Mystical Journey

Barry shook his head.

"No matter how amazing your martial arts are, you will never be comparable to even the weakest Mech. The legendary strongest martial artist Cheng Xingyao from the Mother Planet Federation two centuries ago was rumored to have been able to break a boulder with a strike and kill a rhinoceros or an elephant with a fist. However, his body was barely on par with a Level Two radioactive mutated creature. That is the extent of the human body, regardless of any trick you use. On the other hand, a Level Two creature can easily be defeated by a Level Two pilot in a Mech. Two Level Two Mechs will be able to defeat a Level Three creature, while Mater Cheng Xingyao died in the claws of a level Three creature."

His speech was extremely blunt as there was nothing for him to hide. Countless Eagle's Nest students around them also nodded in agreement with his statement. All of a sudden, the chattering of discussions filled the hall; this topic that Barry had brought up had sparked the conversation between students about the topic of what was the healthy balance between Mech training and physical training.

Barry sincerely looked at Garen.

"Let me give you a word of advice, a pilot's strength lies in his Mech. A high Leveled Mech can destroy the world, as such, only a high leveled pilot can reach the piloting requirements. With every level, the increase in strength of the Mech is something that far exceeds what a human alone can achieve. On the other hand, even if you forgo training for just a day, your body will start to become weaker. Think about that!"

He turned around and jumped off the stage. Grabbing his jacket, he walked out of the training hall with his friends who were accompanying him from earlier.

Garen had not uttered a word since the very beginning; he was listening silently to him.

He understood that his opponent had good intentions, they were fellow Eagle's Nest students after all. They were both Crouched Eagle Talon practitioners and, in the eyes of outsiders, from the same group. His opponent honestly hoped that he could carefully think about this problem.

However, what they didn't know was that his Willpower was raised solely just by having the Life Secret Technique. Giving up his pursuit of secret techniques would mean giving up his own growth, causing the growth of his Willpower to come to an abrupt halt. Even the slightest improvements would take a minimum of 10 years.

"Unless you can hold your own against a Mech, a human's strength alone is nothing but an illusion," as Garen jumped down, Sofia too gave him some advice.

Anjay Terin also nodded in agreement,

Garen became silent.

"Can you show me the actual difference?"

The two looked at each other.

"Allow me," Sofia nodded. His performance on stage earlier had already fully displayed Nonosiva's innate talent as a genius, surpassing even the likes of other Elite Students. Managing to reach a Level Three Willpower when he was still a second-year, it was enough for her to invest her attention in him.

"Follow me."

******

Half an hour later…

The three of them, followed by a group of curious students, arrived at the simulation battle area.

Countless Battlenet stations were neatly arranged in this area. Every pair of stations were placed opposing each other as if symbolizing a duel between the two.

"This is where most duels take place. Go on, battle simulations don't cost anything, and it's the safest method," Sofia explained as she entered the cockpit on the right and laid back.

Garen followed suit and entered the left cockpit.

Closing his eyes, the Nerve Link Equipment connected itself to his head.

Shooop!

He opened his eyes to a pitch black scene. Suddenly, a line of text flashed in front of his eyes.

'Welcome to Eagle's Nest Battlegrounds. Please enter your name.'

"Nonosiva," Garen answered softly.

'Name verified. Ranking unknown. Please wait shortly while initializing background…' the text changed and disappeared after a brief moment.

After a while, a bright light flashed in front of Garen's eyes. After his eyes adjusted to the sudden change in brightness, he observed his surroundings.

He was standing in the middle of a wide silver and white hall with a floor that was smooth and flat and seemingly made entirely from alloyed metal. On his right was a black wall with a metal emblem of a black sword and shield embedded at the center. On his right was a huge glass window pane, revealing a beautiful sunset. There were even a couple of airships and battleships slowly drifting through the sky.

'Virtual background initialization complete. Please select your Mech,' an electronic voice rang in his ears.

Garen moved his body around and noticed a rectangular screen that had appeared in front of him. The screen displayed the silhouettes of the different Mechs available.

There were Mechs ranging from Level One all the way to Level Five, but due to his Willpower Level, he was limited to only Level Three and lower Mechs. Directly tapping on the image of the Level Three Mech, Garen started to read the details of each of the Mechs.

After perusing for a moment, Garen selected the Mech that he liked the most.

'Wings of Freedom: Level Three Strength-Type Mech. A standard issue Mech used by the Erlan military. Firepower Level Three, Speed Level Three, Defense Level Two, Strength Level Two. Special Equipment Skill: Heart of Freedom. Gains explosive speed for a short period of time. Increase the user's speed by one level. When this skill ends, decreases the user's strength by one level for ten seconds.'

This Mech was completely blue, and it seemed to be a Dragonlance wielding slender knight. It had a pointy helmet, revealing only the nose and the mouth below the eyes. It gave off a mysterious charm.

He tapped on the image of the WIngs of Freedom. Immediately, Garen felt his surroundings shift. In the blink of an eye, he was now seated inside a blue cockpit, and there was a bright circular screen in front of him, displaying the situation outside.

On the surrounding blue walls, there were countless lines connected to the various controls and lights.

"You've finished selecting your Mech? The Wings of Freedom, huh?" on the opposite side of the hall, a dark red Mech appeared out of nowhere. It was also a humanoid form, but it was dual wielding a pair of rapiers and lightly tapping them together to create a crisp clanking sound. That Mech didn't have any outstanding features, giving off a very plain vibe.

"My Mech is the lowest tier Level Five Mech, the Red Fish," Sofia introduced. "I purposely selected the worst Level five Mech to demonstrate how the difference in Willpower levels can have a terrifying difference in strength when it comes to manipulating a Mech."

Garen did not answer. He manipulated the Mech to move its limbs around a bit.

"Ready?" the Red Fish raised one of its rapiers.

"Okay," Garen responded.

"Be careful. What I'm going to use is the Red Fish Mech's most basic move, the Rushing Cross Slash. It is a basic move that any Level Five pilot will be able to use," Sofia responsibly explained her next move.

"Understood. Come at me!" Garen readied his Mech. At Level Three Willpower, he could already completely stop relying on the Moonfang, allowing him to freely control the Mech. The agility, speed, reflexes and strength stats of a Level Three Mech shocked him. This Level Three Mech had an equivalent to the combined stats of two Level One Mechs. This was not just a simple equation of "1+1=2". In an actual battle, one Level Three Mech would be able to defeat ten level One Mechs at once.

"Careful!" Sofia once again warned. "Rushing Cross Slash!"

The lights at the Red Fish's feet started flashing red, and its two rapiers were held close to the two sides of its body, their tips before the Mech's face.

.

Vroom!!

A loud engine ignition sound rang loudly as the Red Fish Mech suddenly had an explosive burst of speed, moving hundreds of meters with just a leap. Thrusting the two rapiers forwards, it left a trail resembling a red cross in the air.

This speed had far exceeded that of the Level Three Mech. Leaping hundreds of meters in an instant and charging straight towards Garen's Mech, this kind of explosiveness didn't even allow room for Garen's Willpower to react and maneuver the Mech away. He had no choice but to forcefully raise his lance up, attempting to use the opponent's momentum to pierce through it.

Within that short time, it was the best he could do.

However, what exceeded Garen's expectations was that even at that explosive speed, the Red Fish could still manage to make adjustments to its movements. Leaning the Mech slightly to the right, she managed to catch the Dragonlance right below the Mech's armpit, allowing her to continue charging forward. As she made contact, the rapiers in her hands fiercely slashed through the body of the Wings of Freedom Mech.

Despite Garen already using the skill Heart of Freedom to momentarily increase his speed, he was still far slower than his opponent. In an instant, the chest region of his Mech was slashed through by the rapiers.

His vision suddenly turned to black. Whoosh! Everything surrounding him disappeared, leaving him in a pitch darkness.

'Pilot Sofia Wins!' the electronic voice rang out loud once more.

Pshhhh…

The cockpit automatically opened up.

Garen slowly stood up and walked out of the cockpit. Sofia was already a step ahead of him, silently looking at him. The surrounding students who followed him here, including Anjay Terin, were all here. The students started chattering amongst themselves, but Anjay Terin showed an unsurprised look.

"How was it? Were you able to feel the difference now?" Sofia softly asked. "My actual Willpower is only at Level Three, but I was able to use my authorization to alter it and pilot a Level Five Mech. Even though it was the weakest Level Five Mech, you should be able to understand the difference in strength between the levels of the Mechs now. I was also once like you, and I got completely thrashed by a Level four Mech in the past as well."

"Why is the difference so big?" Garen thought back to the scene at the battlegrounds just now. He now understood that the difference between Mechs had far exceeded his imaginations.

"This is the strongest point of a will-powered Mech - the internal speed-change system. It allows the nerves of the pilot themselves to speed up, and this speed boost will increase based on the Level of the pilot's Willpower. In the eyes of a pilot, the world after the speed boost will become an extremely slow world, and every action, if not above a certain speed, would be seen as a normal person's slow movement, almost like the slow-motion effects from movies," Sofia explained.

"Furthermore, this was only an average level. A high-leveled pilot would even be able to manipulate the Mech to emit an energy field. If the opposing Mech is not at a high enough level, it wouldn't even be able to get close to it," Anjay Terin continued solemnly. "For example, the Magnetized Energy Field can create a strong magnetic field that can affect the balance of both the pilot and the Mech. Unless you're piloting a non-metal Mech, you'd have no hope of even getting remotely close to the opponent's Mech. You would then be at the mercy of your opponent's long-range attacks. There's also the Reflective Energy Field, this is the forte of the White Light Organization. According to the information we have, apparently all Mechs of a lower level than the user, no matter how strong their attacks, would have it reflected right back at them. It's straight up an unbeatable noob pwning [1] machine!"

Garen started to frown even more. The difference between the Level of Willpower could be greatly amplified by the Mech, increasing it to such a degree. Needless to say, he had underestimated the terror of the will-powered Mechs by a longshot.

"Looks like only a Mech can defeat a Mech… Unless he has an army of people who have mastered secret techniques, or if he reaches the level of a demon lord, he would still be no match for the destructive prowess of a Mech," Garen finally understood the different levels of the Mechs in this world.

He did use its full potential in that bout just now, but even if his physical capabilities were stronger, against that Mech's attacks, unless he has reached an impossibly high level, the human body could never withstand the impact of that strike. That strike packed at least a few hundred tonnes of force, and that was only taking into account the physical impact of the strike; it did not factor in the damage from the opponent's Willpower.