Mia's Battle Mode

Chapter 73 – Mia's Battle Mode

As Mia and his off-road bike were crossing the wasteland, his black watch blinked.

It was a new communication watch that Crystal gave it to Mia, so they could communicate from a distance.

Mia put his wireless earpod in his left ear and receive the call.

[Testing. Can you hear me, Misha?]

"Loud and clear, Crystal."

[Good, I've connected to our satellite. Chacha and I will help you in this mission.]

"Did that geezer allow you to help me?"

[He didn't say anything about not allowing us to help you, so I do what I want.]

"Sweet. Thanks, Crystal."

[Save your thanks once you come back. Well, I'll be your eyes, and Chacha will be your backup. For now, I want you to head west. Turn left and keep going straight.]

"Isn't the human base on the northwest? Why do you want me to take a detour?"

Crystal had pinpointed the location of the kidnapped pilot and briefed Mia about it. However, the order of Crystal confused Mia.

[Are you planning to raid the city from the front? Are you nuts!? I'm telling you to go west, so we can sneak into the town undetected.]

Mia had an awkward smile on his face as he knocked his head with his fingers, 'Well, I'm not nuts, but I can't say I'm not a banana. Come on, brain. Work like you used to work, damn it.'

*Mew* (Misha is stupid.)

"…"

*Mew* (Correction, you're a banana.)

"That's better."

Despite being called stupid repeatedly, Mia was not angry. Instead, the frontal lobe of his brain warmed up as he heightened his concentration and awareness. His brain's temporal lobe, which located below the front lobe, recalled the memories of the military training and the preparation he had.

And the inner part of his brain, which was sandwiched by the temporal lobe and frontal lobe, had been put into use once more.

This part was called [The Esper Lobe], which only existed within espers from the real world.

As over 2,000 had passed since this hydra virus apocalypse, humanity went through changes from mutated genes to developed DNA, which several millions of populations in the Milky Way Galaxy inherited this evolved genes and become the dominant sub-species of humankind, the psychics.

The esper lobe was one of the byproducts of this evolution process. It enabled ordinary human to use supernatural abilities, manipulating materials, sharpening five senses, or enhancing their physical attributes.

His grandmother and Mia also inherited this alpha gene and grew up as one of the psychics.

As Mia's esper lobe got warmer from the mild electric current within his brain, his heart rate increased by a notch, and the blood pressure increased from 125/75 to 135/90, which pumped the heated blood inside his veins faster.

Tama also sensed the change within Mia's body. Seeing that Mia was in a serious mode, she shut her mouth.

= A minute later =

As he was driving, Mia pointed his finger to his side, and electricity gathered into the shape of a hand-sized ball.

*SCREECH!*

A three-head snake dug itself out of the ground, jumping at Mia with their mouth wide open.

*BOOM*

As if a lightning bolt struck, the electric ball turned into a streak of thunder and hit the snake, roasting it instantly.

*MYA!* (What the hell!?)

<<You have killed a mutated snake.>>

<<You 100 have gained EXP.>>

<<Your 100 INT has gained EXP.>>

<<Your 100 DEX has gained EXP.>>

Mia did not stop there. Two more electric balls manifested behind Mia's back and scattered into different directions.

*BOOM*

*SCREECH!*

*SHAAA!*

<<You have killed burrow scorpion.>>

<<You 200 have gained EXP.>>

<<Your 200 INT has gained EXP.>>

<<Your 200 DEX has gained EXP.>>

Two red scorpions at the size of a truck screamed as they got out of their burrows. These two monsters had been lying in wait, trying to ambush Mia.

"Hu."

Mia exhaled out the flammable gas from his lung as he lowered his tension for a second. He got back into his combat mode within the next moment and continued riding the bike toward the destination.

[Impressive, Misha. How did you know that they were hiding underground? We can't even detect them from our visual.]

Crystal was impressed by Mia's quick work. Had they not known each other, Crystal would have thought that Mia could have been an otherworlder.

"Six sense."

[I'm serious. Our men usually got ambushed by those snakes and scorpions. If you can give us some tips, we can save their lives in the future.]

Mia frowned. He actually relied on his sharpened instinct, and he did not lie.

"I can smell them. My nose gets more sensitive after I've become a dragonewt."

[Ah, a pity. Well, continue going west. I'll tell you when and where you will have to take a turn.]

<<Your 100 WIS has gained EXP.>>

"…"

Mia did not have the mood to retort the game system. Who would have thought that a good lie could increase his status EXP?

…

= Dark Knight Space Station =

Dark Knight SS orbited around the Earth, which served as the local military boot camp for new trainees. However, instead of training adult soldiers, this place was used for the [Child Military Training Project].

This was built after they had succeeded training the [Golden Generation] which Mia was a part of it. They copied the layout, living quarters, training centers, and facilities that Putinof Colony had to replicate how they had trained Mia and his friends.

They partitioned this station into different sectors, the military sector, resident sector, academy sector, logistic sector, and management sector.

Each year, over a thousand young boys and girls at the age of 12 to 15 joined this program. Yet, only less than a hundred could stay after a year of training.

None of them quit the training, but the instructors failed them as they did not have enough talent.

Colonel Dullahan Wildcat, who once gave tips to dead players in the game after they failed the test, visited this space station today because of an errand.

He was a commander in his 50s. Yet, he kept no beard, and he trimmed his hair short like a proper soldier.

Dullahan stood by a transparent glass wall. Within the empty white room, a teenage girl in her 14 was sitting alone.

If anyone who knew Mia were here, they would have been shocked. Aside from her black hair, the girl in the room had the same face and the same outward appearance as Mia!

A change occurred within the chamber. Behind the sitting girl, the surface of the wall opened small holes, which revealed gun barrels within them.

*BANG*

The sounds of the gunshot echoed from within the room.

The girl still sat there in the same place, unharmed, but there were dented bullet heads around her. Those flattened cartridges were not ordinary 9mm or 14.5mm rifle shells, they were the anti-tank 20mm cannon bullets!

These shells were at the same size when Mia sniped the mechs in the game. All bullets hit an invisible wall behind the girl, yet they failed to even touch her!

Dullahan nodded in amazement.

"Is she the top student?"

At Dullahan's side, another old man in his 90s was sitting on a floating capsule chair. He also gazed at the student in the white room.

"Yes. The best of this year, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?"

"She is not up to par of the originals."

"But she can defend herself against anti-tank shells! She can't reach their standard yet!?"

"That's all she can do, defending herself. She may have the same six-sense as [them], but she doesn't have [their] overwhelming psychic powers. In short, she has a good shield, but she lacks a weapon."

"Well, if she can't be compared to everyone in the [Golden Generation], how about the failure one?"

"What do you mean?"

"The only failure of the golden generation, that grandson of the silver empress."

The old man took his time to think. In the end, he shook his head.

"I wouldn't call that boy a failure. In my opinion, he's the only passable trainee among his generation. He's the only one with human conscience, remember? The rest is just mutated beasts."

"But he's weaker than the rest, and that woman also tampered with his DNA! We need fierce tamable soldiers, not a self-conscienced sissy!"

The old man sighed. He stopped arguing and gazed at the girl in the room, who had just turned to look at the glass wall and waved at them.

He smiled at the girl like a gentle grandfather and waved back at her.

"Well, back to the topic, this girl won't be those monsters' match, and she won't be that boy's match either if they fight."

"Shouldn't she be stronger than Uriel Mia? I remember his profiles, he can't even deflect bullets properly. He also took too much time to activate his battle mode!"

"She still has the mentality of a child, colonel. That's why I said she's will never be their opponent."

"..."

"Well, since you've been comparing this girl with the golden generation, are you trying to revive that silly project or what? You've spent a year in that game and only brought out something stupid like dead viruses."

"Hmm, yes. We've found a way to seduce the hydra parasite within that game. Uriel Mia managed to bring a living one out, and MWG wants to test his taming method with other subjects who have similar genes as his."

The old man turned to Dullahan. His face revealed his full interest, "Tell me the details."

Próximo capítulo