Chapter 775: The Mighty Star Division
Safety concerns were just as true for mechas as they were for Adepts. In DreamNet it was almost impossible to tell the distinction between simulation and reality, even when piloting a suit. What"s more, no one needed to fear accidents, safety was a.s.sured. DreamNet was undoubtedly the most suitable place for Star Division to train.
"How is the training going?" He asked Su Xiaosu.
She responded. "Very well. It was like the upgrade was tailor-made for us. The simulation is precisely what they would encounter in real life, even emulating levels of exhaustion. Training at full capacity their progress has been spectacular. Some of our people are G.o.d-ranked pilots already - one fourth of them, to be precise. And it"s not just me saying it, boss. You may not be the best pilot in the crew anymore."
Lan Jue smirked. "That good, eh? That"s excellent news."
Su Xiaosu stared at him. "Why do I get the sense you don"t believe me?"
Lan Jue was playful in his reply. "Oh, it"s not that I don"t believe you! But to make sure don"t you think we should test that out?" He was anxious to see whether their progress really was as good as she was saying. If it was they would perform well when their time came to infiltrate the planet. Once he was familiar with their strengths and limitations he could put them to most efficient use when the fight started.
"Alright!" She replied without hesitation. She brought Lan Jue to an open sim pod and had him enter. She then returned to her own.
Lan Jue deftly entered his login information. He wasn"t playing with Newblet or any training mecha today. He would be piloting DreamNet"s version of Thor. Of course this was an older version, sans the upgrades the real Thor enjoyed. In addition DreamNet could not handle any protogenic powers.
The technology that went into this upgrade was astounding. Not an ounce of energy users poured into the pod was wasted. It was also equipped with an energy recycling system that stored charges from Discipline for portable use, like on a bastion. A single person using a single pod wouldn"t generate much, but a thousand high-cla.s.s Adepts together could create quite a stockpile.
It was a positive cycle.
Lan Jue re-familiarized himself with Thor"s controls, testing the waters. Everything was as fluid as it always had been, and he felt comfortable even after so long away from the simulated world.
"Boss." Su Xiaosu"s voice caught his attention.
"I"m here." He answered.
She went on. "How about I gather a small group for you to spar with, so you can see what I"m talking about."
Lan Jue chuckled. "Alright! But do you think a small team can compete? Perhaps you should make it a little bigger." He wasn"t being boastful, he knew his own capabilities. At his level of mastery the number of opponents hardly mattered anymore, especially against less skillful contenders.
Lan Jue was a G.o.d-ranked pilot. With the evolution and improvement of his Discipline his body had also developed. He suspected his hand speed was about as good as the "fastest hands alive", the Coffee Master. He could easily top one hundred commands per second. Once a pilot was able to reach those kinds of speeds all manner of complicated techniques were open to them. He was also a ninth level Talent. All things considered, he suspected that even if the Clairvoyant came back from the dead and came at him with his old mecha, he would stand more than a fighting chance.
Lan Jue was also well versed in martial arts, another style which could be employed with mecha suits. He"d tried it before with some success.
"We"ll start with a small team then go from there. Boss, you mustn"t hold back alright?" Su Xiaosu urged. Her mirthful voice sounded a little sinister.
"Alright, bring it on."
No sooner did he say the words than an invitation to spar popped up on his screens. He accepted, and half a moment later Thor was standing in a large arena. It was a standard compet.i.tion-style battleground.
Head to head… at least they"re confident. Lan Jue smirked to himself in the sim pod.
There was a flash of light, and ten more mecha suits appeared on the far side of the arena. They came in all different shapes and sizes, with the only similarity being the Star Division flame standing out against the metal.
Star Division received tremendous support, not only from Skyfire Avenue but from the Eastern government itself. All of their pilot data was stored on DreamNet, so as a result they were given two sets of mechas made specifically for them. One was for use out in the real world, and the second was for DreamNet. The two were exactly the same.
Lan Jue urged Thor to wave at the distant compet.i.tors. "Come!"
Their formation seemed sloppy, but the moment they say Thor they shaped up. They raced at him in a semi-circle to try and surround the sapphire mecha.
Nothing special? Lan Jue mused. At first glance it didn"t even look like they were working well together. They approached all at different speeds, but all of them seemed built for melee combat. There wasn"t a single long-range fighter among them.
Lan Jue felt an excitement boiling within him. He had spent so many days in silence with Qianlin, stabilizing his Discipline. It was time to make a little noise.
He wasn"t yet using his Discipline, but Thor raced ahead like a thunderbolt regardless. He made no overtures to juke or break the encirclement - he charged right in.
Lan Jue had great confidence in his piloting ability, a confidence that came from years of experience. Even if he was facing ten times the number of suits he was sure he could handle them easily. Thor would weave among them like a fish darting through water and destroy his adversaries.
Thor was fast, blasted ahead like a beam of light. In no time it reached met the small team. The first one Thor encountered was a larger mecha, a kind he"d never seen before. It was at least twice as large as Thor.
A large size meant more energy, power and weight. But it also typically made this sort of suit c.u.mbersome to pilot. Heavy attackers all suffered from this deficiency.
Appearing right in the midst of them so suddenly was also Lan Jue"s attempt at seeing how they"d react. In a flash it vanished again and appeared at their flank. A sword crackling with electric energy was in its grip - Lan Jue"s new preferred weapon.
He couldn"t use Occisus in the simulation, obviously. But now that he"d chosen to use it in real combat, it was also his weapon of choice in DreamNet.
He thrust forward, aiming for the mecha"s armpit. From here the sword would slip right through the armor and into the opponent"s c.o.c.kpit, immediately putting the suit out of commission.
Even such a simple strike was made very dangerous because of Lan Jue"s speed.
The other team members saw it from a different perspective. The blue beam of light that was Thor appeared suddenly in front of their team leader. Then, leaving behind a warped afterimage, their target swept sideways and stabbed at their comrade.
But the expected did not occur.
His sword hit its target, but Lan Jue immediately felt like something wasn"t right. He didn"t sense any obstruction, his sword sliding in all the way to the hilt. This definitely was not normal.
He hadn"t used any Discipline, and this sword wasn"t especially sharp. What about the suit"s s.h.i.+elds? How could his attack have landed so easily?
As he pondered the enormous suit toppled on top of him like a corpse. Accompanying it was a powerful vacuum force that came from nowhere. In the same instant the other nine suits fell upon him like a swarm, suddenly several times faster than they had been.
The disjointed unit was suddenly on him, a circle of metal suits that gave him no route of escape.
Surround and destroy?
Lan Jue"s smile spread bigger. They had a plan after all.
The large mecha was also changing. After falling it had actually started to get larger, trying to keep Thor pinned. His sword and half his suit"s arm was stuck in the expanding trap. This thing seemed less like a suit and more like an ooze. Lan Jue was slowly being devoured by it.
What a unique suit! Liquid metal?
Lan Jue had to make a decision. He was in a dangerous spot, but even now he was not alarmed. He"d seen a lot on the battlefield, and though they had taken him by surprise this wasn"t going to throw him.
Thor"s body lit up as bolts of electricity shot out in all directions. A sound like thunder burst out from the suit, the sound of its s.h.i.+elds. Lan Jue"s mecha was G.o.d-ranked, hand-built. Of course it had its own tricks to employ.
The electric wave tearing through the air in the midst of the explosion caused the incoming mechas to pause. Lan Jue used the brief respite to get Thor free. The suit dissolves into a flash of lightning and rose, tearing itself from clutches of the hulking lump of metal keeping it down.
Chapter 776: Sparring
Lan Jue"s face betrayed the ghost of a smile and his fingers danced over the controls like flowing water. Thor moved so fast its image blurred, breaking through a gap in their encirclement before soaring into the air.
But Lan Jue didn"t escape without cost. The sword Thor bore had been buried too deeply in the liquid metal mecha, and he"d been unable to pull it free. Said mecha reformed into its typical portly form before crouching low. The other attackers quickly spread out, unperturbed by Lan Jue"s escape.
Star Division"s commander didn"t press the attack. He was more interested in seeing how well this team worked together, how strong they"d become. Their opening gambit had been pretty good. If he had been slower, if it wasn"t for Thor"s superior construction, that fat mecha would have gotten him.
Lan Jue wasn"t given much time to think about it. The large mecha suddenly launched itself into the air like a cannonball, heading straight for him. In response he pulled Thor to the side to try and dodge - one could imagine the damage something that heavy could do, even if it clipped you.
But just then Lan Jue felt the controls grow sluggish. Though he dodged the fat mecha"s charge something had set him off balance. His sapphire mecha staggered in the air. He instinctively looked to the ground where he found another mecha who"d captured him in a beam of yellow light.
Gravity capture, he suddenly understood. The Adept below was using their gravity Discipline to try and pin Thor down. But it was still the fat mecha that surprised him most. Hovering behind him in the air it underwent a tremendous transformation.
Its lumbering body compressed, changing from a silvery soldier to an angry violet orb. Tentacles lurched out from within it and tried to wrap around Thor.
An alien planet?
He was flabbergasted, it was the last thing Lan Jue expected to see. Could an alien planet just appear here? His shock and alarm took its toll, Thor hesitated. Another mecha appeared over his head, while the one that had been dragging him from below vanished.
The sudden change in the gravitational field put him off balance again. He pulled Thor around and urged the sapphire mecha toward the ground. But, just then, an explosion burst from above him. A rush of air struck his Thor, sending it careening out of control right for the liquid metal warrior.
Alright guys, time for my Discipline.
Violet tentacles groped at Thor, ready to wrap him up. Lan Jue was forced to employ his Discipline. At just the right instant a blue light sprang up from within the mecha to create a net of electricity around it. The airburst behind it was cut off, and the tentacles in front met a wall of lightning.
Thor descending toward the ground and extricated itself from between its foes.
Fighting in the air against a gravity Adept was inadvisable. Although the Discipline didn"t effect Lan Jue much, its effects were significantly magnified against Thor"s weighty body and made control much more difficult. On the ground the adverse effects wouldn"t be as dramatic.
He had to deal with the enemy"s battlefield control first. He came up with a plan.
Opponents who could control the flow of battle were the most troublesome. Through their skills they broke one"s rhythm and forced them to fight on their own terms. The fight was already ten on one, making his position even more precarious. So, Lan Jue"s first target was that gravity-manipulating Adept.
Thor slowed as it reached the ground - a result of increased gravity. Clearly this Adept was pretty strong, ninth rank he suspected. Anything less wouldn"t be effecting him so dramatically.
Lan Jue figured it out, but by now it was already too late to use the information. His only course was to reach the ground and deal with the Adept with his lightning Discipline, in order for Thor to be able to use its speed advantage.
Lan Jue was heading right for his target, but all of a sudden his path was blocked by another. A large mecha appeared with a mighty s.h.i.+eld between it and Thor.
Thor suddenly sped up and punched at the s.h.i.+eld with a fist. A sword constructed of amalgamated lightning burnt into being within its free hand. Making a weapon with his Discipline was no difficult feat for the Demon Drillmaster.
Boom! Thor laid into the s.h.i.+eld with the full force of its weight behind it, but the s.h.i.+eld bearer only retreated half a step. He watched the s.h.i.+eld undergo three changes in rapid succession; first it shook, bent, then snapped back into shape.
The expertly timed flexibility diffused Thor"s attack. What"s more, it stopped the mecha in its tracks.
Impressive s.h.i.+eld control.
He only had a moment to appreciate the skill before a blinding light and teeth-clenching impact struck.
Lan Jue had only just coalesced his powers into the shape of the sword, so Thor would need a moment before the weapon could be employed. Evidently his opponent had planned for this and was ready. His foe would not be thrown aside.
But Thor staggered backward a few steps.
Meanwhile, the "alien planet" above them descended to join the fight. The others mechas surrounded him again.
Lan Jue figured the shape-s.h.i.+fting orb of metal was his wretched apprentice. There were others besides him who"s Disciplines involved metalmorphosis, but none so crafty as to know that changing into an alien would frighten his opponents and give him an edge.
The one who got him with the sneak attack in the air had to be an Adept with control over air. Their mecha piloting abilities were stellar, he hadn"t seen the attack coming until he was right on top of him.
The door in front of him had also left an impression. Crowd control and s.h.i.+eld defense. The defender"s Discipline had to involve the s.h.i.+eld somehow, otherwise they wouldn"t have such precise control.
Screech! The ear-splitting sound of an alarm filled the c.o.c.kpit. Lan Jue"s screens were reading an energy systems crash.
"What?" Lan Jue looked at the error messages, which told him the energy transfer line had been cut. Thirty percent of Thor"s energy was gone.
Cloaking! His fifth enemy had the ability to make themselves invisible - their whole suit invisible. But that was impossible! Did the mecha have a cloaking system as well?
He had to react. Thor split into identical copies, each one going a different direction. Ghosting. The invisible opponent just made this fight much harder.
One on one things would have been different Lan Jue would be able to make quick determinations and enact a plan. But this wasn"t one on one! There were ten enemies, and each of them were formidable. With all this support the cloaking mecha had plenty of opportunities to make his life h.e.l.l.
He suddenly realized Su Xiaosu must have cheated him.
This couldn"t be a single unit. All of them were at least ninth level - what team had so many strong adepts? It"s was the only way to explain how much trouble he was having.
But I hope you don"t think you"re beating me.
Lan Jue grunted, and he drew his electric sword through the in air a circle. Both Thors performed the same action to separate itself from the series of successive attacks.
One of the double images vanished, revealing only the true form. He thrust forward with his sword, and the arena shook from the sound of cras.h.i.+ng waves.
Focused flow!
As he struck with the weapon, Thor seemed to enter an entirely different state. It sparkled with a deep blue light like it had suddenly become a living gemstone.
To his opponents, it felt as though the air had turned thick like mud. Their speed suffered markedly. Although Thor pierced only the air with its weapon, to the other pilots it felt like that sword was coming right at them.
Everyone felt it, powerful and overbearing. A beam of blinding light was spat from the crackling weapon that drew all the light from the blade itself, leaving it a deep cobalt blue.
All at once the arena looked as though it was submerged in water, everything was painted that shade of blue. Waves of energy crashed through the opposing mechas.
Discipline and martial arts. It doesn"t matter if your Disciplines change a thousand times, I"d still keep you down with this. Direct strength overcomes!
This is all he did. But then something happened he did not expect.
After a moment of surprise his enemies reacted. They were slower but could still move - after all they were ninth level Adepts with mechas that enhanced their abilities.