CH 46.3

Forty million starcoins might not mean much to someone who could afford a mid-level mech.

For the organizers, this exchange standard was the most effective way to attract mech fighters.

And in order to acquire the advanced engines that were difficult to obtain even with money, these people would have no choice but to fight continuously to accumulate points. This, in turn, would attract more and more mech enthusiasts to participate, ensuring a never-ending cycle of activity.

After looking at the advanced engines, Bai Jing flipped through the other items on offer. The wide variety of products was an eye-opener for him as he began to envision ideas for modifying his mech.

Among the items, a weapon called ‘Nano String’ caught Bai Jing’s attention.

This type of weapon differed from conventional close-range and long-range weapons. It resembled a small weapon capable of producing unexpected effects, such as installing steel sleeve arrows in a mech’s forearm or alloy daggers in the knee or foot area.

The ‘Nano String’ was approximately 20 meters long, silver in color and as thin as a hair strand. When coiled around the wrist, it was virtually undetectable.

It was made from the most sophisticated nano-materials, with the hair-thin strand containing hundreds of millions of nano cutting lines, making it incredibly sharp. Once wrapped around an opponent, it could sever off an entire mech arm!

Bai Jing’s eyes lit up— this was the ideal concealed weapon!

However, the weapon also demanded a lot from its user. The string was so sharp that one could easily injure themselves if not careful, requiring perfect control over the force applied.

[Nano String, exchange points: 30,000.]

With 30,000 points, one could obtain it after reaching the L2 intermediate level, which was relatively easy.

Bai Jing decided that once he had enough points, he would exchange them for this weapon first, as it would be advantageous in future matches.

Just as he was about to continue searching for a match, he heard an argument at the reception area. Glancing over, he noticed that the young man named ‘Thunder’ was involved.

Thunder: “I want to rent a level 2 mech first, but I’m still short on points—”

The staff cut him off: “If you don’t have enough points, you can pay with starcoins.”

Thunder’s body stiffened and his voice dropped noticeably: “But I don’t have enough starcoins either.”

A staff member scoffed and raised his voice: “Then there’s nothing we can do about that. You’ll just have to use the free mech.”

The people around looked at him with either pity or mockery.

Most of the people who participated in mech battles had at least some wealth and wouldn’t struggle to pay for mech rental fees.

Why try to play with mech if you couldn’t afford it?

The young man’s expression was indiscernible as his head hung low. After a while, he asked with a trembling voice, “Can I pay daily?”

The staff rolled their eyes, dismissing him: “No.”

They dealt with many wealthy young masters on a daily basis and had never seen such a persistent poor person before.

If you don’t have money, just use the free mech. After all, the organizers weren’t running a charity.

Thunder clenched his fists within his sleeves, then loosened them gradually.

Renting a level 2 mech cost 500 points per day, with a minimum rental period of one month, totaling to 15,000 points.

He had fought fifteen matches today, lost five and ultimately only earned 500 points.

Aside from the match he had lost just now due to being outskilled, he had lost the other matches because his mech level was too low.

His black longsword couldn’t penetrate his opponents’ protective shields and his low-energy particle cannon couldn’t pierce the shields of intermediate mechs. Yet, their weapons could easily pierce his cockpit and sever his weapons.

After winning the first few matches relatively easily, he had to rely on his skills and speed to win the remaining matches with great difficulty.

Even if he managed to dodge all of his opponents’ fatal attacks and ended in a draw, he would still lose based on the damage statistics for the round.

And as his points and match count increased, the opponents he faced would become stronger.

At this rate, he didn’t know how long it would take him to accumulate 15,000 points. He might not even reach level L2.

Thunder clutched the dark green spatial button around his neck.

This A1 mech was already an old, retired model that had been patched up many times, what’s more its performance was poor.

But now, he had no other choice—

Just as he was about to leave dejectedly, Bai Jing who had been watching the situation unfold approached him: “I can lend you the starcoins.”

Thunder lifted his head, his deep blue eyes filled with gratitude: “Thank you, I promise to pay you back as soon as possible!

In one month, no, within half a month, I’ll pay you back.”

Bai Jing: “Alright, I’ll be waiting.”

Thunder sighed in relief. Fortunately, he didn’t say something like ‘no need to pay me back’, because it would have been difficult for him to accept given his remaining pride.

Bai Jing turned to the staff and said in a cold tone: “I’ll pay for him, using starcoins.”

“Alright, please wait a moment.”

The staff recognized him as ‘Alpha’ and no longer dared to mock him using ‘Ling Yun Club’ as they had done before. Instead, they became very attentive.

They had been keeping an eye on the competition data in their spare time and had seen this teenager named ‘Alpha’ rise through the ranks at an incredibly fast pace, never losing a single match from beginning to end!

With this trend, advancing to L2 was a certainty and even reaching L3 or higher was quite possible.

Such a promising contender would be a cash cow for the organizers in the future, so they didn’t dare offend him.

Bai Jing paid 15,000 starcoins with his light brain, took the white spatial button and handed it to Thunder.

Thunder looked at him with gratitude on his face and the two added each other as friends online, agreeing on a repayment time.