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Character ListQiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.
Chu Rong: Marshal ML.
Ren Mo: aka Master Ren. A mecha master making full manually-piloted mecha.
Fan Xiangnan: ML’s second-in-command.
Zhuang Yu: A doctor in ML’s army.
Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC.
Chu Huai: ML’s older brother, he’s in politics.
Gu Yan’an: Chu Huai’s wife. She’s a doctor.
Qiuqiu: MC’s special plant pet he kept inside his storage bracelet. Advertisement
Xiang Kun: Chu Yan’s mortal enemy. Xiang Hui’s younger brother. Mecha manufacturing student.
Xiang Hui: A colonel. The Xiang family’s current heir. Xiang Kun’s older brother.
Sang Bu: MC’s roommate. Transferred from Information System to Mecha Manufacturing.
Chairman Ning aka Ning Tianya: Ning family’s head.
Ning Tianxing: Ning Kongran’s father, Ning Tianya’s older brother.
Ning Kongran: Ning family current heir. Studying mecha manufacturing, unlike his family.
Luo Li: Qiao Zhiya’s senior older brother. He won the online Mecha Manufacturing Contest. Now Qiao Zhiya’s (and Sang Bu’s) homeroom teacher.
Jian: Feng, the Imperial High Advisor’s son. Studies History.
As the festival went on, the Ning family’s spiritual power boosting drug became more and more famous. Thanks to that, Qiao Zhiya couldn’t keep up his festive mood. Everyone also felt the same dismay, preferring to rest at home when they were free.
Not long after the festival, the military academy opened, and Qiao Zhiya was preparing to skip a grade again.
Chu Yan, who learned of this matter, was full of rawness and felt that he was a salted fish – everyone came out of the same family, but the difference was so great that he might have grown a fake brain.
“Master Shang has promised me to put my name as one of his project’s researchers. Thanks to that, I can jump two grades. I think it’s appropriate, since at that grade, it’s far enough along in the curriculum to get to learn about advanced parts. I will have room to make up for the classes I fell behind in when I was skipping parts earlier to get ready for the tournament.”
Qiao Zhiya was talking about his plan while dismantling the middle-level part model in his hand. His face was rosy, looking pleasing and cute.
Chu Yan’s gaze turned towards the blond youth’s flexible fingers, trying to see his movements, but he couldn’t follow. Finally, he returned to his chair decisively. “With the efficiency of your self-study, it would only take you two months at most to catch up with the rest of the students. That leaves you with a total of four or five months of free time. What are you going to do with the remaining months, spend them in the classroom?”
“No, I can suspend classes properly after applying for a research fellowship. As long as I pass the final exam, I will return to study the manually-piloted mecha after the suspension. At that time, I should have finished collecting all the materials I need, so I can properly start to make an actual mecha.” Qiao Zhiya shook his head, finally assembled the part, looked at it with satisfaction, and then checked the learning progress of this part in the electronic book before continuing to learn the next one.
Chu Yan was amazed at his ability to learn while chatting and still not make mistakes on both sides. He asked casually, “Collecting materials? You’re still short of materials?”
With the extent of his erge’s favoritism towards Qiao Zhiya, basically, if he asked for materials in the morning, the house would be piled up with materials in the afternoon. Apart from a few rare level 10 materials, what materials he didn’t have in the house? Does he still need to collect them himself?
Qiao Zhiya heard Chu Yan’s confusion. He turned his head towards him, putting down the parts on his hand, and began to explain it in detail. “The parts and accessories provided at the beginning of the Star Network Mecha Manufacturing Competition were made from data, specifically, the average value of each material. The real material will have different values than the virtual version. Except for the shell and other important parts of the finished product on the Star Network, most of the other parts were made from feedings. So, if I wanted to build the mecha in reality, I need to procure and modify them one-by-one until the exact value matches – or exceeds – the virtual prototype. Plus, this is the first manually-piloted mecha I have ever made, and also the first of its kind. I need to discuss the details with Chu Rong first so I can use the best-fitting materials.”
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That is to say, if he had the ability, he would get the best of the best, a level-10 material if need be. There’s no upper limit, only a bottom limit he must exceed.
In addition, Master Ren also specifically instructed that his current thinking of mecha making is completely different from that of the conventional method. Therefore, he shouldn’t be constrained with conservative ideas when making mecha, he needed to be even more out-of-the-box for this groundbreaking mecha.
Normally, the conventional wisdom dictates that one has to learn each and individual parts first, then on how to assemble and deconstruct them. Assembly starts slowly from elementary to intermediate and advanced, but he is not the same. He has a unique assembly system of his own. Of course he also needs to learn all of the parts, but he also needs to learn how to modify them to suit his needs. Thanks to his different understanding, he also isn’t suitable with the slow teaching system, he has to self-study them at his own pace. He has to consolidate the necessary basic knowledge to go to the super class customization.
Master Ren said that it is most important for him to develop new things now. As for the popularization of this kind of thing, he can instruct a team down the line to mass-produce it. His energy should be used for research and development, not the production side.
Although he was beyond flattered by Master Ren’s confidence in his skill, he also felt that since he wanted to do it, he should do his best. Only by touching the limit of the manually-piloted mecha at this stage can he be confident to properly standardize it and mass-produce it for the masses.
In addition, it takes time to research and cultivate alternatives to the alien beasts materials required for this driving system. Before the formal research of the synthetic version, he intends to use the real alien beasts materials the Chu family has to make a top-level driving system.
All in all, whether it is the best material required for mechas or the high-end alien beast soft materials required for the driving system, these things need time to prepare.
Chu Yan nodded knowingly, remembering the real purpose of his coming here to pull him in for a chat. After this topic finished, he pressed his voice down and asked, “Qiao, since you won’t be able to finish this matter in a short time
 why don’t you relax at this time? Surely, you have spare time now, right?”
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“

”
No, he doesn’t have any spare time. He has to make up lessons, study the driving system, and prepare materials in advance. He has so many things that he can’t wait for two days to pass. But Chu Yan’s eyes were too sparkling, full of hope and anticipation. He couldn’t bear to extinguish all of that. So instead of telling the truth, he asked, “What entertainment?”
Chu Yan’s eyes brightened. He took out his photon computer and opened an official website. He said in a puzzled voice, “Here’s the thing, I have a
 something to kill a little time. Remember what I told you before, only by understanding the battle style of a mecha warrior can you properly customize the best optimal mecha for them. Now, the chance has come for you to do exactly that!”
Qiao Zhiya’s gaze moved to that registration form, and he was silent for two seconds, before reminding his friend: “Chu Yan, I only passed the intermediate mecha driving course in the virtual world. I have never touched a mecha in reality.” Simply put, his mecha driving skill is noob-level.
“It doesn’t matter!” Chu Yan waved his hand and held down his shoulder, lowering his voice even more, and said, “You only need to sign up with me. The previous competition was held on the Internet, and we can compete together. Let’s play a couple rounds together, alright?”
Qiao Zhiya immediately caught the point and asked, “You want me to be with you so much, is it because Chu Rong and others won’t allow you to participate in this competition?”
“

”
Chu Yan withdrew his hand in guilty conscience. He gritted his teeth, then took a deep breath before nodding. Then, he explained his point of view: “This competition is held every four years, and the minimum age requirement is 18 years old. The preliminary competition is held on the Internet. Despite that, each match is fairly realistic. As for the round-robin and finals, they’re held offline in the real world, so there’s a real danger of injury. You know, in a mecha-fighting competition, such injuries are normal! But my big brothers, they
”
Qiao Zhiya tensed his face and looked at him disapprovingly – if it was just about the injury, it would be impossible for Chu Huai, who did pamper Chu Yan, to disagree with his wants like this. Chu Yan must’ve omitted a couple facts.
Chu Yan couldn’t stand Qiao Zhiya’s doubtful stare at him. In the end, he collapsed, and told him honestly, “Well, actually
 it’s very likely for injuries to occur. Because the final
 is a survival, battle-royale style kind of competition. So, the last one standing wins. Everyone will fight each other on a separate planet. So
”
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Qiao Zhiya began to bury his head in piecing together the parts, signaling his refusal with his actions.
“Don’t ah, you are my last hope
” Chu Yan started wailing, reached out to cover Qiao Zhiya’s parts, and whined pitifully, “Qiao, I have a sense of measure, I swear! Dage also participated in this game, but Erge didn’t have the opportunity to participate because of the war, and when he had the time, he already became a Marshal. Otherwise, I bet he’ll participate!  And this competition does not limit the strength and age of the players. Beginners can participate, but advanced mecha fighters can also participate. With my current strength, it’s absolutely impossible for me to advance to the finals, so I can’t be injured! The next competition will be four years later, and at that time, I will be busy with my internship in the military, so I definitely can’t participate. Please, Qiao, this is really my last chance to participate. Can you bear to live with the knowledge that this will be a regret for the rest of my life?”
Qiao Zhiya stopped moving again, looked at him with a frown, then asked with a palpable hesitation in his voice, “Can’t you participate in the next competition after the next then? Didn’t you say there’s no upper limit on age?”
“The next term is eight years from now. At that time, I will be 27 years old. Look at the age and current position of Dage and Erge. When I reach the age of 27, my position in the Federation should only be a little lower than them. At the very least, I’m confident I’ll be  Colonel by then. Look at Xiang Hui, do you think it’s appropriate for a man in his rank to participate in this amateur mecha-driving competition?” Chu Yan continued to look pitiful.
Putting things that way, it does make sense. It seems that this time is really the last chance for Chu Yan. With family support and ability, Chu Yan’s future achievements will certainly not be low. The older he is, the higher his position will be. In the future, there is really no chance to participate in this kind of competition.
Qiao Zhiya listened more and he grew even more biased towards Chu Yan’s pleadings. The feeling of missing such a monumental competition must be very bad. It may become a lifelong regret, but in the case he can get injured badly

Seeing his hesitation, Chu Yan knew he had already hooked Qiao Zhiya. He continued, “I promise I’ll protect myself! I swear! I just want to experience this for myself! Really, I can’t make it to the finals with my strength. So, I’ll only be fighting on the Internet, and there’s no way for me to get physically injured there!”
“If you only enter the preliminary rounds, will you really not be hurt?” Qiao Zhiya finally acquiesced with a sigh. Then, he remembered one thing, so he asked, “Can someone used their own custom mecha to participate?”
Chu Yan immediately understood his implication. Knowing that there’s a gap to exploit, he nodded vigorously, saying “Yes, of course! The competition acknowledges that it’s also a strength for you to be able to procure a custom mecha of your own!”
Qiao Zhiya listened to his explanation.
If he can use his own mecha to enter the competition, then he may be able to test drive “Rongtian”, so that he can make changes in reality after discovering the problem. After all, this kind of debugging with actual combat is the most effective. Plus, he won’t make it to the offline competition. It’s a win-win situation all around.
“Fine, I can accompany you to sign up.” He nodded and immediately added. “But this thing can’t be hidden from Chu Rong and Chu Huai, you must tell them.” After all, he’s still worried that someone will use this opportunity to hurt Chu Yan, especially with the current political climate so unstable. It’s better safe than sorry.