Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

No matter if Ruo Manni’s application was changed or if it was as simple as what she and Old Lin had found, there was no immediate conclusion; this needed to be investigated slowly.

For Mentor Fang, the immediate concern was more important. Ruo Manni was still young, and she needed to help her student maintain a positive and healthy mindset, studying and taking exams seriously like any ordinary student. She couldn’t let her fall into negative emotions like hatred or fear, as that would only ruin Ruo Manni.

Ruo Manni’s eyes flickered; she somewhat guessed Mentor Fang’s thoughts. After pondering for a while, she replied, “That should be the case, after all, I have never left this planet since I was born.”

Mentor Fang conveyed the information given by the Xuan Gu First Military Academy, confirming that Ruo Manni also believed her application wasn’t manipulated by anyone. She then shifted the topic to something else:

“Ruo Manni, I want to tell you that your performance is excellent. After two assessments, you ranked sixth, while Aoi Dan is in the two thousand range. She was once a well-known genius in Topaz Star, which shows how great your combat talent is.”

“While you were sleeping, the Xuan Gu First Military Academy issued a nationwide announcement on the Skynet. Due to the empire’s need for more advanced mech and manufacturing engineers, starting this year, the top ten candidates in both the mech and manufacturing departments will have the opportunity to attend the Xuan Gu First Military Academy for free.”

“Teachers checked past records, and previously only the top five students could receive free spots. Given your current ranking, obtaining a free spot in the combat department shouldn’t be difficult,” Mentor Fang told Ruo Manni, somewhat conflicted but excited about this good news.

This is definitely great news for talented candidates, as the tuition for the Xuan Gu First Military Academy is as prestigious as its name, ranking first among military academies in the empire.

The logistics department costs at least fifty thousand credit points per year, while the mech manufacturing department reaches as high as one hundred twenty thousand credits. Even the mech combat department requires a hundred thousand credits annually, not including living expenses.

This amount of credit points is unaffordable for an ordinary family.

Of course, there’s always a way out, especially for capable individuals.

It’s important to note that all candidates who can enter the Xuan Gu First Military Academy are exceptional young talents, and after graduation, they become highly sought after by various military forces.

Therefore, students who are accepted into the Xuan Gu First Military Academy but cannot afford the high tuition fees and do not wish to drop out have two options: either sign a “contract of servitude” with the military or accept “investments” from wealthy families to cover their tuition and living expenses.

Among these two choices, most students prefer to sign with the military. As military academy students, joining the armed forces is seen as the most correct and promising path.

Students from the Xuan Gu First Military Academy are undoubtedly among the elite of military academies, and once they enter the military, they are often given special attention and training, starting at a higher baseline than students from other academies.

Thus, even though the financial support from the military may not be as substantial as that from wealthy families, commoners typically choose to sign the “contract of servitude” because they won’t have to worry about their future after graduation and will receive prioritized training.

On the other hand, those who can pay their own tuition or receive scholarships have the freedom to choose their own career paths after graduation.

Mentor Fang knew that Ruo Manni’s ambition was to become an unrestrained mech engineer.

Moreover, Teresa Du had previously expressed her desire for Ruo Manni not to enter the highly regulated military, as that would mean they might not see each other for months or even years.

Although Teresa Du was missing, there was still no concrete evidence to confirm her death. Mentor Fang wanted to hold on to the hope that Teresa Du might return, respecting her wishes.

“The Xuan Gu First Military Academy has replied to us that if your mech engineering talent is indeed as outstanding as submitted, they can offer you a chance to retake the exam next year. However, even if you rank first, you will no longer have the opportunity for free tuition,” Mentor Fang said, feeling both proud of Ruo Manni’s excellence and somewhat troubled.

Having too much talent can also bring trouble; why can’t one have both fish and bear’s paw?

Mentor Fang only knew roughly how many credits Ruo Manni had before the game opened; she played the game herself and didn’t think Ruo Manni could earn much as a student.

After counting, she felt Ruo Manni’s credits might not be sufficient, but with her and Old Lin adding some more, it would cover Ruo Manni’s tuition and living expenses for five years.

However, this meant their lives would be quite tight for those five years since their income wasn’t high, and they still had to support their son.

Choosing a field of study was crucial for Ruo Manni’s future career path, impacting her entire life. After observing Ruo Manni’s performance in the assessment, Old Lin firmly believed she was a natural-born mech warrior and that going into mech engineering would be a waste of her talent.

Mentor Fang didn’t want to influence Ruo Manni’s choice, so she decided not to tell her about Old Lin’s evaluation just yet.

The more significant the matter, the more cautious she wanted to be. Mentor Fang aimed to avoid interfering with Ruo Manni’s decision, so after providing her with the relevant information, she left a message for Ruo Manni to take her time and consider her options tonight before making a decision.

Ruo Manni didn’t have much to hesitate about; she had already formed an idea during the latter part of the map assessment, so she made her decision in under three minutes.

During the map assessment, after collaborating with Neptune, Ruo Manni had received some subtle hints during a break about her application being modified. The empire was in urgent need of combat personnel, especially high-level telepaths.

Given her outstanding talent as a telepath, even if she didn’t want to enter the mech combat department and aimed for the mech engineering department instead, she might still be forcibly recruited into the combat department by the time of enrollment.

The novel didn’t mention this because both the male and female leads were military descendants with the primary goal of becoming soldiers, and even the telepath Mina-Olli aimed for the combat department; there was no mention of forced recruitment.

But novels are fiction, and reality is different. Ruo Manni was living in reality, and just because it wasn’t mentioned in the novel didn’t mean such policies didn’t exist.

Ruo Manni felt this was the normal way of things in reality, especially with a great enemy looming. Not only the Gus Empire but the entire Gumera star region needed star warriors capable of fighting in space.

According to the Gus Empire’s approach, starting this year, it was likely that not just those with exceptional combat talent would be forcibly admitted to the combat department. It was probable that all combat department graduates from military academies would no longer have the freedom to choose their careers as before but would instead be compelled to join the military.

When war approaches, even talented mech engineers are likely to be forcibly conscripted into the military.

Although the citizens of the Gus Empire generally believe that human rights are paramount, if someone touches this point, they can expect a public outcry on the internet.

However, in times of national crisis, the state’s will is prioritized above all else, and public opinion, no matter how loud, cannot change that.

After all, even the most foolish person knows that if the Gus Empire cannot survive, its citizens will no longer exist. So, regardless of the dissent surrounding forced conscription, unless people want their country to be destroyed, the public will not rebel against the government.