The General Offense by the Empire [1]

Of the two Battle Mechas poised to attack, one was a classic mecha model known as the [God Armor]. This was a private Battle Mecha with an extremely valiant combat power that had been designed by a Battle Mecha great master for the Binater Empire 120 years ago. This mecha was the only private Battle Mecha he designed before dying and was originally used by the disciples of the royal family for private mecha training. From the time it was revealed to the public till now, a total of a hundred years had passed; in other words, Binater Empire’s royal family had used this Battle Mecha to train for 20 years before using it to generate large amounts of income. This Battle Mecha maintained its enormous competitive advantage, fully displaying its formidable might.

The opposing Battle Mecha was the same model used by Margaret—[Hoch]. Even though its reputation did not exceed the [God Armor]’s, the [Hoch] was still a product from about 80 years ago. Taking into account other aspects, it did not lose out to the [God Armor].

The battle between these two Battle Mechas had attracted everybody’s attention. They were currently battling in a certain mountain valley map. The dense forest and the complex terrain were utilized to its fullest by these two Battle Mechas. With one attacking and the other defending, they were moving at a very fast pace. The main attacker was the [God Armor], who took advantage of its valiant power and simple yet nimble techniques. Even though it was not as spectacular as Tian Xing Jian’s previous battle, where he used speed to fight against speed, Tian Xing Jian knew from a single glance that the combat power of this [God Armor] was above his. Every single one of his attacks was directed to the [Hoch]’s weak points; it was as if he was a famous doctor holding onto a scalpel—his moves were extremely accurate.

Even though his alleged speed wasn’t as fast as Tian Xing Jian’s, it did not mean that he was truly slower than Tian Xing Jian.

The control system, which comprised of a joystick and a keyboard regardless of the model, of Battle Mechas had been standardized since more than a thousand years ago. Most people would be able to obtain a hand speed of 10 actions per second (APS) after training; however, reaching 20 APS was not as simple. In other words, moving the joystick 10 times with the left hand and moving all fingers on the right hand twice per second was something which an ordinary person could not fundamentally achieve without undergoing strict training or unless one had become insane, needless to say how terrifying achieving 30 APS while maintaining the accuracy of the controls of the Battle Mecha would be.

Right now, the [God Armor] pilot’s hand speed was certainly more than 30 APS!

Moving once meant releasing an order. Having 30 APS meant that other than moving the direction of the joystick, the remaining 20 APS could be used to release 20 different orders. These 20 orders were combinatorial, with every single combination being a lesson all Battle Mecha pilot should learn from and memorize as they chant thousands of different combinations in one go. The movement of his own special Battle Mecha was also realized by the combination of orders. Also, for the Battle Mecha to jump up and give a right flying kick, one would be required to issue the following orders: three movements of the joystick so as to maintain the balance of the mecha while changing the direction it was facing, two movements on the keyboard to bend the knees and jump, two movements to kick out the right leg while in the air as well as a press and go of a key on the keyboard, thus a total of seven movements would be required. If one’s hand speed was 10 APS, then this movement could be completed in 0.7 seconds. If one’s hand speed was at 30 APS, then one could complete it in 0.23 seconds.

How wide was this gap between the two? The difference between 0.23 seconds and 0.7 seconds was that the person with a time of 0.23 second could issue out another ten orders in a single second!

Of course, the hand speed did not really represent victory or loss, as there was still a need to look at how the Battle Mecha would react, the rationale behind the overall movement, the accuracy of the ordered movement, the total time required for the physical movements of the Battle Mecha, and many other factors.

If a Battle Mecha’s flying kick took two seconds, then regardless of how fast one’s hand speed was, he would still have to wait. But right now, the Battle Mechas had been developed to a stage where the speed of one’s hand movements would determine the speed of the mecha. A flying kick, from the moment it jumped to the moment it kicked, would not exceed 0.4 seconds. Also, even if the Battle Mecha was slow in responding to the orders, the computer of the Battle Mecha could store the orders and thus prepare for the next moves. It could also utilize additional time to execute other actions, like moving, defending using the arms, linked movements, explosive movements, conserving energy, and other actions.

That was to say the battle between a Battle Mecha that was steered by someone with 30 APS and a Battle Mecha that was steered by someone with 10 APS was akin to an adult fighting a little child—it would be a relaxing fight, as if the adult was teasing the child.

Tian Xing Jian underwent training in the gravity room according to the guidebook from the computer, 《Tempering the Velocity of Your Hand》. In addition to his training, the natural talent he was born with allowed him to reach a hand speed of 27 APS. If he went all-out to the extent of causing his hands to become numb, he could reach 32 APS.

But, the [God Armor] in front of his eyes maintained a hand speed of 30 APS for more than half an hour.

And the other Battle Mecha, [Hoch], had similarly startled Fatty, as it seemed as if it did not know how to fall down from the “howling wind and torrential rain”-like attacks by the [God Armor]. [Hoch]’s two mechanical arms were just like apertures; they parried all sorts of incoming attacks while moving in a strange manner, dodging the killing moves of [God Armor] by a hair’s breadth. The more Fatty looked at his movements, the more he began to feel how familiar it was, causing him to feel as if he had seen it somewhere else before. Every time he felt his heart stirring up, the [Hoch] would retaliate by moving its mechanical legs that were hidden by its dancing arms, shooting towards the weaknesses of the [God Armor].

Opening up the information panel of the [God Armor] that gave an introduction of the Mecha pilot, it was written: Garit, major of Binater Empire Land Army.

This was a name Tian Xing Jian had seen before in the thick 《Battle Mecha Pilot Rankings》 given by Karl. With valiant offense being his speciality, Garit was ranked 182th. The reason why he remembered him was because Karl had coincidentally flipped to his page, and Garit’s fierce appearance and the characteristics of his techniques complemented each other nicely.

[Hoch]’s pilot had a Chinese name, Zhang Qing, and was a Battle Mecha instructor of the Victory Academy of Military Affairs in the Republic of Ryan.

The more he looked, the more Tian Xing Jian felt alarmed. Fortunately, this was happening on the net. If he had met such enemies in reality, even if he did not die, he would have to, at the very least, shed his skin [2]. It seemed that he himself was included in Leray Federation’s group of greenies who viewed the sky from the bottom of a well. Only such battles between experts could be considered as a true wrestle between mechas.

This battle eventually led to a tie from an agreement between both parties. Tian Xing Jian, who felt as if he did not have his fill, decided to continue watching a few more matches, as he had discovered quite a few opponents who were just a tad weaker than him. The human world was, after all, too big. With billions of people, how could there not be experts inundating the place?

As the system was implemented in such a way that those who won a match could only pit themselves against others who had also won a match and those who lost one could only fight with those who had lost a match as well, according to this logic, those who challenged Fatty were not as numerous as before, with about a few hundred thousand remaining. Fatty did not accept any of those battles and instead calmed his heart as he watched the control techniques used by others, broadening his horizons and deepening his experience.

Right as he was watching with keen interest, the simulation cabin was suddenly pried open by someone. Giving it a look, Fatty realized that it was Karl. This chap was full of sweat as he rushed towards Fatty, saying, “I’ve been looking for you for quite some time. Quickly, go and look at the combat report. The front lines have started fighting.”

Even though something was amiss with the words spoken by Karl, Fatty did not need to question him, as he understood that it was the front line west of Cato!

Several days ago when Tian Xing Jian and Karl were analyzing the war situation, both of them had respectively made a deduction. Even though they both used different styles and processes to do it, the outcome was similar. According to the assignment of the enemy’s military power and the troop deployment intelligence report, Karl estimated that Gyaca Woods Empire would commence a large-scale attack six days later. Fatty had instead deduced that the maximum number of days before the Gyaca Woods would commence their operation was four days, and there was no way they would exceed this time period.

In the end, today was the fourth day, and Fatty, who had rushed all the way to the combat planning department, saw the intelligence report—Gyaca Woods Empire’s General Offense would officially commence at midnight!

Everyone in the combat planning department rushed here and there with grave expressions. The movement of the Empire wasn’t too sudden this time round, as they could see from the intelligence report and the deployment of their troops. However, the way this General Offense was started felt strange; signs of the Myth Legion had appeared at the Garo Mountain in the front lines, leading to an exceptionally intense battle. Up till now, the Federation had already sent an armored division and two mechanized infantry divisions to Garo Mountain as reinforcement.

However, the flanks of the mountains were extremely calm, and the military that had been dispatched to their sides numbered quite few—there were signs of a conspiracy happening.

Looking at the combat report, Fatty suddenly remembered that photograph in the collection of famous generals—an ordinary appearance with a thin figure and a pair of calm yet deep eyes.

The supreme commander of the Gyaca Woods Imperial Army, Russell. Previously, he had opened a backdoor. What could he be thinking of doing this time?

[1] General Offense here means an all-out war without having any guerilla tactics, etc.

[2] This is the case of — Autotomy or self-amputation: the behavior whereby an animal sheds or discards one or more of its own appendages, usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allowing it to escape.