“This is amazing!” I exclaimed as I walked towards the far end of the balcony. “It feels like I am walking on air!”

“You’re actually doing very well for a first timer.” Emma chuckled. “Most people become dizzy when they step out of that lift.”

I turned around and scowled at Emma lightly.

“I bet you were hoping to see me get dizzy and maybe even collapse!” I said to her accusingly.

Emma merely giggled cutely.

At times like this, she was acting exactly like a mischievous eight year old. And there was no way I could get mad at her when she was like that.

I merely rolled my eyes at her and turned back to marvel at the huge “Training Room”.

The glass wall was overlooking the main training ground. It was like the VIP section of a soccer stadium, only that the “soccer field” was approximately two kilometers by two kilometers, and the VIP section was around a hundred meters above the ground.

How exactly a wall of glass intended to protect the room from laser guns and other projectiles baffled me completely at that time.

But because of the glass wall, I could see that a group of approximately fifty mechas were standing at the ready on each of the training ground’s far left and right side.

A massive fifty versus fifty mecha battle was about to begin!

I could feel my heart pounding once more.

“Come, let’s register for a mecha battle and have a little bit of fun. I only have clearance to pilot the practice mechas. But I’m sure we can still enjoy ourselves!” Emma grinned evilly at me.

“Uhh.. Sure.” I nodded. I was totally torn between wanting to watch the epic fifty versus fifty mecha battle and experiencing a mecha fight that was not using my own mecha suit for the very first time.

Emma noticed my torn expression and seemed to understand my thoughts perfectly.

“Or… We can register for the practice battle, then watch the main mecha battle first before we go on to our own practice?” Emma suggested.

“That is PERFECT!” I cried out. “Let’s do that!”

“Alright. Let’s go.” Emma led me out of the balcony and into a massive and beautifully decorated lobby.

There was a huge waiting area on the left side of the lobby with lots of sofas which had their own viewing screens attached. The right side was fully dedicated to registration where there were around fifty to sixty youths queueing up in three neat lines in front of four counters. The fourth counter was manned, but there was no one queueing there.

Emma walked directly to that fourth counter.

The entire room fell quiet for a short moment and I could feel everybody’s attention suddenly fall upon the both of us. However, they quickly resumed whatever they were doing upon discovering that it was only Emma and a one-armed dude.

In fact, I could even hear a few derisive comments with my enhanced sense of hearing.

“It’s just Emma. I heard she came back from her “kidnapping” with a lowborn lover in tow.”

“What? She’s only eight! How is that possible?”

“Hmph. Anything is possible with her! Afterall, she’s a…”

“Shh. We’re not allowed to mention it.”

“Fine. Anyway, she’s such a leech. I heard the main family spends millions each month just to…”

“SHHHH! Do you want to die?”

Emma marched past her gossiping relatives coldly and ignored them all. I glared at the gossip mongers and had half a mind to teach the little s*cker who was gossiping and slandering her a lesson. But my attention was quickly drawn to a new problem.

“I want to reserve two practice mechas for me and my friend.” Emma told the receptionist.

“I am sorry, but practice mechas are only for ten year olds and above. You’re still too young to pilot mechas.” The receptionist shook her head and rejected Emma’s request with a half-concealed smirk.

“I was given an exception by the Patriarch himself.” Emma replied in an annoyed tone. “Hurry up and process my request!”

“I am sorry. Rules are rules. Come back in a few years, little girl. Now bring your villager friend and go away before I tell your parents!” The receptionist said rudely.

“Why is Emma so unpopular in the Whitefrost clan?” I wondered to myself. “Even a lowly receptionist dares to show her bad attitude!”

Emma stared at the receptionist with a strange look on her face. “You must be new here.”

“So what if I am?” The pretty but apparently extremely naive receptionist scoffed.

“You’ve allowed your opinion of me to be influenced by mere rumours, and you’re trying to be an obstacle to me because you don’t like what you hear about me.” Emma stated.

“Hmph!” The receptionist looked away and ignored Emma.

“Judging me unfairly based on mere rumours is bad enough, but you’re also stupid enough to actually act out on me.” Emma shook her head in wonder. “I’ll give you one chance to apologize to me and process my request.”

“Little bloodsucker.” The receptionist sneered at Emma instead.

Emma sighed and turned around.

She looked at me and asked, “I don’t understand. Why would people throw away their future just to be mean to me? I don’t really suffer much from their words and actions, but they lose any chance of succeeding in the Whitefrost Clan. It’s such a bad tradeoff for them. Am I missing an angle here somewhere?”

“Maybe they think they can get away with it?” I suggested, feeling rather surprised by Emma’s sudden questions.

“They NEVER get away with it.” Emma said firmly as she stretched out her hand at me. “I’ve always made sure of that. And now, I have another even better method to do that.”

“So what do we do now?” I asked her as I looked at her hand dumbly. I was feeling rather let down at the thought of not being able to pilot a mecha and totally confused as to why she was stretching her hand out at me.