CHAPTER 542: VIEW OF GREATNESS

Normal people would’ve reacted to the advisor’s warnings. And had Ollie been the same boy from a few months back, his legs would’ve been shaking from utter fear.

Those whispers and murmurs, along with the faces of those instructors who looked at his brother with such narrowed gazes, would’ve alarmed him and had him praying to every religious figure imaginable.

But the boy who felt like he had somehow seen it all couldn’t find it in his heart to show fear for such a trivial thing.

So when his brother said he’d start with the first exam, the blonde realized he’d been in his most relaxed state.

Yes, that’s right. Ollie Mylor labeled it as "trivial."

Trivial because before he managed to escape the confines of that torture chamber, the blonde had actually gone through something worse than a boot camp.

Armed only with his love for life, food, and his desire to survive, Ollie had made it through nearly twenty-one space days of unadulterated torture (not).

And today was actually a rare break he got because he managed to convince his good brother to let him come watch and support.

If he hadn’t been able to come out today, then Ollie would’ve had to continue with his specialized training!

In the seven days that passed for the unassuming people of the Empire, his good brother managed to finish a biomecha while using him for practice for eventually teaching Master Quinn and Second Lieutenant Anya to perform the most basic repairs.

But it wasn’t even just that, Luca thought of stacking his builds, realizing that since he was making the same biomechas for now, it would be better to create multiples of the same part to optimize his production speed.

"..."

And honestly, that was as spectacular as it could get. Ollie knew for a fact that he would likely never see anyone in the Empire do something this crazy.

So the little mop was pretty sure he was literally watching history unfold.

But why does this history have to include a lot of lovey-dovey scenes while he himself was out there surviving on rolls?!

Not that they were bad rolls. In fact, they were such excellent rolls that the blonde was sure he could attribute his survival to them.

But still! It didn’t diminish the fact that, like clockwork, his cute, kind, and apparently not-so-innocent brother would run over to his husband for a combination of different lovey-dovey things. Ehem!

Meanwhile, all he could do was munch on the different rolls his boyfriend had prepared for him.

Egg rolls.

Spring rolls.

Banana spring rolls.

Fresh spring rolls.

And even that cheese stick that suspiciously looked like another roll.

Because Ollie had to similarly use his spiritual abilities in his little dome, it wasn’t advisable to have Kyle stay with him, unlike Xavier, who was bonded with his brother, Luca.

The blonde was crushed when he found out and realized he would have to stay in his little bubble alone.

No hugs.

No kisses.

No comfort.

So, as if to console him, Kyle had started packing him an extra snack box filled with all the rolls he’d learned as part of their agreement. And because he felt bad about Ollie’s situation, he didn’t even consider the different flavors as separate dishes.

Wasn’t he handsome like that?

He sure was! Because Kyle looked ten times better when he said such nice words to the poor Ollie.

Maybe he should just marry him, so they could also be like that. Ollie thought as he bit into that sweet banana spring roll that unbeknownst to him had attracted the attention of nearly everyone around him.

Crunch!

The sound had people’s backs straightening when they didn’t even respond like this when the instructors gave the testers the go signal for the first exam.

But what could they do?

The first exam could be replayed through their terminals, but no one would be able to replicate the sweet smell of Ollie Mylor’s snacks!

And how torturous that was, considering the length of time for this particular section, as it seemed like he would continue eating the entire time.

Of course he would.

Don’t they know the joys of snacking while watching your favorite show?

One where his good brother would dominate his beloved field?

His brother, mechas, and snacks? What could be better?

Well, Kyle.

It would’ve been better if Kyle could have watched with him.

But apparently, he wasn’t just busy with his administrative work but also with improving his endurance in the simulation.

Well, in reality, they were all doing just that. However, Luca had specifically informed Kyle that while his 101 minutes were definitely top grade, close enough to Duchess Amelia’s 106 minutes, Luca was hoping to see if Kyle could do it consistently.

Jax, with his 60 minutes for an A-rank ability user, was also told the same thing.

Then Luca said it was because Kyle’s mecha was going to have a modification, while Jax’s mecha was a heavy mech that heavily relies on its shielding ability, which was a consistent energy drain.

When Ollie heard of this, he wondered just what kind of improvement they’d need to make when those numbers were already far higher than his!

But then the people around Ollie were rather odd. Because when one was training, the others couldn’t look the other way.

It was then that D-29 and Sid became popular for assessing pointers for improvement.

Princess Kira wanted to know why the other S-ranks were able to reach 100 plus minutes while she only lasted for 89 minutes, and D-29 pointed out that it was because the princess stayed standing the entire time, while the others elected to use Anya’s strategy.

"!!!"

Meanwhile, Noah, Theo, and Ada were trying to ask Jax how he managed to last for a full hour when all of them were of the same spiritual ability level.

But Jax only said that it was because he wanted to hit a rounded number before quitting so that it would be easy to remember.

"..."

Ollie wanted to complain, but realized he’d only made it out alive because of a similar kind of logic, so he stayed quiet in case he ended up forced to train like that as well.

But how could he have known that it was much easier to train in the simulation chamber?!

At least there he could daydream all he wanted! But when it came to how strict Luca was in teaching, he’d be glad to be able to take moments to even blink!

However, that was then, and this was now. For today, he was going to savor his good brother’s greatness!

Ollie looked around. The people seemed invested, some even fretted, and he figured this was likely the same for nearly every exam.

Save for that part where the people questioned themselves as they looked at a certain black-haired cadet.

This was the kind of exam that weeded out everyone but the most promising students. An exam that made even experienced mechanics sweat bullets. It was the kind of test where taking your time was the bare minimum.

And yet here they were.

Luca, humming softly to himself, like he was just fixing a toy in his garage.

The instructors behind the glass looked more and more concerned.

And Ollie? Ollie was trying not to laugh.

Because before his brother even touched the mecha, he had politely asked the proctor if he could see the pilot’s profile.

"May I review the data first?" Luca asked, his voice warm and respectful. "I want to make sure the final adjustments match the pilot’s control style."

Even the air hesitated.

One of the instructors leaned forward. "...He asked for the pilot data?"

They were probably wondering why he needed that when they only really needed to fix the broken part, and in his case, that was just the chest, which served a defensive purpose more than movement-based ones.

When Ollie did his test, he remembered asking a bit about the pilot as well, but that was because he figured it mattered based on what he had to fix. And yet Luca, who didn’t actually need it, was asking for the information.

"He’s thorough," one muttered.

"No—he’s too thorough," said another, already worried about the time remaining.

Because right after reviewing the pilot’s grip style, recorded maneuvers, and preferred balance distribution, Luca nodded to himself and began the repair.

And that was when everything unraveled.