Chapter 5

"A legendary skill?" The mecha controlled by Victor couldn't help trembling in excitement.

That was because Victor knew how difficult skills were to obtain. In his previous life, he was killed merely for an epic skill Source Crystal.

Although epic skills were precious, their value had gone down by the tenth year of the apocalypse. Only the powerful legendary skills were truly valuable.

However, even the worst epic skill was undoubtedly a godly skill in the early stages of the apocalypse, not to mention a legendary skill, which would still be priceless 10 years later.

"Use."

"Ding! Successfully learned Overdrive Combat Power Enhancement. Base combat power +200."

"So strong!" Victor exclaimed in surprise.

"My combat power increased by 200 just from learning a skill!"

Even for a veteran like Victor, a combat power increase like that was unimaginable. Ordinary mecha might not be able to increase their combat power by 200 even after two evolutions.

Victor wasn't in a hurry to feel the changes in the mecha's combat power after the 200-point increase. He checked the skill's effects first.

[Overdrive Combat Power Enhancement: Doubles the mecha's combat power using overdrive. Duration: 100 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes.]

"This is insane!" Victor couldn't help but exclaim in shock again.

"So this is what a legendary skill looks like?" Victor's metallic hand that was holding the saber trembled slightly.

"No wonder Terrence Wilson was so strong in my previous life. This skill doesn't seem that strong now, but when my combat power becomes higher in the future..."

A combat power of 200 increasing to 400 might not be that impressive.

But what if it was 10,000 becoming 20,000?

Or, 100,000 becoming 200,000?

More importantly, the skill's duration was long, but the cooldown was very short, only ten minutes.

Victor looked back. The rats in the mousetraps were still transforming. Their bodies were beginning to swell, but they were still only the size of dogs. It would probably take another half an hour or so for them to completely transform.

Victor sat on the mountaintop, looking into the distance. His saber was planted in the ground beside him and his shield was placed on the ground.

"In this life, I must become invincible."

Victor reminded himself and contemplated the path ahead.

Just as he was formulating his upcoming plan while waiting for the rats to mechanize, several large machines suddenly emerged from the mining area.

"It's starting. Those must be heavyweight mecha." Victor felt a twinge of envy seeing the mecha that appeared in the mining area.

Based on Victor's visual estimation, the starter form of the haul truck mecha was about fifteen meters tall, five meters taller than his own mecha.

Moreover, they looked sturdier. They were undoubtedly heavyweight mecha. His medium-weight mecha had a super matrix engine, so the standard engine for a heavyweight mecha must be even better.

"Should I dismantle one of Terrence Wilson's mecha and steal the engine?" Victor suddenly had a reckless idea.

The engine is the mecha's power source. It not only provides the power for walking, running, and fighting, but also allows both close-combat and ranged mecha to perform short-distance propulsion after the first evolution.

For example, Victor, who was currently at the top of the mountain, could go halfway down the mountain with a single propulsion.

If the engine power was sufficient and could propel continuously, it was even possible to fly short distances.

"I'm gonna do it!"

Victor quickly came to a decision.

Although a super matrix engine was sufficient for now, there was a better engine within arm's reach, so how could he pass up the chance to get stronger? He had to become invincible after all.

Victor quickly stood up, grabbed his saber and shield, and sprinted towards the mining area.

Thanks to the weight of a ten-meter mecha, the mountain path posed no obstruction. Small trees and stones could not impede him in the slightest.

When Victor reached the mining area, he found it in a state of chaos.

People scurried around, confused. They bustled around various mecha models and chatted heatedly.

There were many vehicles in the mining area, and mecha of various models and sizes could be seen everywhere. Every mecha was surrounded by people, and some mecha were already being piloted.

However, their piloting skills made Victor cringe. They stumbled around like toddlers just learning to walk.

Among them were several medium-weight mecha standing about ten meters tall, all transformed from heavy-duty trucks.

However, their mecha did not look as good as Victor's.

After all, his mecha was new, so the older mecha could not compare.

Ignoring the people and their chaos, Victor sprinted towards the nearest yellow heavyweight mecha.

"Sure enough, it's five meters taller than my mecha."

"Wow, look at how smoothly that big one runs! Who is that?"

"Oh my gosh, that thing is so cool."

"That's it, I have to go home RIGHT NOW. I have a car at home, I can operate a mecha too."

The onlookers were fixated on Victor, their envious gazes burning with such intensity that it could have melted his mecha.

"What is he doing?"

"Holy crap!"

The spectators were initially surprised by Victor's smooth movements.

But when Victor raised his saber, the atmosphere changed.

Though his mecha was smaller than the heavyweight ones, his combat power far exceeded theirs.

After learning the skill, his combat power had reached 226 points.

A starter heavyweight mecha would have around 30 to 40 combat power at most.

Combat power is the sole standard for measuring a mecha's combat strength. High combat power means higher strength, better defense, quicker speed, and longer endurance.

Of course, combat power is just one aspect of combat prowess. Human control, skills, tactics, and even mental fortitude all contribute to true effectiveness in battle.

Currently, the heavyweight mecha in front of Victor was unmanned, meaning it had a combat prowess of zero.

Clang!

Sparks flew.

Victor's saber struck the heavyweight mecha.

As sparks danced, Victor's saber successfully penetrated the heavyweight mecha's exterior.

"If not for the massive combat power boost earlier, the saber wouldn't have breached the heavyweight mecha's defense."

Victor sighed.

To onlookers, his actions flowed smoothly like water.

However, Victor himself knew that this ordinary saber wasn't sharp at all.

Fortunately, his high combat power made up for that deficiency.

"Where's the engine?"

Victor had no knowledge of the heavyweight mecha's structure, so after he made a hole with his saber, he tossed his weapon and shield aside, reached inside the hole, and ripped it apart.

Since he didn't know where the engine was located, he would just dismantle the mecha into parts.

The violent process of dismantling went smoothly. High combat power meant high strength and high speed, and he did it without caring about the damage done to the heavyweight mecha, so of course he could do it quickly.

Within a few minutes, he deconstructed the fifteen-meter heavyweight mecha into a pile of parts.

"There it is!" Victor finally found the heavyweight mecha's engine.

His mecha's eyes emitted two beams of light.

It was a built-in identification skill.

The skill could identify any mechanical item as long as it wasn't too advanced.

Dual-cycle nucleus engine.

"Sure enough, it's a tier above my starter engine. Into the mecha's internal space it goes."

The engine in his hand vanished.

The mecha contained its own internal storage space. The larger the mecha, the larger the internal storage space.

Victor's internal space was about one cubic meter, sufficient for storing Source Crystals and other minor things.

If he wanted a larger storage space, he would need to equip a cargo pod, which could only be obtained from opening Source Crystals.

Ordinary Source Crystals definitely wouldn't contain equipment. Equipment can only be found in Source Crystals of intermediate-grade or higher.

Equipment is classified as internal or external.

Internal equipment includes engines, cargo pods, and modules.

External equipment includes weapons, defensive armor, and thrusters.

There is also special equipment like funnels.

Currently, Victor only had an engine and weapons. The engine was built-in, and the weapons were crude and self-made.

"Time to go."

After Victor got the engine he wanted, he ran away without any hesitation.

He was unsure if Terrence Wilson was present. If he were, he might order his men to surround Victor after he realized what was going on.

Killing starter mecha provided no benefit to Victor.

There were many mecha of various sizes at the mining area. Although Victor's combat power was substantially higher than theirs, in this era of low combat power, numerical superiority was still a massive advantage.

As for whether Terrence would hold a grudge against him, Victor wasn't concerned.

Once he raised his mecha to Level 10, it would undergo the first evolution, after which his mecha would look different. Even if someone took pictures now, he was confident he wouldn't be recognized by Terrence later.

"He's running away. What should we do?"

"Quick, tell the boss! We can't afford the damages."

The people still hadn't realized that the apocalypse had started. If the only change was that humans now possessed mecha, there wouldn't be too much chaos.

The real apocalypse began after the animals mechanized.

But these people didn't know that. They feared their boss would make them pay for damages, so they must report and catch the culprit.