When Race opened his eyes he was surprised to find himself in a dilapidated room with various never before seen trinkets and tools, but almost all of it felt like it will break the next time you use it. "where am I", race asked himself. " Wasn't I supposed to be dead, I did know that my life force was expended. But I can feel that I am clearly alive." Race stood up to go look in a mirror.

" WHAT THE...… " Race was utterly shocked to find himself looking like what he looked when he was 16; no wrinkles, young eyes filled with energy, his entire filled with youthful vigor, but with a few bruises here and there on his body.

" Have I've been transported to the past " that was the thought that came to his mind first. " No, these gadgets are more advanced than what I've seen in the past. So, I am in the future".

Just then a mechanical voice sounded inside Race's head," Host's past life memories has been successfully retrieved , merging of past life memories with present life memories will begin in 3....2....1" .

Before Race could even react, a huge amount of information flooded his brain causing him to experience pain that made him want to rip his head off. After enduring that, Race nearly fainted. It took him a while, before he found his bearings again. Just in time to hear the mechanical voice say," The merging of Host's memories has been completed successfully. The System shall remain dormant till primary conditions required are met ."

Race wanted to ask the system a lot of questions, but was stunned on receiving the memories of his present life. It was weird to have memories of two different era's at the same time. He was surprised by the changes time has brought upon the Human civilization.

In the past Mana was abundant with studies on runes and spells taking precedence than anything else. But in the present time all of it just a myth, it seems somewhere in the past 40 millennium Mana was lost to humanity, or to be precise the entire galaxy. But Humans always find a way to make new innovations and weapons. When magic was unavailable they created new technologies independent of magic or mana. Mechs, Starships, colossal space stations, laser guns etc. were the new norms of the now galactic civilization human have grown into.

During his past life, human were fighting each other in the name of kingdoms and Empires till they united against mana enhanced animals that turned into monsters, Mana could make the impossible possible. while in the present humanity has come together as the Terran Coalition to face aliens and such threats, while conquering the stars. Now science has turned all the fantasies of science geek into reality.

Race in his last life was a legendary swordsman who was the first mix magic to swordsmanship creating various sword skills that used the power of magic, putting an end to the unstoppable reign of mages of his time. He was the one who pioneered the use of mana for something outside of spells and arrays. While in his present life Race was a genius mechanic, who was an expert in all things tech. He was the top student in the Mechanics department. But an orphan in this life as well.

But still he had to leave in such a poor condition. Its because one of his inventions that he made for the son of rather rich and powerful officials son failed during a critical time. " That bastard Vatte made make a combat armor that required a month to make in seven days, Then installed an aftermarket thruster pack which caused the circuit to burn out, causing the armor to malfunction costing him the match." Race had bitter smile on his face while his hands were clenched tight.

His father made sure to make Race's life hell, Race was denied a lot of rewards for his outstanding academic results. He was kicked out of his dorm, given minimum allowance. There will always be some stupid allegation that prevented him from receiving his deserved allowance. Once a teacher tried to stand up for him but Vatte and his father made sure that the teacher was not able to stand for a few weeks, when the teacher came back to the school he was demoted for some baseless accusations, after which no teacher from the Mechanics department dared to help him or speak up for him.

Whenever Vatte and his friends saw Race they made sure to leave a few bruises on his body. That was all going to change now," Now, I have memories from my past life, with these memories I can make sure Vatte and his father, Potte pay for what they have done. Now I need to do some exercise to bring my body to shape. For that I have to buy Nutrient solutions.".

After concluding that train of thought, He couldn't make head and tail of the so called system. He tried to interact with the system using his voice and thought. After yelling like a mad man for a good thirty minutes, he decided to think of a way to acquire the nutrient solution.

Race had a measly allowance from the school, which was only enough for his food and rent. He should have been given a high grade nutrient solution because of his academic merits. But now thanks to Potte's Interference Race had to find another way to get the credits required to buy the solution. And there was only one way and that was to compete in the M.A.D.(Mobile armor design) tournament. Two days from now at the virtual center.

Virtual Center(VC) as the name suggests is a virtual reality space, which utilizes realistic physics to give a user the exact feeling as in real life minus the traveling time. Quantum computing advanced so much that they could simulate how various materials interact with each other to provide real life results. So competitions involving apprentice mechanics was usually done in the virtual center.

It was easy to conduct tests on large scale with near perfect accuracy and at quickest speed possible in the VC. So MAD hosted by the Terran Coalition(T C) was to take place in the VC. It provided a platform to find budding geniuses and aid them in the growth. Trainee Apprentice like Race where also allowed to compete just to broaden their horizon.

So Race thought if he was able to obtain a respectable result in the MAD tournament he might be able to improve his living conditions and have a chance at getting the nutrient solution. He might be lucky and catch the eye's of a Master Mechanic. So Race had two days to prepare before challenging various apprentice mechanics. He had to prepare something that can give him an edge in this competition.

There was not much in the memories of his past life that could help him. He was swordsman who in his past, a legendary pioneer. In order to make his he had to fine tune each and every action of every single muscle in his body, this provided him with a lot of knowledge, which he could incorporate into his designs. So race decided to experiment with this Idea in a virtual workspace.

Race had made M A (mobile armor) design before, named Sturdy Sword; but with his limited foundation this design was full of flaws, limiting what a pilot could do in the suit. He decided to tweak the Artificial muscle mesh system in his design into a more efficient design, improving the output of the M A for the same input power. Then worked to arrange the armor plating of the system in such a way that enhance the areas that are more likely to be hit while reducing the plating from areas that are least likely to be hit. Years of swordsman practice has given countless insight that made him make these choices by mixing it with the understanding of the mobile armors limited range of motion, he was able to revamp his existing mech into a peerless design when compared with other swordsman M A designs below beginner mechanic standards.

He spent Saturday and Sunday on the revamping the design by including his insights into the design. On Monday, he waited patiently for the Tournament to begin and registered with his school id. Two options were floating before Race.

Do you want to enter as spectator or as a participant.

He chose the latter without hesitation. He was then transported to a large arena made of dull black metal floor with grey patterns spreading throughout, and there stood billions of participants like a an ocean of people. Each with 10 sq. feet for themselves, this space was separated by a special energy screens forming individual rooms for the participants.

And then a holographic screen was projected before every single participant showing a few people standing on a stage dressed in official uniforms of their respective fields. And the official representing the mechanics department said out loud;

" Welcome to the MAD tournament".