Sui Ning’s eyes sparkled with a smile. “It’s the Beast God’s mercy—He heard my prayers and rewarded me with S-rank Beast Husbands!”
Not just one or two, but a whole handful of them.
Someone who could transmigrate between worlds—wasn’t she already the luckiest of the lucky?
Too bad her capital wasn’t enough!
Still, she added a remark, offering herself as a living example:
“I heard that any Female who attends Temple Academy, as long as she studies hard and keeps improving herself, is guaranteed an S-rank Beast Husband as a standard perk!
Sure, I got lucky and matched with more than one S-rank Beast Husband, but my Mental Power is low right now—I can’t hold on to Mo Che.
So no matter what, only real strength can make luck stick.”
These words set the hearts of all the Females in the Star Car fluttering. “Really? Sui Ning, where did you hear that?”
“Isn’t that a bit exaggerated? My older brother works at a newspaper, and his office did a statistic—normally, only Females who graduate with B+ Mental Power get an S-rank Beast Husband as the standard.”
Sui Ning lifted her chin slightly. “We have five years. If we just work a little harder, surely we can raise our rank by at least one level, right? Then wouldn’t it be our turn?
S-rank Males are powerful and rare, but no matter how rare they are, can they be rarer than us Females who awakened C-rank or above? What’s wrong with everyone having one?
Sisters, you just have to dare to dream—what if it actually comes true?”
The Females nodded. None of them thought themselves inferior to anyone else. They had awakened Mental Power, and at a decent level too—they deserved the good life.
With the grand goals settled, everyone crowded around her, eager to get a whiff of the sweet details first.
“Sui Ning, is your General Jun Lin especially fierce and brave? Can you even handle him with your C+ rank?”
“Have you felt the difference between S-rank and A-rank? Because I think the gap between A-rank and B-rank is pretty big…”
Sui Ning’s face turned bright red. Her mind was filled with images of her and Jun Lin locked in each other’s arms, kissing fiercely—thunder meeting earthfire, her heart nearly leaping out of her throat!
If just the intimacy above the neck was this stimulating, then when they actually formed their mating bond… In her head, every little fantasy animation had its characters’ heads swapped for hers and Jun Lin’s…
No one pressed her for an answer. Instead, they began shamelessly exchanging experiences with one another—what special talents each of their Beastmen had.
Sui Ning listened, stunned. Apparently, dragons, snakes, and lizards had two of… something. Flying beasts could be ridden through the sky… and you must never touch a Beast-form’s tail…
She couldn’t help feeling curious about what beasts the Beast Husbands the system had matched her with actually were. Come to think of it, it had been two days already, and out of ten Beast Husbands, only four had contacted her—and two had even unbound!
Sui Ning puffed out her cheeks. Chances were, those Males weren’t very willing to form a mating bond with her.
That didn’t stop her mind from wandering, carried along by the Females’ chatter, as she pondered what Beast-form she’d want in a future Beast Husband…
They were all Females of roughly the same Mental Power Level, and classmates at that. They would be studying and training together for the next five years, so everyone quickly blended together, chatting and laughing.
Before long, the Star Car pulled up at the training grounds. Everyone disembarked and lined up as instructed, verifying their identities before entering.
Their wristbands were temporarily taken over by an intelligent assistant and stored away along with their belongings.
Over 130,000 Female cadets were participating in the military training, divided into ten legions. Each legion comprised four regiments, and each regiment consisted of one S-class, nine A-class, sixteen B-class, and twenty-three C-class units.
To make management, training, and motivation easier, the regiment was further divided into squads, each led by an S-rank Female and composed of 13 A-rank, 40 B-rank, and 110 C-rank students!
Sui Ning was assigned to Squad Three of the First Regiment of the Fifth Army. What puzzled her was that, with over eight hundred squads, not only did she and Ruotang end up in the same one, but Yu Mo was there too—and the instructor was Mo Che. How melodramatic could things get?
She kept feeling something was off, but the thought flashed by, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.
After leading them through a simple warm-up, Mo Che’s gaze swept over them, pausing briefly on Ruotang and Sui Ning, before he said coldly:
“Before strange beasts and the Zerg, they won’t care what your Mental Level is… Since you’re here for training, that means improving your physical condition so you can carry out support work…
Everyone, run two laps around the training ground. Even if you have to walk, you will finish. You eat and pick your dorms only when you’re done!”
Each lap was two kilometers, so two laps made four kilometers. For Females who had barely ever exercised, this was nothing short of a life-or-death trial.
Hearing this, the Females could only let out low groans of despair and resignedly start running.
Sui Ning’s body had just undergone marrow cleansing and meridian purification. Forget four kilometers—she could grit her teeth and run a full marathon in one go.
Yu Mo deliberately ran slowly up front, and when Sui Ning caught up, she smugly whispered, “Sui Ning, don’t think everything’s smooth sailing just because you got into Temple Academy. If you fail military training and don’t get your graduation Z—”
Before she could finish, Sui Ning had already sped off into the distance! Yu Mo’s face flushed red with rage, and she nearly lost control and started cursing out loud.
From the moment they entered the training ground, all privileges had been allocated according to the number of Females at each Mental Power Level—partly to motivate everyone, and partly to let the Females get used to being treated differently ahead of time.
Strength reigned above all, and strength was the sum of aptitude, luck, and effort. The further along one went, the more the first two outweighed the last!
For example, the meals provided by the cafeteria: the Special Supply was prepared for S-rank Females, but whoever finished first could claim it.
Second through fourteenth place got the treatment reserved for A-rank Females!
Sui Ning not only ran fast herself but also shouted to the other Females, “Sisters, give it your all! Our Mental Power may not match the S-ranks and A-ranks, but our stamina isn’t necessarily weaker.
This might be our only chance to beat them. For the Special Supply and Premium Supply—charge!”
The Females, who normally couldn’t endure hardship and were dawdling along, perked up at this. The chance to push the S-ranks and A-ranks down, in any capacity whatsoever, secretly thrilled them, and they all broke into a sprint.
The faces of the S-rank and A-rank Females turned green. Did they have no dignity left? One or two was fine, but they hadn’t undergone special training yet—faced with a hundred and forty or fifty competitors, the Special Supply and Premium Supply might not be theirs at all.
Just to avoid an ugly loss, they too clenched their teeth and ran like mad.
The other squads, seeing them chasing each other with reckless, pumped-up abandon, couldn’t help asking what was going on. Once they heard the explanation, what else could they say? They too started running with their eyes shut, howling.
Sui Ning shouted again, “One step of progress leads to progress at every step—the next Premium Supply will be mine…”
S’s goal was too ambitious, and it was tied to aptitude—but A-rank was something everyone could still strive for.
After another can of motivational pep talk was poured on, the Females no longer had any of the complaints they’d arrived with. That competitive, never-give-up spirit was ignited, and one by one they began talking about all the benefits of hard work.
“Our squad’s Premium Supply is mine! Just watch me get two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes later…”
“I’ll get my own private room, while you all have to sleep in shared bunks…”
Having stirred the waters into a muddy mess, Sui Ning easily finished her two laps.
She deliberately held her breath until her face turned red, panting a bit heavily, and restrained her pace to take fourteenth place—earning herself A-rank Premium Supply treatment. She skipped happily off to the cafeteria to eat.
Two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, a soup, a side dish, plus fruit and dessert. Although the food tasted mediocre, compared to everyone else’s single meat and vegetable dish or just one plate of food, her meal couldn’t have been more delicious!