"Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve... Everyone, lower your gravity bands one notch and keep going!"
"One, two..."
On the training ground at the National Defense Military Academy, a class was doing physical conditioning. Every cadet wore gravity bands to keep the training intense.
"One last set!"
"One, two..."
"Everyone up! Fall in!"
"Attention!"
"At ease!"
"Attention!"
The instructor stared at them without expression. Then he suddenly felt the need to use the bathroom and barked with a frown:
"Zhang Ming?"
"Present!"
"Step out!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Watch them for me! Have them stand at attention!"
"Yes, sir!"
The instructor strode toward the restroom.
Just then, a figure approached them from the distance.
She was tall, with long legs. Though casually dressed, she carried a cold, commanding air. When she reached the formation and swept them with an icy gaze, no one dared meet her eyes.
She called out in a deep voice:
"Attention!"
The cadets obeyed before they could help themselves.
"At ease!"
They moved in unison.
"Train properly, all of you!" she ordered. "Put on a good showing! Students from other schools are coming here to compete today. If any of you slacks off and lets them laugh at us, disgracing the National Defense Military Academy, I'll be the first to make you regret it!"
"..."
"Hm? I can't hear you!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Didn't you eat?"
"Yes, ma'am!!"
"This is for your own good, too. Train harder in peacetime, bleed less in wartime! As Sword Cultivation practitioners in the Special Operations Group, you often fight on the front line. You face the enemy's fiercest firepower. If you want to survive, you need to make sure your personal combat skills are up to it!"
"Reporting, Instructor!" Zhang Ming stepped forward, chest out and eyes straight ahead. "Instructor, we're the Army Command