Chapter 78: Last One Standing
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ye Chong was shifting to the venue with the rest of the members. Xuelin could not resist doing her signature eye-rolling at Ye Chong. She just wanted to keep her so-called "attitude" because Ye Chong was putting up an attitude with her and her friends too. Though her pupils might be rolling into the abyss in her head anytime soon, Ye Chong was not reacting since her so-called "attitude" was considered too unthreatening for him to make a move.
"Here it is," Yang An introduced the very building of their academy.
It was an awe-inspiring building.
Nevertheless, Ye Chong did not seem impressed while Xuelin carried on spitting her tongue with Cousin Xiu kindly advising her to stop it.
The main building was a foundation of about 800 floors tall - shaped like a gigantic circular beehive, with countless mechs flying into the openings from time to time like flocks of hornets.
The mechs were the main transportation on the planet at that time. It was a century of technological advancement. However, it did not mean that people had given up traveling by foot. In fact, there were a handful of students who retained walking as part of their routine and so were the people around. Pedestrians would never disappear because of some fancy technologies hovering everywhere above them as they strolled to their destination in leisure, admiring the view around them. And on this very planet, the Blue Ocean Academy was the one-and-only, one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-blue-moon institute that encompassed multiple dimensions of mechanical expertise. They had compiled the syllable and remastered the structure, which provided an efficient and effective learning experience. The Blue Ocean government also showed tremendous support in founding this establishment and keeping it running.
Certainly, the Blue Ocean Academy did not fail their supporters as they finally made it into the top 100 academies in 5 major galaxies the year before last. They made it with a crash, like a charging chariot of scholars into the hall of the wisest fame, becoming the pride and admiration of residents on Blue Ocean Planet.
The school compound was as wide as a state. Well, technically, Blue Ocean Planet had only 4 states. One could imagine how tremendous the government’s support to the academy was.
There were trees. Yes, trees! The long-extinct trees due to illegal logging could actually be found in the academy! They were well-taken care of too! Lumbers were the luxury in the market, the price was astronomical even for a piece of lumber with a diameter merely about 10 centimeters. Let alone a living tree, there where Ye Chong stood, lay a huge land of forest before him. Imagine the price of this forest! It was a much more rewarding investment than any other traditional property. As the age of the trees increased, the price would increase steadily too. It was just like wines, but thousands of bottles of them! And they did not need an appraiser to determine their value!
The enrollment was approximately 500,000 students, with a large number of them coming from planets far, far away.
As Ye Chong and his happy-go-lucky companions trekked on, he saw many students passing by, with most of them having an active discussion of the upcoming tournament. They seemed exceedingly excited. Ye Chong the usual indifferent one could understand their excitement. I mean, thousands and thousands of mechs soaring in the sky, do you know how grand the sight would be? Thought Ye Chong.
Obviously the tournament had became the star of the day, as a Pilot was the representation of power in this time. Being the freest individual voyaging in the galaxy, they never failed to amaze the people not only with their skills, but also with the epic tales of their adventure. They were like the rangers, conquering the unknown; they were like the acrobats, agile yet bold. Their stories were colored by romance, branded by will. Their heroic appearance was also further reinforced as publicized by the government. The dauntless ideology of a pilot was popular among the lively youngsters. And most importantly the demonstration of their skills had become a dazzling entertainment to behold without fail. Applause came roaring like the waterfall; their names were shouted by the crowd. And of course, any big fans of the mechanism would not simply miss the tournament this time just to have a moment of happiness glancing at the strangest mech one could ever have seen and the greatest creativity a mech modification technician could have.
The adrenaline surged every stream of Ye Chong’s veins under his skin. Ye Chong looked calm but his emotion grumbled, urging him to get moving. It was his first time seeing such a magnificent view.
And that awe in him slowly transformed into envy. He grew envious of these students. It must be wonderful to be able to study and live here since young. But… He discarded the thought entirely. It was not him to be sentimental of trivial things like this. Everyone had their own path to go. He understood the rule of life well.
Despite being in quite a naive environment, Ye Chong kept his alertness as he tried his best to maintain a set of distance away from people, which made him appear a little sociopathic in the crowd. Nonetheless, a crowd was still a crowd. It was so packed that Ye Chong’s effort of keeping a distance from people became meaningless and unfulfilled. The situation to him was not foreign, however, he could only cope with helplessness. A place like this would bring utter murder in his viewpoint. It would practically be the most dangerous, the best place for assassination. He strongly believed that if he were to commit a murder in a crowd like this, he would hardly be noticed.
"Hey!" A question popped up in his mind out of sudden, "Yang An, so, why haven't you thought of employing an actual mod technician, like… the real deal?"
"The school was fine with outsiders participating in the tournament. But with one condition - the age of the participant must be less than 25. In a simpler term, we have to find a technician younger than that. And a mech modification technician aged less than 25? That’s the catch. Only a genius could be an official technician before they turned 25. And there are not more than 10 geniuses in the entire Fal Galaxy," explained Yang An.
Yang An could be clarifying the scenario in an dramatic and elaborative way, but Ye Chong did not really care of how he said. He's got the point anyway, and he was very much aware of the reason behind such condition.
Surely if he were to just compare himself with the certified mod technicians out there, he would not feel much of how outstanding a mere 25-year-old official mechanic could be. He was only 20 too. But wonder how his mindset would change if he ever knew the fact that a normal mod technician would already be 28 by the time of graduation. They had a stern assessment for this title. The students had to take up further education after they graduated. After they had passed that, they had to undergo an internship for about 2 years. And they strictly could not produce any form of inaccuracies (or mistakes) of more than 5% of the entire timeframe of performance. Only then they would be officially bestowed with the title. So a normal mod technician would be at least 33 years old.
Well, as what Yang An had mentioned, while it sounded literally impossible to be a recognized mod technician before 25, there were geniuses. If you happened to have some revolutionary theory or invention that actually got the attention of the 5 major galaxies’ prominent organizations and they gave you the recognition while you passed the assessment by the Mod. Technician Association (MTA), you could skip all the way to internship. If you also successfully completed your internship without making mistakes of more than 3% in the period, you would be certified right away.
This was some exclusive standard beyond the SOP that had attracted tons of experts from everywhere in the galaxy. They were serious, like dead-serious, that to the senior group , this tournament was as significant as their year-end assessment to get their certification. As for the junior group, they were highly participative, willing to challenge their limits. Some might have argued that it did not sound that serious but these students were the kind who would head out and hunt for experts from other schools or even the hermits hidden in the villages outside, all just to win the tournament. This led to the interaction between schools to exchange ideology and inventive methodology, all for the advancement of the academy. It was part of the Blue Ocean Academy’s plan as the school would also pay the outsiders handsomely to encourage enrollment, especially to those geniuses who learned everything themselves yet concealing themselves among the people.
Every potential counts!
That was the vision of the academy.
Ye Chong entered the building with Yang An’s gang. There were still a little bit more time till their turn.
Oh?
Ye Chong’s eyes detected something fun. He went to the spectator’s area. It was the race, the race of flight. It was surprisingly as intense as the combat between mechs he had spectated back then. The zooming velocity to the finale of speed of war in the sky, the sonic boom caused by the friction as the mechs shredded the air with their compelling momentum, the whirlwind that veiled a screen of sand as they passed by, the scream from the people in thrill; those were blood-boiling to Ye Chong as his hands grabbed the metal fence tight.
"Time to go," Yang An said as he hauled Ye Chong away from the spectator’s area to a walkway with a plate written the number "5" at the entrance.
A touch-screen processor projected in a hologram stood there at the side. "Your I.D." Yang An motioned with his hands.
Ye Chong took the card out from his pocket. "Put it in," pointed Yang An to the slot.
The hologram screen changed its interface as soon as Ye Chong inserted his card to the processor. A number of windows of Ye Chong’s biography popped up.
Name: Ye Chong
Age: 20
That was all it mattered. At the age section, it clearly wrote "20". Definitely nothing should go wrong at this point. Yang An let off a sigh of relief. It looked like all his anxiousness could finally get on hold.
"Oh and pick ‘external’ at the ‘participant type’ section!" reminded Yang An.
Beep! The mechanical voice rang, "Ye Chong, age, 20, external participation fulfilled the condition, please select the participating title."
This was simple. Ye Chong just picked "mech modification technician" himself without Yang An’s nagging reminder.
"Please input the index number of the participating group."
…
Yang An stayed silent. Ye Chong was thinking just when he really needed a reminder, the person kept his mouth shut. Only after he gave a stare for a moment, Yang An hastily recited the group’s index number, "That’d be HL659874!"
Thud! Thud! Thud! … Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
… Ye Chong checked the input for a few times. Yup, that was right! And he pressed "Enter", "Congratulations! Registration completed!" the voice rang.
The registration process of Blue Ocean Academy was easy and hassle-free. This was to encourage participation of nonmembers.
"Alright. This walkway is where you would enter to get your show on. For now, calm down, collect your thoughts, muster your courage and skills because you are on your own without Yining. You are the last man standing, you know?"
"Okay," a typical disyllabic reply from Ye Chong came flatly.
Ye Chong adjusted his breathing pattern accordingly. He was trying to calm himself to a point where he would feel serene yet a little worked up at the same time. And this! This is the battle! A war! And Ye Chong would not have letups for any war coming by! It was for his survival! 100% effort for 100% survival rate! The faith Ye Chong had in his battle!
Both of them actually waited for half an hour. It could be the longest 30 minutes for any 20-year-old newbie in the business but Ye Chong was not acting impatient. He was not agitated too. And Yang An was again impressed by Ye Chong’s mental clarity.
Beeeep! The electronic voice announced, "HL659874! Group HL659874, please have your mech modification technician, Mr. Ye Chong ready. Your match is beginning in 5 minutes. Kindly prepare yourself!"
"Well…" Yang An sounded worried, "Yining is not here… and I have no idea how the interior looks like. But… you know, just go in and do what you are good at!"
Ye Chong nodded his head.
The 5 minutes lapsed like seconds. Ding-dong!
"The match shall start immediately. Mech modification technician of Group: HL659874, HL659874, kindly enter the room right away."
Ye Chong went right in front of the door.
Zzzzzt!
"Scan completed! Identity: Ye Chong, verified. Biography, matched! Please proceed."
The two-paneled door slid open both sides in a hush. And right after he entered through the door, there was another door. The door only opened after the one at his back went shut.
Ye Chong casually stepped into the room.
The previous match had ended a moment ago and undeniably it was a remarkable performance, where the audience’s applause still roared inside the room as they anticipated the next contestant. Hologram screens projecting visuals in high-definition were everywhere in the school compound of various sizes going from screens as huge as 100 meters to screens as tiny as 10 centimeters. Whether it was a huge or tiny screen, there was no doubt that there would be hordes surrounding it. The Blue Ocean Academy held the tournament open to spectators who also wanted to join along the fun, but the entire event was not live on the media. This meant that if you wanted to watch the show, you had to come here by yourself. And of course, with the academy’s reputation, people would come flocking for the show of the year. The annual population of spectators was always as grand as the tournament itself.
The screens would cast the contestants from all angles. The camera skills were absolutely mind-blowing - they never failed to capture the best moments of every contestant which they would replay and cause exclamation among the crowd.
At the spectator’s area, Xiu gripped Xuelin’s sleeve nervously. Her crystal-clear eyes searched that very silhouette she recognized on the screens. Ke Han had already hit the ground running, preparing for his turn. Yang An on the other hand was guarding at the entrance of walkway No. 5, remaining the poor girls at the seats watching everything restlessly.
"The match will begin in T-5"
"4"
"3"
The figure rolled on the screen.
"2"
"1"
At the next moment, the screens were full of sparks and embers as the contestants jumped themselves on the machineries before them with tools in their hands.
The angles were ever-changing. The eyes were too busy watching.
Out of the blue, the audience cried out almost simultaneously, stirring up a fiasco in Blue Ocean Academy as the few hundreds of thousands of people roared on. And at one point, they stopped, like a sudden brake of the racing horses. They engulfed their scream as their eyes were all fixed on that silhouette on one screen.
The crowd went dead silent.