Chapter 14: Military Academy Training
Brian hastily changed into his uniform and reported to the engineering school building. At the same time, Lin Yuan and Caesar arrived at the military command department's new student venue.
Caesar was wearing a dark blue uniform, his slender and upright stature, angular and handsome appearance, as well as his pure blooded Alpha aura soon attracted the attention of the other students.
His uniformed look plus his upright walk really showed the inspiring temperament of a solider.
And Lin Yuan, who was walking by his side and wearing the same uniform, had a completely different style.
A clear-eyed Asian teenager, only 5ft 8- a height that was relatively short in the military- and he was also much thinner. But strangely, with his bright smile, he actually didn't seem inferior walking next to Caesar's strong atmosphere.
The boy's smile was full of the vitality of an 18-year-old youth, optimistic and vibrant, full of morale, as if there were no problems that could knock him down.
When the two men arrived at the rendezvous point, the students were gathering and chatting in pairs of twos and threes.
Yesterday, everyone had received a general report about the list of 50 students in the class. Half of the class' students were Alpha and the other half were Beta. The total population only had 15% Alpha, yet 50% of the military command section were Alpha. This was because San Romia Military Academy had too many noble children and descendants of military families. If this was a general university, it was rare for a class to have more than four or five Alpha.
It was ten minutes to eight o’clock, Lin Yuan found a corner to stand and bowed to tidy his uniform.
The students’ uniform at San Romia Military Academy was dark blue, the boots and belts were pure black, and their silver cap was printed with wings of an eagle. As students of the military academy, they were less than regular soldiers, so there was only one small Silver Star on their shoulder. After graduation, if they have good results, they could be upgraded to second lieutenant, and assigned to a small platoon…….
Like Rosen, after graduation he was promoted to major, three years to colonel, and in ten years he become Commander-in-chief. In the entire history of San Romia military academy, his promotion speed was unique. So Lin Yuan really admired that man, he even put him as his idol and his goal.
Although it was impossible for a Beta to reach the height of Marshal Rosen, he wanted his goal to be a little challenging. If his goal was only a lieutenant, it would be too boring.
Lin Yuan was thoughtfully sorting out his uniform cuffs when a tall boy suddenly stopped in front of him, he raised his eyebrows at Lin Yuan and coldly said: “Hey, are you the Lin Yuan that scored 300 points?”
After over-hearing this, the surrounding students immediately stared at Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan looked up to the pair of dark red eyes.
The boy must be an unknown half-breed offspring, he was tall and had bronze skin, a pair of red eye pupils, and at the moment, his pair of red eyes were staring at Lin Yuan, full of disdain.
The boy looked up and down at the half a head shorter black haired boy, then slightly raised his chin, folded his arms and said: “I thought you were an Alpha, but incredibly, you were a Beta ah?"
Lin nodded: “Ay, I'm a Beta.”
The boy coldly asked, “Where are you from?”
Lin said: “Rennes planet.”
The boy raised his eyebrows: “Rennes planet…. that's that desolate planet where even plants can't grow cause it's so cold?"
Lin Yuan nodded and said: “Yeah, but the snow is very beautiful. If you're ever free to visit it, I'll be your tour guide."
Boy: “…”
Lin Yuan stretched out his hand toward the boy and gave him as friendly smile: “I'm Lin Yuan, you?"
Boy: “…”
Can’t you see I’m here to pick a fight?
Lin Yuan ignored the boy's fierce stare and continued smiling at him, his hand stayed out-stretched in place.
Under the students' variety of complex stares, the red eyed boy finally felt a bit embarrassed and reached out to grip Lin Yuan's hand, then stiffly said: “I'm ……. I'm Baker."
Lin Yuan gave a pure and harmless laugh: “Oh, Baker. Nice to meet you."
“Uh uh…….” Baker beat a speedy retreat.
Lin Yuan pulled his hand back to his side and continued calmly tidying up his uniform.
But his heart couldn't help but think, Baker……. Shell! That's an easy name to remember! Tall and big, but unfortunately, his IQ seems to be inversely proportional to his body. First day in school and he tried to provoke a man he knows nothing about, if he kicked an iron plate, wouldn't he be miserable?
Fortunately, Lin Yuan's family background was simple and he wasn't one to hold grudges, plus, he was too lazy to bother with bullies.
This class' pure blooded Alpha population was too much, obviously some may be royal family or descendants of Generals, who knows who you could accidentally provoke. Shell was clearly a muscled and simple-minded guy, not to mention he was a Beta. His simple thought process was hard to understand, but he'd caused Lin Yuan to attract the crowd's gazes.
Feeling the gaggle of eyes pointing at him, Lin Yuan had no choice but to pretend to fix his uniform.
At eight o'clock, a tall woman, wearing a pure black dress uniform, her short hair completely covered by the cap, stepped out valiantly in her military boots. She stopped in front of the students, her sharp eyes swept the audience, then she loudly said: "Line-up according to student number!”
The fifty people immediately consciously arranged in a row by their student number.
Lin Yuan’s school number was 59800049, Caesar's was 59800050, they were next to each other.
Seeing them quickly organize themselves, the woman gave a satisfied nod and said: “I'll first introduce myself. I'm Irene, your class teacher, you can call me Instructor Irene for these three years. I will be supervising you fifty students, of course, if you have any learning or life difficulties, you can come to me!"
“I need to tell you all that the command section has a very strict elimination system. If you want to stay in the command section for a smooth graduation, you must be qualified in each of your courses! The qualification line is 80 points. At the end of each school year, students who do not qualify on the assessments will need to repeat!”
Irene finished speaking and a burst of discussion noises sounded.
“Did I hear it right? 80 points to qualify?”
“There's no mistake ah? What a messed up system!”
Student Baker bravely raised his hand and asked: "Instructor! How many points is the full score? Is it 150 points?"
Irene frowned: "Out of 100 points, 80 points to qualify, is there a problem?"
Everyone: “……………………”
Irene coldly surveyed the crowd, “Remember, you are military command students, in the future, it's assumed that you'll have very important command responsibility! Whether you're commanding a small warship, a pioneer battalion, or a whole army, as a commander, one of your mistakes will likely cause all of your men to die along with you! Therefore, every course is at least 80 points to pass. This is the school's most basic requirements, your goal should be to get full scores every time! In this year’s military admissions test, your class had two students who got full scores! I believe that as long as you work hard, passing the tests will not be a problem. I also believe that among you 50 students, a future General for the Imperial Army will appear!"
Irene paused, looked at the young people, and said: "Tell me, do you have confidence?"
“……I have!”
“Louder!”
“I have!”
Irene's words inspired the hot-blooded young people, sweeping away their haze and pumping them up.
Irene nodded her head, "Excellent! Every General started as regular soldiers, so, starting today, you will formally become part of the imperial army. First lesson, learn a military officer’s posture!”
Irene's eyes quickly swept the queue of 50 students, “59800049, 59800050, out!”
– She'd called out Lin Yuan and Caesar.
*****
Lin Yuan and Caesar walked side by side to the front of the queue.
Irene looked at the two and said: “You two students' standing posture was very standard. Stand in front of the queue and give the students a demonstration!"
“Yes, Instructor!”
They stood together, Caesar, tall and straight, he indeed had the momentum of the military. Lin Yuan, although a head shorter, also stood upright under the sun's irradiation.
Irene walked behind the two, then walked back to the students and said: “Like the two students, look up, chest, abdomen, hands and fingers close, the middle finger close to the seam of your pants. The standard military standing posture!"
Irene talked while inspecting the queue.
“Afterwards, no matter who you're with, as long as you're wearing this uniform, stand upright. That is the soldier's most basic posture! Use your spirit, don't stand like a wet noodle!”
Irene walked the queue from the beginning to the end, bluntly adjusting any poor postures.
Under the strict teacher, fifty people soon stood like a row of evenly spaced straight, neat flagpoles.
Irene nodded with satisfaction, and said, “Good, stand like that while I talk. I won't repeat myself, so pay attention!"
“First, all professional students, starting from this afternoon, need a month of military training. All the military training instructors will teach you military etiquette, rules and regulations. There will be an assessment at the end, I hope you seriously study, don't slack off!”
“Second, I will send a card to each person as your proof of identity. Your monthly living allowance, the various competition prizes and annual scholarships will be bound to this card. This card can be used for shopping and consumption. It can also be used to take out library books and a variety of equipment rental, please carefully keep it!"
“Third, in three months our Emperor will set up the 700th anniversary celebration of Cepheus galaxy's founding. Starfield Planet will carry out a large-scale celebration. This year’s top 10 students in the machine armor fighting competition can represent the school in Starfield and participate in the National Finals. They will also have the opportunity to personally meet His Majesty Trent! 10 places, I hope you can try to win them!"
“At two o’clock this afternoon, the Central Hall will hold the military oath ceremony, every student must attend!”
“All right, here's the final announcement. Since this is your first standing practice…” Irene looked down at her watch and calmly said: "Stand for at least an hour!”
Time ticked along, ten minutes, half an hour, an hour……
The group of people stood quietly, after the initial boldness, their faces gradually grew restless.
The weather on Army Star was very hot, and today was an excellent sunny day. The rays of the sun went uninterrupted and made everyone feel like they were in a huge stove.
Lin Yuan was sweating furiously, his leg muscles gradually stiffened. He took a deep breath to adjust his heartbeat, and glanced out the corner of his eye to the boy standing behind him. Caesar still looked easy going, as if he was lying on the sofa watching TV instead of in the military posture.
“…….” Lin Yuan clenched his teeth and continued to stick his spine straight.
Suddenly a girl's shocked voice shouted: "Instructor, someone fainted!”
The dizzy one was a Beta girl, her physique wasn't the best and the continuous stand finally tired her out. She paled and directly went down. Irene arranged two robotic assistants to send the girl to the infirmary, walked back to the queue and said: “I'm just testing your endurance, don't force yourself! If you're tired, go back to the pavilion to rest!"
Her voice faded and a Beta left, dejected, and sat down in the pavilion, he was quickly followed by another Beta. Obviously, an hour of exposure under the sun made many people reach their physical limit.
Gradually, almost all the Beta left, even a lot of Alpha couldn't hold on.
Irene glanced at the time, it's been a full hour and a half.
And that number 49, small Beta Lin Yuan, was actually still there, standing motionlessly.
The boy's spine was very straight and his black eyes were full of firmness and self-confidence. His heart seemed to have a strange belief, as long as he had faith in himself, he would never retreat.
As a Beta, his natural gene will never be as excellent as an Alpha's, his physical abilities will be less than an Alpha's, but he was relying on this belief to force himself to support his body.
Irene thoughtfully looked at the boy's black hair.
This child … is also an Asian descendent…
One of the students who got full marks on the examination, was actually a Beta…….
Lin Yuan and Caesar stood in front of the class, so they didn't know about the situation behind them. Lin Yuan couldn't see that after the people had left the queue, only five Alpha were left!
Lin Yuan’s head was in a completely blank state at the moment.
He felt dizzy, was pouring sweat and his heartbeat was becoming faster and faster. His chest felt like a heavy stone was pressing on it, every breath was becoming extremely difficult. His lips were cracked, his throat was too dry ….
… I can't lose to Caesar!
Caesar was his roommate, they'd been called to the front by the instructor to give a demonstration. Caesar’s expression looked so easy, if he admitted defeat, everyone in the dormitory would look down on him. Moreover, as a soldier, standing still should be simple, he must insist!
With this simple idea, Lin Yuan persisted to his present condition. He had no idea that his performance had already made several Alpha clench their teeth.
– This little Beta, is simply a Beta monster!
He's been standing for so long but still won't admit defeat, as Alpha, how can they give up to a Beta?
So, while the four Alpha behind were gnashing their teeth at him, Lin Yuan continued to stand. An Alpha named Karl thoughtfully looked at the 5ft 8 young man and slightly smiled.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Yuan felt that he was approaching his limit. He began to see black spots, his head was buzzing, and his legs were gently trembling.
At this time, Caesar suddenly looked at Lin Yuan, then decisively turned and withdrew from the competition.
“…”
Hey? Did he withdraw?
Lin Yuan looked to his side, puzzled.
Caesar really had left.
Since Caesar went back, Lin Yuan also didn't need to try to be brave, he directly turned and walked to the pavilion.
His physical fitness was clearly at its limit, and his heart was almost bursting. He was soaked wet and his white skin was flushed. The view in front of him constantly shook, and his legs were stiff, as if they were not his legs. Every step was like stepping on cotton…….
Lin Yuan took a deep breath and pushed himself to slowly walk to the pavilion, found a step to sit down on, and opened his mouth to gulp down air desperately.
Suddenly, a hand stretched out to him, slender fingers holding a bottle of water.
Lin Yuan raised his head and met Caesar's deep eyes.
The boy's mood seemed to be a bit complicated, he looked deeply at Lin Yuan and softly said: “……. Here…for you."
Caesar handed the water to Lin Yuan, then sat down next to him.
Lin Yuan was terribly thirsty, his throat felt like it was on fire, so he didn't hesitate to take the water and drink a few mouthfuls. He licked his lips and found a sweet taste, the water should have added nutrients. After a lot of sweating, this water would ensure that the body stayed in metabolic balance.
Half a bottle of water later, his body finally felt much better. The dull feeling on his chest gradually disappeared, and breathing became easier.
Lin Yuan felt very touched by his roommate's thoughtfulness, he looked back to Caesar and said: “Thank you."
“No problem.” Caesar saw the boy’s sparkling eyes then looked away, he mumbled: “….Dummy.”
“…….” Lin Yuan drank the rest of water and pondered: What did Caesar just say? Idiot? Who is he scolding?
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T/N:
Shell - Lin Yuan is making a play on Baker's name. Baker- Bèikè, 貝克 Shell – Bèiké, 貝殼
Yes, Lin Yuan may be irritatingly dense (you'll cry at his denseness later) but he is a badass. If he wasn't, I wouldn't have translated this. I love me some badass ukes.