Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

“You are indeed lucky.” When Sheila heard that Ruo Manni had been accepted as Li Qixing’s final disciple, her envy, jealousy, and resentment were obvious in her eyes.

“With Ruo Manni’s cultivation potential and talent, plenty of psychics would want to take her as a disciple. In the Gus Empire, can you find a younger and more outstanding psychic than her?” Hebrew Adam said this as if it were self-evident.

Ruo Manni glanced at Hebrew Adam with a calm expression, but she was actually quite surprised in her heart. Had the second prince lost his mind? How was he suddenly speaking sensibly? However, he hadn’t noticed that Sheila was already feeling sour, and his words would only make her feel even more bitter.

“Captain Ruo, your teacher sure is generous, gifting you a Level-5 mech as an apprenticeship gift,” Tamaki Kazia said enviously.

And it was a star mech, too! Ruo Manni felt a rush of joy but, being someone who didn’t like to show off, she didn’t mention it publicly. Whether they could recognize it later would be their business.

The reason she openly mentioned having a mech was because she was the only psychic in the team, and the mech she used was different from everyone else’s. If she hadn’t spoken up, Hebrew Adam would definitely have made her rent a psychic-sensitive mech.

How many academic credits would that cost? Since she already had one, she certainly wouldn’t want to spend extra. Plus, with her own personal mech, who would want to train in anything else?

“Does anyone else here have their own personal mech?” Hebrew Adam asked.

“I do, but it’s a Level-3 mech,” Tamaki Kazia replied.

Who would’ve thought? Among the group of noblemen, Tamaki Kazia hadn’t particularly stood out, and yet he had his own personal mech.

In general, when a young person is going through a period of rapid development, families typically won’t provide a personal mech before they reach adulthood. This is because it’s likely they would soon outgrow the configuration, and even wealthy families wouldn’t spend money so frivolously.

The exceptions are if the family is exceptionally wealthy and the parents have the final say, or if the young person is in a difficult situation and needs strong protection. Another reason is if, like Ruo Manni, the mech is received as a gift from a master.

No one asked Tamaki Kazia how he came to own a mech. While people were a bit surprised, they weren’t particularly curious since he wasn’t a commoner, and having a personal mech wasn’t unusual for someone like him.

“I also have a Level-5 mech,” Hebrew Adam added.

This time, no one asked any questions either; it didn’t surprise anyone. It would be more unusual if the prince didn’t have a personal mech.

The other three remained silent, indicating that they didn’t have personal mechs. In the end, Hebrew Adam suggested they rent a mech, allowing them to choose the grade themselves.

Everyone logged into the internal school network to check the rental prices. A Level-1 mech cost 10 credits per month, a Level-2 mech was 20 credits per month, but a Level-3 mech required 40 credits, and the Level-4 mech was even more expensive, costing 120 credits per month.

The three decided to rent Level-2 mechs for just one month, and if they earned more credits during that time, they would rent Level-3 mechs the following month.

Ruo Manni also felt that renting mechs was very cost-effective. Not only did it allow for free training, but it was also cheaper than training at the mech training center.

After discussing their team training plans, they each began their individual practice. With their previous experience from special training, they didn’t need to contact Instructor Dudley for guidance. They all trained according to their established habits.

Although Instructor Dudley wasn’t present to train them personally, he still had access to the training room’s AI system.

The school required that when cadets trained in the room, they must activate the automatic testing device.

In this way, their basic data was recorded daily, which not only prevented them from slacking off but also allowed Instructor Dudley to monitor their training progress in real time.

Every so often, Instructor Dudley would summarize and analyze this data, then create customized training plans tailored to each person’s current condition.

Ruo Manni started with body training in the gravity room. Training in a gravity room gave her double the benefits—one hour of practice there was more effective than two hours in a normal environment.

Since there were few gravity rooms available, Ruo Manni and Sheila trained in the same room, while the other boys trained in another. Under five times the normal gravity, Ruo Manni could usually only last just over an hour before collapsing. Meanwhile, Sheila, with only slightly labored breathing, had no problem maintaining her stamina for an hour.

Ruo Manni slowly walked out, took a break, and then entered the meditation room.

By the time Ruo Manni came out of the meditation room, the mechs they had rented had already arrived. Some were practicing combat skills, others were piloting the mechs, and everyone was focused on their training.

However, since the cadets were still minors, their self-control was relatively weak. To prevent students from overtraining and injuring themselves, the school had a rule that, unless there were special circumstances, students had to leave the training room and return to their dorms by 11 PM on non-holiday nights.

In the past, diligent and studious cadets disliked this rule, but with the introduction of the war arena, no one missed the training room much anymore.

The six of them quickly left the training room just before the deadline.

Each of them had their own private dorms, so they lived comfortably and didn’t feel envious of the personal rest areas in the training room.

Since Hebrew Adam was the team captain, the others exited the training room first. Ruo Manni naturally walked at the front, while Sheila, just as naturally, took her place at the back.

“You all need to complete the upgrade missions as much as possible and reach Level 10 quickly. Once we do, we can form our own guild,” Hebrew Adam said.

“Captain, what level are you, and what’s your ID?” Sheila asked curiously.

With Ruo Manni out of the way, Sheila naturally walked beside Hebrew Adam.

“Level 9, Imperial Highness.”

“Wow, Captain, you’re amazing! ‘Imperial Highness’ is ranked number one on the leaderboard,” Sheila exclaimed.

The others showed no surprise. With the second prince being so strong, it would be strange if he weren’t ranked first.

“Hua Feitian, who’s ranked second, is actually Hua Deli. Captain, do you know who the third-ranked anonymous player is? Everyone’s guessing, but no one can find someone who fits the profile,” Sheila continued.

“What’s your ID, Captain Ruo?” Tamaki Kazia, walking alongside Ruo Manni, asked curiously.

“Lin Kexin,” Ruo Manni answered truthfully.

“Lin Kexin?” Sheila chimed in, “From what I remember, that name isn’t in the top 100 youth rankings.”

“It is. What’s your rank?” Ruo Manni turned back and gave Sheela a glance. Why did this woman always drag her into conversations?

Even though it was late at night, the streetlights on the military academy campus were bright enough for Ruo Manni to see Sheila’s expression stiffen.

At that moment, they exited the training area, and before Sheila could respond, Ruo Manni waved to her teammates. “I can’t bear to waste credits on a ride. Bye!”

With that, Ruo Manni started jogging, but the others followed, even Hebrew Adam didn’t take a flying car.

“Seventy credits aren’t enough to cover our transport for a month. I have no idea how the new students survive on just twenty credits,” Tamaki Kazia smiled at Ruo Manni.

“As long as you attend class on time and don’t mess around, you’ll get a steady one or two credits per day. Save those, and you’ll have enough for training,” Ruo Manni replied.