Zhang Dong performed a grasping motion with his hand. Instead of seeing his own hand form a fist a large one made from metal did it for him.

‘Good, the response time is far greater than what the dwarven golems can output…’

The large golem that he created was now moving around while he was piloting it. There was no cockpit for him though, he was actually spreading his mana molecules through the whole large robot. It was as if this golem was his own body that he could more freely around.

“How are you two feeling? Is everything okay?”

“Yes Mr. Leigong, we are fine.”

“Yes, this is actually quite comfortable!”

Beatrice and Isabella’s voices could be heard from inside the large robot’s chest area. In it, the two girls were sitting together on two comfy seats. They were holding hands while channeling their magic into Zhang Dong. He used this mana to power this golem and to also pilot it at the same time.

Having both of the girls inside this mecha that he created was also allowed. A golem could have up to five pilots at the same time. Some of them were quite hard to control with just one person inside of them.

From the outside it would seem that having only two people on the inside would be a bad decision. In reality Zhang Dong could move this robot like an extension of his own body. The size was comparable to his avatar form so he was also used to the higher point of view.

“Will this be enough?”

Beatrice asked while looking at a monitor that showed her and Isabella the outside. There they could see Zhang Dong swinging a saber of light around. The lack of time didn’t let them produce many parts so they had to go with this generic sword and shield combination.

“Has this mighty Leigong ever let you down!”

Beatrice chuckled while Zhang Dong replied in a haughty voice. The young girl had gotten used to the way that he talked already and knew that he was mostly only being half-serious.

“I’m sure that we will win, we can’t let them win this!”

Isabella wasn’t laughing though, her face was showing a frown and her eyes were burning with passion to fight. She really didn’t want her old fiancé to get the win here. Zhang Dong was glad that he never did make any women mad at him in this way. Sticking to only one was the correct decision. He could not understand his grandfather or Huo Qiang and how they could just have so many wives.

After some tests, it was finally time to leave. Zhang Dong while in the robot walked over to the transportation vehicle that would transport this golem to the arena. While in it they would conserve their mana.

Zhang Dong had nothing to do other than meditating. Before that, he thought back to how everything came together to this moment.

After he went through all of the dwarven books that he came across after the council meeting he noticed Thondin. He had already started contemplating on a plan of action that would force him to win the competition instead of Takeshi.

He was worried that more bureaucracy would be involved and the expedition could be stalled if the royal members had their way. He needed to enter the competition but he wasn’t sure how to go about it. But at that time Thondin entered the picture.

From some conversations that he had with the other noble dwarves, he figured out a couple of things. One that he was from a house that would be participating and also that he had a father on a deathbed. This sparked the plan of action that made him create this mecha-like golem. The design was lifted from a popular show that he used to watch and was more or less a carbon copy of it.

Zhang Dong put his faith in the dying dwarf. He figured that if he managed to heal him that this person would allow them to participate in the tournament. After following Thondin and performing this task they found themselves here.

The plan was a bit lackluster but there was not much else that he could do besides competing for one of the noble houses. He was also sure to make the old man that was now back to being the head of the estate, to sign a contract. After they won, he would have his son that would be the new king give them support in their venture.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

‘That kid didn’t look too happy about that part… but sometimes those ones that don’t want to be kings make the best ones…’

Zhang Dong looked at Thondin a bit and how he acted. He seemed to prioritize his own family over status and greed. This would be a good quality that a king should have. Being too stuck up while making decisions based on things like noble status and pride could spell disaster.

The golem was covered in a large thick cloth and strapped to a large trailer that was being pulled by a smaller golem. The dwarves didn't seem to have made cars yet as they were using various-sized golems for everything instead. This one looked more like a large horse made from metal and was clearly made for pulling heavy objects.

After a bumpy ride, they finally arrived at their destination. They were allowed to go in from a side entrance while the people gathered. Zhang Dong couldn’t really see the arena from outside but he could clearly hear the dwarves cheering outside. Soon the cloth was removed and through his mech’s eyes, he could finally see again.

They were in a large underground area and he could hear the sound of tinkering. Other golems were gathered here with them of various shapes and sizes. The one he was inhabiting was ten meters in height. It wasn’t as large as its anime counterpart but this was the limit of this world's technology.

If he wanted to make it larger he would need to change its shape. Zhang Dong preferred to make it more mobile and all-around strong than to go to either extreme. This coupled with his current cultivation would give the machine quite a boost in power.

This underground hangar was huge and he could feel that there was a large number of people right above them. The golems that were gathered here were divided by large walls of metal that didn’t allow others to peek at what the craftsmen were doing. These walls even had strange runes on them that were blocking out magical scanners.

Luckily they weren’t able to block out Zhang Dong that was above such little tricks. He could clearly see all the golems and their pilots.

‘Those are some exotic designs…’

He noticed that the machines varied in size, weight, and even in pilot count. It was clear that some of the participants went all in, while others that were similar to Thondin showed up with cheap knockoffs. He could tell that some of these golems were meant to take a few hits before crumbling before their enemies.

‘Can’t blame them, no use to put yourself in debt if you are convinced that you can’t win.’

Zhang Dong continued to scan the large hangar to see how many real threats there were. He spotted Takeshi’s golem and could tell that it was quite advanced. It was larger than his own model and a lot bulkier.

‘I see that this guy went all in… though not sure if putting Takeshi in that machine will be a good idea…’

He felt that due to the fast training that he put the heroes through they wouldn’t be fit to enter this competition. Takeshi might have been strong from a stat point perspective but he lacked combat experience. Even if they gave him the best golem around he could easily fall into a trap.

‘They even roped in the girls I see…’

“Mr. Leigong, they announced our number, we are going to be in the first match!”

Zhang Dong was busy scanning the area so he wasn’t paying attention. Beatrice’s voice snapped him out of it as it seemed that they would be showing off their mech right from the start.

“Is that so? Well, you two just relax and leave everything to me.”

“Sure thing!”

The two girls didn’t really have to do anything besides acting as human batteries. They had a large screen that showed them what Zhang Dong was seeing through his eyes. The compartment they were in was well protected and could be ejected outside if anything bad happened.

At first, he thought about placing both of the girls outside this robot just like when he battled the demon lords. But this proved problematic with how this golem devoured mana energy. It was quite inefficient and the two girls had to be placed inside of it to counter the drain.

He was still there so if anything happened he was ready to eject the girls into safety. Winning this tournament wasn’t worth the lives of Beatrice and Isabella. He would figure out a new plan if they lost but after looking through the golems the only one that could provide a challenge was the one being used by Takeshi.

‘I guess it’s going to be us against them. I hope they can take a loss as I’m not intending to lose’

“Okay, you are up.”

One of the mechanics that had helped them reconstruct the old golem called out. Zhang Dong moved his large mechanical foot forward and began walking. After leaving their ‘garage’ they were led over to a wide corridor. There was enough space in here to stack three golems on top of each other and five in width.

He continued walking through the dimly lit corridor while the murmurs got louder. At the end, there was a large metallic door with strange dwarven inscriptions. Before he could look at them carefully the door started to slide into the ground while revealing the light outside. The moment it opened he was greeted by many cheers from the audience members.

“Let us welcome the candidate from the Hillmane household!”

The moment he stepped out the dwarves stopped cheering. The shape of his golem was quite unique if he compared it to the bulkier models the other dwarves used.

His opponent seemed to be one of those golems. They were about the same size but the golem standing on the opposite side was wider. He was mostly brown-gray in coloring, one hand was a claw while the other one had a large spiked ball with a chain attached to it.

If you compared the two at first glance, Zhang Dong’s mech looked to be the weaker one. It didn’t look like something that could take too many hits or even deal enough damage to get past its enemy's defenses.

‘Well, time to show them my seed mode!’

Zhang Dong cackled on the inside while getting out his laser sword, it was time to show these people how a mech battle looked like.