All students of the four military academies participated in the Empire’s Military Academy League. The winners were decided through three matches. The order this year has already been released. The First Military Academy would face off against the Second, and the Third against the Fourth. The winners would battle once more to decide the ultimate victor.
The students of the various military academies came together to simulate both sides of a war, applying everything they had learned during the simulation. Unlike the military academies of other countries that took a more cautious approach and conducted the battle online using full dive technology, the League featured actual physical fights.
The military academy that won each not only gained the right to lord it over the other three and bring it up like a trump card when arguing about which academy was the best, but priority access to various resources issued by the Empire.
So the students were not the only ones rather tense right now. The teachers were at each other’s throats and shouting at the top of their lungs during lessons everyday.
The guns and other equipment used during the League were all the newest models, the same ones used in the military.
Only the ammunition was specifically designed to not cause injury. In addition, students were required to wear a sensor on their wrists.
An artificial intelligence would keep track of feedback from the sensors in real time to determine if a participant would be disqualified due to injury.
The leaders of each faction during the League would be chosen from the current year’s graduates. Of course, the commander-in-charge would be selected from the command department.
The rest of the years were given ranks based on the number of points they had, so seniors often received a more active role. Lower years, especially first years that were still excluded from the points competition, were basically relegated to serving as minor characters like foot soldiers. Still, even this excited them. Everyone hoped for a chance to show off their skills once the League commenced.
Yet in truth the League has already started in terms of preparation. While the lower years were still buzzing around on the forums discussing whether specific models of guns would be used this year or if His Majesty would come to watch, their seniors about to graduate were gather intel on their opponents and formulating appropriate strategies and plans.
At this very moment, a small group of seniors from the Second Military Academy who each had enough points to secure leadership positions were having a meeting.
The boy with the glasses organized and displayed all the intel they had gathered so far to his companions. He pointed to one line in particular. “There’s nothing remarkable about the publicly available info so far. Even his psychic power barely meets the threshold to enrol in a military academy.”
April was sitting next to him, leaning back in his chair and chewing gum. He wasn’t the one in charge of the meeting. His major was in mecha, not command. He understood quite clearly that he could give his opinion, but the authority of the commander was absolute.
Yet as a Level S, the brunt of the combat operation undoubtedly relied on April.
The glasses boy was their commander who came up with the strategies. This course of action was quite normal. After all, Level S psychics were existences able to turn the tide of battle at critical moments.
The tall boy with messy hair raised his hand first. He was number one in the engineering department.
“He’s still just a first year student. Personally, I think it might have just been a psychic meltdown during his development period that caught April off-guard.”
His initial analysis was reasonable, but then it veered into being outrageous, “And this new kid’s Ye He’s little brother to boot. Ye He, ah. The guy who’s beat April so many times. The kid definitely picked up a few things from him since their family. I would bet anything that Ye He imparted a few tricks to his little brother so he could wipe the floor with April. If it were me–”
The bubble April was blowing popped quietly. The tall boy immediately straightened in his seat, coughed a bit, and got serious.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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April suddenly sat properly in his chair and joined the discussion, “I had my guard up then.”
Everyone at the conference table looked over.
“He appeared so conspicuously back then that I thought it was a trap. I might be confident in my own capabilities, but I would never take Ye He lightly. I approached him in my best state, even using psychic power to no avail. He didn’t seem to have felt my attack at all. Instead, I was the one who was attacked.”
A girl raised her hand. “If we make the assumption that he’s an outlier, then perhaps another explanation emerges. What if his lack of control due to being a first year led him to attack April and expose himself?”
The others concurred.
“The Level B psychic power is also easy to explain. Everyone knows that Level S freshmen are sometimes registered at first as a Level A or B to prevent the other military academies from poaching them. Their file would them be updated once their development period is over.”
The glasses boy adjusted his glasses and came to his conclusions as the commander.
“It is better to overestimate than under. A Level S psychic has too much influence on the battlefield, so we’ll start strategizing under the assumption that he’s a secret weapon. Even if he is Level S, he’s just a first year. He has minimal advantage against the already mature April.”
“The other party is Ye He’s little brother, so bribing is off the table. Doing so would only expose the fact that we already know.”
He turned the file he was holding over and said slowly and methodically.
“Thus, I would like to take care of our opponents’ trump card at the very start of the tournament.”
……
[The Military Academy League will start soon. Everyone, please get ready for boarding in twenty minutes.]
The battlefield the Military Academy League would take place on was a small planet near the imperial capital with all sorts of complex terrain for various scenarios. This planet was normally used for exercises and had a legion stationed on it at all times.
As the announcement was broadcasted across the entire academy, every student also received a message on their terminals. Ye Yun was still unhurriedly staying in his dorm suite. It was Ye Muo beside him who got up and went to the door. He stood there and looked back once he realized Ye Yun wasn’t coming.
All the students had been preparing since morning. Both of them had already changed into their First Military Academy combat uniforms long ago.
Ye Yun patted the chair next to him.
“What’s the rush? Sit down and inject your medication for the day first.”
Ye Muo just sat down when Ye Yun pressed him down by the shoulder and went behind him. He held several vials to a spot just below Ye Muo’s neck. Sharp needles emerged as soon as the head of the vials made contact and injected a cocktail of drugs into Ye Muo’s body.
Ye Yun’s movements were quick and skilled. He soon finished injecting everything. Ye Muo would always dawdle for a long time if he had to do it himself because he feared needles.
Ye Yun tossed all the empty vials into the trash before pressing a cotton swab to the slightly bleeding injection site.
“I’ve put the doses for the next few days in my fridge. You know the password. The League should last several days, and participants aren’t allowed to bring anything other than standard issue equipment, so big brother said he’ll let you withdraw on day two. Then you can come here and administer the injections yourself.”
“En.”
Ye Yun quickly finished packing and extended a hand towards Ye Muo. “Come one. The League’s about to start.”
When they came outside, four distinct lines had formed in front of several battleships. The four military academies’ combat uniforms differed in both style and colour so it was easy to tell them apart. At the forefront of each team stood their respective commander-in-chief.
Ye Yun pulled Ye Muo to the back of First Military Academy’s line and mingled in. Ye He had been here for a while. He stood at the very front as their commander-in-chief. Behind him were the mecha pilots, the communications officers, medics and so on.
The first years who had yet to choose a major were all assigned as unattributed soldiers, including Ye Yun.
Every unattributed soldier was an unspecialized first year. The knew only a bit of everything and couldn’t beat any of the seniors in single combat. They were normally used as cannon fodder and more or less just used to fill space.
Aside from particularly fortunate individuals who could survive until the end and maybe get to leave an impression, most of the first years would be taken off the field within a few hours. How long they lasted depended mainly on when the commander-in-chief decided to use them.
But in this clearing filled with people properly dressed in combat uniforms, tensions ran high. The various military academies shot each other looks laced with venom as the scent of gunpowder wafted through the air. Even little cannon fodder first years like them at the very back glared viciously at the students from the other academies nearest them.
Although he had been planning for a while to muddle his way through and leave as soon as possible, Ye Muo was infected by the atmosphere and tensed.
He asked his seniors a long time ago and they said it didn’t hurt to be disqualified by getting hit by a bullet. Getting cornered in physical combat was a miserable way to go, however. You might get beaten up.
Ye Yun gently pushed Ye Muo. “Boarding is starting. Don’t get lost in thought.”
Ye Muo quickly caught up with the line. He was more vocal than usual, “I’m a little nervous. One of the seniors said I might get beaten up if my luck isn’t good.”
Ye Yun didn’t even blink. “What are you nervous about? Who would dare to beat you up when you’re with me. Don’t worry, I’ll find an opportunity to shoot you and get you out.”
A little over ten minutes after they boarded the warship, it had already landed. The planet this time had been altered to allow warships to land directly on its surface, so there was no need to jump down to their base.
The warship navigated skilfully into a building shaped like a bird’s nest. As soon as its doors opened, students streamed out in an orderly manner. The warship had landed in the centre of a circular hall.
When the battle started later, this would serve as the base of the First Military Academy.
Several instructors were stationed as guards outside. One of them was a familiar face, Aaron.
When everyone was out of the warship and standing in place, Aaron shouted.
“Step forward, Commander.”
Ye He took a step forward. He had already put on the commander’s uniform. As his boots collided crisply with the floor, the medal on his chest and his cloak swayed a little.
“No warships may be used during battle. Mechs are allowed, but only to fight with other mechs or conduct strafing fire. Directly attacking people with them is prohibited. That’s all! Understood?”
Ye He’s gaze was firmly fixed on the instructor. He replied resoundingly, “Understood!”
“Very well. As you all should know, His Majesty is currently in attendance in the command tower, watching all of you. Honour him by offering him victory!”
Ye He was the first to give a military salute. “May imperial glory endure, and Grantz forever be immortalized.”
The students of the First Military Academy then followed their commander to salute and call out in unison.
“May imperial glory endure, and Grantz forever be immortalized!”
Translator’s Corner
A reminder that this novel will be protected by a password starting from the next chapter.
The sitewide password, which changes weekly (?), can be found on the Chrysanthemum Garden Discord server in the channel #password-lock.
Dad and cub will officially meet in three chapters!
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Thank you for the chapter. Eager for this 3 chapter countdown.
+1 can’t wait for them to finally meet!!
Can’t wait for them to meet
Thanks for the chapter
I’m so happy, so damn happy! I was waiting for their reunion since the beginning! Thank you for your efforts in translating this wonderful novel!
Oh, I also had a question. If it isn’t rude, can I please ask you how you read the the novel directly from the source? I tried raw sites and jjwxc but the google translate can’t help that far 🥲
Wahhh Waiting!!!! Thanks for the update 😍🎉
honestly Ye Muo is like a hidden bomb in my eyes… his unstable psychic power is waiting for who’s gonna accidentally ignite and blow themselves up in the process.
so, lighting candle and pray for April teams, to not be fcked too hard in their plan attacking Ye Muo 🕯️
Meeting!
Also, I wonder if Norton (bio dad) intentionally demonstrated coving the sword with psychic power so that Xiao Muo would see it and learn.
it’s so funny to think that they think he’s a hidden ace, and they’re over ther4e playing on shooting him to get him out QAQ