Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

The elder of the Mechanical Court hummed, still quietly observing the outside world through the porthole.

Beyond the transparent glass porthole, towering mechas stood firmly upon the earth.

Two mechas, their blue and white liveries facing each other, allowed their mech pilots to see one another through the portholes of their cockpits, positioned at the same height.

"Let's smash them to pieces today!"

An old-guard mech pilot from the previous batch of reserves came forward with a fierce smile on his lips.

The top brass must have gone mad to allow artificial humans to lay their hands on the city's greatest technological creation, perhaps it was the disgusting strife among the factions that made their superiors hold their noses and compromise, but as proud natural humans, they should make the higher-ups see the folly of their decision.

To prevent more mistakes in the future, and to keep their honorable group of mech pilots from being tainted by impure elements, they had to demonstrate the absolute superiority of natural humans in this field!

Moreover, in the selection the day before, their artificial human opponent had the audacity to speak up and steal their thunder!

According to the normal sequence, the first group to complete the selection and become official mech pilots should have been theirs!

Artificial humans... should only crawl on the ground and look up.

"Begin!" The instructor's command came through the loudspeaker, short and precise, and with a "buzz" of activation, almost all the mechas charged at their opponents simultaneously.

The bulky mechas were sluggish in their movements; nearly all of them tried to strike their opponents like slow-motion human actions.

Although the instructor taught them to fight with the mecha as if it were their own body when unfamiliar with its performance, the built-in power units in many parts of the mecha allow it to perform movements that are difficult for the human body, thus providing more room for improvisation.

Many mech pilots tacitly chose to unleash their boundless imagination, making the entire sparring session look like a chaotic dance of demons.

After all, strictly speaking, this was everyone's first real contact with a mecha, and whether the moves they tried in simulators could be executed as flawlessly in reality remained to be seen. Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire

The instructor also endorsed this experimentation, appearing unconcerned by the initial chaos.

In fact, setting aside a whole day was meant for them to "play;" the overall performance of the mecha was to be gradually mastered in relentless exploration and trial.

Only one group's battle stood out as precise and efficient.

The moment the battle began, one of the mechas instantly activated and charged at its opponent, executing a classic combat move—a gleaming alloy sword reflected blinding sunlight in its hand.

Simple, but deadly.

As the sole highlight in the chaos, it naturally caught the instructor's attention.

"Not bad in basics."

The monotonous killing movements were simple and sharp, just the kind of directness and decisiveness soldiers on the battlefield loved.

While it was accepted for these newly promoted official mech pilots to explore and experiment during training, the practiced standard techniques were still pleasing to the eye.

Only... it was fleeting.

"Buzz!"

"Whoosh!"

"Boom!"

The blue and white livery flashed by, and the mecha that had been poised to attack found itself behind its charging opponent.

The mecha that had fallen to the ground did not lose all mobility; initially, they thought they had tripped over their own feet and so tried to get up leveraging the strength of their limbs, only to hear the piercing alarm accompanying the flashing fault light inside the cockpit.

The mecha's self-check system provided the answer—damage to the transmission of the right leg, damage to the third and fourth internal power sources of the right leg.

"..."

The loss of some functionality in the mecha's right leg did not stop the overall movement to stand up, it just appeared somewhat uncoordinated.

However, the mecha that swept behind would not just watch its opponent crawl out from a disadvantage; the newly drawn alloy sword, cutting through the soft white light of the morning, effortlessly thrust once again into the gaps of the mecha's joints.

The octal alloy that comprised the entire mecha was undoubtedly stalwart, but just as the human body has weaknesses like joints and cartilage, to ensure the dexterity equivalent to a human body, the vital areas that provide space for movement could not be protected with heavy armor.

These areas should have been protected by the mech pilot's skills, however, if the pilot wasn't consciously guarding these critical junctions, and the opponent was intent on targeting them, then defeat could occur in the blink of an eye.

"Crack!"

The bursting sound of mechanical cables was particularly grating this morning, as the sharp alloy saber caught on the opponent's mecha head once again in a turn.

Two mechas stood back to back, but one mecha had its saber reversed, jamming into the opponent's neck, with its left hand grasping the opponent's head to prevent any escape.

"Zzt!"

The saber forcefully sliced through, sending cables flying.

Of course, a mecha's head was not as crucial as a human head; whether it was the cockpit or the power source, those were located within the main torso of the mecha's large frame. The head was more about fitting human self-recognition of "human form" and accommodating some weapon systems.

Loss of the head meant losing control over many weapons, but it didn't mean the complete loss of combat capability.

This was undoubtedly a humiliation!

A brief exchange was not enough for the mech pilot to recognize the gap in strength between them. The flames of anger had just begun to cling to his eyes when the piercing alarm that resounded in the cockpit, like cold water, interrupted them.

—— Weapon system damaged!

—— Power system damaged!

—— Left arm transmission damaged!

—— Power transmission damaged!

...

A dense mass of red flashes on the three-dimensional structural diagram representing the mecha's overall condition blinded both pilots, as the opponent didn't cease attacking despite the "beheading."

A single alloy saber with its limited power couldn't completely incapacitate a mecha, so the opponent launched an attack reminiscent of a violent storm with a series of relentless hits.

These vibrations weren't particularly significant, but each one signaled another red damaged area lighting up on the mecha.

Like a butcher carving up an ox, a once fully-capable mecha was reduced to a "wreck" after repeated offenses.

Watching what seemed to be a one-sided slaughter, the stunned instructor finally blurted out in haste, "That's enough, the repairs will cost a fortune!"

Is it normal for a functioning mecha to be so completely damaged? This is going to have the Logistics Department cursing, isn't it?

"Oh~" Bai E responded lightly, standing up and picking up his saber.

Turning off the voice system, he turned to look at Rose, "Feel anything yet?"

Rose's cheeks were flushed with excitement as she nodded vigorously, "Yeah!"

That's the way! Only real combat like this can speed up her progress!

She couldn't see her proficiency progress bar, but she knew that she was quickly catching up to Bai E's pace!

Rose's gaze turned toward the other two pairs still locked in one-on-one combat, her eyes ablaze with fervor.

Boys! Are you ready?

As they were eagerly engaging with their own mechas in battle, an unexpected intruder suddenly joined in.

This caused dissatisfaction among the original opponents—

"What are you doing? You've brought the fight over to us?"

"Move aside, don't interrupt our training."

Bai E activated the team voice chat, greeting them with a laugh, "It's boring with too few people, let us join in."