Elemental Baptism

"Alright! Not panicking at all!" Old Luo said to Wang Qianduo after they got out of the car.

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

"Haha, clever! Let's go, we're going in, I've got everything ready!"

Wang Qianduo: "...Ling, he called you clever!"

Ling: "Thank you!"

Old Luo: "What are you muttering about? Hurry up and go inside!"

"Got it!"

The mountain Old Luo brought Wang Qianduo to was a true hidden paradise.

The entire mountain was hollowed out, with an energy pool filled with energy at its center.

"Summon your mecha and stand inside," Old Luo told Wang Qianduo upon seeing the energy pool.

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

"Unit Zero! Is this kid from the academy?

Never mind, why should I care! I've been retired for so long, what does it matter to me who he is.

And this way is better, even if he fails, he won't be without a fallback!" Old Luo was initially shocked to see Wang Qianduo's mecha, but quickly calmed down.

He just wanted to fulfill his wish from years ago and make that coveted mecha appear in the world.

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

Wang Qianduo did as he was told. A holographic projection of the fully elementalized Elemental Crown appeared in his hand. Wang Qianduo took it with both hands and placed it on his head.

At the same time, Unit Zero also put on the real Elemental Crown. As soon as it was worn, the Elemental Crown emitted a dazzling light, blinding him.

Seeing this, Old Luo outside immediately summoned his own mecha and walked towards the energy pool.

Old Luo's mecha was about the same height as Unit Zero. It was entirely cyan, its armor like an elegant evening gown, with three pairs of long, wing-like external thrusters behind it. What was particularly striking was the ferocious dragon's head on its left arm.

This mecha was named "Azure Winged Dragon," a mecha never seen by any player.

It was a Level 60 Legendary mecha.

Old Luo piloted the Azure Winged Dragon to the edge of the energy pool and began throwing ten thousand gold crystals into it.

Meanwhile, Wang Qianduo found that the scene before him had changed. He seemed to have traveled to another world.

It was a space environment surrounded by stars, and he knew he had entered the mecha evolution trial world, a special solo instance.

System Prompt: Unit Zero's evolution preparation begins. Please click the confirm button to start the advancement assessment, Elemental Baptism.

The system prompt arrived as expected, but Wang Qianduo didn't click start immediately.

Instead, he opened the shop and bought some things, as he didn't know if he would have time to buy them later.

After completing his purchases, Wang Qianduo chose to start the assessment.

System Prompt: Assessment Elemental Baptism begins. Please survive for five minutes under the attack of the elemental energy avatars.

This assessment was probably really difficult. As soon as the system prompt ended, seven javelins of different colors flew out of nowhere and hit Unit Zero directly.

-200

-200

A series of seven "-200" floated above his head, and Wang Qianduo instantly lost 1400 health, leaving him critically injured.

Wang Qianduo was so scared that he didn't even look at the enemies and turned to flee. Only after using three potions to restore his health did he turn back.

It was then that he discovered that his attackers were seven elemental giants of different colors, about the same height as Unit Zero, and composed entirely of elemental energy.

They had no faces, yet Wang Qianduo could clearly feel their indifference.

At this moment, they were charging up with javelins. While Wang Qianduo was observing them, another volley of javelins flew towards him.

This time, Wang Qianduo activated his shield, but these javelins completely ignored the shield's defense, piercing through it and once again dealing 1400 damage to Wang Qianduo.

"Is this true damage?!" Wang Qianduo thought as he replenished his health.

Then he began to try to dodge the pursuit of these elemental giants, but it was impossible.

Whether he used cover or created distance, these elemental spears completely ignored them and penetrated through.

Slowly, Wang Qianduo gave up struggling and chose to tough it out with potions.

He calculated that the attack frequency of these elemental giants was once every six seconds, dealing a fixed 1400 damage to him each time.

And it only took him three seconds to replenish his health. With five minutes of assessment time, he only needed 150 potions to pass steadily.

Why struggle then! Wang Qianduo looked at the thousands of potions in his backpack and let out a "hehe" laugh.

This was the simple, unadorned, and boring way to pass as a VIP 15!

Wang Qianduo hadn't exactly not considered resisting, but he found his go-to skill, Chain Lightning, was useless against these seven little giants.

Lightning normally dealt significant damage to any element other than lightning, but hitting an electric element actually healed them.

And it wasn't just one healing, all seven healed together, effectively making his skill a waste.

He wanted to charge in for a bayonet charge, but they were too fast. Trying to hit them with a crossbow bolt was impossible. Talk about awkward.

However, during the brief moment he was dodging, Wang Qianduo noticed that these elemental giants could actually attack each other, and they lacked intelligence.

A water elemental hit a fire elemental once, directly taking off 1/10 of its health. The spear that dealt true damage also vanished.

This was likely the correct strategy for passing. It meant this assessment required a player with over 1400 HP, as the first round of attacks was almost impossible to dodge.

Furthermore, it required near-limitless movement and calculation skills.

But Wang Qianduo didn't want to calculate. Too tiring! It was much better to just chug potions and not burn his brain.

Elemental baptism, huh? Let them baptize him however they pleased!

Perhaps the elementals felt Wang Qianduo standing still was a great insult, so they went berserk as the last 10 seconds approached.

"System Prompt: Elemental Avatar has entered berserk mode, damage doubled."

This system prompt startled Wang Qianduo. He barely had 1900 HP; he couldn't withstand 2800 damage.

Just as the Elemental Avatar's energy blast hit Wang Qianduo, a transparent gem appeared in Zero Unit's hand. After crushing it, the unit's body instantly turned transparent and ethereal.

Immune

Immune

"Trying to trick me! Good thing I have an invincibility potion!" Wang Qianduo boasted after seven 'Immune' notifications floated above his head.

Transparent Energy Gem
Consumable
Perfect
Effect: After use, the mech enters a state of transparent invincibility. During this state, the mech will not take any damage, nor can it attack.
Duration: 10s
Cooldown: 600s

A perfect pay-to-win item, perfectly handling the current situation. It was just too perfect!

This was one of the items Old Wang purchased to deal with the specialty assessment.

He had actually bought other items too, but this assessment was such a "piece of cake" that nothing else proved useful.

As the final 10 seconds passed, the seven Elemental Avatars were completely unable to do anything to Wang Qianduo. When time ran out, they looked at each other, bowed to Wang Qianduo, and vanished from their positions.

"System Prompt: Elemental Baptism assessment passed, mech evolution commencing!"

Following the system prompt, Wang Qianduo was instantly enveloped in milky white energy. Zero Unit, submerged in the energy pool, was similarly enveloped.

But at this moment, Wang Qianduo couldn't perceive the alarms blaring in the cave he was in.

"Warning! Warning! Energy pool energy is insufficient, please replenish energy in a timely manner!"

Hearing this warning, Old Luo was stunned. He then looked at the energy bar by the pool and discovered with horror that the energy in the pool couldn't even satisfy 1/10 of the energy needed for Wang Qianduo's Zero Unit to evolve.

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

Complaints aside, the reality left him no time to think, as the energy in the pool continued to drop.

Old Luo sighed slightly. The armor on the chest of his Azure Wing Dragon mech opened, revealing his azure energy core.

Then, white light erupted from the core, and energy surged into the energy pool, stopping only when the energy bar was full.

The replenished energy pool immediately radiated light, and pure white energy completely enveloped Zero Unit.

Old Luo looked at his Azure Wing Dragon mech's status with a weary, aged expression, and said with a wry smile:

"This time, I've really taken a huge loss. The money I scammed from this kid doesn't even cover half of this loss. Damn it, this is probably the price of trying to be a shrewd merchant!"

Although he was smiling wryly, his expression held a hint of excitement. He wanted to see what kind of monster this mech was, having consumed so many resources and nearly drained his legendary mech to evolve.