Mission

Sitting in the deep, lush jungle, Reno was bored out of his mind, running his hands through his hair absentmindedly.

Occasional gunshots echoed in the distance, accompanied by the occasional streak of energy columns across the sky. In this corner of the smoky battlefield, the internal production factory of the Silver Wing Angel was working at full capacity. A large amount of ammunition was being produced and packed into ready-made ammo boxes. The energy generator kept rotating, absorbing and converting energy from all kinds of materials, including rocks, soil, and plants, storing it in equally prepared empty energy boxes.

Ben was right; Reno did indeed plan to exert his full force on the third day. By then, Reno would regain the firepower advantage, sweeping up a batch of points. Of course, this approach was somewhat conservative, making it almost impossible to win the championship, but the hope of entering the top one hundred was significant. With Reno's current mech skills, just entering the top one hundred was a victory in itself.

Despite this, for some reason, Reno always had an inexplicable sense of unease, as if something was bothering him, but he couldn't pinpoint the source of the problem.

He could only hope that if there was indeed a problem, it would come to light later rather than sooner.

At ten in the morning.

After a few rare hours of peace, Reno's mech finally received a notification:

"Hey, young man, isn't it boring hiding in the bushes alone? How about finding something to do?"

Upon hearing this voice, Reno sat up abruptly, his face turning pale.

At that moment, he finally realized what he had overlooked.

"Oh, it seems you've realized? Yes, yes, the audience is getting impatient with your passive approach. I admit it's a good tactical choice, but you can't ignore the audience's demands because of it. They don't like your style of play, so the league intends to give you a small task to encourage you to take the initiative."

"You can't do this. It will disrupt my tactical arrangements. The competition should be fair to the public, and you can't interfere with contestants just because of the audience's requests."

"In fact, we can. Rule Nine: To make the competition more interesting, random tasks will be issued during the competition. Completing random tasks can earn you point rewards. Hey hey, do you really think you've found a loophole in the league, and we can't do anything about it? The league has been held many times. Trust our experience; any loopholes have been patched up long before you discovered them."

Reno fell silent.

The voice continued, "Of course, as an apology for disrupting your tactical deployment, we gave you some time to rest in the morning. In addition, the task itself also comes with generous rewards. You should know that many people want these kinds of special tasks but can't get them, so you don't need to be so angry."

Reno gradually calmed down.

He knew it was pointless to argue with the organizers, especially since they were well-prepared for this, and it wasn't against the rules. The best course of action now was to try to gain as much advantage for himself as possible.

So, after thinking for a moment, he said, "Since it's a mandatory task, I should at least get some extra compensation... I'm not talking about the insincere compensation of a morning's time, I want something substantial."

"That's more like it." The voice chuckled. "Knowing how to negotiate is a form of progress, but that doesn't mean I have to agree to your terms. The decision is not up to you..."

"It's up to the audience, right?" Reno interrupted.

The voice hesitated for a moment, confirming Reno's suspicion.

He shouted loudly, "Shouldn't there be compensation for disrupting a contestant's tactical deployment and putting him at a disadvantage for the sake of the show?"

"Give him compensation!"

"His request is reasonable!"

The crowd outside erupted in a roar of agreement.

The host, Ben, exclaimed with admiration, "Undoubtedly, this is a clever kid who knows how to use every condition to his advantage, but his request is indeed not unreasonable. Now the production team is urgently discussing what compensation to give him. Let's cut back to Shadow..."

After a moment of tense atmosphere, the voice finally spoke again.

"The production team agrees to give you some compensation. You can choose to unlock equipment with an original price not exceeding eight points or receive an additional fifteen points as a reward after the mission ends. Don't try to negotiate further; we won't give you any more benefits."

"I need to know the mission before making a decision."

"Open the map."

At this moment, Reno's onboard light brain was connected to the Storm's main brain. Opening the map, Reno saw a spot light up on the map. Then a row of text appeared.

"Mission: Rescue the Teddy Bear."

"Lachfanny Island was originally a picturesque little island, but some dangerous scientists came here to conduct horrific biochemical experiments. In one experiment, terrifying bio-beasts escaped from the laboratory, bringing disaster to the island. All the scientists evacuated urgently. During the evacuation, Dr. John Soffit's daughter, Princess Vera, accidentally lost her most beloved teddy bear in the laboratory. As a mech warrior recruited by the Storm Group to eradicate these terrifying beasts, you have received this honorable mission. Please proceed immediately to the abandoned laboratory, retrieve Princess Vera's teddy bear, and bring it to the designated rendezvous point."

"There's actually a storyline." Reno was speechless.

The prompts continued:

"Mission time limit: Eight hours."

"Mission completion: Reward 30 points."

"Mission failure: Deduct 15 points."

There was even a failure penalty?

Reno widened his eyes, "What if I fail the mission and don't have any points to deduct?"

"Then your equipment will be relocked based on points."

"Damn it!" This condition forced him to fight desperately.

But once the mission was completed, the benefits were obvious.

A reward of up to thirty points, considering he only scored this much after a day of fighting yesterday, now he could get it just by completing the mission, not to mention the points he would gain from defeating opponents along the way.

This also made Reno alert.

The organizers were forcing him to participate in the mission to get him moving, not to give him free points. Since they offered such harsh conditions and pressured him to participate, it meant that the road ahead would definitely not be smooth.

Reno understood that without saying, this mission was likely to focus mainly on defense and mobility. Don't expect to score along the way; completing the mission itself would be a victory.

The problem now was that he had previously focused on improving combat endurance. So, to ensure the mission's success, the best course of action was...

With this in mind, he said, "I choose to unlock equipment. Unlock the engine power, unlock the high-frequency blade net, and unlock the first layer of cannonball production line."

After unlocking the engine again, it returned to full power, providing a speed boost. The high-frequency blade net was what Reno had used in his first match, a type of interception weapon that, combined with 9mm caliber bullets, formed a net that could intercept most solid projectile attacks, but was ineffective against energy weapons. The firepower of the cannonballs was comparable to missiles, but with lower cost

; the time it took to produce one missile was enough to produce five or six cannonballs. However, their accuracy was low and heavily influenced by technology. But if not used for target killing, in situations like this, continuous firing at medium range could be more intimidating than missiles. Moreover, solid projectile weapons were limited by ammunition and did not require special unlocking, with low point costs.

Reno's choice was tailored for the mission.

"Engine unlocking: 5 points, high-frequency blade net: 3 points, first layer of cannonball production line: 5 points, totaling 13 points. Sorry, your compensation limit is not enough."

"Then add these." Reno threw out a pile of things, including 12mm caliber armor-piercing bullets and battle axe short-range missiles.

The person was stunned, "I'm not a merchant; you can't..."

"If you're not a merchant, why unlock anything?" Reno said coldly. "In fact, you have already performed the duties of a merchant, and I have not made any excessive demands. On the contrary, I'm at a loss. Just for your damn mission, I have to transform my firepower configuration, and I have to sell my accumulated ammunition at a low price. Who's more excessive?"

"... Fine."

This time, without waiting for the crowd's voice, the other party agreed directly.

Of course, Reno said he was at a loss, but that wasn't necessarily true. Not to mention that he conducted the transaction without knowing the whereabouts of the merchant, even if he did put in a lot of ammunition, he could still produce more, and the newly opened cannonball production line increased his production capacity.

"Well then... good luck!" The voice said before disappearing, replaced by the sound of equipment unlocking.