BATTLE FOR STARS

When a son still needed protection, his father had no choice but to leave him behind and force him to survive alone.

And yet, that departure itself was another kind of protection.

A painful protection.

The choice a father believed would give his child the best possible future.

“Your father...” Lina’s soft voice broke the silence. “He was a hero.”

As someone who had spent her life among slaves, she understood the cruelty of survival better than anyone.

Countless slaves chose never to have children at all. Some even abandoned the dream of buying back their own freedom.

“You probably don’t earn much from this, do you?” Lina glanced at the cards and metal disks in Little Chubby’s hands.

“Mm... enough, I guess.” Little Chubby nodded. “The money my father left me only covers basic living expenses. I want to earn more and learn more things. That way, getting a proper job later might be easier.”

“Maybe then I could even...”

He stopped halfway through the sentence.

“Could even what?” Ding Yufei asked curiously.

He genuinely wanted to hear Little Chubby’s dream.

“Maybe I could... go to another planet someday.”

In truth, that wasn’t only Little Chubby’s dream.

It was the dream of countless slaves across the Resk Empire.

Through rumors and scattered information, they knew there were nations elsewhere in the universe that didn’t use slavery at all.

Their greatest wish was simply to see those worlds with their own eyes.

But for most slaves, it remained impossible until death.

The cost of buying freedom alone usually consumed their entire lives.

“Oh...” Ding Yufei finally understood.

“But what does making more money have to do with studying? Do you have to pay to learn things?”

Little Chubby looked at him strangely, clearly surprised that he didn’t know such “basic common sense.”

“In the Resk Empire, only civilians have the right to study,” Belina explained quietly from beside him. “And all educational content has to be purchased.”

“You buy whatever knowledge you want to learn.”

“What?!” Ding Yufei stared at her in disbelief. “You even have to buy knowledge?”

“Yes.” Belina nodded. “Except for academic slaves, most slaves only receive basic education. There’s no need for them to systematically learn advanced knowledge.”

“They’re not expected to engage in research or complicated technical work.”

“Even labor slaves only need to know how to operate specific equipment.”

“But civilians who want proper education have to pay for it themselves.”

“That’s... insane.” Ding Yufei genuinely couldn’t imagine a society like that.

But after a moment, he understood.

The Resk Empire was a slave empire.

Why would it want slaves learning too much?

As long as they could operate machinery and obey orders, that was enough.

Meanwhile, civilians and slave owners could access more education if they had money, ensuring knowledge always remained concentrated in the hands of the ruling class.

“I’ll transfer the five thousand Latir for the magic lessons now.”

As Belina spoke, she took out her wristband and sent over the agreed amount.

Although Little Chubby’s past was tragic, she didn’t give him a single extra Latir.

She could tell he had strong pride.

He survived through his own efforts and didn’t want pity from anyone.

“Thank you.” Little Chubby smiled brightly.

With this money, life would become much easier for him. At the very least, he could comfortably survive until next year.

“Little Chubby,” Lina suddenly said, “my master’s training facility has always needed a manager.”

“Someone to keep things running normally whenever my master isn’t around. The requirement is at least civilian status.”

“Would you like to try?”

“Although we can’t officially pay you before you become an adult, you’d at least have food and housing covered. And the meals are pretty good.”

Lina had begun to genuinely like this chubby boy.

In some ways, he reminded her of herself from years ago.

They shared similar fates.

“Big sister, where’s the training ground?” Little Chubby immediately became interested.

Saving money on food and housing alone would mean a lot to him.

Lina glanced at her wristband.

“Our stop is next station. Want to come take a look?”

“Sure!” Little Chubby nodded eagerly before grinning at Belina. “Then I’ll teach this big sister two more tricks for free.”

Belina had already paid him a huge amount of money, and now her friend was helping him find work.

This was his way of repaying them.

Not long afterward, the train arrived.

The group stepped off the hovering train and took an elevator leading up toward the surface training grounds.

Soon, Lina brought them to the entrance of the facility.

Although it was far smaller than the slave trading center, it was still one of the largest buildings nearby.

No guards stopped them at the entrance.

Lina simply opened the doors using her wristband and walked inside.

Since it was currently carnival season, most gladiator slaves were away participating in competitions or performances, leaving the training grounds nearly empty.

Lina briefly introduced the place to everyone, though most of the explanation was clearly directed toward Little Chubby.

In truth, the management work wasn’t very complicated.

Most tasks were handled automatically by robots.

Because Lina’s master, Jeff, loved traveling and was often absent, he wanted a civilian stationed here to maintain order among the slaves.

After all, gladiator slaves constantly trained with weapons and combat equipment. Tempers frequently ran high. If a serious accident caused slave casualties, Jeff would suffer major financial losses.

And to activate the mental wave control systems when necessary, civilian status was required at minimum.

Still, Jeff was notoriously stingy regarding the position.

The salary he offered was absurdly low, so very few civilians were willing to come.

A couple had tried before, but for reasons Lina didn’t understand, Jeff had rejected them anyway.

“This is the office area.”

“That’s the storage room.”

“Over there is the rest area.”

“And that’s the first-floor training arena.”

...

Lina explained while walking.

Before long, they arrived at the mech fighter training grounds.

Although it couldn’t compare to the massive arenas at the Mech Fighter Center, the place was still at least one-third the size. More than enough for ordinary matches.

At a glance, only two mechs stood inside.

Each one was seven or eight meters tall.

They looked completely identical, with thick arms and bulky legs—nothing like the highly customized personal mechs Lina and the professional fighters used in competitions.

“These are standard training mechs,” Lina explained. “Nothing special about them, but they have all the basic functions. They’re mainly used for routine practice.”

After all, competition mechs were fully customized machines refined over years by individual mech fighters. Their appearance, internal settings, and operational systems were all tailored specifically for their pilots.

Training mechs, on the other hand, were designed only for foundational exercises, so they all shared the same appearance.

“Then let’s try them already!” Ding Yufei said excitedly.

He didn’t care at all that they were merely training units.

As long as he could pilot a real mech himself, he would be satisfied.

Up until now, he had only ever used simulators.

Honestly, these training mechs looked remarkably similar to the Gundams from old Earth fiction.

They resembled giant humanoid robots, except their shapes were more naturally human, without the overly boxy limbs and torso common in classic designs.

One thing remained the same, though:

The cockpit was located in the center of the body.

“Alright,” Lina said as she walked over to a wall panel. “I’ll start them up.”

She pressed a switch.

The two mechs slowly crouched down.

Then their cockpits opened.