Chapter 5 (2/2)

The white Re:Mulan then put away her sword, and as she made sure the surroundings were safe, she started to take a break underneath the tree to wait for the energy cabinet to cool down.

“The time is up. Today’s survival tournament has ended. 276 candidates have passed, and 724 candidates were eliminated. The successful candidates, please rest and return to the stadium tomorrow precisely at 8 PM.”

“A… Amazing!” Those standing behind Rayno shouted at the same time as the announcement ended.

With a beep and the sound of pneumatic release, the top of virtual cabinet No.3 opened as a figure dressed in white got up and stepped outside.

She looked neat in her white wide-sleeved Kendo suit, and her hair was carelessly tied up using a black budo belt. Her brows were slightly pinched together above her crystal clear watery eyes, and there weren’t any accessories on her long and slim neck. Like a cold Snow White lotus, she was tranquil and independent; she was the President of Dingchuan Academy’s kendo club, Lu Qingxue.

“Senior Lu!””Senior!””Qingxue.”…

“En.” Lu Qingxue nodded as she wasn’t good at expressing herself and narrowed her brows as she tilted her head towards Rayno and stared at him with displeasure in her eyes.

“Ahem, Junior Lu you have improved.” Rayno had a wry smile as he touched his nose.

“En, I’ve surpassed the first-stage mentality lock.” Lu Qingxue nodded and continued saying, “I’ve learned a lot from it, and I’ll be using this experience towards Kendo.”

“Ah! Now there’s not only Leader Rayno but also Senior Lu who surpassed the stage-one mentality lock.” The young man standing beside them stared at the two with admiration and respect in his eyes. The stages of mentality lock corresponded to one’s brain development level, and the higher stages meant clearer thoughts, stronger data calculating capabilities, ability to take on more pressure, and better synchronization with optical computers. Most people ranged from level one to level nine, and every ten levels was a mentality lock of a qualitative change. Those who hadn’t surpassed a mentality lock could not even imagine what was beyond, but those who had were definitely more than ordinary.

“Then what about tomorrow’s tournament?” Rayno asked in a soft tone.

“I won’t be attending.”

“Uh, Senior Lu?” Long Er worried for her as the survival tournaments had a lot of rewards; it was not only the honor of winning, limited editions of certain mech armor parts were also being awarded.

“Long Er, I invited Junior Lu over because I wanted to see the incorporation of martial arts into mech combat, and if there would also be personal improvements during this process. The Re:Mulan has already given us an answer and Junior Lu also surpassed her first mental lock, so we shouldn’t force her if she doesn’t want to continue on. What we need to do is work hard towards next year’s competition between the schools. I’ll be graduating soon and I’ll probably choose to continue my education in Capital Star or serve the military, so I want to give everything I’ve got before I leave! But the future of Dingchuan’s Mech faculty lies in your hands.”

“Leader!” Long Er and the others called out.

“The training will double for the next half of the year! Two levels up for the fitness training and I’ll invite your Senior Lu over once in a while to test you guys,” Rayno said as he let out a cruel smile towards his fellow team members.

“If there’s nothing else, then I’m going to leave first,” Lu Qingxue said with an indifferent expression as she left immediately after waving goodbye.

“Our Leader definitely likes Senior Lu, but Senior Lu treats everyone so coldly…” someone muttered softly behind Rayno.

Rayno stared at Lu Qingxue’s direction in silence, as if he didn’t hear anything they had said.