Stun

The Pluto Mech's body flashed as its speed surged to the limit.

Bang!!!

One Giant Bear Mech was sent flying head-on.

Li Yi relaxed inwardly.

Good. Its close-combat skills weren't that strong. He could win.

From that single collision, he had already judged his opponent's overall strength.

It was roughly equivalent to 1.2 Ciyuan Mechs piloted by Liang Shaocong.

Facing an encirclement by five of them posed some risk.

But with Li Yi's extensive combat experience, it really wasn't much of a problem.

The key was how to defeat them with the Quake-Word Technique.

At that moment.

The Pluto Mech swayed repeatedly, consecutively evading the pounces of two Giant Bear Mechs.

Then it twisted at the waist and turned, rolled its shoulders, and whipped out an arm. The tremendous force generated by the overlap of two rotations erupted in an instant.

As it struck the Giant Bear Mech's head from the side, the force shifted slightly.

—Quake-Word Technique!

Bang!!!

A completely unadorned strike.

The force transmitted directly into the cockpit, and the Giant Bear Mech instantly shut down.

"Good. One down."

With this hands-on practice, even if it was virtual, Li Yi quickly found the rhythm, and his movements became increasingly swift.

In the blink of an eye, two minutes passed.

As the last Giant Bear Mech crashed to the ground and dissolved into particles of light.

AI Xiao Chi's voice followed:

"Your understanding of the Quake-Word Technique is profound. It seems your powerful combat skills were a great help."

"Congratulations. You have passed the first stage."

"Unfortunately, passing the first stage comes with no reward. Your next objective is the second stage. Please keep working hard."

"Once you complete the second stage, you will receive Instructor Yu Hengxing's advanced technique for the Quake-Word Technique."

"Please look forward to it."

"Now, do you need to rest, or would you like to enter the second stage directly?"

Li Yi said, "I'll enter directly."

"Understood. You have chosen to enter the second stage directly."

The moment AI Xiao Chi finished speaking.

Five more Giant Bear Mechs appeared before Li Yi.

However, judging by their outlines, they were clearly more heavily built than the previous five.

"Interesting. Increasing their thickness to make it harder to strike through to the cockpit?"

Li Yi narrowed his eyes and controlled the Pluto Mech as it charged forward.

Outside the virtual reality training ground.

Chen Qiong Zhi was checking everyone's virtual training progress.

Suddenly, an icon on the light screen in front of her began flashing.

After checking the information, she raised an eyebrow.

"Instructor Yu's hidden training mission was triggered?"

"This rookie king has some real skill. Is his talent truly that outstanding?"

After thinking for a moment, Chen Qiong Zhi pulled up the detailed records.

"He learned the Quake-Word Technique in five minutes?"

"Looks like his combat talent came into play."

"I just wonder how many surprises this little fellow can bring me."

"Still, he probably can't truly master that Divinity Technique, right? Although he can activate the Pluto Mech, his compatibility rating ultimately hasn't risen enough."

"Probably... impossible, right?"

Chen Qiong Zhi was somewhat uncertain.

She was extremely strong.

Not only did she rank highly aboard Jade Pool (Yaochi) No. 7, but many people aboard the Deep Space Fleet's other main warships had heard of her as well.

As one of the strongest mid-level Evolvers of the younger generation, she had exceptionally discerning judgment.

Yet examples like Li Yi were indeed rare.

Two hours passed quickly.

The helmet automatically retracted, and Li Yi opened his eyes.

The instant he opened them, he actually felt as though a lifetime had passed.

This hidden training mission had been far too intense.

At every training stage, Giant Bear Mechs with different characteristics appeared.

At first, one or two casual uses of the Quake-Word Technique could knock an opponent down.

Starting from stage two, the difficulty began to rise.

By stage four, he even needed to charge up for seven or eight seconds just to barely knock down a single opponent.

Throughout the entire process, he also had to overcome the assaults of increasingly formidable opponents.

Because of that, he had already failed twice in stage four, leaving him with two challenge attempts.

Of course, when he cleared stage two, he had also learned Yu Hengxing's advanced Quake-Word Technique, Stacked Quake.

It was precisely by relying on the techniques of Stacked Quake that he cleared stage three after one failure.

At present, he needed to clear stage four to obtain a new advanced technique.

"Regardless, these two hours were well worth it. They greatly expanded my mech's offensive options and made up for my weaknesses."

"I just wonder how large the gap is now between my real-mech skill level and Zhang Xuqiang's."

"As long as the gap isn't too big, I can challenge him to a real-mech battle and put out his arrogant flames."

Thoughts flickered through Li Yi's mind. He planned to take a good look at Zhang Xuqiang's real-mech performance later.

Beside him, Cai Xiaodong also withdrew from the virtual reality.

The young man wore a blank expression as he murmured quietly.

"My mech techniques are actually this weak? What the hell have I been learning all these years?"

Li Yi asked curiously.

"Why do you look so devastated? What exactly did the AI analyze for you in the virtual reality?"

Cai Xiaodong's face was pale. "You'd better not ask. It'll only make me sadder."

Li Yi swept his gaze across the room and discovered that quite a few people looked as dispirited as Cai Xiaodong.

Moreover, judging from their appearances and bearing, they were most likely descendants of the Power Clan.

Looking again at Lin Hua and Liang Shaocong, he found that they too looked somewhat dejected.

That piqued Li Yi's curiosity.

"Cai Xiaodong, what exactly did you encounter?"

Cai Xiaodong had mostly recovered by then. He gave Li Yi a speechless glance.

"I'm more curious about why you weren't discouraged. Could it be that your combat skills truly have no flaws?"

"No flaws?"

Li Yi keenly caught the key phrase.

"Could it be that the AI found your weaknesses and kept launching focused attacks against them?"

Cai Xiaodong shook his head, gritting his teeth.

"If only that were the case!"

"The key is that I kept getting hit with Piloting Stun, then forcibly awakened!"

"It felt like being woken up the moment you fall asleep, then knocked unconscious the moment you wake up—over and over again, completely helpless. Can you understand the pain of that kind of torture?"

Li Yi rubbed his chin. "That's it?"

Cai Xiaodong exploded. "What do you mean, that's it? Why don't you try it?"

"I've never been hit with Piloting Stun."

Li Yi spread his hands helplessly.

Cai Xiaodong immediately burst into tears.

"You bastard. Being good at combat skills really is great. No one can even hit you, so of course their mech techniques can't have any effect. You bastard."

While they were talking, Chen Qiong Zhi shouted:

"Silence!"

"I know some of you have suffered quite a blow, and I regret to say that this proves just how weak your combat skills and mech techniques are."

"Remember well the feeling of being continuously hit with Piloting Stun. Only after becoming familiar with it will you know how to maximize your self-protection when facing similar moments on a real battlefield."

"Divine Mechs are difficult to breach, but the weakest point is actually us pilots."

"Everyone, remember this well. Do not lose heart."

"Now, rest for ten minutes!"

"The next training exercise will be real-mech paired battles. I will announce the match order for the real-mech paired battles. Please prepare yourselves. Your battle performance will immediately update on your ranking boards!"

"You must give it your all. Only then will it be possible to stimulate your divinity to the greatest extent!"