Chapter Five: The City of High Technology—The Satanic Technological Revolution
“All right, members of Team Four, please follow me,” Instructor Anthony ordered.
“Wait, wait a minute. Team Four? So that means, besides our team, there are at least three other teams!” Narukawa asked curiously.
“That’s correct. There are three other combat teams like yours, and we’re still forming new ones. The next team will be ready to go next month,” Instructor Anthony replied.
After leading them for a while, Instructor Anthony brought them to their dormitory. “Here are your rooms. Mr. Narukawa and Miss Wenxin, you’ll stay in B101. Mr. Colt and Mr. George, you’ll be in B102. Mr. Thomson and Mr. Winchester, you’ll be in B103.” As Instructor Anthony finished, Colt and the others chuckled.
Wenxin asked with clear dissatisfaction, “Are you sure about putting him in the same room as me? I don’t feel comfortable with that.”
“What do you mean by that? Are you suggesting I’d do something to you?” Narukawa replied awkwardly. It was an understandable discomfort, being spoken about in that way.
But Wenxin pressed on, stabbing at Narukawa with pointed words: “Seeing how uneasy you were before, I wouldn’t put it past you to try something.” After hearing that, Narukawa felt even more ill at ease. Fortunately, Instructor Anthony spoke up, “Don’t worry, Miss Wenxin. The dorm has two separate rooms. Just lock your door.”
“That’s a relief,” Wenxin sighed, patting her chest and stomach. But Narukawa couldn’t help protesting, “You really don’t need to worry about that!” Still, Wenxin ignored him.
“All right, let’s move on with the tour,” Anthony urged them quickly. They continued on, arriving at the base’s armory. “Now let me introduce you to some of our advanced technology. This is the Earth Alliance’s standard guard unit, the G380 Guardian Machine Gun Turret. It uses the standard Earth Convention 11.82mm rounds to deal with basic Satans and ‘Venoms.’ It’s standard issue at every base.”
“Uh... by that logic, does that mean we could just go home?” Colt teased.
“Well... actually, this can only handle the weakest two types of Satans. Next, we have the S-type Fixed Heavy Cannon, which can deal with most Satans—”
“So can we go home now?” Colt continued, grinning.
“Well... the heavy cannon’s range is limited, and its rate of fire is too slow. So, you’d better stick around.” At that moment, Anthony’s watch beeped. He checked it, nodded, and said, “All right, everyone. We need to head to the hangar. There’s a mission.” He led them towards the hangar. “Your mission this time is to go to Taikilda to rescue survivors. We’ll be taking the UF220 transport plane, which has a top speed of 2,835 km/h and is equipped with two G380 Guardians.”
“Instructor, I’ve been meaning to ask you something...” Narukawa ventured.
“Go ahead.”
“I noticed there’s a battle blade on the ‘Knight’ mecha, but I can’t seem to draw it. Why is that?”
“Oh, that blade is a backup. You can only draw it if the primary blade is broken.”
“So, is it possible to draw it while the primary blade is still intact?” Narukawa pressed.
“Yes, it’s possible. I’ll show you how later. For now, let’s get on the plane.” The hatch slowly opened, and each of them silently contemplated the battle that lay ahead...
—Author’s Note—
Thankfully, I’d already conceived all these machines before winter break, or how else could I introduce the advanced technology of “Mecha Dynasty”? To be honest, I, TK, have been considering adapting “Mecha Dynasty” into a Chinese mecha game, just like the game featured in the first chapter of the novel. If anyone shares my interest, you’re welcome to discuss it with me. If the game is officially released, I’ll also make the mechas and Satans that haven’t yet appeared in the later parts of the novel available to beta testers and game developers.