~Neural connection established~
~Mech interfacing successful~
Phew!
Lucius Volstad heaved a big sigh of relief as he wiped off his imaginary sweat.
In that moment, he seemed calm but his nerves were actually already stretched taut, unsure of what was to happen next.
He was a gambler though, his approach to mech design was radical.
It was one reason why he achieved so much already at such a young age.
And today again, his gamble paid off. "Hehe," he chuckled and grinned.
Blink!
Andrew regained his vision but no longer from the perception of his body.
He regained his vision from the perception of his machine, his mech.
Interfacing with a mech was just like Andrew expected, and more.
Having suffered a tragedy that left him surviving with most parts of his body metal, he already had a feel for it ahead of time and why it was easier now.
Interfacing with a mech to Andrew felt like an intimate activity between a man and his wife. The connection was so intimate that it was almost invasive.
All of Andrew's thoughts and whims were exposed to the Lombubos Knight III at this moment and at the same time, he saw through the lens of the mech.
Information on a level that passed anything that his computer system ever dumped on his head before currently flooded into his brain.
{Lombubos Knight III}
{Human detected: Lucius Volstad}
{Accessing information from the galactic net: Lucius Volstad is the CEO of Lucius Industries and lead mech designer of Lucius Mech Company. Lucius Volstad is…}
So many information on Lucius that Andrew didn't even know about before now were downloaded from the net and into his brain by the mech.
{Human detected: Alfonso Davidson}
{Occupation: Mech technician}
{Worker of Lucius Mech Company}
…
{Human detected: …}
…
{Human detected: …}
…
{WARNING! Potential threat detected!}
{Property of Lucius Mech Company detected: Ouroboros Hitman IV}
{Mech size: Medium}
{Mech type: Rifleman Mech}
{Weapon armaments: Mech-grade Shotgun, Laser Rifle!}
…
{Property of Lucius Mech Company detected: Galloping Bull G-02}
{Mech size: Medium}
{Mech type: Lancer Mech}
{Weapon armaments: Mech-grade Lance!}
…
{Property of Lucius Mech Company detected: Speed Demon T99}
{Mech size: Light}
{Mech type: Light Dagger Mech}
{Weapon armaments: Mech-grade twin Daggers; Laser Pistol!}
…
{Property of Lucius Mech Company detected: …}
…
{Property of Lucius Mech Company detected: …}
…
The amount of information that was dumped into Andrew's brain at this moment was so much that, inside the cockpit, he started having a seizure.
Outside, Lucius' assistants looked at the readings of their machines.
~Telemetry Level: High~
~Neural Connectivity: High~
~Brain Signals: Extremely High~
"Boss, the load is too much for him, he's burning out". Another of his assistants informed Lucius Volstad.
At this moment, Andrew was like a machine that was working on overdrive, overheating very rapidly and was very quickly burning out.
Yet, due to some reason, Lucius still ordered his assistants do not do anything or even try to administer any drugs to him.
"Andrew is no longer a normal mech pilot". This mech designer's eyes gleamed.
"Like the media says, he's no longer just a human".
"They're right," he grinned. "He's now half human, half robot".
"In normal circumstances, the current readings from the mech and his brain would have fried any normal human mech pilot's brains to smithereens but there he still is, somehow fighting it".
"If he can fight it to now, I want to believe that he can go all the way".
"What if he dies?" One of his assistants asked, concerned.
Silence.
Lucius thought for a few seconds. "I guess I'll be in deep sh*t then".
He didn't have to think further though as the next moment, inside the cockpit of the mech, Lucius finally managed to calm down.
And with him calming down, he felt the mech.
He felt like the giant metal arms of the mech were now his arms, and the giant metal legs of the mech were also his.
With his left metal hand, he felt the weight of the giant metal shield.
And on his right, he felt the lethality of the giant mech-grade sword.
For the first time since interfacing with this mech, Andrew finally spoke. "I'm good". He affirmed. "I'm ready to go to the next phase of this test".
Lucius' assistants looked at the telemetry readings with concerns.
They were all still high.
Originally, all the readings were supposed to be at a medium level to enable smooth interfacing with a mech but shockingly, somehow, despite all these high readings still, Andrew still managed to bring this mech under control.
It was almost like a beast somehow still moving with its lungs damaged, or like a car moving with its radiator damaged.
Before his assistants could say a thing, the already excited Lucius nodded. "Let the Spearman mech attack first".
HUM!
With a loud humming sound, this mech moved.
Andrew also finally moved his mech.
Compared to inside a virtual console, piloting a real mech was the real deal. It was so different. Every movement that he made, despite it being through an interface, he felt gravity affect his real body inside the cockpit of the mech.
This was the exact reason why in mech piloting academy, it was taught that to be a good mech pilot, mech pilots must have an okay background in physics.
At this moment, inside the giant metal mech, Andrew's emotional state was so heightened at this moment that he could not hold himself.
As soon as the Spearman mech moved, Andrew lunged at it.
And as he lunged, he seemed to hear a certain thing's voice.
'You're facing your enemy and your sword is still faced down? Wrong!'
Shuddering, he adjusted instinctively.
CLANG!
The heavy metal weapons of the 2 mechs clashed.
Andrew's stance made his center of gravity weaker as the Spearman mech pushed him backward, but he was not going down without a fight.
He retaliated with his sword even as he blocked with his shield.
Andrew's flimsy attacks left him open and he was dispossessed of his sword first by the clearly experienced opposition mech pilot.
With his sword dispossessed, Andrew focused on defending.
He was given a Knight mech for a reason, they were some of the best mechs at defending.
Despite the barrage of attacks from the opposition mech pilot, blocking with his shield, Andrew managed to last a further 3 minutes, then…
BANG!
His huge metal shield shattered.
"Stop!" Lucius stopped them on time.
Afterall, this was not a virtual simulation, these were real machines and every single one of them cost him a fortune.
He could not afford to have them scrapped in a spar.
"Good work". Lucius clapped loudly with a bright smile on his face. "That's all for today, you all did good".