"What should I do?" Fargo asked himself internally. He was still young, piloting the newly created seventeenth-generation mech, *Dawn*. His combat experience was limited—this was only his second training battle since taking the seat in *Dawn's* cockpit.
In his first training battle, he had defeated a mutant beast only 25 meters tall, executing a perfect kill with *Dawn*. That victory had even made the front page of the local news.
But during that fight, there was nothing else he had to consider. The mutant beast had appeared in the outskirts, and all Fargo needed to think about was how to kill it as quickly and effectively as possible.
This second battle, however, presented a much tougher dilemma: should he stay still to protect the ten thousand people in the shelter behind him, or save the mother and child next to him?
The commanders at the military base, located thousands of miles away, didn't even need to think. They simply issued the command for Fargo to remain still, block the mutant's attack, and continue fighting elsewhere. To them, lives were just numbers, and when comparing two to ten thousand, the choice was easy—no thinking required.
But for Fargo, still young and full of passion, it wasn't so simple. The mech's sensors allowed him to see the mother and child's expressions in full detail. Especially the young girl's gaze—full of admiration and excitement as she looked at him. This made Fargo hesitate even more.
Was he really going to stand by and watch the *Laser Dragon Turtle*'s attack turn the mother and child to ashes? Wasn't the entire point of his presence here to protect people? And now, he couldn't even protect those right next to him.
Sure, after the battle, he would have a perfect excuse to explain to the media: he had a duty to guard the shelter behind him, containing nearly ten thousand people. He couldn't move.
Boom!
Fargo didn't have much time to think. Seeing that *Dawn* had suddenly stopped moving, no longer darting around like a monkey in the steel jungle, the *Laser Dragon Turtle* charged up for an even more powerful laser beam than before, firing it directly at *Dawn*.
At that moment, Fargo barely thought. He instinctively planted his massive sword in front of the mother and child. The 25-meter-long blade's width perfectly shielded them from the beam.
Roar! Seeing the enemy abandon its primary weapon, the Dragon Turtle let out an excited roar. It was intelligent enough to sense emotions and therefore held a deep hatred for the people of the *Shore*.
Using its sharp intellect, the Dragon Turtle guessed that something must have happened to cause the mech to act so strangely. So it abruptly ceased its attack, and, despite its massive size, showed surprising agility as it lunged toward *Dawn*. Its massive head slammed into the mech's armor, while its tail lashed out, throwing *Dawn* far from its main weapon.
Without the giant sword, this slender steel creation posed far less of a threat. The *Dawn*'s remaining weapons were like pinpricks, barely scratching the Dragon Turtle's tough skin.
Standing where *Dawn* had been moments before, the Dragon Turtle glanced down at the mother and child hiding behind the massive sword, finally understanding the mech's unusual behavior.
"What foolishness!" the Dragon Turtle thought. "You've trapped yourself because of such meaningless attachments. But I suppose I should thank you—you've made it easier for me to fight."
Just as this mocking thought crossed its mind, the Dragon Turtle's mood suddenly shifted. Anger surged through its body as crackling bolts of electricity flashed across its shell. It had no parents, no siblings left.
Fueled by this fury, the Dragon Turtle grabbed the giant sword embedded beside it and flung it far away. Then, fixing its cruel gaze on the mother and child, it raised a massive claw to strike.
"No!" *Dawn*, thrown to the side, saw this and was instantly consumed by rage. This fury surged through the neural link connecting Fargo to the mech, and something dormant within the machine was triggered.
"I knew it! This mech isn't just a regular piece of technology—it can power up!" Muria, observing the scene with his mental energy, sighed in exasperation.
Crimson patterns began to appear on the mech, which had been mostly gold in color. The entire machine swelled, its body expanding as its power surged, becoming wilder and more ferocious.
"This energy… something feels off. Why does this mech seem to have a lifeforce of its own? How did it suddenly come alive?"
...
Far away in an underground research facility, as *Dawn* revealed its true form, excited cheers and exclamations erupted from the researchers.
"It's activated! That kid Fargo has triggered *Dawn's* true form. Our design was correct all along!"
"Hahaha! This is exactly the mech we wanted to create—one that mimics life itself!"
"Fargo is truly the most compatible pilot for *Dawn*."
...
"Fascinating design!" Muria said, unable to resist the urge to conceal his presence and hover above *Dawn* to study it closely. Soon after, his mother, the golden dragoness, joined him, using her mental energy to carefully inspect the mech as well.
"What a fantastical idea. The mech's interior is filled with living tissue, and it even has a biological circulatory system."
Muria's mental energy easily pierced through the mech's outer armor, revealing its true structure. Although the arms, legs, and torso were packed with powerful muscle tissue and a complete circulatory system, the mech's core was still an alloy skeleton, powered by a nuclear reactor.
"A hybrid of machine and biology. Fascinating!" Muria's eyes gleamed with excitement.
One of the key traits of a technological civilization is the ability to mass-produce destructive weapons once a technological barrier has been broken. The only limitation is resources—if there are enough resources, an unlimited number of weapons can be built. Like the *Star Annihilation Cannon* that the Machine Emperor had created. The materials required to construct it weren't particularly rare, so the Machine Emperor had built several of them. However, when it came to something as powerful as a stellar orbital cannon, the Machine Emperor had only built one.
"This is strange… how did I not sense the biological components of the mech earlier? Now it feels like the whole thing has come to life."
"Those biological components were in a dormant state before. They've just now been activated. It's an intriguing technology."
"These tissues must have come from a Gold-level creature. Only the flesh of a Gold-level being would retain this much vitality after being harvested."
"Muria, this world of yours is pretty interesting. We must get our hands on this technology."
"Of course," Muria replied, already considering the mech technology as his own. With the right materials, he could mass-produce these living mechs.
The limiting factors for this type of mech were the grade of its metal components and the quality of the biological tissue inside. This world, infected by Titan blood, had probably produced only a few Gold-level creatures over the millennia, making these mechs rare, elite weapons.
For Muria's forces, however, such mechs would only be qualified to serve as security for his Dragon Academy. Even then, they'd be limited to guarding the young dragon dormitories; any adolescent dragon could tear these mechs apart with the right spells.
Muria didn't need the mechs themselves—he just wanted the technology. With it, and using better materials, he could create far stronger machines.
As for creating mechs with Legendary-level power, Muria wasn't optimistic. Simply filling a mech with the tissue of a Legendary creature wouldn't grant it true Legendary combat strength.
A Legendary being can crush anything below a Legendary level, not just because of their spatial manipulation abilities, but because of their deep understanding of universal laws. A Legendary creature's every movement contains immense power, and their energy operates on a completely different level from that of weaker beings.
...
While Muria and the golden dragoness studied *Dawn*, the fierce battle raged on. Neither interfered with the fight between *Dawn* and the Dragon Turtle.
After a brief conversation, Muria raised his head and clicked his tongue in surprise. He had thought that after powering up, *Dawn* would easily finish off the Dragon Turtle and end the battle.
But, to his amazement, after being pounded by *Dawn* for a while, the Dragon Turtle seemed to remember something, or maybe something triggered it. Suddenly, it powered up as well.
The Dragon Turtle's body swelled, and soon it began rising to its feet. Its once-stocky limbs elongated and slimmed down, and its massive shell began to split apart.
"This transformation seems… off, doesn't it?" Muria's mouth twitched as he watched the Dragon Turtle stand on two legs, its form becoming more humanoid with each passing moment.
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