(Training Camp- Holodeck Building)

[10 minutes.9 minutes.8 minutes.]

[Less than 5 minutes remain!]

The holographic words were projected above the simulation room which caused the nerves of the remaining students to tense as the countdown slowly ticked down.

The group for general cultivators and the assassination candidates were both training in a simulated hologram room that mimicked the environment of a forested area with dense trees and foliage.

Students were placed in the assassination class based on their skills in movement, concealment, and killing techniques.

There were ten students in the class which was quite tiny when compared to much large number of forty students in the general class.

Assistant Lucy and Instructor Cain organised a joint training session to help the members of both groups of students improve their combat sense.

The assassin class were given a ten-minute head start to enter the environment and conceal their presence.

General class students would then enter the training field once the countdown timer ended and a team battle would commence.

Instructor Cain had set different goals for each group of students.

Assassins were randomly given the profiles of different students in the general class and their goal was to kill their targets.

Bonus points were earned if they eliminated the other members of the squad the target was chosen from.

Students were equipped with barrier devices that would activate upon the detection of a fatal blow so serious injuries were unlikely to occur.

The general class were separated into ten squads of four students each and tasked with ensuring that all members of their team survived by the end of the exam.

"Time is nearly up," Instructor Cain spoke calmly as he headed towards the first aid section to pick up healing serums to treat the minor injuries that students had suffered.

Assistant Lucy carefully reviewed the real time footage of the exercise and doubled checked the current results with the AI that was monitoring the simulation room.

It did not take long for the potential results to be calculated and the assistant scanned the generated list and praised certain students.

"Squads one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight and nine are most likely to end the exercise without the loss of a single member," she stated nonchalantly to her fellow instructor.

It was estimated that almost all of the squads would pass the exercise successfully.

This was to be expected as new students in the assassination class were unlikely to have the required skills to pull off a successful kill on an alert target in the middle of a group.

Assistant Lucy finally cracked a smile when she read the list of names from the assassin class who managed to already eliminated their targets before the exam ended.

"Qiana Abazin and Caleb Black have both shown impressive potential," she noted down these two promising students in her mind.

She was particularly impressed by the quiet girl who blended almost silently in the background of any crowd.

House Abazin were mainly active in politics and did not send any of their direct offsprings to serve time in the military.

So where did Qiana get such deadly skills?

The squad she hunted did not notice her presence until it was far too late.

Assistant Lucy's only complaint would be that this talented student did not attempt to take out the other members of squad five and earn bonus points.

Qiana simply retreated back into the simulated forest once the barrier on her target had been triggered.

She was now peacefully waiting for the countdown to end.

(Training Camp- Mechanical Armory)

Compared to the high intensity battles and lectures that were happening at the other training sessions, the mech controller class was very relaxing.

"Welcome to training everyone," an older man spoke very informally to his small class of students.

His name was Instructor Barrett and he had served in the Imperial Army as a mechanical engineer and mech controller for over two hundred years before finally retiring to teach the next generation.

Instructor Barrett was an older man with grey hair that was mixed with dark soot and poking out in all directions as if he had just got an electric shock.

He wore the standard mechanical overalls of the Imperial Army and his figure was still quite good for a man of his age.

The class begun with Instructor Barrett briefly describing mechs and their history in the Federation.

Mech controllers were an extremely small fraction of the total number of cultivators in the Imperial Army due to the strict requirements to nurture one.

Currently in the Imperial Army, there were no more than two mech controllers who were able to handle mechs with the power of god stage cultivators.

Prospective controllers needed to have a solid foundation in cultivation, vast quantities of mental force and the ability to concentrate intensely for hours on end.

Mechs were a marvel of scientific engineering.

Records show that they were first envisioned hundreds of years ago in ancient Earth media and science fiction stories.

With the fall of the Draxi Empire, humanity and the other three races were able to absorb their scientific knowledge and research which helped them to create ultimate weapons of war.

It took hundreds of years for the first early mech to be created which had roughly the same power as a cultivator in the qi tide stage.

Their robotic structures were typically made from nanoparticles and powered by dark matter energy cores.

The shapes of these mechs ranged from humanoid, beast-like or even customized specifically for a controller's preference.

The following years of research only produced more and more powerful models until they could even rival void stage cultivators.

Naturally, there was great excitement among the higher ups of the Federation and the Imperial Army ordered thousands of these machines to be built and attempted to have ordinary soldiers pilot them.

Which alien civilisation would be able to halt the advance of a fleet made up of thousands of void stage combatants.

These orders came before the mechs could be properly tested by the researchers for any negative side effects on the users.

Unfortunately, it was soon discovered that most people could not even draw out a fraction of the full abilities of these mechs without suffering significant mental and physical backlash.

Those lucky survivors of the backlash experienced either permanent brain damage or had to be put on life support after their nervous systems shut down.

These incidents were enough to spark public outcry from the families of these victims and mech research was halted for decades as scientists tried to figure out what went wrong.

It was discovered that only those with a strong enough mental force were able to pilot these mechs for long periods of time.

Mech controller candidates were treated as precious gems and almost every student with significant potential was guaranteed a spot at the four prestigious universities.

"Now for the training camp, the university has generously allowed you all to design your own mechs that will be built and delivered in the next two days so we can start practice," Instructor Barrett explained.

"Please only use the beginner mechs as the base of your mech so that means the Phantom, Trident, Ravager, and Pioneer series."

The class seemed more like a private tutoring session as Cleo's classmates were only two other students.

One was a Mendolesa girl named Elenora and the other was a Quafes called Drew who kept switching between two gender forms, both of which looked fairly androgynous.

There was a black box in front of each of the three students, so Cleo pressed the button on the side curiously and a holographic workshop was projected around her.

[Welcome Mech Controller!] a line of text appeared on a screen.

[Please select the level of mech you require.]

[Beginner] [ Intermediate] [Advanced]

Mechs that were classified as above 'Advanced' could only be purchased through special military channels and their manufacturing process was a closely guarded secret.

The instructor said to chose a beginner mech, so Cleo selected the first option and begun the browse the different choices and types of mechs.

Cleo was using the X-r61 model from the Phantom series as a base to create her own custom mech to use during the training camp.

The Phantom series were sleek, lightweight humanoid mechs that specialized in aerial combat and scouting.

What they lacked in heavy firepower was compensated for by high maneuverability and speed that could outclass opponents.

It was a bit of an advanced choice for a beginner as they required some extra skill to operate but Cleo relished the opportunity.

Clicking on the mech opened another window that showed the potential modifications as well as a simulation of how these changes would affect the stats of the mech.

"Hmm can I add an extra thruster without unbalancing the lower half of the mech?"

"Maybe I should add two laser swords. they look badass," Cleo whispered as she mused carefully over the long list of features.

"Woah your mech looks pretty cool," came an excited voice from Elenora who was peering over Cleo's shoulder.

"Thank you," the princess smiled back politely as she continued to add features to her mech.

The Mendolesa girl attempted to start a conversation, but Cleo was too preoccupied by the wonderful world of robots.

Ever since Cleo was a little girl, one of the only happy memories of her childhood was sitting on her mother's lap as they watched action movies together.

One of her personal heroes was the actor who played Matias Hunter from the 'Mech God Ultimate Warrior' trilogy who would defeat swarms of aliens with his trusty mech that he nicknamed 'The Golden Girl.'

(Flashback)

"Does my little girl want to be a mech controller like that handsome big brother on the screen," a younger version of Concubine Sisrelis smiled lovingly as she stroked Cleo's hair.

"Yeah mommy! I want to be a superhero," little Cleo giggled loudly as she waved her arms around excitedly.

Joyful laughter echoed around the empty palace as the mother daughter pair teased one another gently.

It was a warm and happy moment.