Chapter 1161. Trail of Tears (1/2)

Now that Ves took a backseat in Axelar's mind space, he began to relax and look forward to the show he meticulously engineered.

Ves took sadistic pleasure in Axelar's misfortunes.

It served the wastrel right for wasting Ves' time by continually indulging in stimulants!

”It's not my fault that you're forced to renounce your old life and return to piloting mechs. Blame yourself for being such a useless individual! Even if you're a Terran clansman, you should at least make something out of your life instead of validating every stereotype the Rubarthans had spread about your kind!”

At this moment, Axelar was almost completely out of it as his mind continually rebooted. The stimulant-deprived mech pilot simply couldn't fathom how he could ever derail his life so thoroughly.

What Benny just repeated about his decisions in the last day was unlike anything Axelar ever wanted out of his life!

It didn't make any sense!

”Being sober is scary! Please give me a fix!” Axelar shouted as a machine was scanning his body.

The voice of one of the doctors patched into the chamber of the scanning machine.

”My apologies, Master Axelar, but in the interest of preparing you for battle, we believe it is best to administer only essential medicines. Right now, despite the lack of sleep, your body is in a fairly healthy condition. Excessive use of stimulants will only cloud your mind and degrade your performance for the upcoming mech duel.”

”That doesn't apply to me! The cloudier my mind, the better I fight! Come on doc, I know you have some pain relievers or sedatives on hand. Give me a dose, please, I'm begging you! I can't take it any longer!”

”No can do, Master Axelar. It's out of my hands. The Streon Clan is directly patched into our network. They want you to be as clear-minded as possible so that you will be able to fight in your best condition!”

No matter how much Axelar moaned and begged, neither Benny nor any of the arena staff would ever allow him to get his fix!

Axelar needed a lot of time to come to grips with the situation he ended up in. He struggled to get used to his clear-minded state. For the last couple of years, he never went by without at least one drug taking effect on his mood!

Stimulants made his perception of reality come to life. Stimulants gave his brains a nice buzz and kept him entertained for hours from the hallucinations he conjured up in his frequent hazes.

A reality without stimulants was a dull and colorless place to live in as far as Axelar was concerned! A strong psychological yearning for stimulants constantly played on his sober mind. He would do anything for a fix!

Yet his wish was being denied. Instead of receiving a fix, he was instead being prepped for battle against a formidable mech duelist that he couldn't afford to lose!

If it was just a single public mech duel, then Axelar would have considered putting up a half-hearted fight and surrender as soon as he 'accidentally' slipped up and cause his mech to suffer crippling damage.

His reputation would go down the toilet, and he'd let down the Streon Clan as well, but what did that matter to him? The clan was the clan! Its reputation would never go to ruin just from the conduct of a single clansman!

As for his own reputation, he never cared about it very much even before he became an addict. If he ever cared about his reputation for even a tiny bit, then he would have stopped taking stimulants all day and start discharging his responsibilities on behalf of his assigned elite mech corps.

Yet his future trajectory encompassed more than the mech duel that was about to start. Axelar wanted to beat up his sober self to a pulp for what it did to him! Why did he announce that he would be taking part in the Trail of Tears?! That was practically handing over his application to participate in the elite training program in front of billions of people! He would never be able to walk back that that decision no matter how many times he pleaded insanity!

”Come on, doc! If not a stimulant, at least give me glass of beer! Make it a huge glass while you're getting one!”

”We aren't sensing any signs that you are dehydrated, Master Axelar. If you are nonetheless feeling a little parched, we can supply you with 150 milliliters of water.”

”Plain water?! What does that even taste like? Will it get me high?”

Axelar couldn't even remember the last time he drank water!