With a sudden start, the empty holochamber came to life.
[WELCOME! To the EX-Class Mech Pilot Branch Division of the Insectosidal Galactic Federation Military.]
[This video will tell you all the things you need to know before you start your training.]
Several hours of annoying, hypnotizing, "For the Federation!" drawl later, Luke was finally one of them.
[Please input your personal data as per Federation policy.]
A small column lit up. Inputting his name, birth date, places of origin, et cetera, Luke
cemented what the Federation already knew. The next few questions, however, they may or may not.
[Have you created any spiritual profession tokens, such as a sword embryo or a beast will?]
"Yes."
[Which token(s)?]
"Original Card."
[Are you adept in any martial arts?]
"I dabble."
[In which Martial Arts have you trained?]
"An old master on Xilec when I was young. After teaching me, he moved on."
'Since when would this world know of Karate, Jeet Kun Do, Jiu Jitsu, Krav Maga, and Kung Fu?'
Glum that he could not spell out his talents, Luke fought against the urge and made himself look small.
[How much knowledge do you have regarding the creation of mechs?]
The questions went on and on.
A while later, he completed the survey. It had been a total of 3 hours of video and 4 hours of questions.
Luke walked back outside. Lawrence was waiting for him.
"Luke! You're out! Follow me."
The two teleported to a new location. "Now that you've taken the surveys, they're designing a custom cultivation plan for you. The boss wanted me to take you around to take care of a couple things while they tweak it."
"The boss?"
"Yeah. As for us EX-Class Mech Pilots, we have way too little restrictions. Since we're giving our lives to protect the Federation and the core soldiers of our side fighting in the Tunnel, and thanks to the brilliance of our forebears…"
"We have no leader. Each of us is at the same rank as the next. Because of this, we kept pushing with each new person's tier 10 favor to up our rank."
"As a result, a while back the Federation Council decided with a vote to pass a law stating that 'No EX-Rank Pilot can request a higher rank.' This kept us locked in at the rank of Lieutenant Commander."
"Luckily, we had already applied for Tier 4 Exonerations. We don't have to bow or scrape or acknowledge any of the orders of the higher ups."
"The only exemption is the Grand Admiral of the Legacy. He's our Captain and the only 'boss' that will ever be among us."
Luke pondered. "I see."
He firmed his lip, then asked, "What's with the new research departments?"
Lawrence smiled. "Thanks to your request, we've become able to run new subdivisions. The various legalities are complex, but in essence, here's the structure."
"Each EX-Class Pilot becomes a Research Division Head. Each Division Head is automatically raised to the rank of General without request."
"To advance, they can make research discoveries beneficial to the Federation. As the discoveries advance, so does their rank. Congratulations! You paved the way for all of us to reach the position of Grand General."
"We can't quite reach the position of Admiral without a corresponding hold over multiple subdivisions, but who knows? Tad and the others already have several plans for that…"
Turning the corner of the white hall, they landed in a large open space. "Below us is where your mech will stand. Traditionally, this is where your house would be. However, we're being given the option to swap our houses in accordance with our ranks to be placed closer to the bridge."
"As such, you can use this space to conduct your 'research division.' The federation will give us materials as long as we have the corresponding research planned for them."
Luke smiled.
"Alternatively," Lawrence continued, "If you would like to place the research division somewhere else you can do that too."
"No, this will be fine."
"Good. The first thing I will recommend buying is a top-of-the-line material fabricator. You can use it to furnish this room."
"As the room is constructed above your future mech, there's nothing else here. You can use that to your advantage if you'd like."
"Sounds great. What's next?"