"I think once this battle's over, those monsters will finally surrender like good little dogs."
On the way to the training grounds, Xu De was still thinking about how he could get a slot.
Beside him, the new recruits who leaned toward Blue Cosmos kept chattering away.
"After all, they blew up Junius themselves just to protect their own skins."
Hearing his comrades nearby, Xu De couldn't help feeling a little speechless.
That was exactly the story pushed by the Atlantic Federation and Blue Cosmos.
Yet people around them kept agreeing, and it seemed plenty of them believed it.
Then again, all the new recruits here had enlisted voluntarily. Some had no money, some hoped to make something of themselves, and the rest wanted to defend a clean, blue universe.
In short, Blue Cosmos had thoroughly duped them.
Since Blue Cosmos had come to power, the anti-Coordinator factions had transformed themselves into the mainstream.
But that wasn't something Xu De was concerned with right now.
He had no intention of arguing, either. He simply turned to Hans and continued.
"Are you sure there'll be a slot this time?"
He was confident in his piloting skills.
He'd also spent two months studying the Moebius manual, and it was all still fresh in his mind.
Aside from the complications of inertia and other factors in space, the hardware controls were much like those of the fighter jets from his past life.
All in all, he had a good chance.
Compared with the new recruits here, his technical advantage was overwhelming.
"Probably. They want to motivate us new recruits, after all."
"I heard that if you get picked, you'll join a space fighter squadron and get officer treatment!"
"Once that happens, all the girls will be after us!"
Hans grew more and more excited as he spoke.
It was hard to tell whether he was more excited about the girls or the officer treatment.
Xu De didn't dwell on it. He just thought it over.
The fighter teams here were roughly equivalent to the flight squadrons from his old life, with three or four MAs—Moebiuses, of course.
As far as he knew, the Third Fleet currently had more than two hundred Mistrals, along with an unknown number of newly produced Moebiuses.
The hundred of them were originally meant to be assigned to the Third Fleet's 16th and 17th Heavy Regiments as Mistral pilots.
It sounded impressive, but in reality, they were more like the army's heavy mechanized brigades. They weren't even air units.
And the Mistrals they'd be flying were antiques more than ten years old.
But if he became a Moebius pilot, then according to Hans, he'd receive the pay and benefits of a probationary officer.
He'd start at the rank of second lieutenant. Even if his rank wasn't confirmed during the probationary period, it would still be a meteoric rise.
"But when you think about it, we don't stand a chance with only one slot."
"And flying that kind of unit on the battlefield would probably make us a target."
Before Xu De could say anything, Hans sighed and shook his head again.
Just as he said, flying an elite unit on the battlefield would draw focused fire from the enemy's Ginns.
For an ordinary new recruit, that would probably mean an even faster death.
Even if you got a unit, that didn't mean you could make good use of it in battle.
But Xu De was different. He already knew how to pilot a fighter jet. And compared to flying a Mistral and begging a Ginn to spare him, he'd rather take his chances in a Moebius.
"I'll give it my best shot."
"?"
Hans had still been struggling with his doubts, but when he met Xu De's resolute gaze, a fresh question surfaced in his mind.
His good buddy, who'd said they'd lie low together, earn their discharge pay, and go home, suddenly seemed like a different person...
Still, he didn't try to talk him out of it.
There were a hundred people here, and plenty of them wanted to make a name for themselves.
Xu De and Hans were both only average. Even if their genes suddenly mutated, they probably wouldn't pass the selection.
Hans shrugged, taking that as his answer.
Along the way, everyone except Xu De chatted excitedly and boisterously. They followed the slightly shabby corridor until they reached the familiar training area.
The training area was enormous, about the size of a soccer field.
It had plenty of room for their hundred-man unit and all the training equipment.
But at the center of the vast training area, there were three machines today that looked like simulators.
Or rather, they were simulators—Moebius simulators.
"I'm sure you've all heard about these. You know what they are!"
The blond instructor stood before them, speaking in a loud, booming voice.
"Yes, sir!"
Their response wasn't perfectly in unison, but there was a certain defiant spirit to it.
By Xu De's standards, it would have been unacceptable and earned them a thorough dressing-down.
But this red-faced instructor didn't seem too strict about discipline. Or perhaps standards were simply lax here.
As cannon fodder, they only needed to follow basic orders.
They were all replaceable screws, after all.
"Good!"
The blond instructor's face reddened as he spoke.
"My requirements are simple!"
"Whoever destroys the most enemy units in the upcoming simulated battle will get to pilot a Moebius!"
"And over the next three days, anyone who defeats a Moebius pilot can take over the unit!"
As the others cheered excitedly, Xu De took a deep breath.
All in all, the rules were simple. This was clearly a baited contest designed to select the elite.
The Moebius had only just entered widespread use. And apart from routine military exercises, every country in this world was about to fight a real space battle for the first time.
It wasn't surprising that the Federation had set up something like this to quickly identify and train truly capable pilots for space combat.
And this was his chance—a chance to show what he could do.
He had to prove himself and increase his value if he wanted to go further.
Becoming an elite and receiving special training would let him meet more people and find more opportunities in this world.
So whether for his safety in the upcoming battle or for his future, he had to get that Moebius.
As he thought, the Moebius's specifications and manual surfaced in his mind again.
Whoever had designed the Moebius cockpit—whether for the sake of realism or out of a lack of imagination—had made it almost identical to the cockpit of the fighter jets from his past life.
It also had various AI and operating-system assists, which made it even easier to handle.
It was like switching from a manual transmission to an automatic. There shouldn't be much of a problem.
The only real difficulty was that the complexity of space was far greater than that of aerial combat within the atmosphere.
Xu De, who had once competed to become an astronaut, knew that all too well.
He'd also need to watch the people who went first and analyze more data.
"You're taking this way too seriously, aren't you?"
The two of them lined up in the middle, in front of the three simulators. Watching Xu De seriously study the distant machines, deep in thought, Hans couldn't help speaking up.
"I was just kidding before."
"It's no big deal if we don't make it. Even if there are girls, who knows if we'll live long enough to enjoy ourselves?"
They were foot soldiers. They needed to act like foot soldiers. Lying low was the best option.
They might never become heroes, but at least they could stay alive.
So seeing Xu De apparently determined to become a hero made Hans nervous.
Xu De, by contrast, seemed especially calm.
"Staying safe matters more than girls," Xu De answered seriously.
His tense, resolute face carried a strangely persuasive air.
"Being a pilot is even more dangerous..."
"There are so many missiles and defensive guns here."
"We'll be pretty safe if we stay behind the World Tree."
At that moment, Hans felt like a college student whose roommate had suddenly started studying hard.
It made him inexplicably nervous, and even a little resentful.
He resented how hard the other guy was trying, making him feel awkward by comparison.
But Xu De just shook his head and paid no mind to it.
"Safety is something you have to fight for yourself."
With that, Xu De turned his gaze back to the simulators and mentally rehearsed piloting the Moebius again.
If he didn't know the story, he might have agreed with Hans.
After all, no one could have expected PLANT to have a marvel like Neutron Jammers, capable of disrupting fire-control radar.
With Neutron Jammers in play, every one of them was in danger.
The World Tree couldn't save them, and they couldn't protect the World Tree.
The best option for now was to get into a Moebius, avoid Le Creuset, and do everything he could to improve his chances of survival.
Of course, if he wanted the hidden reward, he'd need to shoot down a Ginn. Even just one would earn Xu De enough merit to be trained as an elite.
He could take it one step at a time. The future could always be changed.
"Hey, monkey! This spot's mine!"
Hans was about to say something when a burly new recruit behind them suddenly cut in aggressively.
At his words, several soldiers around them looked at Xu De and Hans with a hint of schadenfreude.
The big man was a typical local, with muscles like he'd just stepped out of a WWE match.
He was also the top performer in the unit for physical fitness and simulated combat.
Scorn for the weak and admiration for the strong weren't uncommon in the Federation's military.
With their freewheeling culture and widespread individual heroism, there were plenty of people like him.
Bullying was rife, too.
As the top performer among the hundred new recruits in Mistral combat simulations, the big man looked down even more on Xu De, who seemed out of place in every way.
Xu De said nothing. He simply shrugged and stepped back, giving up the spot in front of him.
He was a fighter pilot, not a street thug. Hand-to-hand combat was part of his training, too.
If he really had to fight this recruit, then even with a body weaker than the one he'd had before, he could subdue him in no time with technique alone.
But there was no need for that right now. His top priority was getting the Moebius.
As for the other guy cutting in, Xu De didn't mind at all. It was better to have one more person test things out first.
The more he saw, the more he could analyze the enemy units' behavior in the simulator. Only an idiot would cut in line.
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