ABO Cadets

Chapter 036: Big and Small Prince

That evening, even after returning to the dormitory Lin Yuan had a hard time quelling his excitement. The battle with that mysterious figure still had his blood racing. His mind is still full of admiration for the master's precise and skillful operation. Laying in bed without an ounce of drowsiness, Lin Yuan simply decided to put on his helmet and log onto the holographic network system.

The mechs battle arena in the gaming hall is still very lively. Currently, even though it's rather late at night, the number of online users is still a lot and the chat messages on the main public screen are incessantly pouring out.

After looking over his list of friends, sure enough, Small Prince was currently online. Lin Yuan rushed over to send a greeting to give him prior notice: "Master, I am coming!"

Small Prince quickly replied: "Come to Room No. 11, password 1111."

Lin Yuan enters the password to enter Room No. 11 and saw Small Prince piloting a white bird.

Unlike the other night fit with a mass of spectators smashing their heads together at the magnificent sight, today, because of the password encryption in the room, Ball and Small Prince were the only two in the room. Without the influence of the onlookers, Lin Yuan's mood naturally relaxed.

(TN: User suggestion from the comment section for his online ID, thanks a bunch!)

He learned a lot of things under the guidance of that mysterious master. In order to begin to learn from this online master, Lin Yuan immediately summoned his own humanoid mech and wanted to challenge him. He didn't expect Small Prince to say: "Today you're going to be using the wolf-type."

Lin Yuan said with embarrassment: "I have never driven a wolf-type mech, I am not very skilled."

Small Prince said: "It doesn't matter, the operation instructions of the mech are similar, just different models. The stats of the mech are a bit different. The wolf-type mech has the strongest sprint speed and jumping ability out of the land mech, you can experience it yourself when you try it."

"Oh!" Lin Yuan had recalled the humanoid mech, changing the one he had just bought yesterday, the gray wolf-type mech, and began to fight against Master.

The wolf-shaped mech is truly fast, it runs like the wind. The light-cannon that is hidden in its mouth has extremely powerful firepower. Obviously, this kind of mech is most suitable in the assault unit of a Legion. It can be assumed that in grounded warfare if tens of thousands of these wolf-type mechs converged together to charge the enemy, they would be able to overwhelm the opposing force easier than a slicing a hot knife through butter.

Lin Yuan operated the wolf-type mech to run onto the field, his mood also became more and more riled up.

The running and jumping ability of the wolf-type mech is indeed very strong. With the same operation command, the humanoid mech can only jump up to two meters high, while the height of the wolf-type mech can nearly hop over a wall in one bound.

After playing a close game with Master, even though he ultimately lost in the end, this result still did not influence Lin Yuan's good mood. Compared to the previous match that where he was unable to retaliate, today he has noticed some improvement. Moreover, he became familiar with a new mech. This could all be considered a rather large gain.

Lin Yuan excitedly walked out of the cockpit of the mech, and before he could talk, suddenly a prompt box popped up saying "The other party has transferred one million points."

Lin Yuan: "......"

Although the feeling of being pampered by his master is very good, the one million points that were given before have had just been spent, and today there was another million, which instead ends up making him feel overwhelmed from the constant favor he receives.

Lin Yuan voiced out with embarrassment: "Master, you have already given me points before."

Small Prince said: "It's nothing, I have 20 million here."

... tw-twenty million?

Lin Yuan immediately become dumbfounded!

Small Prince disconcerting said: "I have been playing in the battle arena for more than ten years and I have accumulated a lot of points. I've already bought every one of the mech types, and the remaining 20 million points cannot be spent, you take should just take it for yourself to buy another mech to play."

After that, he directly and decisively turned over 20 million points.

"......" Lin Yuan has been flattered to the extent that his hands are shaking.

To be honest, when he recognized his master that day, he had always thought that the level of Small Prince was much better than himself. He would like to worship him as a master to learn a bit of his skill. Unexpectedly, the other party actually wanted to take having an apprentice seriously, the other party is several times more skilled than the master of their imagination.

- He does not only pilot birds, he actually has all kinds of mechs!

- This is an unexpected surprise!

Lin Yuan received 20 million points from his master and he was so happy that he was speechless.

The Small Prince earnestly told him off: "Ball, since I accepted you as my apprentice, I don't want to teach a newbie."

Lin Yuan said seriously: "Master, you can rest assured! I will learn well!"

Small Prince sent a smiling expression.

Lin Yuan quickly followed up with an expression of hugs to express his loyalty to his master.

The Small Prince who was embraced was in a good mood and patiently typed: "If you want to be a mech master, you must be familiar with all kinds of mechs, and know where their strengths and weaknesses are. So, no matter what type of mech you encounter in the future, you won't be at a disadvantage. Use the points I gave you to buy all the marine-type mechs first, and practice them several times."

Lin Yuan nodded: "En en, I've got it."

(TN: I think I'll start to leave some of these onomatopeias in their original Chinese forms, for those of you who read GDC or This Way of Transmigration is Definitely Wrong!, you should recognize this one as the sound of an affirmative grunt.)

Small Prince said: "I will show you the characteristics of various mechs. Come over and look at them..."

The esteemed Master began to patiently teach, while teaching, he would constantly be summoning various mechs to give Lin Yuan a demonstration. Lin Yuan looked seriously, and even later moved closer to see it - this Master is really good, he has obviously carefully passed his experience and knowledge to his apprentice. Such a good master is rarely seen on this game's battle arena.

Lin Yuan's heart was brimming with admiration for this master, and he obediently stuck himself beside his master conscientiously hanging on to his words.

Caesar was very satisfied with Ball listening carefully, his lips couldn't help but raise into a smile.

Just then, a person driving a black bird-type mech suddenly entered the room and automatically joined the auditorium.

Lin Yuan, who was far too enraptured in listening carefully, did not notice this at all. Caesar was giving a demonstration to Lin Yuan, and the room was encrypted. He did not expect anyone to suddenly guess the password and enter the room to stand to the side.

The "uninvited guest" watched for a while in the spectator seats, he who was ignored by the two protagonists finally could not help but send out a line to announce his existence -

Big Prince: "What's going on in here? Teaching in private?"

A line of big characters suddenly appeared on the chat screen of the room. Lin Yuan stared blankly at ahead, his eyes catching sight of the "Big Prince" ID. He inwardly thought that this person was somehow related to his master since he was silent and hasn't spoken.

Sure enough, Small Prince quickly replied: "...how did you get in?"

Big Prince sent a contemptuous expression. "The password is always 1111, never creative, not at all hard to guess."

Small Prince: "......"

Big Prince: "What are you doing this late? Who is this Ball person?"

Small Prince: "...my apprentice."

Big Prince: "Apprentice? You actually have the heart to accept apprentices online?"

If their royal father and mother knew that their two sons secretly registered online under the ID of "Big Prince" and "Small Prince" in the battle arena with a killing rate of 100%, and now that Small Prince actually received an apprentice... they would go absolutely mad!

Unavoidably, the eldest prince would likely continue to expose himself. Caesar immediately talked to him privately: "This Ball is my roommate, don't talk in front of him, ah!"

Xiwei sent a puzzled expression: "Roommate? What are you doing with your dormitory roommate as an apprentice?"

(TN: As I'm pretty sure many of you know, this series has another installment featuring Caesar's elder brother (Runaway Guide). Now I haven't read it, but a quick skimming over revealed that the translator kept his name as Xiwei. Now since Caesar's name was translated into a phonetic English form, I would have done the same for his brother, but for the sake of consitency, I'll be leaving it like this. If anyone wants to know, I was thinking of making it Sylvie.)

Caesar: "......"

Xiwei spoke profoundly: "There are bad intentions, right?"

Caesar was silent for a moment, and said: "...I'm in love with him."

Speaking of it in here, he can't help but feel his face grow hot.

The elder prince is a whole six years older than Caesar. Their royal father was busy with government affairs and their royal mother's body was not good. When Caesar was a child, he had grown up closely stuck to his brother, and although he was a rather violent omega, inside of Caesar's heart, he was still his most respected elder brother.

In front of his elder brother, he had declared that he is in love with a person, Caesar, whose desire had always been somewhat lacking.

Xiwei wondered: "Dormitory roommate? Is it a boy, ah?"

Caesar said: "En, he is a beta."

Xiwei was surprised: "Beta? The royal family tradition has quite strict regulations. The big and influential military households all have pureblooded omega's waiting to be wed to you, and our royal father will definitely not agree to let you marry a beta into the position of a prince's imperial concubine."

Caesar said: "I know."

He paused and said seriously: "I'll do my best to fight for it "

Xiwei was silent for a moment, only to say:" Well, anyway, you are still young, not even graduated from college, our royal father should not be pushing for your marriage just yet, you do not have to worry, these kinds of difficulties can be solved slowly.

Caesar nodded: "En, I understand."

The room had suddenly grown silent. Big Prince and Small Prince seemed to be talking privately? Reading into the atmosphere, Ball continued to earnestly study his own mechs, but in his heart, he was somewhat curious-

What is the relationship between these two people? Their names are so similar, it should it be a close registered friend, right?

Right in the middle of his befuddlement, words began to float in front of his vision by Small Prince: "Ball, let me introduce you to someone, this is my big brother."

- Big brother is called Big Prince, little brother is called the Small Prince, these brothers chose to have very strange names!

Lin Yuan resisted the urge to laugh and politely said, "Hello."

Big Prince said: "En en, a princess befitting of Small Prince."

Lin Yuan: "......??"

Big Prince: "That was a typo, an apprentice befitting of Small Prince."

(TN: My terrible attempt at translating some Chinese wordplay into English, basically sister-in-law (specifically one's younger brother's) and apprentice both share the same younger brother character. Princess and apprentice look kind of similar right?)

After finishing this sentence, he directly transferred over 20 million points and smiled and said: "This is for you, nice to meet you."

Lin Yuan: "......"

Looking at the series of zeros behind it, Lin Yuan suddenly looked dizzy.

His master had just given himself 20 million, and now this master's eldest brother just gave out another 20 million. Lin Yuan spent countless hours on the online battle arena to get the points needed to upgrade the humanoid mech that the system provided to the highest level. These two masters are just simply handing out tens of millions of points like air!

Lin Yuan looked at the 20 million points and was very overwhelmed by receiving such favor, he doesn't know how to properly respond. Just then, a string of words from Small Prince appeared: "He gave it to you, just accept it." Those points he has are useless, you should take them to change around the mechs you play."

Since his master said so, Lin Yuan had to thicken his face to accept and say happily: "Thank you, ah!"

Big Prince sent out a smiling face, " Don't mention it."

Inside his heart, he is thinking: This Ball is a really nice catch, ah. Caesar, you are certainly going to want such a good catch as the prince's imperial concubine......

After receiving the points, Lin Yuan immediately opened up the mech store, 40 million points can buy all kinds of mechs. Looking at all of the various kinds of mechs that suddenly pop from the window, Lin Yuan excitedly moves to jump up from his bed.

As a result, because of too much excitement, Lin Yuan accidentally smashed his helmet......

So...

The other two people in the room only saw that Lil' Ball had suddenly disappeared right in front of them.

The Big Prince wondered: "Ball, huh? Did he up and leave?"

Caesar explained calmly: "He was probably too excited and dropped it."

Sure enough, after a few seconds, Lin Yuan put on his helmet and reconnected online to Room 11, he bashfully types out the words to say: "Master, I just accidentally dropped it..."

Caesar couldn't help but lift his lips up into a smile. This guy really was too excited and ripped off the helmet that connected him to the network, he really wants to go in the bedroom next door and give his head a good rubbing.

Big Prince also smiled and said: "Well, you two can continue, I'll go find someone to play a few games, someone who I haven't played with for a long time."

Caesar said: " Wouldn't it be better for us to play a few games and let Ball watch? "

Xiwei thought his brother probably would like to take the opportunity to let his sweetheart who loved to learn some skills to watch them battle. He straightforwardly agreed and he moved down, he readily piloted down his mech, a black bird, to meet up with Caesar's mech, a white bird.

Lin Yuan entered the spectator stands and excitedly began to watch the battle between the two masters.

This match can surely be said to be wonderful, and it is much better than the battle videos between many masters on the Internet!

The two also piloted flying mechs, the black and white bird fluttered in the air, and every attack and dodge was done just right. The two have stayed evenly matched, even as they had been playing for 20 minutes. Both sides were still at a toss up, but within the short period of 20 minutes, a lot of techniques were used and each was amazingly accurate with no margin of even the slightest error in judgment or control of the situation. Already, Lin Yuan has felt the need to prostrate himself at their feet in admiration!

In just 20 minutes, Lin Yuan saw no more than fifty difficult level-three movements, and the conversion between the difficult movements was also very smooth and seamless. It was a gift from the heavens to watch these masters playing the mechs!

While Lin Yuan was spectating, in his heart he can't help but simultaneously immerse himself in his thoughts. How should those movements be connected? While looking at one side and pondering, one match after another, Lin Yuan felt the mist covering his eyes was lifted to reveal a vast clearing, and an entourage of ideas came pouring out.

The two brothers played six games in a row, and after more than an hour, and the final result was three wins and three losses.

Seeing that it was getting late, Caesar proposed: "I think we've had enough for today, brother, you should go to bed early, or father will have words to say to you."

Xiwei said: "Alright, then I will sleep first, then next time I'm free I'll come to play with you guys again." Big Prince withdrew his mech and went to Lin Yuan and waved his hand. "Goodbye Ball."

Lin Yuan hurriedly said, "En, goodbye!"

The other party quickly went offline and once more, the room was filled with only the pair of master and disciple.

It was too late to continue playing today. Time really flew by quickly, he would have to be up at 7:00 a.m. for military training. Lin Yuan had to go to bed, but for some reason when he said goodbye to Master, he felt a bit reluctant.

Lin Yuan pushed past his embarrassment to ask: "Master, can you come tomorrow night?"

Small Prince said: "What's wrong?"

Lin Yuan said: "I haven't used a lot of these mechs I just bought. Compared to me, you're much more proficient in this area, whenever you have free time, you can teach me a bit. "

Small Prince said:" No problem, I can be online tomorrow night. "

Lin Yuan excitedly said: "Great, tomorrow night I'll set up a room and wait in there for you! "

After he was done speaking he also sent out a hugging expression to express his gratitude to his master.

Caesar looked at the adorable Ball in front of him and stretched his arms to make a hugging motion. He couldn't help but raise his lips slightly.

He can even imagine the Lin Yuan of that moment, whose excitement makes his pair of eyes shine brightly.

Obviously, Lin Yuan truly likes operating mech. Even playing so late, he is surprisingly not tired at all. Even after parting, he still wants to continue on tomorrow... Using this kind of mentoring between master and disciple to exchange battle tactics and slowly improve his level. It really is proper, right?

Even if it is just to please him, just to casually buy an ordinary mech online and give it to him without a second thought, isn't there is no need for it to be troublesome? But Caesar doesn't want to stop there. As Marshal had said, Lin Yuan must have a skillful level to become the master of Vermillion Bird. What Caesar truly wants to see is that Lin Yuan has become a genuine mech operation master with the addition of his own help.

Only in this way could Lin Yuan be qualified to have the empire's top-level S-class mech, Vermillion Bird, his ability will most certainly not fail to live up to Vermillion Bird's approval of him. Later on, with a top-notch intelligent mech such as Vermillion Bird accompanying him and protecting him, Caesar will naturally feel a lot more at ease.

The next day's military training soon ended and Lin Yuan's anticipation of playing against the mysterious master in the evening hastily grew stronger and stronger.

After finishing the training, Lin Yuan went to the dining hall for dinner as fast as he could. He returned to the dormitory and changed out of his sweaty military uniform. After a quick shower, he urged Caesar to rush to the training room.

The mysterious master driving a black mech was patiently waiting in the same place as previously agreed.

Lin Yuan smiled and said politely greeted him before he bluntly began to challenge him.

He learned from yesterday's lessons. Today, Lin Yuan is not in a hurry to make the first move. Instead, he puts on a defensive posture and concentrates on the screen in front of him. He wants to wait for the opponent to attack and then find a way to seize the other's loopholes and counterattack.

Seeing Lin Yuan's intention to fight defensively, Rosen also launched an offensive directly.

The black mech's attack was fierce and powerful, and the speed was as fast as lightning. It was as glorious as a rainbow. Lin Yuan had no time to parry, and he was subsequently beaten and lost. He even lost five times in the first match!

However, Lin Yuan is not discouraged, he carefully observes and records each of his opponent's actions, using the interval between each battle to continuously analyze in his head.

Finally, when the other side suddenly took out the weapon and swung it towards himself, Lin Yuan picked up his shield and accurately blocked the opponent's blade!

After battling against the mysterious master for so long, Lin Yuan for the first time successfully blocked the opponent's assault!

Rosen's movement paused a little, and he couldn't help but feel a little gratified. The young boy's action was what he used yesterday. He didn't expect him to learn so quickly, the child's learning ability and comprehension was really strong.

Rosen was interested in teaching him so he deliberately slowed down his movements every time he attacked.

Lin Yuan immediately reacted and carefully studied and analyzed.

One night's time passed quickly in a round of delightful matches. When it was eleven o'clock, the other party said that it was too late. Lin Yuan reluctantly walked out of the cockpit and said with a smile: "Senior, Are you free tonight? I invite you to eat a quick late-night snack!"

Lin Yuan believed that Caesar said "this mysterious master is a third-year senior with a high level of mech operation" and naturally called out the term "senior".

Caesar's forehead can't help but drop a cold sweat.

The only person in the whole empire who dared to smile and call the Marshal "Senior", would only be Lin Yuan.

......strangely enough, the Marshal seems to be not angry at all?

It was true, Rosen is not angry at all. Listening to Lin Yuan repeatedly asking to eat midnight snacks, this "you help me, I will invite you to eat" with an earnest expression, ends up looking in Rosen's eyes to be very cute.

Rosen slightly smiled and whispered: "No need, you can go enter the national finals, that would be the best reward for me."

Lin Yuan suddenly felt a bit of pressure, "National finals? Is my level okay? I've learned nothing more than just enough mech operation to meet the military's open exam requirements, and I'm not very familiar with a lot of mechs"

Rosen said:" Don't mind that, you have twenty days worth of time, train well, alright?"

Seeing that the expression on the boy's face was a bit panicked. Rosen couldn't help but send over his encouragement: "Trust yourself, you can do it."

Lin Yuan looked up and smiled: "Well then, I'll give it my best shot!"

Rosen asked Black Dragon to put a copy of his electronic notes that it had already prepared and handed them to Lin Yuan. "These notes were recorded back in the years when I was studying the mechs. I'm giving it to you for reference. The password is 0707."

Lin Yuan took the electronic notebook from the black mech. After inputting the password, the palm-sized electronic screen really switched on.

The notes recorded in the electronic notebook were like a whole book and generally neatly done. The key points that need to be paid attention to are also marked and annotated properly with red, so the electronic notes recorded by themselves are definitely more precious than those books on the theory of mech operation by severalfold!

Lin Yuan gingerly held the electronic notes in his hands and was genuinely touched: "These notes are written very nicely. Thank you!"

"...these will be very useful." Facing the young boy's sincere gaze, Rosen's heart went soft, he couldn't help but make his tone a lot more gentle. "I still have a lot of things I need to do. I can't practice with you every day. You should step up your training this month. If you end up entering the top ten people representing the school to participate in the national finals, then at that moment, come to the capital of the constellation Cepheus. I'll take you out to eat."

Lin Yuan was shocked for a moment, "Capital Star...?"

The Empire's capital, Sheffield Star, is located in the center of the constellation Cepheus. Lin Yuan has never once been there.

(TN: 斯菲尔德, nothing I could find for this made sense so I ended up taking the name of a newspaper that sounded pretty similar lol. Pinyin roughly looked like Si Fei Er De.)

This master obviously said that he would invite him to dinner in the capital star. He must be motivating him to practice and get the top ten.

Lin Yuan immediately nodded: "Alright, I must step up my practice during this time!"

Looking at the confidence of the youth, Rosen couldn't help but smile: "I hope to see you again in the capital star."

Lin Yuan smiled and said: "I hope so too!"

Rosen paused, and said, "Caesar, I have some things to go take care of, the next training will be handed over to you."

Caesar: "......"

Caesar felt an even larger pressure.

Can Marshal's sentence be regarded as a military order? If Lin Yuan is not able to get the top ten, wouldn't that mean that he did not faithfully complete the task of the Marshal? Thinking of the gaze of the Marshal's cold eyes, Caesar felt the scalp go numb.

Fortunately, Lin Yuan is very talented. The Marshal personally guided him these two days. Before leaving, he also presented a precious electronic notebook written by himself, plus his own online teaching with Ball every night... just one month, raising his level and entering the top ten in the school should not be a problem, right?

Caesar looked back at Lin Yuan and found that Lin Yuan had a look of joy and excitement as if he could win the top ten tomorrow.

Lin Yuan is obviously very confident,

......I should have confidence in the ability of this little monster, isn't that right?

Thinking of this, Caesar looked up and looked at the direction of the Black Dragon's cockpit. His eyes shone brightly as he firmly said: "I know, rest assured, I will take him to the capital star to see you!"

Rosen nodded with satisfaction and left the training room.

Until the figure of the black mech disappeared around the corner, Lin Yuan asked questioningly: "Caesar, is that mysterious master really a third-year senior? Why doesn't he want to officially meet me? I want to have a meal, and a proper chat, but he doesn't seem to want to meet me face-to-face."

Caesar: "......"

Because once he shows up, you'll be scared.

Because he is the Marshal and is an idol in the minds of many imperial people. When you meet each other, you will never smile and invite him to a meal. Instead, you will seriously stand upright at attention and give him a military salute.

Since the Marshal asked for confidentiality, Caesar did not disclose his identity.

Seeing Lin Yuan's curious look, Caesar couldn't help but smile and say: "He doesn't want to let you know who he is, for the time being, you should think that he is on a whim to pass down his teachings to the new generation. Doesn't it all play out like that in TV shows? The protagonist always has to receive the guidance of several mysterious and able masters, and then their level can advance by leaps and bounds."

Lin Yuan silently said, "I never watched those kinds of TV shows."

Caesar: "......"

Lin Yuan looked back at Caesar and wondered: "Are you and Brian very fond of watching those kinds of TV shows?"

Caesar: "......"

He never so much as looked at those kinds of childish dog blood TV dramas. Without thinking, he had just thought back to the plot of a drama that Brian was very fond of, he listened to Brian's blathering enough times to memorize it. This is all Brian's fault...

(TN: Melodramatic.)

Brian, who had just received a large number of mech parts from his father at the StarCraft Center, suddenly loudly sneezed.

"Ah, Achoo!" Brian touched his nose in confusion. "Who is cursing me?"

(TN: Author wanted to let you know that chapter 40 will be a real nice treat *wink wink)