Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Five minutes after Meng Shijiu stepped into the training hall, a post titled "Is Absolute Charm Another Form of Violence?" shot to the top of the St. Mary's Academy forum.

The caption was vague, the original poster apparently having gone crazy, accompanied by a stunning profile shot of the silver-haired Alpha in white training attire.

The spacious training hall remained as quiet as ever, filled with neural-link pods, with students standing around in small groups, glances from all around drifting toward the silver-haired Alpha in the corner.

A mix of pheromones intertwined in the air, and the ventilation system kicked into gear with a loud rumble.

Nearby, an Alpha frowned in disgust at the sudden spike in pheromone concentration.

—Seated on a bench was an Alpha with hair a brilliant ocean blue, dark skin, and a doll-like face—the same one Meng Shijiu had seen through the window on the first day, openly bullying a Beta.

When Zou Yun saw the viral post, he was a bit puzzled, his tone light but disdainful: "An Alpha."

His companion beside him nodded and bowed while inwardly cursing to himself: *Pah.*

The blue-haired Alpha turned his head, unwilling to give humanity the benefit of the doubt, and questioned suspiciously: "Would anyone be foolish enough to hire trolls on the forum?"

He asked the Alpha beside him: "Who even looks at posts like this anyway?"

The questioned Alpha, jumping like he’d been shot, quickly hid his terminal, sprang up from his seat, and blurted out: "I don't know, and it certainly wasn't me! I'm homophobic!"

Students around looked over in surprise.

Zou Yun: "..."

*What a nutcase.*

The first lesson of combat training was mecha piloting.

As the core capital of the Federation and the first capital of Lottelance, Qiyu was not only the center of supreme power and wealth but also the absolute military hub.

Although St. Mary's Academy, the capital's premier institution, was not a military academy, its combat training was on par with other top-tier military schools.

This place cultivated the elite among elites, a base for the Celestial Beings to seek qualified puppets. Despite looking down upon these talents from their lofty perches, the proud scions of nobility would never allow themselves to be truly inferior.

While it was generally believed that Alphas and Omegas possessed higher psychic strength than Betas, this didn't mean all Betas had low psychic levels. For instance, Chairman Qian had S-level psychic strength.

—According to official Federation statistics, there were fewer than a hundred people in the entire Federation with S-level psychic strength.

The emergence of biomimetic mechas became the most obvious means for using psychic strength to compensate for the physical differences between Alphas, Betas, and Omegas.

Psychic suppression was a more widespread form of attack than pheromone suppression. Betas were not dominated by pheromones but could be suppressed by psychic force. Similarly, Omegas with high psychic strength could also turn the tables on Alphas.

Typically, military-grade biomimetic mechas, when controlled via psychic power, could increase performance limits by at least 300%.

However, standard indoor combat classes did not use real mechas but rather single-pilot mechas in a holographic state. Students needed to enter the holographic training system via neural-link pods.

Most students present had undergone intensive military training in their first year, where they had already practiced mecha piloting.

When enrolling, Meng Shijiu just wanted to get into the academy, so he applied for the first-year program—the one with the easiest entrance exam.

However, Shen Huaixu had given him a spot in the second year instead.

The biggest difference between the second and first years was the addition of combat courses, including mandatory exams like monthly tests and finals that were impossible to skip.

Meng Shijiu had a feeling he'd run into this mysterious principal in combat class, until another unfamiliar blond professor walked into the classroom.

The professor, surnamed Lin, seemed very quiet, merely motioning for the students to quickly get into the neural-link pods and prepare to begin.

Meng Shijiu found a nearby pod.

The white pod casing glowed softly after the Alpha entered, and the colorless glass cover transformed into a white, frosted texture.

Meng Shijiu inserted his student card into the slot.

A blue screen lit up in the air before him.

"Startup successful"

AI Piggy: "Please enter a nickname: _____"

The holographic channels were anonymous; users could choose their own nicknames. Even instructors couldn't see real names, only the combat level and per-match data displayed on the student card.

Meng Shijiu entered: "AAA Online Paid Search for Hypnosis Master"

"Beep beep beep—Please keep the character count within ten."

Meng Shijiu continued: "Cure Insomnia, Ex Will Send You"

"Beep beep beep—Please avoid illegal or borderline content."

AI Piggy: "Marked (Note: Players marked over five times will be blacklisted for one month). Reason for marking: Wanting both."

Meng Shijiu: ?

Meng Shijiu sneered: "What's the problem?"

AI Piggy felt a chill down its virtual spine and resent a message: "Marked. Reason for marking: Suspected human trafficking."

Meng Shijiu: *You're too smart for your own good.*

Meng Shijiu continued: "Insomniac Little Pitiful"

"Beep beep beep—This nickname is already taken."

Meng Shijiu continued: "So Sleepy"

"Beep beep beep—Please—"

*Thump.* Meng Shijiu calmly gave the display a whack.

"—Ding! Congratulations on successfully registering your nickname!"

The world fell silent. Meng Shijiu also quietly closed his eyes. The Alpha pressed the transmission button, attempting to use his psychic strength to enter the holographic space.

...

A black iris logo spun in the air.

"System check... 99% complete

Welcome to the SM (Sancta Maria) Basic Combat Holographic System.

Current Server: 0001

Pain Simulation Level: 20%"

Other Sensory Fidelity: 85%

Player Nickname: So Sleepy

Player Psionic Rating: S+

Player Current Mental Load: 0%/70%

Player Physique Assessment: S-Class Alpha

Current Level: Lv.0 (0/50)

A corresponding simulated mech has been matched based on your physical data.

Your simulated mech is designated: Silver Cocoon (Based on active military model: M1910-01)

Current Map: Eternal Daylight Forest (Friendly Reminder: The current map mode is training mode. This map has been locked by Instructor L, with remote control permissions at 20%. If you manually override to entertainment mode, you can choose other maps upon arrival.)

Current Combat Mode: Faction Battle, free team formation, team size limited to 5 members.

Random Boss this round: *** (Unknown)

If a mech’s damage reaches 50%, the pilot is forced to log out. This counts as a kill for the player who dealt the highest damage, provided their personal damage is at least 35% of the total.

Friendly Tip: Please adjust your landing stance to ensure a safe touchdown.

Seeing the last two lines, Meng Shijiu chuckled lightly.

Combat class and live combat are indeed different. Real combat doesn’t guarantee safety.

"New player detected. Activating Tutorial Mode."

"Current instance population: 334 players"

The Eternal Daylight Forest was modeled on a primeval forest.

Massive trees towered from the ground, moss and vines intertwined, insects chirped and birds hid, offering high concealment, yet even the slightest rustle could be heard clearly—such pristine wilderness was a rare sight these days.

At the map’s core was a lake, the lifeblood of the entire forest.

Another blue screen appeared in view, displaying the surroundings of the mech. Meng Shijiu sat in the cramped single-seat cockpit. Through his mental perception, he could perceive that his paired mech was a smooth, white, oval-shaped "cocoon."

Information about the mech was displayed on the left side of the internal screen. Indigo-blue glowing lines vanished from the seams of the composite armor, and the alloy with its silver coating returned to a smooth, seamless state.

It looked somewhat silly. In any case, unlike all the other flashy mechs, this egg-like mech also emitted “huffing and puffing” stabilizer jets from its bottom, foolishly hovering in mid-air.

Meng Shijiu didn’t do anything at first. He just called out to See.

Meng Shijiu: "See."

See: "I’m here."

Meng Shijiu: *...I wish you weren’t.*

Meng Shijiu’s inner thoughts (he was just testing if See could still link with him in the holographic system): What the hell is this, so hard to shake?

See, who had been quiet up until now, suddenly spoke up: "Host, why are you double S?"

—Double S. This was beyond rare. The Bureau would never transmit a potential world protagonist to another dimension just to act as an NPC fixing world lines.

Then who was he?

See had actually harbored doubts for a long time—when Meng Shijiu used his pheromones to grow ice flowers on a mirror, something only an S-class could do, and during See’s own multiple episodes of magnetic field disturbance...

Each time, it should have reported back to the Bureau promptly, because if Meng Shijiu really was the protagonist of another world, then once the protagonist disappeared, the original world might collapse as well.

At first, it comforted itself by thinking it was a side effect of the transmission error. Later, it began to imagine that if it really was a mistake, perhaps the host would be sent back to his original world.

—Sent back to his original world.

Parting.

From Meng Shijiu’s perspective, he was completely in the dark. He frowned: "? What do you mean?"

See accessed the host profile given by headquarters and looked at it again.

—The face was the same. The name was the same. But identity information couldn’t be duplicated; everyone’s experiences were unique fingerprints. It just needed to ask him to confirm.

See fell silent in Meng Shijiu’s mind for a moment.

See: "It’s nothing."

A new message popped up on the screen glowing on the right side of the glass.

"Public Information:

Instructor: This combat training session will serve as the first assessment after enrollment and will count toward your final grade. Please take it seriously.

Instructor: Grading Criteria: Survival duration 50%, kill count 30%, team members’ average score 20%"

Meng Shijiu first turned off the airflow, landing safely in the grass.

The surroundings quieted down.

This seemed to be the first time Meng Shijiu seriously used his mental strength to control something.

St. Maria’s pairing system was evidently very scientific. Meng Shijiu’s mental strength, like silk threads, filled every corner of the silver mech, perfectly merging with the cocoon-shaped mech.

The mech was activated, and the cockpit’s light strips lit up section by section.

"Hello, Master..." Silver Cocoon’s mechanical voice was gentle, very clear in the enclosed space. "I am the mech Silver Cocoon."

Meng Shijiu fiddled with the screen on the right, promptly returning a polite greeting: "Hello."

Three seconds later.

Meng Shijiu clicked on "Random Team Formation."

The second of Meng Shijiu’s three cardinal rules in life—

Never carry when you can lie down.

—Though this was the rule with the worst completion rate among his three.

Let him lie down once... just once... once... once...

Meng Shijiu: (~￣?￣)~

"Ding—Team formation successful."

"Congratulations! Players [So Sleepy] and [player1] are now teammates."

The system's matchmaking generally relies on proximity for some arcane reason—being paired means [player1] must be close by.

A simplified map popped up, roughly displaying their positions.

Once the team-up succeeded, the red dot for [player1] shot toward her.

"Sskkk—" A few almost invisible, fine lines scored the air.

Mid-air, a massive mecha suddenly appeared, blotting out the sun and sky. Its enormous, pitch-black shadow swept toward Meng Shijiu's feet like a writhing ghost.

A chilling, oppressive presence rolled over her like thunder.

The world abruptly darkened, as if even the wind had stopped dead.

Its blistering speed and sudden, rock-steady stop were a study in contrasts.

The mecha stood sideways, the sturdy alloy of its exoskeleton giving off a cold gleam. The joints of its right arm, gripping an energy blade, were precise and agile. The faintly glowing energy saber radiated a cold, lethal aura, looking like it could cut through anything.

The tall, obsidian-black mecha touched down perfectly, like a jagged mountain rising from the abyss, not kicking up a single speck of dust—a display of absolutely terrifying mental control.

The pilot said and did nothing, yet an overwhelming aura silently dominated the area.

[player1]'s mecha, [Cloud Melter], turned its head and "looked" at [Silver Cocoon].

Its dark green optics lingered on its teammate for a brief second.

Inside [Silver Cocoon]'s cockpit, Meng Shijiu heard a deep voice transmitted directly into her mind—

"Follow."

With that, the tall black mecha withdrew its gaze.

Simultaneously, See's radar went off in Meng Shijiu's mind: "Beep—one of the main characters, F3 Yue Xuanli, has appeared."

Yue Xuanli.

Her younger brother, the third young master of Frost, known among St. Mary's students as the "Tyrant" F3.

Meng Shijiu automatically translated: a thigh to cling to.

"Sure thing, bro~"

Her lazy mental energy couldn't be bothered to go the extra mile, dissipating into the wind the moment it reached the black mecha.

[Cloud Melter] paused, then glanced back at the round, silver mecha, somehow getting the impression it looked "cheerful."

Yue Xuanli calmly withdrew his gaze.

The two headed into the depths of the jungle, one after the other.

"Time in-map: 4min 16s. Online players: 326."

"Boom."

The gray sky suddenly unleashed a torrential downpour.

The rain, falling through the perpetual daylight, engulfed the forest in a grand, noisy curtain.

All the once-clear sounds were effortlessly buried by the heavy rain.