The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] novel Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Spiritual Mechas

"Tomorrow, we’ll have a lecture and demonstration of manually operated mechas. Since the Military had just adapted this, there shouldn’t be much material outside the school and the base."

Finally!

Luca rejoiced at being on equal ground for at least one thing. But it was short-lived when he realized he had a hand speed problem.

He wondered how he could practice before he could get the license to operate at least a combination one.

"Class dismissed. See you tomorrow."

It was lunch break after this, but instead of going out right away, Luca decided to approach Instructor Moore. He was really curious about the piloting modes and knew how much his life depended on the answer he was going to get.

"Sir, I was hoping to ask you about today’s lesson."

Moore was surprised to be approached by a student this early and was even more intrigued because the student had a golden badge.

He watched the exam replay and remembered that this kid used unconventional methods to pass.

"Sure, what did you want to ask about?"

The student before him was rather timid, but his clear eyes held the curiosity that Moore appreciated from people eager to learn.

With clenched fists, the student asked. "Sir, about the piloting modes, you talked about both the manual and combination modes. But what about the fully Spiritual mode that we had on the training pod?"

That was an unexpected question for Moore.

No student has really ever questioned why there wasn’t a third method of piloting, as most assumed it was used for the virtual pods.

Spiritually piloted mechas weren’t exactly a myth. His ancestors had those before, but not anymore. They weren’t capable of making them, nor were they capable of driving such state-of-the-art mechas.

"Historically, there was a third way to pilot a mecha: the Spiritual mode. But we’ve long been unable to manufacture such mechas because we’ve lacked their materials."

It was such a shame and a giant loss to mankind.

But even if they take out the last spiritual mechas kept by the institute, they would have no proper pilots.

"No materials?" The student blinked up at him innocently, and rather than being annoyed at his question, Moore found it funny that he was asking such a thing.

"Yeah. Spiritual mechas need spiritual materials such as beast parts, cores, and minerals. And as you know, we’re not exactly rich in that. Well, not anymore."

Luca could see the look of longing in the instructor’s eyes, but he had to gulp down the desire to ask why they weren’t rich in that anymore, to begin with. That was probably something even children could answer, so he’ll have to look it up on his own.

"Also, even if we manage to make those mechas. We won’t have pilots that could last to pilot them for long."

"It takes abundant spiritual energy even to boot it up, and with how we are right now, a pilot might only be able to run it for several hours before being forced to stop."

"And that’s risky given the corruption problem."

Luca could only nod at the implication, understanding why, with their current energy reserves, being caught depleted meant being contaminated.

"Then, is there a reason why we still take the test for it?"

Maybe there was still use for it? Luca was good at that and was hoping that his only skill wasn’t too useless. That would really suck if so!

"Of course, virtual mechas are mostly fully spiritual after all. It’s that or a combination. And it would be hard to use manually operated ones online as the virtual pods rely on one’s spiritual abilities."