Mecha Chapter 92: Growth

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Lhachril

 

“Gao, Manager Gao!… You – quickly look – this – this -” the assistant was so excited that he couldn’t speak, his hands were trembling as he handed the appraisal results directly to Manager Gao.

The tall, thin man on the side also anxiously peeked over to look, and the moment he saw it, both Manager Gao and the man stared at it.

The assistant said excitedly, “As you can see, this, this is almost the highest grade mecha part we’ve ever auctioned off in Heavenly Winter! This must be the handiwork of a master!”

Manager Gao and the man recovered from their shock and looked at each other, seeing the incredulity in each other’s eyes.

The assistant was still chattering away, “Geez, level 8, I’ve never seen an auction of a level 8 mecha part with my own eyes! It will definitely sell for an astronomical price!”

In Heavenly Winter, the highest grade mecha that had been auctioned was a grade four mecha, while the highest grade mecha parts were grade five mecha parts. The eighth-grade ones, however, never appeared.

The tall, thin man finally came back to his senses, glanced at the assistant, and spoke, “This is a custom-made part, and I don’t think I have any intention of selling it.”

The enthusiastic assistant, who was holding back his blush, stared open-mouthed at the imposing man in front of him, and then reluctantly at the space knob that had been handed over to the man, before leaving with a good-natured reminder from Manager Gao.

It was a long time before Manager Gao exhaled and said, “I didn’t think he could do that.” 

There was no mistaking that the man had provided a rare Grade 7 material, but not every mecha maker could make a Grade 7 mecha part out of a Grade 7 material.

With the same seventh-grade stone jade, a mecha maker of average level could produce a third- or fourth-grade part, while a senior mecha maker would be able to produce a fifth- or even sixth-grade part, and very few would be able to reach the seventh-grade level of the material itself.

And if you go over the top- only a master level and ability could reach level eight or nine.

“Did he really finish this himself?” The man couldn’t believe it, his mecha was a seventh-grade mecha that he had gotten on an A-class planet, and even within the Federation, it could be considered a very high-grade mecha. But now, he could have an eighth-grade part! The part also came with a weapon, which undoubtedly greatly boosted his combat power, which was the result that all mecha warriors sought.

Manager Gao smiled slightly, “Who knows. If this part is really from a master, then you’re going to make a lot of money, you can’t even hire a master just by having money to do it. However, since he said he made it himself, I believe he won’t lie. Moreover, Master Yan’s hand is definitely capable of reaching the ninth level.”

The man was just asking, because he couldn’t suppress his shock. He closed his eyes and said, “I’ll take this with me today. You tell him that I’ll pay him 20 million.”

Hearing this, Manager Gao, who was always motionless, was also moved. It was not even a mecha, just a part. And not including the cost of materials, it was just the cost of production, so twenty million could really be considered astronomical.

Every time Manager Gao would try to get the consignor as much money as possible from the client, but this time Manager Gao didn’t say anything, as in the industry, this was a very high price. The esteemed customer was consistently generous every time, and when he found out that the energy box improved its quality, he offered to raise the price even though the price had already been agreed upon.

“Okay, I’ll let him know right away, I’m sure little brother will be very happy.” Manager Gao said with a smile, “And congratulations on getting such a premium part.”

“It would be even better if he would be my mecha maker.” The young man said with wide eyes, a good boy like that, and he was able to make such amazing things. If he would follow him, he would not fail him.

This time, Manager Gao laughed, “I must regret to inform you that this one already has his own mecha warrior. Also, their relationship seems to be very good, and there’s probably no intention of terminating the mutual agreement anytime soon. You know, it’s gold that always shines, and we’re not the only ones who can find out how good he is.”

For an instant, the man’s face slightly looked extremely disappointed as he fondled the mecha part in his hand and said, “Mn, it’s fate, we’ll take a look at it…later right, and the rest of the parts will be put on consignment with you.”

Manager Gao nodded. Of those other high level mecha makers, the one with the best hands made a level six part, even to the point that the man was excited to add some more production costs, he was so certain that he was the best.

If they knew that the creator didn’t even want to look at what they had made, who knew what they would think.

 

Luo XiaoLou received the good news while having dinner with Yuan Xi, and immediately narrowed his eyes with a smile and expressed his gratitude to Manager Gao. Then he took one look at Yuan Xi and continued to send messages, wanting to repay the eleven million dollars he had borrowed from Manager Gao.

After thinking about it though, Luo XiaoLou didn’t touch the money, just in case Manager Gao had a strengthening agent in a few days,  for which he would also need the money.

After dinner, Luo XiaoLou accompanied Yuan Xi to training, still observing Yuan Xi’s movements and instructions while driving the mecha.

Luo XiaoLou was busy every day, taking classes, going to the club, and learning mecha parts from Master Yan every Saturday. Every night, Yuan Xi would accompany Luo XiaoLou to train for half an hour, and this became another habit for the two of them.

After three and a half months, Luo XiaoLou’s speed was much faster than when he first won against Luca, and he could now challenge twenty-three bright spots in the air. But after arriving at that point, his speed couldn’t be increased by any means.

Luo XiaoLou was a little frustrated that 125, who had always been picky, was now saying it was okay. “Now that you at least have the option to run away except for those top experts, staying alive won’t be a problem.”

While fighting with Yuan Xi, Luo XiaoLou had been able to escape from Yuan Xi’s hands for ten minutes. Those ten minutes might be nothing to Yuan Xi, but to someone else, if he was given the chance to shoot remotely, he might have won.

With long-range shooting training, Luo XiaoLou had improved even faster than his speed. He was now able to kill a hundred monsters within the allotted time. Since one hundred was the upper limit, in a few months of training, Luo XiaoLou had increased the highest difficulty level from eighty-five to one hundred.

When there was no way to raise it any higher, 125 gave him another task, firing two or three shots per monster to increase the number of shooting points on each monster. Finally, when Luo XiaoLou came out of the training room, the poor virtual monsters behind him were literally dead with a number of deadly bullet points on each of their bodies.

After three to four months of hard training like this, not only had his mecha control skills rapidly improved, Luo XiaoLou’s stamina was also much better than before. The most obvious thing was that he had actually grown a little taller, which made Luo XiaoLou extremely happy, showing that his current physical fitness still had room for improvement.

As for Yuan Xi’s improvement, Luo XiaoLou pretended to ignore it, he was definitely not willing to study it seriously and then beat himself up.

However, Luo XiaoLou felt that 125’s speed training program was perfect, and even though he was jealous of the improvement speed of the SSS genius, he still wanted to ask Yuan Xi if he wanted to use it, but he was worried that Yuan Xi would laugh at him.

Finally Luo XiaoLou played the program on the computer one day when they were reading a book together in the study, and when Yuan Xi didn’t pay attention to it at first, Luo XiaoLou even asked him a couple questions about the speed training.

Yuan Xi immediately saw the difference between 125’s program and the one the club was using, and took 125 to his special training room at Radiance that day to modify the program. 125 even set up a permission access for Yuan Xi’s training program so that no one else could access it except Yuan Xi. When the program started, the camera would shut down automatically.

Afterwards, Yuan Xi looked at the fat T-rex who had been lazing around the apartment in high spirits and said to Luo XiaoLou, “This is the first time I’ve found it so useful.”

Luo XiaoLou said, “It’s the first time I’ve ever found it so useful too.” He blushed a bright red and didn’t dare to say anything, reassuring himself that at least Yuan Xi hadn’t said that about Luo XiaoLou.

Luo XiaoLou was not sure if he should go to the Novice Arena or not, but he didn’t know who he should play against, so Luo XiaoLou started to hesitate. Then Luo XiaoLou suddenly found that he had a message.

Luo XiaoLou clicked on it, and the sender was GD, his only friend on the virtual web besides Yuan Xi and Bless, [Brother, how are you doing?]

Luo XiaoLou was pleasantly surprised and busily sent a message over, [Not bad, long time no see.]

[It’s not easy to meet, come on, let’s fight against each other.] GD sighed, [It’s not easy to ask you to fight against each other. You don’t even know you’re about to provoke public outrage now.]

Luo XiaoLou was stunned and asked afterward, [How so?]

[You dare ask? Ever since you’ve been regularly dominating Cloudy Sky for half an hour a day, the mecha competitive forums have been filled with posts discussing you and crusading against you, and I thought my eyes were glazed over when I saw it. Brother, you’ve made a difference.] GD lamented, who could have known that the newbie who couldn’t even stand up in the first place was already mixed up enough to fight against the gods.

“…… ” Luo XiaoLou was dumbfounded. So there were forums on the virtual web still? It seems that people still loved to gossip.

GD urged Luo XiaoLou to hurry up. He was anxious to see how far ChuShi had come to attract the third best player in the virtual network.

The two share the same high V room and GD was worried that Luo XiaoLou would be recognized and assaulted. GD was Luo XiaoLou’s first opponent back then, and at the time, Luo XiaoLou saw GD as an incredibly powerful expert. So, when he saw GD again, he still retained a slight psychological shadow. At first, Luo XiaoLou cautiously pulled away.

Luo XiaoLou was thrilled he could. He had improved a lot since going against that pervert, Yuan Xi. After circling twice, Luo XiaoLou began to attack GD with the Particle Gun.

Given that Luo XiaoLou had little chance of winning, mainly because he had been fighting against Yuan Xi and didn’t have any virtual currency income, he was still using the most common Doppelganger 01.

By the time Luo XiaoLou knocked out GD’s hologram system with the most common particle gun, GD had no choice but to stop.

Now he couldn’t see anything, and Luo XiaoLou would win if he fought any longer.

“The first time I saw you, we were in the middle of a battle. Tell me, how did you meet the god? And he’s really nice to you, even if you’re at a good level right now, he’s actually considered to be your sparring partner every day.”

Luo XiaoLou palpably recalled how he met Yuan Xi and said, “The process of getting to know him was a disaster to say the least, but he’s not bad, which is the only lucky thing.” Seeing the confused look in GD’s eyes, Luo XiaoLou changed the subject, “Speaking of which, fighting Cloudy Sky did help me improve quickly.”

GD immediately glowed with his eyes and yelled, “It’s no longer fast to describe being able to tune out a little white guy like you! Hey, I wish I could have qualified to challenge Cloudy Sky. Unfortunately, at my level, he probably won’t even read my message.”

As he was saying that, GD suddenly stiffened, and he found that he had received a challenge letter: Cloudy Sky.

Five minutes later, Luo XiaoLou, who had been inexplicably left alone in the High V Arena Room, finally received a summons from Yuan Xi to him. After tapping yes, Luo XiaoLou appeared next to Yuan Xi, who looked at Luo XiaoLou smugly and said, “I’ve just cleaned up that guy for you, less than two minutes actually, and I would have gotten you here much sooner if he hadn’t also said a bunch of crap.”

Luo XiaoLou dripped sweat, “I actually cleaned up after myself, and he’s a friend I met on the internet. Thinking you’re not here, I went to find someone else to try my level.”

At that moment, Luo XiaoLou’s message rang again, and when he clicked on it, GD was saying excitedly, [Great God! I- I- I just battled Cloudy Sky!!!! I was basically KO’d, though – I was kind of instructed by Cloudy Sky. I even have a special video recording of the whole thing! I want to keep it for myself and watch it later!]

Luo XiaoLou wiped his sweat again. Big brother, if the battle didn’t last more than two minutes, what exactly did you record …

Since Yuan Xi’s use of 125’s training method, Luo XiaoLou had noticed that his survival time, which had improved, began to shrink again. Recently, however, Yuan Xi seemed to have taken Luo XiaoLou’s feelings into consideration, and was now in no hurry to end the fight, and was keen to teach Luo XiaoLou melee techniques.

After leaving the virtual network, Luo XiaoLou knocked on 125 who was still watching TV and asked it to turn down the sound, and then he lay down on the bed. Tomorrow was Saturday, so he was going to Master Yan’s place, and he was going to sleep early.

The training with Yuan Xi was even more intense because the mecha competition was less than half a month away, and Yuan Xi’s improvement was unimaginable to anyone but Luo XiaoLou, who knew the truth. While Luo XiaoLou was only fast and could fight long distance battles, Yuan Xi had improved all around. Cloudy Sky on the Virtual Network didn’t put out 100% of his strength to fight. Instead, he would only let go when playing with Luo XiaoLou.

Yuan Xi also left after half an hour, and saw that Luo XiaoLou had fallen asleep. He leaned in, rubbed against Luo XiaoLou, and cuddled against him.

The next day, Luo XiaoLou rushed to Kane, and as soon as he got out of the elevator, Shen Yuan walked over to him. When he saw Luo XiaoLou, Shen Yuan stopped and waited for him at the door, and Luo XiaoLou walked over to him.

Luo XiaoLou had learned a lot about Level 3 parts in the past few months, and now Luo XiaoLou was able to make a Level 3 mecha. However, it was difficult to make the kind of grade eight mecha parts that he had made last time. Luo XiaoLou had tried several times at home and barely managed to make a grade seven. And Luo XiaoLou didn’t have many grade seven materials to splurge on. For him, grade seven materials were considered to be astronomical.

Luo XiaoLou didn’t tell Master Yan about making the level 8 mecha parts for Heavenly Winter. Master Yan was too powerful, and probably one look at the part would tell him that they couldn’t be made with the Spiritual Power that Luo XiaoLou was currently displaying.

Even if Luo XiaoLou was intentionally controlling it and only using his Source of Consciousness a little bit, Master Yan and Kane’s people still thought that Luo XiaoLou’s Spiritual Power was progressing at an amazing speed. There hadn’t been anyone who had 100% success in making Level 3 mecha parts before. And not only that, but Kane’s people were surprised to find that Luo XiaoLou’s mecha parts had the same application rate as the ones he had rebuilt before, with over 90 percent in almost every case.

If the previous level one and two parts were relatively simple, going up to level three, it was a different level. Luo XiaoLou could achieve 100% success in such a short period of time, which could only be explained by two things: Master Yan’s good training, and Luo XiaoLou’s ability to use his Spiritual Power. XiaoLou’s Spiritual Power was abundant and growing fast.

Now he went to Kane’s Mecha Department with Shen Yuan at regular intervals to build level 3 mechas, which could be sold in Kane’s shop after Master Yan looked over them.

Luo XiaoLou was very pleased with this arrangement, as it gave him free training in mecha assembly and provided him with an additional income. Because this was already considered working for the Kane Group, and the quality of the mecha Luo XiaoLou made were excellent, often selling for more than the price of a standard Grade 3 mecha.

Therefore, for every mecha Luo XiaoLou assembled, Kane would give Luo XiaoLou an additional commission. After deducting the raw materials, Luo XiaoLou received 1,800,000.

Now Luo XiaoLou had paid off the money he owed to Heavenly Winter. What made Luo XiaoLou even more satisfied was that he had nearly fifty million in savings.

However, yesterday, Manager Gao sent him a message saying that he had collected five bottles of Spiritual Power enhancer for him. He hadn’t heard from Manager Gao for more than three months. After receiving Manager Gao’s notice, Luo XiaoLou immediately decided to pick them up tomorrow morning. Thinking of this, the corner of Luo XiaoLou’s mouth curled up unconsciously.

“What? What’s the happy occasion, so browbeaten?” Shen Yuan smiled and asked.

“Mn, I can finish assembling this mecha today and I can collect the money.” Luo XiaoLou said excitedly, calculating that after receiving the money today, the money for the reinforcement tomorrow would be almost enough. In fact, according to his current relationship with Manager Gao, missing a few million should not be a problem.

Shen Yuan pursed his lips and turned to look at Luo XiaoLou, who was completely satisfied. In the past, Luo XiaoLou was not well off, so he had to save for tuition fees and life. But now, Luo XiaoLou was already very capable of earning money, and he was perfectly capable of living a better life.

Shen Yuan frowned, he had been in contact with Luo XiaoLou for more than a year, and he liked Luo XiaoLou’s gentle personality. His smiling expression at all time made people feel at ease with him. Moreover, from the normal relationship, Luo XiaoLou wasn’t a stingy and cheap person. So, what was it that made Luo XiaoLou so frugal and eager to make money now?

Could it be…

Shen Yuan took a breath and asked, “XiaoLou, I want to ask you something. Although it involves privacy and is somewhat inappropriate, as your friend and big brother, I still want to ask.”

Luo XiaoLou was stunned, but asked, “What is it, Brother Shen?”

“That – Is – Does Yuan Xi spend a lot of your money?” Shen Yuan hesitated for a moment, but still asked. Although Luo XiaoLou was a mecha maker, which itself was a profession that required frequent spending of money, he was an employee of Kane and Master Yan was short-sighted, so Luo XiaoLou basically didn’t need to buy his own materials to practice.

Even though Young Master Ling Xu claimed that Yang Ke could have unlimited materials, how much could he use at his level? Not to mention Level 2 and 3, he hadn’t even finished learning Level 1 mecha parts.

So why exactly was Luo XiaoLou, who was in a position that didn’t require a lot of money, having such a hard time?

Luo XiaoLou trembled on his feet and almost fell, Shen Yuan reached out to hold him up.

Luo XiaoLou looked at Shen Yuan with a flushed face and stammered, “He didn’t take the initiative to spend my money.” Thinking about it this way, he was the one who spent it all for Yuan Xi, and since when exactly would he feel like buying expensive materials for Yuan Xi, providing the best energy box he could make, and paying for millions of bottles of enhancers – he hadn’t even specially spent this much money for himself! –Is it taken for granted?

“You gave it to him yourself? He actually didn’t want it?” Shen Yuan’s face darkened even more. What kind of man was this called!

“No, in fact, I spent money that Yuan Xi didn’t know about.” Luo XiaoLou thought a little sadly, according to his squirrel-like personality that loved to stock up on everything and save money, this was a big loss.

Shen Yuan looked at Luo XiaoLou in silence for a moment and took a long breath saying, “Yuan Xi doesn’t know how happy he should be to have a mecha maker like you.”

Luo XiaoLou blushed. He had Yuan Xi’s card with him all the time, Yuan Xi probably didn’t even know how much money he had made. That card had become a special card for Luo XiaoLou to buy groceries and add household necessities. Since the family’s main expenditure was on natural food, although he spent 30,000 Federation coins every month, it was a far cry from what Luo XiaoLou spent.

The last time Luo XiaoLou checked the amount of money on the card, Luo XiaoLou was already getting dizzy from counting the zeros behind it. Over three billion, all of Yuan Xi’s private money.

As someone who was only four months younger than Yuan Xi, Luo XiaoLou also felt a deep sense of injustice every time he checked his balance… Yuan Xi made so much money every night when he played on the virtual network for a while!

Nonetheless, Luo XiaoLou didn’t feel that he should take the money for the reinforcement from Yuan Xi, it was a surprise and a gift he wanted to give to Yuan Xi. Never mind, Yuan Xi’s card was here anyway, and all that money was his, Luo XiaoLou comforted himself.

After touching the top of Luo XiaoLou’s head, Shen Yuan silently agreed with senior Julie’s words. He wanted to steal Luo XiaoLou away to raise…

When he was almost in front of the Mecha Manufacturing Department, Shen Yuan finally managed to say, “He’s your mecha warrior, and it’s only right that he spends money for you. Even the materials you use for practice, he should buy them for you, and now you’re already helping him save money. So don’t make yourself work that hard.”

Luo XiaoLou gave a sigh. Not that he felt hard done by, whether it was mecha manufacturing or the mecha warrior training he was now exercising, it was something he loved.

As they entered the door, Shen Yuan saw the person in front of him, his brow furrowed, and he reached out to move Luo XiaoLou to his other side.

The person in front of them, who was laughing and talking to the senior mecha makers of the Mecha Manufacturing Department, was also a student of Saint Miro Academy’s Mecha Manufacturing Department and was friends with Yang Ke. He had applied for an internship in Kane, barely qualifying. Shay, however, had left a less than favorable impression on Shen Yuan. The young man was enthusiastically leaning in to talk to him.

Shay placed more importance on these human interactions than studying, and the depth and cunning that he clumsily hid in his eyes really made Shen Yuan dislike him.

After Master Ling Xu’s last assessment, Yang Ke was irritated and came in early and left late every Saturday and Sunday. He was also much more polite to his master in Kane, helping him out and occasionally asking him questions.

After Shay stayed behind, Luo XiaoLou didn’t know him and didn’t greet him, but strangely enough, Yang Ke, who was Shay’s best friend, acted as if he had never seen Shay before.

Shen Yuan took Luo XiaoLou into his special studio, where the two of them cleaned up and got down to business.

At lunchtime, Shen Yuan looked at the two tall mechas and smiled a little.

After lunch, Shen Yuan took Luo XiaoLou to collect the money and they went back to the nineteenth floor, where Master Yan looked at the finished product and gave them two separate instructions. They then went to change into their assistant clothes, and now, instead of handling materials, they began to give Master Yan, who was making parts, a hand.

They were even busier than before, but standing beside Master Yan and watching his techniques and production steps, the benefits were incomparable to working with materials themselves.

After work, Luo XiaoLou stopped by Miki’s on his way home, where the cashiers decided that he had a passion for sweets. They all smiled at him every time he came, and many others looked behind him in disappointment, probably hoping to see Yuan Xi.

After buying five boxes of cakes and asking 125 to help put them in its space, Luo XiaoLou walked out.

Not far from Miki, Luo XiaoLou met two young men with tattered clothes, who looked like they lived at the bottom of the ladder. They stared at him dumbfounded, until one of them drummed up the energy to call out, “Luo XiaoLou?”