Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

During the special training period, Dean Atchison had once invited Ruo Manni to join his team. Ruo Manni had unexpectedly encountered him during the admissions assessment competition, and having cooperated with him before, she felt good about his combat awareness, so she agreed at that time.

However, no one expected that Mentor Li would not allow them to freely choose their teammates. Ruo Manni didn’t mind not being able to team up with Dean Atchison, but being paired with the Second Prince was something she was unwilling to accept.

It wasn’t just because she was upset with the Second Prince during the opening ceremony that morning; more importantly, Ruo Manni felt that her aura clashed severely with the Second Prince’s, and he would always disrupt her calmness.

Considering the situation, one was the main team leader and the other was the deputy leader, which likely meant more conflicts in the future. Ruo Manni just wanted to be a transcendent fairy and didn’t want to become a fiery dragon lady, so it was better not to be paired together.

But since Dean Atchison had voiced his opposition first, if she spoke out in support of him in public, it would not only put Mentor Li in a difficult position but also embarrass the Second Prince. Therefore, she hesitated and did not speak up.

When Dean Atchison’s protest was unsuccessful, Ruo Manni was even less inclined to speak up. If Dean Atchison couldn’t form a team, and she wasn’t in the Second Prince’s group, she would inevitably have to go to Hua Deli’s second team.

Mentor Li had made it clear beforehand that the two psychics in their class could not be on the same team. If she awkwardly forced herself into Hua Deli’s second team, wouldn’t that mean Mina-Olli would have to go to the first team? How could that be possible?

Therefore, with no other options, Ruo Manni had no choice but to silently accept her fate.

After Mentor Li concluded the class meeting, everyone thought they could take a breather, but soon after, other subject teachers began to conduct classes.

The entire morning passed quickly, and there was still an hour of break for lunch. The elite class, having plenty of experience, took out various delicious foods from their spatial devices to enjoy.

Of course, there was still no sharing of food.

In Ruo Manni’s view, everyone had received such an education that when it came to food, there were too many ways to manipulate things. Unless absolutely necessary, one shouldn’t eat anything given by others.

This rule had been mentioned by Mentor Fang repeatedly.

After eating and drinking their fill, the elite class students, having not trained in the morning, were all full of energy, chatting and laughing together.

Then everyone noticed the appearance of the stern-faced Instructor Dudley. As soon as they saw his expression, they knew something was wrong.

“Stand up, and immediately go downstairs to line up,” Instructor Dudley ordered.

The new students of the elite class quickly stood up and hurried downstairs without daring to delay. They lined up neatly, forming a sharp contrast to the other new students they encountered on the stairs, who were disorganized and scattered.

Upon reaching the sports field downstairs, the elite class new students stood in formation like rows of poplar trees, highlighting the chaos of the other new students who couldn’t find their place.

The elite class students noticed that the instructors from all classes had the same style of doing things; they started by making everyone run twenty laps around the track for warm-up activities.

“This must be a show of authority, but we really don’t need it. Haven’t we already had enough of Instructor Dudley’s show of authority?” Dean Atchison muttered in dissatisfaction.

“You’re thinking too much,” Hua Deli replied to him.

It turned out that Hua Deli was right; Instructor Dudley really did want them to warm up. For the elite-class students, running laps without the gravity rings was the smallest warm-up activity imaginable.

The length of one lap around the sports field was less than a third of the island; without the gravity rings, running twenty laps was something the elite-class new students could easily complete without even breaking a sweat.

Even Mina-Olli, the one with the weakest physical ability among them, only had a slightly flushed face and was breathing a little harder.

Thus, in a large group of new students who were panting heavily from running, the elite class students led the way, running without any burden, their faces normal and their breaths only slightly labored, which made the other new students look like a mess.

It was surprising to see that Mina-Olli, a Level 3 initial-stage psychic, had physical abilities that were not inferior to those of the Level 4 initial-stage warriors in the ordinary class.

Ruo Manni thought for a moment and felt this didn’t make sense, as those who could get into the Xuan Gu Military Academy shouldn’t be ordinary people.

If these individuals weren’t truly capable, then it was likely that after getting into the Xuan Gu Military Academy, they had become too relaxed during the break, leading to a decline in their physical abilities due to insufficient training.

In contrast, the elite class had been forced to undergo intense training during the break, widening the gap between the two groups.

Naturally, the elite-class students were the first to complete the task. They stood by for a long time, while most of the new students from other classes had yet to finish running.

The elite class students noticed the other class instructors talking to Instructor Dudley, their faces filled with barely concealed envy, jealousy, and resentment. It was obvious they were praising the elite class.

After hearing what the other instructors had to say, Instructor Dudley turned to look at the elite-class students, and his expression was no longer grim. The elite-class students immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

As expected, Instructor Dudley didn’t say much to them. He simply announced that starting tomorrow, they were to arrive at the sports field promptly at seven o’clock in the morning to run twenty laps, then waved his hand, dismissing them.

His words were neither harsh nor soft, but the elite-class students definitely didn’t dare to disobey. Everyone hurriedly pulled out their light brains and entered their wake-up times.

It was already after three, almost four o’clock in the afternoon. Apart from their elite class, all the other new students were still on the track struggling to warm up.

Ruo Manni looked around and saw that Aoi Dan was still working hard on the sports field. However, she seemed to have better stamina than the other new students, as she didn’t appear as exhausted.

There were no classes at the military academy in the evenings, but any student with a bit of ambition wouldn’t take the time off to rest because the school intended to give military students the freedom to train.

Ruo Manni had been immersed in the training hall for the past few days. Today, since it was the first day of school and she hadn’t gone, she planned to head to the swimming training hall after classes since she saw it was still early.

While she could practice her psychic abilities in the space, swimming training was different and required physical presence. Swimming training also complemented her physical training, so if she had the chance to train freely, she would choose swimming first.

However, since Mina-Olli and Sheila were standing with her, she felt it wouldn’t be appropriate to just pat her own back and leave, so she voiced her invitation: “Are you guys going to the training hall?”

Before Mina-Olli and Sheila could respond, Hebrew Adam’s voice came from behind Ruo Manni: “Classmate Ruo Manni, let’s have a meeting together.”

When Hebrew Adam said this, although he still had an air of superiority and arrogance, the way he looked at Ruo Manni lacked the haughty expression he had shown before, which was a significant improvement.

Even though Hebrew Adam had said some hurtful things in the morning, he later realized his mistake and apologized.

Now, as a prince, he was lowering himself to speak to her like this. Since Ruo Manni and Hebrew Adam were forcibly assigned to the same team by the instructor, and they couldn’t be separated, it made sense for him to speak kindly and treat her well; glaring and being condescending wouldn’t achieve anything.

Having come to this understanding, Ruo Manni nodded naturally and replied, “Where are we meeting?”