Top Ten, and there's a chance to survive on the battlefield

"Aren't you quite confident? Aren't you a genius? Then shouldn't the top three be a very simple matter for a genius like you?"

Natarle asked back with a light chuckle.

"I am confident, not arrogant. The top three is impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Eno Kamal was very clear about his own limits.

Although he had received elite training since childhood, that was the extent of it.

If everyone were to compete by working hard over the same period, Eno Kamal would have the confidence to try and catch up.

But to catch up on seven months of progress made by the main cast in just two months, while starting seven months behind...

One had to know that the reason Kira Yamato was able to catch up to them was because he had a specific identity setting—the Ultimate Coordinator.

Although he also had identity bonuses, such as being an elite spy trained from a young age, being a transmigrator, and the fact that many subjects in military academies shared commonalities.

But these numbers and rankings were just too outrageous.

"Aren't you quite confident?"

Instructor Natarle asked back.

"This isn't a question of confidence. How about this, top one thousand? Would the top one thousand be acceptable?"

Eno Kamal changed his approach; he could try for the top one thousand.

He couldn't catch up to the main cast, but catching up to a bunch of background characters shouldn't be a problem.

"Top five."

Instructor Natarle replied directly.

"...How about this, let's both take a step back. Top five hundred. If I don't reach the top five hundred by graduation, I'll come back!"

Eno Kamal thought about it and set a goal for himself.

Because of the commonality of some subjects in the military academy, the top five hundred didn't seem entirely impossible to attempt.

"Top five!"

Instructor Natarle's words were firm.

"Top five hundred!"

"Top five!"

"Top five hundred!"

"Top... do you think this is a vegetable market! One word: top ten! If you don't agree, then get out!"

Instructor Natarle was also getting annoyed; he was actually trying to bargain with her.

"No, top ten... this... I really can't do that."

Eno Kamal complained incessantly. The top ten out of twenty thousand Coordinators, and that was while trying to catch up in two months after being seven months behind? He must be dreaming.

"You have to do it even if you can't! Do you think I'm joking with you!"

Instructor Natarle's attitude was extremely resolute: "Top ten! If you can't reach the top ten, I will have you transferred back even if I have to pull strings. Do not doubt my ability."

She was not one of those fools who only saw the casualty numbers; she knew better than anyone how dangerous the front lines were.

Right now, ZAFT soldiers were losing their lives on the front lines almost every single moment.

The Earth Alliance's MA were indeed difficult to shoot down a ZAFT MS with a single unit.

But the Earth Alliance's military strength and basic resources were too vast.

With a total global population of 15 billion, the standing military force of the Atlantic Federation alone was several times that of PLANT, and that wasn't even counting the Eurasian Federation and the East Asian Republic.

Under these circumstances, if Eno Kamal could not guarantee his own survival, she would rather lock him in a PLANT colony for the rest of his life.

It wasn't that she was treating him specially, but in this special period, some people's lives were simply more precious and important than others.

"This..."

"Do you agree or not!"

"...I, I will strive for it."

Seeing Instructor Natarle's attitude, Eno Kamal knew he couldn't continue to bargain and could only hold his nose and accept this almost impossible task.

Regardless, he had to learn how to pilot an MS first.

"It's not striving for it, it's that you must achieve it."

After finishing, Instructor Natarle signed her name on the paper: "Take the document and get out! If you don't reach the top ten, you get back here!"

"Yes! I guarantee I will... I will try my best."

Eno Kamal really couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence.

It wasn't until Eno Kamal walked out of the office that Instructor Natarle sighed and shook her head.

Such a good candidate for a commander, why was he so obsessed with piloting an MS?

"Instructor Natarle, is he that Eno Kamal you mentioned earlier?"

The adjutant standing to the side finally stepped forward to inquire.

"It's him. I don't know which wire in his head got crossed; he wouldn't stay in the perfectly good Command track, insisting instead on learning MS piloting."

Natarle was truly exhausted. If Eno's grades in the Command track had been poor, that would be one thing.

But the problem was that he had achieved the top overall score, so why on earth would he switch majors?

In these times of raging war, countless people were breaking their heads trying to get into the Command track, yet he, on the contrary, had run off despite holding the top overall score.

"Well, perhaps to each their own. Aren't Athrun Zala and the others also in the MS piloting track?"

The adjutant replied with a smile.

"Are they the same? Athrun Zala is... forget it. Regardless, don't let me find out which bastard came to poach him, or I'll make sure they become a martyr for the defense of the nation!"

"..."

Upon hearing this, the two adjutants desperately wanted to ask if it was really okay for her to openly voice such personal vendettas.

However, considering Instructor Natarle's mood, they only dared to mutter those words silently in their hearts.

Having obtained the signed order from Instructor Natarle, Eno Kamal quickly sought out the instructor of the MS Training Class.