Mech Arena : The Book

Awakening Time.

Though they couldn't tell where the voice was coming from, the moment they heard their call, they began to move in lines and entered the hall.

They proceeded in order, with the C Region students entering first, followed by those from Region D, then Region E, and finally the students of Region F, followed by their teacher, while the Dean stayed outside to chat with his colleagues.

After entering the hall, Jake couldn't help but look up at the sky, suspended there were various metallic-looking hand guards.

"The things you're staring at right now are what we call the Hanger System, though it might sound strange why they're called that, since they look like simple hand guards…"

"But there's actually a full story behind the name, and I'll explain it to you all. To be considered awakened, you have to be chosen by one of the hand guards."

"Each person can only determine their talent rank and weapon specialty after they've been chosen by the Hanger System."

"And the main reason they're called the Hanger System is because after merging with them, you're able to access a system interface and even scan your future mechs into it," Mr. Charles said, using the opportunity to ease the nervous expressions of the students around him who were staring at the Hand Guards floating in the air without any support whatsoever.

But while he was doing his best to share knowledge with his students, there was clearly someone who wasn't pleased with it, he felt Charles was simply showing off and that person happened to be the teacher leading the Region E students.

"Be careful with the lessons you're giving. You're talking to them as if they are truly prospects who might awaken the Hanger System and become super soldiers," the Region E teacher said, causing Mr. Charles to stop and look at him in surprise.

"You don't want to give them false hope, right? That would be bad for them. It would only break them more when they fail to awaken and fall into despair," the Region E teacher continued, with a sadistic smile spreading across his face.

"How dare you speak that way about my students!" Mr. Charles said, his expression already changing as anger surged through him.

"Why do you insist on embarrassing yourself? We all know that last year, out of all your students, only one was able to awaken and he didn't amount to much, he even had to drop out of the academy. Last I heard, he's just a lowly soldier in Region F."

"Meanwhile, last year my school still had about six students awaken, and not only that, one of them possessed an Epic pilot talent and weapon affinity, and he was recruited by a guild in the D Region, and after graduating from Phoenix Mech Academy, he's expected to secure a high-ranking position."

"He's already even participating in dungeon jumps. Now that is heritage," the teacher said as a clap back but Mr. Charles couldn't refute him, because it was the truth.

And in reality, things weren't always as they seemed, he knew that the student in question had only dropped out because he couldn't compete with others who had the backing of clans or guilds support that gave them access to better mechs to assimilate with and grow stronger.

So the boy had chosen to serve his region instead. That way, in his own region, he could at least sustain himself and even earn some extra income on the side.

Just as they waited for Mr. Charles to respond, the first student from Region C stepped onto the stage to meet an elderly man standing there.

The man immediately directed the student to walk toward a circle drawn on the floor. Once the student stepped into it, he pressed something among the controls before him, and a light began to shine on the student.

The student didn't have to wait long. Soon, the hand guards suspended in the air began to emit a whirling sound, but after about a minute, the light suddenly went off.

"Awakening failed. Step down." The elder with long white hair on the stage said.

The student who had just failed looked as if all hope had been stripped away, the light in his eyes dimmed almost instantly, and he wasn't the only one, many who had been watching him closely, planning to use him as a benchmark for themselves, felt fear begin to brew in their hearts.

At this moment, no one could tell who would be able to awaken.

Not long after, the second student was forced onto the stage despite his heart pounding as if it would burst out of his chest, and just like that, he too failed.

Then the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth followed, and soon a heavy silence filled the room, though failing to awaken for students from Region C didn't mean their lives were over, they could still pursue other reputable professions.

They could become forgers, engineers, or even high-ranking executives in companies that dealt with monster carcasses, especially if they came from well-off families.

This was how developed the other regions were, it was just that kids their age couldn't get the idea of awakening out of their heads, because to them, there was nothing better than becoming an awakened super soldier.

The amount of power and respect that came with it was overwhelming, at this point, no one was even shocked anymore when they heard the words "Awakening failed."

They had grown too numb to it. It had started to feel like the norm, so when the eleventh student from Region C stepped onto the stage, and one of the hand guards suddenly shot toward him at high speed and latched onto his left hand as if trying to merge with it—

Everyone was stunned.

His screams were what snapped them out of their dazed state as they finally realized that the first awakened super soldier of this year's batch had been born.

After a few more seconds of shouting, he finally stopped, breathing heavily as he pushed himself up from the kneeling position he had been forced into by the pain that had coursed through his body.

But now, as he stared at the hand guard on his left hand, he felt no resentment toward the pain he had just endured. On the contrary, he felt it had all been completely worth it.