Practical Agricultural Mecha Class, First Period.

Not a single person was late to class. Everyone arrived early and almost everyone was in high spirits and full of anticipation.

Mecha! Even though it was just an agricultural mecha, it was still a mecha!

Only senior student Yan Xueshan still had an iceberg expression as usual, as if it was unchanging.

Polly looked at him and thought to herself, ‘Yan Xueshan was as calm as if he was tired of piloting mechas.’

The school provided them with an old-fashioned agricultural mecha for free. It was a model from 50 years ago, but it was still fully functional.

It was a beast t-shaped mecha, which could be transformed into three types.

The first type was a spiked rake with rear wings spread out. It was  a beast shape, the limbs were retracted, and its speed wasn’t very fast but guaranteed a smooth plowing.

The second one was a sowing model, which requires a change of form to walk on all fours so it wouldn’t be easy to crush seeds or seedlings when you went back and forth.

The third type was for spraying liquid. There were two huge liquid storage tanks on its back, which could be used to store pesticides or just water. Its metal tails had the function of a suction tube.

Most of the agricultural mecha were beast shaped, which was the most cost effective, Yan Xueshan also researched a bit when buying his own. Even so, he still bought the more expensive and less used human type – because it would be easier to alter it to look a bit more like Artemis.

At this point, a student raised his hand and remarked: “Teacher! There aren’t enough mechas!”

The teacher said: “Oh, there is one for each group, you will take turns.”

Suddenly there was a wailing voice. “Why? The Mecha Department next door has a mecha for everyone and they’re also much newer than ours. Our agricultural mechas are old and almost broken and we still need to share them between three or four people.”

The teacher was obviously used to hearing complaints so he was unmoved. “Then transfer to the Mecha Department, I won’t stop you.”

Polly muttered: “It’s just not fair. It’s obvious that the Agriculture Department is the pillar of our school, but all the resources are dumped into the Mecha Department.”

Even the good-tempered Nana wasn’t happy when talking about the Mecha Department. “Everyone in the Mecha Department thinks they are so powerful, with their noses almost pointing to the sky. Especially that Song Chao, who thinks he is superior, looking down on this and that, huh.”

On the side, another student said: “Alas, agricultural mechas don’t look as handsome as combat mechas.”

At this point, Yan Xueshan spoke up. He asked plainly: “Do you know Xie Kang?”

As soon as he spoke, the people around him all inexplicably paid attention. “No.”

“Seems a bit familiar, I might have seen that name in some book.”

The teacher listened to their exchange with a smile, and when no one answered, he slowly took over and said: “Xie Kang is the Father of Agricultural Mechas. He is the inventor of a generation of multifunctional agricultural mechas which significantly reduced their manufacturing costs.

“In addition, he also released the core data of his research for free for all manufacturers to use. After that, the agricultural mechas on the market became widely affordable, allowing most farmers to purchase agricultural mechas at low prices while increasing the production capacity of interstellar farms.

“You elementary school scums! I can tell at a glance that you haven’t prepped your homework. In a few days, this will be on the test, so hurry up and memorize it!”

Yan Xueshan nodded slightly: “Yes. Also, few people know that he was the inventor of the first combat mecha in the true sense of the word. He was the designer of the original configuration.”

Listening to a beauty tell a story was also a kind of pleasure, not to mention the beauty’s voice was also good. Like a mountain stream, clear and slightly cool, trickling.

The students couldn’t help but become quiet as they listened to the story.

“At that time, Professor Xie could’ve chosen to go deeper into the development of combat mechas. I think that if he continued, he would’ve achieved a lot, but he chose agricultural mechas instead. 

“Because they come from the same source they are all called mecha. They have the blood of the same founding father flowing in them. So, theoretically, there are also great combat mechas. Of course they are very different in terms of detailed functional requirements — but the basic operation methods of the two are similar.”

The teacher said with satisfaction: “Student, you really know a lot.”

Yan Xueshan said: “My farm has an agricultural mecha that I pilot often.”

Polly was stunned, thinking: ‘No, you must have at least driven both kinds of mechas to compare them and say they are similar, right? Weren’t you a soldier?’

Sure enough, other students asked what she herself wanted to ask: “Have you ever piloted a combat mecha?”

Yan Xueshan replied: “I have received some basic training in the army.”

Polly’s heart sank again.

Junior Division Sergeants were indeed the ordinary soldiers who might participate in training and were often used as cannon fodder in the battlefield.

The Blue Reaper wasn’t a wild card, he was the top student from the Imperial Military University!

The teacher clapped his hands and said: “Okay, stop chatting. Everyone should learn how to operate the mecha, one hour per person.”

Polly tested the waters by saying to Yan Xueshan: “Since you seem to be very skilled, you definitely don’t have to worry about the operation test. You should divide your time between the two of us, so that we can train more.”

Yan Xueshan didn’t show any sympathy to them and refused without hesitation. “No.”

Polly: “…” 

Cheapskate! The Blue Reaper wouldn’t be a cheapskate!

 Yan Xueshan was thinking in his heart that he had never piloted a beast-shaped mecha, and it looked quite interesting.

He let the two young girls in the same group train first and was left for last.

In fact, this lesson only requires them to learn one or two operations, but Yan Xueshan has already memorized them all, which was a very simple thing for him to do. He only read the operation guide once, because it was still hard to switch from a humanoid mecha.

It’s just too backward. This one turned out to be the earliest version of key input command code for operation, so to operate it, you need to memorize the instructions.

After entering the cockpit, he began to try each action one by one. He only had to try it once to remember, before trying his own combination of actions.

At first glance, it looked like he was operating blindly.

The mecha he was piloting was jerking in place, raising his arms for a while, stretching his legs for a while, and those who didn’t know any better would’ve thought it had some mechanical failures.

The students who saw this began to laugh. “When he was talking just now, I thought he was great, but it turns out he was just bragging. He isn’t much better than a novice like me. Hahahahaha.”

Sitting in the semi-open cockpit, Yan Xueshan was able to hear these jeers clearly, but it was like he was immersed in the operation, not paying attention to the words of others at all.

On the contrary, Polly was angry for him and argued with someone. “What are you looking at? What does it have to do with you? If you have so much free time, pilot your own mecha!”

It was at this moment, everyone heard a sudden sharp “thump”.

One of the students accidentally made a mistake and caused the fluid tank on the mecha to catapult out and fall toward the spot where Polly and Nana were standing.

Their lives flashed right before their eyes, but in a flash of lightning, the beast-shaped mecha beside them suddenly moved, or rather its “tail” moved.

Like a living thing, the metal “tail” originally used to absorb or expel liquid suddenly flicked above the  heads of the two little girls, bringing a gust of wind and blowing Polly’s braids. The “tail” aimed right at the incoming liquid tank.

It hit the corner of the tank. As if guiding it in mid-air, the collision caused a sudden change in direction and sent the tank flying in another direction where no one was standing.

It crashed down.

Bang!

Everything happened in a split second.

Maybe in two seconds.

If there was someone with him in the cockpit, they would’ve seen Yan Xueshan’s hand speed instantly skyrocketing to the terrifying level of invisible shadows.

Now, with the bang and the rise of flying dust, everyone’s reflex nerves finally transmitted the awareness of this terrible accident to their brains. Everyone’s face turned white, their heartbeats stopping for several seconds.

Then they stared at the animal-shaped agricultural mecha that Yan Xueshan was piloting.

The action of this mecha just now was like a leopard suddenly flicking its tail and slapping the object away.

Could this metal tube be even operated like this?

Or was it just a coincidence? It just so happens that this was also a mistake, a mistake that countered another mistake?

No, not a coincidence, right. Polly’s heart beat wildly as she thought this.

Yan Xueshan himself, however, didn’t treat this matter with any special treatment. It was just a matter of little effort. It could also fail since he wasn’t sure it would succeed.

He was very open minded. In fact, he could now use more than 20 kinds of basic operations, and could combine them in countless others.

So, in full view of everyone, this “big metal cat” actually put away its tail and made a movement similar to stretching on the ground with its front limbs, so flexible that it seemed to be injected with soul.

The students, not to mention the teacher, looked dumbfounded.

Drip, drip.

The one-hour study time is up.

Yan Xueshan returned the mecha to its original state, exited the cabin, and dismounted.

Polly saw him walk away, and heard him thoughtfully muttering to himself: “Well, it’s a bit interesting.”

He didn’t expect this kind of ancient beast-shaped agricultural mecha to be so interesting.

It was fun.

He will buy one when he returns to his farm.

In fact, just now, he’d had another choice. He could’ve wrapped his tail around the liquid tank and then put it down, but he wasn’t quite sure of the strength of the metal tube. He was afraid of breaking the tank or hitting the girls. So, for safety reasons, he chose a much simpler action and slapped it away.

Class was over.

The teacher now caught the student who almost caused a fatal accident and cursed, but Yan Xueshan left class on his own, his footsteps hurried.

Everyone watched him leave in silence, and when he passed by, they would quietly make way for him.

Yan Xueshan wanted to hurry back –

Of course, because he wanted to share such an interesting thing with Arthur!

In the professional aspect of piloting mechas, Arthur and he had very good communication.

If it was someone else or some lesser Master Sergeant, he might not even understand his operations.

Only after walking a few steps, he noticed he was being followed.

Turning his head, he saw Polly and Nana.

He was so preoccupied with communicating with Arthur that he forgot about them, so he asked: “What’s the matter?”

Polly looked at him with shining eyes, her freckled cheeks flushed. She spoke excitedly and adoringly: “Thank you, thank you for saving me.”

Nana also said: “I really don’t know how to thank you!”

Yan Xueshan said: “It’s nothing, it’s what I should do.

Even though he wasn’t a soldier anymore, it was the responsibility of every adult to protect children.

The two of them, as well as the whole class, were now looking at Yan Xueshan with this same expression.

 It was a bit like looking at a humanoid monster. You adore it very much, want to ask questions, but don’t dare ask. Even if you wanted to brag about what happened, you didn’t know how. That operation was a miracle ah!

Yan Xueshan said superficially: “Oh, by the way, just now my operation was an accident.”

After finishing speaking, he really left.

Polly stared blankly at his back, her suspicions breaking the tipping point.

She clung to Nana beside her and said: “Call me crazy but I really think he is the Blue Reaper!”

 

Edited by: Antiope1

 

Support translation: