Preliminary Regional Registration

(Two and a half weeks later)

The day came that I was dreading most, the day we would need to present ourselves as participants in the upcoming Planetary Positioning quest. Namely the meet your local competitors competition.

This was also the area where you could see your fellow local competitors, and form possible teams to work with, if anyone else was stupid enough to try out for this selection.

One of the few good parts about this was that we could use this time to size up the local competition. While the competition from around the world might be more intense, the local competition was all I had to worry about at the moment.

Still, this was probably the worst timing. As I had nothing, no complete mobile suit, no hermetically sealed structure. Nothing that would protect me from the vacuum of space. Theoretically this wouldn't be a problem, as I could be provided a space suit to try out with in each. The only problem, is apparently I am rough on computers, which is what the higher mechanoid space craft would be made out of, meaning that within a few moments in space I would be without instruments to run the space suit I was in. Then after a few minutes more, any movement offered from the poorly made space suit would rust and corrode until it was nigh unusable.

The worst part, or rather on of the worst parts not previously mentioned was the fact that I would be all alone. Yes, all of my pupils, and fellow World's Enders had done the apparent smart thing and banked on the magical and Qi related portions of battle. Which was good, we needed the best to have a chance of winning there as well. In fact, for the sake of our world we needed high performances in all ten categories to either maintain our current ranking as a Tier II Apron planet, or hopefully show some promise and rise in the rankings. While 29 out of 60 competing planets was high enough to put us at the bottom run of Tier II Apron planets, it was still a long way from the top.

Worse, these quests were ridiculous.

Mandatory Quest Accepted: Planetary Positioning (Mechanical War): You have volunteered to partake in the Planetary Positioning battles, a way to prove once and for all that your planet was better than the others and therefor deserving of government funding.

Current Task: Mechanical War weapon assignment and local meet and greet. Proceed to the location indicated, and introduce yourself to fellow participants who have registered for the Mechanical War testing, and introduce the weapon you intend to utilize for this portion.

Note: All weapons must be mechanical in nature. Everything from mechanoid spiders that shoot flames, to chainsaws, to steam powered mechanoid suits are allowed.

Minimum Qualifications: Proposed weapon must be able to move or be freely manipulated independently without more than a minimal starting action. Part of this competition is, in addition to fighting the other opponent, you are also fighting their weapon.

Match Scoring: By causing enough damage to or making the weapon wielded by one of the opponents completely inoperable, a contestant wins the round and will be able to move on to the next round.

Sadly, despite this being the easiest of the five categories that I signed up for, it was also one of the toughest, as I had to not only make a weapon capable of moving on its own. But I then had to keep said weapon operable before the end of the match.

After the Mechanical War questline, the remaining four categories were all basic derivatives of the Mechanoid Warfare line.

Mandatory Quest Accepted: Planetary Positioning (Mechanoid Warfare): You have volunteered to partake in the Planetary Positioning battles, a way to prove once and for all that your planet was better than the others and therefor deserving of government funding.

Current Task: Mechanoid Warfare weapon assignment and local meet and greet. Proceed to the location indicated, and introduce yourself to fellow participants who have registered for the Mechanoid Warfare testing, and introduce the weapon suit you intend to utilize for this portion.

Note: All mechanoid suits must be able to move at the will of the rider. The complexity and independent nature of the mechanoid suit does not matter so long as there is clearly a driver and a machine.

Minimum Qualifications: Proposed mechanoid suit must be able to move or be freely manipulated. Part of this competition is, in addition to fighting the other opponent, you are also fighting their weapon.

Match Scoring: By causing enough damage to or making the mechanoid suit wielded by one of the opponents completely inoperable, a contestant wins the round and will be able to move on to the next round. Special Note: Completely destroying the head of an opponent's suit counts as an automatic win.

Yeah, so it had to have a head, and worse that head was a clear target for attacks, meaning I had to be cognizant of that aspect of a battle as well.

GAH!

This is so frustrating, it is like going to the first meeting for an upcoming Science Fair where you present your hypothesis, only knowing that everyone else already has everything for their presentation, while you are hoping you can get the necessary pieces needed to assemble something before the first due date.

Fortunately, these preliminary meetings don't count as deaths if I fail. In fact, the only thing that would happen with failing is I would have to watch from the sidelines while our planet rose or fell without my participation. Slated to be nothing more than an enthusiastic cheerleader.

Sigh.

Just thinking about that aspect, of being relegated to the role of being a cheerleader killed me inside. Not that cheerleaders are bad, but I would rather be competing. I know that if I get out there, I can be great, all I need is a chance.

Yet, the world seems to be blatantly against me. While we could easily strip the land for Tier III metals that are appearing in large pockets under World's End, I can't. It would almost be like cutting off a part of me to eat and last another day, disgusting and ultimately pointless. The fact that Tier III metals are appearing show that the land is living and vibrant, by taking that away to allegedly save the planet might make the planet we are on unlivable in the future. I've seen what happens to planets that are stripped for natural resources at a rate that are too quick for the planet to replenish, they look like the real world now.

No, I want to do this right. Stripping the earth bare and mining its natural resources is a possibility, but it is not the path I wish to take at the moment.

That is why this is going to be the hardest part of the competition. Signing up now, saying I will have a weapon that can do 'X' and 'Y' before the actual date of the competition, and hoping that I can do something similar.

Ideally, I will go with a mechanoid type suit for all competitions, so long as they are steam punk-ish in design I can get in under the Mechanical War and Mechanoid Warfare avenues equally. It will mean that I either have a kick-gas Steam suit, or a lumping pumping mechanoid suit, but the definitions seem to be fairly loose, allowing for creativity.

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No doubt some of the worlds we will go against are wielders of fleets who do nothing but compete in constant Mechanoid warfare struggles. While going against them is touch, I somehow know that I can compete against them. Maybe it is over confidence, or the world trying to kill me, but I feel that everything will somehow workout, so long as I focus on doing what is needed.

As long as I have faith that the world wants to live, and therefor the system governing this world is doing everything in its power to drive me to a correct and intended goal, I will thrive. This is what I believe, and why I am currently going out to this meeting spot, prepared to get completely embarrassed by my fellow competitors and by the eventual competition that we are no doubt bound to face off against.

Poof.

Poof.

Poof.

I guess the one good thing about this spot is that we are to meet out here in Midnight Hunter controlled territory, and not out in the middle of the Blighted lands where I would no doubt melt from just the heat of the place.

Wait?

This isn't Midnight Hunter territory, at least not yet. What gives?

We are way out in the middle of the wastelands here, but from what I can tell there is a clear path that leads directly from the former boundary of World's End, right to this exact area.

Looking around, I am momentarily confused, only to then have one of those odd dream recollections. You know the recollections where you remember doing something seemingly extraordinary in your dream and try to remember well after you awoke. Only to realize that it wasn't a dream but your Simulacrum? Not just one, but all of them working in conjunction with each other.

WHRRR.

Off in the distance I can hear the beat and thrum of mechanical devices grinding through the air in the way that only steam powered machines can. This grinding sound is a hard sensation to describe as it seems to only be an issue with people that have an exceptionally high Perception Attribute. Seeing as all of my Mental Attributes are over 5,000 each, with the only exception being Willpower which stands at over 7,000. With that one could say all of my Mental Attributes are pretty high.

Not to brag, but it is well known that Willpower is one of the hardest Attributes to increase, whereas I seem to be able to increase my Willpower by breathing. Granted what I consider breathing is apparently labeled as advanced tier Meditation, but potato, taro, all tubers to me.

Whoop, swoop, shriek.

As the giant mechanical apparatus comes closer, I can finally see it within my 50 KM range of sight provided by my Angel's Sight.

This is the nice part about being here out in the middle of nowhere, as my senses have nothing else to focus on. No kids crying about being chased by acid breathing wolf hounds. No students needing me to explain again how they are messing up magic. No Mallory looking at me annoyedly for choosing five categories that I would actually have to try for.

Out here, it was just me. Just me, without any weapons, or any measurable chance of survival if the games were to start today.

Surprisingly the vehicle makes good time, covering the roughly 50 KMs in twenty or so minutes.

As they zoom in on me, I realize that these people are likely my competition. Oddly enough the vehicle used is not from the Midnight Hunter's. The design is too straight and rigid, like a prototype used before resisting magical fluctuations and energy currents were factored into designs.

Now that I'm with the Midnight Hunters and we live in a magical oasis of sorts, all our designs have since had to be streamlined. Not only did the materials used have to be Tier II or higher to make mechanical devices that worked. But to get by with Tier II metals, factors like magical resistance and curvatures had to be incorporated into designs to help further prevent erosion and corrosion of parts.

Ultimately, I think these newer designs are to make the ships have an overall smooth appeal to them that is more eye catching. At least compared to the earlier designs with metal spikes and random triangles and mechanical switch blades that stood up, as you attempted to run over monsters.

The newer designs focused on wave refraction theory, something I had to help out a bit on. Especially as details of my Prankenstein came available and people tried to understand why I designed certain features in exacting ways.

With Tier III metals, the key design feature is ellipses, or nearly ovular shapes that are used to bounce and refract waves of energy out and away from vulnerable parts.

Odd the thoughts that come to your mind as you watch a ship of what has to be future rivals and competitors coming to try to intimidate you. Sad part is, I've already psyched myself out by not having anything ready to submit, not even blueprints.

Of course, I could probably craft a blueprint relatively quickly thanks to my Double Layered Permanent Illusionary Text, creating or rather copying the accepted blueprint type of another contestant would be relatively easy. Even making modifications should be quick. But again, I can't help but feel nervous as I feel like I am missing the obvious solution right in front of me. Almost as if the ultimate weapon is right there.

Taking a moment to watch the mechanical ship land, I waste my time by going over the spell I created.

Double Layered Permanent Illusionary Text [Tier XIII] (A): A spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used to permanently alter the wordings on any contract, even magical soul bound contracts. This effect can be made permanent with double the initial mana costs. Can only be dispelled by a higher tier magical practitioner, or by the caster of the spell.

While it deals with soul bound contracts, and wording, it should be no real issue to convert this to blueprints. In fact, just thinking about the alterations needed cause the new spell idea to form within my mind and click into place.

New Cosmic Magical Formula created: Double Layered Permanent Illusionary Blueprint Manifestation: A spell formula created by Doctor Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used to permanently create, alter the wordings of, or input binding patenting on a formal document that will be contractually binding to anyone attempting to harness the ideas created with this formula. Effect can be made permanent and binding through the combined applications of Mana, Qi, and Cosmic Energy. Can only be dispelled by a higher tier magical formula practitioner, or by the caster of the formula's creator.

Looking at that, I can't help but think I messed something up, but this also goes to show how much my understanding of magical fusion techniques have come along. Realizing that I at least have a way of being able to submit my thoughts in written format is enough to let me calm down.

My calm is of course short lived, when I see the apparent competition. These are the competitors for the mainland that have come here to register and compete for at least some of the mechanical and mechanoid combat competitions.

Realizing I might need to play nice with some of these people, either for resources, as future teammates, I decide to hide my anxiety and focus on putting forth my best foot forward.

Vrrt, hiss.

As the machine lands, my intention of putting on a nice and cheerful façade lasts until the ship lands, and the draw bridge like mechanical ramp drops revealing rows upon rows of horrific monsters.

Gasp.

There they are Teleiotís, but these aren't the Teleiotís I'm used to. These are soulless monsters of machines that have living pilots within them. Just seeing them, I realize a few things.

First, I apparently did not find all of the Legrand Empire's mines. Nor did I find all of their factories for making the machines that would later turn into MaMes and DiMes variants. That is Mana only, and Mana and Qi variants of the Teleiotís.

"How?" Is all that comes to my lips, before I take another look at the ship, its metal parts, and then at the horrific mechanoid machines that are being marched off the airship, only to realize one key part that I missed earlier.

These machines, they all have the air and energy of a realm on them.

Suddenly, I feel stupid, as I realize the Legrand Empire likely found a Metal themed realm to gather supplies from. Just as Arcanarus Tower is classified as a Spirit Realm, there must be other realms as well. Fire, and Water no doubt. But then it seems that Legrand managed to hide a Metal realm from us, somehow.

I now had a few new rays of hope, on how I could get more Tier III materials. As I could now see that despite the inferior engineering specs, ones that failed to utilize the full features and abilities of Tier III metals, the airship itself was patently made of Tier III materials, a complete waste. Well, this design was a complete waste as it offered little to nothing in the way of amplification the materials that were used.

For comparison this would be the same thing as building the rafters in a house out of marble slabs, yes you could, but it would be wasteful and ultimately weaker than wood.

Just seeing the blatant waste of materials, and lack of originality for designs, caused my teeth to ache. I apparently also began shaking my head in disgust, an act that was quickly picked up on by the lead mechanoid driver.

"Ah yes, you signed up, only to realize that you made a huge mistake and wish to withdraw from this competition. Don't worry, there is still a chance for you to pull out, just admit your are in too much awe by the might Legrand Expeditionary Forces!" The pompous pilot begins.

At that comment, a few of my theories were proven correct. First these people were called back from a likely Metal focused realm. The second part was that this person had no clue who I was, which was good, as it meant I could likely take advantage of their bravado. See, only one pixie exists in this world now that Robi is gone. Well nine, eight Simulacrums and me, but together we are one, mostly.

Seeing the leader, I want to play small and meek, to get them to put down their guard.

I think about it, and I really meant to do it this way, but then he spoke again.

"Go on, shew away little girl, let the grown ups play, it is about to get dangerous." The pompous pilot stated while making a shewing motion with their hand, one that was mirrored by the giant suit they were in.

I bit my lip, and was going to play up the weak role, I really was. Unfortunately, I can't lie. At least, that is the excuse I am now going with.

"You know, you have until I count to three to leave here, before I beat you silly and steal your suits from you before you have to walk home in the sand. I do hope you all are wearing underpants within those cockpits." I begin, then I proceed to hold up one finger, indicating that we are now at one. I've trained dragons this way, surely I can train capable pilots with similar methods.

"Do you know who I am?" The pilot shouts, his voice amplified due to amplifying resonance crystals. Just hearing the reverberation is amazing, still I am in teacher mode, so I continue.

"No, but let me guess, you are confused because you can't read the name in your underwear while wearing it?" I ask, while holding up my second finger.

"What, no, I…"

"Yeah, I know, a wardrobe malfunction, it's okay, we can call you Steve, while you figure it out." I state while holding up my third and final finger.

"No, I, why, I never. . ."

He never got to finish his rant, as I was already moving.

Blur.

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