I Became A Mech Soldier After Waking Up in The Future.

A week passed uneventfully.

Other than the training sessions in the morning and afternoon, Keiko invested her spare time in the virtual mecha training simulator, slaughtering zergs and predators one after another.

On the first two days, she only challenged the 1v1 mode and was invincible. It gave her a boost in her confidence, and from the third day onward, she decided to engage in the 1v5 mode.

In the first battle, she was barely winning against five furious earth dragons, but after many trials and errors, she finally found her rhythm and easily defeated all of them. Then, she tried combinations of varied species of Zergs and Predators and many different scenarios and settings.

Long story short, Keiko became so engrossed in the simulation that she forgot to keep track of her scores. Finally, in the last days of the promised week, Keiko fell into a panic.

"I messed up..." Keiko heaved a deep forlorn sigh and smiled wryly, "She won't be so petty that she will stir up another trouble for me because of this, will she?"

Originally, Keiko only wanted to gain enough scores to barely put her in the top three of the Monster Arena's Ranking Board. But who knew she was so absorbed in bashing and pummeling those zergs and predators that she accidentally surpassed Jeanne by a hair's breadth?

Knowing how competitive and unyielding the eldest miss was, Keiko was certain that by the time Jeanne found out her result, she'd have thrown a temper tantrum. This caused Keiko to be a bit nervous when she wanted to send the screenshot of her score to Jeanne. It was even more nervewracking than fighting several zergs and predators at the same time.

She took a deep breath and convinced herself, "It's okay, Keiko, it's okay. What is the worst she can do to you? Eat you up?"

Keiko subconsciously imagined the scene where Jeanne, with her alluring fox eyes and sharp gazes, looked at her while licking her slightly wet lips deliciously with the eyes of someone who couldn't wait to devour her, ravage her body, and taste her soul.

Keiko's body shuddered inexplicably, and she felt her body heating up; her face reddened, looking like a ripe tomato, and her heart pounding so hard that the bracelet ID alerted her that she might have an acute heart attack.

"The hell I'm thinking about! Snap out of it, Keiko!" 

Keiko scolded herself to get her mind out of the gutter already and then decisively opened Jeanne's contact—named "Miss Jeanne" in her contact, which was rather intimate for Keiko, who rarely addresses her superiors by their names even in an informal setting, suggesting that the former Keiko was indeed having a "close" relationship with the eldest lady if they—Keiko and the former Keiko—shared a similar personality, and sent a greeting message.

"Good evening, Miss Jeanne..."

She mouthed the words while typing on her bracelet ID but suddenly hesitated and deleted the letters one by one as she suddenly realized.

'Aah, isn't it too casual to call her like that?'

Then she resumed the message by changing it to "Good Evening, Major Armstrong," but then she frowned and once again stopped typing.

'It's too stiff. I haven't addressed her by this name lately... what happens to me? Why am I so nervous?'

She didn't know whether it was because she was anxious as she was going to report her scores because it was the first time she privately messaged the eldest miss, or for any other reason that she couldn't think of.

After taking a deep breath for god-knows how many times to regain her composure, Keiko finally sent her message.

[Good Evening, Major Jeanne. This is cadet Keiko Lee]

[I'm sorry for interrupting your resting time. But according to the agreement we had before, I'm supposed to deliver the proof of the scores eligible for the top three on Monster Arena's Ranking Board]

[Here, I attach the following picture]

Keiko didn't immediately get an answer and guessed that Jeanne might be busy with her work. As she was just about to turn off her bracelet ID, it suddenly vibrated, and at the same time, a ringing sound could be heard. A notification appeared on the screen; it was the reply from Jeanne.

[You're so early, Lieutenant Lee, I can feel your enthusiasm]

Keiko could only let out a wry smile when she read Jeanne's reply, which reeked of sarcasm. She could imagine Jeanne sneered while angrily typing on her bracelet ID. Didn't want to make Jeanne wait and then accidentally make her mood turn sour, so she typed in.

[I'm sorry, Major. I've just finished my training session and just barely got sufficient scores as per our agreement]

'Now, how will she answer, I wonder?' Keiko waited patiently for her reply.

[I see. Based on the scores you sent, you're without a doubt ranked in the top three on the ranking board. Congratulation, you're now a part of Valkyrie's Profile project]

As she expected a snarky response, Keiko was at a loss when she saw Jeanne's dry reply. Unlike the previous message, in which her emotions could be seen by Keiko easily, this message's tone was so flat and indifferent.

Was she fuming in anger but pretending to be nonchalant? Or did she really don't care if Keiko beat her?

But, according to her understanding of the personality of this black-bellied eldest miss who couldn't bear to suffer any loss, it shouldn't be like this.

Then the next message gave her the answer and also shocked her.

[You're not too bad for a second place]

[What? Second place?!]

Keiko immediately regretted sending the previous message.

[What? Do you actually think you can replace as the first rank?]

This time, Keiko could easily see Jeanne's smug smile.

[Look at this! Monster Arena's Ranking Board.JPG]

Keiko quickly clicked the picture and was instantly dumbfounded. The scores of the second and third rank were the same as the last time she checked the ranking board, but for the first rank.... the score was actually doubled.

She finally understood why Jeanne seemed to be calm when she received her score. It turned out that she wasn't the only one increasing her score, but Jeanne also secretly did the same.

'When she had time to challenge the Monster Arena? Don't tell me that's why she has never appeared once in these past days...'

"This eldest lady really doesn't like losing... she's surprisingly cute," Keiko giggled softly, and the edge of her lips unknowingly curled into a faint smile.

And then she replied absentmindedly.

[Yes, yes. Major Jeanne is the best]

And then she froze.

'What the hell I'm doing! This... this... isn't it inappropriate to send a message like this to your superior?!'

She frantically typed on her bracelet ID, but her finger slipped several times due to her sweaty palm.

[Please don't take it wrongly, Major Jeanne. What I mean to say is that I'm in awe of Major Jeanne's mecha piloting skills and still have to learn more things from Major Jeanne]

One minute... two minutes... five minutes....

There was still no answer from Jeanne, and Keiko couldn't take her eyes off the bracelet ID screen, waiting in nervous jitter.

Suddenly, the screen flashed; Jeanne had sent a voice message.

Keiko unhesitatingly opened the message and listened to it.

"Lieutenant Lee," said Jeanne, with a sweet and slightly sultry voice, as if drowning in a pool of honey, "Are you flirting with me? How bold~"

Keiko's heart thumped like a stallion galloping across the vast meadows of Manchuria. And below, in her stomach, the butterfly was fluttering. Her cheeks grew hot, and the tip of her ear blushed red.

Keiko was speechless; her lips opened and closed repeatedly like a koi as she struggled to collect her thoughts.

'Is she just testing me?' 'Is it one of her schemes?' 'She can't really mean it, right?' 'Even if she's serious, is it because of me or because of the former Keiko?' A jumbled mess of thoughts flooded Keiko's mind, making her a bit dizzy.

Even if there was a little attraction between them, Keiko thought it was unfair to Jeanne because she wasn't the Keiko Lee she knew before. 

[Major, you should rest.]

Keiko could only sigh deeply and decided not to think about it anymore, and sent the last message to Jeanne before turning off her bracelet ID and forcing herself to sleep.

As she closed her eyes, an image of Jeanne's mischievous grin, as if she had successfully pulled off a big prank, flashed in her mind.

###

Author Note:

This is the last chapter for this month. In the next month, there will be 2 chapters published every day.

The privilege tier will also be updated there will be as many as 5 chapters stockpile, but of course, you'll spend some pennies to unlock it.

The weekly PS vote's goal is still the same (minus mass release System Journey to Godhood), such as:

500 PS = 3 chapters released at once on Monday the next week

750 PS = 4 chapters released at once on Monday the next week

1000 PS = 5 chapters released at once on Monday the next week

So, please do vote for my book and have a happy reading!