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Amidst the virtual swirl, Mu Fan appeared in the Fat Brother's VIP room, about a twenty-square-meter space with two combat transmission rings on the side. At this moment, the Fat Brother was sullenly slumped in the plush sofa beside, watching Fighting videos.
As soon as he saw a flash of white light, the Fat Brother immediately put away the video and leaned in with a bitter face, "I got wrecked, man, I got ambushed! I... hahahaha, why are you still wearing that tank top? Didn't you finish the training?" He was in the middle of complaining but seeing Mu Fan still rocking the cool rookie style defeated him in an instant.
Mu Fan's cool expression almost slipped, but luckily the Fat Brother didn't notice. Remembering that casually thrown metal rod that was unavoidable, his head still seemed to ache faintly.
"...Yeah, finished, but I think I need to learn the basic operations more. I'll probably go there often," Mu Fan said with a calm face, surprisingly managing to get these words out without flinching.
"That's good," the Fat Brother didn't think much about it, "So, have you learned how to operate the mecha? You must have jumped straight to the mecha, right? I told you Fighting isn't of much use to you."
"...Right," Mu Fan squeezed out a word.
"Then stop dawdling, come on and let's battle, I'll start you from the First Generation Mecha. There's not much you can mess up with these mechas; they're slow, and the arena is small, very suitable for you to get started." Young Master Harry had a face that said he was helping, patting Mu Fan's shoulder in a pretending-to-be-sincere manner.
"See those combat transmission rings over there? Step in, confirm the battle room, and then you're in." The Fat Brother kindly pointed his chin toward one of the combat transmission rings.
"Alright." Mu Fan felt like a duck being chased onto a perch, but he had no choice but to go for it.
"Watch out, folks, observe as Fat Brother slaughters in the rookie room, tremble in fear, hahaha!" The Fat Brother stepped into the transmission ring with a vicious expression, licking his lips.
"Mu Fan, prepare to battle, system is matching."
…"Beep, matching successful, battle room: A4J1507, battle level 1~2 generation, battle map: Eight-square-kilometer Chaotic Stone Zone, battle count 8V8."
Mu Fan and the Fat Brother's figures disappeared from the room in an instant and appeared above the map. However, for now, they couldn't see each other, as Mu Fan viewed the area below from a bird's-eye perspective; the unevenly scattered giant rocks on a plain area, with small hills and scattered shipwrecks partitioning areas, giving it a bit of a stone labyrinth feel.
System countdown: 2 minutes.
Please select mecha...
Mu Fan saw the list that popped up in front of him, hmm... a long, very long list, from the First Generation to the Seventh Generation, everything was available, and beyond that were just black question marks.
Unfortunately, they were all grayed out...
Mu Fan swiped his hand to the right, pushing away the grayed-out First Generation Mecha page, finally revealing a colored mecha icon.
Usable!!
Mu Fan was a bit excited yet helpless, why? He simply didn't know how to operate it. Of course, it was thrilling to use a mecha for the first time, but realizing he didn't know anything made him a bit helpless and somewhat embarrassed to tell the Fat Brother.
Confirm selection of this mecha? The system prompted.
Of course, confirmed, you didn't provide any other options.
"Confirm selection, First Generation Human-Shaped General-Purpose Heavy Machine—EH01 Model."
After Mu Fan confirmed, that icon rapidly enlarged, and then a mecha resembling a human skeleton appeared in front of Mu Fan.
Mu Fan's height was about 1.78 meters, and this... let's call it a mecha, was about 6 meters tall.
The especially bizarre thing was that this mecha was nothing like what he saw in the Fat Brother's Sky Communication video, how to describe it? Yes, it looked more like a skeleton.
A mecha introduction surfaced beside the mecha: Realistic Mecha, ground-use First Generation Machine before humans broke through the atmosphere—the Human-shaped Frame EH01 Model, originally for civilian use, later modified for military use due to its interchangeable parts design. This mecha required mechanical operation, with mechanical levers complemented by a 178-key control console.
Height: 6.2m
Weight empty: 8.77t
Type: Land-use First Generation Mecha
Max running speed: 45km/h
Weaponry: Interchangeable parts—120mm shoulder cannon, arm-mounted 52mm Gatling gun, Alloy samurai sword.
Engine: First Generation Power Pod + Supplementary Fuel Cell.
System Rating: F-grade long-range, F-grade defense, E-grade melee, F-grade mobility.
Mu Fan felt this was completely just a rack of metal bones, with only one impression—dumb, clumsy, thick!
Can this even run? Three black lines appeared on Mu Fan's forehead.
Please confirm weapon selection. The system dutifully prompted.
"Select samurai sword, abandon others." Without hesitation, Mu Fan responded. Seeing the system's prompt, removing the shoulder cannon and the Gatling gun could reduce weight by about 0.6t, slightly improving performance; even a slight improvement was an edge for the First Generation.
"Confirm selection, mechanical master will enter the cockpit?"
"Confirm."
After stepping into the elevator, Mu Fan found himself in the cockpit again.
The cockpit of a six-plus-meter-high mecha was supposed to be fairly spacious, but… this mecha was just a skeleton frame, and Mu Fan was positioned where a human spine might be, in a compact space, with thirteen red and blue interspersed mechanical levers on each side, a semi-circular array of 178 control buttons in front, a seat barely accommodating one person, and a lit operational screen.
How was he supposed to operate this!?
Mu Fan was completely clueless, sitting in the hard seating, fretting at the sight in front of him.
Over there, the system couldn't care less, "Countdown begins, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… injection."
Mu Fan instantly felt a cliff-diving-like weightlessness, being dropped straight from several hundred meters above, with the metal mecha being completely unable to eliminate the planet's gravity-induced adrenaline rush.
"This is intense!!!" Mu Fan touched on mech combat for the first time, the pre-battle sensation made every pore feel innately comfortable.
But! Being dropped from such a great height, wouldn't the mecha end up smashed?
With the ground approaching in the field of view, Mu Fan almost couldn't help but scream.
"Sss" the mecha's leg buffer device initiated.
Though buffered, don't expect this First Generation Mecha to dispel much, having a buffer was lucky enough.
"Boom!" The EH01 Model mecha landed heavily on the ground, and Mu Fan inside the cockpit got a heavy jolt.
"The mecha is already busted, descending each time feels like bungee jumping, really should report this on the PO forum."
"Don't kid, if they wanted to change it, they would've long done so; this is the feel of real combat, are you expecting an Eighth Generation experience from First Generation machines? You know squat."
"You know squat! You're nothing."
"Screw you."
...
Mu Fan was completely bewildered, what was with the voices filling the cockpit, why were they arguing?
"Alright, check the battle map, let's first evade and gather at points A and B, fight on two lines, team, let's pump it up."
Another voice sounded, clearly more reliable this time, almost making Mu Fan doubt if he joined the wrong place.
"Okay, I'll go to A," the first player who spoke up again.
"I'm going to A too."
"Scram, don't follow me."
"Scram, say one more thing and I'll mark you down as a watchdog!"
"...You low-life."
The two mechas cursed and rushed towards point A, and Mu Fan saw two green dots moving steadfastly toward point A on the lower right corner map of the operational screen.
"Really, are there only trash talk kings in a level 1 room?" This time Mu Fan clearly heard it, the Fat Brother's voice.
"What sort of big shot are you?"
"You loser."
The Fat Brother snapped, "You XX."
Mu Fan was completely speechless; was this really the first mech fight of his life?
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