Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
Lu Qingxue knew she was at a disadvantage as she became certain that the three mechs were teaming up against her, and if she was hit by their Vulcans, which had high firing rates at close range, it would instantly consume her mech’s energy shield. With the three mechs surrounding Lu Qingxue and firing their Vulcans all in her direction, she had to dodge faster and quicker to avoid their firepower. Behind her was a tropical forest with magnificent tall trees which could decrease the effectiveness of their radars, and as she retreated towards the tropical forest, a yellow-green mech suddenly appeared behind her, with its high-frequency proton knife already turning red! It was an Investigator-Class mech with invisibility and camouflage ability, and it had been hiding in the forest for a long time! If the high-frequency proton knife was to pierce through Lu Qingxue’s mech, her energy shield would shatter in an instant from the high damage.
The survival tournament was set at Devil’s Island, a volcanic island where midsize space corvettes would randomly fire at ground mechs. The system was set to analyze data every ten minutes, and each of the survivors would be awarded three points and one extra point for every mech they destroyed; boundaries would also shrink at the same time and those who failed to relocate within the effective boundary would be forcefully eliminated.
It didn’t matter if the four mechs were a team or if there were two teams against Lu Qingxue, she was already in a dangerous situation at the moment.
“Oh no! Senior Lu didn’t seem to notice the mech behind her!” The crew-cut guy, who spoke before, shouted.
Rayno stared at the three-dimensional light screen, his thin lips were still pinched together but the corners had started to curl upwards into a smile.
“Long Er you idiot!” a young man wearing glasses said coldly, and he didn’t give the crew cut a chance to speak up as he continued. “Senior Lu’s mech was revised and customized based on the military-use Mulan Model, and it’s specialized in long-range attacks. The mech has the fifth generation engine and is equipped with a standardized Warble Corp-made 165 caliber gauss sniper rifle, a 35 caliber close-range gatekeeper, and a 32 rocket launcher. According to Interstellar standards, the mech would be graded as A-level in long-range attacks, D-level in defense, D-level in close-range attacks, and C-level in maneuverability. You’ve already watched for this long, but have you ever seen Senior Lu’s sniper rifle, you idiot?”
“Feng Yu, you!” The crew-cut boy’s face flushed red.
“Watch for yourself. The combustion from Re:Mulan’s engine has changed colors from orange to yellow, meaning that it’s been switched into a sixth generation engine already. Senior Lu was the President of the Kendo club, so the reason she chose Mulan to customize and painted it white was for solely aesthetic purposes and not for long-range attacks! Take a look at the high-cycle sword on her back, idiot!” Feng Yu continued to mock Long Er with an indifferent expression.
“Was that a Flash Wave Jump?!” Long Er suddenly shouted as his face twisted together in shock.
There was an alloy sheath on Re:Mulan’s back that was painted the same color as her mech armor! The barely noticeable sword was pulled out of its sheath in an instant, and Re:Mulan bent her knees as the jet underneath her feet stored up energy at the same time. The white mech leaned back seventy-five degrees and pointed the sword onto the ground. Using the sword as a pivoting point, it flipped and flew backwards in a parabolic arc at a speed three times faster than when it retreated in a straight motion, and she managed to dodge all the projectiles from the three mechs. As for the yellow-green mech holding the particle knife in its hand that was once behind the white mech, it had suddenly stopped moving, and with a loud boom, its engine exploded. The white Re:Mulan’s back was turned towards the yellow-green mech, and it slowly pulled out the high-cycle sword from the opponent’s energy cabinet… She then slowly turned around.
“It’s… It’s… Senior Lu just did the Flash Wave Jump! Isn’t that an A-level military strategic evading movement? How did she incorporate the sword into this move and even kill the opponent mech, all while piloting a mech?!” Long Er’s jaw dropped so far that a fist could probably fit in his mouth.
“It’s not easy. Qingxue is no doubt the Valkyrie of Dingchuan Academy’s Kendo Club! There’s no need to watch further, the standard to completing an A-level military move is extremely high, so she must have surpassed her first-stage mental lock,” Rayno said with a trace of surprise and admiration in his eyes.
According to the United Galaxia Federation, for candidates under forty years of age that weren’t selected through the military academy, if they could perform three A-level, or above, military combat skills during the open examination on September 17th of every year, then they could directly become a UGF officer. The examiners wouldn’t question the background of the candidate as long as they passed the political inspections, and even if they were selected to be the lowest-ranked second lieutenant, that would still mean a huge leap for others who worked hard to move up step by step. The military officially had 379 A-level movements, and over a hundred years of improvements, every single movement became difficult as hell! Those who could master three A-level movements were strong enough to be considered outstanding.
There was no doubt that the three Platinum one-star candidates paused their steps towards Re:Mulan immediately after they saw the A-level movement.
“Senior Lu’s sixth generation engine has just entered overload compensation mode, and it’s bound to burst out energy now,” Feng Yu said as his eyes glistened behind his glasses.
One of the mechs was about to run away while the other two started to fire their Vulcans at once. Re:Mulan had entered into the sixth generation engine overload mode at 150% energy, making it skip two levels from C-level in Maneuverability to 2C-level in Maneuverability; so it had completely suppressed the other three C-level Maneuverability mechs in speed control! Not to mention that with Lu Qingxue, who was riding the Re:Mulan, it was more like a close-range combat artist hidden in disguise as a long-range sniper.
Flash Wave Jump, close proximity, one stab into the engine cabinet!
Close range, rocket launcher fired until damaged, another stab into the engine cabinet!
Jump and slay! With the explosive speed adding force to her sharp high-cycle sword, the last opponent mech’s assault rifle was instantly split in half!
The white Re:Mulan then put away her sword, and as she made sure the surroundings were safe, she started to take a break underneath the tree to wait for the energy cabinet to cool down.
“The time is up. Today’s survival tournament has ended. 276 candidates have passed, and 724 candidates were eliminated. The successful candidates, please rest and return to the stadium tomorrow precisely at 8 PM.”
“A… Amazing!” Those standing behind Rayno shouted at the same time as the announcement ended.
With a beep and the sound of pneumatic release, the top of virtual cabinet No.3 opened as a figure dressed in white got up and stepped outside.
She looked neat in her white wide-sleeved Kendo suit, and her hair was carelessly tied up using a black budo belt. Her brows were slightly pinched together above her crystal clear watery eyes, and there weren’t any accessories on her long and slim neck. Like a cold Snow White lotus, she was tranquil and independent; she was the President of Dingchuan Academy’s kendo club, Lu Qingxue.
“Senior Lu!””Senior!””Qingxue.”…
“En.” Lu Qingxue nodded as she wasn’t good at expressing herself and narrowed her brows as she tilted her head towards Rayno and stared at him with displeasure in her eyes.
“Ahem, Junior Lu you have improved.” Rayno had a wry smile as he touched his nose.
“En, I’ve surpassed the first-stage mentality lock.” Lu Qingxue nodded and continued saying, “I’ve learned a lot from it, and I’ll be using this experience towards Kendo.”
“Ah! Now there’s not only Leader Rayno but also Senior Lu who surpassed the stage-one mentality lock.” The young man standing beside them stared at the two with admiration and respect in his eyes. The stages of mentality lock corresponded to one’s brain development level, and the higher stages meant clearer thoughts, stronger data calculating capabilities, ability to take on more pressure, and better synchronization with optical computers. Most people ranged from level one to level nine, and every ten levels was a mentality lock of a qualitative change. Those who hadn’t surpassed a mentality lock could not even imagine what was beyond, but those who had were definitely more than ordinary.
“Then what about tomorrow’s tournament?” Rayno asked in a soft tone.
“I won’t be attending.”
“Uh, Senior Lu?” Long Er worried for her as the survival tournaments had a lot of rewards; it was not only the honor of winning, limited editions of certain mech armor parts were also being awarded.
“Long Er, I invited Junior Lu over because I wanted to see the incorporation of martial arts into mech combat, and if there would also be personal improvements during this process. The Re:Mulan has already given us an answer and Junior Lu also surpassed her first mental lock, so we shouldn’t force her if she doesn’t want to continue on. What we need to do is work hard towards next year’s competition between the schools. I’ll be graduating soon and I’ll probably choose to continue my education in Capital Star or serve the military, so I want to give everything I’ve got before I leave! But the future of Dingchuan’s Mech faculty lies in your hands.”
“Leader!” Long Er and the others called out.
“The training will double for the next half of the year! Two levels up for the fitness training and I’ll invite your Senior Lu over once in a while to test you guys,” Rayno said as he let out a cruel smile towards his fellow team members.
“If there’s nothing else, then I’m going to leave first,” Lu Qingxue said with an indifferent expression as she left immediately after waving goodbye.
“Our Leader definitely likes Senior Lu, but Senior Lu treats everyone so coldly…” someone muttered softly behind Rayno.
Rayno stared at Lu Qingxue’s direction in silence, as if he didn’t hear anything they had said.