But soon, Mark regretted his decision. Watching the endless stream of dishes being brought out, Mark finally realized just how terrifying the appetite of someone who had slept for three days could be. His entire week’s allowance had already ended up in someone’s stomach. If he had known earlier, he would have just taken him to a street food stall. Is this what they call “showing off and getting struck by lightning”?

After eating for another half hour, David Thompson was finally satisfied. Looking at the dark-faced Mark, he flashed a bright, sunny smile. “I’m full of energy now. I need to move around a bit. After not moving for three days, I feel like a mummy that’s been lying down for three years.”

Mark looked gloomily at his credit card. “What kind of mummy can eat this much? Whatever, here, take the key and go by yourself. I need to find a pretty girl to comfort my wounded soul.”

“Ah, who bullied you?” David Thompson looked at the pitiful Mark with an extremely innocent expression. Mark promptly fainted.

Mark’s parents were in intercontinental trade and owned their own company. Although it wasn’t a monopoly, they were still considered among the top at school. However, they were rarely home, so the huge, luxurious house had become a hangout for the two of them. David Thompson was already as familiar with it as he could possibly be.

The gravity controller was definitely a high-end feature, not something ordinary rich people could afford. Mark had convinced his parents to buy it under the pretense of training for the military, but his real goal was to try zero-gravity sex—though the results were very disappointing.

It took five minutes for the machine to start up. David Thompson rushed in excitedly. Aside from the space war game, this was his favorite place. The space war game was developed after humanity entered the interstellar era. Ordinary citizens could play it, and so could the military. Players’ physical conditions would be automatically recorded, and the operation of mobile suits was also simulated. In other words, to control them flexibly, your body had to meet certain standards—this couldn’t be improved in the game and required real-life training. Of course, skill and proficiency could be improved, and whatever you could do in the game, you could achieve about seventy or eighty percent of in real life. This was why the military valued the game. Of course, a game is still a game: while your physical state couldn’t be changed, the mobile suits could evolve, which was also the direction for the future development of mobile suits.

The most basic mobile suit was the old BS001 model developed by the Eventians of NUP. It was slow, had limited attack methods, weak power, and was difficult to operate. The average human body couldn’t handle it. Whether Eventians or humans, no one bothered with this model in the space game—anyone using it was just asking to get beaten up. People would rather spend a little money to upgrade directly to a basic mobile suit.

In actual military equipment, this type of mobile suit had already been phased out. Occasionally, you might see it in some mines or training bases. It was just too exhausting to operate, and even the Eventians didn’t want to use it.

One level above the BS001 were the standard mobile suit models currently used by NUF and USE.

NUF had two models: the Knight TM and the Beast TN. The Knight model was a humanoid mobile suit, upgraded from the BS001, easier to operate, with much faster response time, equipped with an Alpha alloy blade and a main battle laser gun, adaptable to various environments. Its drawback was that its mobility still couldn’t be maximized.

The Beast TN was a beast-type model, usually modeled after wolves or tigers, which greatly improved mobility but reduced firepower. Its attacks mainly relied on the alloy blade on its forehead for ramming and cutting, as well as the laser gun in its mouth. Its stability was a bit worse than the Knight TM.

USE’s two models were the Kano Type-3 and the Normandy Type-A. The Kano Type-3 made up eighty percent of the human army. Frankly, it was a copy of the Knight TM, but half a ton lighter, making it easier to operate and more suitable for humans, with slightly better agility, though its firepower was a bit weaker. This model relied on numbers to win on the battlefield.

The Normandy Type-A was a relatively rare aerial combat model, the only one among the four basic types with flight capability. Its performance in the air was decent and it had a clear advantage over the Beast TN series, but it was very vulnerable against bombers. The addition of flight capability also made its ground attack relatively weak. It was designed specifically to counter the Beast TN and also to pave the way for the development of true all-weather combat mobile suits in the future.

These were the models used by ordinary players. Above them, there were many more extravagant models—after all, it was a game, so it couldn’t be that simple. Of course, whether those models existed in reality was something only those in power knew. NUP and USE definitely kept some of their strength hidden, but that didn’t stop the space war game from becoming wildly popular.

As usual, David Thompson entered the gravity room shirtless. His body wasn’t particularly muscular, but you could see the strength contained in those muscles. He could already handle double gravity, which was said to be the standard for mobile suit pilots. Unfortunately, he still had to take the entrance exam. God, is there really no way to get in without taking the test?

After not moving for so long, David Thompson felt itchy all over. He rushed in and did a full set of standard military training. Of course, all of this was set up by Mark’s father, but Mark himself had no interest in it at all. He disapproved of David Thompson spending all day on this kind of exercise, thinking that energy would be better spent on girls—why waste it on a pile of scrap metal?