Jiang Wangzhi's light ball had only just reached the halfway point.
Its speed was still agonizingly slow.
There were even a few times when the light ball looked like it was about to crash into the closing partition.
But right at the critical moment, the partition happened to open.
The light ball brushed against the edge and slipped past nimbly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each time seemed like sheer luck, avoiding the obstacles by a hair's breadth.
But what about ten times?
Twenty times?
Han Zheng's smile gradually faded.
He noticed.
Not a single one of Jiang Wangzhi's ten light balls had dropped.
They were like a well-trained army, every step treading on the most precise nodes.
There were no redundant movements.
There was no unnecessary loss.
Thirty seconds later, the ten light balls fell intact into the finish line.
Jiang Wangzhi withdrew her hand and rubbed her sore wrist.
"I'm exhausted."
This kind of delicate work was even more torturous than running 800 meters.
She only prayed to quickly get through this test and go back to sleep.
The invigilator glanced at everyone's data panels, cleared his throat, and announced loudly:
"The first group's control test results are out."
"Fastest speed, Han Zheng."
Han Zheng was just about to puff out his chest when the teacher's tone shifted abruptly.
"However, three light balls dropped, deducting control points."
"Overall control score first place, Jiang Wangzhi!"
"Zero drops, route loss rate: 0%."
The entire hall plunged into dead silence once more.
Everyone widened their eyes in shock.
What was going on?
S-rank Mental Power, lost to an A-rank?
Jiang Wangzhi was also stunned.
She looked at her own hands, then looked at the ten gleaming light balls at the finish line.
"No way."
"I just didn't want them to crash and have to pay for damages, so I moved a bit slower."
"How did I get first place again?"
"Teacher! I refuse to accept this!"
Han Zheng couldn't hold it in anymore.
He strode up to the invigilation desk, his face full of rage.
"On the battlefield, when encountering a Star Beast, are we supposed to calculate routes as slowly as she did?"
"Absolute strength suppression is the key!"
"My S-rank Mental Power can completely shatter all obstacles!"
Facing Han Zheng's questioning, the invigilator did not get angry.
He just glanced indifferently at this arrogant scion of a noble family.
Then, he pressed a key on the console.
On the large screen, two Mental Power output fluctuation charts were displayed side by side in front of everyone.
The left was Han Zheng's.
The right was Jiang Wangzhi's.
"Han Zheng, look for yourself."
The teacher pointed at the screen.
On the chart on the left, the red curve representing Mental Power looked like steep mountains, fluctuating wildly.
Rising and falling drastically.
"Your Mental Power is indeed very strong, with plenty of explosive force,"
the teacher said in a stern tone,
"but your output is extremely unstable."
"If this were the core engine of a mecha, your operation just now would cause the mecha to disintegrate directly due to energy instability during high-speed movement!"
Han Zheng's face turned pale, he opened his mouth, but couldn't refute it.
The teacher pointed at the chart on the right again.
That was Jiang Wangzhi's data.
A sound of sharp intakes of breath echoed through the hall.
That was a blue line.
Flat.
As flat as a lake without ripples.
From the start of the test to the end, this line had almost no up-and-down fluctuations, firmly locked onto a constant value.
Absolute stability.
Absolute control.
"Jiang Wangzhi's total Mental Power is not as high as yours,"
the teacher looked at Jiang Wangzhi, his eyes filled with admiration, "but her stability is the most terrifying I have seen in my ten years of teaching."
"It's not that all her attributes are crushing you,"
"rather, she knows her strengths better than you do, and has pushed this strength to the absolute limit."
"This kind of meticulous control is naturally cut out for being a tactical commander."
Every word the teacher said was like a heavy hammer smashing into Han Zheng's self-esteem.
His proud S-rank talent, in the eyes of others, had become an uncontrollable wild horse.
And that piece of trash he looked down on the most had become a precision instrument.
Han Zheng gritted his teeth hard, turned around without a word, and walked out of the hall.
His retreating figure was full of humiliation.
She rushed forward and grabbed Jiang Wangzhi's arm.
"Wangzhi! You are so cool!"
"Flawless pass! First in control!"
"Did you see Han Zheng's expression like he ate a dead fly? It feels so good!"
Jiang Wangzhi was shaken dizzy by her.
"Cool my ass!"
"I didn't want to stand out at all!"
On the way back,
Gu Zhaozhao was like a repeater motor, wildly spreading the word all the way.
"Make way! The tactical first place is back!"
"What are you all looking at? Haven't you seen an A-rank big shot with full control points?"
Jiang Wangzhi covered her face, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
"Zhaozhao, I beg you, shut up."
"Keep a low profile, you need to keep a low profile, understand?"
Gu Zhaozhao didn't listen at all.
"Keep a low profile for what? My strength doesn't allow it!"
After finally making it back to the dormitory, Jiang Wangzhi collapsed into the chair, feeling even more tired than fighting a Star Beast all day.
Her damned talent— when on earth would it ever end?
Just at this moment, the terminal on her wrist went "beep beep" twice in succession.
【The class assignment notification for first-year freshmen has been issued.】
Jiang Wangzhi clicked it open to check.
The first message:
【Student Jiang Wangzhi, you have been assigned to: Tactical Command Basics Class 1.】
Before she could react, a second message popped up right after.
【Course instructor: Teacher Qin Wan.】
Jiang Wangzhi didn't feel anything was wrong yet.
Gu Zhaozhao, who was drinking water beside her, inadvertently glanced at her screen.
"Pfft!"
Gu Zhaozhao directly spat out the water in her mouth.
She stared fixedly at that name.
Her face instantly turned pale.
Her eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost alive.
Jiang Wangzhi wiped the water droplets off her face, her face full of bewilderment.
"What are you doing? What's wrong with this teacher?"
Gu Zhaozhao swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
Her voice was trembling.
"Teacher Qin Wan..."
"Wangzhi, you're done for."
"That is the most inhumane crazy instructor in the history of First Military Academy."