"This Little Four is really becoming more and more daring!" Ling Lan once again confirmed that this intelligence entity of the learning space was definitely an oddball, acting in all ways exactly like a real child. He had displayed all kinds of emotions and behaviours, including playing mischievous tricks and shirking from his responsibilities.
Ling Lan piloted her mecha to the western gate of the town. The western gate had slightly less traffic than the other gates, because this was the beginning of the pathway to Suncreed City. It should be known that even if the path to Suncreed City was cleared by someone, it would only take one day for the savage beasts inhabiting it to respawn and repopulate it. Most notably, those savage beasts were truly too formidable — anyone below advanced mecha warrior status just had no hope of passing through, so this was considered the hardest road to take during the newbie period.
Ling Lan's rabbit mecha laid there nibbling on its carrot, twitching its head. Its adorable appearance drew significant attention again, though that attention very quickly subsided as well. After all, in the end, a mecha's worth still depended on its capabilities. Aside from a portion of women who would be sold by the sheer cuteness, men would just toss a curious glance or two at it and then cast it to the back of their minds 1 .
Very soon, Ling Lan saw a humanoid mecha appear at the western gate, looking around left and right. She thus knew that this person should be [No Mecha Unrepaired], and so operated her mecha to hop over to the other. This sudden movement seemed to startle the other, as the other reflexively went into a defensive stance. It was clear to see that this mecha operator's reaction time was not bad.
"[No Mecha Unrepaired]?" asked Ling Lan in the public comms channel."[Lingtian First-String]?" The other's tone of disbelief clearly showed how disappointed he was in the appearance of Ling Lan's mecha.
"Yes!" replied Ling Lan.
"Sorry, but I have to go now!" [No Mecha Unrepaired]'s voice was tinged with anger — he felt that he had been played. He immediately turned his mecha around to leave, but found a carrot-shaped sword held up before his mecha.
"We agreed that you would take a look at my combat ability. I do not wish for someone to violate the agreement." Ling Lan's voice was extremely cold. For some unknown reason, [No Mecha Unrepaired] actually felt a chill penetrate into his heart.
"Hn?" This questioning sound of Ling Lan's carried a hint of a threat, though she was internally sweatdropping. For the sake of points, she was actually in the process of threatening someone now ... where had her morals gone?
"Fine!" Without thinking about it, [No Mecha Unrepaired] agreed. As a genius mecha modifier, he was very well-versed in mecha controls. He had turned around so swiftly, but in the same period of time, the other had been able to take two steps forwards and bring up a weapon to block him. Based on that operation alone, he could sense that the other's skills could not be weak. This was one of the reasons why he had capitulated so easily; of course, he would never admit that he had been scared into changing his mind.
"This road leading to Suncreed City has a lot of savage beasts along the way. Of course, the savage beasts closer to the western gate are not as fearsome as those deeper along the path. As we move ahead, we will see the first wave of savage beasts. If you can obtain my acknowledgement, I will give the mission to you," said [No Mecha Unrepaired], "Of course, if you can't satisfy me, I will not continue on with you.""Okay!" Ling Lan agreed to [No Mecha Unrepaired]'s conditions. "But, you need to keep up with my speed, otherwise I won't bother with you." Ling Lan did not wish to have to divide her attention to protect him while she was fighting. Ling Lan's thoughts went like this — if the other could not even protect himself while she blocked off a majority of the savage beasts, she would rather give up the mssion than help him. Ling Lan felt that if he was not skilled enough, he might as well continue training in Three-Seas Town, waiting to become strong enough before travelling out into the greater world outside.
"Alright!" [No Mecha Unrepaired] peered at this rabbit mecha before him and replied.
The two mecha flew rapidly towards Suncreed City. There were several mecha operators around who recognised [No Mecha Unrepaired]; some of them quickly turned on their communicators and shared their latest discovery with their friends.
" Extra, extra 2 ! I just saw [No Mecha Unrepaired] challenging the road to Suncreed with a rabbit trainee mecha."
"Tch, this fellow still hasn't given up? Didn't he die enough last time to scare him off?"
"He's really keeping worse and worse company now, actually trying it with a trainee mecha this time. I bet that he will die halfway through again." This was a voice filled with schadenfreude.
"Who asked him not to join the Thunder King Faction? Serves him right to be stuck hanging around Three-Seas Town! I heard that the Thunder King has already put out the word that no one is to help him. Weren't there three outsider punks who accepted his mission a few days back? It was lucky that their team was wiped out on the mission, otherwise those three punks would have been wiped out by the Thunder King's men anyway." This was a student from the First Men's Military Academy. Only someone from the First Men's Military Academy would understand the conflict between [No Mecha Unrepaired] and the Thunder King.
"Hey, where do you think that rabbit mecha is from? Actually courting death by accepting the mission?" asked another First Men's Military Academy student.
"He's most definitely not from our First Men's Military Academy, or else how would he dare to accept that mission? At the military academy, this is already an open secret. Even the new cadets of this year would have been warned by the older cadets," replied another First Men's Military Academy student, "Only those new cadets from the other military academies might not know about this and dare to take the mission. However, once they are taught a lesson a few times, these newcomers will probably not accept [No Mecha Unrepaired]'s mission anymore."
"Say, do you think the Thunder King will make a move this time?" Even more military academy cadets joined the conversation to ask curiously. It turned out that the channel they had been using to chat was the channel exclusive to the military academies.
"Do you think they can pass the Suncreed passage mission?" someone shot back, "If they can't pass, why would the Thunder King act? Still, it's possible he might punish them after the fact."
"That rabbit is really too unlucky. New to the mecha world, and already clashing with the Thunder King." Someone began feeling sorry for that extremely adorable rabbit.
"This rabbit is still considered fortunate. At most being punished in the mecha world would not do him any real harm. If he were a First Men's Military Academy cadet, then that would truly be called terrible. The Thunder King will definitely not let anyone who disobeys him go free." In the First Men's Military Academy, the Thunder King was the undisputed one of a kind king. His strength was formidable and his faction was strong — even the leaders of the second and third factions did not dare to oppose him openly.
"Have you all heard? This year's new cadets are pretty wild, actually forming their own new cadet regiment, unwilling to join any other factions. Is the Thunder King and the others just gonna leave them be?" Someone suddenly brought up this question.
"These new cadets may be having the time of their lives now, but they'll have lots to cry about later. The Thunder King does not have time now to bother with these trivial things. He's in Closed Door Meditation right now. Once he is done, he will be the first 4th year of our military academy to ascend to ace operator! At that time, you think the Thunder King will let these new cadets do as they like, breaking the order of the academy?" This speaker was most likely from the Thunder King Faction; his news was extremely up-to-date.
"So that's how it is!" The comms channel was filled with sighs of admiration. Someone could be heard to mutter, "I wonder if the Thunder King Faction is still accepting people ..."
The informant said haughtily, "To enter the Thunder King Faction, the minimum requirement is to be at intermediate mecha warrior level. Once you all achieve that, perhaps I can put in a word for you all."
"Alright! I'll add you as a friend. You must follow through and help me out in the future, okay?" The people in the channel all became excited, all speaking up to request a friend slot with the informant. If they could really join the Thunder King Faction, it would be pretty much guaranteed that they would be able to strut around on campus without worry for their remaining six years at the First Men's Military Academy.
"Hehe, no problem ..." The informant did not expect that he would become so popular just by revealing a little bit of news about the Thunder King. In his mind, he once again praised himself for the amazingly accurate decision of joining the Thunder King Faction back then.
********
Ling Lan and [No Mecha Unrepaired] had no idea that after their departure, those mecha operators who recognised [No Mecha Unrepaired] would spread the word of their meetup. They were currently fully focused on getting as fast as they could to the closest savage beast territory from the western gate.
Very quickly, they had arrived at the location. Observing the teeming horde of white-furred animals with crimson eyes before them, Ling Lan's brow twitched involuntarily, "Rabbits?" Godd*mmit, asking her rabbit to kill rabbits? Why did this seem so comedic no matter how you looked at it?
[No Mecha Unrepaired] did not seem to sense anything wrong with the scene, replying seriously, "Yes. Don't underestimate them. These mutated rabbits are very terrifying. Their teeth and claws are their killing tools, but what's even more frightening is their kicking power, fully capable of killing lower level mecha instantly ..." That said, he cast a worried look at Ling Lan. The other was just a trainee mecha rabbit. If by any chance he was killed in the very first second of attacking, that would be too pitiful ... [No Mecha Unrepaired] could not help but add on kindly, "If you think it's impossible, why don't we just go back?"
Ling Lan's rabbit mecha removed the carrot from its mouth with its front claws. She then said coldly, "Give me two minutes!"
Although it really would not take that long for her to kill off all these rabbits, Ling Lan did not want to reveal the full extent of her capabilities before someone unfamiliar. Thus, she had extended the time needed to 4 times what she actually needed.
Then, Ling Lan controlled the rabbit mecha to spring powerfully off its hind legs, and the entire rabbit mecha flew towards the horde of mutated rabbits ...
"Ah, you can't do it that way ...!" Seeing the rabbit mecha's actions, [No Mecha Unrepaired]'s expression paled dramatically as he gave a mournful cry. Once the ground began to shudder violently, the rabbits of the entire area would be drawn over — at that time, even an advanced mecha might lose his life easily if he weren't careful. This was yet another reason why the path to Suncreed was so hard to get through.
[No Mecha Unrepaired] quickly operated his mecha to flee the scene, running up to 100 metres away before turning back tremulously to peek back at Ling Lan. And then, he was flabbergasted by what he saw.
Ling Lan controlled her rabbit mecha to swing the carrot-shaped sword in its hand around in a deadly dance. Each and every rabbit that leapt at her was sent flying with one strike, where they then laid still, never getting up again.
[No Mecha Unrepaired] quickly halted his mecha and zoomed in on the image on his mecha's screen. The rabbits on the ground had all had their chests pierced clear through, dying instantly.
In his utter stupefaction, [No Mecha Unrepaired] shifted his screen back to focus on the battling Ling Lan. Only then did he see how casual and easy every move of Ling Lan's seemed; never once did that red carrot strike air. One time, he saw the other control the rabbit mecha to stomp heavily on the ground, sending the entire mecha up into the air. Then, with a whirlwind gyration of its body, all the mutated rabbits leaping at it had been swept away. That scene was just as if a peerless ultimate master rabbit had come to terrorize a bunch of harmless and puny rabbits who did not know how to fight ...
