The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 6

Jiang Yuan grew impatient and urged, “I’m a man of my word. I said you could try it, so let’s go. Focus and try to feel the mecha.”

Jiang Momo closed her eyes slightly. She felt… nothing.

Just the same powerless feeling as when she tried to drive her own assembled mechas.

She didn’t give up and tried again.

“Wait!” Jiang Yuan suddenly shouted, quickly using his light brain to cut off Jiang Momo’s connection to the mecha.

Jiang Momo hadn’t felt anything to begin with, so the forced disconnection didn’t make her pass out like a normal person.

Two seconds later, Jiang Yuan realized what he’d done, turned to her in surprise and asked, “You didn’t faint? You don’t have mental power?”

“I don’t know,” Jiang Momo shrugged. Then she glanced outside and saw Jiang Yingying coming out of the villa, probably after hearing the noise. She immediately figured it out and asked, “Didn’t you say I could test drive it? Changing your mind already?”

“Didn’t you see there’s someone in the courtyard? What if someone got hurt?” Jiang Yuan said self-righteously.

“Dude, she’s like over twenty meters away, okay?”

Jiang Momo rolled her eyes, then jumped down from the mecha.

“First of all, even at that distance, someone could still get hurt. Second, I’m your second brother,” Jiang Yuan called out loudly.

“Big Sister, you and Second Brother seem to be getting closer lately,” Jiang Yingying said with a smile.

“Then you’re mistaken. Go admire your second brother’s mecha. He should be thrilled,” Jiang Momo said without stopping.

She was full of questions and eager to talk to Little Eight.

“Never mind, I’m putting it away. The energy costs a fortune,” Jiang Yuan said quickly when he saw Jiang Yingying actually heading over. He jumped down, folded the mecha into its compact storage box, and ran off with it in his arms.

Jiang Momo didn’t care about Jiang Yuan’s weird behavior. She picked up Little Eight who was in the living room directing the household robots and headed straight to her room.

[What’s the rush? What happened? Did someone bully you again?] Little Eight asked, dizzy from being scooped up.

Jiang Momo set him down, closed the door and said, “Mechas don’t have control panels anymore.”

She had learned all her mecha manufacturing knowledge from Little Eight, so she knew that one sentence would be enough.

Sure enough, Little Eight instantly jumped up. [What?! No way! The theory I taught you was the most advanced at the time! It’s already outdated?!]

[I hadn’t noticed before. Let me break into some encrypted networks and see what I can find.]

Five minutes later, Little Eight opened his eyes again. [This is bad. Things have changed a lot.]

“In what way?” Jiang Momo asked quickly.

[The method of combining manual control with sensors was lost 135 years ago during the Alien Beast War. Now, only full-sensor mechas exist.]

[The good news is, the materials used in mecha manufacturing have barely changed.]

“So you mean everything except the materials has changed,” Jiang Momo couldn’t help but sigh.

[More or less. The current classification of mechas includes several levels; military-use S-grade and A-grade, dual-use B-grade, and civilian-use C-grade, D-grade and E-grade.]

[In terms of manufacturing, C-grade and below can be assembled directly using ordinary materials, similar to the old manual-control mechas. B-grade mechas require energy pathways to be etched onto both the outer shell and internal frame to enable precise sensory control. A-grade needs even more complex energy pathways and S-grade manufacturing involves the addition of metallic neural fibers. The manufacturing methods for A and S-grade mechas are highly classified and likely preserved only in paper form.]

[If you want to study S-grade mecha manufacturing, you’ll need to apply for the Mecha Manufacturing Department at the Central Mecha Academy and join the Military Research Institute after graduation. For A-grade, the Central Mecha Academy should have some documentation, though it may be incomplete.]

“Can I study mecha piloting and manufacturing at the same time?” Jiang Momo asked.

[Unfortunately, no. Piloting mechas carries risks and federal law strictly prohibits mecha manufacturers from piloting them.]

“Then I still want to study piloting,” Jiang Momo said. “Can you pull up the materials on how to manufacture B-grade mechas for me to look at?”

When it came to mecha manufacturing, she’d spent years fiddling with parts, taking them apart, and putting them back together again. She knew those materials like the back of her hand. It had long since lost its novelty for her. In that field, she had already satisfied her curiosity. The new techniques sparked a bit of excitement but not enough to outweigh her greater interest in piloting, which had always eluded her.

[I can but this brings up another major problem I just discovered.]

Jiang Momo had a bad feeling. “What problem?”

[The writing I taught you is now considered an ancient script. It was lost during the Alien Beast War.]

“Wait… so now I’m illiterate???” Jiang Momo was in disbelief. “This is too tragic! I left home far away, my parents don’t care about me, the skills I thought I could rely on are outdated, and now I can’t even read?!”

[Well… that’s a pretty accurate summary. But not all is lost as some characters still look close to what you know.]

Still in shock, Jiang Momo said nothing for a long time.

Little Eight quickly tried to comfort her, [But it’s not a big deal. It doesn’t affect me. I can read it out loud for you.]

Hearing that, Jiang Momo immediately bent down and hugged Little Eight’s chunky body. “Thank goodness I still have you!”

[Alright, Student Momo, please take out the mecha materials from the storage box. We’re starting the lesson now.] Little Eight’s teaching style had always been hands-on.

Upon hearing that, Jiang Momo quickly opened the spatial compression storage box to take out the main mecha parts and materials. But with just a thought, a loud ‘whoosh’ followed and countless materials appeared out of thin air, piling up and filling the room.

“Sorry, sorry, this thing’s too high-tech. I’m not used to it yet.” Jiang Momo hurried to move the materials off both of them and put some back into the box. After a bit of shuffling, she finally cleared a two-square-meter area.

[We need to get a bigger room soon.]

While Jiang Momo worked, Little Eight wriggled out from under the pile and helped stack and organize the remaining parts.

“I’ll move out soon, I promise!” Jiang Momo raised her hand seriously.

[I believe you.]

[Alright, back to business. First, build a basic arm skeleton the same way you used to.]

“Using the old method?” Jiang Momo asked while already assembling the arm skeleton quickly.

She worked fast, as if she didn’t need to think at all, every part she placed seemed to fall exactly where it should.

“Done.”

[Now, try to visualize the energy transmission pathway within the skeleton.]

“Pathway?” Jiang Momo was confused.

Even though she practically hugged mecha materials in her sleep, she had no way of imagining a concept she’d never heard of before.

Little Eight knew she couldn’t imagine something she’d never seen, so he reached out his chubby hand and traced a connected line around the frame from start to end.

[This kind of connected line is an energy pathway.]

Jiang Momo still didn’t quite get it. “But according to Jiang Yuan, the one I assembled before couldn’t hold an energy pathway. Why does this one work? Was it a lucky mistake?”

[Each part has more than one possible energy pathway.] Little Eight shook his head.

[Do you remember what I said about A-grade mecha requirements?]

Jiang Momo immediately recalled, “More complex energy pathways?”

[Right. Each material has about five to eight energy transmission ports around its edge. Any two can form a pathway. Among these, one pathway is the most energy-efficient and fastest. It’s also the most obvious and easiest to find.]

[According to the data I collected, official B-grade mecha manufacturers now identify the best pathway on each material first, then assemble the parts together afterward.]

[But I want you to learn B-grade mecha manufacturing without chasing the ‘best’ pathway. That only makes the process more complicated.]

“But why would the official method go for the more complex way?” Jiang Momo found it odd. “Is it because the optimal design results in better quality mechas?”

[Actually, it’s the opposite. More complex energy pathways use more surface area on the material, which increases control precision, and the energy loss is negligible.]

[But aside from that optimal pathway, the others are not straight lines. They require avoiding multiple blockage points to succeed. Since each material can only be etched once, any failure ruins the part. The risk is high and it requires great precision and skill, too difficult for standard training. That’s why the officials gave up on it.]

“But I still don’t get what an energy pathway really is,” Jiang Momo said.

Little Eight pointed to the fingertip of the mecha’s arm skeleton and slowly traced upward.

[Feel the internal structure of the material. Imagine a stream of energy entering at one end. It must pass through without encountering any obstacles and exit almost without loss. The path the energy flows through is your energy pathway.]

[The energy pathways etched into the mecha are for both the pilot’s mental power and the mecha’s energy to flow through. Only humans can truly sense where the correct pathways are. What I can do is check after you’re done carving to see if the energy can pass through smoothly.]

For the next two days, except for going out at meal times to fight the Jiang family members for food, Jiang Momo stayed curled up in her room, completely absorbed in research and study.

The Jiang family of four interpreted her odd behavior as a sign that she had finally realized she was being rejected and had become discouraged. They were quite happy with the seemingly reassuring result. No one spoke to her voluntarily, nor did they make things difficult for her on purpose anymore.

Finally, on the third night, Jiang Momo made a breakthrough.

Her room was a complete mess with scraps of material covering the bed and floor. A three-meter-long mecha forearm lay diagonally on the bed, with three clearly defined, winding and smooth etchings running through its interior.

Jiang Momo sat upright with her hands clasped, nervously waiting for Little Eight to inspect it.

[All three pathways are functional.] Little Eight held the forearm by the joint and let its own energy run through the etchings one by one. After confirming there was no resistance, it looked up and gave the result.

Jiang Momo let out a deep breath and popped a strawberry mocha, one she’d swiped from Jiang Yuan, into her mouth. “Too bad I only found three.”

[That’s already really good.]

The test for advancing from a Level B mecha manufacturer to Level A in the Federation required three energy pathways across the entire mecha. It was a tough challenge as most manufacturers stayed stuck at Level B for life.

But since Jiang Momo had no interest in becoming a mecha manufacturer, there was no need to tell her that.

Little Eight glanced at the time. [Dinner should start in about ten minutes.]

“I’ll go after I clean up.” Jiang Momo stashed the mecha arm back into her storage box.

[No need to worry about that. The Jiang family has service robots.] Little Eight pushed at her lower back, firmly guiding her toward the door. [Jiang family mealtimes are never punctual. You’ve been pushing yourself these past few days. You need to refuel.]

“Thank you!” Jiang Momo gave Little Eight a big bear hug. “Who else treats me like a kid anymore? Love you!”

Little Eight froze for a second at her sudden burst of affection and began to wonder if using popular novels to teach her to read over the past few days had been a bad idea.

[Maybe being a fast learner isn’t such a great thing after all.] Little Eight started to reflect on itself.

***

Jiang Momo left her room in a good mood after teasing Little Eight, only to bump into Jiang Yingying coming down the stairs.

They locked eyes for a second. Jiang Yingying stopped, tilting her chin up as she looked Jiang Momo over, her long neck giving her the appearance of a proud swan.

Jiang Momo gave her a standard polite smile and reached out a hand. “Hi, could you please give me my bank card? Thanks.”

Jiang Yingying didn’t move.

Jiang Momo raised her other hand, holding up three fingers.

“It’s been three days. I’m so broke I could go beg on the street.”

Jiang Yingying frowned. “If Mom hears you say something like ‘beg,’ she’ll scold you. The Jiang family doesn’t raise children with no ambition.”

Jiang Momo: “…”

This girl really had no sense of humor.

“So… my bank card?” Jiang Momo kept her hand outstretched and repeated her request.

Jiang Yingying glanced at her, didn’t say a word, and tried to walk past.

Jiang Momo stepped forward quickly, blocking her path.