Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

With her concerns eased, Mentor Fang no longer worried about Ruo Manni. She watched as Ruo Manni eliminated an opponent and, after scanning her surroundings for threats, found a spot to sit and rest. She opened the assessment comment section.

Sure enough, there were many heated discussions about Ruo Manni’s performance, all at the top of the page.

“At first, I thought the Xuan Gu First Military Academy had lowered its admission standards. How could a Level Three late-stage warrior participate in the mecha combat assessment? But then she plucked a leaf and, wow, just tossed it, and it stuck to the tree like a nail. Is this for real? I’m a Level Four warrior and can’t do that! How did a Level Three warrior manage it? I haven’t graduated from a higher institution, so my experience is limited. I seek the wisdom of experts…”

“The commenter above is short-sighted. Don’t focus on her being a Level Three warrior; it’s clear she must be a psychic! The level of a psychic isn’t easy to discern, and who knows what her level is? But if her warrior level is already late-stage Level Three, I can’t imagine her psychic level…”

“To be able to use leaves as weapons, this girl’s psychic level must be no less than late-stage Level Four. A fifteen-year-old Level Four psychic? Which planet is this genius from?”

“I heard that the eldest daughter of the Olli family from the Imperial Capital has the best psychic talent among this year’s candidates from the Gus Empire. Could this be her?”

“Impossible! That young lady has been stuck at Level Two for a long time, and her psychic level is only mid-Level Four. This girl is at a higher level, and her hair color is different—this girl has black hair, while that young lady has red hair.”

“…The psychic talents of this age group in the Gus Empire don’t match up with this girl…”

“So she’s a dark horse…”

“Right, she must be a dark horse. I’ve never heard of her…”

—

Mentor Fang looked around; the building had already risen over three thousand floors. This area was only accessible to candidates’ parents and mentors, indicating that many people had taken notice of Ruo Manni.

A sense of pride swelled within Fang; this was her student. So what if they were from a marginally ranked star? There was still a genius who stood out. However, to ensure Ruo Manni’s safety, Fang suppressed her desire to boast and held back from making a fuss.

Ruo Manni, on the other hand, didn’t share Fang’s pride. At this rate of combat, her psychic energy would be over half depleted in less than four hours. If she continued, there was no way she could last for eight hours.

The assessment lasted an hour, and there were still over sixty thousand candidates left in the assessment area, with more than thirty thousand already eliminated. It was evident that the remaining candidates would only become stronger and harder to deal with as time went on.

In this environment, it was impossible for Ruo Manni to hide and meditate to recover, as candidates had a visible map of a 500-meter radius.

Although Ruo Manni also had a map, that distance meant little to Level Four candidates. With a quick sprint, they could reach her in mere seconds, likely before she even had a chance to react.

After all, Ruo Manni’s martial level was too low, making her vulnerable to ambushes from Level Four warriors, so she had to stay alert to prevent surprise attacks.

Whenever candidates approached and saw Ruo Manni, a mid-Level Three warrior, with so many points, their eyes would immediately light up with greed. To them, she was like a walking point-generating machine.

However, those with sharper minds and higher awareness would quickly notice that she was all alone, which made them more cautious.

Intelligent candidates would surely wonder how such a low-level girl could have so many points. There must be some trick involved. They would either deduce that she had the ability to eliminate many candidates or that she wasn’t truly alone. Candidates who thought like this would often turn around and flee.

Of course, intelligent candidates were rare. Most were too young and inexperienced, lacking the wisdom to see beyond their own strength. Upon spotting Ruo Manni, they couldn’t resist rushing in, hoping to snatch easy points.

Naturally, none of them even got close to her; they were swiftly eliminated before they knew what hit them. Only after being eliminated did they start to realize that the girl must be a psychic and think back on the odd circumstances of the situation.

For psychic practitioners with lower levels, many candidates actually knew ways to deal with them. Unfortunately, they only saw Ruo Manni as a mid-Level Three warrior and failed to consider the illogical aspects of the situation, regretting it only after being eliminated.

Each candidate defeated by Ruo Manni’s leaves was surprised and unwilling to accept their defeat, desperately trying to find out who that girl was.

After investigating, they discovered there was no trace of her. The eliminated candidates couldn’t help but vent their frustration online. How could such a powerful psychic and skilled martial artist not be mentioned in any of the imperial forums discussing talented youths?

Were those news bloggers just idle? There wasn’t a shred of information about her; otherwise, they wouldn’t be so careless.

A post titled “Seeking Information on that Black-Haired Genius Girl” gained traction in the examination forum and even made the headlines, featuring a video of the girl tossing leaves.

Ruo Manni, unaware that she was trending and being sought after, focused solely on defeating candidates.

After over three hours of fighting with no battle experience, her psychic energy was depleted more than she had anticipated, while the exam still had about four hours left. She had no choice but to adopt a guerrilla strategy, avoiding battles to conserve her energy.

Ruo Manni had already scored 1,561 points, placing her 1,120th in the examination area. As long as she remained cautious and didn’t get eliminated, she was sure to survive until the end.

She realized that although her martial arts level was lower than all her opponents, she had hardly faced them head-on. By using her mixed psychic flight technique, she expended very little stamina, allowing her to fully utilize her combat skills.

However, the other warrior candidates were certainly different; after several hours of battling, their stamina was significantly depleted.

With time dragging on, while Ruo Manni was still able to maintain her energy, her martial skills, although not enough to defeat those candidates, made it easy for her to escape when her opponents were fatigued.

As expected, once Ruo Manni adopted a strategy of avoidance, the number of direct confrontations with candidates decreased. Plus, after fighting for so long, she had figured out how much psychic energy she needed to strike effectively while minimizing consumption. This way, her psychic energy usage significantly reduced.

After hiding for another half hour, Ruomanni found herself unable to avoid a confrontation with a late-Level Four warrior; her opponent was too strong, and she couldn’t escape in time.