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Chapter 120 - Joining Officially!
Ling Lan's agreement caused the smile on Han Jijyun's face to deepen, and his gaze brightened even more. Perhaps Han Jijyun had found a game he wanted to play, and so his spirits were running high.
When Han Jijyun wasn't paying attention, Qi Long nudged Luo Lang lightly with a shoulder, and asked quietly, "Did your initiate instructor arrange some sort of mission?"
Luo Lang was startled, somewhat unable to wrap his mind around how sharp Qi Long's instincts were. This was because Qi Long always gave off a brash and forthright vibe, and seemed like he would be extremely careless. However, Luo Lang very quickly gathered his thoughts and nodded almost imperceptibly with a subtle dip of his chin, telling Qi Long that he had guessed correctly.
Qi Long grinned. Only he knew that he had guessed so easily, not because he was intuitive, but because his initiate instructor had also given him a mission. So, seeing Han Jijyun suddenly become so proactive, his mind connected the dots to his own situation, which was why he had jumped to this assumption so quickly.
"How about this? Let's leave Qi Long in charge of this matter." Ling Lan currently intended to cultivate Qi Long as the spokesperson for their team, wanting to put him in charge of representing their public image. This was because Qi Long's appearance was bright, lively and extremely positive, easily gaining the trust of others. In the future, no matter what mission they accepted, this disposition of his would be an unexpected boon when cooperating with others.
As Ling Lan had been trolled multiple times by the smiling faces of instructors Number Three and Number Five, she believed that people who smiled like they were kindly gentlemen were often representatives with 'black innards' 1 , bellies filled with murky waters of deceit and evil intentions. Therefore, she wasn't particularly fond of that kind of smile. In addition, she had the utmost respect for Instructor Number One, and held Instructor Number Nine in high esteem — and these two people were classic 'slackface' representatives. This led her current expressions and speaking tone to gradually shift infinitely closer towards the behavioural patterns of those two instructors. In Little Four's words, right now was the developmental phase of the slackface shota ...
"Ah ...?" Ling Lan's arrangement boggled Qi Long. What was he supposed to be in charge of?
"I'm saying that Lin Zhong-qing will be your attending follower. You'll be responsible for him." Since she would be pushing Qi Long to take centre stage, then it made sense for her to assign a lackey to him, right? Besides, Ling Lan had way too many secrets, which made it unsuitable for someone to keep following her around.
"Later, when you fight in the arena, you need to do your best, alright? Otherwise, you'll lose your follower ..." Ling Lan patted Qi Long's shoulder in encouragement, and then washed her hands of the responsibility.
Yet, Qi Long didn't care about Ling Lan's unexplained transfer of duties to him; he was in excitement mode. As a battle freak, the moment he heard the words 'arena' and 'fight', his blood boiled, and he just wished he could rush over immediately to the stage to satisfy a little of his battle lust. Although that punk Li Yingjie was somewhat iffy in the way he handled things, his personal combat ability was not bad. Good enough to be Qi Long's opponent.
Meanwhile, Han Jijyun had already got hold of Lin Zhong-qing via communicator, and told him to meet them secretly in a small room they opened for private arena combat. As this type of combat was set as private, no one would be able to get into the room without entering the correct password. Since Han Jijyun was prepared to let Lin Zhong-qing join the team, he would have to teach Li Yingjie a lesson no matter what. In the process, he wanted to reap more benefits from Li Yingjie, so he couldn't let Li Yingjie find out that Lin Zhong-qing had already joined their team.
Very soon, Lin Zhong-qing entered the private combat room. When he entered, Lin Zhong-qing couldn't see anyone, but just as he was wondering if he got the wrong room, he saw Ling Lan and the others waiting for him in a corner of the room that had been in his blind spot. Out of worry that Lin Zhong-qing could have been followed, Han Jijyun had arranged it so that everyone was located within a blind spot when someone first enters the room. This would eliminate any chance of them being discovered by an unintended audience.
Seeing the door close, Ling Lan and the others walked out of the corner. Lin Zhong-qing carefully glanced at Ling Lan who was standing in the middle of the group, and waited for the final verdict.
Being able to join Ling Lan's team would undoubtedly be the best outcome for him. Ever since Ling Lan had helped him previously without even batting an eyelid, Lin Zhong-qing had been extremely grateful towards Ling Lan. Back then, he had already been conflicted — wondering if he should lower his head and ask to join Ling Lan's group directly so that he could be under their protection. But at that time, he had just qualified for the Central Scout Academy and had also managed to become a Special Class-A student in one go — his pride and personal drive was high; he didn't want to become someone else's tag-along. Moreover, he was confident that he could evade Li Yingjie's pressuring, and so the thought of joining Ling Lan's group came and went.
However, reality was cruel. His relationship with Li Yingjie became increasingly worse, until it reached the point where they were almost archenemies. Meanwhile, although he continued to improve, the more he learned, the more he could feel the distance between himself and the top 5 of Special Class-A. Ling Lan, Qi Long, Li Yingjie, Wu Jiong, and Ye Xu were the ironclad top 5. Their strength exceeded the other Class-A students by a significant margin; it could be said that no one was even close to threatening their positions.
Of the five, Ye Xu was the weakest. And while Li Yingjie and Wu Jiong were about equal in strength, Qi Long was overall stronger than them by a head. Needless to say, Ling Lan was the uncontested #1 in the minds of all the students of their year. Although he had never truly obtained the top rank, the fact that his follower Qi Long had successfully earned the top rank 3 years in a row just proved how fearsome he was.
In the intra-grade ranking fights, Lin Zhong-qing had fought against Ye Xu and Wu Jiong before. Against them, he had only managed to hold out for 50 to 60 moves. Deep down, Lin Zhong-qing knew that if the other had really used their sure-kill moves, he would never have been able to hold out for that long. He could perhaps hold out for half that number of moves. The sheer pressure brought on by the gap between their levels let Lin Zhong-qing lose without any resentment.
Compared to the other four people, Lin Zhong-qing was actually much more curious about Ling Lan. In fact, you could even say that he was brimming with questions. Before this, he had asked around in a roundabout way to find out more about Ling Lan's family background. He found out that Ling Lan was from a middle-class family, and was also a posthumous child — while he had still been in his mother's womb, his father had lost his life in one of the Federation's battlefields. Aside from having a slightly better background, Ling Lan and he had rather similar conditions — they didn't have any additional combat skills, and didn't have access to any battle experience from their elders — then why did Ling Lan have such formidable battle power? Could it be a genetic issue? But they were just lower than Ling Lan by one level, so logically, the difference shouldn't be that large.
Lin Zhong-qing had also studied Ling Lan's fights before, and found that his battles were clean, precise, and efficient, never dragging things out (with only just one move used, there really was nothing to drag). Furthermore, his every attack was neither so strong that it was unstoppable, nor so fast that it was invisible. A simple straightforward move, without any extraneous frills or flourishes, directly aimed to strike at his opponent's biggest weakness.
Of course, he himself was very familiar with those attack moves Ling Lan had used — they were all sourced from the basic physical skills set of the Central Scout Academy, with only some being sure-kill techniques appropriated from other students.
Originally, Lin Zhong-qing hadn't known this. But then one time, he noticed Qin Yi's sure-kill technique being executed perfectly by Ling Lan's hands, letting him defeat Ye Xu in one move. Then, he had known that Ling Lan had the unbelievable ability to rapidly mimic and absorb others' sure-kill techniques. This had also given him some insight on how Ling Lan could have become so strong.
Ling Lan didn't have a formidable family background, nor did he have any additional combat skills (or so he thought; yet another poor babe being kept in the dark). And yet, he had become the number 1 of their year — Lin Zhong-qing truly respected and admired Ling Lan from the heart. He felt that Ling Lan had brought honour to all the students from common family backgrounds. The only regret he had, was that Ling Lan was very aloof — not seeming to care very much for the students around him. Aside from those few people from the start, after a whole year, it was still those few people who were close to him.
Then, this time, he had unexpectedly fallen into a trap and was now forced to fight against Li Yingjie directly. Lin Zhong-qing knew that he was no match for Li Yingjie, but he was unwilling to just roll over and become Li Yingjie's subordinate. And so, he had thought of Ling Lan. If he really had to submit and become someone's subordinate, then he would much rather become Ling Lan's subordinate. Even though Wu Jiong was also a good candidate, Lin Zhong-qing wasn't as keen to submit to Wu Jiong.
Thus, he had taken the initiative to contact Han Jijyun online and put forward his request. He had thought that he would feel horrible doing it — after all, he had fought hard for independence for over a year, but still couldn't escape the tragic outcome of becoming a follower. The only consolation he had was that at least contacting Han Jijyun to submit to Ling Lan was his own choice. However, unexpectedly, the moment the words left his mouth, he had actually felt at peace. His heart seemed lighter, as if shedding a heavy weight 1 . Perhaps he had already been thinking about this for a long time subconsciously, but his pride and ego had not allowed him to consider it consciously.
Now, Lin Zhong-qing had come to face the person that could determine his future destiny. His initially steady heart actually started fluttering in panic — goddammit, he was actually nervous! And there were also feelings of fear; he was really afraid of being rejected ...
"Lin Zhong-qing, I have agreed to your request. But I'm used to acting alone, so, after this, you can just follow Qi Long and the others." Ling Lan's words brought both joy and pain to Lin Zhong-qing's heart. The joy was because he could finally join Ling Lan's team and receive their protection; the pain was because he had heard Ling Lan's rejection. Ling Lan wasn't taking him on as a follower personally, but handing him over to Qi Long and the others.
Who knew there would come a day where he would be dismissed by another as a follower? Lin Zhong-qing didn't know how to feel — he merely nodded his head in a daze to indicate that he understood.
Only the team leader could request the addition of a team member; an individual wasn't able to randomly search for a team and request to join on their own. So, when Ling Lan saw Lin Zhong-qing nod his acceptance, as the team leader, she used her communicator to connect to the academy's mainframe, and submitted the request form for Lin Zhong-qing to enter her team. Once the request was approved, the A.I. would contact the team member listed on the form. Next, the team member need only enter the password of his communicator to complete the process and join the team.
The A.I. very quickly checked Lin Zhong-qing's information to confirm that he was currently a free agent. Then, it forwarded Ling Lan's invitation to Lin Zhong-qing's communicator.
Lin Zhong-qing took a deep breath — he then resolutely pressed on the 'confirm' button and entered his password. When he saw the congratulatory message confirming his addition to Ling Lan's team, Lin Zhong-qing let out a large breath. It felt to him as if the dust had truly settled and he was back on solid ground. He hid it well though; no one else in the room noticed.
"Qi Long, I leave the arena battle to you." Ling Lan had simultaneously received a notification informing her of the successful addition, along with a copy of all of Lin Zhong-qing's data. As a team, they were considered as one entity, so all the team members' information was publicly available within the group. Meanwhile, any grudges on Lin Zhong-qing's shoulders would also be extended to encompass the whole team. In other words, any of the other team members could substitute for Lin Zhong-qing in the upcoming fight. This logic was exactly the same as the one behind Li Yingjie's plot to trap Lin Zhong-qing into a fight.
1. In contrast with the pure 'white' of innocence, people said to have black innards are those who are sly and calculative, good at scheming and manipulation.
2. Original weight given here is 1000 catties (600 kg). Removed it because the specificity isn't really required here; 1000 is just a generic number often used in Chinese proverbs/sayings to emphasize great amounts of something.
Chapter 121 - Battle Points for Self-Redemption!
This was the first time in the last couple of years that a nemesis combat match was to be held in the Central Scout Academy. Lin Zhong-qing and Li Yingjie's wager on their futures created an uproar among the lower grades; this was also why there were so many people here in the combat hall today.
Li Yingjie had long taken up his position on the stage, waiting for Lin Zhong-qing to arrive. At this moment, he was very pleased with himself, thinking that Lin Zhong-qing was already a bird in his hand. All that remained was for the final result to be declared — Li Yingjie was extremely confident that he would be able to take down Lin Zhong-qing easily with his strength.
The more Li Yingjie thought about it, the more excited he was — he could almost see Lin Zhong-qing bowing down before him now ...
However, the following events did not unfold as he had pictured. In the final minute before the arena battle would officially start, the person that appeared across from him was not Lin Zhong-qing, but Qi Long. Right then, Li Yingjie knew that his plot had been countered by the opponent, and he screamed in anger, "Why is it you?!"
Qi Long laughed freely, saying, "Why can't it be me?" In Li Yingjie's eyes, Qi Long's hearty laughter was a taunt, mocking him for falling victim to his own cleverness.
"Who'd have thought that Lin Zhong-qing would be your team member ... I'd never expected you all to be willing to waste a member slot for that fellow." In Li Yingjie's plans, after he had defeated Lin Zhong-qing, the first thing he would do would be to forbid him from joining any teams. Since Lin Zhong-qing had been so unwilling to submit to him, then he would utterly destroy him and turn Lin Zhong-qing into a lowly dog for Li Yingjie to kick and scold as he pleased!
"You yourself were willing to let a regular class person join your team. At least Lin Zhong-qing is still a Special Class-A student. It's not at all shameful to have taken him in." Qi Long was rather perplexed by Li Yingjie's words. Right now, no matter how he looked at Li Yingjie, he just felt that there was something wrong with the other's brain. Really, what was he thinking? The members of a team were supposed to be the best partners to grow up with, and would be the most intimate companions who would fight right by one's side in the future.
Therefore, every team leader would be more careful than careful, weighing their options again and again, when deciding whether to accept someone into their team. Li Yingjie's act of adding a weak member who would obviously drag down the strength of a team, all for the sake of revenge against someone who didn't want to join him ... in Qi Long's opinion, this sort of behaviour was illogical. It was definitely the action of a retard.
Qi Long's words further ignited Li Yingjie's rage — there was only one notion in his mind now, and that was that he had fallen prey to Ling Lan's team's evil scheme. He believed that this was all a ploy set up by Ling Lan's group to eliminate their greatest rival (him) so that they could obtain the coveted status of kings of year 4738.
It had to be said that Li Yingjie was really full of himself. He had always thought of Ling Lan's group as his competition, so the moment he found that the situation wasn't looking good for him, his first conclusion was that he had been set up.
Dizzy with rage, Li Yingjie could no longer remain calm. The moment the referee teacher said start, he charged with bloodshot eyes towards Qi Long on the opposite end. Of course, this manner of approach was useless — already weaker than Qi Long in general, after losing his composure, the difference between Li Yingjie's and Qi Long's strength was even clearer. Within the span of a few moves, Li Yingjie was being dominated by Qi Long on every front.
A slight smile appeared on Ling Lan's lips; this match was already Qi Long's.
********
In a corner not too far from the arena stage, Wu Jiong, who had been observing the fight, sniffed coldly at this point and said, "Ye Xu, let's go."
"Yes!" replied Ye Xu, nodding. Even at their level, they could tell what the final outcome of the fight would be. Initially, they had been looking forward to seeing the fight between Li Yingjie and Qi Long, but who would've guessed that Li Yingjie would become mentally imbalanced and lose his calm? Hence, the fight had lost all meaning, making them lose interest in it as well.
Wu Jiong and Ye Xu had actually come to spectate for a specific purpose — they too had wanted to invite Lin Zhong-qing to join their team. Although Lin Zhong-qing was currently only ranked 15th in the class rankings, seemingly not too strong, the fact is that he had successfully moved up from the position of dead-last to the upper segment of Class-A in just short of 2 years. If Lin Zhong-qing continued to improve at this rate, he would certainly be able to make a true place for himself among those at the top one day. Wu Jiong and Ye Xu both thought highly of his future prospects, so they were willing to give one of their precious team member slots to Lin Zhong-qing.
Of course, Wu Jiong and Ye Xu also believed that as long as Lin Zhong-qing was willing to join them, if they negotiated politely with Li Yingjie based on their families' status in the military world, the other would probably give way.
However, Wu Jiong hadn't considered that Ling Lan would beat them to the punch ... Wu Jiong felt a twinge of regret in his heart, thinking that he had lost this chess match by a slim margin. He had wanted to wait till Lin Zhong-qing had utterly lost all hope before offering a helping hand — that way, he would have been able to gain Lin Zhong-qing's gratitude — but unexpectedly, Ling Lan's group had stepped in halfway and hijacked his target. If he had only known earlier, he would not have waited to try and maximise his advantages. He should have just contacted Lin Zhong-qing directly the moment he had found out about Li Yingjie's trap ...
"That punk Qi Long really moves too goddamn quickly. Actually beating us to the punch to get Lin Zhong-qing," complained Ye Xu, displeased, as he stared at Qi Long dominating the match.
"Qi Long? That punk is just a battle maniac, he wouldn't think that far. Without that person, Lin Zhong-qing would never have chosen to join them." Gaze serious, Wu Jiong directed Ye Xu's attention to Ling Lan who was standing in a corner.
"Ling Lan ..." Ye Xu's expression changed subtly. He still remembered when he had first been defeated by Ling Lan in one move — that one incident had almost destroyed his confidence. Luckily, Wu Jiong had found him, and they had bonded while commiserating together over their losses to Ling Lan. The two of them began working together, and finally managed to build a team of their own, becoming one of the only three teams in their grade at present. This also allowed their reputation to stay on par with Ling Lan's team, taking on the role as a sort of counterbalance.
As for Li Yingjie's team, in their eyes, it wasn't even a threat. It was really only Li Yingjie himself who blindly believed that his team was one of the strongest teams in the class ...
At the heart of it, Wu Jiong actually looked down a little on Li Yingjie. He was a direct descendant of a top elite family, but though his combat ability was not bad, that brain of his ... was really below Wu Jiong's notice. He just kept doing a bunch of nonsensical things that did neither himself nor anyone else any good.
Wu Jiong's group quietly disappeared from the combat hall. Meanwhile, on the stage, the results were quickly decided. Li Yingjie, who could fight against Qi Long for up to several 100 moves typically, did not display any of the strength a top 5 of Class-A should have this time. It hadn't taken even 100 moves before he was struck by one of Qi Long's fists and flew off the stage, sealing his loss.
After Li Yingjie lost, two options popped out on his communicator — one was to adhere to the wager and serve the other, while the other was to redeem himself by using battle points to trade for his freedom.
Based on Li Yingjie's personality, he would certainly choose to redeem himself, but before he could make his choice, he had fainted out of sheer anger.
Because Li Yingjie had lost the ability to choose, after 3 minutes, the academy's mainframe automatically transferred that right to Qi Long, allowing him to make the choice on behalf of Li Yingjie.
If Qi Long chose the first option, he would have to send out an invitation for his team, while the second option would require the loser to forfeit a set number of battle points to redeem himself.
Of course Qi Long was unwilling to take on this trash Li Yingjie; he hurriedly chose for Li Yingjie to redeem himself. And then, all he saw was the immense figure supplied by the A.I. — the countless number of zeroes made Qi Long's eyes cross. It turned out that Li Yingjie was worried that Lin Zhong-qing would choose to redeem himself, and so had set it so that the price for self-redemption was one million battle points. This was an absolutely astronomical number. For context, despite Qi Long's battle achievements, in these two years at the academy, he had only managed to earn slightly more than a thousand battle points.
In truth, Li Yingjie had already proposed this self-redemption price right from the beginning when he had challenged Lin Zhong-qing to a nemesis match. This way, no matter which option Lin Zhong-qing chose, he wouldn't be able to escape his palm. If Lin Zhong-qing chose the second option, he would use the debt of these battle points to force Lin Zhong-qing to give up his studies and work non-stop in the virtual world by taking on missions to repay his debt. (The scout academy's battle points can be traded using the credits earned within the virtual world.)
However, this malicious intent of Li Yingjie's had now smashed his own toes, benefitting Qi Long. This was also another reason why Li Yingjie had fainted — he knew what the price of self-redemption was, and even he could not bear the cost.
Very quickly, a message was sent to Qi Long's communicator, informing him that a batch of battle points under Li Yingjie's name had been transferred into his account. The mainframe also told Qi Long that the remaining deficiency would be automatically transferred to his account whenever Li Yingjie earned more battle points in the future. In other words, even without taking Li Yingjie in as a lackey, Li Yingjie would have to work for Qi Long until the day he graduated from the Central Scout Academy.
Just like that, Li Yingjie was forced to take a great loss. On the other hand, Lin Zhong-qing managed to get rid of a burden that had troubled him for close to 2 years. However, Qi Long very quickly received the remaining battle points from Li Yingjie, clearing the debt. Qi Long knew very well that this was most likely the doing of Li Yingjie's family. They must have applied pressure in the background to allow the direct transfer of credits into Li Yingjie's virtual account so that he could trade them for battle points to clear his debt.
Although the academy had announced to the public that it was impossible to obtain credits from the outside world, when real power and authority came into play, the academy would still give some face to the extremely resourceful large elite families. Qi Long was clear about the twists and turns involved in this, so he wasn't particularly surprised to receive the payment for Li Yingjie's debt so quickly. He merely told Ling Lan and Han Jijyun about the amount he of battle points he received. In the end, Ling Lan decided that she would leave 100,000 points for emergencies, while the rest would be left to Han Jijyun to handle. Hopefully, this large windfall would be able to give them a boost within the scout academy's virtual world. Of course, the greatest objective of Ling Lan's group was to free all the members of the team from the worry of purchasing developmental agents.
Battle points were very useful — you could use them in the academy to buy the highest-grade cultivation agents, which were extremely hard to find in the outside world, as well as high-grade gene agents. However, the price was extremely steep — 100,000 battle points for just one tube. Even if the children of the academy worked their butts off doing missions and pushed their hardest during the arena battles, they would still need at least 5 years before they would accumulate 100,000 battle points.
Qi Long's current amount of battle points could only purchase 10 tubes of high-grade gene agent, and this number was only enough to supply Qi Long for one year of absorption. Ling Lan felt that buying these agents now was rather not worth it — they might as well try to think of a way to gain some interest on these battle points and earn more. The more they earned, the more agents they would be able to get.
Han Jijyun felt the same way and so accepted the duty graciously. He was filled with vigour, thinking that this sort of purposeful life right now was what he really wanted. Everyone left to do their own things, leaving only Little Four to continue muttering by Ling Lan's ear. He was whining that he would have been a better candidate than Han Jijyun to handle those battle points.
Chapter 122 - The Cheetah Mecha Operator!
In the end, Ling Lan couldn't take Little Four's incessant whining, so she had no choice but to let him take the remaining 100,000 battle points she had saved for emergencies to invest. Of course, Ling Lan warned him beforehand that if he lost the battle points, she would pull down his pants and give him a good spanking, lifting the ban on domestic violence this once.
Little Four naturally sniffed at this, thinking that Ling Lan's threat would never have a chance to happen. In his words — have you ever seen a god lose money? What? You said yes? Then you must definitely be a retard!
Ling Lan definitely did not want to be called a retard, so, after she gave the 100,000 battle points to Little Four, she gave the matter no more thought. Of course, Ling Lan was mentally prepared — if the battle points were really lost, then she would make Little Four take a little risk and transfer some credits in from the outside world to repay the debt. As a boss, she needed to be accountable to her followers, after all.
After Ling Lan had settled all the real-world matters, she continued to focus on training up her mecha control. Time was slowly ticking by, getting closer to the final deadline, but Ling Lan just couldn't break past the critical 3-minute line. In other words, Ling Lan had pushed till she could use her highest hand speed without making any control errors, but unfortunately, her time had stopped around 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Even in her best condition, her best results were only infinitely nearing 3 minutes 20 seconds — the distance to 3 minutes was just too far away ...
Once control hits a critical threshold, it was virtually impossible to improve the time needed by even just one second. Ling Lan could almost predict the failure of this mission already; the memories of numbing pain of her body being electrocuted reared up from the depths of her mind, and she couldn't help but tremble a little.
Ling Lan became more and more anxious, which negatively impacted her training results in her following sessions. This feeling was just like when she had reached a bottleneck previously with her father's hand speed training. Ling Lan thought to herself — could this really already be her limit? Was she actually unsuited for piloting mecha?
This mental state of Ling Lan was unsuitable for mecha control training; the picky learning space ruthlessly kicked Ling Lan out of the training area.
Little Four, who had been busy earning battle points, sensed his boss's glum mood, and quickly put down what he was doing to come and ask her why. When he heard that she had encountered a bottleneck once again, he again suggested taking Ling Lan to the outside virtual world for a trip for a change of pace.
Ling Lan felt that just staying in the mission space wouldn't solve her problem anyway, and her training results recently had just been getting worse and worse — she might as well go outside for a bit. Then, she recalled that it was only after she had first learned some mecha control in the outside virtual world that the learning space's mecha course had been unlocked. Perhaps the answer to her breakthrough would also be in outside virtual world.
Just like that, Ling Lan and Little Four once again returned to the place where they had logged off the first time, inside the mecha training hall.
However, at this time today, there were quite a few newbies training at the mecha training hall. Inside the room Ling Lan had selected, there were also seven to eight bestial mecha practising their basic movements. There were powerful agile fierce bestial mecha, such as a panther, a tiger, and a lion, as well as tough offensive type mecha with sharp horns or protrusions, such as a porcupine, a stegosaurus, and a rhinoceros. Of course, there were also nimble scout type mecha, such as a wolf and a fox.
They were all in the middle of practising the basic movements of their mecha. Some were doing like Ling Lan previously, stumbling around; this was obviously their first time here, making them the newbies of newbie operators. There were also some who had trained for some time, who displayed a certain level of control, marking them as older newbies.
The moment Ling Lan entered the room, most of the bestial mecha inside stopped moving or slowed down. This was because Ling Lan's mecha was the extremely rare rabbit mecha, highly uncommon on the market. On top of that, the resting state action Ling Lan had set was just too adorable — the rabbit was nibbling at the red carrot 1 held between its forelegs, head twitching slightly. Its cute appearance coupled with its cute actions naturally drew the crowd's attention.
Ling Lan had set the resting action of the mecha this way on a whim. Originally, she had thought that this action would never be seen by anyone else, and so had purposely set it to be cuter for her own entertainment. But she hadn't known that her first visit to the mecha training hall had been a special circumstance. Back then, most people had been drawn away to watch the mecha fight in the battle stadium, so there hadn't been many people staying behind to practise in the hall. Thus, she had ended up being the only person in the room.
Although Ling Lan was rather surprised that there were so many mecha training together here, she didn't really think too much about it. Though the resting action of the rabbit mecha was rather adorably silly, no one would be able to tell who was operating it anyway. Ling Lan did not think that she would be so unlucky to get a rabbit mecha again when she used her real identity to log on in the future ...
In the training hall, there was one cheetah mecha which completely ignored Ling Lan's arrival. His actions remained the same as he continued to go about his training systematically and meticulously. Ling Lan's attention was quickly drawn to the other, because he was controlling that mecha perfectly. Whether it was running, jumping, leaping, or pouncing, every movement was clean and precise. When executed in sequence, the actions were agile and flowed smoothly, bringing an aesthetic beauty where power merged flawlessly with speed. This even gave Ling Lan the illusion that the mecha before her was no longer a mecha, but actually a real live giant cheetah.
Ling Lan's attention also drew Little Four's attention. He surreptitiously looked in on the operator of the cheetah mecha, and upon seeing that familiar figure, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, shaking Ling Lan from her mesmerised stupor. "What happened? Little Four?"
Little Four said excitedly, "Haha, Boss, we've bumped into an acquaintance. Guess who the operator inside the cheetah mecha is?"
"How would I know? This is only my second time in this virtual world, so I don't really know that many people ... could it be someone from real life?" mused Ling Lan, rubbing her chin.
"No, we met this person on our last trip, Boss. You even talked to the other. Here's a hint: the other is very dangerous ..." said Little Four with a cheeky grin, shaking his right index finger.
Ling Lan figured it out abruptly. "That hacker with spectre abilities?" He had been the only one who fit the definition of dangerous.
"Haha, Boss, you got it! It's him. Who knew his mecha control is also so good ... but why is he still practising basic mecha control here? Could it be that his age isn't as old as we thought?" said Little Four, wondering. Back then, although the man had concealed his appearance, he had given off an impression of being a mature adult. Could it be that they had been fooled?
"What, is there an age limit for someone to learn basic mecha control?" asked Ling Lan curiously.
"Well, no, there isn't. It's just that most learners are around age 13 to 16; even the oldest wouldn't be as old as 18. That's why I find it a little odd. The feeling that man gave us is that he should already be over 20, right?" replied Little Four. "But then he's a hacker-evolved spectre, so it could be that he had manipulated his aura."
"If only Boss had let me investigate his real appearance, then we wouldn't have been fooled." Little Four still seemed to still hold some resentment over the matter.
"Leave it, let's avoid trouble if we can. He has nothing to do with us, why should we know so much about him?" Ling Lan then reassured Little Four, "Still, this person's mecha control skills are really impressive. Looks like I should go reference the control methods of some mecha experts. Perhaps then I'll be able to find some inspiration to break through."
Ling Lan felt that she had been building a car in a sealed room 1 for too long. Training on her own day after day, she had taken many of the control moves for granted, becoming set in her ways. Especially after seeing the way the cheetah mecha operator controlled his mecha, Ling Lan deeply realised that she still had some unnecessary frills for some of her moves — she had overcomplicated things a little.
"Oh, it looks like he's going to take the basic movement assessment mission now. Let's go see." Little Four didn't wait for Ling Lan's response, dragging Ling Lan and her mecha along to follow the other into the assessment mission's space.
"Is it alright for us to just enter like this?" asked Ling Lan somewhat worriedly as she glanced at the cheetah mecha who was preparing to take the assessment. After all, the other was an evolved spectre who could kill brainwaves. If the other had already set it so that viewing was restricted, wouldn't their barging in here be taken as an outright challenge? If things took a turn for the worst, heads would roll.
"No worries, this type of assessment mission is open for public viewing. Anyone can choose to watch. Many people like to watch others take the assessment before taking the assessment themselves so that they can absorb some experience," said Little Four breezily.
Little Four's answer let Ling Lan relax completely. She then took a look around, and noticed that she was the only one here observing. This made her suspect whether Little Four had just been shooting off his mouth again ...
However, seeing the other ignore her presence, Ling Lan decided that it wouldn't hurt. Even if Little Four had been lying to her, she had no way to go out anymore anyway because the assessment mission had already started.
Inside the assessment mission, the entire space was filled with all kinds of messy and disorganised obstacles. The cheetah mecha was weaving among the obstacles, no trace of hesitation or awkwardness in its movements. All of its actions flowed naturally, no observable kinks at all.
Just as Ling Lan was thinking that the other would easily pass the mission this time, the initially stationary obstacles began to move irregularly. This sudden change shocked Ling Lan, and also flustered the cheetah mecha operator.
A rock column suddenly burst out of the ground — the cheetah mecha had just leapt into the air, and it looked like he was about to collide with the column. Right then, the cheetah mecha twisted so that its four limbs could spring off the rock column, and with this force, the mecha's body was sent leaping in another direction, nicely evading a collision with the column.
Ling Lan's high-strung nerves eased slightly, but the following situation made her heart rise into her throat again. It turned out that the cheetah mecha had not escaped from danger yet — though it had changed directions, a giant rock was hurtling towards him from the other direction.
The operator of the cheetah mecha was very calm. He controlled the mecha to shift movements in mid-air; the mecha's four limbs shuddered twice in the air and then stepped firmly on the giant rock. Borrowing this force, it bounced back, once again dodging a potentially dangerous collision.
1. This is a pretty literal translation. The Chinese call the normal orange carrots 'red'. That said, red carrots apparently really do exist, even purple ones, so I decided to just leave it as is. :3
2. acting in a way divorced from reality
Chapter 123 - Breaking Through a Bottleneck!
The cheetah mecha changed direction repeatedly in mid-air, springing from one obstacle to another; it actually managed to stay in the air without having to set foot on the ground even once. Using multiple rebounds, he weaved his way nimbly through the air, jumping over wave after unending wave of obstacles. Without any real danger, he lasted till the final point, passing this assessment mission perfectly.
"Congratulations, XXX, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 57 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard." A line of red text appeared suddenly on the screen of Ling Lan's mecha. This proved that the other's speed was indeed exceptional.
"Wow, Amazing. This result of his actually placed him within the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard, and this is his first attempt too!" Little Four's words stunned Ling Lan once more. Mind you, the other's control ability is something not even she — with the learning space she possessed, and the tenfold extra practice time she had because of it — could do. And the other had just accomplished it so easily ...
"Could it be that he has suppressed his previous passing results?" Ling Lan felt her own confidence take a big hit, and recalling that the other was an evolved spectre, capable of manipulating data in the virtual world, she wondered if the other had applied some subterfuge here.
"I checked. He really didn't." Little Four's words informed Ling Lan that the other's result was a true one. This fired up Ling Lan's motivation — this time, she really felt the difference between herself and a true aberrant-level prodigy of this world. Having no true rivals that could match up to her in the Central Scout Academy had made her slacken, but this event made her draw taut the reins of hard work once more, setting her firmly on the road of the strong.
"He's really amazing. Who knows how well I can do?" Competitive spirit flared in Ling Lan's heart. She had always been the boss at the academy, so suddenly having someone be better than her had made her eager to test herself.
"Why don't you try for yourself, Boss?" Little Four was obviously a troublemaker; sensing her restlessness, he immediately started goading Ling Lan.
It was true that Ling Lan wanted to know what level her basic control skills were at, so she went along with Little Four's suggestion and chose to take the basic controls assessment mission.
Ling Lan felt herself being transported into a spacious area. This area was different from the assessment area of the cheetah mecha previously.
"Every assessment map is chosen randomly. Word has it that there are over 100,000 maps, so it is virtually impossible to prepare for the assessment by researching the maps beforehand. This also guarantees that the result of every assessment is valid and reliable," said Little Four, explaining why the map was different.
"Since the maps are different, then why do they still rank people based on time? Among these hundred thousand maps, there must be some levels which are harder or easier than others," said Ling Lan doubtfully.
"The difficulty level of all the maps is equal. The controls being assessed on each map are about the same so that the operator's true abilities are reflected in the results. For instance, the operator of that cheetah mecha earlier finished his map in 1 minute 57 seconds; then, he would also finish this map in almost the same amount of time. The deviation won't exceed one second, give or take."
Ling Lan nodded to show she understood. She saw a timer appear on the screen of the mecha counting down to the start of the test. This method of informing was much more humane than that of the learning space — after all, the system here gave you some prep time, unlike the learning space, which would start whenever it felt like it. Every start would just sneak up without warning, leaving Ling Lan feeling helpless.
Seeing two large letters 'GO' appear, Ling Lan controlled her rabbit mecha to bound off at flying speed. The fully engaged Ling Lan didn't know that, at this time, a familiar mecha had slipped into her assessment mission space. It was that cheetah mecha, the evolved spectre who Ling Lan had always considered extremely dangerous.
It turned out that the cheetah mecha had been fully aware of Ling Lan's presence during his assessment. However, Ling Lan's mecha had really just seemed so harmless, and its behaviour of nibbling on a carrot had been so amusing, that the cheetah mecha's operator couldn't help but chuckle, curiosity towards the operator of such a cute mecha stealing into his mind.
He saw that the rabbit mecha was simply observing quietly, and so left it alone. When his assessment ended, seeing the notification messages from the system, he was also very moved and satisfied. By the time his emotions settled and he was about to select the option to graduate and leave the mecha training hall, he unintentionally noticed that Ling Lan's rabbit mecha had chosen to take the assessment mission as well. Curious, he didn't choose to graduate, but instead chose the option to return for more training, and so was sent back to the mecha training hall. Then, he had entered this space to watch Ling Lan's assessment.
Of course, this choice meant that he would have to retake the basic assessment again once more later on, but he didn't care. After all, for him, passing the assessment was really a simple matter.
Little Four had noticed the other from the very moment he entered to observe, but Little Four chose not to inform Ling Lan. This was because Little Four didn't think the other could influence them in any way. Even if the other was an evolved spectre, Little Four believed all along that the virtual world was his territory — no one would be able to harm Ling Lan under his watch.
In order to let the rabbit mecha manoeuvre freely without any burden, Ling Lan shifted the carrot, which had initially been on the rabbit's back, to its mouth and clamped down to hold it between its teeth. After that, a giant rabbit could be seen hopping around nimbly within that vast space, dodging one obstacle after another.
There was sufficient room for Ling Lan's mecha to prance around freely — this allowed Ling Lan to pay less attention to those obstacles. At this moment, Ling Lan was unleashing the fastest speed she could handle for the rabbit mecha to run; in other words, her hand speed had already reached its highest point at present.
"What great speed. Their hand speed is most likely already at a high level. Who knew planet Azure had such an amazing youth ... is it an academy student? If it is an academy student, then who could it be? Is it a supreme prodigy who managed to beat the trial to remove their virtual access lock at only age 13?" The cheetah mecha operator wondered to himself in awe as he watched the rabbit mecha's speed. In his mind, he was going through the people he knew to try and figure out who the rabbit mecha operator could be among those on planet Azure.
Frankly, the cheetah mecha couldn't be blamed for not considering the other planets. This was because the newbies in the mecha training hall were either the freshest of newbies, those who had just gained access to the extended virtual world, or students from the scout academies who had succeeded in their challenge. Either way, they were the type with no money who wouldn't be able to afford the exorbitant fees for a transfer. Therefore, if they wanted to learn about mecha, they would definitely go to the local mecha training hall for training, and not choose to transfer to another planet.
Just like that, due to a misunderstanding, the cheetah mecha operator was never able to find the operator of the rabbit mecha. Only when he went to military school later on did he manage to find some hints.
********
Some of Ling Lan's high-speed turns left the cheetah mecha operator in awe, but also with some regret. "Hmm, it looks like there are some minor flaws in accuracy, but at this speed, this performance is already impeccable." The cheetah mecha operator's operator knew very well that, the faster the speed, the more difficult it was to control the mecha. Certain turning motions, which could be executed within perfect range at low speed, would become extremely difficult at high speeds. Typically, as long as a set movement can be completed at high speed, then it would already be considered an excellent performance.
Ling Lan's performance in the first half was basically perfect, but the latter half of the assessment wasn't that easy. Just when Ling Lan was enjoying her run, the difficult section arrived — it turned out that she had reached the part with the irregularly moving obstacles. Even though Ling Lan already knew these obstacles existed, they came on so suddenly that she was still thrown for a bit of a loop.
This was because these moving obstacles arrived so abruptly, and they moved without any sense of predictability.
Ling Lan was in the midst of sprinting when she saw a large rock hurtling towards her from her left side with the corner of her eye. At that speed, Ling Lan knew well that it would soon smash into her mecha's waist.
In a split second, Ling Lan decided — she rejected the option of an emergency stop, because she knew that once her mecha stopped, she wouldn't be able to increase its speed to this level again. This was because there was no longer any space here for her to slowly increase her mecha's speed. Her only option now was to break through with pure speed.
Ling Lan's decision was the same as the cheetah mecha's — progress by leaping from obstacle to obstacle. The thrusters on both sides of Ling Lan's mecha's waist activated at the same time. Borrowing the force of the thrusters, the mecha's speed was again raised by a whole level.
But the large rock was just coming at her too quickly — even though Ling Lan had increased the speed of her mecha by a hair with the help of her thrusters, she still only managed to push half of the mecha's body out of the path of the incoming rock. The rabbit mecha's hind legs were still within range of the rock's trajectory.
"Is he going to fail here?" The cheetah mecha operator frowned, because at this moment, there was already no possible way for the rabbit mecha operator to dodge anymore. However, right then, the rabbit mecha's next move sent a sparkle through his eyes, and he couldn't help but yell out in admiration.
The rabbit mecha had done something completely unexpected. With a sudden shake of its hind legs, the rabbit mecha had bent its hind legs back till a right angle 1 was formed between its waist and its hind legs. Because of this bizarre move, the large rock had just barely grazed by the rabbit mecha's hind legs. On top of that, the mecha's raised hind legs pushed off abruptly against the large rock passing by, making an extremely terrifying loud noise. And this push sent the rabbit mecha zooming forwards at three times its original high speed.
If the instructors of the learning space had seen this move, they would have all exclaimed that this was the secret combat skill Rabbit Sky Leap.
This move had been inspired by the abilities of a rabbit, but was actually unsuitable to be used in conjunction with the rabbit mecha. However, in this last scene, Ling Lan had been forced into a corner, and had involuntarily used this move. Of course, being able to execute the move so nimbly with the rabbit mecha was all thanks to the hard work Ling Lan had put into her basic mecha control training in the learning space. She had already absorbed those basic mecha controls into her very instincts. Thus, in that critical moment, she had been able to take out this move, helping her to escape this desperate situation.
However, Ling Lan's crisis wasn't over yet. The added power of the Rabbit Sky Leap made the mecha's speed go beyond the limits of what Ling Lan could safely control. Meanwhile, the obstacles also became faster to match the increased speed of the mecha, becoming even more erratic and strange in their movements, leaving Ling Lan scrambling to stay in control.
Seated within the rabbit mecha, Ling Lan was already drenched in sweat. She peered intently at all the images being displayed inside the mecha, dodging every obstacle that came from heaven knows where. Unknowingly, her hand speed had actually broken past her bottleneck, becoming faster and faster, at times even producing several afterimages, something which had never happened before.
1. 90 degrees
Chapter 124 - Don't Choose to Graduate?
"Warning, because the mecha used an irregular movement, some damage has occurred, some damage has occurred." Right then, the rabbit mecha's A.I. sounded out a warning.
Ling Lan was currently fully immersed in her mecha control; she ordered calmly, "Check damage level of mecha."
"Mecha damage at 30%. Warning, still sustaining damage. Please decrease speed by 50% immediately ... damage at 31% ... please decrease speed by 50%!" The A.I. repeated its warnings mechanically.
"How much longer can it hold on?" Ling Lan didn't choose to decrease her speed. For one, the speed of the moving obstacles around her no longer allowed her to decrease her mecha's speed. And secondly, her current speed was from the rebound energy of the Rabbit Sky Leap — the mecha itself had no way to control this speed anyway. Reality made it so that Ling Lan had no choice but to continue moving at high speed.
"Estimated that after 2 minutes, the mecha shall enter breakdown condition. Warning, damage level at 31%, please reduce speed by 50% immediately."
"That's enough time." To prevent the warning sounds of the A.I. from affecting her control, Ling Lan simply turned off the A.I.'s vocalization. Her expression calm, she once again controlled her mecha to evade the continuous ambush of the obstacles.
It had to be said that Ling Lan's adaptive ability was at an abnormal level — this had always been one of Ling Lan's strongest innate talents, and combined with the study and training provided by the learning space, this talent improved even more, its effects becoming even more obvious. After dodging somewhat clumsily for the first few abrupt attacks, Ling Lan got used to the mecha's present speed.
Very quickly, yet another horizontal wooden beam suddenly swept out from left to right, Ling Lan controlled the mecha to push off another obstacle once more to fly into the air, dodging it cleanly. This time, the movement seemed to flow easily, with no sign of the previous fumbling. Not only that, Ling Lan controlled the mecha with pinpoint accuracy to twist so it could step on the flying wooden beam, and pushing off it, she made the mecha fly forwards once more like a cannonball.
"That adaptive ability is really abnormal. Only after adjusting 3 or 4 times, he has already grasped hold of the mecha's new speed and the ability to leverage force." The cheetah mecha operator was similarly amazed by Ling Lan's insane level of ability.
Sure enough, Ling Lan's subsequent performance was just as the cheetah mecha operator expected — the airborne rabbit mecha's leaps were never again as flustered as it had been at the start, moving with ease and grace to spare. In the end, Ling Lan safely completed the assessment mission.
"Congratulations, 40, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 58 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard." A line of flashing green text suddenly appeared on Ling Lan's mecha's screen. Right below it, an option appeared soon after — Name: Reveal/Hide.
Ling Lan immediately chose the option to hide, and then a line of red text appeared on the highest section of the mecha's screen. It was just like the text which had appeared when the cheetah mecha had completed his test: "Congratulations, XXX, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 58 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard."
"Slower than me by one second, and also on his first assessment as well! As expected, gifted mecha operators exist everywhere. Even here on this small planet of Azure, there is someone whose talent is equal to mine." A sense of threat welled up in the cheetah mecha operator's heart — he would never forget the words his grandfather had once said to him ... if you want to change your destiny, you will need to rely on yourself!
The cheetah mecha operator was just about to take the assessment again to graduate and officially leave the status of newbie behind, when he noticed that the rabbit mecha's operator actually chose to return to training like he had previously.
The cheetah mecha operator was extremely curious. He had chosen to return out of curiosity about the rabbit mecha's assessment results, but why would the rabbit mecha choose to return as well? The cheetah mecha operator knew very well that it couldn't be because of him, for he hadn't even chosen the option to retake the assessment yet.
Perhaps Ling Lan's superhuman control and adaptive ability had piqued the cheetah mecha operator's curiosity, for he did not choose to continue and take the assessment. Instead, he backed out from the assessment space, prepared to go look for that rabbit mecha, and ask him why exactly he had chosen to return.
After all, the rabbit mecha's result was extremely outstanding — a normal person would have been thrilled and chosen to graduate in a hurry so that they could go off and make a living in the real world of mecha.
********
Ling Lan, who had returned to the great hall of the mecha training hall, was reflecting deeply on how it had felt to control the mecha earlier during the assessment. Then, she sighed, saying, "Who knew that controlling mecha is not all about pushing the limits of speed ... sometimes, alternating the speed between fast and slow to control the rhythm is better."
"Congratulations, Boss, on breaking past your bottleneck!" At this moment, Little Four finally piped up to congratulate Ling Lan. Earlier, Little Four had been smothering his mouth with both of his hands, afraid that in his excitement, he would accidentally make some noise to disrupt Ling Lan's breakthrough and realisation. If that had happened, he would have truly become a fiendish felon guilty of a thousand years of sin.
"This time is all thanks to you, Little Four. Thank you!" Ling Lan knew that this successful breakthrough had all been because Little Four had brought her to the outside virtual world and let her encounter mecha. And then, she had seen the images of the cheetah mecha during his assessment at the mecha training hall. This series of events had all led to her epiphany and subsequent breakthrough.
Ling Lan was just about to say something more when she saw countless red warning signs appear on her mecha's screen. Abruptly, she recalled that she had shut off the A.I.'s vocal functions during the assessment mission. She hurriedly turned it back on, and then the A.I. could be heard blaring out warnings in a frenzy: "Warning, mecha damage level at 67%. Please choose to repair immediately, please choose to repair immediately."
Ling Lan stuck out her tongue. Who could have guessed that the Rabbit Sky Leap skill would cause that much damage to the mecha? No wonder the learning space had emphasized again and again that the physical body must be extremely flexible to use this skill, otherwise the user could incur some latent injuries.
"Repair!" Right now, Ling Lan didn't want to choose a new mecha just yet — after all, she still hadn't passed the learning space's standards for the basic controls of this rabbit mecha.
Registering Ling Lan's order, the A.I. immediately displayed the contact numbers of the major mecha repair shops in the capital. All Ling Lan needed to do was call. As Ling Lan still hadn't graduated yet, she wasn't allowed to take the mecha out of the mecha training hall. So, she could only call for someone from one of the repair stores to come here and service her mecha. Ling Lan swiftly chose a repair shop closest to the mecha training hall, called its number, and secured an agreement for them to send someone to the mecha training hall to check her mecha in 5 minutes.
As Ling Lan was waiting, a cheetah mecha appeared again in the great hall of the mecha training hall. It looked left and right, and when it saw Ling Lan's rabbit mecha in the hall, it suddenly ran over. When it was about 10 metres away from Ling Lan, Ling Lan's mecha received the other's contact request.
Ling Lan was extremely surprised — why would this evolved spectre come looking for her? Out of responsibility for her own safety, Ling Lan seriously tried to recall if she had done anything that might have offended the other. Coming up with nothing, she approved the contact request and accepted the communications channel he established. Then, she asked hesitantly, "What's up?"
Against the mysterious ability of a spectre, Ling Lan was still very wary. She would try her best to avoid offending the other as much as possible.
"Excuse me, I just wanted to ask. Why didn't you choose to graduate earlier, coming back here instead?" The voice of the cheetah mecha operator was still the same voice; it was just as Little Four had said — the operator of the cheetah mecha was that evolved spectre.
"My mecha's broken." Ling Lan's reply obviously surprised the other. It was true that mecha would often get damaged with newbies piloting them, because some people with terrible control skills would ram the mecha into obstacles until they were almost unrecognizable during basic training. Just like when Ling Lan slammed into walls repeatedly at the beginning of her training. However, Ling Lan was obviously an expert at control, so she wouldn't make this kind of low-level mistake — so how did the other's mecha get broken?
The doubts of the cheetah mecha operator merely flashed through his mind, unsaid, but Ling Lan's reply still did not explain his decision to return. "Even if you choose to graduate, you can still get the repair shop to come and repair your mecha, just at a different location."
"Oh, this is just one of the reasons. The main reason why I chose to return is because there are still many things wrong with my basic control. I still need a lot of practice to make sure there is no chance for error." The cheetah mecha operator also had a hand in Ling Lan's breakthrough — the other just didn't know it — so, the grateful Ling Lan decided to reveal a bit of her secrets of evolution to him. As for whether the other believed her, that was not something she was responsible for. She was just going to act in a way that would give her peace of mind.
Of course, Ling Lan also thought of building a good connection with the other. If the other really took her words to heart, and trained up his basic mecha control, it was very likely that he would be able to achieve the rank of special-class mecha operator at the least. In Ling Lan's opinion, the other's innate talent with mecha was even better than her own.
"Didn't your result already make it into the top 1000 of the elite leaderboard?" The cheetah mecha operator did not understand. "Doesn't this result prove that your basic training is already very outstanding?"
"Outstanding doesn't equal perfect. Besides, aren't there about 1000 other people in front of me? I don't want to lose to them," said Ling Lan calmly. These were words spoken from her heart — although she wasn't sure what realm her father had achieved with his ultimate immersion into perfecting his basic control, she couldn't lose to any other random people out there, right?
The cheetah mecha operator seemed to have been shaken by Ling Lan's words; only after a long while did he reply, "So that's why. But we can still practise our basic control outside; we don't necessarily have to stay here in the training hall."
"There are too many distractions outside. People are very easily attracted by fresh new things. At that time, I'll definitely get distracted and won't be able to focus fully on training my basic control. So I might as well get rid of all these potential problems from the start. Here, there's nothing, so all I can do is train my basic control. I'm not a very strong-willed person, so I can only use this method to fix that. But Big Brother, you are different from me. Perhaps you can stand the loneliness and resist the temptations ..." Ling Lan started teasing the other, making the other unsure whether to laugh or cry.
At this moment, 4 to 5 people accompanying a repair mecha walked into the training hall. Ling Lan knew that this was most likely the repairmen she had made an appointment with, so she bade farewell to the cheetah mecha operator, and walked over to greet the group.
********
The cheetah mecha operator sat within his cockpit, thinking. In the end, he found that what Ling Lan said was true — he also could not confirm that if given the choice to learn a new move, he would be able to resist the temptation, and choose to practise that instead of continuing to focus on his basic control.
"Ambitious. Actually planning to defeat all those other prodigies before him. How interesting ..." The cheetah mecha operator rubbed the control stick in his hands, a slight smile on his lips. Talking to himself, he said, "Since I plan to spark a revolution, then I will need to achieve the pinnacle of strength in this world. Then, starting now, I can't lose to anyone. How can I be satisfied with just being within the top 1000 ..."
Chapter 125 - The Emergence of Gods?
In one of the basic training rooms in the mecha training hall of planet Azure, three mecha were practising to dodge obstacles in the air and on the ground.
A humanoid mecha and an avian mecha very quickly finished their own basic training, leaving only a rhinoceros bestial mecha dodging awkwardly — he was only about halfway through his course.
The other two mecha who had already finished began to talk quietly between themselves. In an annoyed tone, the avian mecha said, "Lu Xiaolong is really too stupid. Even letting him choose to control the easiest bestial mecha, he still needs over 15 minutes to complete the basic training course. The assessment contents will be several times harder than this, and a passing grade needs to be within 5 minutes ... heaven knows when he'll be able to get there and graduate."
"Originally, I had thought he was simple-minded and easy to order around, but now it looks like I made a mistake. Simpletons just can't handle mecha control," said the humanoid mecha sulkily, as if deeply regretting his oversight.
"Do we have to stay here together with this idiot? The other students who graduated from the scout academy with us have all already entered the real mecha world. I even heard that quite a few of them have already upgraded their mecha." The avian mecha was rather anxious, feeling that he was being held back by that idiot on their team.
"At the beginning when we wanted to form our 3-man team, our plan was for Lu Xiaolong to be the shield right at the front. You would be in charge of aerial attacks, and I would cover long-range attacks. If we give up on him, we'll need to find a new team member in the mecha world ..." The humanoid mecha was considering what would be the most beneficial course of action for them.
"By the time we wait for that idiot to graduate, we would long have integrated with our new team member. Right now, I'm very worried about whether he can even coordinate with us. You should know that the middle to late stages require team work to complete missions. At that time, a team cannot have any notable weaknesses ..." The avian mecha had already lost patience; he didn't think much of Lu Xiaolong's chances at all, thinking that he might hold them back then.
"Fine, we won't wait for him anymore. Let's go take the assessment first, but how should we tell him?" The humanoid mecha had always maintained his outward image of a nice guy.
"Watch me do it. When the idiot comes out from practice, I'll tell him." The avian mecha knew the troubles of the humanoid mecha, so he chose to volunteer.
After waiting a good long while, the bestial mecha finally finished his one round of basic training. Face beaded with sweat, he ran over to the two mecha waiting for him, and said in embarrassment, "Sorry, Ah Ka, Dali, I made you wait."
The avian mecha sighed softly and said, "Xiaolong, looks like we need to go our separate ways."
The bestial mecha was taken aback, unable to figure out what the avian mecha was saying at that moment.
"I discussed things with Ah Ka, and think that we should go and take the basic assessment first. We'll then go out to the mecha world to gather some resources, and then complete a team building mission to fully establish a team." The avian mecha laid out their plans.
The bestial mecha still didn't understand. "Isn't the minimum requirement for the team building mission three people?"
"We've checked out the discussion forums at the mecha world, there are professional gamers who specialize in taking on these kinds of missions. They help teams that don't have enough members to complete the mission, and when a proper member comes along, they'll quit the team to let the other in." The avian mecha was cursing internally — why did other have to choose to be so smart now? Actually knowing about the member requirement for the team building mission.
"So that's how it is. That's great! I've been worried that I might be holding you both back. This past period of time, I've actually been thinking of telling you both to just go look for a new member and stop waiting for me." The bestial mecha let out a sigh of relief. He was really very reluctant to part ways with these two good friends who were willing to accommodate his denseness.
"Hehe, so you had already known that you were holding us back, eh ..." The avian mecha chuckled awkwardly. Internally, he was filled with regret. He regretted that he hadn't known the other had had these kinds of thoughts; otherwise, he wouldn't have had to find this sort of excuse. He was also annoyed at the other — if he had those kinds of thoughts, then why hadn't he said anything earlier?! If he really considered them as friends, then he definitely wouldn't have wanted to hold them back. This Lu Xiaolong was clearly trying to cling to them and rely on them.
"Xiaolong, don't take this to heart too much. We're good friends, you know. You need to work hard here; don't let us leave you too far behind," said the humanoid mecha in a hurry, sensing the avian mecha's building rage. If the fact that they had abandoned a teammate were to become public knowledge, their team would definitely be unable to get a new member. Whether it was in the real world or on the virtual network, abandoning and betraying one's teammate was extremely looked down upon. He was unwilling to have such a sin staining his name.
Clearly ashamed, the bestial mecha said, "Yeah, I'll work hard. I must pass this assessment as soon as possible to catch up to you two."
The avian mecha operator's lips curled, thinking nothing of the other's promises. However, under the humanoid mecha's warning glare, he could only throw out some comforting words, "You really don't have to rush. Wait for us to get even more resources in the mecha world, then when you join us, you will be able to get a newer and better mecha immediately."
The bestial mecha said gratefully, "Thank you, Ah Ka and Dali."
The humanoid mecha and the avian mecha immediately made preparations to take the assessment. The bestial mecha wanted to watch their assessments, hoping to gain some experience, but the humanoid mecha advised him otherwise, saying, "You should observe the assessment of someone who's also using a bestial mecha. That would be much more useful for you."
The bestial mecha felt that what the humanoid mecha said was right. So, he looked up the assessment venues of bestial mecha, and found that there were a few bestial mecha taking the assessment right now. He selected the one with the most recent start time, and clicked the option to enter and observe.
Seeing the bestial mecha disappear from the training room, the humanoid mecha and the avian mecha each chose to begin their respective assessments, and were transported to their individual assessment mission spaces.
********
Lu Xiaolong had just entered the assessment space, when he saw a rabbit mecha dancing and leaping gracefully among the irregularly moving obstacles. Lu Xiaolong first reaction was to wonder if he was seeing things — he rubbed his eyes and found that the scene before him was real. Gradually, without knowing it, he was absorbed into the other's movements. The mecha before his eyes was no longer a mecha, but a real live rabbit, prancing freely in a forest.
Suddenly, the scene stopped moving. Lu Xiaolong roused from his trance, and found that the rabbit mecha had already passed and ended its assessment. Abruptly thinking of something, he looked up at the top part of his screen. A line of red text was flashing brightly, "Congratulations, XXX, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 18 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 100 of the elite leaderboard."
"Top 100 of the elite leaderboard!" Lu Xiaolong felt as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head. Such great fortune had fallen upon him — he had never expected that a random choice had given him the chance to observe the assessment of someone at the level of a god. If he could only draw some inspiration from this experience, it would benefit him for life.
However, Lu Xiaolong very quickly deflated, because he found that in his mind, other than the other's magnificent and graceful moves, there was nothing else. This had truly been an epic fail of an observation — he couldn't believe he had missed such a great opportunity.
Head bowed in depression, Lu Xiaolong opened up the selection pane for bestial mecha assessments once more. Besides the rabbit mecha which had just finished, the other mecha's assessments were still in progress. Lu Xiaolong stared at the few names on his list, and just couldn't work up the enthusiasm to go watch any of them.
Right at that moment, a new mecha suddenly popped out among the selections. Reflexively, Lu Xiaolong clicked on it.
This time, it was a cheetah mecha. Lu Xiaolong had just raised his head, when he saw the cheetah mecha flying out to become a shooting ray of light, even leaving a phantom trail behind it.
"An expert!" Although Lu Xiaolong knew his own control was nothing to talk about, his skills of appreciation were pretty amazing. He immediately sensed that he had gotten lucky once again.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the other arrived at the section with the moving obstacles. The feeling that he got from the rabbit mecha in the previous assessment engulfed him once more. Once again, he had the illusion that the cheetah mecha before his eyes was a live cheetah on the hunt. It nimbly dodged all obstacles in its way, heading unerringly towards its target.
Lu Xiaolong didn't even look at the time; once again, he was utterly absorbed in the cheetah mecha's agile movements, all the way till the end.
"Congratulations, XXX, for graduating the basic mecha controls course with a result of 1 minute 19 seconds. This record has been entered into the top 100 of the elite leaderboard." Unsurprisingly, when Lu Xiaolong turned back to his screen, a result infinitely close to the rabbit mecha's appeared before his eyes. It was also a top 100 score.
"Later, I must definitely participate in the mecha lucky draw!" Lu Xiaolong felt that his RP must definitely be off the charts for him to bump into two gods of mecha back to back. This luck could very well nab him a rumoured mecha equipment in the draw!
If only he could get to know those two gods ... but unfortunately, those gods must have already chosen to graduate and leave. Feeling regretful, Lu Xiaolong didn't have any mood to observe any further, so he chose to leave the assessment area to return once more to his training room. But when he got there, the two gods that he had assumed had graduated and left were actually standing right there before him ...
"Ah ... why are you two still here?!" Lu Xiaolong's voice blasted out into the room. It turned out that Lu Xiaolong had forgotten to close the public speaker he had turned on when he had spoken with his friends.
The rabbit mecha and the cheetah mecha had initially been practising on their own, but hearing his voice, they both looked back simultaneously.
Lu Xiaolong could almost see the confusion in the eyes of both mecha. This made him almost want to slap himself so that he could use pain to remind himself to be more aware of what he was doing.
"Didn't you both make it into the top 100 already? Why didn't you choose to graduate?" Lu Xiaolong still couldn't restrain his curiosity, spilling his questions out in a rush.
However, right after he said this, Lu Xiaolong immediately regretted it. Who knew if the two gods would find his questions annoying and choose to leave this room and go somewhere else? Then, wouldn't he have thoroughly lost the chance to get to know these two gods better?
Sure enough, the rabbit mecha only turned to glance at the cheetah mecha, and then with a bob of its head, it turned away to continue practising its basic movements. Sigh, as expected, gods weren't so easy to approach. Lu Xiaolong lowered his head and sighed dejectedly.