"Attempt Body Coordination operation?" Mu Fan had already been prepared to give up resisting when an electronic prompt suddenly sounded inside the cockpit.
"Hm?"
"Attempt Body Coordination operation?" The voice confirmed it again. This time, Mu Fan was sure he had not misheard. But why did the voice sound somewhat familiar again? Like... like the voice when entering the game.
Black!
"Black Egg! Is that you?" Mu Fan's eyes flew open. He was certain it was Black. Ever since entering, he had felt that this game was strange in every way.
"Please call me Lord Black. You are Egg Lord." The white sphere codenamed "Black" appeared beside Mu Fan, two eyes appearing on its surface. They were squinted with a smile, giving it a thoroughly smug expression. Though it was the same sphere, Mu Fan could clearly sense that Black's emotional simulation was now almost indistinguishable from that of a real person. He could even hear the smug tone in those words.
"Cut the nonsense. I'll question you later. What do we do now? I don't want to die standing still in my first battle." Mu Fan had many questions to ask, such as why his beginner Training Camp had not taught anything about mecha. But this was clearly not the time to catch up. The two mechas opposite him were getting closer and closer. They had probably noticed he had no ranged weapons and intended to get closer for a look before finishing him off.
Black's two eyes narrowed again. This time, a curved line appeared on the white sphere as well—a mouth. It was clearly smiling.
"Modification begins," Black said softly.
The cockpit compressed further, and the seat retracted. Mu Fan went from sitting to standing as several black metal tubes, each as thick as a finger, stabbed out from around the cockpit and danced through the air. At their ends were slender needles as long as thumbs.
"This might hurt a little." Black circled Mu Fan once and spoke in that smug tone.
"Cut the nonsense. I don't want to die standing still!" Mu Fan snorted heavily, and red began to seep into his eyes.
Black's two eyes changed from lines into O's. "Synchronization begins! From this moment on, you are the mecha!"
A fierceness unlike anything before flashed in Mu Fan's eyes. "Hiss!" The black tubes dancing around him suddenly stopped, their needles aimed at the back of Mu Fan's head, spine, waist, arms, thighs, calves, and other areas before stabbing in all at once.
"Ah!" Mu Fan closed his eyes. In an instant, it felt as though a crushing weight bore down on him. His consciousness was no longer inside the cockpit but spread outward instead. At that moment, he stood amid the rocky terrain. He could not see himself being pulled to the center of the cockpit by the black tubes, his feet lifted from the floor as his entire body hung suspended within it.
"Training Camp's Mo... no, Fighter had made his own choice. Mecha training was not conducted, so we'll make up for it here. This time, experience Body Coordination. Awaken your combat instincts, Mu Fan!" Black floated silently nearby, his eyes shrunk into two tiny points as he stared at Mu Fan hanging there.
"Don't disappoint me. I'll accompany you out of Luoqie Star, fight alongside you across this vast sea of stars, and let us carve our names together onto the monument of humanity's history in this universe!" Mu Fan did not know what Black had done during the time it had vanished, but Black's emotional development had already far surpassed anything he could have imagined. As if hearing Black's quiet words, the suspended Mu Fan raised his right fist and clenched it tight.
85% sensory simulation. Mu Fan was no longer Mu Fan, but EH01. AA 1%. Pain sensitivity locked at 100%. After Body Coordination, all damage sustained by the mecha would be converted into pain and synchronized to Mu Fan's body.
"Is that guy a newbie?"
"Probably."
The two earth-yellow mechas cautiously approaching Mu Fan conversed over the team channel. They had never seen this mecha before. They had fought their way from the Level 1 rooms to the Level 5 rooms, then returned to practice the basics. Over the past two years, they had seen all kinds of mechas. It would have been one thing if they had not seen a Fantasy-Type Mecha, but this was clearly a Real-Type Mecha. Who had played this joke and modified it into the appearance of an antique from a textbook?
Both had chosen Raiders, mechas from the same era as the Assault Units. However, their back and leg armor had been removed, their ranged attack capabilities enhanced, and their mobility improved accordingly.
"Forget it, let's take it out." The mecha on the left suddenly found this boring. This mecha was obviously controlled by a newbie. Even experts showing off had limits. Who was it trying to scare by standing there like that?
"Yeah, acting all mysterious." As the mecha on the right responded, it drew a lightweight metal blade and slashed horizontally at the waist of the White Skeleton.
Suddenly, both of them saw the mecha before them move.
Its three-fingered mechanical hand raised slightly with its arm, then clenched once.
Too late! The player inside the right-side mecha's cockpit grinned viciously. In one second, this skeleton frame would be sliced in two.
Yet neither of them anticipated what happened next. The First Generation Unit fell straight backward, then its raised right arm slammed down to brace against the mecha's descent.
How could the pilot delivering the horizontal slash have expected such a reaction from the opposing mecha to such a simple move?
He was pretending to be weak!
Hmph, die!
His right hand rapidly tapped across the control panel while his left instantly shifted the control lever.
The Raider's internal hydraulic bearings instantly bore the strain, forcibly changing the arm's trajectory. Its slashing motion changed from a horizontal cut to a diagonal chop.
At the same moment the humanoid unit's right arm struck the ground, its skeletal alloy leg swept upward from below, striking first and kicking the Raider's blade-wielding right arm.
Ding. Right arm damaged by 15%. Braking performance reduced. Weapon unusable.
The Raider's pilot sucked in a breath. He had encountered an expert.
That entire sequence occurred in the blink of an eye. The Raider on the left had only just reacted.
The moment Mu Fan's consciousness stabilized, he sensed danger. A metal blade slashed into his field of vision. He instinctively dodged while wanting to spring up and kick the opponent squarely in the chest.
But when he exerted himself, he realized that his body could not keep up with his thoughts. Only then did he realize that he now represented the mecha.
So this was mecha piloting through Body Coordination? It felt incredible. He did not need to deal with that absurd control panel, but his body still felt weighed down by a thousand pounds. Even a simple evasive movement was heavy and sluggish.
Mu Fan did not know that a red glint flashed through Black's eyes as it watched his suspended body.
So this was mecha combat? The feeling of dancing along the edge of life and death... was wonderful!!!
In the span of a single thought, Mu Fan adjusted based on his earlier response. His left leg kicked out with the momentum. If it hit, great. If not, he would use the inertia to roll sideways.
He had bet correctly! Or rather, his combat instincts had given him the most accurate judgment.
His right foot knocked away the metal blade swinging from the opponent's right hand.
With a perfectly timed yet somewhat clumsy twist, the White Skeleton rotated 180 degrees. Its right leg moved back, its left knee dropped to the ground, and its left arm drew the Samurai Sword from its back in a reverse three-fingered grip. The mecha's head lifted as it scanned the space ahead.
The roles had reversed! That comical First Generation Unit now crouched like a beast before a hunt, coiled and ready to strike!
The two Raiders faced a formidable enemy!
********
(PS: Thanks to reader Ten Billion Light-Years for the 588 reward, and thanks to reader Poetic Sentiment, Xiaowei Ren for the generous reward!!
As expected, shopping was far too exhausting. After getting back and writing until past nine, I fell asleep instantly.)
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