Chapter 1

A crisp sound, as if emanating from the soul, echoed in Xiaoran's mind, jolting him awake from the endless darkness.

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw a vast, spacious, clean, and mysteriously sci-fi room, about thirty meters high and wide. The empty space contained only Xiaoran and a prominent holographic projection in front of him. On both sides of the enormous space, white walls made of unknown material displayed several screens showing an endless, vast starry sky.

Xiaoran's eyes widened like lanterns, his face full of confusion and bewilderment. Anyone who wakes up from a good sleep and finds themselves not in their own bed would have the same expression and thoughts: "This... Where am I? How did I get here?"

Before Xiaoran could fully regain his senses, a voice, clear in his ear but resonating deep within his soul, sounded:

"Ding, welcome to the Prometheus Fortress."

"Your ID number is 678."

"You are in the Real Zone, where you can perform real mech tasks and receive task rewards."

"In thirty minutes, you will enter the task world to execute your first task, which is a group rookie task with no experienced pilots involved."

"You have thirty minutes to familiarize yourself with the fortress within the scope of your permissions."

"Your current attributes are: Accuracy 2 (2) affecting shooting ability and precision

Agility 1 (1) affecting combat ability and strength

Reflex 6 (6) affecting reaction speed and agility

Spirit 8 (8) affecting skill consumption and perception

Constitution 3 (3) affecting physical fitness and endurance

(The numbers in parentheses represent normal values, while the numbers outside represent your current physical values)

Skills: None.

Overall evaluation: Unrated."

Xiaoran, who was somewhat dazed, suddenly froze. His eyes slowly changed from blank to astonished, and his mouth opened wide, his lips involuntarily stretching into a large grin. Wearing a blue Doraemon pajama and barefoot, he looked incredibly cute and silly.

After several minutes, as the thirty minutes ticked away, Xiaoran suddenly slapped his own face. The crisp sound and the burning pain made him realize that everything before him was not a dream but a bizarre reality.

"Damn, is this the Main God Space?" Xiaoran shouted, looking up at the smooth ceiling, his voice filled with a mix of laughter and tears.

A voice devoid of emotion echoed in Xiaoran's ear: "This is the Real Zone of the Prometheus Fortress, located at the intersection of dimensions in the universe, in a different dimension from your original world, a place created by the true gods of the universe, and I am the main system managing everything."

Xiaoran had never expected the voice to respond, but from its answer, he realized that this was not a mere dream but a harsh reality. Born without much sense of tension, Xiaoran now felt a bit nervous. Being pulled from another dimension to this place was something only a god or an alien with incredibly advanced technology could do, and whoever it was, he could not resist or offend.

Pressing his hand against his rapidly beating heart, he felt a mix of fear and a hint of excitement. "How did I get here?"

"A program circulating in a certain star system in the universe is a key to the Prometheus Fortress. Once you download it to your terminal and open it, you will be brought to this place."

"Program? Terminal?" Xiaoran's face suddenly changed. He remembered playing on his phone before bed, downloading a game from a publishing platform with no description, only some images of robot battles, featuring mechs like Gundam, Zaku, and even Sebas and Getter.

Xiaoran, who had always been fond of such things, downloaded the game immediately. More importantly, he clearly remembered that the program's download count was a very noticeable 0. After opening the game, he fell asleep while watching the spinning loading screen and ended up here.

Xiaoran laughed bitterly, realizing the reason for his arrival. He couldn't blame anyone but himself for his bad habit of playing on his phone before bed.

Although he felt a bit annoyed, especially the hollow feeling in his heart, he looked at the remaining time, less than fifteen minutes, and forced his thoughts to become clear: "Are there other people in this fortress? Why am I the only one here?"

"The Prometheus Fortress will gather all those who have used the key from various parts of a star system. After completing the rookie task, you can go to other areas of the Real Zone and interact with others."

Xiaoran's eyebrows raised. This time, he noticed a key phrase—various parts of a star system—meaning there were other people, possibly many, but all from different planets in the same star system. Xiaoran didn't know what aliens looked like, but if they were called people, they probably didn't differ much from Earthlings.

But where there are people, there is a world, and in that world, there are strong and weak. Xiaoran, recalling a phrase he learned from a game, asked: "What level are my attributes in this place? I mean, among the rookies."

"You belong to the Real Zone's初级科技行星地球 (Earth, a planet with primary technology). Your planet's technological and physical development is far behind other planets in the same region that can receive the key. Low attributes and no skills are normal."

Xiaoran felt a cold sweat. The voice's response, though seemingly off-topic, clearly explained his current situation.

"What are the average attributes of others, and are there other Earthlings?" Xiaoran asked in quick succession: "You mentioned mech tasks. Are pilot attributes related to this? You mentioned the Real Zone several times. Are there other zones besides the Real Zone?"

"In the Prometheus Fortress, the average attributes of rookies in the Real Zone are between 15 and 20. High-attribute rookies are not uncommon, and most people will unlock one to two skills." The voice, usually emotionless, now seemed a bit puzzled: "Logically, someone like you should almost never be able to open the key to this place, so you are the only exception in the entire Prometheus Fortress."

With a one in six billion chance, Xiaoran felt a bit overwhelmed, as if he had collapsed.

"Pilots are the drivers of mechs. Pilot attributes are equivalent to your personal attributes. The higher your attributes, the stronger your mech's performance. Even without a mech, you can still exert powerful personal combat abilities. You can enhance your attributes with the battle points you earn from completing tasks, or through training. You can also use battle points to buy items, skills, maintain your equipment, and replenish supplies."

Xiaoran firmly remembered the terms: pilot, mech, battle points, attributes, skills, and equipment. These would be crucial for survival, especially the terms pilot and mech, which made Xiaoran, who had always loved such animations and games, feel excited. Driving a giant mech was a steel romance exclusive to men, and for this romance, the danger could be slightly postponed.

"The Prometheus Fortress is divided into the Real Zone, Super Zone, and Fantasy Zone. Different zones cannot communicate with each other, and the tasks and rewards in the task worlds they go to are different."

A series of dialogues had made Xiaoran understand some aspects of this world. The entire Prometheus Fortress seemed to be a place centered around mechs, where one must complete tasks in various worlds to become stronger and gain more.

Xiaoran felt a bit relieved, thinking: "The Real Zone, Super Zone, and Fantasy Zone correspond to the task worlds, real mech series, super mech series, and fantasy mech series. Although I don't know how the super and fantasy series are distinguished, I am relieved to be in the safest and most controllable Real Zone. If I were in a super mech world, I might not even know how I died."

"Can I return to my original world?" Xiaoran asked the question he was most concerned about.

"Your current permissions do not allow an answer. Your current permissions are: Private."

Xiaoran raised an eyebrow: "How to increase permissions?"

"Complete tasks issued by the Main God, and when your total battle points reach a certain level, your permissions will be upgraded."

Although he didn't get an answer, the voice didn't explicitly deny the possibility of returning. Thinking of his family, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear in Xiaoran's heart. He took a deep breath and asked indifferently: "What is the information about the task I need to execute?"

"The task you need to execute is a group rookie task, which is not optional. The information about this rookie task will be displayed on the holographic projection in front of you."

The holographic projection in front of Xiaoran suddenly changed. When he saw it, his heart skipped a beat, and his breathing became rapid. He asked in a trembling voice: "You said I am the only Earthling here. Will anyone know the situation in the task world before the task?"

"What you mentioned is almost impossible. After completing a task and returning to the fortress, the Main God will automatically erase the memory of the task world from your brain, leaving only basic information. Only when you return to the same world will the memory be restored."

Xiaoran's eyes lit up: "What about outside the task period?"

The voice answered: "There is no memory that can be erased outside the task period."

"Ha ha ha..." Xiaoran clutched his stomach and burst into laughter, unable to stop, tears streaming down his face: "I don't know what kind of place this is, and it's full of aliens, and I'm not as strong as them, but I have an advantage that can turn the tide!"

At this moment, the virtual display showed images of Earth's real mech animations, movies, and games. Although only pictures, Xiaoran immediately recognized all of them, especially the most famous mech series, Gundam.

The image representing the non-optional rookie task world showed a scene of Earth and many hourglass-shaped giant satellite colonies facing each other.

"Group rookie task world, Gundam SEED, countdown... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Now entering..."

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