Elemental Baptism

"Not bad! You didn't panic at all!" After they got out of the car, Old Luo said to Wang Qianduo.

"Uh... I figured you wouldn't do anything rash, either!"

"Haha, quick-witted! Come on, let's go inside. I've got everything ready!"

Wang Qianduo: "...Zero, he called you quick-witted!"

Zero: "Thank you!"

Old Luo: "What are you muttering about over there? Hurry up and get inside!"

"Coming!"

The mountain Old Luo had brought Wang Qianduo to was a hidden world of its own.

The entire mountain had been hollowed out, and at its center stood an energy pool brimming with energy.

"Summon your Mecha, then step inside." Once he saw the energy pool, Old Luo said to Wang Qianduo.

Wang Qianduo nodded, summoned Unit Zero, and walked toward the energy pool.

"Unit Zero! Could this kid be from the Academy?

Never mind, why should I care? I've been retired for ages. What does it matter who he is?

Besides, this is even better. Even if he fails, he'll still have a fallback!" When Old Luo saw Wang Qianduo's Mecha, he was initially shocked, but quickly calmed down.

All he wanted now was to fulfill the wish he'd had all those years ago: to bring that long-awaited Mecha into the world.

After Wang Qianduo piloted Unit Zero into the energy pool, Old Luo's voice came from the token he'd given him. "Now take out the Elemental Crown and put it on."

Wang Qianduo did as instructed. The fully elementalized Elemental Crown appeared in his hands as a holographic projection. He lifted it with both hands and placed it on his head.

At the same time, Unit Zero put on the actual Elemental Crown. The moment it touched his head, it blazed with dazzling light, making him unable to see a thing.

When Old Luo saw this, he immediately summoned his Mecha and headed toward the energy pool.

Old Luo's Mecha was about as tall as Unit Zero. Its entire body was azure, and its armor resembled an elegant suit of formalwear. Three pairs of long, winglike propulsion devices extended from its back. The most striking feature was the sinister dragon's head on its left arm.

The Mecha was called the "Azure-Winged Dragon." It was a Mecha no Player had ever seen before,

a Level 60 Legendary Mecha.

Old Luo piloted the Azure-Winged Dragon to the edge of the energy pool and began tossing in ten thousand Gold Crystals.

At that moment, Wang Qianduo found that the scenery before him had changed. It was as though he'd traveled to another world.

He was in a space-like world surrounded by stars. He knew he'd entered the trial world for Mecha Evolution,

a special solo Instance Dungeon.

System Notification: Unit Zero's evolution preparations are complete. Player, click Confirm to begin the Elemental Baptism advancement trial.

The system notification came as expected, but Wang Qianduo didn't immediately click to start.

Instead, he opened the shop and bought a few things. He didn't know if he'd have time to buy them later.

Once he'd finished shopping, Wang Qianduo chose to begin the trial.

System Notification: The Elemental Baptism trial has begun. Survive for five minutes under the attacks of the Elemental Energy Avatars.

The trial might have been seriously difficult. The moment the system notification ended, seven javelins of different colors came flying out of nowhere and struck Unit Zero.

-200

-200

A string of seven -200s appeared above him. Wang Qianduo lost 1,400 HP in one go and was left with almost none.

So frightened that he didn't even look for the enemy, Wang Qianduo turned and ran. Then he used three Potions to refill his health before turning back.

Only then did he realize that his attackers were seven Elemental Giants. They were about as tall as Unit Zero, each a different color, and their entire bodies were made of Elemental Energy.

They didn't have faces, yet Wang Qianduo could clearly sense their indifference.

They were now holding their javelins and charging them up. As Wang Qianduo watched, another volley came flying at him.

This time, Wang Qianduo activated his shield, but the javelins completely Ignored its defense and pierced right through, once again taking 1,400 HP from him.

"Are these true-damage attacks?!" Wang Qianduo wondered as he replenished his health.

Then he tried to find a way to evade the Elemental Giants, but there was no escaping them.

Whether he hid behind cover or tried to put distance between them, the elemental spears simply ignored it all and passed right through.

Gradually, Wang Qianduo gave up struggling and decided to tough it out with Potions.

He'd calculated that the Elemental Giants attacked once every six seconds, dealing a fixed 1,400 damage each time.

It only took him three seconds to refill his health, and the trial lasted five minutes. He only needed 150 Potions to get through it safely.

Why bother struggling? Wang Qianduo looked at the thousands of Potions in his inventory and chuckled.

That was the VIP 15 way of clearing a trial: straightforward and boring!

It wasn't that Wang Qianduo hadn't considered fighting back. But he discovered that Chain Lightning, the skill he'd always relied on, had no effect on the seven little giants.

Lightning dealt a good amount of damage when it hit any element other than lightning. But when it struck a lightning-element creature, it actually healed it.

And it didn't just heal the one he hit. It healed all seven, so using his skill was basically a waste.

He couldn't catch up to them to fight them up close, and his crossbow bolts couldn't hit them. How awkward was that?

However, while dodging earlier, Wang Qianduo had noticed that the Elemental Giants could attack one another and didn't seem very intelligent.

A Water Element had hit a Fire Element once, immediately taking off a tenth of its HP. The javelin that dealt true damage had disappeared at the same time.

That was probably the right way to clear the trial. In other words, it required a Player with more than 1,400 HP, since there was almost no way to dodge the first attack.

They'd also need near-perfect movement and calculation skills.

But Wang Qianduo didn't feel like calculating. It was too tiring! Just eat Potions and take it easy. No brainpower required.

Elemental Baptism, huh? Let them baptize him all they wanted!

Perhaps the elements felt insulted by Wang Qianduo standing motionless before them. With the final ten seconds approaching, they went into a Rampage.

System Notification: The Elemental Avatars have entered a Rampage. Damage doubled.

The system notification startled Wang Qianduo. He had less than 1,900 HP and couldn't survive 2,800 damage.

Just as the Elemental Avatars' energy spears struck Wang Qianduo, a Transparent Energy Gem appeared in Unit Zero's hand. It crushed the gem, and its body instantly turned transparent and eerie.

Immune

Immune

"Trying to catch me off guard? Good thing I had an invincibility Potion!" Wang Qianduo said smugly as seven "Immune" messages floated above him.

Transparent Energy Gem

Consumable

Perfect

Effect: When used by a Mecha, it enters an invincible, transparent state. While in this state, the Mecha takes no damage and cannot attack.

Duration: 10s

Cooldown: 600s

A perfect pay-to-win item had perfectly handled the situation in front of him. It couldn't have been more perfect!

This was one of the items Old Wang had bought for the special aptitude trial at the start.

He'd actually bought a few other items, too, but this trial was a "piece of cake," and he hadn't needed the rest.

The final ten seconds passed, and the seven Elemental Avatars failed to do a thing to Wang Qianduo. When time ran out, they looked at one another, bowed to him, and vanished from the spot.

System Notification: Elemental Baptism trial passed. Mecha Evolution begins!

As the system notification sounded, Wang Qianduo was instantly enveloped in milky-white energy. Unit Zero, standing in the energy pool, was enveloped as well.

What Wang Qianduo couldn't sense was that alarms were blaring throughout the mountain cavern.

Warning! Warning! Energy pool levels are insufficient. Replenish energy immediately!

Hearing the warning, Old Luo was stunned. Then he looked at the energy bar beside the pool and realized in horror that the energy remaining in the pool wasn't even a tenth of what Unit Zero needed to evolve.

"What the hell is going on? What did that kid use to activate the Elemental Crown?"

He could complain all he wanted, but there was no time to think about it. The energy in the pool was still dropping.

Old Luo let out a quiet sigh. The armor on the Azure-Winged Dragon's chest opened, revealing its azure Energy Core.

Then white light burst from the core, and energy poured into the pool until its energy bar was full.

The full energy pool immediately burst into light, and pure white energy completely enveloped Unit Zero.

Old Luo looked at the Azure-Winged Dragon's Mecha stats, his expression weary and faintly aged. He gave a bitter smile and said:

"This time, I really took a loss. The money I got out of scamming that kid doesn't even cover half of what I just spent.

Damn, maybe this is what I get for trying to be a greedy merchant!"

Despite his bitter smile, he looked somewhat excited. He wanted to see what kind of monster this Mecha would turn out to be, after using up so many resources and nearly draining his Legendary Mecha dry to evolve it.