Chương 73: Bastard Machine

'You Died!'

'Score - 5''Current Rating - Yawwwwn, is this really the best you can do? Even an ant has better mana than you do.' I gritted my teeth. This bastard machine thinks it's so funny, huh! Well, I'd have to agree! I wasn't actually mad, in fact, it was hard to hold myself back from bursting out laughing. Honestly, this is the exact type of motivation I want to see. Thinking about how other people would feel getting talked down to by a machine was absolutely hilarious!

Just earlier, I saw that man to my right nearly smash the screen in because a 'You Died!' message that appeared on screen. Who created this thing!? I'd love to meet them! I have a few quotes to give them! Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself before grasping the handle again. … While I was focusing my damnedest, I watched as the score ticked up by one. I bit my lip, holding back my grin. C'mon, you bastard, what will you say this time? As the score ticked up once more, the now familiar 'You Died!'

message appeared on screen.

'You Died!'

'Score - 10''Current Rating - Really? That's it? You barely break the double digits and then fail immediately? Even a ten year old child could hold on longer than you.'

"Pfft!" I spat out, silently laughing as I read the quote. As if! I'd like to see a ten year old do better than me! Those little ones probably can't even get past 5!

'Try Again?' As I went to imbue my mana into the handle again, Luna gently poked my arm with a pitiful expression on her face.

"Huh? Mouse? Are you okay?" I immediately withdrew my attention from the machine and focused on the silver-haired girl.

"Hungry…" She let out sadly. The tension in my face relaxed immediately as I lowered my head, trying to, but failing to hide my laughter. Her words seem to set something off for me too, as my stomach growled shortly after. Checking the time, it was already past evening. Dinner should've been made 2 hours ago. Right, I got too locked in on training. I've been starving the poor mouse!

"Sorry, sorry." I said after regaining my composure, "Shall we go eat out? Or, should I make you some steak?" Luna hurriedly nodded, "Steak, please!"

"Alright, let's go." I replied, standing up. Looking around, I saw that a lot of the people who were here when I entered had already left. The only person who was still here was that man on my right; He looked absolutely focused, not even blinking as he stared at the screen. His score was at 433. Curious, I gently pulled on Luna's hand and stood still, calmly watching the man stare at the screen. Luna didn't say anything, deciding to watch along. Half a minute later, the score ticked up.

'You Died!'

'Score - 434' Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

'Current Rating - Garbage! Did you get your skill from a landfill? Even the pigeons picking up bread at the beach could do better than you!'

'Try Again?'

"Pfft-" I immediately covered my mouth with my hand to stop myself from laughing. The man silently raged, slamming his fist through the air and even hitting his thighs a few times. Though his mouth was spewing curses, no sound came out. Luna stared at me, sighing with a shake of her head before grabbing my hand and dragging me out of there.

"Does it really amuse you that much?" She asked.

"Extremely. What's it called? Schadenfreude? There's a reason that word exists." I said, the corners of my mouth risen to their peak.

"Haah…You're such a bad person." She said, "How would you feel if others laughed at your low score of 10?"

"I'd laugh along with them. It's not like it's life or death. When I get a score 10x-ing that later, I can look back with a smile and remember how much I sucked back then."

"Hm…But what if you can't raise that number? What if you get stuck at 10 for years? If people laugh at you when you're trying your best but can't make progress, wouldn't you feel bad?"

"You're being silly, Mouse." I smiled, looking at her in the eyes, "If you've been attempting something for years without making progress, that's called determination. Nothing people say or do will make you falter at that point. If anything, it fuels them—they'll push themselves harder and harder until they finally push just one more point forward. And when they do, they'll smile. They'll remember every word of mockery; The people who laughed at them and not with them can only wait for the clown to laugh back."

"…" Luna stopped and stared at me for a moment.

"Wow…I sounded really cool just then!" I excitedly said, "Wasn't I awesome!? That came off the top of my head! I should publish that in a book somewhere or write that on Tawer! The philosophy association should give me a directors position!"

"Haah…" Luna smiled and shook her head, that look of admiration in her eyes vanishing, "One of a kind, Bin. You're one of a kind."

"Right?" I smiled cheerfully.

"What if the person quits after being laughed at?" Luna asked.

"Well then, dear Mouse, that's quite unfortunate isn't it?" I replied, "Those kinds of people are already having problems and need someone to uplift them and pull them out of the mud. Good luck to them."

"I see." Luna nodded. We entered the car, the sounds of the engine hummed softly as moonlight reflected off the dashboard.

"Do you think I have a bad personality?" I asked, "I wouldn't get involved unless I'm directly related to it." Propping my cheek on my hand, I stared at Luna's long lashes. Moonlight directly hit her face at an angle to make it look like she was radiating. She stayed quiet for a moment, seemingly deciding her words before turning to me. Her beautiful ocean blue eyes reflected my figure.

"No…You don't have a bad personality…" She shook her head, "It's…only human to not care about something unless it involves you directly. I'm…probably the same…I don't think I'd try and fix it if I saw it."

"Liar." I smiled, "You're quite an emotional girl, Mouse. Behind that expressionless, pretty face of yours, you're a kind person with a lot of empathy." I tapped her nose softly with my pointer finger. She stared at me in silence, her pupils slightly trembling.

"Hehe," I giggled, retracting my hand and opening my phone to put on some music, "Let's go home. I'm hungry for some steak."

"…Okay…" She quietly replied. Propping my chin on my hand, I stared out of the passenger-door window as the music echoed throughout the car. Off of the window's slight reflection, I could barely make out a tinge of red on Luna's cheeks. Smiling, I quietly watched as we drove past a couple streetlights. … The next morning at the dining table, we were eating a classic breakfast: Pancakes, eggs, and bacon. After biting into a chewy piece of bacon, I spoke,"By the way, I had the strangest dream last night."

"What was it about?" Luna asked curiously. Her plate was already half-empty.

"I was brewing a potion and I accidentally knocked in a couple of materials that absolutely did not belong in there. It produced a bunch of fumes that just teleported out of existence."

"Huh? What's so strange about that?"

"I just thought it was weird that the fumes vanished. The fumes should've only dissipated after a few hours, but they were gone within seconds."

"I see?" Luna said, obviously not understanding. Well, I don't blame her, it's like expecting me to understand why bugs appear in someone's programming. … We arrived at the AT room. Despite it being early morning, there were a lot more cars in the parking lot than there was yesterday.

"Is today a special day or something?" I asked as Luna backed into a parking spot.

"Nope," Luna smiled, "Morning is actually the most popular time. Awakeners wake up earlier and exercise diligently every day."

"Oh wow." I mumbled, "How about we come back later? I don't want to be infected with the diligence illness."

"Pfft, no can do." Luna chuckled, "You've been long-since infecting me with the slacker illness, now, it's time for both of us to get treated at the AT room."

"Ugh…" I playfully groaned as we entered the building. We went to the same mana training room as we did last time and found a machine not in use.

"By the way, what's your score on this thing?" I asked, pointing at the 'friendly' machine.

"I'll show you." Luna smiled, taking a seat. I watched excitedly as the familiar scene appeared on screen. The score started at 800. I stared at the number baffled. She just 80x'd my score in half a second!? Was the machine not kidding when it said a ten year old child could do better than me!?

"W-Why'd the number start so high?" I asked.

"The machine does a preliminary check to give you a starting number. Else, I'd have to start at 0 and wait nearly two hours to get to my highest score. It minimizes the wasted time." She said, "Because I have C+ grade mana strength, it starts me at the entrance point to C+ grade."

"…800…is the entrance point." I felt like my world collapsed. How many days of training would it take for me to reach that number? After a moment, I internally chuckled. How many quotes could I make this machine make? I hope there's not a limited number of them, else, that'd make my near-future boring. A few seconds later, the score ticked up by one.

"What're the numbers for each rank?" I asked.

"I can tell you, but it'd just be easier to look it up on your phone." She replied. Ah, that's true. Rather than hearing her say a bunch of numbers my brain can't handle, I can just look at a picture or something… A moment later, I pulled up a website.

'Awakeners Association's Mana Grade Ranges' F Grade: 0-99 E Grade: 100-249 D- Grade: 250-299 D Grade: 300-399 D+ Grade: 400-449 C- Grade: 450-599 C Grade: 600-799 C+ Grade: 800-899 B- Grade: 900-999 B Grade: 1000-1499 B+ Grade: 1500-1999 A- Grade: 2000-2999 A Grade: 3000-4999 A+ Grade: 5000+ Hm… Yeah, those numbers are pretty big. I wonder what they used to determine the numbers and ranges of grades. Surely they didn't just pull the numbers out of a hat and say 'Yeah, sounds fair'. But… 5000, huh.

Staring at the image on the machine's screen, I tried to picture that number saying '5000' instead of '10'. I can probably get there by tomorrow. Hehe. I internally giggled. It takes about 10 seconds for the score to tick up by 1… So… Starting from 0 and reaching 5000 in one go will take… about 14 hours of sitting in front of the machine without dying? Hm… Alright! Sounds doable! Pfft! Like hell it does! Let's start small. I'll try to project mana when I hit E grade. If that fails, I'll do it again at D- grade.

I'll repeat the pattern until my mana is stable enough to complete this step. Haah… I can't wait to do alchemy. Luna's score eventually hit 850. The next time it ticked up, the ever-familiar 'You Died!' message appeared on screen.

'Current Rating - Laaaame! Try harder, why don't you? My 87 year old grandma could reach that number back when she was 16 years old. Kids these days just aren't built like there used to. SMH!'

"Pfft!" I chuckled, looking at Luna. Her brow furrowed slightly as she glared at the hunk of metal.

"Are you gonna go again?" I asked. After a moment, she turned to me with a sigh,"Haah…No. I'm gonna go train in the agility area." She said, standing up, "When do you want to get lunch?"

"Mm…Just come get me when you're hungry. You know me, I could sit in front of this machine until nightfall." Luna went to reply, but then she nodded as if saying 'Yeah, that sounds like you.'

"Okay," She nodded, "Make sure you don't hit mana exhaustion. Buy potions from the exchange if you need them, or you can stop by the rest area to buy one. Remember, though it doesn't seem like it takes a lot of mana, it adds up over time, especially when you keep having to try again."

"Okay, Mom!" I teased.

"Wha-? Haah…Fine, whatever. I'm going to train."

"Hehe, wait~" I held onto her arm, "Just kidding~ Thanks for the reminder, I'll make sure to keep track."

"Good. See you later."

"See you~" I watched as she left the room before turning to the bastard machine with a grin. Let's see just how much quotes I can rack up today.