Chapter 2: The Appearance of a Gentleman, Section 4

The magic of the mental network lies in compressing infinite distances into mere moments. Thus, in this gathering point named “Starlight,” people from dozens of planets, including Xieke Planet, have gathered here. Heibai had no idea that the official arena he casually chose was actually the largest and busiest place in this gathering point.
It was a massive virtual structure. In the mental network devoid of blue skies, it resembled a silent white giant. Countless passages connected to its body, transporting hundreds of millions of people. Its openness was astonishing—Heibai even managed to enter without going through any basic registration.
It was simple. Truly simple.
As Heibai gazed at the enormous virtual arena before him, he realized his earlier concern about attracting attention was completely unnecessary.
The vast arena consisted of countless small rooms, each with its own space. Apart from the most important matches held in the central plaza, smaller competitions rarely attracted much attention. Although each lounge was equipped with numerous video crystals, allowing guests to choose any room to watch from, few people would notice his presence—unless he appeared on the arena’s bulletin board as part of the list of the most popular rooms of the day.
He gently opened one of the enclosed rooms. Amidst flashing blue light, Heibai moved to the mech selection desk.
He was currently a driver without a rank, meaning he didn’t even have the qualifications to drive. As such, the number of mechs available for him to use was pitifully small—only three models at a glance.
To his surprise, one of these three mechs was purely mechanical.
It was a very dirty humanoid mech, barely over six meters tall—shallow compared to the standard ten-meter height of ordinary magic mechs. Its armor was extremely sparse; aside from the cockpit on its chest, only key joints like the shoulders and elbows were protected. At first glance, it seemed capable of being destroyed with a single shot. Since it was a mechanical mech, it also had a huge thruster on its back, resembling a backpack and making its appearance bulky.
On the information board next to this mech, Heibai could easily see its selection rate: 0.0001%, with a win rate of 0%.

No further explanation is needed. Just from this alone, one can see the status of mechanical mechs in this world. If not for their low cost and suitability for low-level use, they would have been completely phased out long ago.
“The KT05 light reconnaissance model for land combat is truly an antique. It’s impressive they managed to dig one out.” The scar beside his cheek twitched as his black hair revealed a sinister smile. He stretched out his finger and gently tapped it.
“Then I’ll use you, little thing. Let them see what a real mech is like.”
After selecting the mech, the next step was naturally choosing a weapon. In this regard, Black Hair was clearly not as cautious as ordinary people. After a brief glance, he shook his head repeatedly and sighed before choosing the most ordinary shotgun available.
There was no choice. In this era of highly developed magic technology, gunpowder-based weapons were simply not diverse enough. At Black Hair’s current level, the weapons he could use weren’t very powerful. Although shotguns weren’t precise, there were really no other options at the moment.
In fact, because it was extremely difficult to control mechs precisely, shotguns were shockingly ineffective in the hands of users in this world. Especially when the mech accelerated, a single shot would often hit a whole area—trees. Occasionally, a few bullets might knock down an opponent, but their power would surely be reduced due to distance and acceleration.
But Black Hair had his own plans.
The preparation took less than three minutes. With a flash of blue light, Black Hair appeared on the virtual mech he had chosen. At the same time, the scene ahead changed, and he found himself on a vast plain.
It was a standard virtual battlefield plain. In Black Hair’s memory, the Earth Federation also had such places. It was the ideal setting for mech battles. The flat ground allowed the mech’s leg-mounted engines to function at full capacity, while the widefield of view： field of view helped detect enemies quickly. Of course, it also made it easy for enemies to spot one as well. This arena, which abandoned tactics like search, ambush, and concealment, was the perfect place for beginners to get familiar with combat. Clearly, the arena’s control center had already arranged everything; all that was left was an opponent.
Or maybe not even that…
Watching the figure that suddenly appeared before him—tall enough to be twice his height—Black Hair, sitting in the cockpit, rolled his eyes. Then he gave a soft whistle.

It was a fully silver-colored mecha with a typical humanoid structure. Its outer armor was adorned with numerous golden patterns, resembling the armor of ancient knights. The joints were completely covered by circular guards. It stood about ten meters tall. Its overall design was extremely luxurious, delivering a strong sense of impact and beauty at first glance.

Of course, it would have been even better if it hadn’t had that long two-handed sword in its right hand.

Close-combat mechas were defined by Kurokami. Although he hadn’t been in this world for long, his eagerness to learn had enabled him to acquire a great deal of common knowledge. He could instantly recognize such typical close-combat mechas.

In fact, this was also an inevitable outcome in the history of mecha development. After all, machines remained machines, whether in the world before Kurokami or here. Precise control of mechas had always been a challenge—ranging from the pilot’s thoughts to the execution of the mecha’s movements, plus the consequences of those actions. The number of steps and processes involved was countless, resulting in astonishing errors. The most direct impact was a significant reduction in the accuracy of long-range attacks.

At a distance of 100 meters, it was already quite good if a mecha’s guns and cannons could hit targets the size of its own body. Those who could maintain accuracy even when doubling the range were true masters. Yet even such masters would have a hit rate of no more than 20% when aiming at a normal human standing 100 meters away.

Thus, close-combat mechas were gradually developed.

These massive mechas equipped with long spears, axes, and combat knives might not have any long-range attack capabilities, but up close, their accuracy and offensive power far surpassed those of ordinary mechas. To compensate for their inability to attack from afar, these mechas also possessed astonishing explosive power and sprinting abilities.

200 meters away.

Kurokami made an estimate from inside the cockpit. He reached up, and a full-face helmet descended, encircling his head completely, hiding any expression.

“It’s been a long time since I used this old thing. Well… let’s use it for five minutes…” A soft, gentle voice faintly came through the helmet.