"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." - Forrest Gump
Since that absurd night in the twelfth underground level of the academy, Reno realized that everything had changed.
There were no misunderstandings.
On the day things happened, Reno explained everything to Claire.
He explained to Claire that nothing had happened between him and Nora, they had just had too much to drink and ended up sleeping together in a daze.
Just sleeping together, nothing else happened.
Claire believed him, there was no accusation, no blame, no "I hate you if you don't explain" attitude.
She just calmly said she understood, and then there was no further reaction.
Reno thought that after explaining everything, everything would pass.
But he found out he was wrong.
Nothing had passed, on the contrary, everything was getting worse.
Claire no longer paid attention to him, at least she no longer actively sought him out, and Nora started to distance herself from him too.
When he was training in the twelfth underground level, he couldn't hear Nora's wild shouts anymore, nor her stern reprimands, and he also couldn't see any care or visits from Claire.
The sisters seemed to simultaneously stop caring about Reno, stop caring about what he was doing, and stop paying attention to him.
Their lives became devoid of his presence, everything became indifferent and unfamiliar.
This troubled Reno for a long time.
At that time, he was still young and couldn't understand this kind of emotion, couldn't understand why things were like this.
Seven days later, Alpha Academy officially went on holiday.
Claire chose not to be with Reno, she just quietly disappeared.
Reno had to pack up on his own and leave Alpha Academy, where he had studied for more than three hundred days and nights, heading to the Honglar Lake District, Shigwani City.
This was the famous mech city of Central Star, where the renowned Stormwind Consortium headquarters was located. The Storm series mechs they produced were one of the top ten most famous mechs in the New Federal Government. The New Federal Government even formed a Storm Corps for this purpose, with soldiers using the latest Storm mechs.
In addition to the Storm Consortium, a federal-level mega-corporation, Shigwani City also had at least seven star system-level mech groups, dozens of planetary-level mech brands, and countless local small brands.
Every day, there were hundreds of mechs flying through the air here.
Countless amateur mech enthusiasts showcased and competed with their mechs here.
Here, there were more than thirty mech competitions every year, with over a million mechs appearing on stage, broadcasted by more than two thousand television stations, with a total viewership of over five hundred billion, and total prize money reaching hundreds of billions.
There were thousands of mech sales companies here, tens of thousands of mech repair shops, and millions of mech enthusiasts. The huge torrent formed by this constituted the now famous Mech City.
There was no better place to become a mech repair technician.
On that sunny day, Reno arrived in Shigwani City and knocked on the door of the first mech repair shop.
Like most young people who were starting their first job, Reno was slightly nervous sitting in front of the interviewer in a suit. He listened carefully to the interviewer's lengthy speeches, trying to extract any useful information for himself.
"...Langdorff Company has a history of more than three hundred years and rich experience in mech sales and maintenance. We have the best mech repair personnel in the city, the most comprehensive mech technology, and the most advanced mechs. Every year, more than three hundred young people come here hoping to join the Langdorff Company. So, young man, tell me, what attracts you to come here?"
"What?" Reno was taken aback for a moment, not understanding the interviewer's question.
The interviewer's face showed a hint of dissatisfaction, but he concealed it well and continued patiently, "I said, what aspect of Langdorff Company do you value the most? Shigwani has tens of thousands of repair companies, what made you choose us?"
He was somewhat smug when he said the last sentence.
Reno understood and thought for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry, I think you may have misunderstood. I didn't come here because I heard about Langdorff Company. Francily, before I came here, I had no idea there was such a company. The reason I came for the interview is simply because this is the first repair shop I saw, and it looks somewhat grand."
The interviewer's face froze.
Just starting out, young people often carried some innocence and righteousness, daring to strive but not knowing how to navigate.
Reno was undoubtedly rejected, even without the opportunity for a written test.
Reno didn't have time to be discouraged and quickly moved on to the next repair shop.
This time he learned his lesson and wouldn't say he just happened to come in.
Fortunately, the next repair shop was not as indulgent in its own glory as Langdorff Company.
The interviewer was a slightly overweight middle-aged woman.
She looked at Reno with a skeptical look, as if scrutinizing a criminal, and then said, "Your resume says you're a student at the Alpha Military Academy's Ship Division?"
"Yes, I would like to work part-time here."
"Then why would you choose mech repair instead of ship repair?"
"Well, ship repair is very specialized, usually focusing on a specific part of the ship rather than the entire ship. I enrolled in the Ship Division Command Department, which requires a comprehensive understanding of ship structure, so a single ship repair wouldn't help much with my credits. Mech repair, on the other hand, allows me to handle the entire mech repair work by myself, which can fully enhance my mech course. And the Command Department has three mech-related subjects alone. From a credit perspective, this seems to be the most suitable choice."
"Just for credits?"
"I know that pursuing credits alone is not right, but as a student, I think the first thing to consider is still to increase credits. As for practical ability, sometimes thinking too far ahead may not be a good thing, and I also need a full scholarship to support my further studies."
"Since that's the case, why do you want to be a repairman instead of a pilot?"
Reno shrugged, "I would like to be a pilot, but the prerequisite is that I can afford a mech."
The woman's face changed.
Reno didn't know if he had hit a nerve with the interviewer again.
This interviewer was a staunch believer in the attitude-determines-success theory, firmly believing that attitude determines success or failure. Reno's answer was telling her that he didn't love repair work, which was something she couldn't accept.
Rejected again.
Reno didn't despair, young people may not be smooth, may not understand the subtleties, but they also have the courage to not give up and the enthusiasm to persevere.
He quickly knocked on the door of the third, fourth, and even more repair shops.
Without exception, Reno faced rejection.
When he reached the seventh shop, Reno encountered the first one willing to accept him.
"We can hire you, but you must sign a ten-year contract with us."
"Ten years? No, sir, I think you misunderstood. I just want a part-time job, I don't intend
to sell myself!"
"Sorry, this is the core condition for our company to hire you. You still don't know anything now, and after you enter the company, you won't be able to contribute to us, and we must spend a lot of effort to train you."
"Spend a lot of effort to train me?" Reno was angry. "Are you kidding me? I admit that I can't contribute anything to the company now, but I don't think I need your effort during my learning process! I can just watch from the side, occasionally ask questions for answers, I'll do my apprentice duty, serving tea, carrying things, whatever I can do. And when I'm qualified, I will contribute to the company according to my ability. Why use the term 'spend effort to train me'? I don't see anything you've put in that can be described as effort!"
The interviewer remained expressionless, "The technology you learn, the tools you use, the masters who teach you, are all products of our company, and can't be used for free."
Reno understood, "So you just want to exploit people, right? Apprentice contract, ten years? That's ridiculous."
"If you do well, there's a chance to become a regular employee."
"Is that the bait in the contract? No formal agreement, no legal constraints, only verbal promises, besides binding, is still binding? I won't agree."
"It doesn't matter, there are plenty of people who will agree."
"Even if I'm in dire straits, I won't stoop to selling myself!" Reno stood up and left.
It was the first time he had actively rejected the other party.
In the following time, Reno continued to hit walls.
In the blink of an eye, a day passed, and Reno didn't find any repair company willing to take him.
He had to find the cheapest small hotel to stay in.
Lying on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, Reno sighed deeply, then turned over and slept.
The next morning, Reno rallied and set out again.
On this day, he visited a full eighteen companies, twice as many as yesterday, simply non-stop.
Unfortunately, he still failed.
Reno also found that the main reason for his failure was because he was a student at Alpha Academy.
Being a student meant that he was destined not to sign any long contracts with any company, with no future to afford.
In addition, the students' holiday was only sixty days.
Sixty days was almost the time when Reno could create benefits for the company after his internship.
In other words, when Reno could truly contribute value, he would leave, which was unacceptable for most repair companies.
This was the core reason for his failure.
For three full days, Reno visited hundreds of companies but didn't find one willing to take him.
Despite this, Reno remained undaunted.
He believed that there would always be an exception.
Later, Claire asked Reno what made him persist. Reno replied, "There are tens of thousands of repair companies in Shigwani City, even if it's charity, it shouldn't be hard to find one, right? And I've only visited over a hundred, just one percent, why should I give up?"
At that moment, Claire's eyes softened towards Reno once again.
There was a turning point on the fourth day.
He spent the entire day running around, but still met with failure.
As the sky grew dark, Reno didn't give up and continued along the tree-lined avenue, until he saw a factory.
The factory wasn't large, nestled behind the tree-lined road, and through the sparse shadows of the trees, several mechs could be seen sitting on the ground.
Passing through the shade of the trees, Reno entered the gate.
There was no one in front of the gate.
Reno walked straight in, and then he saw a vast playground.
Several old, damaged mechs were scattered across the playground, one of which had a person lying on it, holding an ion welding gun in his hand, repairing the damaged parts of the mech.
"Hey!" Reno shouted.
The person on the mech turned around and took off his goggles.
Reno saw that it was an old man with white hair.
He looked down from the mech and made a questioning sound, "Are you...?"
"Hello, I'm Reno, Joni Reno. I want to ask if you're still hiring here?"
"Hiring?" The old man's face lit up with a smile. "You want to work here?"
"Specifically, as a repair apprentice," Reno replied.
The old man swung the mech's arm down, landed on the mech's knee, and then came down to the ground.
He came to Reno's side and reached out his hand, "Let me see your resume."
Reno handed it over, and the old man flipped through it, "So, you're a student at Alpha Military Academy. How much do you know about mechs?"
"Not much, actually, I've only been in touch for about ten days, but I can already operate small mechs, and I understand some of the main structures and functions of large mechs... There are videos of me operating mechs on the resume."
Reno pointed to the resume.
The resume was electronic, with video information directly recorded on it, making the data more abundant and complete.
"I see, ten days? Your progress is quite good." The old man smiled.
Reno smiled too. After countless failures, Reno had summarized some experiences and lessons. He knew that his actual operational experience was still far from enough, so emphasizing fast learning became his only weapon.
"I think I know why you came to me." The old man nodded. "Tell me, how many repair companies have you visited?"
Reno lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly, "Probably more than a hundred, I've been here for four days."
"The walk-in type?"
"The academy doesn't allow the use of transit vehicles, believing that too many living assistants will make us lazy, decrease our will, and lack of motivation."
The old man nodded, "I know this, but I also know that most students won't stick to it outside the academy."
Reno shrugged, "I thought it was right, so I did it."
The old man chuckled, "The biggest difference between successful people and failures is that the former always do what they think is right, while the latter always do what they want to do. So... what are your requirements for becoming a mechanic?"
"Oh, nothing, I can do without salary, just provide food and accommodation."
"Exactly." The old man handed the resume back to Reno.
Just when Reno thought he was going to face another failure, the old man said, "If you don't mind this place being too run-down, then come."
"What?" Reno was stunned.
"How?" The old man asked, "Do you think there should be anything else I should ask? Such as whether I understand your company? Whether I love this industry? Whether I need a long-term contract, and so on."
The old man looked at Reno sympathetically, "God, what have those idiots turned you into these days? I just need an apprentice helper. If you meet basic needs, what else do you need to understand? I don't need a son-in-law."
Reno was speechless.
The old man reached out his hand, "So, welcome to the Belgrade Machine Repair Factory."