h.e.l.lo, happy Sat.u.r.day ? Here"s a mouse for a change, possibly bringing flowers to his sweetheart ?

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Unlike other, co-ed schools, that had an annual break, Ellen Academy didn"t have holidays. So while Carlo and Klaire were having their summer break, Xi Wei and Aiden were still attending cla.s.ses like usual.

Of course, the cla.s.ses here weren"t very heavy. Usually, they attended cla.s.ses for half the day and took the other half off. At this school, omegas pa.s.sed their days in a very relaxed and comfortable manner.

The twentieth of July was getting closer and closer, and Xi Wei, who was about to leave for the mission his uncle had a.s.signed him, was boundlessly excited. During this time, every night he"d sneak out and drive Egret around the Andromeda Galaxy. Relying on his S-cla.s.s mecha"s fast flight and superpowered anti-tracking abilities, he succeeded in avoiding the soldiers patrolling around planet Loga, as well as in cracking Ellen Academy"s defense network.

Xi Wei didn"t let anyone discover his secret activities. Even his roommate Aiden hadn"t noticed. Every night he"d sneak out his room at 3 AM, drive Egret around, and then return to the dormitory at around 5. It was all very cloak-and-dagger.

After practicing for the last few months, he"d mastered the skills needed to pilot Egret. He was confident that he could complete the task his uncle had a.s.signed him.

At the same time, in the Cepheus solar system, on the planet Isfeld:

Of the empire"s six major corps, besides the Glory Corps, which rushed out year-round to the frontlines in order to defend the Empire"s borders, the other five all had their own galaxies to defend. The capital planet was the core of the empire. In order to prevent any one corps from controlling the capital planet for too long and gaining too much influence, which might lead to rebellion, in the year of the Empire"s founding, its first ruler set up a provision. The work of defending the capital planet wouldn"t be given to any individual corps, but would be taken care of in alternating shifts.

In June, the Cobra Corps, under the command of General Drew, had still been in charge of defending the capital planet. On the first of July, General Drew led the Cobra Corps out of the capital planet, and following military orders, General Byron and the Morningstar Corps took up the task they had left behind.

Klaire had gone a whole year without seeing his father. This General had a serious expression and a strict lifestyle. When he took off his coat and hung it on the clothestand, it couldn"t have a single crease. His OCD was pretty severe.

He didn"t often contact his wife and children. Madam Grace had been married to him for so many years, but she still spoke to him in a formal and deferential manner. Klaire was close to his mother, but he didn"t have much in common with his father. On top of that, they rarely saw each other, so their relationship was rather lukewarm.

When General Byron returned home, he found that the eldest son he hadn"t seen in over a year had already become a handsome, tall and slender young man, and his younger son, Kevin, also looked very charming. If you exchanged him for an ordinary father, faced with the children he hadn"t seen for a whole year, he"d definitely walk over in excitement and give them a hug. Byron, however, only looked calmly at his two sons, and said, “Klaire, looks like you"ve grown another five centimeters. Kevin"s grown by less than two.”

Kevin seriously asked, “I eat about the same amount as my brother every day, so how is it that he grows faster than me?”

Klaire smiled and rubbed Kevin"s head. “On average, alphas are taller than omegas. Right now I"m growing faster than you, and in the future, I"ll also be taller than you.”

Kevin nodded thoughtfully. “Oh, then you"ll be as tall as Father when you grow up?”

“That"s right,” Klaire said.

After giving birth to Kevin, Madam Grace"s health hadn"t been too good, so she didn"t have any more children. General Byron"s household only had this one pair of brothers, Klaire and Kevin. Over the years, Klaire had seen Kevin grow up with his own eyes, and he was very fond of this little brother of his.

Just as Klaire was giving his brother a noogie, General Byron spoke up seriously. “Klaire, come with me to a place.”

Klaire stared at him blankly and raised his head in confusion. “Father, where are we going?”

“You"ll know when we get there.” General Byron said this calmly, turned, and left. Klaire could only follow behind him.

Byron brought his son to his personal hovercar. There was a team of guards from the Morningstar Corps to escort them. The line of cars drove northwards along the midair highway, until they reached the Morningstar Corps Headquarters, where they stopped.

This was Klaire"s first time coming to the Morningstar Corps barracks. The entire military base was laid out with long rows of warships, aircrafts, hovercars and mechas, all arranged in perfect order. All of the military equipment was painted a uniform dark blue, and marked with a star-shaped design in silver and white, the symbol of the Morningstar Corps. The many warships gathered together looked like a crowd of stars, glittering in the vast expanse of the universe.

Even though he had looked at more than a few war videos, upon seeing the Morningstar Corps base with his own eyes, Klaire couldn"t help but suck in a breath.

The corps his father led was one of the Empire"s six major corps, but the way General Byron did things was very low-key. The Morningstar Corps had a weak presence compared to the others, and it was easy for people overlook it. But when it came to their actual power, they didn"t lose to any other corps.

What puzzled Klaire was that he had only just had his birthday in June, and right now he was only a fifteen-year-old boy, who couldn"t be counted as part of the military at all. Exactly what did his father bring him to this military base for?

He and his father traveled deeper into the Morningstar Corps camp, until they reached the very center. There, Byron stopped the car, and brought him into an underground base.

What surprised Klaire was that the underground base was even larger than the aboveground one. The s.p.a.ce was dozens of meters high and set up with with various military facilities, so that it seemed he had walked into a mysterious underground castle.

As Klaire was walking along, he noticed several closed-off s.p.a.ces. He didn"t know what huge weapons might be hidden there. General Byron had a serious expression on. Klaire didn"t dare to rashly open his mouth and ask questions, so he could only silently follow his father.

Bryon led his son to the deepest part of the underground base, where he scanned his irises and fingerprints to open a door.

When Klaire saw the scene that opened up in front of him, his eyes widened in surprise.

In front of him was a huge s.p.a.ce about the size of a football field, and in the middle of it was a giant humanoid mecha. The mecha"s body was painted a beautiful sky blue, and his eyes were the mysterious dark blue of a starry sky. The proportions of his body were perfect, and its polished metal dazzled under the lights.

Klaire craned his neck to look at the behemoth in front of him. This had to be at least five times bigger than the low-leveled mechas he"d seen at school!

General Byron glanced at his son and asked, “What do you think?”

Klaire said without the slightest hesitation, “He"s beautiful.”

Byron nodded and said, “This is the secret weapon that I spent many years developing. In order to finish him as soon as possible, several mecha engineers worked through the night. Right now, the exterior and the AI are complete, but much of the weaponry hasn"t been added in yet. This will serve as your coming-of-age present.”

This feeling of having a lottery ticket fall into his hands made Klaire stare blankly for a moment. Pleasantly surprised, he turned and said, “Father, this is a gift for me?”

Byron said seriously, “That"s on the condition that you can test into St. Romia Military Academy. If you can"t get in, I"ll give him to some other, more outstanding child in the family. Our family has always valued talent, not bloodline. Even if you"re my own son, if you don"t have any future prospects, you won"t get any special treatment in this family.”

Klaire immediately a.s.sured, “Father, don"t worry, I"ll definitely get in.”

At this, Byron nodded in satisfaction. “I"ve heard from your teacher Kelly about how you and Carlo have been studying higher-grade course material. You wanted to apply for military school in advance?”

“That"s right. Father, I want to try and take the Imperial Standard Exam when I"m sixteen years old.” Klaire said earnestly, “Right now, I"ve already gone through about half of the course material for next year, and I plan to finish the other half during summer break.”

“It"s good to have a goal, but the entrance exam for the Imperial military is very demanding. If you want to take the test in advance, you"ll have to spend at least twice the effort that others will, and go through a lot of hardship to prepare for it.”

Klaire smiled and said, “I know, I"m already mentally prepared.”

Byron lightly patted his son"s shoulder. “I originally planned to give you this mecha as a present when you were eighteen, after you pa.s.sed the military school entrance exam. I heard from Teacher Kelly that you were going to take the exam in advance, so I brought you here in advance as well, to give you a little motivation. This is one of the empire"s few S-cla.s.s AI mechas. If you really can test into military school at sixteen, you"ll be able to succeed the Morningstar Corps and the family in the future, and the other generals in the military won"t have anything to say about it.”

Klaire nodded happily.

This was a world that ran on the principle of the survival of the fittest. Although he was General Byron"s only alpha son, if he himself wasn"t determined to improve, there was no way that Byron could take advantage of his personal authority to give him a place in the military. The military had considerably strict regulations for promoting officers to the position of general. He wanted to apply for military school in advance not only for Xi Wei, but also for himself.

Other people couldn"t be counted on. Only when he himself became strong could he have the power to protect his loved ones.

Looking at the sky-blue mecha in front of him, Klaire"s hands lightly clenched into fists. He asked, “Father, can I take a look in the c.o.c.kpit?”

Byron said, “Of course you can. You can also try to complete a mental match with him while you"re at it.”

After he said that, he pressed a b.u.t.ton next to him, and activated the mecha. The mecha knelt down, and Klaire immediately walked into the c.o.c.kpit, full of excitement.

Seeing the boy walk with quick steps into the c.o.c.kpit, Sam, the camp commander who was standing nearby, asked worriedly: “General, right now Klaire"s only fifteen years old. Won"t it be too dangerous to have him attempt a mental match with an S-cla.s.s mecha?”

Byron calmly said, “I"ve set up safety measures in the mecha. If Klaire"s mental strength doesn"t reach the standard, it"ll automatically discontinue the mental match.”

Inside the mecha c.o.c.kpit, Klaire looked at the pale blue threads in front of him that were emitting a soft blue light, and couldn"t help but reach out to touch them. As if they were alive, the threads swiftly wrapped around him, and two particularly mischievous tendrils reached out to poke his face.

Klaire smiled, and pressed down the b.u.t.ton to start the mental match.

0%... 50%... 100%!

General Byron and Commander Sam were standing on the ground, discussing whether or not Klaire would come across any danger, when before three seconds had pa.s.sed, the mecha"s eyes lit up. A dazzling ray of blue light swept the ground, and the mecha"s entire body began to glow.

—The mecha started up by itself!

—This meant that the pilot and the mecha AI had completed a perfect mental match!

An expression of shock flashed in Byron and Sam"s eyes at the same time. A fifteen-year-old boy could actually pilot an S-cla.s.s mecha! In the entire history of the Empire, the occurrences of this kind of talent could be counted on one"s fingers.

Byron brought his son here today entirely for the purpose of encouraging him. He knew his son was reviewing higher-grade material and wanted to apply for military school early, so he moved up the schedule for developing the mecha he"d been secretly working on for a long time, in order to finish it ahead of time. He took his son for a look at this present so that he"d be more motivated in his studies.

He didn"t expect that Klaire would actually complete a mental match with the mecha!

After he finished the mental match, Klaire soon heard a clear voice transmitted next to his ear. “h.e.l.lo, owner! I"m an S-cla.s.s mecha, and right now I still don"t have a name. Can you give me one? Also, what kind of form would you like for the AI? I can change my appearance to whatever you like. How about this, do I look good?”

A little pig appeared in front of him, flashing fluorescent blue. Klaire was rather speechless. “You don"t.”

“How about this?” He turned into a blue apple.

Klaire rubbed his temple and contacted his father on the ground through the communicator. “Father, this mecha still doesn"t have a name?”

Byron said, “Yes. When we were developing him his number was 7, but since he"s already recognized you as his owner, you can go ahead and give him a better-sounding new name.”

Klaire thought about it and said, “How about I call him Bluestar? Morningstar and the color blue combined, how about it?”

Bluestar happily hopped twice, and gave himself the form of a blue star. While jumping about, he said, “Owner, the name you came up with is the best!”

This mecha looked handsome on the outside, but unfortunately, the AI was clearly hyperactive. He changed forms so fast, it almost made him dizzy from looking.

Klaire had recently been studying mecha operating like mad at school, so he was already very familiar with the process of piloting. Practically bouncing with eagerness, he asked, “Father, I want to try piloting him, can I?”

His son had so much talent, so as a father, Byron was naturally very pleased. He smiled and said, “Of course you can. But you have to remember not to fly the mecha out of the capital planet defense network. Without a permit to pa.s.s through, you"ll be blocked by the electronic defense network.”

Klaire said, “I understand. Let"s go, Bluestar, take me for a ride around the capital star.”

After receiving his owner"s instructions, a huge set of wings opened from Bluestar"s back. The underground s.p.a.ce"s skylight automatically opened, and he soared into the sky with a single leap. He flew far into the distance like a meteor, quickly disappearing from General Byron"s line of sight.

Sam couldn"t help but ask, “You"re not worried about him?”

“It"s fine. This month, the Morningstar Corps is responsible for defending the capital planet. The other corps aren"t in the area right now. Bluestar"s only going around the planet, and he won"t be discovered. Even if something happens, his mecha AI is directly connected to me, so I can rush over right away.” General Byron smiled and said, “I never thought that Klaire would be this talented. He"s only just gotten his hands on an S-cla.s.s mecha, he must be very curious. I"ll let him play for a few hours.”

At the periphery of the Andromeda Galaxy:

Piloting Egret, Xi Wei had managed to get past the Andromeda Galaxy defense network, and had entered the interstellar route.

Although this was his first time flying Egret outside of the Andromeda Galaxy, his uncle had already gone over this route with him countless times, and Xi Wei had also mentally practiced this flight over and over again. So he was able to smoothly fly Egret at great speed through the vast universe.

Egret"s speed was dozens of times faster than that of an ordinary hovercar. When Craig sent him to Ellen Academy, the trip took half a day. Now, driving Egret, it only took a short fifteen minutes to leap across two large galaxies, and arrive in the Cepheus solar system.

His uncle Berg had said that the Morningstar Corps was currently in charge of guarding the capital planet. The Cepheus solar system had many planets in it, but the capital planet Isfeld was the most suitable one for human habitation, so the defense network surrounding it was naturally the thickest.

Steering Egret with extreme caution, Xi Wei managed to escape detection while pa.s.sing the defense network that surrounded the Cepheus solar system. He saw that the distance separating him from the capital planet was getting shorter and shorter, and couldn"t help but take a deep breath. From a distance, he surveyed the movements of the troops guarding the capital planet.

“Owner, a Morningstar Corps patrol just pa.s.sed by.”

On the viewscreen, he could see the mecha troops of the Morningstar Corps patrolling back and forth across the distant surface of the capital planet, ensuring the safety of the planet"s airs.p.a.ce.

Avoiding those densely packed patrols wouldn"t be easy. Xi Wei had to calm down and look for a suitable opportunity.

Egret shrunk down its body and hid himself among the stars. Due to his outstanding anti-detection system, the ordinary s.p.a.ceships and mecha pa.s.sing by wouldn"t be able to discover his existence.

Time ticked by minute by minute, and at midnight, the troops that had been patrolling that day started changing shifts en ma.s.se. It just so happened that at that moment, an interstellar pa.s.senger s.p.a.ceship was pa.s.sing through.

Xi Wei"s eyes lit up, and he immediately ordered, “Go! Change shape and fly on top of there.”

“Alright, owner!” Egret cleverly attached himself to the top of the ship. Because of the s.p.a.ceship"s immense size, when he changed his color and molded his shape onto the cargo hold, he looked like just another part of the ship.

The s.p.a.ceship smoothly pa.s.sed through the security screening, and Egret followed with it. The Morningstar Corps troops pa.s.sed right by them, and after a moment of jaw-clenching tension, Xi Wei was out free.

Xi Wei smiled and said, “We should leave quickly before the s.p.a.ceship lands, so we don"t get discovered.”

“Okay!” Egret immediately spread his wings and flew lighting-fast in the direction of Locke Castle. A child sitting in the pa.s.senger ship saw what looked like a white meteor flashing by her window, and lost track of it in the blink of an eye.

Xi Wei smoothly steered Egret to Locke Castle, and was just about to land when the viewscreen started flashing a red alarm.

“Owner! I"ve detected abnormal fluctuations in airflow up ahead, consistent with those of a large mecha. According to my a.n.a.lysis of the data, it"s very likely an S-cla.s.s mecha! Please direct me on what to do.”

At the same time, in Bluestar"s c.o.c.kpit: “Owner, there"s an S-cla.s.s mecha up ahead. It"s strange, but the data for this mecha isn"t recorded in the Mecha a.s.sociation system. I can"t figure out who"s piloting it. It"s not a mecha from any of the corps, and it"s not from the palace either…”

Klaire frowned slightly, and said doubtfully, “How could an S-cla.s.s mecha not be in any of the records? Maybe you got it wrong?”

Bluestar immediately vowed, “I definitely didn"t get it wrong! Only an S-cla.s.s mecha could fly so fast! Owner, what should I do? Should we chase after him and check it out, or run away as fast as we can?”

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9:47 for 3,496 words this time, so about 16.8 minutes for each 100 words.

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