God-level Stone Gambler

The battle began.

The dark green mech didn’t attack immediately. Instead, it pushed its left leg back slightly, leaned its body forward and positioned its arms— one in front and one behind— beside its body, waiting for his opponent’s attack.

Bai Jing’s eyes narrowed slightly as he recognized the stance. It was one he had used often during preparations for battle. It was suitable for both offense and defense.

It seemed that this young man called ‘Thunder’ had some combat experience.

With swift hand movements at the control panel, the light blue mech suddenly accelerated as it approached slowly then instantly teleported to the enemy’s rear flank. Its titanium alloy long blade raised high, it aimed it at the mech’s neck and swung down!

“Clang—”

The sound of the weapons colliding was exceptionally clear. The dark green mech had moved sideways quickly, using its black longsword to block the sharp long blade!

There was slight surprise on Bai Jing’s face. His opponent was actually able to see his movements even though he hadn’t used his full strength.

After more than twenty matches, he had finally encountered a decent opponent.

His expression turning more focused, the speed of Bai Jing’s hand increased.

And as the weapons clashed again, his slender fingers gripped the control handle and pushed it forward forcefully as the mech’s right arm suddenly exerted force, making it seem as if a towering mountain was pressing down along the titanium alloy long blade. Unable to withstand the pressure, the black longsword broke in half!

His weapon had been rendered useless!

Thunder’s pupils contracted even as the speed of his hand soared to the extreme in an instant, his dark green mech retreating rapidly, its steps elusive and strange while the low-energy particle cannon on its shoulder aimed at Bai Jing, firing six rounds simultaneously!

It was the S-shaped arc step!

Bai Jing recognized it immediately. It was just that due to the poor attributes of his opponent’s mech, he couldn’t unleash the full potential of this technique.

The light blue mech also employed the S-shaped arc step and like a streak of blue light, flashed by, surpassing its opponent effortlessly as it circled to its opponent’s rear with a speed invisible to the naked eye!

At the same time, the six rounds aimed at Bai Jing exploded in midair, unable to lock onto a target. The enormous booming sound and the scattering sparks ignited the audience’s enthusiasm.

Excited spectators whistled while others stood up, shouting as they waved their arms.

“How exciting—”

“Go, Alpha!”

When they logged in as spectators, although they were present at the scene, it was as if they were in another space.

So not only were they safe from any harm, they could also experience the most exciting mech battles up close— this was the most attractive aspect of virtual combat!

The distance between the two mechs was no more than three meters. Bai Jing’s titanium alloy long sword flipped horizontally at a 90-degree angle, with the blade facing inward. It swung over from the right with a ‘swish’ sound, only to be blocked by the dark blue mech’s raised arm.

Thunder felt a sharp pain in his arm as the hard, sharp sword pierced his mech’s outer shell, continuing to cut deeper, threatening to sever the entire arm!

“Alpha, nice job!”

“Cut off his arm—”

Clenching his teeth, Thunder’s hands moved frantically on the control panel, causing his dark green mech to perform a backward flip in midair and, upon landing, rolled to create distance from Bai Jing.

However, as he retreated, two red laser beams shot toward his cockpit like arrows released from a bowstring. Even if he wanted to dodge it was already too late!

Just as he was about to be done for, ‘Thunder’ suddenly moved to the side, but two beams of light grazed his chest, piercing through the mech’s shoulder and left arm!

An excruciating pain that seemed to shake his very soul assaulted him, nearly causing him to faint from the agony even as cold sweat poured down his face.

Worse still, both arms of the mech had now been rendered useless!

In the blink of an eye, a sharp blade was cleanly and decisively pressed against his neck.

He had lost.

[The official announcement sounded, “The result of this match has been determined— Alpha wins, match ended!]

As the electronic voice rang out, ‘Thunder’ lay in the cockpit, trying to steady his rapid breathing.

To protect the mental and physical health of mech warriors, the synchronization of their pain with that of their mech’s lasted only for the duration of the attack, approximately 0.5-1 seconds. So by now, he had more or less recovered.

Bai Jing also took a few deep breaths before jumping out of the cockpit.

This ‘Thunder’ had impressive skills and speed. If not for his mech’s poor performance, he wouldn’t have won so quickly.

According to his estimate, the fight should have lasted at least six minutes, not a mere two.

Bai Jing glanced at ‘Thunder’, who had his head lowered slightly then left the stage.

However instead of clicking on the match button immediately, he went to the self-service item exchange center at the reception area.

Bai Jing knew his current points were insufficient, making it impossible to exchange for other valuable items. However, he wanted to see how many points the advanced engines that Coach Yao Tian had mentioned would cost so he could set a goal for himself.

The exchange center’s offerings covered almost all mech-related needs, ranging from low level protective shields and mech parts to advanced engines and cutting-edge weapons, providing an even more comprehensive selection than large auction houses.

Three level 7 engines were listed on the last page, with the lowest priced engine requiring 40 million points for exchange.

Its performance appeared to be somewhat better than the one Bai Jing had found on Starnet earlier.

Considering the 1:1 exchange rate between points and starcoins, the 40 million starcoins price tag was much cheaper than what one would find at an auction house, saving more than 10 million.

Unfortunately, the items in the exchange center couldn’t be purchased entirely with starcoins.

The maximum exchange rate allowed was 50% starcoins and 50% points, meaning one would need at least 20 million points and 20 million starcoins.

Luckily, this rule was in place; otherwise, these advanced engines would probably have been snatched up long ago.