"Besides, I only did this so I could use the Gravity Room!"
Fu Junlin said irritably.
"The Gravity Room? What the hell does you wanting to be a simp have to do with using the Gravity Room?"
Big Black said speechlessly.
"Too lazy to explain it to trash like you."
Fu Junlin replied impatiently.
"Junlin, going to lunch? Old Duo's treating."
Chen Keyu and Duo Xinyu appeared at the doorway and waved to Fu Junlin.
Fu Junlin walked over and smiled helplessly.
"Forget it. I brought food."
"Oh, cut it out. Stop eating compressed biscuits. You don't have to treat us back!"
Duo Xinyu saw right through Fu Junlin and hit the nail on the head.
"Fine."
Only after hearing that he would not have to return the favor did Fu Junlin grin and let the two hook their arms through his as they headed out.
Though Fu Junlin was not some famous figure yet, he was now considered fairly popular. Aside from being a little cowardly and stingy, he got along well with people.
Especially those who had teamed up with him; they all thought highly of him. Chen Keyu, in particular, owed his life to Fu Junlin.
Even if lives were cheap these days, a life-saving debt was still a life-saving debt.
After lunch, classes continued in the afternoon.
For ordinary students, one class a day was already pretty good, and four classes a week was enough. But that afternoon, Fu Junlin took another mecha class and a Battle Banner class.
It drove Big Black mad!!
"What's the point of living like this?! You study all day but don't dare go to the Arena Zone. What the hell good is any of it?! I'm gonna rip your JJ off!!"
Big Black was bored enough to explode.
Fortunately, Fu Junlin had already cultivated an extraordinary ability to ignore interference. Big Black could say whatever he wanted while Fu Junlin kept studying, treating it all as white noise.
Two boring days passed by.
Fu Junlin attended class diligently, saving up every difficult problem he encountered each day. At night, when he returned to the laboratory, he had Big Black activate the Supercomputing Consciousness and solve them all at once.
Of course, his daily training intensity was also greater than before... Well, it could not merely be called an increase. It was practically a complete transformation.
Every night, his body was tortured, and every morning, he woke up to the delightful sensation of all his tendons being torn apart.
An hour of exercise, then tugging at his muscles to mess with him while he studied—those had become Big Black's daily amusements.
In any case, there was no way Big Black would read with Fu Junlin. The only thing he could play with was Fu Junlin's muscles.
As a result, Fu Junlin's physical strength had now far surpassed that of a Level-Two Master Fistmaster.
His genetic development had also reached 4.1%.
Fu Junlin felt that if he went to block that boulder again now, things would definitely be different.
On the third day.
The academy's Combat Arena was home to somewhat more professional ring matches. Humans or mechas could hold unofficial but nearly formal competitions here.
They could fight on the field as well, but without protection, it was easy to damage the ground or public facilities, or even hurt bystanders.
It prevented energy from scattering.
Here, for a small fee, they could fight without holding back under an energy shield that could not be broken, displaying their skills inside and simulating the most realistic combat.
At around three in the afternoon, Cheng Xiaoyu and Wang Jintang's match was about to begin.
Inside the lounge, several classmates were helping Cheng Xiaoyu calibrate and inspect the mecha, the "Silver-Armored Warrior."
A controller was attached to Cheng Xiaoyu's temple, and several miniature controllers were fitted onto his fingers.
In truth, a mecha could be controlled through the cerebral controller alone. But adding hand controllers or remote controls made it faster and more convenient to issue more complex commands.
It was like marking points along the trajectory of consciousness control with tiny finger movements. With a twitch of a finger, the mecha could make a complex response.
They assisted the cerebral control.
Whether in materials or workmanship, this mecha warrior was superior to Duo Xinyu's robot and mechanical dog, but its movements were still somewhat stiff.
After all, it was a machine.
Under Cheng Xiaoyu's control, the Silver-Armored Warrior flexed its joints back and forth powerfully to warm up.
The other classmates could not really help with anything. They had only come to cheer for him like simps.
"Please welcome Cheng Xiaoyu and Wang Jintang for a best-of-three mecha battle!"
The host's voice sounded from outside.
Like a boxer about to enter the ring, Cheng Xiaoyu bounced twice before walking out. The Silver-Armored Warrior followed behind, mimicking his movements exactly.
"Go, Brother Yu!"
"Go, Handsome Cheng!!"
The surrounding students shouted as they followed him out.
The moment they emerged from the lounge corridor, the surrounding audience erupted in cheers.
The spectators were all students too. Tickets were cheap, and anyone with nothing better to do could come watch people fight. About half the grandstand was occupied, roughly three or four hundred people.
Cheng Xiaoyu saw Wang Jintang across from him, wearing an ill-intentioned smile, and his expression darkened as well.
Others might have thought it was merely a youthful clash of pride, but he and Wang Jintang had a private grudge.
Previously, a girl Cheng Xiaoyu had secretly liked had teamed up with Wang Jintang in the Arena Zone. Wang Jintang had viciously betrayed her, and she had died horribly. At 45% Teleportation Intensity, there was a certain chance of actual death.
After that, the girl hated Mecha Masters most of all and had not spoken to Cheng Xiaoyu for a long time.
This time, he and Wang Jintang had bet one hundred thousand yuan!
Even for him, one hundred thousand was an enormous sum! It was enough to buy a decent car!
For Wang Jintang, it was an even more massive fortune. To win that one hundred thousand from him, Wang Jintang had needed to put together his own one hundred thousand in stakes, and had even borrowed part of the money.
That was why this battle had been delayed until now.
So for Cheng Xiaoyu, this was about money, but even more about dignity.
Seeing Wang Jintang's smug, meaningful smile, Cheng Xiaoyu wanted nothing more than to crush him to death with his bare hands.
Wang Jintang's mecha looked like an iron barrel. Its two hands were agile pincers.
Though its appearance was ugly, the inside of that iron barrel definitely concealed hidden mechanisms.
This type of mecha specialized in underhanded tricks. It was difficult to know what weapons were hidden beneath that barrel, making it hard to respond.
Even if you found out beforehand, they could modify it before the next battle simply by altering the weapons system.
Many mechas used this kind of design, and it was especially effective against high-level monsters in Arena Zone battles.
The two stood on opposite sides of the ring and controlled their mechas onto the platform.
After the call of "Start."
The two mechas slammed violently into each other.
Before you continue