Support Recruitment

After all, the Elite Phases in the system would only grant you the strongest abilities. But after undergoing an enhancement, the host should have realized that possessing an ability did not mean being able to fully use it. For example, host, you still had not fully brought out the effects of that acceleration talent.

Mastering abilities took time, and continuing to develop them after two Elite Phases also required talent.

And the higher a character's star rating, the easier it was to accomplish that.

"I see. Now I understand."

"Then, System, just reinstall yourself on your own. Let me enjoy a rare day without having to grind the training grounds at night."

Hey, hey, I never forced you to soak in the training grounds every day. Don't make me sound like some heartless system.

Please do not blame the system for the host's compulsive grinding behavior.

"Fine, but you have to understand how urgent it feels for me to gain power."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xia Ling felt her consciousness return to her body.

At the same time, prompts for the system's uninstalling and reinstalling progress sounded in her mind.

"Students, today I'd like to introduce a new teacher."

After the morning's first class ended, Himeko did not immediately leave the classroom. Instead, she remained at the podium and announced the news.

"A new teacher? Is it a man or a woman? Are they good-looking?"

"Looks can't fill your stomach. Shouldn't the important question be whether they're strict?"

"That does seem more important..."

However, the whispers below did not last long. Himeko soon cleared her throat and called brightly toward the door, "Xia Ling, come in."

As the classroom door opened a crack, Xia Ling first poked her head in and looked around before entering.

This had practically become an unconscious habit for Xia Ling. Theresa had noticed it, but she did not point it out. She merely speculated privately with Himeko that it might have resulted from Xia Ling spending a long time in dangerous environments.

That speculation was not entirely wrong. After all, the trials really were dangerous. And for now, her wary little-animal-like mannerisms seemed downright adorable to most people.

For example, the students below the podium.

"Wow, is that the new teacher? She's so tiny, so cute, and she looks so well-behaved."

"She'd definitely feel amazing to hug, hehehe."

"Hey, hey, why are you drooling?!"

"Kiana, Kiana." Mei secretly poked Kiana beside her and asked softly, "There's something I don't understand."

"Huh? You're asking me?" Kiana pointed at herself with one hand, looking utterly baffled. But she had always been willing to help Mei. "Sure, Mei, ask away. I'll do my best to explain it."

Mei's purple eyes were filled with enormous confusion. "Why is it that Bronya is also tiny and expressionless—actually, even more so than Sister Xia Ling—yet the other students have never been this... uh, enthusiastic toward Bronya?"

"Hehe, Mei, you asked the right person." Kiana looked smug. At this moment, she finally understood how top students felt when they explained things to others. "It's the contrast, Mei."

"Contrast?"

"That's right. They're both expressionless lolis, but Sister Xia Ling has an even more important cute point: she's a teacher. Someone in such an imposing profession is actually a little girl who looks like she might squat down with her hands over her head at any moment. Mei, don't you think that's incredibly cute?"

"To make an analogy, Mei, you can think of it as the reason Auntie is so popular."

While Kiana was teaching Mei this little piece of "knowledge," Xia Ling had also finished introducing herself.

This was an identity she had improvised yesterday with Himeko and Theresa. She was supposedly a Valkyrie who had retired from Schicksal. Due to severe injuries and the deaths of her teammates, she could only take up educational work.

Of course, this excuse should not have held up under scrutiny. But although Otto had agreed to protect Schicksal, the Valkyries he sent there generally concealed their identities. Fu Hua had not returned to Schicksal recently either, and she would hardly specifically ask Otto about a newly arrived teacher. After all, her mission was merely to monitor Kiana's condition.

"So, for the next while, Teacher Xia Ling will assist me with managing the class. If any teacher has something urgent to attend to, Teacher Xia Ling may also substitute for them. If any of you have questions, you may seek Teacher Xia Ling's help as well."

Seeing that Xia Ling had more or less finished her introduction, Himeko stepped forward and brought it to a close.

"Alright, I won't take up any more of everyone's time. If you have anything you want to ask, you can ask Teacher Xia Ling during study hall. Now then, the next class is..."

"Sister Himeko, the next teacher has been waiting at the door for quite a while," Xia Ling reminded her softly.

"Oh, Teacher Yang. Sorry, sorry, I took up some of your time."

Only then did Himeko realize that the history teacher had been standing at the door watching for some time. She hurriedly apologized.

"It's fine, it's fine. If Teacher Himeko has something else to say, please continue. It won't delay anything." Welt waved his hand to show that he did not mind.

After saying that, he looked curiously at Xia Ling and asked Himeko, "Teacher Himeko, this is...?"

"Oh, this is Xia Ling. She was transferred here yesterday. Since she isn't familiar with the academy's affairs yet, I'm keeping her by my side as a teaching assistant for now."

"Ah, I see. No wonder I hadn't seen her before." Welt extended his hand to Xia Ling. "Hello, Teacher Xia Ling. It's a pleasure to work with you."

Though she did not quite understand why, Xia Ling still shook Welt's hand. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Xia Ling followed Himeko out of the classroom.

Strange... Welt's gaze deepened as he taught, pondering Xia Ling's situation from earlier.

There should not have been any recent transfer orders for new teachers. When they shook hands just now, he could clearly sense that the energy fluctuations within this young lady were not weak. Where exactly had she come from...?

What Xia Ling did not know was that, to prevent Welt from encountering Valkyries he had met before during his infiltration, Dr. Tesla had always kept track of each round of Valkyrie job transfers for him. After all, St. Freya Academy's firewall was practically nonexistent to Anti-Entropy.

As a result, the identity that seemed perfectly fine to Xia Ling was full of suspicious details in Welt's eyes.

Meanwhile, Xia Ling, completely unaware of this, was still handling all sorts of job handover work with Himeko.

Assistance Recruitment

"My dear student Kiana, if you sleep during study hall again, I'll have to limit the amount of time you can spend gaming at night."

"Oh, no, that seems like treating the symptoms but not the root cause. How about this? When the time comes, Bronya and I will team up. No matter what game you play, we'll make alt accounts and snipe you until you have absolutely no gaming experience. How does that sound?"

Standing beside Kiana's desk, Xia Ling reached out and vigorously ruffled the white-haired ball curled up on the desk.

"Wah, Sister Xia Ling, are you a demon? You have to be a demon, right?!" Kiana's head was being thoroughly mauled by Xia Ling, but she did not dare resist at all. She could only lie on the desk and wail, "I won't sleep anymore! I won't sleep, okay? Sister Xia Ling, please don't ruin my gaming experience!"

"Hmph. With your skill level, you don't have any gaming experience even without someone sniping you."

Xia Ling finally withdrew her hand from Kiana's soft white hair and tapped the desk. "Hurry up and read for a while. School is almost over, and you're still sleeping."

"O-okay."

Watching Kiana miserably pull out a book and begin reviewing, Xia Ling nodded with satisfaction and slowly returned to the podium.

Before she knew it, Xia Ling's life as a teaching assistant had already lasted four days.

The teachers at St. Freya were all very reliable. During those four days, not a single teacher had asked Xia Ling to substitute for them because of personal matters or any other reason.

Thus, over those four days, Xia Ling only appeared in the classroom during the study hall before school ended each afternoon and during the noon break.

Although she did not appear often, Xia Ling had left an extremely deep impression on the students in the class.

Besides rigorously keeping Kiana under control every day, Xia Ling's terrible sense of direction had also been thoroughly exposed over the past few days.

The first victim was none other than their honest Class President, Fu Hua.

Over four days, this dedicated Class President had pointed Xia Ling toward the office five times, personally leading her there three of those times.

The other students had also experienced, to varying degrees, Xia Ling randomly appearing somewhere and asking for directions.

It was not until Bronya could no longer stand it that she secretly modified the navigation function of Xia Ling's teacher terminal, risking a violation of school rules, and finally eased the situation.

However, Xia Ling's dignity was probably beyond saving now. Tragic.

Still, today was a day Xia Ling had been looking forward to for a long time.

Because once midnight passed tonight, it would have been exactly seven days since she last participated in a trial.

In other words, Xia Ling would once again embark on a trial tonight.

But if it were merely a trial, it would not have made Xia Ling this excited.

What truly gave Xia Ling such enormous motivation was the compensation she had received after the system upgrade was completed three days ago.

In the system mailbox, besides the six Originium Ingots from the beginner's gift pack, there was also a lengthy apology letter and a compensation gift pack.

And inside that compensation gift pack lay something that made Xia Ling's eyes light up.

Advanced Senior Operator Training Invitation

It could directly promote one acquired character card to Elite Phase 2.

Xia Ling was no stranger to this item. In the gift packs from Arknights in her previous life, it had not exactly been rare.

But to the current Xia Ling, this item was exceptionally precious.

Just Elite 1 had allowed Xia Ling, who had originally been an ordinary person, to gain power sufficient to contend with a B-rank Valkyrie. She did not even dare imagine how powerful a six-star would become after reaching Elite 2.

At the very least, she should be able to trade blows with Sister Tazi.

That way, at least in the early stages of the plot, she would have the qualifications to enter the fray.

And now, she only needed another five Originium Ingots to obtain the half-price six-star voucher in the shop.

After asking the system, Xia Ling learned that clearing the Third Floor would grant a total reward of six Originium Ingots, two Hope, and one random collectible.

Wasn't that perfect? It was exactly enough.

So Xia Ling was now brimming with confidence, ready to trade blows with the little boss of the third stage.

Night soon arrived.

Under Kiana's puzzled gaze, Xia Ling shut off the game early. Using the excuse that she had stayed up too late last night and was sleepy today, she returned to her room early.

Though "early" here meant nearly midnight.

After taking a shower in advance and returning to her room, Xia Ling did as she said. She got into bed early and closed her eyes.

"System, hurry, hurry, hurry. I can't wait any longer. Bring on the new trial already."

The moment she entered the system space, Xia Ling eagerly called out to the system.

Got it, got it. Host, you're in such a hurry—be careful you don't get blocked in by an emergency, okay?

"What am I afraid of? I'll just kill, kill, kill. Worst case, I restart."

Xia Ling planted her hands on her hips, utterly confident.

You'd better stay that confident when a whole group of people is chasing you down.

The system made a snarky comment before beginning the trial.

Please select difficulty.

"Challenge Nature -1."

Challenge Nature -1 selected. Enemy difficulty +0, Cipher Plate modifier chance 0%, standard environment.

Cultural Comparison Bonus Level: 43

Please select a squad.

"Choose the Logistics Squad."

Starting with Logistics was the best opening Xia Ling had found after bringing herself to Elite 1.

After reaching Elite 1, Xia Ling could handle most ordinary combat stages, and she could simply run away from emergency operations. Therefore, the strategy of skipping stages with three Cipher Plates like when she had first transmigrated was no longer suitable.

Since Xia Ling did not have any other characters right now, the various tactical squads were basically useless as well.

That left only the Logistics Squad.

Not only could she gamble for collectibles on the First Floor to strengthen herself, but even if she failed to get any, she could choose to save money. Faced with a savings system that would not malfunction, Xia Ling's saving efficiency was still quite high.

Please select a recruitment set.

"As You Wish."

Because of the special nature of Xia Ling's weapon, the system could classify her as any of Guard, Sniper, or Specialist. Thus, Xia Ling usually chose As You Wish at the start. If all three professions really were unavailable, she could just restart.

Three Recruitment Vouchers gradually appeared on the light screen before Xia Ling: Advanced Defender, Guard, Medic.

Skilledly opening the Guard Recruitment Voucher and selecting herself, Xia Ling was just about to proceed to the next step when the system suddenly stopped her.

Wait, host. Don't rush ahead just yet.

Look, is the Assistance Recruitment option on your Recruitment Voucher glowing?

"!" Xia Ling quickly opened the Advanced Defender Recruitment Voucher. Sure enough, in the upper-right corner of the screen, the Assistance Recruitment option had changed from dim gray to orange-yellow.

Because the host has already formed Bonds in reality. Anyone who truly considers you a friend in their heart will appear in Assistance Recruitment.

"Wow, is this the legendary sincerity detector?" Xia Ling was eager to try it out. "Say, System, what if I open it and there's no one there at all? That would be so awkward."