Filler Cannon Fodder

Amber woke up to a series of jolts.

When his senses returned to normal, he found himself not lying in his gaming pod as usual.

Instead, he was sitting on a seat inside a confined space.

The irregular vibrations constantly rising from his buttocks, and the scenery retreating rapidly outside the small observation window on the opposite bulkhead.

All told Amber that he was inside a moving motor vehicle traveling at high speed.

The camouflage buffer pads filling the bulkhead, the symmetrically arranged opposing seats.

And the young people around him wearing Federation standard officer uniforms.

Made Amber realize that he was most likely sitting inside a Federation troop transport.

Bugged? Didn't I choose to log out?

Amber froze for a moment, then realized that his attire seemed different from what he remembered.

And it was also different from the young Federation officers beside him.

Amber found that what he was wearing was a dark grey, long-coat-like military uniform, and his shoulders were draped with a cape embroidered with silver star patterns.

Of course, the most crucial part was the hood on his head.

And the smooth, black-mirror-like, full-coverage faceplate exposed beneath the brim of the hat.

"A Federation Psychic Agent?"

"But isn't this set of equipment only found in war history museums?"

Amber's brow instantly furrowed.

As a loyal player of the massively multiplayer online MMORPG Starry Sky.

At the same role, he was also the main fleet commander of the player guild Pink Fluffy Bunny, whose comprehensive strength consistently ranked in the top three year-round.

Amber had a thorough understanding of this leveling-up game wrapped in a sci-fi, space opera skin.

If he didn't know it inside and out, he at least knew its foundation.

At least he could affirm that under the game background he was in, the military uniform on his body was already an old antique in a museum.

"This doesn't make sense. What kind of spacetime-retrospect mission is this?"

For Amber, who had just finished commanding a guild war and was preparing to go offline for skewers.

The plot mission right before him, suspected to be a 'spacetime-retrospect', came at a bad time.

This kind of mission that focused on the player's plot experience but yielded low rewards.

To someone with a rumbling stomach who was eager for skewers, it basically held no attraction.

So Amber, as usual, intended to bring up the game menu to completely log out of the game.

But when he tried several times and failed to summon that familiar UI.

Amber found out that the matter seemed to have gotten big.

"Wait, it can't be that cliché."

Just as this thought arose.

A very vague memory, as if a seal had been lifted, emerged from the depths of Amber's mind.

Soon, Amber's expression twisted. The information read from this vague and intermittent memory made him feel somewhat ominous.

However, the full-coverage faceplate obscured his expression, preventing the surrounding Federation officers from noticing anything amiss.

This body belonged to a newly-promoted Federation officer also named Amber.

To be precise, he was a Psychic Agent who had just graduated from military academy.

And the current time point was decades earlier than the background time of the game's launch.

Amber, who had just attended the graduation ceremony last week, together with colleagues who had also been assigned over.

Boarded a destroyer undergoing rotation and arrived at this agricultural planet located on the Federation border.

Through the space elevator connecting the spaceport and the ground, upon reaching the surface, these young officers used a rotation of various transportation methods such as ground-effect vehicles, heavy transport planes, and maglev intercontinental trains, ultimately arriving at a location 120 kilometers away from their assigned base.

Then they boarded the armored troop transport before their eyes to complete this final journey.

And Amber was precisely the one who took over this body at this moment.

"What is this? Soul-transmigration? This is really. Too absurd."

Amber took off the leather glove on his right hand, where decoration far outweighed functionality, and gently stroked the cushion behind his back and the folding stool beneath him.

The tactile sensation of soft filling material and cold metal brushing against his fingertips was something Starry Sky could never simulate no matter what.

The fresh air generated by the air filtration device beneath the faceplate, and the friction caused by the clothing all over his body.

All told Amber that this was no longer in the game.

To prevent players from excessively indulging in the game and even failing to distinguish reality, the operators of Starry Sky still lowered the game's fidelity somewhat despite having sufficient technological prowess.

In the chief operating officer's original words: "Our team has retained some game features so that players know they are playing a game."

At a time when fully immersive games were extremely mature, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had even specifically required that plots like time-travel must not appear in any games.

This was to prevent some idiots from genuinely believing they had time-traveled when encountering such plots.

Amber also believed that the developer and professional operations team of Starry Sky, backed by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, would not cross this red line.

Therefore, only one explanation remained for the current situation.

He really had soul-traveled across time.

If it were just a simple soul-travel, that would be fine; having lost both parents and without any close relatives, Amber felt he might slowly be able to accept it.

The problem, however, lay in the identity he had possessed through this soul-travel.

A cutting-edge Federation Military officer who had just graduated from the Federal First Military Academy?

A Psychic Agent who had received extensive combat training and could simultaneously manipulate Psionics, sounding extremely cool?

And this Warrant Officer rank, which looked like a pretty decent starting point?

Whether separated or combined, these three characteristics could be described as an unbeatable starting hand.

The problem, though, lay in this frontier agricultural planet where Amber currently found himself.

If he truly were a talent valued by the Federation Military and intended for key cultivation, would he be thrown onto this godforsaken frontier planet?

The answer was no.

Amber, who understood a great deal of the game's background lore, knew well the cancerously spreading winds of corruption within the Federation.

He was also a young officer graduated from the First Military Academy.

If born to a chaebol or high-ranking official's family, he would inevitably be assigned to serve in troops stationed in the Federation's core administrative stellar systems.

High-level talents like Psychic Agents would enter specialized training camps even more to receive higher-tier training.

If he had no background, however, and came from just an ordinary family.

Then sorry, he would be randomly assigned to peripheral stellar systems or deep-space fleets to supplement under-strength officer quotas.

What? You say you are a Psychic Agent?

That's just wonderful, the Federation Military is in urgent need of a talent like you!

Go directly to the frontier planet, swing your combat skills to your heart's content, and dedicate the rest of your life to the Federation!

If it were only this, it would merely mean an unfavorable career prospect and a difficult start.

The problem, however, was that the timing of Amber's travel was also rather unfavorable.

August 14th, New Calendar 588.

Amber silently read the date representing Universal Standard Time above the local time in the upper right corner of his visor's HUD.

If his memory had not failed him.

Three days later, the Federation's mortal enemy—the Star Dragon Empire's assault fleet—would launch a surprise attack.

After destroying the Defensive Fleet stationed in synchronous orbit and seizing control of the spaceport.

The Empire's Orbital Paratroopers would descend.

This landing battle of Robert IV also curtain-raised the Dark Ages.

And Amber had now, very unfortunately, become a cannon fodder filler in the Federation Military on Robert IV.