Each student dormitory consisted of a single room, providing approximately ten square meters of living space, a private bathroom, and standardized built-in furnishings.
After putting his belongings away, Lei Ting looked around the room. After a moment, he reached out and pressed his hand against the wall.
The wall was made of an alloy coated with an unknown insulating layer. Tapping it revealed a solid sound with no hollow echoes. Lei Ting could sense something hidden within that he could influence, which piqued his curiosity: *Did the school actually fill the wall cavities of the dormitory pods with metallic calcium?*
*No... that’s unlikely.* Moreover, his ability was probably not limited to "calcium manipulation." There were surely other substances he could interfere with.
After a moment of thought, Lei Ting released his mental power—which he had learned to use more effectively from the medical staff—and probed into the wall.
His high-quality mental power allowed him to easily "see" the scene inside: heavy metal structures interconnected and bolted together. This proved that these dormitory pods were modular, capable of being added, removed, or remodeled at any time.
However, when he tried to extend his mental power further outward, it was blocked by the coating on the adjacent wall.
Lei Ting grew pensive.
*I see... those coatings are used to isolate mental power detection.*
This made sense. After all, few people living here were ordinary. Every student admitted to a military academy possessed at least D-rank mental power. With training, such individuals could move objects, perform rough scans, or twist soft materials, which was necessary for assembling, maintaining, and operating the specialized war machinery of the Human Federation.
However, Lei Ting noticed a discrepancy. Although he didn't know the exact base material of those metal structures, his mental power could spread across them much faster, and he could even influence them directly.
Simple "calcium manipulation" clearly couldn't achieve this. A hypothesis began to form in his mind...
*Beep.* His optical computer emitted a notification tone, pulling Lei Ting back to reality.
He glanced at the contact displayed on the light screen shrunk to the side of his left eye: [Avatar: Cutest in the Universe (Note: Director Lei Wenbo)]. He let out a short breath, adjusted the metal collar around his neck, and accepted the call.
"Hello? Lei Ting?" A gentle, refined voice came through the earpiece. "Have you arrived at the academy?"
"I have. Thank you for your concern, Director," Lei Ting said.
Lei Wenbo was the director of the orphanage where he grew up. Lei Ting was born on the third planet of the New Solar System at the edge of the Orion Spiral Arm. He had never known his parents' names and was essentially raised by Director Lei—which was why his surname in this life was the same as the Director's.
To the children of the orphanage, Director Lei was both father and mother. His only flaw was being an obsessive cat lover; he plastered photos of his kitten everywhere he could, to the point where outsiders thought the orphanage doubled as a cattery.
"Did anything happen on the way?" Lei Wenbo asked with concern.
"Nothing at all." Lei Ting naturally hid the fact that he had nearly killed someone and had nearly been killed himself.
The two chatted for a while until Lei Wenbo had to get back to work. The sound of a kitten’s "meow-meow" drifted from the other end of the line, causing Lei Ting’s expression to soften.
Before hanging up, Lei Wenbo suddenly asked, "By the way... Ah-Ting, have your mental power and ability awakened yet?"
"Hmm?" Lei Ting paused, then asked back almost instinctively, "Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, just wondering. If you’ve awakened, I can send you some supplements. The kind your older brothers and sisters drink," Lei Wenbo laughed lightly.
"...No, I haven't awakened yet," Lei Ting said, deciding to save the man some money.
"I see..." Lei Wenbo sounded a bit disappointed. But amidst louder meowing, he didn't have much time to dwell on it. He just smiled and said, "When you do awaken, you must tell me the good news!"
Lei Ting promised he would. After hanging up, he pulled back the curtains. Seeing the dappled, shimmering light falling before the crystal-clear window, a rare look of bewilderment crossed his face.
Far behind the dormitory was a plantation. The massive greenhouse roof extended outward like the skeleton of a giant, flat umbrella. Inside, greenery was maintained by drones and small climbing robots—shrubs above and vine curtains below. Under the artificial sun shining through the massive canopy force field that enveloped the *Sun*, the area was bathed in forest-like light.
This city-class starship was now an antique. Built before the year 3000 AD, it was the last ship to bring up the rear when humanity evacuated the doomed Origin Star System, the "Solar System." Most of the passengers on board back then were not people of power or wealth.
Yet, this ship turned out to be the only colonial starship that reached the "New Solar System" almost entirely undamaged. While its old comrades broke down one by one, this ship, which had served as a transport vessel for centuries, stubbornly endured with a near-perfect record until its honorable retirement. It was then renamed *The Sun* and joined the Orion First Military Academy, serving it to this day.
It was said that during the renaming vote, it came within one vote of being called the *Lucky Cookie*.
Lei Ting’s thoughts drifted aimlessly until the sound of the doorbell snapped him back to alertness.
"..." He frowned, touched the side of his ear, and activated the door’s camera.
The image showed several people standing outside—some of the same group that had been gossiping in the corridor lounge earlier.
Lei Ting thought for a moment, then walked over and opened the door.
*Chime...*
The group outside jumped, looking at Lei Ting with some astonishment.
"Hello," Lei Ting nodded politely. "Can I help you?"
"Uh, ah, well..." someone scratched their head awkwardly. "It’s just... we’re going to be neighbors for the next year, so we just came to say hi. We’re all away from home, so we should look out for each other."
Then, someone else introduced themselves and asked, "What’s your name? I see you’re an Alpha. Do you know that a Double-S Alpha appeared in our year? They say he awakened right on the transport ship and beat an Enhancement-type esper—who could throw people around like toys—into a pulp..."
*Beat into a pulp...*
Lei Ting glanced at the long-haired fellow, his lip twitching. "...Is the person you’re talking about black-haired, black-eyed, nearly 1.8 meters tall, from the New Solar System, and has an ability that makes silver metal grow out of people's bodies?"
"Yes, yes! I knew your Alpha forums must be talking about it too! Seriously, it was terrifying. That metal was spike-shaped, exploding right out of the joints—"
The guy rambled on until the others, who had grown increasingly quiet for some reason, began frantically poking him in the small of his back. He suddenly froze.
A moment later, the handsome, long-haired youth looked at the black-haired, black-eyed, tall and upright Lei Ting. His gaze slowly drifted to the two silver metallic cubes floating and orbiting Lei Ting like planets. "...Uh..."
"If there are no surprises, the 'terrifying Alpha' you're talking about is me."
Lei Ting patted the guy’s shoulder amiably, stepped out of his room, and closed the door. He smiled. "Since we’re going to be neighbors, I think we should indeed have a chat to prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings."
...
"So, there are a hundred people on this floor. Including me, there are two Alphas, and two Omegas fighting over the other Alpha?" Lei Ting raised an eyebrow.
The group of Beta men and women, who were now chatting animatedly with him, were full of excitement. "Exactly! I mean, brother, do you get it? We can't smell those pheromones like you guys can, but man, when those three walk together, it looks like a filming site for some interstellar romance story..."
*What on earth.*
Lei Ting’s eyes twitched. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he took a sip of the plain water provided for free throughout the campus. He asked, "How did you tell I was an Alpha?"
The Betas looked at each other, suddenly realizing. "Oh, you didn't attend the freshman orientation..."
Then, the long-haired youth pulled at a thin, beautiful metal ring around his neck. "This thing, the Superpower Suppressor. It lowers a student's superpower to a relatively safe average level. You know about this, right?"
Lei Ting nodded. He had learned about this function when he put it on in the infirmary, but the doctor explaining it at the time seemed distracted and only told him it was a suppressor. Lei Ting had felt the "Superpower Suppressor" aspect for himself.
"You also know that mental power and superpower grades are calculated separately. When an awakened student's ability strength exceeds C-rank, this thing limits the energy output without suppressing mental power, keeping the ability strength at the peak of C-rank," the long-haired youth explained.
"Of course, for us Betas, that’s all it does... but for you Alphas and Omegas, it has another function—it suppresses the release of pheromones and isolates them from the environment. Also, the light on it serves as an indicator. Red for Alphas, blue for Omegas, and for us B... Betas, the color is green."
Lei Ting suddenly understood. No wonder he had hardly smelled any pheromones on campus; there was this layer of preventative measures.
Next, the group of Betas began sharing mysterious stories that only circulated on Beta forums. Most were AO romantic dramas. Lei Ting, as an Alpha who theoretically should have been the protagonist of such gossip, sat to the side with a gentle expression. He maintained an air of mild disinterest while playing with the metallic calcium in his hand, though his ears were perked up, listening with great interest.
But before long, one Beta suddenly sat up straight. "Stop talking, those three are back."
"How do you know?!" The others were shocked. "Did you awaken? So fast?"
"Awaken my foot..." The guy’s face went dark. "Can you guys just look out the window? That group makes such a scene, I can see them perfectly from here!"
Including Lei Ting, who had blended into the crowd, everyone leaned out to look.
Down on the soft, silver-gray road, a tall, red-haired youth was walking slowly. He was flanked by two beautiful, handsome youths who were currently glaring at each other across him.
As they passed a set of stairs, the two who were clearly Omegas both stumbled simultaneously. The red-haired youth, who was holding a study data pad in his right hand, reflexively reached out to steady the one on his left, triggering a storm of resentment from the other.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk..." The group of Betas shook their heads in excitement as they watched. "These Alphas and Omegas... they're hopeless."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk..." Lei Ting, squeezed into the crowd, followed suit with a sigh. "These Alphas and Omegas... they're hopeless."
***
