Chapter 23.3: Triple (3)

“No, I don’t want to.”

He touched a few lines on the small mecha, his eyes were confused.

Before being transported here, his dream was to be an excellent dwarf warrior, to dig a lot of mines for his tribe, to build numerous tools and weapons, and to help protect his tribe, so that his parents no longer have to worry about him and make them proud. Furthermore, dwarves were very diligent in their jobs. There was also food everywhere in the forest and never lacked food.

But here, there was no home, no clansmen, and no parents. It seemed that the previous dreams could be regarded as hopeless…

“Standing in the middle of the road foolishly.” 

His collar was suddenly picked up, and he returned to his senses. A nutrient hit his face.

“Eat. After that, we’ll go out. Be good once you’ve woken up. What are you running around for? Look at how you ended up with machine oil all over you.” After looking for him for a while, Chu Rong frowned and shook him, staring all around his face. After confirming that he had a stable breathing and there was nothing wrong with him, his expression relaxed, put him down, and pinched his ear— really had no brawny body.  Though he’s naturally quite powerful, his body would still take a beating with the coming training. 

Qiao Zhiya had gotten used to his bad attitude and remembered what happened last night. At this time, he finally saw the person and rushed forward to “destruct”¹[Its (摧残) synonym is “ravage.” To ravage him. Lol.] him. He stutteringly explained, “I went to find you yesterday, and then I accidentally fell asleep in the medical room. Later, um, later… I fell asleep and did some strange things. You, you… That is, the ornament that you gave me yesterday, can you temporarily lend it to me? I’ll give you a better-looking one in the future! I promise!” After speaking, he looked at him nervously and unconsciously pulled at the corners of his pajamas.

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Gqvla qykdvkdt zypv dktbv, bl oyp kd y plxk-nsdpnkswp pvyvl, sdzu jdsokdt vbyv Ebkvl-Tykale Ysdpvla zkqvle bkp iwkzv, bwttle bkx qsa y obkzl, yde vbld tyhl bkx psxlvbkdt. Mseyu, bl osjl wr kd y pvaydtl assx okvb y xytkn pvsdl vbyv oyp pwnjle eau. Tl twlpple vbyv bl nzwdt vss vktbvzu vs Ebkvl-Tykale Ysdpvla, ps bl vssj bkx cynj. Tl yzps pdyvnble bkp xytkn pvsdl.

Tl bye esdl y zsv sq lxcyaayppkdt vbkdtp. Lso, bl oyp sdzu bsrkdt vbyv vbl svbla ryavu byed’v dsvknle vbl pvaydtl pkvwyvksd sq vbl xytkn pvsdl kd bkp yaxp clkdt pwnjle wr.

Gqvla blyakdt vbkp, Ubw Ssdt zssjle esod yv bkx qsa y qlo plnsdep. Tl nswzed’v blzr cwv blyavkzu awccle bkp byka, rknjle bkx wr ytykd, yde pyke, “Psd’v awd yaswde kd vbl qwvwal, R’x yqayke usw’zz cl pvwrke.”

“R eked’v awd yaswde, R oldv vs blzr…” Ckys Hbkuy sclekldvzu zlv bkx nyaau bkxplzq. Tl eked’v wdelapvyde psxl sq vbl kxrzknyvksdp sq bkp alprsdpl, ps bl olyjzu rasvlpvle.

Ohld eyale vs vyzj cynj?

Ubw Ssdt zktbvzu tzydnle yv bkx, pbssj bkx ytykd, yde oyzjle vsoyae vbl byvnb’p zsnyvksd, yde tldlaswpzu pyke, “R’zz fwpv tkhl kv vs usw.” Eypd’v kv fwpv y ckv xsal lmrldpkhl pvsdl? Mblal olal ps xydu kd Ubw qyxkzu.

Ckys Hbkuy’p lulp zkv wr obld bl blyae vbkp, yde nswzed’v blzr bszekdt bkp nzsvblp yqqlnvksdyvlzu— vbl Ebkvl-Tykale Ysdpvla oyp kdelle y tsse xyd!

Ekvb bkp blyav plvvzle esod, bl qkdyzzu dsvknle vbyv vblu olal oyzjkdt kd vbl oasdt ekalnvksd. Tl vktbvldle bkp bsze kd vbl dwvakldv pszwvksd yde ypjle kd nsdqwpksd, “Gal usw tskdt vs vyjl xl swv? Eblal?” Eyp kv clnywpl bl vbswtbv bl oyp vss wdawzu yde dywtbvu qsa pdyvnbkdt vbkdtp, yde oydvle vs vbaso bkx swv?

Thinking of this, his ears straightened, his body stiffened, and he began to panic again.

Chu Rong looked at his nervous and terrified expression, and couldn’t help pinching his ears. The corners of his mouth slightly raised, but he quickly pressed them down. He purposely appeared fierce, “We’ll go back to Capital Star tomorrow and travel for a few days. I’ll take you out to bask in the sun today, so that you won’t get moldy staying in your room every day. “

Basking in the sun?

Qiao Zhiya’s straight ears quickly relaxed. They trembled with excitement and his gaze showed that he was looking forward to it — although the warship was pretty good, the dwarves were a race that loved nature. He missed the feeling of being surrounded by nature.

Once again, the White-Haired Monster was indeed a considerate good man!

The two arrived at the hatch where they exited to visit the red tin mine last time. Chu Rong took off a mecha space button from his neck and released it towards the open space. A tall, massive, pure black mecha with golden lines appeared in the clearing.

Qiao Zhiya looked up, unconsciously holding his breath.

What a domineering mecha!

Unlike all the mehas he had seen before, the shape of this mecha in front of him was different. He didn’t know how many grades of mechas there were, but this mecha stood there, like a giant beast resting after eating its prey. Although the behemoth converged all its aggression, the reek of blood and belligerence couldn’t be ignored.

His magic power felt the strong aura, eager to rush over, and then a very sharp feeling blocked his magic that rushed over. He was taken aback, and hurriedly withdrew his magic. His eyes fell on the dark golden pattern on the mecha’s body, showing his deeper curiosity.

This pattern seemed to be more than just for decoration. It felt like a material extracted from some kind of animal.

“Don’t just foolishly stand there.” 

A familiar smell leaned over, something tightened around his waist, and then his body was lifted.  The next second, he was already standing in the c*ckpit ²This is where the pilot controls the mecha. of the mecha.

Different from the black mecha that Fan Xiangnan was driving, this mecha’s c*ckpit was narrower. Although it also had a co-pilot seat, it was located behind the main pilot’s seat and the space was very small, probably only enough to stretch his legs.

Chu Rong found a protective shield to put on him. He glanced suspiciously at the mecha space button necklace in his hand— there seemed to be something wrong with it— and just ignored it. He put him on the co-pilot seat, buckled his seat belt, patted the top of his protective shield, and said, “Don’t move and carefully watch my movements.” After that, he went to the main pilot’s seat, sat down, put on his protective shield, and started the mecha.

Qiao Zhiya took a guilty look at the space button necklace Chu Rong placed on the operating table. His eyes swept over the two earth small magic stones that had completely lost their lustre at the junction of the necklace, and silently added another amount of debt he had to pay in his heart.

There was a slight start-up sound, the indicator lights in the c*ckpit were lit up in sequence, and a circular translucent screen almost enclosing the entire c*ckpit was projected in the air, directly showing the scenery around the mecha.

Qiao Zhiya was immediately drawn away, and couldn’t help whispering— it was too clear. It was as if they were standing in the surrounding scenery instead of the mecha. With so many screens, it was almost several times more than Fan Xiangnan’s mecha!

“Don’t be distracted.”

Chu Rong’s cold voice came from his front. He withdrew his gaze and focused on him.

A slender and powerful hand was placed on the operation panel with complex buttons. Qiao Zhiya noticed that the operation panel of this mecha was completely different from the one operated by Fan Xiangnan, with more buttons and some weird lever-like devices.

“We’re setting off.” 

When his slender finger touched a certain key, the mecha rose into the air and rushed outside the warship at an indomitable speed. At the same time, Chu Rong’s cold voice sounded in the c*ckpit.

“In the past, mechas were considered to be only able to be driven by people with spiritual power above level B, but that was not actually true. As long as you work hard, even people with no spiritual power can become excellent mecha fighters.”

Qiao Zhiya looked at his fast moving hands on the operator. Remembering what the old man said, he vaguely understood his purpose of personally driving his mecha to bring himself out this time. 

“Compared with manual driving, the only advantage of spiritual power driving is that it can be synchronized with the mecha. It can perceive the surrounding environment at the fastest speed and quickly respond during combat. But when your eyesight and hand speed reach a certain level of proficiency and coordination, the advantages of spiritual driving can actually be infinitely narrowed by high-efficiency manual driving. When the two are completely equal, combat experience and combat awareness are the keys in determining whether you can achieve victory.”

Chu Rong rarely talked a lot. Qiao Zhiya listened carefully, his gaze swept across the ring-shaped screen that clearly reflected the surrounding environment, and his heart was surging with excitement— mecha was a weapon belonging to the strong, whether spiritually or physically.

“Qiao Zhiya, you have to remember that your third-degree disability is just a shackle set on you by others. In fact, it’s nothing. You can become stronger even without spiritual power.”

Since the creation of mechas, spiritual power had always been the only criterion to determine whether human beings can drive them. In the past, there was even a case in which physically waste individuals³[People with low physical strength level.] relying on their excellent spiritual power to become mecha fighters. Meanwhile, when these aptitudes became reversed— someone who had no physical power but no spiritual power— would be directly classified as a third-degree disability. Let alone driving a mecha, even daily living would be affected.

In this era when even newborn babies had spiritual power, the role of spiritual power had penetrated into almost every aspect of life. Entering the star network required mental power, going to school to use learning software required mental power, and operating various instruments at work required mental power. Even the ID card needed to be left with a spiritual mark for identification. It could be said that a person without it was almost unable to function in this era.

When the first person proposed the concept of a pure manual driving mecha, everyone laughed at him mercilessly, saying that he was whimsical for trying to change the world. But when someone really stood at the top with pure manual driving and trampled on people known to be mecha’s spiritual genius, everyone became silent and went crazy.

It was really possible! Pure manual driving was not a joke! Pure physical talent was no longer a representation for barbarians, but another possibility of heroes!

It was a pity that this kind of madness only existed for just a few days, because people found that pure manual driving required too high physical power, and most people couldn’t meet that requirement. Even if they were lucky enough to achieve it, the requirements of manual driving for dynamic vision and keen sense also scared off a large number of people.

“That’s their loss for not wanting to make progress!” The mecha went to a stop. Chu Rong took off his protective shield, walked to Qiao Zhiya, and looked at him condescendingly. He put his hand on top of his protective shield and said in a deep voice. “If you have insufficient talent, you can practice. If your dynamic vision is too poor, you can see more. If your senses are slow, you can go to actual combat and slowly improve. Physical strength is the easiest aptitude to improve. As long as you work hard, you will be rewarded.”

Qiao Zhiya looked up. With his proud and confident appearance, Chu Rong seemed to be shining.

“So Qiao Zhiya.” Chu Rong helped him remove his protective shield, bent down to look squarely at him, and put his finger on his forehead, “You have the qualifications to become a strong person. Soon, you’ll enter society. You can directly ignore that ridiculous Level Three disability assessment.”

His eyes were extremely serious, full of trust in him, as if he had used all his strength to shred the definition of ‘strong’ given by the world, and climbed to the top to become the very definition of ‘strong.’

Qiao Zhiya remembered himself running freely in the forest in the past, and took a look at this fascinating c*ckpit. His magic power was boiling in his magic pool, his emotions were completely mobilized, and his face slowly turned red with excitement.

“Qiao Zhiya.” Chu Rong’s hand moved down, landed on his shoulder, gripped lightly, and said, “I can give you everything you need to become stronger, so are you willing to follow me? As long as you work hard, there will always be a day where your name will be engraved on the list of outstanding mecha fighters of the Federation. The military will have a place for you. “

Qiao Zhiya looked into his deep eyes, bewitched by the hot-blooded future he was describing, and almost promised. However, he suddenly remembered what Old Man Ren asked him, remembered his own origins like a time bomb, the military status he needed to retain and the inconvenience this status represented. He thought of the joy of looking for ore, smelting it, and making tools and weapons with his clansmen in the past. He remembered his surprise when seeing a mecha for the first time and thought of the small mecha lying in his storage ring. He was silent for a few seconds. He looked up, met his gaze, firmly shook his head, and seriously said, “No, I don’t want to.”⁴[Wahhhhhhhhhh!!! Here’s the answer we’ve been waiting for!]

Compared to fighting, he really liked the feeling that all kinds of machinery were slowly forming in his hands. He still had a lot of things to do, and he was destined to be unable to concentrate on responding to the expectations of the White-Haired Monster, which was unfair.

The certainty on Chu Rong’s face solidified. He looked at him for a few seconds. Then, as if he had heard something unbelievable, he grabbed his collar and lifted him up. He shook him vigorously, his bad temper flared up again, and fiercely asked,  “Damn Bald Chicken, what did you just answer? You said you don’t want to?”

The author has something to say:

Ancestor Chu: The abduction failed and exploded in anger.

Translator’s Note:

So that’s Qiao Zhiya’s response. Well, dwarves love creating, not fighting. Though I half-hoped he would say yes to Chu Rong, considering his promises. 

By the way, it’s a chapter scheduled this week. There are two more sponsored chapters coming up this week, Chapter 24 and Chapter 25.1, so we’ll quickly find out the events after Qiao Zhiya’s refusal (I also have no idea).