This one was named Lina, a brunette with green eyes, Lei Ting noted. She was an assault specialist like him, possessing excellent close-quarters combat skills, though her temperament could be somewhat volatile. He knew this because he had also beaten her in a fight.
"…Starry Sky Behemoths?" The remaining girl, who had been silent until now, suddenly looked up. A pair of violet eyes peered out from beneath her white hair. "You mean, Starry Sky Behemoths?"
Her name was Yolanda, the only one among the four in the special ops branch. She was reportedly one of their best students, but due to certain past experiences, she seemed to have some psychological issues. Consequently, she was the only person Lei Ting hadn't fought, as she rarely appeared in the public training grounds for sparring challenges.
*Good grief,* Lei Ting thought. *Am I really the only normal person here?*
He lamented inwardly that he really should have been a Beta, then glanced at Warrant Officer Donna, who had remained silent.
She was leaning against the wall of the silver-white, deserted corridor, seemingly observing and evaluating the personalities of the four students. She looked thoughtful, yet she immediately noticed his gaze and offered him an intrigued smile.
Lei Ting gave her a polite nod and looked away.
"Yeah, Starry Sky Behemoths. I don't know the specific species," Lina said with a shrug. "They parasitize young stars starting from their larval stage. They absorb the star's energy while accelerating its aging process. After tens or hundreds of thousands of years, they hatch and enter deep space, and that star dies, taking all its surrounding planets with it.
"By the way, these things have been found in stars across many sectors of the Milky Way. They’re distributed quite evenly; there’s probably a mutual understanding among the behemoths not to compete for the same spawning grounds."
"…Ah," Yolanda murmured. "Is that so… what loathsome parasites."
"How can you call them 'parasites'?" Alan exclaimed in wonder. "They are such beautiful creatures! Their forms are flawless. Even within the same species, each one’s appearance is tied to the star they were born from—they are unique works of art! You really ought to learn more about them!"
"..."
Yolanda shot him a look, her violet eyes filled with a startling coldness.
A piece of metal shifted, moved by Donna’s hand out of everyone’s direct line of sight. Lei Ting suddenly turned to her and asked, "Warrant Officer, where should we report in?"
His voice drew the attention of the others. Donna gave Lei Ting a look that was half-smile, half-smirk.
"The end of the corridor," she indicated. "That door right there. I won't be seeing you inside."
"Understood. Thank you for the guidance." Lei Ting nodded slightly. He led the three others—who had fallen silent after realizing their conduct was becoming unprofessional—toward the end of the hallway.
Just before they entered, Donna suddenly spoke up. "Once you're integrated into the main fleet, someone from the top might want to see you. Be prepared."
Lei Ting’s pace faltered for a fraction of a second. He knew she was speaking to him, offering a subtle gesture of goodwill for the sake of his future.
Since she hadn't disclosed the time, location, the identity of the person, or any other specifics, this was merely a friendly heads-up about an inevitable event rather than a leak of classified information.
However, given Lei Ting’s status, the fact that she emphasized this was telling. According to the rumors passed down by upperclassmen, the highest-ranking officer they might see during an internship was a Major General at most. But that wasn't uncommon and wouldn't warrant such an emphasis or be sold as a favor.
*‘The Commander will likely see you, and will see the others of this year’s batch only because you are there.’*
The meaning couldn't be clearer.
"Thank you very much for the tip," Lei Ting said.
Then, leading his three classmates who had stopped when he did, he stepped through the door as it hissed open upon verifying their identities.
"..." Warrant Officer Donna clicked her tongue and left the corridor.
A short while later, she arrived at the entrance of a sealed briefing room. After verifying her identity, she submitted a request for entry.
The door opened. Inside the room, a table lined with officers and holographic projections of high-ranking officials all turned their gaze toward her in unison.
"What is the current situation?" they asked.
Warrant Officer Donna saluted first, then said, "The brains are there. Combat capability remains to be tested."
Around the conference table, the officers exchanged glances before dismissing her.
Once the room was sealed again, one of the holographic projections suddenly spoke. "The situation just now… did you all see it?"
"We saw it," the others confirmed.
"He follows the rules but knows how to be flexible and protect others… the Commander will like him," someone remarked. "The question now is… do you all want him to be ‘liked’ that easily?"
"..." Everyone looked at the speaker as if he were an idiot. "Are you serious? You want to get in the way of an SS-rank who *isn't* insane?" Everyone present was stunned. "Who let him into this meeting? Isn't the theme of this meeting how to protect the growth of an SS-rank? Why are you acting as stupid as someone from the Seventh Legion?"
"You dare insult me?!"
"What if I do? That is a stable SS-rank! He is the guarantee for everything you have in the future!"
After a long bout of bickering, the highest-ranking officer finally slammed the table. "Enough! All of you, stop!"
The officers, who had nearly come to cyber-blows, glared at each other and fell silent.
"He’s already entered the super-power testing grounds anyway. Let him try it out first," the top decision-maker said. "Let’s see his current comprehensive level."
"Understood," someone replied, then asked, "But, putting aside the unlikely possibility of him being low-level, what if his level is too high? What if he’s already surpassed B-rank?
"…On 'Crater 303,' is there an A-rank Super Mecha Pilot who can match him and form a squad?"
"No, I don't think that should be your priority," the decision-maker said. "I just received a file from Angye’s side… do you know what their evaluation of him was?"
He inserted a data chip into a reader slot. After an automated verification process, a file was rapidly transmitted.
Whether they were officers on the ship or projections from the main fleet, they all began reading the file in a tacit silence.
A moment later, the light-computer monocles displaying 'File Loading' cleared, revealing a series of stunned faces.
"…Is he really that strong?" someone asked cautiously. "Are they… certain?"
"Back then, 'Starflow' was only an S-rank, yet at this age, he was a monster who nearly killed half a planet… Do you really think an SS-rank would fit your 'peasant imagining the Emperor uses a golden carrying pole' logic? Do you think 'no matter how strong he is, he couldn't possibly be that broken'?"
The decision-maker let out a cold sneer.
"The gaps between ranks for espers are difficult to bridge. A fully grown SS-rank is equivalent to a guarantee of absolute peace and interstellar influence for the next three hundred years. And all of that must be built upon their overwhelming power."
***
A week later, Lei Ting, having just finished his daily training, lay in his assigned cabin staring blankly at the weapon specifications displayed on his standard-issue light-computer.
He didn't mind the lack of mass entertainment, but having no books to read, no fights to pick, and no chance to contact anyone…
To be honest, this kind of space travel was quite boring over the long term.
It was so boring that after spending four days beating every single super-powered combatant on the ship and still not receiving his squad assignment, he had spent three days immersed in the shipboard AI’s library system, reading up on weapon and starship data.
However, he didn't feel particularly restless. Humans had to learn how to dispel their own boredom; such was life.
Furthermore, one of the general training modules of the First Federal Military Academy was 'Assembling and Firing Different Weapons Using Available Materials.' This training held more significance for Lei Ting than for anyone else. Under the influence of 'Solaris,' his 'available materials' were practically infinite. He could not only assemble different weapons and fire them himself, but he could also equip an entire squad—or even more—with unbranded but guaranteed high-quality standard weapons.
As for ammunition… any metal with sufficient strength was a perfect material for a projectile. For propulsion, he could simply choose one of the fifteen types of energy conversion devices he knew how to assemble.
He was a military factory unto himself.
Correspondingly, he could also be a cold, ruthless, integrated construction and assembly machine.
Based solely on his extreme industrial… well, handcrafted manufacturing capabilities, if he ever stopped fighting, he could find a job anywhere and work in peace. A local—no, a planetary governor would have to treat him like an ancestor.
He could even hand-craft calcium tablets or iron supplements for his teammates to pop if he had the materials!
What a convenience!
Of course, after popping the pills, they’d still have to go fight. And those precision weapons and equipment were actually more prone to failure. In comparison, he might as well just take a piece of iron, mold it into a shape, and gently send it on its way. Once it heavily transited through an enemy’s neural organs—which were far more delicate than any firearm—the task usually reserved for guns and cannons would be complete.
The word 'slaughter' was, for him, far too simple.
Subduing an enemy was the same.
Lei Ting closed his eyes, letting his thoughts drift aimlessly… A moment later, he snapped his eyes open and sat up.
*Wait, could it be that because I’m too good at fighting, I’m the only intern who hasn't received a squad assignment yet?*
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. If they gave him teammates much weaker than him, he would end up doing nothing but protecting them. If they gave him teammates stronger than him… well, such people didn't exist. There wasn't even anyone who was his equal or only slightly weaker.
A severe power gap had already formed between him and normal espers. 'SS' wasn't just a label for show. And in a strict sense, there was also a severe psychological gap between him and normal humans. Unlike his current restrained demeanor, in a true life-and-death struggle, he would naturally be at full throttle. In that state, ninety-nine percent of the enemies he encountered wouldn't even be able to hide their thoughts from him, let alone their tactical intentions.
The trope found in some novels on the Star Net—where a '3S-rank mental power' could still be eavesdropped upon—was absolutely impossible for him. As long as a being possessed mental power and its quality wasn't higher than his, he could exert psychological suppression over them.
On the other hand, he could exert physical suppression over almost anyone.
The kind that frequently resulted in permanent disability.
He didn't even need a psychological maintenance team. The effects of high-level mental power combined with 'Solaris - Immovable' were all-encompassing; his mental state was stabilized at an extremely perfect level.
Strictly speaking, just as he had thought back on the *Sun*, his life didn't require close communication with anyone. The concept of 'loneliness' didn't exist for him, nor would his life become unsustainable because he lost someone. This 'someone' included Enan Warren.
At least for now.
So, here was the problem.
A person whose martial prowess was peerless in this current closed environment, whose psychological state was equally outstanding, and who had already learned the most efficient ways to end a battle while his classmates were still vomiting at the sight of a blade carving through flesh and fat because they were used to long-range weapons.
He couldn't be given a task that was too simple; for someone with his serious personality, that would be a recipe for a grudge. He couldn't be given a task that was too difficult, as that would violate the academy's internship regulations and would likely—no, definitely—offend the Principal and Upton Angye.
He had even mastered knowledge far beyond the needs of a normal Super Mecha Mechanic, thanks to the learning and memory capabilities granted by his powerful mental power and his ceaseless, day-to-day efforts. Yet he couldn't work in other departments because that might involve classified information restricted to non-specialized personnel.
How could such a person be assigned so that his 'internship' actually had some meaning?
Lei Ting let out a long sigh, staring at the firearm blueprints he could access with his current clearance, mechanically memorizing their specific parameters in his boredom.
But soon after, a series of notifications flashed in the upper right corner, drawing his attention.
[Attention: Approaching the flagship's sector. Intern 'Lei Ting,' please organize your personal belongings and prepare to board the flagship.]
Lei Ting: "..."
Lei Ting: "."
Fine, he knew how those people intended to solve the problem of his difficult placement.
Meanwhile, in that mysterious briefing room, a group of officers leaned back in their chairs with relaxed expressions, giving each other a thumbs-up.
*Just dump that guy on the strongest person in the Legion, and the problem is solved!*
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 丽娜 | Lina | A brown-haired, green-eyed assault specialist student. |
| 阿兰 | Alan | A grey-haired logistics specialist student. |
| 优兰达 | Yolanda | A white-haired, violet-eyed special ops student. |
| 星空巨兽 | Starry Sky Behemoths | Giant parasitic space creatures that feed on stars. |
| 环形山303 | Crater 303 | A specific location or vessel mentioned by the officers. |
| 星流 | Starflow | A legendary S-rank esper from the past. |
| 阳星 | Solaris | Lei Ting's primary super-power (Yang Star). |
| 不动 | Immovable | A sub-state or technique of Lei Ting's ability (Stillness/Immovable). |
