Chapter 29

The public chat instantly exploded.

“Holy shit, this guy’s got guts!”

“Hahahaha, and that loser actually thought he was scared.”

“You know, I thought so too. Against this many people, he’d get wrecked.”

“I’m siding with the newbie just based on those balls of steel.”

“I was there last time. That red mecha ambushed the newbie first.”

The crowd buzzed with chatter. Bai Ruonian stood before them, saying nothing, but for Venom Sting, this was the ultimate provocation. Behind his unseen mecha’s face, Venom Sting’s eyes were bloodshot. Someone tried to step in to mediate, but a guild member roughly shoved them aside.

The red mecha’s terrifying chainsaw revved back up, unleashing that horrifying grinding screech of serrated teeth. Bai Ruonian closed his eyes. It looked like he was taking this beating no matter what. If he was going to be forced offline, he’d do it with style.

A sliver of relief flickered through his mind. Thank goodness his master hadn’t come with him. His master’s stats might be godly, but against this many, even he might get taken down. And “Call Me Majesty Highness” wasn’t here either—otherwise, they’d be getting pummeled too. Just as this relief settled in, the nauseating screech of the chainsaw roared to life, accompanied by two crisp chimes from the system.

Curious, Bai Ruonian thought it was the system sprite calling him. But the system sprite, already numb to Bai Ruonian’s reckless provocations, was huddled in a corner, calling out listlessly. “Player… Player, you have a friend message. Player… Player, your friend [ID: Call Me Majesty Highness] has come online.”

Bai Ruonian’s pupils constricted. He’d felt no fear when surrounded. He’d felt no fear when the beating was about to begin. Now, he was terrified. Oh no! Why did his good friend have to log on right now?!

Forgetting to even switch his mecha to combat mode, Bai Ruonian frantically typed.

[ID: Where’s My Tail?]: Ahhh! Hey, Your Majesty Highness, don’t log on! Stay out of the Central Hall!

[ID: Call Me Majesty Highness]: ???

[ID: Where’s My Tail?]: Remember that guy from the Arena I told you about? The one who ambushed me and chased me down saying I stole his Mental Stone? He’s brought a whole gang to beat me up.

He thought for a second and added another line. [ID: Where’s My Tail?]: Don’t log on, or they’ll beat you up too.

He did a quick headcount. At least seven of them. A fight they absolutely could not win.

[ID: Call Me Majesty Highness]: …

Seeing his friend’s icon go gray, Bai Ruonian sighed in relief. But before that breath could fully leave him, he heard a chilling whoosh of air. Venom Sting and his chainsaw were already on top of him.

Meow! Too late to even run. The massive chainsaw slammed against his chest plate. Bai Ruonian switched to combat mode, but his flimsy mecha couldn’t withstand the blow, already spitting sparks. He tried to dodge, only to realize that another guild member had bound him with chains at some point.

Ugh… The thin white mecha was pinned, completely immobilized, watching helplessly as the giant chainsaw prepared to impale it. Just as the chest plate was about to be shredded, Venom Sting, as if toying with him, suddenly changed direction, opting to cut into the white mecha’s leg joints first.

Fine, tingling pain began traveling through the sensory relays into his body. Now Bai Ruonian understood what Zhao Lixin meant by “hurts in the training ground.” High-fidelity neural simulation, authentic as hell. The pain was downscaled, but the reason he hadn’t felt it back in training was because his master had frozen all those Zerg instantly.

Master… A whimper swallowed in his throat. Bai Ruonian suddenly regretted not waiting for his master. Here he was, trying so hard to take responsibility as a human, trying not to disturb his master, and now he was getting beaten up. Damn it. If this were the old days, he’d have knocked over his master’s cup and dipped his paws into his favorite drink for revenge.

But regrets were useless now. His nerves throbbed and pulsed, fine sweat trickling down his hair to his chin. Bai Ruonian struggled fiercely, gritting his teeth, frantically trying to find an escape. There was none.

The public chat couldn’t stand it anymore.

【This is too much… do you have to torture him like this?】

【Totally unfair—and not even entertaining to watch.】

【You’ve gone too far.】

The white mecha was now half-kneeling, losing some combat functionality. Bai Ruonian’s face was pale. “Mate Mode…”

The system sprite, who had been sulking in the corner, suddenly perked up. That’s right, Mate Mode! But its spirit deflated a second later. “It only lasts one second…” His partner hadn’t logged onto the public network in ages.

“One second is enough!” Bai Ruonian had it all planned out. One second to break him free from the crowd-control, and then he could quickly transfer to an exploration map. Once there, it’d take them ages to find him. Heh, he’d slip away perfectly. Plan, flawless.

Given the dire situation, the little Firefly sprite wasted no time, swiftly pulling up a panel. “Only one second! No second chances!”

Bai Ruonian didn’t hesitate. He slammed the confirmation button.

In an instant, a storm of black particles erupted, sweeping up clouds of dust and sand. The Central Hall was nearly invisible through the chaos. Venom Sting’s retina flickered with blood-red system warnings. He spun his camera wildly—he’d never seen a weather system like this before.

“What’s going on?!” Venom Sting was starting to panic. He looked around; the massive sandstorm had blotted out everything. A guild member shouted at him, “Holy crap, did that kid just use Mate Mode?!”

“So what if it’s Mate Mode? What are you scared of? How strong could a newbie’s partner be? Probably doesn’t even play anymore. And there’s so many of us…” The words were meant to be reassuring, but even Venom Sting felt his stomach knot. This scene was unreal. Gritting his teeth, he revved his chainsaw to finish off the white mecha quickly.

“Hold him down tight!”

He thrust the chainsaw forward, but just as it was about to touch the white mecha’s chest plate, the spinning blade suddenly ground to a halt. A black mecha was solidifying from the metallic maelstrom, advancing towards him. And abruptly, his knees buckled uncontrollably. A searing pain shot through him, and he crashed to his knees. He looked down—his joints had somehow crystallized into ice. A bone-chilling wave of cold surged through him.

The public chat scrolled at a dizzying pace.

【Wait… this newbie’s Mate Mode… that mecha… doesn’t it look just like God L’s?】

【Don’t be ridiculous. The ancient god who’s held the #1 server spot for three years and hasn’t logged in—how could he be a newbie’s partner?】

【No, look…】

【That design pattern… it’s a limited edition. I was lucky enough to see it once, three years ago. It’s identical, unless it’s a replica.】

【Is it a replica? I want that paint job too.】

【I heard that design was only available at launch…】

【I heard it was only for the developers…】

The chat was not just flying by, its content was making their blood run cold. The guild members were getting spooked, whispering in the private channel to Venom Sting, “What the hell is going on? That Obsidian Mech… it can’t really be God L’s, can it?”

Venom Sting stared fixedly at the scrolling screen, grinding his teeth. “Impossible! The guy hasn’t logged in for three years! He’s probably been recruited by Military Command by now.”

“Then where’s this ice layer coming from?”

Unnoticed, a thick sheet of ice had spread across the entire floor of the hall. Everyone’s eyes widened. To affect the game environment outside a map like this, and with such materialization, required insane Mental Power. No one had ever done it before.

Bai Ruonian’s eyes were also wide, forgetting he was still chained. Eh? He didn’t remember Mate Mode having a move like this…

Everyone witnessed this impossible spectacle. Some guild members were losing their nerve. Venom Sting was beyond caring now. With savage desperation, he tried to force his chainsaw into the white mecha’s chest to reclaim the Mental Stone. Straining with all his might, he finally shattered through the ice, moving forward half an inch—only for his weapon to dissolve into dust the moment it touched the white mecha.

Amidst swirling ice shards, the black mecha fully emerged from the heart of the storm, carrying a terrifying killing intent and a frigid, piercing cold. Its presence was absolutely crushing. The one and only Obsidian Mech.

That broke the guild’s nerve entirely.

“That really IS God L’s mecha!”

“Should we, uh, get out of here?”

“Impossible! That’s just some summoned illusion from a hack! The real deal hasn’t logged in for three years, and you guys are this scared? Cowards!” Venom Sting’s eyes were locked onto the gem on Bai Ruonian’s armor. He swallowed hard. “It makes more sense to beat him until he tells us where he bought that hack.”

“You’re insane…” Even his guild buddies, originally there for backup, thought he’d lost his mind. “He’s been #1 for three damn years. Even if that’s just an illusion, I’m scared of it! Is it really worth it, for a single Mental Stone?”

“Yes, it is!” Venom Sting finally shouted his true feelings. “That’s my ticket into the Imperial Academy…”

Without that boost, how could he ever stand out in the Arena? It wasn’t just an item; it was his path to ascension. Venom Sting was furious at his so-called allies. Gritting his teeth, he was still determined to attack, raising his prized chainsaw and lunging at the fragile white mecha before him.

He didn’t make it a single step.

Only the grinding screech of gears losing lubricant filled his ears, the sound of metal cogs crushing together. He looked down in horror, watching the rivets at his mecha’s knee joints pop out, one by one. His body collapsed, crashing to the ground.

A palpable wave of bitter cold washed over him. The black mecha had appeared before him like a phantom. It’s a phantom, it’s a phantom, it’s a phantom. A terror rose in his heart as he desperately tried to convince himself. It’s a phantom. A summoned illusion with a time limit. A hack.

However, the freezing on the ground didn’t stop. It kept spreading, freezing everyone surrounding Bai Ruonian solid. The ice continued to expand, endlessly extending.

The frozen guild members barely had time to react, their voices panicked. “What’s going on?!” “I can’t move!!”

The guy who had chained Bai Ruonian screamed, “It’s so cold, but it burns!! System, what’s happening?! Isn’t there pain dampening?!”

The pain was like a million neural needles stabbing into his marrow. Within a second, the man was writhing on the ground in agony. The system’s mechanical voice came through the channel: Your current pain is not derived from the game. It is the result of Mental Power influence.

The game “Star Dome” was originally military tech adapted for civilian use. Everything was tied to Mental Power. All stats, attributes, and skill damage scaled solely with Mental Power, a design to help identify elite talents. If a skill’s damage was 10, under Mental Power influence it could be 100, or 1000—then downscaled by the system to a physical sensation of 1. In other words, if the sensation was a 100, the actual output had long since exceeded all thresholds.

Far, far exceeded.

A stunned silence fell over the crowd. The man was still rolling on the ground in pain. The chains binding Bai Ruonian fell loose.

Bai Ruonian was also shocked. This was insane… Completely different league from the one-second phantoms on the intranet. And this was lasting much longer. Way more than a second!

He looked towards the black mecha. Beneath the deep black mech’s feet, the ice lay endlessly extended. Nebula patterns gleamed brightly across the black obsidian armor. Totally different from the phantoms summoned before. Was this a summon? Or the real deal? Bai Ruonian was dumbfounded.

It wasn’t like before… No, it looked even cooler. The paint job was shinier. He liked it even more…

At that moment, the system issued a server-wide announcement, like a clap of thunder.

【Star Dome Ranking #1, Kill Ranking #1, Player [L.M.J] has come online!!】