Chapter 39: Integration of Man and Machine (1)
Translator: Ma Shaoyi
Proofread by Peter Gong

“But am I physically unfit?” Rowen mutters, but then it occurs to him that just because he didn’t fit, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t fit now, and that he might be able to fight in a man-machine situation now.

Thinking of this, he says, “Alright, switch to man machine fight mode!”

“Body scans… ”

“Your BMI is 70, meeting the minimum requirement.”

“Switch to man-machine mode, the armor is in transformation, please wait!” The voice of the iron armored beast keeps coming into Rowen’s ears, and at about the same time its shape begins to change.

The scene before Rowen is changing, for the console and screen he has been familiar with disappear very quickly, but his whole body suddenly seems to be completely wrapped by metal. His dark eyes become bright first, and then he feels the whole person seems to have become completely different.

Rowen’s first impression is that he has suddenly grown so much taller that he seems to be about the same height as bamboo, or even taller than most bamboos. His vision becomes so wide that he seems to be able to see everything in every direction without even turning his head. What’s more, he can see far beyond the bamboo forest. He can see everything clearly at least two or three kilometers away, even the appearance of a person.

Looking down at himself, Rowen finally understands that he has grown, but the armored beast turns into the iron giant, and he has a very strange feeling. It seems that he has merged into the iron giant. He tries to raise his hand, and the thick metal hands of the iron giant loom before his eyes. He tries to move again, however, it is the iron giant that strides forward first.

“So this is man-machine integration, and it really lives up to its name!” It dawns on Rowen that he no longer needs to control the iron armored beast from the console or use the lever to steer it, and that he just needs to use his instinct to fight and move.

“Man-machine combat mode has been activated. You can now activate the lightsaber.” At that moment Rowen hears the voice of the iron armored beast again.

Rowen, too, remembers at last that he has intended to try his lightsaber, and it is just the transformation of the iron armored beast that makes him forget about it.

“How do I activate a lightsaber?” Rowen asks.

“Just press the red button on the lightsaber.” The iron armored beast answers quickly.

“But where is the lightsaber?” Rowen is a little confused.

“In your hand.” Rowen is a little surprised by the iron armored beast’s answer.

Rowen raises his hand again, and at the same moment, realizes that his right hand is holding a round stick about thirty centimetres long, and that it does have a red button in the middle.

Rowen presses the button, and a one-meter long beam of light shots out of the front end of the wand. Rowen waves the wand and a large area of bamboos fall down immediately. The lightsaber looks like a sword.

This makes Rowen feel a little excited. He begin to wave his lightsaber and bamboos fall one by one. What seems so difficult to him now becomes so easy that in half an hour or so he has chopped down all the bamboos in the area that Agatha marked.

In the process of cutting down the bamboos in the area, Rowen also finds that the armored beast is still very fast. However, it’s now accelerating through Rowen’s feet, and also he can use energy gun more conveniently. Furthermore, he can use the lightsaber with one hand and the energy gun with the other, though he cannot aim well.

Gradually, he also understands why he needs a better health. He begins to find that after much activity, he feels his arm and feet are arching, too. He, too, feels himself sweating heavily, and he begins to breathe a little fast, as though he could no longer support himself. He knows that it is time for him to rest.

With the instructions of the iron armored beast, Rowen transforms the iron giant into a bracelet, then sits down on the bamboo floor, breathing heavily.

Tired as he is, Rowen is excited. For the first half hour he has been looking like a warrior in heavy armor, with a long sword, cutting down one enemy after another.

But these enemies are immobile, waiting for him to cut them down. If they can move or even fight back, he wouldn’t be able to cut them down so easily. This makes Rowen wonder if he needs to learn from warriors.

He remembers the beast once said that to become a knight of the mecha requires a sound constitution. He also needs to learn mecha combat skills training, and he does not know what mecha combat skills are. But he feels when he and iron giant have become a whole and if he knows martial arts, those skills will transform into the fighting skills of the iron giant.

The iron giant itself has super-fast speed, and the lightsaber also has great destructive power. If its speed and skills are combined, and with its powerful weapons, it will definitely become more powerful. What’s more, the iron giant’s metal body and strong defensive ability make him invincible in many situations. If all these things can be perfectly combined, he can hardly imagine how strong the iron armored beast will be.

This idea excites Rowen a little, because he feels that he is going to get stronger as long as he keeps practicing like this.

“Oh, what’s going on here?” Rowen is suddenly awakened by a low peevish noise.

Rowen finds a man and a woman are coming to the lake. The boy is dressed up as a warrior, tall and handsome; the girl is a pretty beautiful wizard. Judging by their appearance, these two people are quite matched for each other.

It is clear that this is a couple who have come here for a date, and although Agatha has driven away a dozen before, there are still many lovers who do not know this yet.

“What’s going on here?” The boy asks when seeing Rowen.

“That’s all.” Says Rowen faintly.

“You cut these bamboos?” There is anger on the boy’s face and an air of questioning in his voice.

“So what if it’s me?” Rowen doesn’t like the guy’s tone.

“What’s your name?” The boy asks again with a tone of command.

“None of your business.” Rowen is even more annoyed.

“Do you know who I am?” The boy’s voice is already angry.

“Should I know?” says Rowen.

“My name is Quinn Dieter, vice-captain of the knights guard. You are deliberately damaging the college property. I have the right to order you to tell me your name.” The boy looks at Rowen angrily. “If you don’t say your name, don’t blame me for using coercion!”

Knight guard?

Rowen wonders. What is that?

Rowen likes to explain it better if the guy has been nicer, but he

“Do as you want, I don’t mind.” Rowen looks as though he doesn’t care. The Sun and Moon Mind Methods are working their way through his body, and his strength has returned a little, which makes him ready to fight.

Rowen finds he seems to become a bit belligerent, but he is just trying to use the battle to get familiar with the iron armored beast’s abilities, and it is usually someone else who is looking for trouble, and the Wolfs never flinch in the face of trouble, so the clashes happen again and again.

“His name’s Rowen, Rowen Wolf, summoning class D.” Rowen is about to fight this guy named Quinn when a familiar voice comes from a distance.

Rowen frowns slightly. Why is she here?

“Karen, do you know him?” Quinn looks around in surprise.

It’s the lady of the Tiger family, Karen.

“We come from the same town.” Karen nods. She gives Rowen a complicated look, then turning to Quinn. “Captain Quinn, please don’t fight for my sake.

“All right.” Quinn nods. “I don’t have to do it for the time being, but I’ll tell the captain. It’s up to the captain to decide what to do.”

“Thank you.” Karen smiles.

“Well, Karen, he’s the man you always tell me about, isn’t he?” The wizard next to Quinn asks curiously.

Karen’s face turns slightly red and she gives the girl a glance, “Don’t talk nonsense, Ruth!”

Quinn looks at the girl named Ruth and says, “What charades are you playing?”

Ruth whispers something in Quinn’s ear and finally gives a giggle.

Quinn is surprised, and she looks at Karen and Rowen as if thinking of somehing.

Rowen knows by now that Karen knows the couple well, but he doesn’t care. He looks at Quinn coldly. “Do it quickly, or I’ll be gone.”

“Is it all that you like?” Karen glares at Rowen a little crossly. “You think you’re good? Do you know that now the Hawkers want to kill you? Do you forget about killing two of Morancy’s summoning beasts in Mayor, and he managed to summon a new summoning beast, you also killed it again, and now you want to fight Quinn, do you want the whole college to stand against you?”

Karen gets more and more excited as she speaks, until she finally shouts at Rowen, “Don’t you think you’re great now? If you go on like this, you’ll die without knowing how!”

“It’s none of your business.” Rowen gives her a cold response, and although he is a little confused by Karen’s excitement, he is not grateful to her for it.

“You bastard!” Karen says angrily.

“Karen, I don’t have time to go crazy with you!” Rowen gives a slight snort and turns and leaves. He thinks Karen looks a little crazy and nervous.

Karen yells after Rowen. “Rowen, you’re a fool, a big fool!”

Rowen ignores Karen and disappears into the bamboo forest.