Thirty minutes later, Yuri had journeyed across half of Planet Alpha in a lev from the Cheng family's home, arriving at the mecha sales mall.
The fees of a lev were based on time, with the first five minutes being free and charges applied after that. Yuri's half-hour ride cost her 500 astracredits.
The mecha sales mall was an architectural wonder, with a towering building that reached thousands of meters high and spanned an area of hundreds of thousands of square meters. Standing at the base, Yuri could only see the enormous billboard above her, unable to catch a glimpse of the rooftop disappearing into the clouds.
The entrance itself was an impressive 30 meters tall. As Yuri watched the approaching mecha, she immediately understood why such a massive gateway was necessary.
It was a 20-meter tall humanoid mecha. As its dark, metallic body glinted with a cold light, it moved closer to Yuri, causing her crystal core to react.
Enova power from her entire body surged uncontrollably towards the huge mecha.
Yuri, the owner of the power, stood rooted to the spot, her expression a combination of exhilaration, delight, and a hint of satisfaction.
There were two ways for her Enova to advance: one was by absorbing energy from similar attribute crystal cores, and the other was by absorbing the "genesis" from various metals.
The crystal core was out of the question for her now, because it was a unique product of the apocalypse.
The genesis within metal was more abundant in unsmelted metals. Over time, smelted metals would also slowly regenerate their origin.
This 20-meter humanoid mecha had been repeatedly smelted, extracted, compressed, and reshaped, leaving only a tiny amount of genesis inside.
It was better than nothing, Yuri reassured herself.
"Please present your identification number," the gatekeeper robot stopped Yuri.
Yuri swiped her opticomp in front of the robot's eye, and with a beep, the robot spoke again, "Respected Miss Cheng, as an omega, you are only allowed access to the first and second floors. The third floor and above are not open to you. Please follow the rules."
"Why?" Yuri felt frustrated.
The robot emotionlessly explained, "Mecha on the third floor and above can only be piloted by alphas and betas with psychic power. This rule is in place to prevent omegas from forcefully piloting mecha and causing damage to their nerves."
Yuri felt a bit disappointed, because she really wanted to go. Still, she understood that rules were rules, so she settled for the first and second floors.
They could block her access, however, they couldn't stop her Enova.
Mecha came in two types: beast-shaped and humanoid, as well as manual control and psychic control. Omegas could pilot manual mecha, but only alphas and betas could operate psychic control mecha.
Yuri, with one arm missing, didn't even have a chance to test drive any of them.
Although she couldn't get hands-on experience, her Enova skimmed over every mecha, even inspecting every small component to absorb the energy.
When Ender, Daleks, and Kilana entered, they saw Yuri wearing a grin from ear to ear.
"What's got you in such a good mood, Yuri?" Ender playfully asked, giving her an amused look with his charming eyes.
"You look silly," Daleks said, rolling his eyes.
Kilana seemed cold and distant, but she was also checking out Yuri.
"Seeing all these mechas just makes me really happy," Yuri told Ender, ignoring Daleks.
"I remember you're a top student in mecha manufacturing. Are you here to buy one today?" Ender asked.
When she heard about her past as a mecha manufacturing student, Yuri felt the pressure. She silently promised herself to learn more about mechas once she got back home, so she wouldn't ruin her disguise.
"No, just looking. I can't afford one," Yuri admitted honestly.
"You're quite straightforward," Ender chuckled.
Daleks sneered, "Broke."
Yuri didn't even bother looking at Daleks. Instead, she walked away, saying, "I'm going to look around. Do whatever you want."
"Wait!" Ender called after her. "We're here to buy a mecha for Tuz as a wedding present. Since you're here, why not join us? You could give us some advice."
Hearing they were getting a mecha for Tuz, Yuri became instantly interested and chirped, "Sure."
"What's the point? She's only had one semester of classes. She wouldn't know a good mecha from a bad one," Daleks complained.
"She may not know about performance, but she can choose based on looks. She is Tuz's partner," Ender stressed the last two words.
Yuri raised her eyebrows, surprised at how much friendlier Ender seemed since the engagement party when she had stabbed that alpha.
"Yuri, we're trusting Tuz to you," Ender said seriously.
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of Tuz," Yuri promised, thinking, 'for the sake of the ore planet.'
Ender smiled at her assurance. Somehow, even though they'd only met twice, she seemed really trustworthy.
Ender, Daleks, and Kilana led the way in picking out a mecha, while Yuri quietly followed, learning a lot from their conversations about different mecha features and materials.
With their help, Yuri snuck onto the restricted third floor and above. Unlike the practical mechas on the first and second floors, the higher levels had battle-type mechas. These mechas used more costly materials and gave off more energy, letting Yuri absorbed all she wanted.
In the end, they picked a mecha with both manual and psychic control options. The mecha was lightweight and under ten meters tall, making it look small compared to other battle mechas. This was mainly for Tuz's sake since they didn't want a large mecha to be too much of a burden on him.
After exploring the entire mall, Yuri's tiny crystal core had doubled in size. She had advanced from the initial stage to Enova Level One.
Ender and the others had come in a flying vehicle, which they offered to give Yuri a ride home in.
The flying vehicle was oval-shaped with a somewhat cramped interior, fitting seven passengers. Yuri activated her Enova and ran it discreetly throughout the vehicle, examining its every detail.
Thud—
A faint sound.
"What's happening?" Daleks asked.
"I'm not sure," Ender replied, quickly opening the 360-degree external view. On the screen, a huge, grotesque insect-like creature clung to their flying vehicle's hull.
"Wow, it's an insectoid. How is this even possible on Planet Alpha?" Daleks gasped in disbelief.
Ender didn't have an answer for Daleks' question, his face serious as he maneuvered the flying vehicle, trying to shake off the insectoid.
The vehicle began to wobble, and Yuri was tossed from her seat. Before she could recover, she was thrown again, slamming into the cabin wall.
"We're going to crash if we keep this up; we need to land," Kilana yelled, gripping a handrail with one hand and attempting to catch Yuri, who was bouncing around the cabin, with the other.
With a loud crash, the flying vehicle plummeted to the ground, and Yuri rolled her eyes before passing out.
"Everyone, get out of the cabin!" Ender shouted, using all his strength to force the cabin door open.
Daleks hurried out first, grabbing the newly bought mecha from the dimensional button and quickly climbing in.
"Hey, you ugly thing! Your fight is with me!" Daleks taunted the enormous insectoid.
But the giant insectoid barely glanced at him, still clinging to the flying vehicle. Its massive body wrapped around the hull, its giant mouth biting into the front, as if trying to swallow the vehicle whole.
Daleks grimaced in disgust, controlling the mecha to grasp the insectoid's slimy tentacles and pulling hard—
"Down you go!" Daleks roared.
A sizzling noise echoed as the giant insectoid released a highly corrosive liquid, instantly eating away a layer of the mecha's outer shell.
Daleks released the tentacles, clenched his fist, and launched an attack on the insectoid.
Inside the cabin, poor Yuri was tossed around, ending up bruised and battered. Thankfully, Kilana finally managed to grab her and carried her out of the damaged flying vehicle.