Chapter 26: The List – “It’s ready, I’ll hand it over now.”
Military training was undeniably the most rigorous activity at Imperial Star Academy. It served as an immediate reality check for the freshmen who had defeated countless other candidates to earn their admission.
Because Imperial Star Academy had a military background, it was without question the school with the most severe military training on the planet—none could compare.
Every freshman was treated equally before the training of Imperial Star Academy; no one could escape it. No matter how deep one’s background was, it was useless unless they had a legitimate, irrefutable reason and had filed a report with the school in advance. Otherwise, no approval would be granted.
There was even a case of a freshman who, upon receiving his admission notice, became so excited that he fell down the stairs and fractured his leg. Fortunately, his constitution was decent, so he wasn’t in serious trouble—he just had to wear a cast for a few days and keep his leg still. Even so, because he hadn’t sought prior approval from the school, he was still required to show up at the training site.
Even if he wasn’t required to perform any actual drills for the time being, he absolutely had to be present. Furthermore, once his cast was removed, he would have to make up all the training he missed; no leniency would be shown despite his previous absence.
It could be described as exceptionally strict.
Yet, under such rigid approval standards, the monitor of Mechanical Class One discovered that a student in his class had actually received approval to be excused from military training.
On the list, in the column following the name “Yu Xia,” four bold characters were printed: “Approved for Leave”. Although it was four characters just like the “Confirmed Participation” marked for other students, the more one looked at the four characters following Yu Xia’s name, the more out of place they seemed.
In particular, this individual’s exam scores were outstanding, yet his name was placed at the very bottom of the list. Normally, such a small oddity wouldn’t be noticed, but under several coincidences, it sparked a conspiracy theory in Shao Yan’s mind.
He didn’t know what underhanded methods this person had used to obtain an admission notice from Imperial Star Academy. He refused to believe that if Yu Xia’s grades were truly as excellent as the list suggested, his name would be relegated to the very end.
Moreover, it was because of Yu Xia’s presence that Shao Yan couldn’t naturally claim the title of “First Place in Admission Scores” on the day of the class monitor election.
Likely feeling he had found a reasonable point of contention, Shao Yan excitedly took the class list to the office to find their class advisor, Professor Zhong.
Though Shao Yan was angry, he maintained a gentle expression before the professor, as if he were simply concerned for the other students in the class. “Professor, may I ask why Yu Xia was approved for leave? Is it confirmed that he won’t be participating in the school’s unified military training?”
The name Yu Xia had left a deep impression on Professor Zhong. His first impression of the student who had entered the class last was that his grades were truly impressive. His second impression was the news that the boy suffered from severe Mental Power Disorder. His third impression came from seeing Yu Xia in person on registration day.
This child was truly good-looking!
Professor Zhong thought about Yu Xia’s Mental Power Disorder again, then looked at Yu Xia, who appeared no different from a normal person, and felt an even deeper sense of pity.
How could such a fine child suffer from this disease? Fortunately, the boy seemed to be in good spirits, so his condition likely wasn’t too dire yet.
Consequently, Professor Zhong couldn’t help but be a bit kinder to Yu Xia, even softening his tone significantly when speaking of him.
Now that he heard the class monitor mention Yu Xia’s name, he immediately recalled the details. “Oh, you mean Yu Xia? Yes, he isn’t participating in the unified military training. His training is handled by a specialized person and won’t be conducted alongside the rest of you”.
Having received a definitive answer, Shao Yan pressed further, “But why? Why does Yu Xia receive special treatment?”
Professor Zhong realized what was happening. He looked at Shao Yan for a moment before finally saying, “Since the school has granted approval, there is naturally a valid reason for it”.
Shao Yan instantly felt he had found an ally. He looked at Professor Zhong and asked, “Professor, do you not know either?”
Professor Zhong shook his head as if it were obvious. “I do know. Yu Xia is a student in my class; of course I have to know his situation. Yu Xia’s training is unified and led by Professor Wen from the Imperial Star Mental Power Research Institute, and it’s supervised by the fourth-year Command Department Chairman, Qin Yizheng. Yu Xia’s situation was personally reported to the school leadership by Chairman Qin, who provided sufficient evidence that he cannot be trained alongside ordinary people. But Yu Xia hasn’t escaped military training either; his physical training will take seven years, if not longer. That’s far longer than your one month of military training, so there’s no need to focus so much on Yu Xia. It’s unnecessary”.
“But why is someone from a different major instructing a student in our class? Is that appropriate?” Shao Yan still refused to give up.
Professor Zhong paused, seemingly only just considering that question, but he quickly found a suitable reason. “Oh, why is Qin Yizheng supervising Yu Xia? He probably recognizes Yu Xia’s potential. The Command and Mecha Departments have always been friendly toward the Mechanical Department students with high mental power. Yu Xia’s mental power is high, and after Qin Yizheng found out, he likely wanted to recruit him as his exclusive mechanic. Such things happen often. Besides, helping Yu Xia supervise his physical training is beneficial for Qin Yizheng too; he can earn quite a few credits this way, and credits in the Command Department aren’t easy to come by”.
Shao Yan wanted to say more, but Professor Zhong cut him off. “Are there any other questions? Our class’s military training list needs to be handed over to the instructor soon. Are you ready?”
Shao Yan tightened his grip on the list and nodded. “It’s ready, I’ll hand it over now”.
However, as Shao Yan left the office, the more he thought about it, the more unreconciled he felt. He looked at the list in his hand, bit his lip, and decided to go back and print a new copy.
Meanwhile, Yu Xia, the person who was the source of Shao Yan’s intense resentment, was currently in his own dormitory. Having just finished an hour of running, he was slumped over the armrest of the treadmill, panting heavily, unable to catch his breath for a long time.
Since Professor Wen had visited Yu Xia’s dorm, many pieces of equipment in the gym had been modified, with many intelligent functions added.
The first to be modified, naturally, was the treadmill Yu Xia used frequently.
According to Yu Xia’s previous exercise habits, while it was tiring, it was still acceptable. Now, however, while Professor Wen hadn’t made changes to the original training schedule, he had tinkered significantly with the training machines.
The current treadmill would immediately accelerate the moment Yu Xia had just adapted to the previous speed, forcing him to re-adjust to the new pace.
After an hour of this, Yu Xia felt he had run much more than before. He slowly sat down on the floor. “Professor Wen is way too ruthless. How did he change the treadmill into this? Sooner or later, I’m going to change it back!”
As the person responsible for supervising Yu Xia’s exercise, Qin Yizheng poured him a glass of water. “Professor Wen said that while your previous exercise mode was useful, the effects were too slow. What you need to do now is develop your body’s current upper limits as quickly as possible. While this extreme mode is exhausting and harsh, it should indeed be effective for your current state. After all, your current physical condition is somewhat dangerous”.
After taking a sip of water, Yu Xia finally calmed down a bit. He looked up at Qin Yizheng, who was standing beside him. “Is exercising like this really useful?”
Qin Yizheng sat down beside him as well. “It’s useful. This should be the way to quickly enter the next phase in a short time. Your current constitution is D+, which still belongs to the low-tier category. It’s relatively easy for a constitution at this stage to improve. Your previous way of exercising was also useful, but it takes too much time…”
At this point, he gave Yu Xia a deep look. “What you lack most right now is time. You don’t have that much time to waste on a D-rank constitution; we need to get you to C-rank as soon as possible”.
Yu Xia’s eyes brightened. “Can a constitution really be promoted that quickly?”
Qin Yizheng nodded. “Going from D to C is indeed relatively fast; with high potential, it can take just a few weeks. But after that, it gets difficult. Even if you forcibly break through the upper limit this way, you’ll quickly revert to your original state and need a long time to stabilize. Furthermore, after reaching C-rank, you can’t frequently force breakthroughs like this; it’s bad for the body. You should stop when you reach the critical threshold, so the process will slow down afterward”.
“I see.” Yu Xia held the water glass and took another sip. “So right now, I need to reach C-rank as quickly as possible and can’t waste any more time at D-rank”.
Qin Yizheng stood up. “Exactly. You’ve just finished one round today. I’ll record the values on the treadmill; you’ll have to run another round later this afternoon. In the evening, I’ll send the data to Professor Wen for analysis. In a few weeks, you should be able to promote to C-. Since you’ve already trained your constitution to D+, it should be even faster”.
Yu Xia finished the entire glass of water in one gulp and set the glass on the floor with great bravado. “That’s great! How about I go for another round right now?”
Qin Yizheng immediately held down the eager Yu Xia. “Get back here. You’ve just finished one round; where would you get the physical strength for another? Rest well!”
Yu Xia gave an “Oh” and then, as if suddenly remembering something, asked Qin Yizheng, who was recording the data from the treadmill, “Qin-ge, how did you suddenly become my physical training supervisor?”
Qin Yizheng’s movements paused for a split second before he continued as if nothing were wrong. “What do you mean ‘suddenly’? I was the one who handed in your medical reports. So, isn’t it only natural that I would become your current physical training supervisor?”
Yu Xia tilted his head. “Is that so?”
After recording all the data, Qin Yizheng gave his final verdict, “That’s exactly how it is”.
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