Chapter Fifty-Nine: Trial Mission Three – Support

As the armory opened, a transparent ripple appeared before Zhuang Xiaoyuan. She reached into the ripple and pulled out the massive electromagnetic railgun from her personal arsenal. The railgun, with its white base and black barrel, looked intimidating even from the outside. Beep, beep—the mechanical prompts sounded, and various indicators floated over the railgun: electromagnetic valves, charging devices, control interfaces, firing switches, and so on. It looked densely complicated, almost daunting. To an ordinary human, unless they were a specialist, such a complex device would be utterly bewildering.

But Zhuang Xiaoyuan was not the type to be flustered by complexity. As a divine-armored warrior who had cultivated supernatural power, she already surpassed ordinary humans in every aspect, intelligence included. Now, with her body in this mecha-girl state—though she still considered herself human—she had gained the electronic memory capabilities of a machine. Her mind was now like a computer chip: unless she consciously erased something, she would never forget it.

Following the prompts hovering around the railgun, Zhuang Xiaoyuan began the charging process. The energy, of course, came from her own reserves. As the electromagnetic energy at the barrel’s tip intensified, she could clearly feel her own power draining rapidly.

“Ah, this is a failure. Just as I thought, such a large weapon is too much for one person,” she muttered. By the time the charging was complete, Zhuang Xiaoyuan was nearly slumped over the railgun, lacking even the strength to stand.

Still, her energy barely managed to push the railgun’s power to its maximum. Struggling, she summoned her last bit of strength to press the firing button.

Boom! A streak of orange-red light shot from the convergence point between the railgun’s twin barrels. Like an eraser sweeping over a pencil sketch, the electromagnetic blast struck the heart of the black tide of household appliances. Everything within its path vanished into dust, leaving a gaping rift in the dark wave.

Yet it was useless. The railgun was a weapon of linear destruction, affecting only targets directly ahead. The ones in its path were obliterated, but the sheer number of appliances was overwhelming.

In the end, the remaining appliances overwhelmed the base beneath Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s feet. She was powerless to stop them, her energy spent on firing the railgun, leaving her too weak to even stand.

[Weapon Operation Training Failed. Restart? Yes/No] The same holographic screen appeared before her, and her depleted energy was instantly restored. After all, this was only a simulation training space, not the real world—if it were reality, replenishing her energy would not be so easy.

“Sigh, failed again.” Shrugging helplessly at the screen, Zhuang Xiaoyuan selected “Yes.” This time, she resolved not to use the railgun again: its power was impressive, nothing could withstand its blast, but against such massive numbers, it was nearly useless. However, if there were a single, gigantic enemy, perhaps it could still deliver a soul-shattering blow.

Restarting the training, this time Zhuang Xiaoyuan deployed the Dragoon System she had long envied—well, here it was officially called the Sensory-Controlled Multi-Lock Detachable Floating Cannon Array. Such a long and awkward name! She decided she’d just call it the Dragoon System, even if it was a knockoff title.

With the Dragoon System active, Zhuang Xiaoyuan unleashed her full might, sweeping through the appliances in an unstoppable rampage—only for the system prompt to return: [Weapon Operation Training Failed. Restart? Yes/No]

“…Failed again.” The Dragoon System sounded cool and looked cool, capable of attacking in all directions and taking on many foes at once—but you had to know how to use it first. Learning the technique was one thing, but controlling eight floating cannons at once was beyond what any ordinary person could achieve.

Even with her brain enhanced by divine power and the mecha-girl’s electronic memory, mastering the independent control of eight floating cannons was no easy feat. Still, with more practice, she was sure she’d eventually master it.

Gritting her teeth, she chose to restart once more. Her training journey continued, each new attempt met by another failure. But from every failure, she learned new lessons. Weapons that were once unfamiliar quickly became second nature, and even her newly acquired flight capabilities became smooth and practiced.

When Zhuang Xiaoyuan had finally mastered every weapon in the arsenal, and was once more drowned beneath the tide of appliances, accepting her defeat, the system screen that appeared before her was different: [Weapon Operation Training Complete. Choose: Exit/Retry.]

She stared at the screen in silence, realization dawning. So that was it—the task wasn’t to successfully defend the base at all. The training was completed simply by mastering the use of all the weapons. All this time, she had been pushing herself to the limit training with the Dragoon System… though it had paid off.

There was nothing left to say about this utterly inhuman system. Zhuang Xiaoyuan immediately chose to exit. As she made her selection, the scene before her blurred. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a narrow space. As she awoke, the curved glass cover automatically opened, allowing her to climb out.

Removing the headphones and goggles from her head, Zhuang Xiaoyuan crawled out of the chamber. The moment she stood, a golden parchment appeared before her eyes.

[Trial of the Guardian Spirit]

[Mission One and Mission Two Complete]

[Mission Three: Support]

[Bring energy-supplementing equipment to Sector Fifteen and support Zhuang Xiaosi’s unit, which is besieged by Demons and low on energy. Also, eliminate ten war-chariot-class Demons.]

“Demons?!” The third-stage mission left Zhuang Xiaoyuan utterly shocked. Were there Demons in this world, too? She’d been convinced this was a truly alternate world, but now her certainty wavered. Weren’t Demons unique to her own world? But no—legend said the first appearance of Demons was through a spatial rift, so what about the Demons here…?

It felt as if she was about to grasp the truth of this world. If this world was not one created by the Guardian Spirit, but truly another realm altogether… and the Demons appeared here as well… perhaps the worlds were connected in some way.