests the strength of your soul in reality. It is determined at birth but no one will know what it is until you actually figure it out yourself."

On the image a roaring flame was generated around the person as he went over the Inborn Ability. It then quickly died as he said, "It is extremely rare for a person to have two Inborn Abilities and, as scientists have theorized, it is because they are born with two souls. However, this is not proven."

The image faded and a list of words was displayed on it that went from top to bottom. They were all single words that were both bolded and underlined. Serius went on, "That cover's what you need to know about that for now. You will learn more in educational facilities if you so choose those classes. For now, I'll move on to Martial Prowess and Mechanical Technique."

He took a deep breath before he went over the words that were displayed on the Holodisplay from top to bottom, "Martial Prowess is divided into seven known ranks, or tiers as most people call them. They are, from weakest to stronger, Beginner, Warrior, Praefecti, Centurion, Optio, Warmaster, and Dominus. Each of them has their own color associated with them as well when they choose to show their Spiritual Self. It is a way of proving you have reached each rank. They are, in the same order, none, grey, white, yellow, green, orange, and red."

As he spoke, the descriptions of each rank was listed on the Holodisplay. The image quickly became densely packed with words and Altair felt her eyes ache with how many there were all at once. She was still in the middle of eating so she couldn't really bring herself to focus too much on them.

Serius continued still, "There have been those at the peak stage of Dominus who have claimed to have felt something beyond, but none of them have ever reached it so it is unconfirmed still."

The massive wall of text vanished and a generic small Mecha appeared in its place. Altair felt her heart start to race at just the sight of it. The interior of the mecha was displayed as a bunch of lines that ran parallel to each other to each of its limbs and throughout its body.

"Now, onto Mechanical Technique," he said with a flick of his wrist on his communicator. The Mecha took a dramatic pose with his flick and Altair didn't know why he did that.

Serius smirked at her odd look and started, "Mechanical Technique is divided into eleven ranks, or tiers. They are, again from the lowest to the highest, Starter, Amateur, Basic, Common, Advanced, Superior, Ace, Master, Destroyer, Annihilator, and Emperor. These are not associated with colors and are instead given to you with the advancement of your skill."

The image of the humanoid Mecha was shrunk down to a third of its side and shifted to the left of the Holodisplay. Beside it formed a cat shaped Mecha and a bird shaped Mecha. They were about the same size as the humanoid one.

Serius continued, "The first three ranks are designed to teach you the standard ways a Mecha can move. You start with a training humanoid Mecha, then you move on to using four limbs to move like an animal, and finally you take to the air. After that, people are expected to experiment and find their own personal style to use in combat. Before you settle on one, you will never make it to the Advanced rank. Once you do get there, however, you will be awarded with a medium license. Once you reach Master rank, you get a large license."

As he went on about ranks, the image on the Holodisplay changed to different sizes of Mecha. A small Mecha was listed as "15 to 25 meters." Medium was "30 meters to 45 meters" and large was "55 meters to 80 meters."

"Large isn't the last size of Mecha there is. Destroyer, Annihilator, and Emperor all have their own specifications for their minimum requirement. However, those are all national secrets and each nation has their own versions so I'll be skipping those."

He tapped his communicator and the size comparison vanished from it. It then brought up the list of Martial Prowess ranks and Mechanical Technique ranks before he said, "Now, I told you all of this because there is a vast different between the two of these." The Marital Prowess list became circled with a blue circle and the Mechanical Technique list had a red circle over it.

Serius went on, "A persons Spiritual Self develops based on what you learn and do while growing up. Everyone starts on the Martial Prowess side because you move your body more than anything else while growing. Every single civilian in every single nation has a certain amount of Martial Prowess strength. The average in the Empire is second stage of Praefecti, and that's because of the sheer age of people."