Ouroboros.

Memories filled Noah’s mind, like echoes of nostalgia from a distant past, as the name appeared in front of his eyes. Memories so powerful that even the weight of the years could not erase them from his very core.

Unit 00 — Adam. This was the serial number of his Mecha. But for Noah, it would always be Ouroboros. Nothing more, nothing less. It was a given since his Mecha was not just a cold machine for him. It was his friend and practically his other half. An entire part of his identity. No different from his limbs, it was a second body, so to speak.

Even back in the olden days of war, Ouroboros had been a masterpiece, a Mecha representing the crystallization of human wisdom. The mastery of human refinement was the singular thing that made it unique and extraordinary. And that same uniqueness made everyone deem it a total failure, a showpiece without use. It represented a seemingly insurmountable challenge for the user, something that no one was capable of wielding.

All scientists, even the ones who had brought it into existence, deemed it useless outside of serving as the basis for the construction of lesser Mechas that were more accessible to everyone else. This was why its code name was Adam.

One reason for its nightmarish challenge was the Dive system that could go even deeper and synchronize the entire body with the Mecha on an existential level. True unity of mind and machine that went onto such a level that the one manning the machine lost themselves in the void and became nothing but a husk of themselves. Their brains fried into mangled gore or their body breaking down, not being able to withstand the burden of the union.

Even for Noah, piloting Ouroboros at its full capacity had been a dire last-moment circumstance in most cases. The same went for the other constellations to a lesser degree.

One could say that each time they piloted a Mecha, they burned up their own life force.

The others hated it and he could understand why. But Noah… he loved the feeling more than he should have. The sensation of becoming one with the machine, casting away his weak flesh and becoming something akin to a god of destruction that could sweep the entire battlefield alone with no problem was exhilarating. It was wonderful and sensational.

— I see that you were crazy even before we fused.

For once, Noah had nothing to say to the voice that lived inside him rent-free. Piloting was his drug, his will, his aim. His only sense of purpose. The only thing he was any good for— a talent that made him loved and respected by everyone.

It made him feel… special.

Even if in the end— with all of his accomplishments and all of his feats whittled down, he was a pitiful lab rat.

“Well, now that I have filled my depression quota for the time being, it should be time to have a proper look at my reward.”

Shaking his head, he filtered out the memories that only brought pain. All those memories coming one after another were affecting his psyche in ways he did not like a single bit. Once again, he felt the need to visit a psychiatrist after he was finished with all this. That topped his list of desires more than he was willing to admit.

After this whole test and the so-called Noah difficulty, most of Noah’s deepest suspicions revealed themselves to be not far from the truth. It seemed that entering that mysterious dimension through the wormhole, brought him into another time or another dimension.

Perhaps both at the same time?

At times like this, he regretted sleeping during his physics lessons. He only had a brief outline of the underlying principles in his mind and that was not helpful in the least.

Forget it. Let’s look at this baby.

“Can I get a better description of this item?”

He held the beautiful golden ball and held it high in the air, twirling it to see it from all angles.

— Eat it?

“One. Don’t even think about doing something like that. Two, this thing seems to hold even less energy than the core of the Mecha we had felt out there.” Noah mused. Was it really some super technological equipment? If so, why did it feel so weak?

Thinking about it, it was described to be a growth type engine.

Noah could not even imagine how a core was supposed to grow further. But at least this told him enough about the fact that he would have to nurture it in some way and make it stronger and advance further.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After testing different things with the core and ignoring the Queen's proposal of biting it to test its durability, Noah finally remembered that he was different from before and there was one distinct thing he was yet to try.

Dark Matter.

Thinking about it, Noah took a deep breath and focused on the sensation in his body, bringing back the feeling that filled his veins when he had been using the power of Dark Matter.

The core reacted to his effort as it shook ever so slightly before a whole tide of information filled his mind, causing him to wince and growl.

He stayed as still as possible for a few seconds before finally opening his eyes once more, his pupils shining with a dark hue. This time, he looked at the core with pure shock and awe in his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

This core wasn’t simply a source of energy for the Mecha, it also contained a core technique within it— a way to manipulate energy following a set of techniques as you’d see in a typical Chinese fantasy. There were categories to the techniques, both common and unique. Depending on the capabilities of the core, even Mecha with the same model could vary greatly in its inherent abilities.

The core Noah held was very, very special. It was a core related to concepts that would be deemed absolute and even blasphemous by the most brilliant minds back home. It was a jewel of ancient technology.

Infinite energy. Law of Thermodynamics. Perpetual Motion.

It was a boon of heavenly technology that did the very impossible.

A Perpetual Machine.

A machine that broke all laws of Thermodynamics from the root up.

Ironically or perhaps most fittingly, the name of the core technique was— [Maxwell Demon]

Noah frowned, as the information continued to become more and more esoteric and complicated to decipher but in essence, the technique was quite simple to describe.

Swallowing all forms of energy and converting them into any other form of energy as the user wished.

Devouring others’ cores to further increase its might.

In short— it went through the same purpose as eating, but how to direct the energy was a bit different, more controlled and selective.

Ever growing, ever-evolving. There was theoretically no limit to its growth but from what he understood from what he had been shown, he couldn’t just randomly absorb things and hope for the best.

Despite this limitation, this was…

Noah stopped the urge to laugh his lungs out.

Adaptation.

Predation.

Devouring and Conversion.

It seemed like this was becoming a theme for him, and he did not know what he should think about that.

I can evolve, you can evolve and even my Mecha can Evolve. Everyone is evolving together it seems.

Noah once again fought the urge to laugh like a lunatic. The whole theme was so absurd that he went completely speechless.

“Any other information regarding this core?”

[Maxwell Demon is a technique that was studied by the Gaia Empire after fighting another civilization they had encountered in their long march of evolution.]

“What do you mean?”

[Further information cannot be obtained through this trial.]

Noah growled in frustration at being limited after coming so close to the truth he sought. Even so, he knew that getting angry at some mindless machine was useless and unbecoming. Even for someone like him, moreover, it was utterly useless.

“Very well. I guess it’s time to go through the second trial.”

If this second trial was anything like the first it would be extremely difficult for him to pass. However, he couldn’t just shy away from the trial because of the risks. He had to see this to the very end. He had to find out the truth, more than anything else.

[Would you like to participate in the second test?]

[Y/N?]

Noah grinned and clicked on the Y.

[Mission: Battle Royale.]

[Description: Only one person can obtain the final reward. As such a battle royale is the easiest and most direct way to determine the final victor. Killing is not allowed.]

[Warning! As you have chosen the highest difficulty available, the mission has been changed]

[Mission: One vs All]

[Description: A hero is often lonely. A hero also has to fight against impossible odds. Face all the surviving participants. Killing is thus allowed.]

[Number of participants: 19]

[Good Luck]

Noah cracked his finger as he felt himself being teleported to a whole new area.

“I won't need luck.”

They were the ones who were going to need a great deal of luck, to match up to him.

At least— that was the line of thought he was going for but a few moment later—

***

Holy shit! Gotta run!

Noah cursed as a missile missed him by mere inches. He was still pushed back by the blast that followed soon after.

— I thought you wouldn't need luck.

I never thought the bastards would be able to use their Knightframes or whatever the names of those Mechas are. How is this even remotely fair!?

The situation was beginning differently than he thought it would.

How did it come to this?