Master of Kaidan
Chapter 359: The King’s Plot - Unable to Open

Chapter 359: Chapter 359: The King’s Plot - Unable to Open

The mecha, larger than the Shield of George, landed on the ground, stirring up clouds of dust and sandstone. However, just when the audience thought they were about to witness the new mecha’s formidable powers, the screen stalled.

No, it wasn’t a stall but a silence. Both the enemy’s two mechas and the new one had fallen into a weird silence, with only the drifting dust and smoke in the distance proving that the scene was still in motion.

This silence did not last long. Though facing an unfamiliar mecha, the two drivers from Purple Light Company preferred to wait for reinforcements, they decided to launch a probing attack, thinking the opponent might have been knocked unconscious by the fall.

Phantom Pain, still having ample ammunition, opened its magazine but didn’t fire all at once. Instead, it adjusted the firing sequence and then pressed the trigger.

Rockets were launched in staggered succession but exploded before reaching the mecha, creating a twisted visual effect amidst the smoke and flames, making everyone realize what was happening.

"It’s a deflection shield. This mecha seems to be equipped with a high-powered deflection shield, known in battlefield mecha terms as a D-shield. Just like in games, this device consumes a lot of energy, so even though it can be left on continuously, drivers usually only activate it manually when facing targeted skills. But with Mr. George’s piloting skills, he shouldn’t need to activate the shield to withstand such an attack. Could it be that he’s unable to control this mecha?"

Saying this, Victor realized some might not understand and immediately explained:

"As we know, master-slave mechas, due to the precision of bi-directional feedback and the burden on the driver, aren’t made too large. Although larger than the typical four or five-meter full-exoskeleton, they don’t exceed ten meters. However, at this moment, this mecha that has fallen from the sky is estimated to be over twelve meters.

"Don’t underestimate the additional height of a floor. For viewers with a bit of mecha understanding, they should grasp the operational difficulty involved. But considering Mr. George’s previous exaggerated fighting style, I don’t doubt his ability to handle such a giant beast. I’m more concerned if Mr. George suffered any injuries in the previous fall... oh, wait a moment..."

Victor, who was originally using the brief silence following the mecha’s landing to explain mecha basics to the audience, suddenly paused as another screen, equivalent to the main screen, appeared before him, featuring George Augustus!

At that moment, Mr. Augustus’s profile showed a crimson streak of blood, and his brown, short hair had a glob of blood coagulant gel that hadn’t yet fully dried. A brief survey inside the cockpit revealed a small, blood-stained dent at the top, which seemed to explain a lot.

However, Augustus, now strapped into the driver’s seat, seemed unfazed by these injuries. His hands danced with numerous afterimages, and with each keystroke, lines of code appeared on the screen.

"This is a live broadcast view provided by Constantin Company," said Victor, reading the just-received data from Constantin Company and pasting a copy on the split screen. Such a high-profile live show was a natural advertising opportunity for a seasoned arms dealer like Constantin Company.

Watching George furiously type a string of codes with his blurring hands, Victor immediately explained to the querying audience:

"The concept of the seventh-generation machine might seem counterintuitive. It was conceived even before the sixth-generation machine—as Constantin Company’s data suggests, this mecha’s performance reaches the seventh-generation standard. In fact, most top manufacturers already have their own seventh-generation designs.

"This design standard can even be traced back to when the fifth-generation was just becoming mainstream, and the sixth-generation was merely an intermediate concept. The reason why all major mecha manufacturers are launching sixth-generation machines now is because the seventh-generation’s performance is too high, making it difficult for drivers—without heavily modified artificial bodies—to utilize more than 70% of the mecha’s capabilities, which defines the current sixth-generation machines.

"Even though Augustus has the physical capability to control this formidable beast, he can’t start it right away because as previously mentioned, no driver has ever piloted it, hence, there is no piloting data to draw on. Using an inappropriate sixth-generation OS might even be less useful than a fifth-generation OS, so Mr. Augustus is likely writing a temporary OS now."

What Victor was disclosing was not exactly a secret, but for an audience limited to merely spectating mecha combats and playing games, this was quite a fascinating piece of obscure knowledge.

At the same time, they realized the mecha driven by George was a monster that even soldiers equipped with oversized military artificial bodies could not operate.

Could he really manage it?

Or to put it another way, could an OS, which normally requires extensive data sampling and test piloting to complete, truly be finished in such a short time?

But just then, a colorful designated barrage burst forth, and a VIP account named after the Constantin design department directly refuted Victor’s words—

[This is not a temporary OS. This is a test OS, a setup for collecting usage data from the mecha. Every mecha has a template; he’s just entering his own physical data.]

"He’s using this thing to operate a seventh-generation machine? Isn’t that giving up fire control, shock absorption, propulsion assistance, balance calibration... What’s left then?"

Yelo, sensing his relatively low presence, exclaimed incredulously at the professional’s verdict, which prompted Mr. Victor to timely respond—

"All-body combat functionality... Have you ever seen an artificial body boxing match?"

"Fuck, so it’s basically a full-exoskeleton..."

Yelo’s face showed an even more genuine shock, while Victor nodded emotionlessly:

"Exactly, to be precise, it’s a seventh-generation armored, nearly twenty-ton full-exoskeleton, or you could call it by another name."

Here, as Victor watched George Augustus, who had just inserted his hands into the arm control rods and turned off the deflection shield, he silently uttered a term—

"Wrestling Simulator (an alias for the first-generation mecha)."