novelraw Chapter 10 : Academy Seven
Chapter 10 : Academy Seven
The night training at Academy Seven concluded, and a group of young students wearing night training uniforms streamed out of the training field.
Passing by the training building, they saw light spilling from the upper floor training room.
A young man wiping his sweat paused. His outer clothing was open, revealing his chest and upper arm muscles, with raised muscle contours crossed by several whip marks. Sweat flowed over them, like salt steaming, quite piquant.
But the physical pain couldn't compare to the heartache of this moment. He clutched his chest, looked around, and loudly questioned:
"Who, who was it that agreed we'd have a break tonight? Who's grinding in the training room?"
"Are you all made of iron?"
The young man shook his head in distress.
A group of people followed behind him, one irritably kicking his backside: "No one's grinding against you. Today's training nearly broke my bones. Instead of this effort, I'd rather lie in a medical pod—to hell with more training."
"Ah, could it be the first-year kids? No way," he turned to look at his red-haired good friend, "It's just their first day of school, are they already grinding this hard?"
Cheng Wei was panting like a dog, too exhausted to respond.
Instead, a young man following behind slapped the back of his head, offering a friendly reminder:
"They sure are grinding. That new student in the warrior system, called Hemo'er, I heard his training record for the recent week averages twelve hours daily."
The young man sucked in a breath, "My peers are all grinding wolves, my juniors are all grinding wolves, this makes me look so weak!"
Amid the commotion, Cheng Wei looked up at the tall building, counting the floors, then suddenly remembered something: "This training room, I think the academic affairs office is using it."
At this point, the thin girl he'd met today appeared in his mind, "It might be an interstellar nomad's assessment check."
As he spoke, he told his friends about meeting Chen Sui in the commercial street and her coming to Academy Seven for the interstellar nomad assessment.
"Huh?"
The young man who had been distressed just moments ago straightened his posture, "Well, this policy has been around for so many years, it's still going? I thought since no one passed, they'd abolish it."
"The teacher on duty today is quite unfortunate, having to accompany this process so late, don't you think..."
He was genuinely puzzled.
"Don't these nomads know that with their abilities they can't pass the assessment? In my opinion, they should either spend some money in the Star Alliance to find an institution for a few years of training before coming, or just go to a secondary high school. Why do they always come to waste time?"
Cheng Wei, having just received Chen Sui's 20% discount today, even though he also felt she would struggle to pass the assessment, cleared his throat and spoke up for her:
"Interstellar nomads are Star Alliance people too after settling here. Say less—what if someone really has the ability and passes the assessment?"
"Ha," the young man didn't continue the topic, but knowing he hadn't been outgrinded, his sense of tension weakened significantly, eventually joking lightly, "If someone passes, I'll take their surname."
Cheng Wei silently turned to look at him.
The young man's surname was Chen, named Tunan.
He thought to himself, you two are actually of the same clan.
Chen Tunan, caught by his glance, immediately added:
"Want to bet? If someone really passes, I'll cover the nutrient solutions for all of us next month, oh, and for that passing student too."
Cheng Wei patted his shoulder: "Alright, alright, aren't you tired? The assessment is challenging for them, but don't keep pointing out that someone is an interstellar nomad. Isn't that exclusionary?"
Chen Tunan was pushed toward the dormitory, "You're right, it's not conducive to solidarity and stability in our student relationships. I'll reflect on that."
The discussions at the bottom of the training building couldn't reach the upper floors.
The "time-wasting" duty teacher they spoke of was now nervously watching inside the training room.
The black mecha moved so fast only afterimages remained.
Behind her trailed a huge flame, its scorching heat burning the mecha, transmitting to the cockpit. Chen Sui felt as if her back was being roasted.
The long centipede lay weakly on the ground, multiple bombardments and poundings causing it to emit painful cries.
Chen Sui seemed to have eyes in the back of her head, shaking off the flames behind her while running, then kicking hard against the wall.
Her entire body shot out like an arrow released from a bow.
Flash-explosion shells moved faster than the mecha, approaching the long centipede. Three shells fired simultaneously, blocking the centipede's escape route as it tried to crawl away.
The last shell successfully crossed its surrounding fire wall, exploding on the centipede's back, blasting a hole in its shell, the outer layer flipping outward, splashing bright red blood.
Chen Sui piloted the mecha, plunging into the fire wall, a move that startled the short-haired teacher.
The fire wall's high temperature scorched the mecha, transmitting sensations equivalent to burning the pilot alive.
She watched Chen Sui's actions intently, worried she might faint from the burning pain, ready to rescue her promptly.
But just as the short-haired teacher stood up, before she could sit back down.
The vigorously swinging spear made a rushing sound as it struck the metal wall of the training room with a crisp impact.
The spear skewered the long centipede like a kebab, flinging it to the side. The centipede's body extinguished one side of the fire wall as it was thrown, hitting the wall.
The training room shook violently.
Before the vibration subsided, the rapidly flying mecha performed a flourish with the spear. The sharp spearhead, following the unhealed cannon wound on the long centipede, seized the brief second as it turned, forcefully stabbing into its body.
"Crack."
An intense crash was overshadowed by the sound of the spearhead slicing through the energy body's flesh and the tremendous noise of the energy body falling.
Chen Sui pulled out the spear, flicking the long centipede upward, then kicking it to the side.
She stepped forward, picking up the energy crystal that had been pierced out by the spearhead from the corner where it lay.
Behind her, the long centipede shrank.
Slowly melting.
Becoming one with the black earth.
The holographic scene gradually disappeared.
The energy crystal in Chen Sui's hand also dissipated, the mecha's wounds healed, leaving only the burning sensation transmitted through the nerves.
Chen Sui waited, hearing no prompt from the short-haired teacher, but instead the mechanical voice of the holographic training room.
"Your assessment is complete. Please exit the training room and remove the mecha. We wish you success in your assessment."
"Finished?"
The short-haired teacher looked at the dissipating holographic scene, somewhat bewildered, frowning.
So quickly?
Chen Sui walked to the door, asking through the voice channel: "Teacher, the assessment is over, right?"
"It's over."
The short-haired teacher quickly adjusted her mindset, resuming a serious demeanor, and opened the training room door.
When Chen Sui left the combat mecha, she somewhat reluctantly stroked the seat.
High-grade mechas were truly nice.
She wondered when she would have the money to recreate her old friend who had fought alongside her in the apocalyptic world.
Chen Sui thought about it, and also about her spear, Red General.
Make them all, crafted into a personalized mecha.
Setting a small goal for herself, Chen Sui looked toward the short-haired teacher, "When will the assessment results be available?"
"Before 10 AM the day after tomorrow, they'll be sent to you via light brain communication," the short-haired teacher had her confirm her communication number was correct, then pressed her lips and added, "After passing the assessment, come to the academic affairs office before noon to complete enrollment. If you miss noon, you'll have to wait until after 2 PM, so plan your time accordingly."
Her attitude had subtly changed. Chen Sui couldn't quite understand why but chose not to dwell on it. Only as she was leaving did the short-haired teacher offer caring advice:
"Your physique is still too weak, your body lacks nutrition. You should eat more regularly, focus on improving your physical strength. You'll definitely be able to reach another level in the future."
The short-haired teacher, with her border army background, could see Chen Sui's weakest point in the assessment.
Her explosive power was strong, but her endurance was insufficient.
The latter was attributed to a lack of physical fitness.
For someone in Chen Sui's physical condition to achieve this much already greatly astonished the short-haired teacher.
After leaving Academy Seven, Chen Sui looked at her arms and body.
In the apocalyptic world, food was scarce, but as part of the Beacon Squad, being a main force in underground city resource exploration, she ate better than others.
She had grown to nearly 1.7 meters tall, and everyone who saw her would praise her vitality.
Yet after crossing over to this place, upon reflection, quite a few people seemed to think her physical fitness was poor and her physical condition subpar.
On her way back to the commercial street, Chen Sui thought carefully while observing the physiques of interstellar people, belatedly feeling that she might need to supplement her diet.
She needed to build muscle, which would enhance her strength another level.
She quickly arranged a training plan in her mind. The most crucial part was improving her diet, for which she chose a hotel with excellent food supplies and booked a room for one night.
Before sleep, she looked at nutrient solutions on the StarNet, spending a huge sum to purchase high-concentration nutrient solutions for one semester.
Before falling asleep, Chen Sui recalled the day's assessment, feeling she had performed quite well.
—Except for lacking stamina in the second and third items, and deliberately resting during the robot combat, everything else... was quite normal.
She should be able to study here, right?
Late January marked the final phase of the Interstellar League competition, with the last match breaking the duration record for this league, lasting exactly twenty days.
The Interstellar League competition ended when energy monitoring equipment was placed at the lowest energy field fluctuation point.
In this competition, despite having only two people left, the defender—Academy Seven, which held the monitoring equipment—was so tenacious that they dragged on until late January before it finally ended.
In the morning, Chen Sui went to the hotel's dining area, and seeing actual food on the menu, she excitedly ordered a bowl of noodles. Holding the steaming soup noodles, she sat down to watch the central projection.
The projection was replaying the league competition from two days prior, just the final moments.
Chen Sui had missed the live broadcast due to the jump transit and didn't know if Academy Seven had successfully escaped.
But watching the broadcast, Academy Seven's output Jin Yu was trapped by Third Academy commander Jiang Tianyi's spirit body, a spring tree demon ensnaring him layer by layer.
On the other side, Bai Li and Tian Ran, two outputs, surrounded Academy Seven's analyst.
She couldn't help but shake her head.
There was no escape now.
"Zhu Jing Fu's luck has run out," other diners couldn't help commenting, and people around quickly joined the discussion.
"Definitely, but they really worked hard too. Who would have thought Zhu Jing Fu could hold out so long with just two people?"
"If you ask me, Commander Yun was too aggressive in the cave. If one less person had been eliminated, it wouldn't have been so difficult."
"With one less person eliminated, it wouldn't have been just one academy dealing with Zhu Jing Fu. There's no way around it, we were the last defenders. Those wanting bonus points to compete for the top three positions all targeted us—we were sitting ducks."
"What's Zhu Jing Fu's point ranking?"
"Let me check, let me check," the speaker put down his soup bowl, genuinely going to look it up on the StarNet.
Someone nearby chimed in, "Why bother checking? Last place, of course. It's been like that for years."
"How can you speak so harshly?"
"What's harsh about it? Isn't that the truth? The council only cares about the near star rings. They don't include our Fourth Star Ring in their plans, they look down on our Zhu Jing Fu. Being in last place is quite normal. When your student source, resources, and funding are all completely disconnected, it's normal to fall behind. In my opinion, Zhu Jing Fu is doing alright as is. Each year they rely on luck to enter the regular competition, and if they get energy field resources, everyone's happy; if not, it's still better than being kicked out of the seven direct academies."
The top three military academies in the Interstellar League competition rankings had the privilege of selecting high-grade energy field resources, gaining more combat readiness.
"If you put it that way, luck is such a fickle thing. What if it runs out someday, then what?"
"Then what? Hah!"
The man laughed, picking up his noodle bowl and taking a sip of the hot soup, "Councilor Gu would be delighted if you couldn't get in. Wouldn't that just give them the perfect excuse to kick Zhu Jing Fu out and arrange for a near star ring academy to take its place?"
"Ahem," among the crowd, an elderly man coughed lightly. His tone was calm as he pointed at several young people who were getting too heated in their discussion, "In public places, speak cautiously."
When he spoke, everyone around showed great respect, gradually lowering their voices, no longer discussing near star ring affairs, focusing instead on analyzing the league competition.
On the last day of January, after waking up, Chen Sui logged into her StarNet account as usual.
At the top of the homepage was a congratulatory message: "Interstellar League Competition Ends, Military Academies Return."
She clicked into her personal account, saw a lit red dot, and her eyes curved into a smile.
"Dear Student Chen Sui, congratulations on passing the enrollment assessment and becoming a member of the Star Alliance Fourth Star Ring Academy Seven. Please collect your student card from the academic affairs office to complete the enrollment process."