Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
“Where should I go now?” Mu Fan was facing a dilemma since Chubby Harry didn’t log on at night. I guess I will go to a battle lobby?
Mu Fan made up his mind and randomly teleported to the battle lobby closest to him.
“Please select the battle mode: 1v1 or 2v2.”
Black wasn’t here, so Mu Fan chose the 1v1 mode. He could practice his newly learned skills on an opponent. He had been training hard to increase his APM and his movement technique. As for the offensive techniques, he only knew how to perform the downward slash and forward pierce with weapons.
[Player ‘Lord Egg’, please choose your mech.] The System was reminding Mu Fan to pick a mech for battle.
“Mm? The EH01 is gone, and there’s only a RX-16.” Mu Fan looked at the projection of his mech storage, and there was only the RX-16. Isn’t this the one from Base Camp 341?
I guess there’s no other choice since this is the only one. Mu Fan pointed at the mech.
“Player confirmed. Now, begin pairing.”
Mu Fan disappeared in the lobby in an instant and entered the mech pairing process.
“Beep. Pairing successful. Room No. 119769S; Map: Desert Dune (small); Number of Players: 2; Mode: Public”
The RX-16 that was holding a red shield and long metal sword appeared in the desert; it looked dull and clumsy as it stood in the middle of the desert.
Meanwhile, the opponent appeared. This mech had a three-meter-long electromagnetic pulse rifle in its hand, and it also had a pair of expanded wings on its back; it was a jet assistive equipment.
This mech was covered in gold from top to bottom, and it stood in the desert like a king. It was indeed the king of firepower among the fifth generation mechs – the Winged Snake. It was the Winged Snake mech with a pair of jet wings on its back.
Mu Fan didn’t know that he was in the pairing section of Fantasy-Mode mechs, and the mech in front of him clearly had a strong buff; it had a pair of jet wings in a ground battle match. It was normal in Fantasy-Mode for both players to have ‘cheats’. This was fair, and it would be more fun.
However, Mu Fan’s Reality-Mode RX-16 stood in the middle of the desert with the most basic look of blue and white stripes. It looked even more solemn and tragic as the wind blew the sand onto its hull.
The player in the golden mech was confused. What was the most extreme form of showing off? It was acting low-key!
Who would have this level of taste to change their mech into this? Even the most basic default mech in Fantasy-Mode would be better than this one,
“Hahahahaha! I can’t stop laughing!” Ms. Wang Nuonuo randomly clicked open a public battle live stream, and it just so happened to be room no. 119769S.
“The PO Battle Network is surely full of interesting people,” she said to herself as she looked at that sword and shield mech in blue and white standing dumbly in the middle of the desert with the sword raised.
Then, “Young Beauty Little Nuonuo” saw the mech guarding itself with its alloy shield and holding the long sword in front of it, preparing to battle. Meanwhile, the golden mech calmly held up the electromagnetic pulse rifle and paced towards the RX-16.
Mu Fan was nervous as he sat in the cockpit, but he was lucky that this was a RX-16, the mech that he was most familiar with. He decided to try out his new moves first, and he didn’t know that he was being watched by a player who looked like a short, chubby, and ugly girl in this virtual world.
In Ms. Wang’s eyes, this mech with the name ‘Lord Egg’ on top of its head stretched out its leg in a half-circle and shifted to the side. It looked like a turtle that was trying to crawl sideways.
Phew, the desert terrain is alright. The mech didn’t lose its balance.
“Hahahaha, this player is called Lord Egg! It’s so cute and clumsy looking; it is like a bear! Is this a newbie who just learned how to walk?!” Ms. Wang was laughing even more when she saw the huge mech shifting slightly sideways again. As if she had discovered a new pet, she locked her eyes onto the dumb looking mech that had a strange name.
The player piloting the Winged Snake was speechless. You can just tell me if you don’t want me to hit a station target; you don’t have to mock me like this. So now, I’m going to shoot a moving target since you’re moving sideways?
This player stopped his mech from moving. Then, the mech held up the electromagnetic pulse rifle as he prepared to shoot. This could shoot 20 shots in two seconds. That mech looked thick, so it could probably withstand a few more seconds.
Mu Fan stared at the opponent mech and noticed that the golden mech on his screen was raising its arm. His left hand swiped across the control panel subconsciously as his right hand quickly switched between levers.
Right before the golden mech raised its rifle and pulled the trigger, Mu Fan’s dull-looking RX-16 moved and charged forward with a series of strange steps.
“Woah, you are even charging towards me. Do you think you are fighting natives on a primitive planet?” The player in the golden mech couldn’t help but to say something in the public voice communication channel.
Pu! Ms. Wang who was drinking a virtual soft drink in the PO Battle World spat out what was in her mouth.
I can’t; I have to donate to him! I can’t let this cute clumsy bear die like this. Even if he does, it should be a grand death!
“System announcement: Viewer ‘Young Beauty Little Nuonuo’ donated 188 star coins to Player ‘Lord Egg’ for encouragement. Message: Go Lord Egg, charge into him!”
If a viewer were to donate an amount over 100 star coins to a player in the public battle zone in the PO Battle Network, then the system would make an announcement on the battlefield. When the amount exceeded 1,000 star coins, then a five-second image of the viewer would be projected into the sky of the battlefield.
The enthusiastic Ms. Wang was the only one watching in this room, and she got excited when she saw the big clumsy bear charging forward without fear, so she had to donate to him, and thus the scene occurred.
Mu Fan was focused on piloting his mech when he got interrupted by the system announcement. 188 star coins! This huge amount of money went into his head, and he got distracted.
He made one mistake, and the right leg of the RX-16 didn’t move up, making the mech fall head-down onto the ground.
Dadadadadada! A dense round of shots came towards Mu Fan’s mech. Since Mu Fan didn’t control his shield that much and left it in front of his chest, it actually blocked most of the bullets.
“The energy shield dropped by 8%.” The sword and shield mechs had an advantage; they could take a beating. If Mu Fan’s mech didn’t have the physical protection from the shield, the energy shield of the mech would have dropped by more than 30% from this attack.
“Oh no, Big Egg. No, Lord Egg, get up! Charge at him! Charge!” Ms. Wang was drinking her soft drink, and her eyes widened with worry as she slapped her thigh and donated 188 star coins again.
What if they are acting to trick my money? She thought about it only after she had made the donation, but then the acting would still be worth her money.
They player in the Winged Snake was about to cry as he wished that the girl who seemed pretty by her name would donate to him as well! This dumb*ss has earned two donations of 188 star coins from shifting to the side like a turtle twice and tripping over himself. What is this? The enemy needs some encouragement as well!
This player got jealous and pulled onto the trigger to enter the pulse charging mode. He wanted to cripple his dumb-looking opponent in one shot. This time, he was aiming at the head where the shield did not cover. I will destroy your monitoring system first!
Mu Fan regained his senses after hearing another system announcement of donation and decided that he would figure out what was going on with those 188 star coins later.
He took in a deep breath and started to adjust his breathing patterns in a rhythmic manner. He grew calm as he felt a strange warmness traveling through his body. It moved through his limbs, his face, and finally emerged in his brain. He could see and feel everything so clearly.
Mu Fan had subconsciously started to use Dark Respiration. He didn’t realize that a green light floated out of his limbs in reality. Mu Fan who was sitting down in reality gradually merged with the dark night.
First tier of Dark Respiration!
Mu Fans started to release himself of other thoughts, and his eyes became crystal clear.
This was a more reliant martial arts technique as he didn’t feel the hunger and rage when his vision turned red. In this state, Mu Fan was as cool as ice.
His left hand was like a breeze of wind as his fingers danced on the control panel like fairies. All five of his fingers moved precisely to one button after another in a strange rhythm; the movements were natural and smooth.
All Mu Fan could see was the semi-circular control panel. The five sets of actions per second were split into sets of control buttons in his head and corresponded with the control panel. He didn’t notice that the APM recorder beside him was constantly updating the newest data…
311… 324… 337…