On the field, the tattered target bearing scorched marks was automatically replaced with a brand new one, and the training room fell into a dead silence.
The forty-odd alphas present all stared fixedly at the pitch black figure, their expressions a mixture of various emotions.
In all fairness, systematically trained A-grade alphas could also achieve ten out of ten perfect scores, but the problem was that this was a beta.
A mediocre beta.
At this moment, the opponent had already shed the aura of faint, underlying danger, lazily reloading the particle gun and walking off to the side.
A gentle smile hung on his pretty face. “Shouldn’t it be the next row of classmates’ turn?”
No one made a sound for a moment.
The instructor, who had been expressionless the whole time, finally managed a trace of a smile. “Your score is exceptionally good, kid. Have you received relevant training before?”
Wick stared intently at Bo Tang, seeming to expect Bo Tang to give an affirmative answer.
It was as if only by doing so could he believe that a beta had actually outperformed an alpha.
“Sorry… I only have memories of the past half year.” A troubled expression appeared on the black haired beta’s face, and he lowered his eyes somewhat dejectedly, “I don’t remember anything about the past.”
The instructor, Iman Yeliford, frowned. “Are you that tied, ”
A flash of deep thought crossed his eyes, and the rare smile he had worn faded away. He turned to the rest of the group and ordered. “The next row, get ready!”
Then he walked back to his spectator position, as if his earlier appreciation of Bo Tang had just been everyone’s collective hallucination.
Everyone felt puzzled by Iman’s sudden cold attitude, but Wick’s mood improved considerably.
An amnesiac beta?
Sounds pretty pitiful, doesn’t it?
Looking at it from another angle, under the empire’s existing stringent human rights policies, for an able bodied person to end up amnesiac and become a welfare relief recipient in the first place meant that this person must have neither a background nor resources behind them.
Maybe they used to have them, but they certainly had lost them now.
Wick narrowed his eyes, the curve of his lips ironic.
A weak and powerless beta, no matter how talented, couldn’t possibly make any waves, could they?
What Wick could think of, the aristocratic alphas present could think of as well, and in an instant, the way they looked at Bo Tang changed flavors.
Bo Tang acted as if he hadn’t noticed everyone’s scrutiny, standing calmly to the side.
Simon sidestepped slightly to stand between Bo Tang and the others, turning his head to say. “Don’t mind them. The empire’s generals aren’t all alphas and nobles, you know.”
Bo Tang chuckled, amused. “Thanks for the comfort, but I don’t really have ambitions that grand.”
For now, he only cared about whether his identity would be exposed, and was simply probing certain people’s attitudes.
This instructor…
Bo Tang’s gaze landed on the other man’s epaulets.
Two bars and three stars, which under this world’s conversion standard was a colonel, a neither high nor low military rank.
If he was specifically sent to monitor his actions, it seemed the Enforcement Department didn’t place a very high level of importance on him.
Bo Tang grew thoughtful.
“I advise you not to take the instructor’s one or two words of praise too seriously.” Wick walked over at some point, his expression full of sarcasm. “People with talent are as common as grass at Bay University, not to mention this is just a military training session that doesn’t even match the intensity of a regular drill.”
“And this is only the first item: firearm practical training. Wait until the mental power and pheromone practical training, and this beta will learn what it means to be humbled by the vastness of the heavens.” Bo Tang recovered from his thoughts and smiled, “Is that what you wanted to say?”
Wick: ?
Simon: “Pfft.”
“You just wait!”
Watching the black haired alpha storm off in anger, Simon managed a suppressed smile. “This is the first time I’ve seen someone dare to talk back to that guy like that.”
Bo Tang spread his hands. “I honestly don’t even know why he has such a huge fire burning for me.”
Just because he was Larry’s friend? That would be too childish.
Simon uttered an “hmm”… “Actually, it has a bit to do with his family background… Well, it’s an open secret anyway, doesn’t hurt to tell you.”
He lowered his voice. “Fryman’s father once abandoned his family for a beta, and even almost gave up his peerage. If it weren’t for Wick’s omega father intercepting them at the port just as they were about to flee to an outer star system, the situation of the Fryman family might look very different right now. Because of this scandal, the entire Fryman family has a rather poor attitude toward betas.”
Bo Tang was slightly surprised. “True love?”
“Who knows.” A calm expression flashed through the blond alpha’s brown eyes. “If it is, the price for this love is way too high.”
Gambling away the reputation of an entire family and their own children.
Bo Tang was a bit curious. “Didn’t they say the attraction between alphas and omegas is hardwired into their instincts? Why would something like this still happen?”
“The Fryman family claims that beta obtained a special drug, but,” Simon smiled, “truth and falsehood are all tangled up, impossible to tell clearly.”
That might also just be an excuse used by the Fryman family to save face.
“Besides, the attraction between AOs isn’t that absolute either,” Simon said. “Take… the Vaneri family, for example.”
Hearing this surname again, Bo Tang couldn’t help paying closer attention, though he hadn’t expected Simon’s words to have nothing to do with the Mad Snake.
“Alex, the current Duke of the Vaneri family, had an 82% compatibility rate with his first omega husband, but that didn’t stop him from marrying a second omega half a year after his husband died,” Simon shook his head. “The second one was already visibly pregnant at the wedding.”
Listening to the gossip, Bo Tang gained a new level of understanding regarding the world’s settings.
It seemed that no matter how powerful the genetic forces they evolved into, human nature would ultimately override instinct.
While the two were chatting, everyone else had finished shooting.
Iman looked at everyone’s scores, his brow furrowed tightly.
Although the medical major was recognized as a retirement home for wealthy scions, the physical aptitude of these alphas was still generally below average.
Only that Wick and Bo Tang were doing somewhat decently.
He closed his light screen and let out a heavy snort.
With physical fitness this poor, these guys still dared to enroll in a military academy!
If he were an instructor at a different school, Iman might have flown into a rage by now and ordered everyone to practice holding their gun sights for three hours straight without stopping.
Unfortunately, the students of Bay University were either rich or powerful.
This was the dark side of imperial development that couldn’t be avoided, and he was powerless to change it.
Therefore, he only threw a small tantrum, his voice cold and hard. “Everyone download the AI correction plugin, and train on gun holding and aiming with light-brain assistance. No resting allowed for two hours!”
His gaze swept across Bo Tang and Wick. “You two, come with me alone.”
Wick glared at Bo Tang and followed Iman, Bo Tang followed along with total ease and composure.
Iman led them right next door to the training room.
As soon as the door behind them closed, Iman turned around, his expression serious. “Your scores were the best among everyone.”
Bo Tang smiled. “Thank you for the compliment.”
Wick said sourly. “Isn’t this just data staring everyone in the face? What was there to compliment?”
Iman coughed to interrupt him: “Regardless of whether you’ve had prior training or are just naturally gifted, I don’t think your abilities should be buried in the Medical Class A.”
Bo Tang had a slight premonition about what Iman was going to say next.
Sure enough, Iman went on to say. “So, your upcoming practical training will be conducted together with the students of Combat Class B.”
“Combat class?” Wick frowned.
The combat class was Bay University’s premier gold-standard major, tied with the command class. Although Iman was sending them to Class B instead of Class A or Class S, Class B was still entirely composed of A-grade alphas.
A-grade alphas possessed the physical monster like stamina to go without sleep for three days and three nights. Wick himself was an A-grade, so he didn’t really care, but could this physically frail looking beta manage?
Even though Wick disliked Bo Tang, that didn’t mean he wanted to see his own medical department make a fool of themselves in front of others.
Iman didn’t show much emotional fluctuation. “Right, combat class, training together with A-grade alphas.”
“A-grade alphas?” Bo Tang seemed slightly puzzled.
Iman glanced at him sideways. “What, getting cold feet?”
“No.” Bo Tang smiled, “I’m just a bit curious. I’m a beta, why would you think I could withstand that level of training?”
“Hahahahaha!”
Iman’s sudden, roaring laughter filled the empty room, leaving Wick utterly baffled. He couldn’t help asking: “Instructor, what are you laughing at?”
“What, you still haven’t figured it out?” Iman raised an eyebrow, tapping his own neck. “I’m a beta too.”
Satisfied as he watched both students simultaneously widen their eyes in shock, Iman crossed his arms: “Hmph, so what if alphas mock betas? Didn’t I still beat down so many alphas? I dare say, based purely on physical strength, even an S-grade alpha is someone I can fight toe to toe with.”
He looked Bo Tang up and down. “Just doing firearm practical training together with alphas, and you’re already scared of that?”
He wasn’t arrogant enough to expect a beta to synchronize with alphas in terms of mecha piloting or mental power, but firearm practical training prohibited the use of mental power assistance, making it the fairest test relatively speaking.
He had a gut feeling that this beta’s potential was definitely better than what he had just displayed.
Iman was not an armchair strategist, every single one of his medals and merits had been hard won through fire and bloodshed.
His long standing combat intuition allowed him to tell at a glance whether a soldier had given their all or had been slacking off.
Just now, this beta had clearly been acting with effortless ease.
A ten target test that felt like a child’s game couldn’t probe the depths of his capabilities. Besides, the mission handed down to him from above was to test out this suspected amnesiac beta’s abilities as much as possible. If this guy really was some kind of hidden identity anomaly, it would be best to screen him out before the official semester started.
But if he was just purely gifted, then he would need to pay close attention.
After all, the Third Army hadn’t had a decent beta officer in a long, long time…
Iman masked the flash of deep calculation in his eyes.
Meeting Iman’s probing gaze, the corners of Bo Tang’s lips curved into a light, casual arc. “I naturally obey your command.”