The southern region of Blackboard City.
City outskirts.
By a vast and mighty river, at a remote spot by the riverside.
A black-haired young man, slightly over ten years of age, kicked away pebbles with each step, casually walking around along the riverside. He didn’t seem to be over the age of sixteen appearance-wise. The young boy’s face was filled with helplessness.
He saw there was no one in his immediate surroundings, and couldn’t help but speak out.
“Master Red Moon, did you find the thing you were looking for?”
“Hush now! What’s the rush?” an irritated voice scolded next to his ear.
“But we’ve been walking around for half an hour. What about returning home? We’re definitely going to be late again,” the young boy felt even more helpless now. He looked at the bakery uniform he was still wearing, “I heard in recent news that many thugs run amok here. It would be troublesome if we encountered them!”
“What’s there to fear? You have me around!” Red Moon flared up. “Hush now, I’ll strangle you if you make any more noise! F*ck, you made what I’d sensed just now disappear!”
The young boy quivered and immediately went quiet.
This young boy was the junior manager of One For All Bakery, Clint. In a white servant attire, him treading along the riverside was an odd sight.
A surge of river water stirred by strong gusts of wind vigorously splashed against the muddy riverside in waves.
Suddenly a rushing wave rose up and collided with the riverside.
Splash!
Large sprays of water were abruptly stirred up, soaking Clint entirely. He couldn’t react in time when it happened. His entire uniform was soaked in an instant, drenching his person as well.
“Ah!!! My uniform!” ae shouted out loud. He miserably patted down his wet uniform. A gust blew by, and he sneezed immediately after.
“How can I be so unlucky!!”
“I told you to not scream! Or else I’ll give you a beating!” Red Moon scolded harshly.
The young man felt helpless. He could only scan left and right. Luckily, no one had appeared to see this sorry sight, otherwise, he would’ve been very embarrassed.
“You can’t even withstand a small issue? Then wouldn’t you go crazy if you encounter that bunch of people?” Red Moon commented in a contemptuous manner.
“I’m just an ordinary guy, I have nothing to with any mech wars or whatever. That would be a job for the police,” the young man, Clint, wrung out some water from his clothes. He felt that he was having the worst luck today.
“Even if you were an ordinary person before, the moment you picked me up, you were no longer normal. Do you understand this?” Red Moon calmly spoke in a much warmer tone than usual.
“But the Blackboard City military is tremendously strong. There’s no need for us to worry about that group you mentioned,” Clint helplessly replied.
“You sure do enjoy relying on others, huh? Always deciding on letting others handle the troubles? Have you never thought of turning it all around and becoming someone others can rely upon?” Red Moon asked in return.
Clint fell silent. Although his core personality was weak, it didn’t mean that he couldn’t differentiate between good and bad. He desired to repay and take care of his sister, as well as finding his biological parents while helping his close friends.
“Did you forget about Darby?” his dream was to become a dashing mech pilot. Did you forget about Baylon? His dream was to no longer be a burden to his family and brother. And your sister, her biggest dream was for you to become truly independent, to become a mature man! Not someone who only knows to cower behind others’ protection, and shrink yourself away into your own pathetic shell the moment trouble arises.”
Red Moon had never properly lectured anyone before; this was his first time doing so.
Clint remained quiet. He was well aware of his family’s wishes and the dreams of his friends, and so he, too, had aspired to contribute to making them a reality. However, wanting to act and really starting to make them come true were two entirely different matters.
“Tell me, are you a selfish person?” Red Moon asked in a loud voice, “If your answer is yes, then I will just look for another compatible person, just so I won’t waste any more time on you. You should just live the rest of your life as a good-for-nothing coward.”
Clint lowered his head and continued to remain silent, took him awhile before he voiced out.
“But… but…”
“But what!?”
Sizzle!
Abruptly, an arc of blue electricity lit up on Clint’s body. After the crackling of a few electrical sparks, Clint knelt down on the ground as small wisps of smoke wafted from his body. His body then began twitching.
His pupils dilated and his eyes widened without blinking.
“This painful sensation stems from abdominal injuries,” Red Moon’s voice ringed in the boy’s ears. “Aren’t you scared of pain? Then allow me to have you get a feel for it.”
Sssss…!
After another wave of electric current sounds, Clint dropped down onto the floor. His body went through spasms, resembling an out-of-water shrimp.
“This is the sensation of mutilation, have a taste of it.”
Sssss…
“This is the pain of ruptured organs.”
“Aaarghh…” Clint uncontrollably drooled and it dripped onto his clothes and the ground. He wanted to close his mouth, but the agonizing pain going through his body had left his mind went blank and his body unresponsive.
Clack!!
“This is the pain of having your neck snapped,” Red Moon’s cold voice rang in the boy’s ears. “Had enough?”
Clint had no way of replying anymore. All he wanted to do was just lay down on the ground. Sweat poured out from all over his body, soaking his clothes and leaving a person-shaped wet spot on the ground.
He felt something lodged in his throat, preventing him from making any form of sound. He could only make unintelligible sounds.
“Can you feel it? These are the possible pains you can feel in war,” Red Moon laughed coldly, “Whatever you’re terrified of or have a fear of are all of these things. Can you feel it?”
Clint had no idea what went wrong with him. Once he’d truly experienced these pains, he suddenly stopped being afraid of them in his mind.
A feeling of “what I was afraid of was just that?” washed over him.
“How about now? Are you still scared!?” Red Moon continued to ask.
Clint felt surprised when all of the pain disappeared from his body like flowing water.
He straightened up his body, knelt, then quietly stood up from the ground. A feeling of rebirth washed over him.
“This was what you feared of all along, terrified of even,” Red Moon giggled. “Don’t you have the feeling of ‘that’s all there’s to it’?”
Clint wiped away the sweat and tears from his face and nodded slightly.
“A little…”
“Damn you, you idiot! Don’t you know how to fight back?” this was not what Red Moon expected to see, but instead, a rebellious spirit awakened by the torture the boy had received! A person without bloodlust would have no way of going against the various endeavors and enemies he would face in the future. He had intentionally tortured Clint, hopefully ridding him of his fears, and another goal was to hopefully trigger his rage and wrath, producing a will to fight back.
“I know you’re doing this for my sake, Master Red Moon,” Clint answered seriously.
“You imbecile!” Red Moon flared up in response. “Is your brain full of dog turds? You’re not even the least bit enraged at me torturing you? Can you even consider yourself a man? Dog turd! Idiot, imbecile! Buffoon!! …Forget it, I’m done with you. Today’s objective was partially achieved. Next time when you get into a fight or whatever and you feel these kinds of pain, surely you won’t be afraid of them anymore, right?”
“Ma…maybe…” Clint scratched his head, unsure of himself.
“The next time someone decides to bully you, punch him!” Red Moon replied straightforwardly.
“Why? I don’t like to fight,” Clint replied honestly.
“Forget it, forget it. Let’s no speak of it any further. Looking at you infuriates me!” Red Moon was irritated once more.
Under Red Moon’s guidance, Clint continued to tread along the river bay. Before he could walk far, he was already ordered to stop.
“Right here!” Red Moon shouted, “Pay attention, it’s right here. Stay back a little, be careful! I’m going to make my move!”
“Huh?” Clint carelessly didn’t react in time.
Suddenly, he saw a humongous shadow slowly rising from within the river. The shadow was about two to three meters in diameter and length, and rapidly rising from the bottom of the river.
Splash!!
Amidst torrential splashing, a black, metallic wreckage broke through the river surface. It hovered in the air and then soared directly towards Clint’s direction.
“Woah, woah…!” Clint couldn’t resist shouting out loud.
“Enough gawking!” Red Moon flared up, “Hurry and get out of the way, I need to put this thing down! I’m tired as hell!”
Clint then snapped back to his senses and hurriedly dodged to the right.
The giant metallic wreckage slowly descended from where it positioned itself. The wreckage was entirely pitch black, and a partially intact black disc logo still remained on its surface.
“What is this?” Clint walked over and encircled it for inspection.
“Blackboard manufactured mech wreckage.”
“Why are you bothering with this, master? What’s the use of a wrecked junk?”
“I did this for you, you imbecile!” Red Moon flared up once again.
“Oh…”
Red Moon’s voice had carried a note of fatigue.
“Alright, you should return home for today. That’s it for now. People normally wouldn’t bother taking this away once it’s dumped here. We’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Oh…”
“Fortunately, the Blackboard Region had no areas for selling salvage. Otherwise, this thing would’ve been lifted away to one for sure,” Red Moon seemed really tired. “Move on now, go back and rest. We need to accelerate progress, or else it will really be futile to fight back when that group comes along.”
“With Blackboard Academy around, they definitely won’t come. You can relax, master,” Clint attempted to comforted Red Moon.
“Don’t tell me to relax, you idiot!” Red Moon felt that this pig-like companion really deserved a beating. If there were two opponents, it might as well be a ‘one against three’ scenario!
No one was fully aware of how powerful that group was. Through the intel obtained from documents, he was quite aware of what they’re capable of.
Their ordinary pilots were all at the standard of level four willpower, the stronger ones being level five, and to reach that degree… Furthermore, their mechs seemed to be of the odd variant. He recalled the last sound phenomenon produced by the mechs.
“Great Light Mech… damn it all… If not for the fact that my mechanical body was utterly destroyed, you small fries wouldn’t even stand a chance against me!”
“What Great Light Mech?” Clint said in confusion.
“That is the opponent we’ll be facing soon. Be sure to remember this name.”
“Oh… relax, the Blackboard army is really impressive.”
“I want to beat you up again!” Looking at Clint’s face, Red Moon was infuriated once more.