The ground shook violently, sending Reno flying into the air like a spring, narrowly avoiding crashing into the cannon.
"No, Nora, stop it!" Claire yelled at the mech, "He's Reno, my classmate!"
The black mech hesitated, and the cannon retracted slightly: "You brought him here?"
Claire retorted impatiently, "Nora, don't talk nonsense. How else could he have entered without me? And you saw that I was right beside him."
The black mech formally retracted its cannon, crossing its arms in front of its chest: "That's not necessarily true. It's possible he abducted you."
Claire rolled her eyes in exasperation, "No, Nora, if Reno really abducted me, your actions just now would have only provoked him and led to my death... You know he didn't do it. You just instinctively dislike any boy who gets close to me and want to intimidate them."
The mech stiffened, finally ceasing its movement.
Then the viewport on its chest opened, and a girl wearing silver clothing with a strong liquid texture emerged from inside.
Reno picked himself up from the ground and looked at the girl, then back at Claire. "Is she your sister?"
"Twin sister," Claire confirmed, "She's Nora Jia Marshall, born three minutes before me."
"She doesn't look much like you," Reno muttered.
Indeed, they didn't look much like twin sisters. Nora had short black hair, and her figure appeared slender and graceful in the tight-fitting suit. While her face shared some resemblance to Claire's, there were noticeable differences. Her nose was more pronounced, her eyes colder, and her demeanor distinct from Claire's warm and inviting presence.
Claire was the kind of person people wanted to approach, while Nora seemed to wear a 'keep away' sign on her face.
"Sometimes I wonder if the hospital made a mistake, or else why the stark difference," Claire smiled.
Nora had already jumped down from the mech.
Jumping down from a height of over six meters, Nora startled Reno. He watched as she leaped onto the mech's arm, swung onto its leg, slid down, then suddenly flipped and landed gracefully on one knee.
"Wow," Reno exclaimed in amazement.
He had to admit, the sequence of movements was indeed impressive.
But he still pointed at the mech and said, "I thought... this thing should have an elevator?"
"I don't like using it. It's too slow," Nora said as she got up from the ground and approached Reno.
Her gait resembled that of a catwoman—elegant, proud, with a hint of arrogance.
Standing in front of Reno, the girl looked at him with cold, appraising eyes. "Claire's classmate? Reno? I seem to have heard that name before."
She paused for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, as if enlightened, "From the welcome party? The one who danced with Claire?"
As she said the last sentence, her tone rose sharply, and Reno could feel a surge of hostility emanating from her.
"It was just a dance," Claire quickly interjected.
Nora glanced at Claire, then at Reno, and snorted, "Seems like it wasn't just a dance after all."
She turned to her mech and said, "Taylor, return to your position."
"Taylor understands," the mech responded, automatically moving back.
Each mech had an AI brain capable of receiving simple commands and performing basic tasks. Because of this, mechs could also operate without a human pilot. However, since the incident of rogue robots, all AIs were restricted to a maximum level of 75. This meant that for mechs to unleash their full potential, human control was still necessary. The role of AI was mainly to assist, such as calling for mech rescue in dangerous situations.
Having the mech come to her was more convenient than her going to it, making adaptability easier.
Claire took the opportunity to explain to Reno in a low voice, "Phoenix is the central brain here, responsible for controlling everything. But it recognizes us, so it won't attack us. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to come here just by ourselves."
Reno sighed, "I thought I got in here because I'm fast, turns out it's all about my face."
Claire chuckled at his remark.
In the distance, a blue mech flew out of the valley, rushing to their location at high speed. Reno only then noticed that this mech was about two and a half meters tall, a small-sized mech.
Nora took the chips from the mech's hand as it landed.
Seeing this, Reno took a step back and said, "No, I don't use memory chips. Academy regulations require that all subjects must be mastered through personal study, not memory chips!"
After thousands of years of development, human technology had advanced to the point where many things that were once impossible could now be achieved. Memory input was one of them. Through this method, people could easily acquire knowledge that used to take a long time to master.
But this method also had its drawbacks.
Knowledge acquired through memory input lacked necessary understanding, digestion, and application, making it difficult to master proficiently. In application, it might not be agile, mainly due to mechanical thinking patterns resembling computers, lacking the ability for creative thinking.
For this reason, most military academies did not allow students to use memory implants, as it would only cultivate a group of exam-focused bookworms. While they might score well on written exams with sufficient time for thought, they might fail to apply their knowledge under the pressure of real combat situations, for various reasons.
Therefore, Reno's first reaction upon seeing the chips was to refuse—they could check that at the Academy.
Nora glared at him, "It's not memory implantation, just rapid reading. If you're only going to read, there's no need to be here. You're here to use mechs. I don't have time to wait for you to finish reading, it'll be dawn by then. These two chips can help you read quickly, temporarily memorize, and then you can start using it. But once the chips are removed, you'll forget all the memories related to this part. However, the memory of you operating the mech won't be forgotten, it will remind you and help you truly understand it. So when you go back to reading, you'll have a deeper understanding... Just do it, less talk!"
With that, Nora took out a headband and placed it on Reno's head, inserting the chips, and Reno felt countless numbers flashing before his eyes.
Forced rapid reading overwhelmed his brain, and the external storage temporarily helped him memorize the content.
After a while, Reno finally finished the rapid reading.
Nora pushed Reno, "Get in there, now you should know how to use it."
"It?" Reno looked at the miniature mech, barely bigger than himself.
"Yes, it. The Thunderbolt standard patrol mech, although small, is fully functional and perfect for beginners. Now, take off your clothes and put this on." Nora tossed a silver garment over, identical to what she was wearing.
"What's this?" Reno asked, perplexed.
"It's a mech-specific super-fiber suit. You can't control the mech without wearing it," Claire explained.
Nora added, "Of course, you can choose not to wear it."
Reno awkwardly accepted it, looking at Nora. "Do I have to take everything off?"
"Everything off! The mech connects to you through the neuron system, so there can't be any clothing hindering it. This super-fiber suit is the only thing you can wear that won't impede the neural connection... It's worth four hundred and eighty thousand credits," Claire said seriously.
The price made Reno gasp for air.
Without another word, he took the clothes and headed towards the back of the mech.
No one said anything as they heard the sound of clothes rustling from behind the mech.
But Nora couldn't help but keep glancing at her sister, causing a blush to gradually appear on Claire's face.
Suddenly, Nora said, "I really want to see if he's big or not."
Claire was shocked, "What are you talking about? Nora? How could you think like that?"
Nora casually replied, "I wasn't thinking like that, I was just speaking for you."
Claire was speechless with anger.
After a moment, Reno emerged wearing the silver super-fiber suit.
Seeing Reno's appearance, Nora's eyes lit up.
She whistled like a female rogue and said, "Claire, you have good taste. He's quite handsome."
Then she kicked Reno's butt, "Get in there already."
Reno fell into the mech.
Click, click, the Thunderbolt standard patrol mech enveloped him, completing Reno's first intimate contact with a mech.