Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

However, the matter of custom mechas is a future concern. For Ruo Manni, the most important thing right now is to quickly improve her combat ability.

Aoi Dan, that malicious female antagonist, lives right next door. As expected, she came to find Ruo Manni after school, even ignoring the “no disturbances” sign she had put up and knocking on her door. This persistence showed that Aoi Dan hadn’t given up and still wanted to plot against her.

Although Ruo Manni pretended not to hear, Aoi Dan eventually had to give up after repeated knocking. However, avoiding her is not a long-term solution; it only provides temporary relief, and Ruo Manni herself doesn’t like this suffocating feeling.

According to the novel’s trajectory, Aoi Dan is set to enter the Xuan Gu First Military Academy this year, so there’s only so long Ruo Manni can hide.

Aoi Dan has memories from her past life and is surely very familiar with the Imperial Star and the Xuan Gu First Military Academy, while Ruo Manni feels completely lost in this unfamiliar environment. As long as Aoi Dan is determined to find her, Ruo Manni might not be able to escape her grasp.

Don’t underestimate Aoi Dan, who is currently at the mid-level of a fourth-tier warrior. With her past experiences, her combat power is likely comparable to that of a late fourth-tier warrior.

In contrast, although Ruo Manni is a late fourth-tier telekinesis practitioner, her overall combat capability is currently weaker than that of an early fourth-tier warrior, meaning she would face a crushing defeat against Aoi Dan.

Even though the robotic butler left by Teresa Du is incredibly powerful, comparable to a sixth-tier warrior, there are countless ways to prevent it from being useful. If Ruo Manni lacks the ability to protect herself, she might as well be a lamb waiting for slaughter.

To ensure she has some self-defense capabilities, she must quickly raise her physical skills to the late third tier.

Ruo Manni believes that, given her current C-level warrior potential, reaching the third tier within a month isn’t too far-fetched.

While a fifteen-year-old third-tier warrior would still be at the bottom in the Xuan Gu First Military Academy, if her telekinesis level reaches early fifth tier, her overall combat strength could rival Aoi Dan.

In the morning, feeling guilty, Ruo Manni didn’t dare let Mentor Fang test her telekinesis level. However, based on the information she found online, it’s likely that her telekinesis level has already reached late fourth tier.

Last night, aside from learning object manipulation and meditation techniques from the battlefield, Ruo Manni didn’t acquire any other telekinesis skills.

This afternoon, she spent three hours practicing the telekinetic knife technique and made more progress than she expected. So she plans to experiment tonight in the battlefield, using leaves of similar weight to the knives to test the technique.

After training in swordsmanship and telekinetic knives during the day, she meditated to relax. In the evening, she studied cultural subjects, and soon it was time for bed. Ruo Manni lay down in the holographic gaming pod.

When Ruo Manni logged into the battlefield again, she noticed that the atmosphere in Sea Star City was even livelier than yesterday.

It seemed that after the official launch yesterday, players who entered the battlefield had a positive experience, confirming that this game is indeed different from other online games. The skills learned inside can also be practiced in the real world, tailored to individual strengths rather than being generic.

This may not attract wealthy and powerful families, but for ordinary people without opportunities, it represents a potential path to success.

Moreover, playing this game occurs while they sleep, not taking time away from their studies or jobs. Completing tasks also earns them gold coins, which can be exchanged for credit points—making it a win-win for the commoners.

Ruo Manni glanced at the player statistics for the battlefield and saw that the number of players logging in tonight had increased by hundreds of millions compared to yesterday, with a noticeable rise in the proportion of players using gaming helmets.

Although the imperial government had aggressively promoted the battlefield with substantial subsidies, making it affordable for most citizens to purchase holographic gaming pods, many poor people still couldn’t afford them. Until they were sure that the battlefield would indeed provide players with skills applicable in real life, they were reluctant to spend money on it.

Yesterday, after the launch of the War Realm, this news was confirmed, and the most affected were undoubtedly the lower-class citizens.

Because apart from the holographic game pods, there are also game helmets that impoverished people can strive to afford. Even if they can’t buy one for everyone in the family, they must at least get one for the child with the greatest potential for cultivation.

Although the game helmet doesn’t have the same direct effects on the body as the holographic pods, as long as players can learn skills suited to them and practice diligently in reality, the gap won’t be too wide. This might even be a chance to change their fate.

This is also why Ruo Manni noticed the significant increase in helmet users today; she felt that the promotion of War Realm was very successful. Unfortunately, the arrival of the aliens was too swift, and the entire Gus Empire’s population hadn’t had the chance to grow collectively.

Ruo Manni looked at the youth level leaderboard, where Lin Kexin was still ranked third, but the fourth place was taken by a male player with the ID “World’s Swordsman,” who was not the one originally behind her.

Ruo Manni stared at the ID “World’s Swordsman” for a while; it felt somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t recall any information about him from her readings.

So far, only six players have advanced to level 2, which is fewer than Ruo Manni had estimated.

This is because the youth are all students; during the day, they go to class, and can only log in at night after sleeping. Unlike adults, whose work schedules differ, leading to varied online times.

Seeing that her ranking on the leaderboard hadn’t changed and that very few players had reached level 2, Ruo Manni wasn’t in a hurry to rush through her upgrade tasks. She felt that she should take advantage of the relatively easy upgrade tasks to earn more coins to learn the level 2 mecha manufacturing skill.

In just over two months, Ruo Manni would have her major exam. According to the enrollment requirements for the Mecha Manufacturing program at the Xuan Gu First Military Academy, students needed to at least have a level 1 mecha maker certification to apply.

However, with the vast population of the Gus Empire—hundreds of billions of people—there were many talented individuals. The Xuan Gu First Military Academy selected candidates based on merit, and once the admission quota was filled, even the most outstanding candidates wouldn’t be accepted.

Ruo Manni believed that if she couldn’t advance to level 2 before the exam, even with her exceptional physical and mental stats, she might still struggle to get into the Mecha Manufacturing Department.

Of course, with her current stats, as long as she trained with the system, getting her level 2 mecha maker certification within a month or two was highly likely.