The Star River Federation spanned sixty-two light years and four administrative regions, with a total population measured in hundreds of billions.
Across the Federation's territory stood five A-grade academies—
Capital Star of the First Administrative Region—"Federation Dawn Military Academy"
Capital Star of the First Administrative Region—"Bonar United Academy"
Xuanming Star of the Second Administrative Region—"Pulan Military Academy"
Linguang Star of the Third Administrative District—"Taoyun Academy"
Landu Star of the Fourth Administrative Region—"Dingchuan Academy"
Five top academies! They were the cradle of Federation talent, the golden starting point for soaring to success, and the highest institutions of learning across the Federation's vast territory. Every admissions season, tens of millions of eligible applicants from throughout the Local Star System applied.
The Five Great Academies jointly stipulated that all applicants had to be no older than twenty!
That condition alone shut out countless talents! Every year during school breaks, the academies traveled to various planets to scout outstanding prospective students. The Federation stipulated that A-grade academies had priority selection rights. Before admissions began each year, they drew endless curses from other schools. The top talents were always picked first, so how were the other academies supposed to survive?
In any case, the Five Great Academies did not worry at all. There would always be plenty of applicants.
Glory! Privilege!
Getting into one of the five A-grade academies was the dream of countless young people!
Each administrative region set up examination sites on several major planets. Thus, every examination season, tens of thousands of young people gathered on those planets.
June 10, Federation Calendar—the examination day!
Landu Star Spaceport.
He glanced at the antique mechanical watch on his wrist. "May 10th, Federation Calendar, 10:57."
A bald, middle-aged uncle in a teal-blue uniform raised his head and curled his lip. "Those shitty higher-ups are sending me to that godforsaken place. The people recruited from there rank at the bottom of the academy every year! This is the final year of the three-year evaluation, and they assign me there? Picking an eagle out of a bunch of weaklings, my ass. They're deliberately screwing me over! Damn it, if I find out who did this, hmph!"
His thick wrist joints stretched the cuffs of his teal-blue uniform tight. Four embroidered characters stood side by side—Dingchuan Academy.
He viciously punched the air, and the force of it pressed down the skirt of the woman in front of him. Fortunately, they had not boarded the interstellar Travel Ship yet, or he would definitely have been thrown off.
Dingchuan Academy's combat instructor—Ruan Xiongfeng! Former regiment commander of the Federation's 114th Ace Infantry Regiment, thirty-seven years old, a Martial Arts Grandmaster with Level 25 physique and a Level 2 Mental Lock!
Level 25 physique!
Under the Federation's Physical Standard, Level 6 had an instantaneous punching force and bodily endurance of 75 kilograms. Then came 150 kilograms, 250 kilograms, 400 kilograms, 600 kilograms, and 850 kilograms, corresponding to Levels 7 through 11. After that, the standard increased by 50 kilograms per level. Level 25 had a baseline of 9,600 kilograms, an existence that would make people across the Federation look up in awe.
Since strength did not necessarily correspond to endurance, someone with Level 15 strength might have only Level 10 endurance, and would therefore only meet the Level 10 Physical Standard.
But Level 25 physique meant both instantaneous explosive force and bodily endurance had reached 9,600 kilograms! When he unleashed his physical strength at full force, a single punch carried the impact of more than nine tons!! It also meant he could withstand an impact of more than nine tons!!
The people waiting in line for inspection merely cast respectful looks at that teal-blue uniform. How could they know that a prehistoric fierce beast wearing human skin was waiting in line for ticket inspection?
He had been teaching perfectly well and had not offended anyone since coming to this school, yet today he received an order from the academy's higher-ups, telling him to go to Zicui Star, 8.2 light-years from Landu Star, to handle admissions. The academy's other staff had already departed. As the person in overall charge of Zicui Star, he could arrange his own method of travel.
Arrange my own travel, my ass. They notified me today and expected me to leave today! What kind of bullshit was that? This man, tempered through countless battles of blood and fire, cursed as he raised his hands for inspection. When the surrounding people saw Dingchuan Academy's teacher uniform, they turned their heads away again.
After passing security and entering the waiting area, there were still twenty minutes before he had to enter the low-temperature Hibernation Pod.
Ruan Xiongfeng flung his luggage behind him and leaned back against it. His broad palm rubbed his gleaming bald head as he grinned, causing the people around him to detour around him.
Before coming, he had looked into that Zicui Star. It was located at the edge of the Fourth Administrative Region, and the applicants from nearby were likely to converge there.
"What talents could there possibly be? Those shitty academy higher-ups. History has long proven that such poor places can't produce real talent. Every year, when the grades of each department are tallied, half of the bottom hundred come from the border regions! That includes that Zicui Star or whatever it's called! Fucking unlucky!"
"Anyway, I don't understand the rest. The academy arranged it, and I'm only responsible for the infantry major. I'll just treat this as recruiting cannon fodder."
"Right, that Army Reserve Special Recruitment should be interesting. They only gave out ten slots. Seven or eight nearby planets are competing for ten slots. Heh heh, interesting. I like this kind of thing."
A-grade academies cooperated with the Federation military. Aside from the military assessment day on September 17th every year, there were also special slots. These slots were handled by the A-grade academies in each administrative region during admissions. Besides being no older than twenty, applicants had to have a Physical Standard above Level 15. Then, the final one hundred would be selected through open trials! Each A-grade academy only had one hundred slots. They would serve as quasi-elite talents for military reserve training. During that period, ninety would be eliminated. Those people could take the academy's internal examinations to transfer majors or leave the school. By graduation, only ten would remain. Four administrative regions, the entire Federation... fifty people!
The difficulty was a thousand times, perhaps even ten thousand times, greater than taking the regular examination! But if they could endure four years without being eliminated, glory awaited them! Upon graduation, they would be commissioned as majors and become officers of Special Operations Teams bearing various code names!
One chosen from ten million...
Some geniuses believed themselves different from ordinary people. Some outstanding students wanted to prove they were exceptional and sought this slot as well, only to end up battered and bloodied.
This examination site required no academic grades and no vast store of knowledge. It only required proof of one thing: that you were stronger than everyone else. As long as you could stand until the end, that was enough!
I'm counting on this to pick out some talent. But the academy divided the area into ten districts. Even if I recruit people from this district, they'll probably still rank at the bottom when compared with the others! Damn it, just thinking about it pisses me off!
The flesh on his face twitched a few times. Ruan Xiongfeng realized that no matter how he thought about it, he would only get angrier. He simply boarded the ship, found a Hibernation Pod, and lay down inside. Out of sight, out of mind!!
The ship slowly started up and headed toward the spatial jump point. A pleasant female voice played repeatedly throughout the ship. "Good afternoon, passengers. Interstellar travel is about to begin. Please enter your Hibernation Pods within five minutes. This voyage's destination: Zicui Star. Total distance: 8.2 light-years. Travel time: seven Federation days. We wish you a pleasant journey."
This ship, unknown to all, carrying the dreams of young people from several border planets seeking higher education, slowly accelerated until it vanished into the boundless starry sky.
One month later, the Star River Federation Academy Grand Examination would arrive in full force!
************
(P.S.: Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Bai Yiduo!
Thanks to reader Billion Light Years for the reward, and thanks to reader Doctor Xu Loves Sweets for the reward.)