Chapter 39 Mecha Blue Luan

During this past month, Zhuang Yun sneaked off to the restricted area every night while effortlessly breezing through various training sessions by day.

Once the academy administration confirmed that the new recruits had attained a certain level of military proficiency, the day for selecting mechas arrived promptly.

"Classmates, this afternoon Teacher Zeng Yuan will take those of you who need one to the mecha warehouse to make your selections."

The students in the audience reacted with indifference, considering that most of them already owned their personal mechas.

"What? Free mechas?" Zhuang Yun could not help letting out a high-pitched squeak like a startled marmot.

"Those who do not need one can make their own arrangements for the afternoon."

"Such a stroke of good fortune, and who wouldn't need one!" The classmates turned their heads in unison, gazing at her with the look one might reserve for a bumpkin.

Upon arriving at the warehouse entrance that afternoon, Zhuang Yun saw only a handful of people. Aside from familiar faces like Li Yun and Zhou Fanyi, the others were complete strangers from different classes.

"What is this? Why does nobody else need a mecha?" Zhuang Yun asked Li Yun with curiosity.

"Well, most people's families already equipped them with suitable mechas back in their preparatory schools."

"Ah? Everyone is this wealthy?"

Li Yun smiled, and soon everyone followed Teacher Zeng Yuan inside the mecha warehouse.

"You can place your hands right here, and the AI system will automatically select the mecha that best matches your spiritual power."

Several students queued up to take the test in turn.

Zhuang Yun drew an archaic compass from her bodice, and its needle began to spin frantically.

The teacher and her classmates had long since grown accustomed to her eccentric, fortune-teller-like antics and simply let her be.

Ten seconds later, the compass needle came to a halt.

Following the direction indicated by the needle, she came to a corner where a flight of stairs led downward. The needle was still trembling, signaling that she needed to go further down.

Zhuang Yun descended several flights of stairs one after another until she finally reached the lowest level.

As she pushed open the rusted iron door, a scent combining machine oil and rust assailed her senses.

In the dim light, the outlines of countless abandoned mechas loomed vaguely, resembling silent, colossal beasts of steel.

Her fingers brushed against the switch on the wall. The aging lighting system emitted a crackling sound of electric current, and a few precarious overhead lamps flickered into a yellowish glow.

A mecha in a black-and-white color scheme stood quietly. Its armor was covered in fine cracks, and a large chunk of the armor plating on its left arm was missing, exposing the intricate network of conduits within.

Zhuang Yun drew closer involuntarily, her fingertips gently touching the mecha's frigid surface.

A familiar aura seemed to linger within those cracks, reminding her of the sensation she felt when her master imparted mental cultivation techniques to her.

There was a blurred emblem on the mecha's chest, vaguely outlining the shape of a sword.

Zhuang Yun stood on tiptoe and reached out to wipe the dust from the emblem. The instant her finger touched the mark, a faint humming sound emanated from deep within the mecha.

She noticed the mecha's eyes—those long-dimmed optical lenses—seemed to flash with a faint blue light.

Zhuang Yun walked around the mecha once and discovered a line of tiny characters engraved on its back, almost obliterated by rust. Leaning in closer for a better look, she barely managed to make out the two characters: "Qingluan."

"Qingluan," she murmured softly, suddenly noticing that the design of the mecha's joints was extraordinary.

Engraved upon those precision gears and bearings were patterns resembling Daoist talismans.

Her pupils contracted slightly.

She had seen these exact patterns in the ancient texts left behind by her master.

"Zhuang Yun, where are you? It's your turn!" Teacher Zeng Yuan's voice echoed from above, shattering the silence of the warehouse.

"Coming!" Zhuang Yun hurried up, only to find that her classmates had already selected their mechas. Wearing mecha pendant necklaces, they all stared at her in unison.

"Teacher! I've chosen mine! Down below, I found the mecha I wanted! It's called 'Qingluan'."

Upon hearing this, Teacher Zeng Yuan was unimpressed. The mechas down below were models discarded a century or eight ago, lacking in advanced operational capabilities. With Zhuang Yun's S-rank spiritual power, she was undoubtedly capable of matching with something much better.

The teacher simply assumed she had been led astray by heretical methods—temporarily misled by her compass.

"Come try it here first."

Feudal superstition was untrustworthy; trusting science was the only truth.

"Alright." Zhuang Yun reached out and pressed the button. The system interface began to rapidly calculate her spiritual power rating alongside her various physiological functions.

"Match successful!"

"Mecha No. 1876, codename 'Qingluan', located on Sub-level 4, Sector B, Position 13."

Teacher Zeng Yuan was inwardly astonished: How could this be? Her spiritual power was at the S-rank; why did she match with a mecha inferior even to those chosen by students with A-rank spiritual power?

"Oh, this machine actually works! It's even comparable to my compass, not bad." Zhuang Yun offered her praise without the slightest hesitation.

Hearing this, everyone could not help twitching the corners of their mouths, thinking that this little mystic actually knew what she was doing.

Metaphysics, at times, was truly wondrous.

Reluctant to believe it and suspecting a system malfunction, Zeng Yuan had Li Yun test first, followed by Zhuang Yun again, yet both tests yielded the exact same result.

Could it be that she possessed unstable spiritual power?

There had been students in the past who recklessly consumed forbidden substances in an attempt to cheat during tests, artificially bursting out with S-rank results upon evaluation. Once admitted to the military academy, many either found their spiritual power unable to sustain mecha operations and dropped out, or suffered brain nerve disorders caused by forced operation and ultimately went mad. Numerous such cases existed.

"Zhuang Yun, come with me to the school's testing hall for a moment," Teacher Zeng Yuan said with a grave expression.

"Oh, okay." Zhuang Yun had no inkling of the gravity of the situation at that moment.

Upon hearing this, the others immediately understood the underlying meaning in the teacher's words—Zhuang Yun might be facing the crisis of expulsion.

After the other students left, Li Yun and Zhou Fanyi decided to stay behind to accompany Zhuang Yun.

Reflecting on the past month, they had actually harbored a great deal of resentment toward Zhuang Yun.

That was because she was excessively competent, always managing to effortlessly complete training tasks that they struggled mightily to finish. Yet, upon closer reflection—she actually seemed like a pretty decent person after all.

At this moment, the two of them looked at Zhuang Yun with gloomy and aggrieved expressions.

Zhuang Yun raised an eyebrow and teased, "Do you know what your expressions look like right now?"

"You look like you've been possessed by evil spirits."

...In an instant, the two of them felt that Zhuang Yun no longer deserved their sympathy.

The four of them arrived at the testing hall, and Teacher Zeng Yuan explained the situation.

Zhuang Yun's testing commenced, with the staff first administering a hypnotic medicine to her.

In her drowsy state, Zhuang Yun heard a vague voice: "Student, testing begins now."

Operating within the familiar testing machine, Zhuang Yun circulated her internal energy to drive the floating marker up to the blue benchmark on the testing rod.

Li Yun and Zhou Fanyi breathed a sigh of relief on the sidelines. Thank goodness!

Teacher Zeng Yuan frowned: This looked perfectly stable.

The staff member then used electronic waves to scan Zhuang Yun's cerebral cortex: "Student, again."

Zhuang Yun felt a slight tingling sensation across her scalp and repeated the movement.

After several consecutive attempts using various methods, the staff continued to measure her at the S-rank.

Bored, Zhuang Yun looked around idly, letting them fuss over her: "Hey, what's that purple dot supposed to mean?"

Zhou Fanyi looked at Zhuang Yun with incredulity, his expression conveying that she must be completely ignorant of common sense. Then he remembered she was a Daoist who had taken up martial cultivation halfway through life, which made her ignorance somewhat understandable.

Thus, he explained: "That purple color means double-S spiritual power."

Zhuang Yun pouted slightly, channeling her internal energy to elevate the floating marker straight to the purple benchmark.

Leaving everyone present staring in utter shock!

Having reached the purple level, Zhuang Yun noticed there was still a red marker above it: "Then what does this red one mean?"

Without waiting for an answer, Zhuang Yun directly propelled the floating marker all the way to the red zone.

It turned out to be triple-S!!!