Practical Training

Daniel had received his acceptance notification on a Sunday. Since Uncle Eric coincidentally did not have anything scheduled on the following Monday afternoon, it was decided by the artificial intelligence that the both of them would head to the academy after Daniel finished school on that day.

The procedures for the physical admission were as simple as Daniel had expected. When he and Eric arrived at the admissions office, they were taken into a room where an admissions officer drew Daniel's DNA and recorded it within EUMA's internal database, allowing him to directly access all the places within the academy with the status of a student. He had also been allocated a room within the dormitory and needed to move in there before the next Monday, since that's the first day class starts for him.

However, just when Daniel thought they were done, the admission officer directly told Commander Eric to wait at the admissions office before bringing Daniel back to the mech parking lot where he and Jake experienced their piloting session a while ago. When asked, the officer simply told Daniel that they wanted to give him a practical exam and gauge the level he was at so they could allocate him to a class best suited for him.

"For the purposes of this assessment, you will be using a general purpose mech to fight one-on-one against an artificial intelligence using the same mech. Your score will be based on how long you can last fighting against the AI before being defeated by it." The officer explained in an emotionless tone.

It was then that Daniel noticed something odd and asked in a curious tone, "Has anyone ever managed to defeat the AI instead?"

"No." The officer shook his head. "Since the artificial intelligence is one used for the purposes of war, there's no way a human would react as fast or be as good in combat as an AI."

"Then what's the purpose of having humans pilot a mech then?" Daniel continued with his line of questioning. "Wouldn't it be better to just install an AI to each mech and have them fight against our enemies? Not only would that reduce the human casualties on our side, it would also be much more efficient since no training is needed and the AI can also be mass produced instantly."

"Since an amateur like you can think of such a thing, of course the higher-ups can too." The officer sneered. "But the same can be said for our enemies. Since the Martians also have the capability to mass-produce mechs, if both parties were to use AIs to battle for them, the entire war would instantly enter a stalemate before it even began as the AIs would both find the most optimal solution to counter each other out perfectly, making the entire war redundant and a waste of resources."

"However, if the human element were to be added in," The officer added. "Our unpredictability in making strategies and tactics would break such a stalemate. Therefore, although AIs are still used in war till this day, trained soldiers are still the most important backbone of every military until now."

After getting a nod of acknowledgement from Daniel, the officer finally looked satisfied. He looked to be in a much better mood as he strolled across the factory where many of the academy's mech were parked in stride, letting Daniel follow him. It was then that he finally stopped and pointed at one of the mechs parked on the right, signalling for Daniel to get in.

"Get in the mech now." The officer commanded. "I've seen from your report card that you've already done some elementary courses on mech operation on your own back in your old school. You should be able to know how to drive a mech, right?"

"That's right." Daniel nodded.

"Then go directly to Field A. The ground outside had lines painted in different colors heading toward differnt directions. The red line will direct you towards Field A. The AI pilot is currently waiting for you there." The officer instructed. "From now on, the people at the command center will direct you. If you have any questions, just ask through your mental channel."

It was then that the officer left, not even caring if Daniel had any further questions. Feeling slightly speechless at the officer's arrogant behavior, Daniel shook his head before closing his eyes.

"Minerva, connect me to General Purpose Suit Serial No. 19283." Daniel willed within his mind.

<Connection requested. Approved. You can now fully access the functions of Mech GP#19283. Please have a pleasant journey.>

Immediately, Daniel willed and directly lowered the mech's giant left hand. Stepping onto the metal hand, he directly lifted himself up before telling the metal hand to stop before the cockpit, which is currently in full view.

Naturally, Daniel directly stepped onto the cockpit, turning his body around and placing himself on top of the comfy chair as the semi-circular device lowered onto his head, allowing his brain to operate the mech directly. From then on, his motor functions are directly transferred onto the mech's, making the general purpose suit his real body.

Daniel opened his eyes again when the cockpit is fully enclosed by the suit. A holographic screen appeared all around him, making him feel as though he was floating a few meters above ground within the parking lot. However, unlike before, he had a 360 degree view of everything surrounding him, removing his blind spot that was evident when seen through the eyes of his original biological body.

Since Daniel had already practiced a few times within the simulation pod back in the capital, there is no sense of discomfort at all as he started moving his giant body forwards, clasping and unclasping his fists to get used to the motor functions of his new body. It was then that a robotic voice resounded within Daniel's head.

<Student Daniel 07777 please head to Training Field A as soon as possible for your initial assessment. Failure to do so within 30 seconds will result in a penalty.>

Hearing such a threat from Minerva, Daniel did not dally around anymore and straight up used the propulsion engine from behind the mech's back, directly propelling Daniel into the air. Turning himself into a horizontal position, he directly flew at maximum speed out from the parking lot and directly onto the wide expanse outside, following the red line to the T. Since Training Field A was the closest to the parking lot and the command center, it took him less than 15 seconds to arrive.

As he floated on top of the position where the red line disappeared, Daniel found a mech identical to his own floating about 500 meters in front of him, its eyes glowling like two menacing red beams.

<Detected that Student Daniel have entered into position. Commencing battle against War Robot #33229. Non-fatal mode activated. Commence battle in 3. 2. 1. Start!>

The second Minerva spoke the last word in the sentence, the war robot directly across from Daniel have already started moving, directly shooting himself at full speed towards the latter, trying to take him by surprise.

Daniel, who never had an actual real life combat experience before, was completely surprised by the sudden act of the AI and could barely turn on his shield function before the war robot smashed against him with his own body, directly sending Daniel back by a few kilometers, impacting agaist the ground a few times before Daniel finally managed to land his hands on the ground as he was about to land for the third time, flipping his body back and landing his feet on the ground again.

Unfortunately, the war robot did not give Daniel time to rest. Just as Daniel was trying to regain his balance, the robot had already prepped and fully charged the railgun that was strapped to his back and shot at Daniel with pinpoint precision. It was only through sheer intuition that Daniel managed to dodge from the blast by a milimeter, otherwise he would have been directly eliminated from the game in less than 5 seconds.

With Daniel now on the defense, he could only grit his teeth and dodge as the war robot continued to fire at him from afar, not even letting him make a move. Feeling that he needed to do something to flip the situation around, Daniel took the chance right after the robot shot another beam at him to do a somersault while grabbing a dagger from the mech's right knee at the same time. The second he managed to stand up again, he directly flew the dagger at the AI-controlled robot, forcing the latter to dodge.

Unfortunately, since the dagger has a homing beacon function, the dagger made a U-turn after going past the robot, making his way back towards the robot's back. However, the AI managed to dodge again without suspense since it has a 360-degree view of the entire area. Though, such a delay gave Daniel the perfect opportunity to recover and strike back!