Special Selection

Inside the bubble, Li Yi saw fragments of the starship's interior that only those with high authority could see.

The image was incomplete, but in that fleeting glimpse, the sight of a colossal monster lying on its side was firmly imprinted in his mind.

That monster was simply far too enormous.

It was several times larger than every Divine Mech he had seen in the mech reserve.

And yet—

The colossal beast, with the head of a leopard and the body of a serpent, towering like mountains and rivers, was bound in shackles. Countless vortices of light swirled around it, seemingly drawing out its nearly inexhaustible internal energy.

"Perhaps this is the secret behind the Deep Space Fleet's endless power supply."

"Perhaps this is also why Divine Mech pilots must strictly obey the authority rules."

Several conjectures flashed through Li Yi's mind.

Of course, whether those guesses were correct could not yet be confirmed.

Perhaps the scene held another meaning.

Perhaps what he had seen in that instant was merely the outermost layer of the truth.

No matter what, catching a glimpse of one of the starship's secrets was no small gain.

"Too bad this bubble doesn't contain the successfully implanted Basic Rule Imprint memory. Let's switch to another one."

Li Yi tossed the bubble into the third pit to his left.

He sorted all the memory fragments he had partially absorbed or was not considering absorbing for the time being.

Any important but non-urgent memory fragments he found were categorized separately as well.

That way, when he did not have enough time to search for new fragments, he could go to those sorted pits and select the memory fragments he needed to digest.

A full three hours later.

Long Denghu watched his subordinate hold up a Mind Pillar, sweat pouring down his face, and frowned.

"Three hours have already passed. Why isn't it done yet?"

The subordinate wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Boss, it feels like it should be almost done."

"It feels almost done? You said the same thing half an hour ago."

"This time it really is almost—wait!"

"Hey, it worked! It worked, Boss! It's done, the Mind Pillar passed the inspection."

As he spoke, everyone could clearly see a layer of yellow light appear across the surface of the cone-shaped Mind Pillar resting flat in the man's palm, before vanishing at once.

Long Denghu also let out a breath and nodded slightly.

"Good work. Pack up. We're leaving."

"Yes!"

"Captain Lin, a reminder: although the imprint has been planted, we'll continue monitoring him during this period to make sure there are no problems. You'd better make sure nothing goes wrong."

At the command, several people quickly departed.

Only Lin Guotao remained seated in a corner, silent.

Five minutes passed in silence.

Then Lin Guotao suddenly chuckled.

"Since you're awake, why keep pretending to sleep?"

Li Yi opened his eyes, his face full of "surprise."

"Sir, why are you here?"

"Not a bad performance, but don't try such petty tricks in front of me again."

"My apologies, sir."

Li Yi sat up with a toothy grin.

With so many parallel memories, putting on an act was effortless for him.

The reason he had acted so poorly was merely to stay in character.

After catching the memory fragment containing the implanted Basic Rule Imprint, Li Yi had awakened three times. Naturally, Long Denghu and the others had still been there then, so he had not opened his eyes.

But based on the breathing of everyone present, he had gauged their number and realized that the imprinting process was still underway.

So he instantly fell back asleep.

On the brainwave scan, it appeared just like a perfectly normal sleep cycle.

Thus, even the scanning equipment failed to detect Li Yi's several awakenings.

After several rounds of this back-and-forth, Li Yi gradually digested the implanted memory fragment in his dream. Once he confirmed that the Surveillance Department's Mind Seal inspection had passed, he spat out the digested memory fragment again. His operation to deceive them all was complete.

That was right. Any memory fragment could be spat back out as long as it had not been fully digested.

But once it had been completely digested, there was no way to pull off the same trick.

If he had to undergo another inspection next time, he only needed to repeat the same process.

Seeing that Li Yi looked energetic and in good condition, Lin Guotao also relaxed.

"I haven't congratulated you yet for taking first place in this Newcomer Competition. I had Lou Cheng attend the award ceremony in your place. As for the corresponding rewards, benefits, authority upgrades, and so on, they'll be arranged one after another before today ends."

"Thank you for your consideration, sir."

Lin Guotao smiled.

"The A-rank Assist Module in particular is the most important item. I've transferred you to the Special Selection Class for training. Remember to bring it with you tomorrow. Your new instructor will teach you how to use it."

"The Special Selection Class?"

"That's right. You already have the status of an official mech pilot, so in theory, you can no longer train with those rookie cadets. That would only slow your progress."

Lin Guotao chuckled.

"The Special Selection Class has many senior Initial-Level and Mid-Level Mech Pilots who have trained for two to four years. In that environment, you should be able to learn more and grow faster."

Li Yi nodded, not particularly surprised.

"Sir, what is the difference between Initial-Level or Mid-Level Mech Pilots and Evolvers?"

"You can barely be considered an Initial-Level Mech Pilot now. Your combat skills grant a mech combat power increase of over 1.5 times, and you can sustain mech activity for one hour. Those are the basic standards."

Lin Guotao continued explaining.

"For a Mid-Level Mech Pilot, the basic requirements are a threefold combat power increase, three hours of mech activity, the ability to continuously activate mech divinity for three minutes, and the ability to activate Divinity Techniques with a radiation range of one hundred kilometers."

"Combat skills that can provide a threefold mech increase? Divinity Techniques with a radiation range of one hundred kilometers?"

Li Yi was startled.

His perfected combat technique currently only gave him a mech increase of around 1.8 to 1.9 times.

How could one achieve three times?

And a single Divinity Technique could radiate one hundred kilometers away. Wasn't that a little absurdly powerful?

His previous opponents had only been able to release their Divinity Techniques a few hundred meters at most, right?

Noticing Li Yi's surprise, Lin Guotao smiled faintly.

"Pure combat technique alone is naturally not enough. But after prolonged exposure to Divinity Radiation, your reaction speed, mental agility, and physique all improve. Those can also raise your combat level and increase your mech's combat power. As for Divinity Techniques, you'll learn about them later. I won't reveal too much for now."

Li Yi nodded. That made sense. In terms of technique, he had basically reached the point where there was no further room for improvement.

If others could reach his level of technique simply by training for a few more years, then all the combat memories he had focused on absorbing over the years would have been wasted.

"What about High-Level Mech Pilots?"

"For a High-Level Mech Pilot, the basic requirements are a tenfold combat power increase, ten hours of mech activity, continuously activating divinity for ten minutes, and the ability to activate Divinity Techniques with a radiation range of one thousand kilometers."

"As for Evolvers, that varies from person to person. Some Evolvers may only become Initial-Level or Mid-Level Mech Pilots. The more exceptional ones may even surpass the High-Level rank and reach the Heavenly Level."

Li Yi said thoughtfully,

"So, some Evolvers may have decent physiques, but their combat skills can never achieve an increase of over 1.5 times? They become Evolvers mainly because they have piloted Divine Mechs for a long time?"

"That's right. You understand correctly."

Lin Guotao praised him. "To become an Evolver, one must remain exposed to Divinity Radiation over a long period, allowing the body to gradually break through its limits. Therefore, powerful mech pilots who grasp the knack of activating divinity can naturally become Evolvers faster."

"Moreover, high-intensity mech combat can also promote the activation of divinity."

"That is why we hold live mech duels every year, giving newcomers earlier exposure to Divine Mechs."

"Generally speaking, if a newcomer who won the annual newcomer martial competition becomes an Evolver within two years, that already counts as a first-rate result."

At this point, Lin Guotao stared at Li Yi, his voice deep.

"But my expectations for you are even higher. If I asked whether you had the confidence to become an Evolver within one year, advance to Mid-Level Mech Pilot within two years, and reach High-Level within four years, would you?"

"Uh... what do you mean, sir?"

Li Yi was awkwardly stumped. Why did Lin Guotao like asking whether he had confidence so much?