Chapter 40: License to Operate

Words : 1218 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Chapter 40: License to Operate "Host, my guess is that you were either purifying that brackish energy, or the dungeon was taking it through you." Luca thought about D-29’s conjecture before replying; technically, he used to be a Guide. But he’s never even consciously Guided Espers; in fact, the problem was that he was guiding non-stop without contact, so the Awakened people weren’t allowed near him. Not to mention, Guides were there to purify an Esper’s madness and ensure that they didn’t end up rampaging. So, how would it be possible for him to purify this dark energy? Hmm... Unless this energy was similar to madness? But how was that possible? Luca’s handicap was because he hadn’t seen what that state of madness looked like on Espers. Everything that he knew about it came from the many books that he had to read to make Guiding Pills. But if he was really purifying that energy, then shouldn’t the Guiding Pills be usable for these people? "Are you able to extract information from Physical Books? I have books from my original world in the cabin; maybe you could compare the data and information?" "Ideally, yes, Host. I just need you to place the books in the Dungeon Inventory so that I can utilize the books." "That’s good then! And regarding your guesses, I’m not so sure about purifying anything since I have always been a defective Guide. The second guess might even be more plausible, though the logistics seem unrealistic." Luca began pulling the items from his cabin for direct transfer to the inventory accessible by D-29. While Luca was concentrating on thinking and transferring, he missed out on two people’s observant glances. Xavier wondered why he was stopping again while an unsatisfied classmate judged him a procrastinator or, worse, someone who felt he was beyond the system to even do the work assigned by the instructor. However, everyone’s thoughts and actions stopped when Instructor Moore started to lecture about mechas. "Now that you’ve practiced taking out your mechas, we should take time to discuss the different piloting modes." "Since most of you are familiar with the mecha’s main parts, I’d like you to look at the diagram comparing the two piloting types." The instructor allowed us to see the projection from his terminal, which showed two different cockpit configurations. "Normally, the cockpit would house a spiritual energy connector as well as your typical control panel. But over the years, the military gravitated towards manually piloted mechas." "We all know about the current issues faced by many of our mecha pilots, and our current solution is to encourage people to adapt better to manually operated ones. While this would decrease our combat abilities, it would better protect our soldiers, ensuring that we could fight for much longer." The instructor sighed as he explained, clearly downplaying his view on ’decreased combat abilities’. "But at the same time, we understand that many of you are already used to combination piloting, as evidenced by the number of personal mechas we have in this class." He made a point to look around, and the students followed suit. This was really the school for the elites, as even students could own mechas far better than many official soldiers. Instructor Moore was glad that the promising pilots had their own arsenal, but he needed to make sure they understood why the military only allowed those with sufficient abilities to use combination piloting. It was a matter of life and death, and he, for one, was not a fan of watching his students die. "We’re not discouraging you from using your personal mechas, but for them to be cleared for official use, the student must show us their capabilities." The instructor’s voice boomed as he wanted to emphasize the importance of his statement. "Once you venture out into the world, it will not be about the grandeur of the mecha, but about the preservation of your life as well as the lives of the people around you." There were murmurs around the class, where even the students with exceptional-looking mechas seemed surprised. That was new for Luca, who seemed like he was always the only person who had no idea about everything. This was considering how the instructors emphasized just rehashing commonly known information. "Sir, is this a new policy? All my brothers graduated from here, and they never mentioned such a thing, " asked one of the students. "Yes, this was specially made in preparation for the mass conscription." "With the boom in the number of students comes the reality that not everyone would have the same level of spiritual powers. If mechas could only be driven by those with high spiritual power rankings, then we would have a shortage of pilots." "You may not all be aware, but since the war against the corrupted has started, we’ve had to decrease the entrance spiritual power requirement multiple times." "???" The students looked at each other, and Luca wondered why his roommate seemed so calm about the situation while the other nobles looked like confused chicks. Was that how he looked in everyone’s eyes? "You might want to ask your parents or grandparents about this. The original quota requirement was at least an A-rank rating." The murmurs grew into gasps, and even Luca’s eyes widened as he realized how screwed the original Luca was. That poor guy wouldn’t even have a rating! "But with the emergence of spiritual power complications, we have gradually moved towards manual piloting, which has allowed us to gradually decrease the requirement to what we have now, which is C-rank." "While we recognize the immense potential of pilots with higher spiritual ratings, we can now utilize pilots provided their physique and hand speeds could cope with the requirements of manually operated mechas." "So, unless you hold a permit for combination piloting, you would only be allowed to use manually piloted mechas for anything sanctioned by the military." "There would be an elective class for those gunning for the combination license. That would be a good class for anyone wishing to upgrade." Luca’s mind raced as questions started to pile up. He was only good at spiritual piloting, but the instructor said that there were only two ways to pilot the mecha. Then what was that test for? They had to do six rounds, but only 4 matched the current piloting methods. Luca wanted to ask but decided to do so privately. He wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be common knowledge or something too out there. And couldn’t ask D-29, who was still reviewing the information and could not be reached at the moment. He looked at the mecha before him. It really looked imposing, especially for someone like him who came from a relatively backward world compared to this. But now that he knew about the situation, he felt his concerns growing by the minute. First, was wanting to check the piloting mode of the Golden Mecha. Then, try to see if he could enroll in that class that at least allowed the use of spiritual powers. And then he’s got to worry about that test to get the proper qualifications. Luca tried to close his eyes and relax, but it was rather difficult. He was screwed. This mecha was manual.

Chapter 40: License to Operate

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