Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

“What? I applied for the mech manufacturing program; I should be in the mech assembler assessment!” Upon hearing that the boy said this was the mech combat assessment area, Ruo Manni felt as if thunder were crashing above her head.

“How did you end up here? This is a completely different assessment area,” the boy said, eyeing her suspiciously as if he thought she might be trying to deceive him.

“I logged in according to the assessment instructions. I clearly registered for the mech assembler specialty, and my instructor confirmed it with me. I’m only a late-stage level three warrior; fighting against you level four warriors would just be serving as a target!” Ruo Manni almost screamed.

“I thought something was off. Level three warriors aren’t typically allowed in the mech assembler assessments at Xuan Gu First Military Academy; the minimum requirement is a level four initial warrior,” the boy with exam number 0001100 said, now believing her. Although he still didn’t fully let his guard down, his tone was much more relaxed.

“Hurry and message the assessment committee to have them change your location. The assessment has just started, so there’s still time to correct the mistake,” the boy suggested.

Ruo Manni responded with an “mm” and thanked the boy, but she didn’t open the screen right away. Being someone who always believed that caution was key, she didn’t lower her guard just because of the boy’s friendliness. If she were eliminated by him, who knew what would happen next?

Seeing that she remained vigilant despite their friendly exchange, the boy smiled, then turned and disappeared into the forest.

Once Ruo Manni felt he was truly gone, she opened the assessment area’s appeal panel to send in her complaint.

Her appeal was quickly met with a response: “Candidate number 0001000 has been assigned to the mech combat department. Please proceed with the assessment and strive to eliminate other candidates to become the final winner.”

Ruo Manni was stunned. What kind of bizarre operation was this? Someone must have changed her application—what was going on?

Refusing to give up, she sent another appeal, only to receive the reply: “Please proceed with the assessment immediately, or your qualification will be permanently canceled.”

Ruo Manni nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. If she hadn’t been mindful that this was being broadcast, she would have loved to give the system a middle finger and mutter some curses.

What was happening? She had come to take the written exam, but she was thrown into a combat assessment. How was a mech assembler with no combat experience supposed to survive?

Looking at the assessment committee’s “helpful” message, Ruo Manni learned that this year, one million candidates were applying to the mech combat department at Xuan Gu First Military Academy. They were divided into ten assessment zones, each with over one hundred thousand candidates. Only the last five thousand remaining in each zone would advance to the next day’s assessment stage.

Even if Ruo Manni was usually composed, finding herself in such a difficult situation made her want to curse the person who had changed her application. However, knowing her background better than the original owner, she quickly narrowed down her list of suspects.

Since choosing to withdraw would lead to permanent disqualification from the Xuan Gu First Military Academy, Ruo Manni had no choice but to go all out.

Fortunately, the two months of combat experience in the war realm had given her some confidence. She took a moment to reflect on her combat strengths.

Though her physical skills were lower than those of the mech combat candidates, her mental strength was significantly higher. Ruo Manni felt relieved that she had chosen to keep a low profile to avoid drawing attention, and hadn’t tested her mental power level with the relevant institutions.

While she might still be on some people’s radar, those behind the scenes likely didn’t know how high her mental power was, which allowed her to participate in the assessment.

Ruo Manni was confident that her mental power level was at least late stage four, if not early stage five. Since the assessment was public on the network, if she passed, the people behind her would find it harder to sabotage her.

The biggest advantage of online assessments was that eliminating opponents didn’t require incapacitating them; simply shattering their chest emblem or reducing their health bar would suffice.

The assessment competition provided no weapons, so all candidates had to adapt to their surroundings.

Without swords, whips, or flying daggers, Ruo Manni’s gaze fell upon a tree whose leaves resembled flying daggers.

After two months of training, Ruo Manni had not only mastered her mental power flying dagger technique but also created a method to shoot daggers using her internal force, enhanced by her telekinesis for added acceleration.

The mental power flying dagger technique was great for long-range ambushes, while the mixed power flying dagger technique conserved mental energy and increased damage. In the war realm, her mental power flying daggers dealt 180 damage, while the mixed power version dealt 250.

She noticed that the boy she had spoken to earlier had a health bar of 1,050, while she had 2,000.

Ruo Manni pinched a leaf between her fingers and flicked it hard. The leaf shot through the air and “thudded” into a nearby tree trunk, half embedded in the wood.

Her combat power in the network matched her war realm capabilities, and she smiled with satisfaction. This force was enough to shatter an opponent’s chest emblem, and it was a long-range attack, which was advantageous for her weaker physical skills.

Quickly, Ruo Manni gathered numerous leaves and stuffed them into her pockets. She was grateful that this assessment took place in a jungle, which not only provided cover for ambushes but also an endless supply of projectiles, greatly increasing her chances of success.

Feeling empowered, she decided to unleash her full potential. She wanted those scheming in the shadows to see that they had miscalculated; even as a novice in combat, a genius like her could still gain admission to the Xuan Gu First Military Academy.

This year, because there were three candidates from Mingxin Intermediate College applying to the Xuan Gu First Military Academy, Mentor Fang and other mentors from the middle schools were closely monitoring the news on the network. As soon as the assessment competition began, Mentor Fang checked the status of the three candidates.

Mentor Fang knew that Ruo Manni had already obtained her Level 2 Mech Designer certificate in the war realm, so she was very confident in her abilities and didn’t rush to check on her. Instead, she looked at the other two candidates from the Mech Combat Department.

After a few minutes, she noted that the male candidate had only scored 9 points, while Aoi Dan had already scored 22.

Both candidates were Level 4 martial artists, but the male candidate was at the early stage, while Aoi Dan was in the mid-stage.

After observing for a while, Mentor Fang realized that the male candidate’s lower score was not only due to his lower level but also because he lacked practical combat experience and was too soft in his approach. Fortunately, the other candidates around him were also at the early Level 4 stage, so he hadn’t been eliminated immediately.

In contrast, Aoi Dan was not only a mid-level Level 4 martial artist but also acted decisively and ruthlessly. When she fought, she didn’t even blink and demonstrated a strategic mind.