The Greatest Mecha-Chapter 39: The Young Lord Of The Vostinauch Family

A private shuttle resembling an air car flew over the busy city streets of a certain city on planet Vanzer. It flew for a few minutes in a certain direction. It covered the expanse of the beautiful city filled with many wonderful sights ranging from theme parks to sign boards. There were also some air cars used by the public, which were now stuck in traffic.

The private shuttle was free from any form of traffic as it was unrestricted by the normal traffic rules. Only the rich were allowed the chance and luxury of such.

"At the heart of the Xardar System, Vanzer lay—a radiant world encased in a web of development and technological advancements. While not on the same level as core planets of other star systems, Vanzer was able to stand at the apex of the solar system and maintain contact with Embassy outposts. They controlled the sale of raw minerals used to make mechs and held the biggest stock market in the system.

Trade flowed through its orbital gates, importing exotic materials from its mining colonies and exporting civilization-shaping technologies to the lesser planets of its star system. Corporations and planetary delegates converged in Vanzer, where patents were bartered and theories weaponized.

Only the greatest of minds lived there—and the wealthiest.

The private shuttle pulled up before a huge mansion located within the upper echelons of its city. The mansion was a massive complex with sophisticated workmanship. Huge pillars made from hard concrete loomed as the private shuttle approached the mansion grounds. An invisible dome above it shimmered before deactivating. As the shuttle entered the space, the area outside the mansion shimmered again as the invisible dome reactivated briefly before becoming invisible once more.

As the shuttle came to a stop, hovering a foot above the ground, its pristine silver door beeped as it slid to the side. A butler dressed in a neat black suit was standing by the shuttle to greet the person that soon stepped out of it. "Welcome back, young lord Damian."

The person that hopped out of the shuttle was a young boy looking to be in his late teens. He wore a dark blue suit that was the uniform for the most prestigious academy on the planet. He had gelled blonde hair and striking blue eyes. He smiled and ran hurriedly towards the entrance with the butler barely catching up to him.

"Is it inside, Walter? Did my parents purchase it already?" The boy’s tone was light and filled with vigour.

The butler called after him, "Young master Damian, it’s in your room, but please take it easy. You don’t want to hurt yourself."

The young boy Damian laughed at the old man. "Oh please, I’m not four. I can hold my own weight."

The butler stopped by the staircase made of marble and rested on its brace to catch his breath. "That’s what troubles me, young master. Children these days, they are tenacious."

The staircase was made of marble and covered with a long red carpet. Damian stopped as he neared the top of the staircase and called back to the tired old man. "Tena-what? Is that a good thing?"

The butler looked at his young master and was taken aback by his joyous smile. He bowed his head and said, "Carry on, young master. I will have the maids bring up your food."

Damian practically jumped up for joy just then. "Chips and sweets?"

The butler suppressed a chuckle as he replied, "No, the healthy stuff."

Damian exploded as he grumbled and stomped all the way to his room.

Walter laughed at the innocence of his young master and headed to the kitchen to instruct the maids to send his young master some food and also a bit of sweets.

Damian’s rage was quenched as he reached the door to his room. He was the son of William Vostinauch, one of the ruling families that pioneered the growth of their star system. Being the only child of his parents, Damian had been blessed with unusual amounts of wealth and love. His parents had promised to get him his very first virtual gaming pod if he came first in his entire class. This was not an easy task in a class filled with promising young talents such as himself, all children who also fought to claim the inheritance of their parents.

Whether he came first or not, he was sure his parents would still get it, but that did not stop him from taking up the challenge. Damian was happy that he had finally come of age to play the most popular game of their generation, Mech Galaxy Wars. Due to the level of violence in the game, policies were put in place to prevent younger audiences from experiencing such levels of brutality.

Another reason why the game was important to Damian, aside from the hype of it and how cool it was, was the fact that he was a carrier of the X gene. He had received training from experienced mech pilots since he could differentiate mechs by their weight classes. The game was a good way to start his mech journey, as it was recommended by his trainers.

Instead of playing it on his holoscreen like most did, Damian wanted to experience his first feeling in the game quite differently. He wanted to test the gaming pods. These pods were not new to the gaming world, but they were expensive. When hooked up to one, the experience of the gamer would be amplified—it would feel like a second-to-life experience. The sounds and mechanics within a pod were far more realistic than others.

Damian walked into his room. He tossed his bag to one side before walking up to the huge spherical pod that was hooked to a flat metal base. He wasted no time hopping into it, kicked the manual aside since he found it pointless—everything he needed to know about the gaming pod he had learned online.

The inside of the pod had a soft cushion like a chair, which he sat on. He pressed the button to close the pod too. After it closed up, it started to glow with retro gaming lights. Damian selected the game he wanted to play before taking the gaming virtual reality goggles and slipping them on. The pod offered a real-time 360° sound enhancer with no delay, and in-built coolers and heaters to adjust to the user’s body temperature to keep him comfortable. There was also a snack box within the pod, which could be filled with snacks from the outside, but Damian did not care for those things at the moment.

He hurriedly slipped the virtual reality goggles on before relaxing back into his seat. A second of darkness vanished as the gaming interface started. It asked for him to open an account, which he did. He chose his gaming name to be "The Dark Saint." He then logged into the game and purchased 100,000 credits. His trainers had advised him to start his first run in the game with a basic light mech with basic properties and not any higher than 100,000 credits. They had advised him that this was needed to get a good feel of the game before buying a more capable mech.

Damian knew that mechs within this price range were barely anything good. Real mechs in the game were nearing the half-a-million gap. Damian did not want to go against the wishes of his teachers, so he began the arduous task of browsing for mechs within the price range and ranking them all. He deliberated over a few light mechs that cost the same as the price limit he had, and they did not look interesting in any way. Their specs themselves were laughable; they lacked even stable durability and firepower.

It made him think if some incapable idiots built them. Disappointed and bored, he started to look down the list of mechs to the cheaper ones—not because he cared to buy one, but because he needed to see even worse models to make him feel better for the one he was buying. Half an hour passed, and he was nearing the list of light mechs that fell under the 90,000 credit limit, and he only grew more disappointed.

"Why the hell does this game sell such junk?" He felt frustrated. Just when he was deciding on going back to the more expensive models and picking one of them, a mech caught his eye. There was a long list of mechs displayed before his eyes, and he could hardly take interest in any. He would have scrolled away had he not seen a yellow icon on one of the mechs.

Damian did not know what it meant, but his curiosity got the best of him. He wanted to see what type of mech came with a yellow icon. When he tapped it, it brought him to another page where the yellow icon now displayed the word: NEWBIE on it.

Damian’s eyes widened as he saw the coolest mech he had come across after looking at a group of other uncool models. It was a beautiful light mech painted black, with a few white lines on its edges and what looked like scars on it. It carried a presence that the others did not. Damian immediately read the specifications.

Mech name – The White Blade

Weight Class – Light Mech

Variant Name – Fenwick-720 Reborn

Original Design – Fenwick-720

Mech Designer – The Disciple

Looking at its features, they were not as impressive as some of the more expensive ones, but it outclassed many in terms of speed. Also, the laser pistols and daggers seemed cool to the mech.

Damian could not help but feel drawn to it. "Now this is a thing of beauty, and it’s kinda like an assassin. Are you sure this Disciple is a newbie though?"

Damian decided to weigh it with the more expensive models that performed slightly better in some aspects. After a few minutes of hard thought, he made his decision. "Some of these designs are a bit more durable, but when I compare them to the White Blade in terms of cost, it’s actually an easy win." And just like that, he bought his very first virtual mech in the game, which cost him only 85,000 credits. Damian was so happy that he took the light mech into a game right away.