Mecha Chapter 31: Advancement

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

No matter how much Luo XiaoLou denied his ‘beast’ bloodline, his hand speed was improving at a bizarre rate.

The Mecha Department students were all shocked when they discovered an additional perfect score record — even the Mecha Department teachers started looking for the mecha genius, the one called ‘Chushi’! 

The Mecha Department students and teachers alike gritted their teeth and searched for other records of ‘Chushi’ in the Mecha Department training room, but Luo XiaoLou never showed up after Yuan Xi told him it was a perfect score.

When Luo XiaoLou was told by Yuan Xi that it was a perfect record, 125 had yet to help him again for his Source of Consciousness exercise. He waited to start another exercise after the 90th percentile.

So, the Mecha Department students and teachers could only judge that ‘Chushi’ was an outstanding student, if not a genius — and a rather low-profile one at that.

Luo XiaoLou was not at all aware of the sensation he had caused. He was just surprised to find that his speed in assembling Grade 1 parts was at least a third faster than when he was in the machining shop! The previously stagnant hand speed, as if breaking through a bottleneck, slowly but steadily grew as the number of practice sessions and time increased.

Now, Luo XiaoLou went to his guest room that was converted into a lab every night to practice assembling Grade 1 mecha parts. However, every four or five days, Luo XiaoLou would still bring a summary of his learning experience to Teacher Song, and he would write down any questions he didn’t understand in detail.

Since Luo XiaoLou was now learning the Grade 1 mecha parts on his own at a faster pace than he did in class, Teacher Song supported Luo XiaoLou and would usually wait for him to finish his questions before he left. He would take Luo XiaoLou’s learning experiences back to the classroom to mark things that needed attention.

For Teacher Song, having such a diligent and hardworking student like Luo XiaoLou was a great relief, but when he saw how fast Luo XiaoLou was learning, he felt worried.

Although Teacher Song didn’t know Luo XiaoLou’s real identity, from their daily interactions, Teacher Song could tell that Luo XiaoLou’s family was in an average situation, not even up to the standard of living of an average Federation citizen — because Luo XiaoLou had told him that he didn’t have any financial resources since school started.

He hoped that Luo XiaoLou would be able to get guidance from a famous teacher and go further on the path of mecha making. However, for students from modest backgrounds, the chances of getting the attention of a master teacher were very slim.

While mecha makers were common, and didn’t require a high genetic rank, it was hard to get results, and that involved spending a lot of money on mecha parts.

He had a good relationship with a few mid-rank mecha makers because of his department, and he only knew senior mecha makers from his own teacher, not to mention masters. He had never interacted with any of them. Besides, who would notice a student in school if they didn’t produce certain results?

Teacher Song pondered, screening for a mentor to guide Luo XiaoLou after graduation.

Teacher Song’s plan for Luo XiaoLou was so far ahead of his expectations. 

Luo XiaoLou, meanwhile, left the site after asking questions, and was now sitting cross-legged on his bed in the master bedroom. Pitiful SSS-Rank, the opponent he was competing against was really pitiful.

Luo XiaoLou looked at Yuan Xi, who seemed to be in a shallow sleep. He was no longer his usual proud and grumpy self, but even though his eyes were closed and his face was expressionless, he was still very pleasing to the eye.

Luo XiaoLou stared at him for a moment, then regained consciousness and became frustrated. He wished he was in bed with his gentle and virtuous wife, then he could jump on her without hesitation…

God, what was he thinking? Luo XiaoLou rubbed his forehead. It was still early, it wasn’t time for bed yet, and he didn’t dare sleep now. He needed to do something about what he’d just been thinking about as he was bound to do something when he fell asleep.

He had to find something for himself to do, or he wouldn’t be rambling when he was tired.

Ideally, he would like to practice assembling parts, but Luo XiaoLou had changed out of his pajamas and wasn’t too keen on going back to the lab. In the end, Luo XiaoLou simply took a slightly smaller component and sat down on the bed to disassemble and reassemble it, consolidating his knowledge of mecha parts and practicing his hand speed at the same time.

One time, two times… twenty times, thirty times… Luo XiaoLou felt it was like counting sheep, and seemed to be slightly sleepy.

Gradually, Luo XiaoLou closed his eyes, but his fingers hadn’t stopped. Forty-one times, forty-two times… Luo XiaoLou’s speed became slower and slower, and at the wonderful moment when he was finally about to fall asleep, a familiar voice once again sounded unknowingly, “Continue.”

125! You bastard! I told you to keep an eye on Yuan Xi. You wouldn’t dare to mess with him but now you’re disturbing my sleep. Even if you’re a pet, you should know how to look at your owner’s face.

Luo XiaoLou’s forehead wrinkled, and before he got angry, 125 said seriously, “Don’t open your eyes and keep assembling.”

Despite his anger, he did as 125 said without opening his eyes. The guy was useless, but sometimes he was also reliable.

Now Luo XiaoLou was sleepless, and the movements of his hands had become faster after he was refreshed.

Huh? He realized that he was actually skilled enough to assemble and disassemble it with his eyes closed, and it wasn’t much slower.

“Speeding up is recommended.”

Luo XiaoLou’s hands got a little too busy as he gradually sped up, and he frowned, wanting to open his eyes to see the part.

But the thought came together and Luo XiaoLou pushed it down, perhaps it would be a better memory exercise. He recalled the structure of each and every side of the part that his fingers had touched. Faster, faster, he had remembered those steps so well, he would be able to do it.

Gradually, the speed in Luo XiaoLou’s hands returned to the same level as when he processed parts with his eyes open.

“Speed it up again.” 125 said again.

How could he do that? Luo XiaoLou’s eyebrows furrowed.

But since 125 said so, Luo XiaoLou wanted to try it. He wanted to see the part again, and if he could see it — Luo XiaoLou suddenly felt that the part clearly appeared in front of him. No, no, not appeared, but presented in his head, even every edge and corner, every surface could be clearly seen.

Even if he looked with his eyes, he could only see the front, not the bottom or the back of the part. But now, as if seeing a 3D model, what appeared in Luo XiaoLou’s mind was the entire structure of the part.

Luo XiaoLou didn’t know what that meant, but subconsciously, his fingers followed suit.

When the assembly was complete, Luo XiaoLou’s eyes opened with surprise. That was the best solution for machining this part! Without thinking for a long time, without complex deduction, without even drawing it onto a drawing, the moment the mecha parts structure appeared in his mind, that method appeared in front of him as if it had popped up by itself.

Luo XiaoLou knew that this might be because he had just assembled and disassembled it dozens of times, but —, but he did feel that power, Source of Consciousness, was indeed a wonderful thing.

Although he resisted the Exotic Beast bloodline, Luo XiaoLou happily accepted the Source of Consciousness power that was unique to the Exotic Beast gene.

125 said that the exotic beast and human genes were fundamentally different, even though both had spiritual power. The exotic beast’s spiritual power was much higher than that of humans. Below a certain line it was the range of human consciousness, called spiritual power, and above that line it was unique to the exotic beasts, called Source of Consciousness.

And that line became the standard line to distinguish between judging a human and an exotic beast, so Luo XiaoLou couldn’t have his spiritual power tested. Of course, as 125 said, ordinary places couldn’t even measure Yuan Xi’s SSS-Rank genes, and most instruments would have a hard time measuring Luo XiaoLou’s spiritual power. The upper limit of human spiritual power had reached the Source of Consciousness range.

Experiencing this power for the first time, Luo XiaoLou was overjoyed and couldn’t be bothered to communicate with 125, so he continued to practice with his eyes closed. At the same time, he thought excitedly that if he could, he might be able to find the best way to assemble all the level one parts…

Over-excited and equally tired, Luo XiaoLou finally fell asleep, the parts in his hands rolling to the side.

When Yuan Xi came back from the virtual network, he saw Luo XiaoLou fall over and reached out to catch him. This — this was the first time Luo XiaoLou had ever jumped over himself!

Luo XiaoLou moved a few times on top of Yuan Xi, finding a comfortable spot to sleep it off, he was just too tired.

Yuan Xi frowned as if very upset, but carefully matched Luo XiaoLou’s unconscious movements with the tolerant expression of a magnanimous master tolerating his slave’s small movements — though the color and expression on his face somewhat didn’t quite correspond.

After Luo XiaoLou lay back down, Yuan Xi stared at Luo XiaoLou, who was sleeping contentedly, his face still flushed red, and after a while, he pulled the blanket over the two of them.

Luo XiaoLou had actually started throwing himself at him today! Luo XiaoLou should be a little more restrained, the passion was just too much for him to handle! Due to the strict family discipline, he never intended to have premarital sex — of course, even if he did, it couldn’t be this soon, they’d only known each other for two months…

Yuan Xi came back from his virtual online battle to battle against insomnia.

So the next day, before the alarm clock went off, the two were still asleep in bed with their limbs intertwined.

Luo XiaoLou woke up with a shriek and scrambled up on his hands and knees from Yuan Xi’s chest — well, he almost got used to seeing this kind of blind dog’s eyes too often — it was getting late and he had to hurry!

Finally, at ten minutes to eight, Luo XiaoLou and Yuan Xi each ran out of the elevator with a sandwich in their hands.

Yuan Xi drove at maximum speed with a black face and panda eyes, and they arrived at the school within two minutes.

After getting out in front of the Mecha Manufacturing Department, Luo XiaoLou apologized, “Yesterday, because of that, ahem, um, getting up late, today’s breakfast was simple, so I’ll make a fish tonight.” While trying to explain, Luo XiaoLou suddenly remembered that he was not supposed to let outsiders know about the existence of the Source of Consciousness power and so he squeaked a little, but it was good to reassure. Usually at this time, Yuan Xi would definitely say what he wanted to eat while awkwardly forgiving him.

But today, Yuan Xi’s face was really not good — half a night without sleep, no one’s face would look too good.

And he still dared to mention yesterday! Yuan Xi glared at Luo XiaoLou fiercely, slammed the car door and went to the garage to park.

Luo XiaoLou wondered, Has Yuan Xi’s awkwardness escalated again? I don’t know if the fish at night is still useful…

Of course, it turned out that the bad-tempered Yuan Xi was still very easy to calm down.

After this, Luo XiaoLou not only continued to do simulation training with Yuan Xi, but also started to assemble the mecha parts according to 125’s instructions, determined to find the best solution for all the parts. Luo XiaoLou would only get to see those shiny dots and lines once in a few dozen parts.

Luo XiaoLou’s Source of Consciousness was still at a very low level, and not every mecha part could be assembled in a simplified way.

Luo XiaoLou had no choice but to give up his lofty ambitions. However, this way he was able to slowly build up his Source of Consciousness. So, no matter how difficult it was at first, he had to practice again with his eyes closed after he got good at it.

After two weeks, Luo XiaoLou had mastered all the two hundred Grade 1 mecha parts in his lab and had modified four of them.

Surprisingly, due to Luo XiaoLou’s awakening of his Source of Consciousness, his speed and memory also improved greatly. On the third Saturday morning, Luo XiaoLou looked through all the debris in Master Yan’s room, and then spent the next three mornings sorting through it again. After a month, he had finally finished sorting the debris in Master Yan’s room.

The process of sorting required constant assembling and processing, and Luo XiaoLou had basically mastered all of the one hundred Grade 2 basic mecha parts.

Master Yan was surprised when he entered the room that day, and although he was still tense, Luo XiaoLou could tell that he was satisfied.

When he was paid a month later, Luo XiaoLou was paid 3,000 federal coins as Master Yan’s assistant, while Master Yan gave him an internal bonus of 4,000 federal coins.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Master Yan then gave Luo XiaoLou the task of cleaning up another room, Luo XiaoLou would have wanted to hug the fierce old man.

Tragically, the Grade 2 Basic Mecha Parts (2) appeared! And it seemed like there were more fragments of parts in this room. Oh god, was it finished or not?

Luo XiaoLou almost pounded the floor. Old Man Yan, don’t you dare set a time limit!

In addition to practicing Grade 1 parts and organizing and learning Grade 2 parts, Luo XiaoLou also found time to go over to Tian Le’s and pick through the ‘junk’ he had paid for.

While he was sorting, Tian Le and Yates were beating each other up in the nearby virtual cabin. At first, they didn’t understand what Luo XiaoLou was trying to do by buying junk, but when they saw Luo XiaoLou picking out good pieces of parts from a pile of tattered pieces and slowly assembling them, they couldn’t help but admire him for actually being able to come out with quite a few molded parts.

Even if all Luo XiaoLou assembled were old parts, it was still amazing.

Yates didn’t understand, but Tian Le knew that sometimes the parts Luo XiaoLou picked up were not from the same part, but he would always find a way to use the parts that were still usable.

This required not only great assembling skills, but also a wealth of theoretical knowledge.

As Tian Le watched Luo XiaoLou assemble those strange and weird parts, he wondered in his heart, had they taught so many parts in their class already?

Why was he not at the same level? Motherfucker, it couldn’t be that in the little moment when he slept in class, the Teacher suddenly exploded… But when Tian Le questioned the others, he found that they weren’t much better than he was. Of course, maybe the students in Class 10 weren’t focused on studying in the first place.

Although he didn’t know the situation of Class 1, Tian Le was sure that among the classes, including Class 9 and 8, no one was better than Luo XiaoLou in terms of expertise in mecha parts.

But it was frustrating that Luo XiaoLou was so bad at his basic classes that he failed every quiz just like him.

That morning, Luo XiaoLou and Yates hung out in Tian Le’s lab; Luo XiaoLou for his precious ‘junk’, and Yates for the virtual pods and practice.

Luo XiaoLou’s tidying up came to an end when Yates and Tian Le came out of the virtual pod, sweating profusely. Not only did he get two old Grade 2 parts today, but he also got a big surprise when he found a broken engine.

The engine was the most central part of the mecha, and the most expensive part. He couldn’t repair it now, of course, but in time, he believed he could try. Even if he couldn’t repair it, it would be good to use it for practice.

As the three of them sat around the table resting, Yates squinted comfortably with a glass of Tian Le’s house wine and asked, “What are you doing next Sunday?”

Tian Le thought and was the first to shake his head, “I have something, uh, a date to go on.”

“Oh shit, all you boys know how to do is get laid.” Yates whined.

“It’s better than you. You only know about mecha. Are you going to pick a mecha as your lover?” Tian Le immediately retorted.

“What’s wrong?” Luo XiaoLou asked, and he could see that Yates seemed to have something he wanted to say.

“It’s like this, I want to go to an auction. After working, and with my allowance, I have some money now. I want to go to the auction and see if I can get a cheap mecha,” Yates said excitedly.

Now that Mecha Department students were able to practice with their own mecha, he would have to use the old school mecha if he didn’t have his own, which had always been Yates’s regret.

Luo XiaoLou thought about it and said, “I’ll go with you, I happen to have some stuff I need to buy.” A few days ago, Luo XiaoLou finally asked 125 for the design of the energy box because Yuan Xi’s birthday was coming up, and he had to prepare it quickly.

But when he got the drawing, Luo XiaoLou realized that some of the materials in the design were not available in ordinary places. So, as soon as Yates told him about the auction, Luo XiaoLou was inspired.

You know, if he still doesn’t have a gift even after Yuan Xi has stressed about it so many times, the guy will be furious…

 

What the author has to say: 

Well, Luo XiaoLou’s progress seems to be going a little faster…

 

Addis has something to say:

 

LX IS SO PURE! MY PURE PURE UNICORN TSUN!!