Logically speaking, as their teacher, she ought to trust her students.
But common sense dictated that teachers who blindly trusted their students always ended up regretting it.
Looking at the bunch of eager little radishes in front of her — all raring to jump into their cockpits and go wild — Hera decided one final safety measure was necessary.
“Ye Laixi, Isxila, Lol — I’ll leave it to you three.” She turned to the trio who had somehow appeared behind her.
“Mm, got it, Teacher.”
Ye Xu nodded in agreement.
Then, under the puzzled gazes of their classmates, he, Isxila, and Lol headed toward the left side of Hangar 3’s entrance.
They entered the sixth, seventh, and eighth berths from front to back.
Those three berths had been concealed by curtains in night-purple, platinum-white, and deep blue respectively. Because they blended in so unremarkably, none of the other students had noticed them until now.
Until…
Hummm~
To the ears of this world’s students, it sounded like the roar of a top-tier supercar starting up.
Clank, clank-clank
The berth restraints slowly retracted to the sides. The concealing curtains dissolved into motes of mana and scattered.
Under the yearning, awestruck gazes of the other forty classmates, three Radiant Sun Type-14 units — averaging 4.8 meters tall, towering far above the sub-4-meter training machines — revealed themselves with Isxila’s royal-exclusive “Dawn Heart” at the center.
They simply… stood up.
“W-What the—?! What are those???”
“Th-That’s insane!”
As freshmen, they lacked the information networks and discerning eyes of upperclassmen. They couldn’t identify the three Magitech Knights at a glance.
Yet even just looking at the heavy, ornate armor and feeling the vast waves of mana pulsing within the frames, the students instinctively swallowed hard.
Then they glanced back at the training machines that had filled them with such longing moments ago…
— They really did look short, stumpy, ugly, and pathetic.
“Teacher, th-these three are…???”
Pointing at the machines piloted by Ye Xu’s group, the class asked in confusion.
“Oh, those are the personal machines Isxila and the others brought from home. Nothing to worry about~”
Teacher Hera answered with a beaming smile.
How long had it been since he’d piloted such a “normal” machine?
Leaping into the cockpit, placing his hands and feet into the designated controls, feeling the hatch close and the familiar sensation of the cockpit pressing snugly against his body — Ye Xu couldn’t help but think.
He remembered that after his first sortie in the Night God Throne, the Empire and the rebel forces had never again clashed in a large-scale war that required his personal intervention.
Even after he was forced into the role of Emperor’s Daughter, it had been her royal siblings leading the Eternal Night Knights in battles across the Empire.
He had once believed he would never again have cause to fight in person.
Yet who would have thought he’d get the chance to show off in front of a bunch of students while piloting something like this?
“Heh~” For the first time in ages, Ye Xu let out a genuine laugh.
He was genuinely starting to like this interesting academy.
Then he released his mana, channeling it into the magitech core positioned almost directly against the back of the pilot’s head.
As the mana flowed in, Ye Xu sensed a power gradually awakening in his perception, then beginning to link with his brain.
Bit by bit, his soul detached from his flesh and projected into the far larger body.
When Ye Xu opened his eyes again, his viewpoint had risen dramatically.
The edges of his vision carried a faint night-purple filter.
As the magitech core fully activated, frames and panels in classic magical-world style appeared across his retina — collecting and organizing all information in his field of view, then presenting it to him.
Just as Ye Xu lightly clenched his fist, savoring the long-absent power, a communication request came through.
He accepted it. On his retina appeared large avatars of Isxila inside the platinum-white “Dawn Heart” with its night-purple accents, and Lol inside the deep-blue “Abyss.”
[“Nal, how are you holding up!?”]
The moment he stood, the teacher’s voice reached his ears.
Ye Xu looked up and saw her — made even tinier and cuter by the massive size difference after his soul projection.
A purple frame locked onto her, zooming in so he could clearly see her expression and movements.
[“Teacher, I’m fine.”]
Standing behind the teacher alongside Isxila and Lol in their knights, Ye Xu’s voice — amplified and tinged with mechanical coldness — rang out.
[“Good.”]
[“As we discussed earlier, you three are in charge of supervising the others.”]
[“The instant anyone shows signs of losing control, pin them down immediately — pin them hard!”]
Looking at her three prized students, the teacher nodded in satisfaction, gave them one final reminder, then confidently allowed the rest of the class to board.
There was no helping it — top-tier machines simply inspired that much confidence. Not to mention that Ye Xu’s trio were already far beyond ordinary freshmen in personal strength. Amplified by Magitech Knights, one punch from them could probably flatten who-knows-how-many opponents.
The other students were reluctant, but after one last longing glance at the trio’s impossibly cool personal units, they obediently followed instructions and entrusted their “first time” to the battered old training machines.
Hummm~
Boom!
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
All manner of sounds befitting ancient relics echoed as the magitech cores powered up.
Though heart-stopping and eyelid-twitching, all forty machines did safely activate in the end.
There were, of course, a few minor incidents.
Some students, unaccustomed to having their souls projected into heavy steel bodies, swung an arm too hard and nearly struck the senior guiding them.
One nearly recreated a legendary blunder — putting too much force into their legs and almost blasting straight through the hangar wall.
The only saving grace was that everyone obeyed and didn’t cast any spells.
Naturally, Hera was confident that even if someone tried, Ye Xu’s group would pin them before the incantation finished.
Because, as the teacher suspected, against three pilots who already outclassed their peers and were now in the latest customized units, the classmates in training machines had zero chance of resistance.
Ten nerve-wracking minutes later, the class had more or less adapted to piloting.
Just as Teacher Hera prepared to speak again and brief them on the afternoon’s precautions, a commotion arose from the direction they had come — much like when her own class arrived…
“Hey, where’s little Irina?!”
“Get Teacher forty-four of your best machines ready!”
“Today, our Class 37”
“is gonna dominate!!!”
A hearty middle-aged male voice boomed from outside, followed by loud laughter — quickly cut off by a mature female voice. “What do you mean ‘your Class 37 is gonna dominate’? In front of our Class 8, you’re nothing!”
Then came a confident, almost world-weary tone: “Just reminding you both — our class has four students with personal machines, all new models starting from Radiant Sun Type-12. You two better hope your little sprouts don’t get beaten so bad they cry.”
No sooner had he spoken than the bickering flared again.
“Tch, listen to this guy acting like no one else brought personal units. We’ve got three!”
“Yeah, yeah! We’ve got two — both Radiant Sun Type-13s!”
The noisy voices drew closer.
Inside the hangar, Irina — monitoring the training machines’ startup status — stumbled slightly. She turned helplessly toward the approaching group of figures in the distance, a trace of pity rising in her heart.
— The unlucky ones have arrived.