Chapter 46: Must Exceed the Limit of APM
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations

The limit of humans’ reaction time was 0.1 second, and it was impossible for an average person to reach this limit. Trained personnel could get close to this number, but the closer they got, it would be exponentially harder to improve.

This was in the textbook, so of course, Mu Fan didn’t know.

Black continued to explain. “According to my calculation, when your effective action per minute (APM) reaches 400 on the control panel, you could use the mech to complete moves beyond imagination while making small calibration according to the system command signals.”

“This is the difference between operating a mech and moving the human body, but this is also what’s fascinating about mechs! Don’t look at me like that; I copied that from the Dingchuan Academy’s lectures.”

Mu Fan stared at Black and was at a loss for words as he continued to listen to Black’s lecture.

“The movement technique, Hollow Flash, is a technique developed in Fantasy-Mode of the PO Battle Network. It can be performed at a simulation level of 60% or lower, but those who are skilled can use it between the simulation level of 65% to 70% with the record-setter at the simulation level of 80%. Therefore, this is a technique that people deemed impossible to exist in reality. However, according to my calculations, this technique is doable.”

Black’s eyes projected out a light screen showing the control panel. The cockpit of the RX-16 was wider than that of the EH01, and Mu Fan was focused onto the projection screen beside the monitors.

“Watch carefully. This is the control panel in front of you. It’s 6.67 meters in length and 3.74 meters in width. It means that you must use your elbows as pivot points to move your hands in half circles. According to my calculations, the APM needed for Hollow Flash is 500 to complete the basic version through consecutive commands. There is a simulation limit in the PO Battle Network, so I need you to surpass level-40 in the gravitational room ASAP. That way, your APM will be high enough to execute the Hollow Flash in reality.”

“Due to the weight restriction of the mech, the huge inertia would make it easy for your opponent to predict your movement pattern. Hollow Flash was created for this. It can be performed by issuing a mix of action and pause signals to refresh the command in the limit of the system. It wouldn’t create dead loops in commands, and it would also forcefully change the movement path of the mech when it performs an action. This is the Hollow Flash! Watch this video first.”

The screen switched a channel, and Mu Fan saw two mechs fighting on a plain. A white mech was half squatting far away with a Gauss rifle, firing single bullets repeatedly. Every bullet would create a huge pit with a diameter of two meters. The two wings behind the mech that didn’t fit in showed that it was a Fantasy-Mode mech.

About one kilometer away, a dark-red mech with a magnetic vibration saber was charging forward. It seemed as if it was heading in a straight line, but if one observed closely, the movement was quite strange as it was easily dodging the bullets at the last moment through sudden shifts in the direction of its movement.

“Watch carefully; this is ab advanced mech technique in reality called Irregular Shift; it needs a minimum APM of 350,” Black explained on the side patiently.

“Attention, after the next irregular change in direction, it will be the Hollow Flash that you will need to learn,” Black suddenly raised its voice to remind Mu Fan.

Eh? Mu Fan widened his eyes. The red mech on the screen was changing directions, and the white mech shot two shots consecutively at the red mech. Although the bullets were fired later, they were aimed where the red mech was going to land its feet.

This mech won’t be able to avoid it? It seems that the red mech will definitely be shot. Once its leg is shot by the Gauss rifle, it’ll definitely have impaired mobility… Which means that it’s going to become a stationary target.

However, the red mech suddenly appeared behind where it was supposed to be, leaving a streak of afterimages behind its original path. Mu Fan was surprised!

It had completely disobeyed the laws of physics, ignoring the inertia of the heavy mech as it charged forward! It suddenly went back a bit on the path that it traveled; it was like rewinding a video!

“What just happened?!” Mu Fan was shocked.

“It is at an APM above the human limit! It is beyond the physical limits of human abilities to move across 65 centimeters on the control panel to reach eight or more buttons per hand per second! An average person would have torn his muscles to reach this level, but it just happens that your muscle density can withstand this stress.”

“This is the first technique that you will need to learn, Hollow Flash!” Black closed the screen as it stared into Mu Fan’s glistening eyes.

“Now, we’ll begin training. Start pressing the 45 buttons on the first row with your left hand from left to right and repeat this twice. Then, press and skip a button repeatedly from beginning to the end; also twice!”

“Faster! You need to be faster!”

Inside the silent factory underneath the night sky, a young man was sitting still near a bonfire. But in the virtual world, his eyes were completely red as the nerves in his hands were sending out warning signals of overload to the brain!

APM160…

APM195…

APM226…

Mu Fan’s hands were starting to feel painful, but he clenched his teeth and continued pressing. He didn’t know that Black had tweaked the mental pressure detector on the optical computer helmet, so the system had turned off monitoring. This meant that if Mu Fan was to continue, then there might be serious danger.

Regardless if his eyes were open or not, the control panel have been engraved into Mu Fan’s head, and it was inside his mind at all time. From Black’s training, Mu Fan had memorized the location of all the buttons.

In the beginning, the buttons that Black told him to press on had a pattern, and Black would immediately increase the difficulty when Mu Fan was able to barely complete the task. The reason was simple; Mu Fan couldn’t only be moving backwards to dodge; he should be able to move in multiple directions. Especially that the difficulty of facing five opponents at a time versus one would be exponentially harder.

As Black monitored and increased the training difficulty, it went from one irregular button to two irregular buttons… and it was at three irregular buttons now.

Mu Fan didn’t know that his APM had already surpassed 230 in the recorder at the background. All he could hear was Black telling him that his APM was not enough. Then, he would be shocked with an electric current. His tongue felt numb at the beginning, and now his entire face was numb from the shock, but Mu Fan could care less about the virtual saliva running down his lips.

As if Black had come from Hell, it was even meaner than the Gladiator when it came to training Mu Fan!

Mu Fan’s effective APM reached 235! This was the standard APM for UGF’s elementary mech pilots, yet Mu Fan had no idea.

All Mu Fan heard was that he didn’t meet the standard! Because he thought for more than 0.2 seconds when he was told to press irregular buttons consecutively, it caused him to press a series of wrong buttons.

This was less than half of the APM that Hollow Flash needed!

Mu Fan’s eyes grew red. Under the immense mental pressure, his vision became red again, and he felt like everything was under his control.

The instructions that he heard suddenly became slower in his ears…”H7, L19, Z2…”

His left hand was able to precisely press the buttons according to the instructions, leaving afterimages of his hands moving on the control panel.

Black suddenly shouted, “Effective APM at 297!”

Mu Fan was excited. In the PO Battle Network, his APM had reached beyond his imaginations with the support of his red vision. He completed this set of actions without any mistakes!

As for the effect on the mech, Mu Fan was able to operate this RX-16 and make it move forward in an irregular curved path. Even though the movement wasn’t smooth enough, one could tell its rough pathway.

Mu Fan didn’t know how many days he had left, but he knew that he had to surpass the limit of APM!

“Mental state and mental focus decreasing; training terminating.” Mu Fan’s left hand swiped across the buttons again, but everything disappeared all of a sudden as Black terminated his training by force.

“It’s 2:08 AM already, and you’ve concentrated for over two hours. Your mental state is sliding, meaning that you’re not fit for training anymore. I suggest you rest for now as you would need enough stamina to complete the gravitational room training tomorrow. Of course, as the host, you could choose to continue this training,” Black said as it stared at Mu Fan.

“I’ll listen to you. Terminate this, and I’ll continue tomorrow.”

In the end, Mu Fan’s APM was recorded at 303, yet he had fallen asleep without knowing anything.

…

In the PO Battle Network, Black appeared in front of the Gladiator and stared into his dark-green eyes. “Mu Fan is in trouble.”

“…” The mysterious green flames were dancing in his eyes.

“The Host is going to die if you don’t teach him your best techniques!” Black sounded more serious than usual.

“Don’t worry,” the Gladiator replied in a low husky voice as the short staff appeared in his hand again. He spun it so fast that it started to fade, and two green blades suddenly appeared just when the ends slowly formed a spinning circle! Then, his entire figure disappeared into thin air, leaving only a calm voice echoing in the area. “He’s my disciple.”