Chapter 1

"Screw you, Susan Holt!" Victor Wild's eyes were bloodshot, filled with rage.

The woman's voice echoed in his mind.

"Victor, let my brother have this advanced Source Crystal, okay? With it, his mecha will evolve to an advanced mecha. He's my brother, after all."

"Victor, the girl my brother likes really wants that beam rifle you just got. Can you let him have it? He's my only family."

"Victor, you HAVE to give this epic skill Source Crystal to my brother. With it, he'll become one of the top 100 in Riverside City.'

The more the voice resounded in Victor's mind, the redder Victor's eyes became.

His own mecha would evolve to an advanced mecha with that advanced Source Crystal too. He loved that beam rifle; he went through so much to obtain it. He needed that skill Source Crystal more than anyone because he was already one of the top 100 in Riverside.

But for her, Victor compromised again and again.

He gave her the advanced Source Crystal, the beam rifle, and countless other things. However, he could not give her the skill Source Crystal.

That lone act of defiance led to his death.

For a skill Source Crystal, the woman he cherished for eight years killed him.

But she never could have expected that Victor would be reborn, filled with rage, seven days before the machine invasion, back to his eighteen-year-old self.

-

"Hey, go daydream somewhere else."

A greasy man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses slammed his hand on the desk.

"I want a loan!"

Victor, regaining some of his senses, slammed a property deed on the desk with even more force.

The greasy man was taken aback by Victor's sudden intensity.

In all his years, he'd never seen a borrower act so aggressively.

Everyone who came to him to borrow money was desperate.

Judging by the guy's yelling and demeanor, maybe he got dumped by a girl?

Well, none of his business!

What the greasy man didn't realize was that he was actually intimidated by Victor's killing intent.

Luckily, the greasy man had seen it all, so he quickly recovered.

"You get 90% and you pay back 130% in one month. You understand the terms, right?"

The greasy man composed himself, adjusted his glasses, and went into his routine.

"Yeah. How much can I borrow?"

Victor pushed the property deed towards the greasy man and sat down, his composure returning, the killing intent hidden.

"This yours?"

The greasy man examined the property deed. A 100-square-meter apartment in the city center, worth a good amount.

But the problem was, the young man sitting in front of him looked about eighteen or nineteen. Handsome, sure, but to own an apartment like this?

Maybe his parents gave it to him?

A rich kid? Is this idiot being scammed by a woman?

"Here's my ID. Speed up the process, I'm in a hurry." Victor handed over his ID.

The greasy man gave Victor a sidelong glance. Everyone who came to him was in a hurry.

After verifying the information, the greasy man confirmed that the apartment was indeed Victor's.

Whether Victor was being scammed or not was none of his business. He only cared about making money.

"Victor Wild, right?"

"Yeah. Victor as in a winner, and Wild as in born to be wild."

The greasy man looked up again, thinking the kid must be a bit crazy.

He probably read too many novels.

"You can borrow up to $160,000 for this apartment. How much do you want to borrow?"

"The full amount," Victor said.

"Just a reminder, you get 90% and pay back 130%. You'll only get $144,000, and you have to pay back $208,000 in a month. If you can't pay, we get the apartment."

"I know. Stop wasting time and just get it done."

"Alright."

Hearing that, the greasy man said no more. He had already said everything he needed to. Once the contract was signed, the rest was none of his concern.

These black market loans were definitely shady, but they were fast.

In less than an hour, $144,000 was credited to Victor's account.

Seeing the notification on his phone, Victor heaved a sigh of relief, finally releasing some of the complicated emotions he had been holding in since his rebirth.

"Seven days until the machine invasion. Time's a bit tight."

Leaving the loan shark company, Victor checked the time on his phone and hailed a taxi to the nearest heavy-duty truck dealership.

The machine invasion brought the mechanical civilization. Everyone can transform their vehicles into mecha.

Mecha come in all shapes and sizes: bicycles, motorcycles, tricycles, sedans, sports cars. Anything that is a vehicle can become a mecha.

Victor lived until the tenth year of the mechanical apocalypse. He had a rough start because he didn't have any mecha when the invasion began.

He didn't even own a bicycle.

After struggling for two years, he finally inherited a lightweight close-combat mecha. With plenty of hard work, he managed to do reasonably well in Riverside, but that woman...

"Susan Holt!"

Sitting in the taxi, Victor gritted his teeth. From his perspective, he had just died yesterday.

Susan stole his mecha core, preventing him from transforming. Stanley Holt plunged a saber into his gut, then mocked Victor as he took away the skill Source Crystal, revealing secrets between him and Susan as Victor died.

"Those two scumbags. It's okay, there's plenty of time. I'll settle the score with them sooner or later."

Victor took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"Since I have a chance to start over, I want the best starter mecha possible… or at least one of the best. Yeah, it's not that a haul truck is bad, but a heavy-duty truck is more cost-effective."

The real reason was that he was poor.

Victor wasn't rich. His parents didn't give him the apartment, his grandfather left it for him. It was his only property.

While he was lost in thought, the taxi slowly came to a stop.

He had arrived at the heavy-duty truck dealership.

Victor paid and dashed into the showroom.

The receptionist hadn't even started her sales pitch when Victor cut her off.

"I want to buy a heavy-duty truck, the latest model, the biggest one you have."

"Sir, we..."

"The biggest, the best. You got it?"

The saleswoman swallowed her prepared pitch.

"Yes, sir. This way, please."

Outside, the saleswoman opened the gate to the parking lot.

The moment the gate opened, Victor saw an all-black heavy-duty truck.

It was love at first sight.

"Sir, this is our latest heavy-duty truck. Feel free to ask me anything."

The truck was a bit dusty, but that didn't diminish Victor's love for it. It was his ticket to surviving the apocalypse.

"This heavy-duty truck should look pretty badass as a mecha, right?"

"What did you say, sir?" The saleswoman didn't catch Victor's mutterings.

"Nothing. I'll take this one."

"O-oh, okay. Will you be paying with a loan or in full?" The saleswoman was stunned. She'd never seen such a decisive customer.

"Can the loan be processed today?" Victor asked.

"The base price is $98,000, but there's an $8,000 discount. You can do a 50% down payment and the loan process will only take two hours."

"Good, loan it is."

"Alright, sir. This way, please." The saleswoman gestured.

Victor followed closely and finally relaxed when the loan process began.

Two hours later, the paperwork was done, and the vehicle was officially under Victor’s name.

"Can you have the truck delivered to this location? You can do that, right?"

"Of course, sir. Not a problem at all."

Victor could drive a car, but not a heavy-duty truck. If he tried to drive it, he would probably kill someone.

It wasn't the apocalypse yet, and running people over meant jail time.

"Have the truck delivered there. Just leave the keys in the truck."

With that, Victor turned and left.

The saleswoman stared at the keys, bewildered.

"He's just going to trust me with the keys? He's not even coming along?"

It wasn't that Victor was naive. He was simply not worried about someone stealing the truck. After the machine invasion, vehicles would transform into mecha, and the mecha would belong to whoever owned them. They could not be stolen. Victor had other important things to do and didn't want to waste time on such trivial matters.

As night fell, Victor arrived at a large welding shop.

Business was quiet, and the workers were idly chatting.

"I would like to see your boss."

"His office is over there." A young worker casually pointed the way.

"You can wait inside, he's in the bathroom."

"Thanks."

While waiting, Victor performed some mental calculations.

The heavy-duty truck's trailer was 9 meters and the cab was 3 meters, so the total length was 12 meters. After transforming into a mecha, it should be around 10 meters tall.

"10 meters... the saber should be at least 5 meters long, and I'll need a shield too."

Vehicles only transform into basic mecha forms initially. They don't have weapons until they evolve, relying only on their fists to fight.

As a reborn individual, Victor wasn't going to rely on his fists.

"First time here, buddy? What kind of work you need done?"

While Victor was lost in thought, the welding shop owner walked in.