Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

To avoid distractions during her matches, Ruo Manni set the audience seats to silent mode, ensuring she couldn’t hear the chatter of the onlookers no matter how loud they were.

After the competition, she felt both exhausted and hungry, so she had no desire to stay on SkyNet and certainly wasn’t in the mood to check the assessment zone forum.

However, Captain Lin felt good when he saw Ruo Manni still ranked within the top 10, prompting him to browse the forum for comments about her. He quickly noticed that today’s discussions were quite different from yesterday’s; more and more people began to question her background.

Most comments suggested that while the talented girl had a high warrior rank and impressive telekinesis, her practical combat skills initially seemed weaker than those of a level 4 beginner. Yet, her rapid progress was evident; after just a few matches, she could contend evenly with level 4 intermediate fighters.

Such a clear contrast led discerning observers to conclude that this girl had not undergone any practical training before participating in the assessments at the Xuan Gu First Military Academy.

This implies that this talented girl has not received the training she deserves, which is likely the main reason for her being relatively unknown.

In the Gus Empire, there are regulations ensuring every citizen has the right to free education, especially for those with exceptional potential, who also receive supplementary training programs.

It’s illegal in the Gus Empire to suppress or prevent children from receiving an education.

Where did this extraordinary talent come from, and how was she cultivated? Why didn’t her parents or guardians allow her to train?

Watching the lively discussions on SkyNet, Mentor Fang pressed her lips together, feeling she had failed in her duty. As many commenters noted, if this child had received systematic training earlier, she might have grown significantly; at the very least, she wouldn’t have lost in today’s ranking match.

“If we had arranged some practical opportunities for Ruo Manni earlier, she definitely wouldn’t have lost a single match,” Mentor Fang lamented.

“Have you forgotten how her potential suddenly increased and what her original aspiration was?” Captain Lin said, chuckling at how his wife had been led astray by the forum discussions.

That’s right! Reminded by her husband, Mentor Fang realized that they hadn’t arranged any practical training for Ruo Manni before the assessments because her original aspiration was to study mecha manufacturing. All her preparations had been focused on that goal.

The combat skills that Ruo Manni currently possesses, including swordsmanship and flying knife techniques, were all learned in the battle realm, while her whip technique was self-taught from books.

“Fortunately, she honed her combat skills by leveling up in the battle realm; otherwise, being suddenly thrown into the mecha combat assessment, she might not even know how to fight,” Mentor Fang said, relieved that the game had come at the right time.

Captain Lin glanced at his wife, deciding not to reveal that Ruo Manni was treated so specially by the Xuan Gu First Military Academy not only due to possible personal grievances from Teresa Du but also because there was another possibility.

He felt this possibility was more likely: when Ruo Manni entered the assessment area, the military discovered through SkyNet that her telekinetic potential and level were exceptionally high, leading them to immediately transfer her to the mecha combat department without even discussing it.

If this were the case, then this admission assessment would merely be a training match for Ruo Manni. Regardless of her performance, she would be specially recruited into the Xuan Gu First Military Academy due to her outstanding potential.

The more Captain Lin considered it, the more he felt that Ruo Manni’s situation aligned with this second possibility.

His insight was sharper than Mentor Fang’s; while Mentor Fang guessed that Ruo Manni’s telekinetic level might be at the late stage of level three, Captain Lin was convinced she was already at the early stage of level five.

He felt proud of the adopted daughter he had taken in out of gratitude, recognizing how exceptional she was.

A fifteen-year-old at the early stage of level five telekinesis certainly deserved special treatment from the Xuan Gu First Military Academy.

Even if he guessed wrong, with such a talent already having shown her face in the Xuan Gu First Military Academy’s assessment, Captain Lin was confident that Ruo Manni wouldn’t be eliminated.

Of course, he wouldn’t share these behind-the-scenes calculations with his wife or Ruo Manni; they didn’t need to know.

“Strong individuals are just that—strong. Even without preparation, Ruo Manni has performed excellently. Even with one loss in the ranking matches, she still stands at seventh overall,” Mentor Fang said proudly.

Captain Lin felt a bit proud of Ruo Manni too, but he was more composed than his wife and reminded her, “Although the assessment is over, there’s an additional challenge match this year.”

“The opponents in the challenge match are all students who didn’t pass, and they’re all at the early stage of level four. With Ruo Manni’s overall strength, she has nothing to fear,” Mentor Fang said, feeling no pressure about tomorrow’s challenge match.

Since Ruo Manni’s results were unlikely to change, the couple felt relieved and logged off SkyNet, unaware that the situation was about to shift dramatically later that evening.

After Ruo Manni had a good sleep, she checked in with her Mentor Fang via video before opening her holographic device to review information about the assessment.

It turned out that there hadn’t been much change in the top ten overall rankings, except for the unfortunate seventh-place contestant who ran into a dark horse and suffered a quick defeat, dropping to fifteenth place.

This allowed the eleventh-place contestant to benefit and rise to tenth. The other seven contestants maintained a perfect twenty wins, while Ruo Manni had only lost one match, resulting in her dropping one rank from eighth to seventh, with the previous eighth-place contestant moving up to sixth.

Ruo Manni wasn’t too concerned about the change in rank; with today’s practical experience, she no longer feared real combat.

After twenty rounds of ranking matches today, Ruo Manni had accumulated a wealth of practical experience. Not only had her skill with the flying daggers become very smooth, but her swordsmanship had also made significant progress, and the lethality of her whip had more than doubled compared to when she started.

Tomorrow’s challenge match would be against contestants ranked beyond ten thousand, so she wouldn’t face top competitors like in the ranking matches. Ruo Manni felt confident she wouldn’t lose.

After checking the post-match forum for the Xuan Gu First Military Academy, she found that she had once again become a hot topic.

Many viewers who had followed her matches from the beginning were discussing her. Every post highlighted her practical experience, detailing how she had started off awkwardly and then rapidly improved, eventually showcasing an impressive command of her skills.

As a result, after the ranking matches, topics such as “The genius girl is truly extraordinary…” and “The genius girl is actually a novice…” surfaced.

“Who is this genius girl? Why hasn’t she received proper training?”
“Who has hindered this genius girl?”
“Why are imperial laws so lax?”

These discussions had taken over SkyNet’s trending topics.

Ruo Manni furrowed her brows, sensing that the situation was a bit off. This could backfire and put her guardian in the spotlight. Her sudden rise was something she found difficult to explain to outsiders.