"Bruce here, has the highest affinity with the Earth Element. No surprises there. However, somehow, his compatibility with Chrono Warrior, the Mecha Disciple under Chronos, was off the charts. So he picked it." Jeanette Wen elaborated slightly.
"So I am only allowed to pick the mecha with the highest compatibility with me?" I asked to confirm.
"The mecha with the highest compatibility with you will allow you to exert the highest amount of combat efficiency. So we always push our members to go for that. However, if you have a strong enough reason to pick a different mecha, we can consider it." Bruce replied.
"All of the mechas here are extremely powerful and extremely difficult to pilot. You will need a lot of training to be able to unlock high levels of combat efficiency. In fact, even after piloting Chronos for almost fifteen years, I am only able to push it to 83% combat efficiency. And that is even with my God-like RPL of 92." Bruce added.
"So picking the mecha with the highest compatibility with you will probably determine the combat efficiency ceiling." Jeanette Wen said. "Don't worry too much, you'll be able to test pilot each mecha extensively before deciding which one you want."
"If you wish, you can even take the internal Blood Moon Time Attack Challenge mode.
You can test pilot the mechas through a series of obstacles and executing their skills using the Full Automatic Pilot Mode."
"Full Automatic Pilot Mode?" I raised my eyebrow and looked at Jeanette Wen for elaboration.
"It basically helps you pilot the mecha while you give the most basic instructions to it like charge forward, slash attack, execute skill." Jeanette Wen explained. "It allows even laymen to effortlessly control a mecha to do very basic actions. Of course, with the Full Automatic Pilot Mode, you won't be able to exert even 10% of the mechas's total combat effectiveness. It is useful for us to determine which element new students with high potential like you are compatible with."
"Wait, I thought the Blood Moon is a secret organization? Why do we need to determine which elements new students are compatible with?" I asked in slight confusion.
"National Mecha Pilot Academy's mechas are all divided into these twelve elements." Jeanette Wen explained patiently. "And each of these twelve elements has a faction representing them."
"AH! Factions." I nodded in understanding. "Finally. I've been wondering what exactly they are."
"But you'll have all the time in the world to learn about factions and the academy politics. I would advise you not to delve too deep into the politics and just focus on increasing your strength and honing your skills, but it's completely your choice to make once you begin school life.
Right now though, it's time for you to choose your mecha!" Jeanette Wen's eyes gleamed in excitement.
I would have loved to stay in that throne room for the rest of the night to slowly savor each and every mecha, and learn of their unique skills and if possible, test pilot each and every one of them. But time seemed to be of the essence, so I was only brought to each of the available 7 Mecha Disciples.
"The first Mecha Disciple on your list is my old Mecha, the Chrono Warrior." Bruce said as he looked at the huge and towering mecha behind Chronos fondly. "It embodies the Royal Element of Time."
Chrono Warrior looked very similar to Chronos. The only difference was that instead of a trio of deadly swords, Chrono Warrior only has one medium sized broadsword hung on its left hip. A huge round shield covered the entirety of its left arm.
Although it towered magnificently at almost a hundred meters, it was still around fifty meters shorter than Chronos.
Still, it was an amazing mecha. It may be called a Mecha Disciple, but it was a only a disciple when it was with Chronos. Outside its master's shadow, it was an overlord in its own right.
"The next Mecha Disciple in your list is also one of the more powerful ones. It's called Deathscythe, and it is from the Dark Element, also a Royal Element." Bruce pointed at another cool-looking mecha. "In fact, its brother, Darkscythe, is the next one on your list. Both Dark Element Mecha Disciples are unclaimed at this moment."
Both mechas were part of a trio of fully black mechas that seemed to suck all the light of life around them.
The atmosphere around them was gloomy and sinister.
The mecha Bruce was pointing at held a massive double-bladed scythe and had sleek, bat-wing armor that covered its body completely. It looked outrageously deadly and powerful.
Next to it was another very similar looking mecha. However, Darkscythe was slightly smaller, and wielded twin scythes instead of a giant one like Deathscythe.
(As usual, checkout Deathscythe Inspirations in my discord server!)
I could feel my senses tingling when I beheld Deathscythe and Darkscythe.
However, it was the Dark Element Mecha Guardian that held most of my attention.
At a hundred and sixty meters tall, it was almost the tallest Mecha Guardian out of the twelve. Like its disciples, it was fully black in colour. However, unlike its disciples, its eyes glowed red, giving it a deeply ferocious and ruthless look.
My heart even skipped a beat when I took in its grandeur for the first time.
Its bat-wing armor was much more subdued than its disciples, but somehow, less was more for its case, and it looked much deadlier than its two disciples.
Both its hands gripped a heart-poundingly awesome looking double-bladed, double-sided battle scythe which looked so ridiculously cool and toy-like that I couldn't believe that it was actually a real weapon.
"Mecha Guardian - Death God." Jeanette Wen said when he saw my eyes riveted onto the mecha.
"Unclaimed." Bruce added.
Jeanette turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. Bruce merely shrugged.
"Unclaimed." I repeated, and gulped down my saliva very audibly.
That I wanted it badly was immediately apparent to both of them.
I stretched my left hand out and felt my resonance with the Death God Mecha Guardian humming within me.
I could sense it so very clearly! Just a single command with my mind, and I would be able to absorb the Death God Mecha Guardian! Well not completely, because I was still very "Full" from Amelia Dragonos' white mecha.
But I could absolutely take its critical components and design.
"No, I shouldn't." I told myself. "At least not today."
I closed my eyes and let my resonance spread out throughout the gigantic room.