The moment the Star Coins were transferred from the Star Net to her account, Yan Changfeng let out a long sigh of relief.
She opened the system card pool and hesitated for a moment between the two options. Although she was salivating over the abilities in the Divine Favor Skill Card Pool, her previous experience of ten consecutive empty draws made her a bit wary of overextending.
After a moment of hesitation, Yan Changfeng invested one million into the Normal Skill Card Pool.
A flash of blue light swept across her vision.
[Physique Enhancement Potion *8, Mental Power Enhancement Potion *2, Nutrient Solution *90]
Yan Changfeng: ?
The Nutrient Solution, which she once considered incredibly precious, was now something that made her head spin just by looking at it.
As Yan Changfeng felt a pang of heartache over the lackluster draw, 097 uncharacteristically spoke up on its own.
“Host, the Normal Skill Card Pool has a guaranteed mechanism. A normal skill or talent is guaranteed within 200 draws. You can try again.”
Yan Changfeng had a reasonable suspicion that the system was trying to scam her out of her Star Coins. Her eyes darted around as she asked, “097, since the Normal Skill Card Pool has a guarantee, does the Divine Favor Skill Card Pool also…”
If these divine miracles could be piled up using Star Coins, it wasn’t out of the question.
097’s speech speed picked up slightly.
“No.”
“097, can you add a guarantee right now?”
“No.”
Yan Changfeng looked at the final 850,000 Star Coins in her account and steeled her heart. she did a few more ten-draws. Finally, on the fifth set of ten, a flash of golden light erupted.
A brilliant gold card floated in the air. Amidst complex golden patterns, a massive network woven from red lines and gold threads appeared. It was eerie and magnificent, possessing a strange beauty that seemed to lure one into corruption; one wrong move and a person would be hopelessly ensnared.
[Deceptive Dream]
[Active Skill. Transforms mental power into threads for possession. Allows the user to share the vision and perception of the possessed person or object. The number of threads used is tied to the user’s mental power level. Once mental power reaches A-class, the skill upgrades, allowing the user to influence the possessed person through the mental power threads and weave illusory dreams.]
It was another skill that could be leveled up, though she didn’t know how far the “influence” would go after the upgrade.
Yan Changfeng didn’t overthink it. She exhausted her mental power to give it a try. Currently, she could release a total of ten mental power threads before feeling completely drained. She wound one of the threads around a flower vase on the table, and immediately, strange images from the vase’s perspective began flashing in her mind.
Having not yet adapted to this dual perspective, Yan Changfeng walked forward and promptly tripped over the table leg.
After practicing with a few more threads, Yan Changfeng gradually learned to control the shift in visual perception. As long as she didn’t actively choose to receive the thread’s vision, she wouldn’t be affected.
Yan Changfeng retracted the unused threads. Her mental power recovered slightly—not much, but better than nothing. The threads that had already possessed an object could not be recovered, so she took the opportunity to see how long they would last.
…
At the Blue Star Academy minor exam assessment site.
The instructors in charge of the five majors had long been waiting at the assessment grounds. Since the first-year students’ training ground was still under emergency construction, the assessment was being held at a renovated training ground borrowed from the second-year students. Consequently, a crowd of second-year students had gathered outside the iron fence of the field.
They glared at the freshmen like tigers eyeing their prey, their expressions unfriendly. No one would be in a good mood after having their training ground snatched away and being kicked out in the process.
“I heard this year’s batch has two freshmen with mental power values over 90 and over thirty with values over 80. The academy wants to focus on training them, which is why Instructor Yan went and grabbed the training ground. Brother Pei, do you think these two freshmen will snatch your First Seat position when the time comes?”
“Heh.” Pei Shaoyang reached out and hooked his arm around the speaker’s neck, his tone grim. “Use your brain before you speak. Is my First Seat position that easy to take?”
With that, he pulled his arm back and scanned the thousand-plus freshmen on the field. After a dismissive “Tch,” he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away with large strides.
Yan Changfeng stood in place, looking at the assessment teams in five different directions. She only had a general understanding of the majors. First, she ruled out the Command Department, the Mech Manufacturing Department, and the Pharmaceutical Department. Between the remaining two, she was more interested in mechs. The Individual Soldier Department didn’t rely heavily on mechs, so she set her sights on the Mech Combat Department.
The Mech Combat Department was also the major with the highest requirements and the most applicants. Successfully graduating was essentially a direct ticket into the military as a mecha warrior. Its assessment consisted of three minor exams: Combat, Shooting, and Mental Power Control.
The Combat assessment was only required for the Mech Combat and Individual Soldier Departments. They were split into pairs and finished quickly. However, Yan Changfeng had to wait in line for nearly half a star hour for the Mental Power Control assessment before she even saw the edge of the testing area.
The person lined up behind her was the short-haired girl who had sat next to her during the written exam, the one who had been throwing dice.
Yan Changfeng had always been curious, so she asked, “Is the accuracy rate of throwing dice high?”
The short-haired girl answered instinctively, “Not high, not high at all! I didn’t get a single question right. I would’ve been better off blind-guessing!”
Throwing dice didn’t seem much different from blind-guessing, but the multiple-choice questions accounted for nearly half the score. Even if she got full marks on the rest of the exam, she wouldn’t be able to pass. Moreover, looking at her, she didn’t seem like the type to get the rest of the questions right either.
Therefore, for the girl to still be here, her mental power value had to be at least 80. That way, even if she failed the written exam, she could still enter the academy.
As the two were talking, a sudden exclamation erupted from the assessment field. Yan Changfeng looked toward the sound; the Mental Power Control assessment ahead was already swarming with people.
[Jiang Qi, Mental Power Control assessment, Full Marks.]
Following the voice announcement, a flash of red suddenly darted through the crowd. It was bright and eye-catching. The youth being surrounded suppressed the twitching corners of his mouth, walking out of the assessment area with an incredibly cocky air.
Head held high, face cold and aloof.
“Tch.” Yan Changfeng crossed her arms, watching him walk past her.
The brat was showing off again.
Jiang Qi, who had excellent hearing, caught that “Tch.” He swept an unfriendly gaze over the people in line until his eyes landed on Yan Changfeng. That cold, aloof face finally crumbled.
Yan Changfeng, satisfied at seeing him lose his composure, gave a relaxed smile and even gave him a friendly wave.
“Haven’t seen you in a few days; I actually missed you. Do you need some extra water?” As she spoke, Yan Changfeng pulled out a bottle of water and pointedly shook it in front of him.
Seeing Jiang Qi’s face change color repeatedly, the surrounding freshmen began to whisper. After all, Jiang Qi was the first freshman to get full marks on the Mental Power Control assessment; every move he made was under scrutiny.
Jiang Qi couldn’t stand the stares, but he wasn’t willing to tuck tail and run in front of Yan Changfeng twice. He took a step forward, snatched the water from her hand, twisted it open, and took a few gulps. “Fine, thanks.”
“Wow,” several gasps came from the side.
It was human nature to join in on the excitement and gossip. The curve of Yan Changfeng’s lips became even more pronounced. “Don’t mention it. That’ll be 1,000 Star Coins.”
Jiang Qi nearly spat out the water. There were thousands of people on this training field, and who knew how many more were watching from outside. How could she be so shameless!
He hurriedly checked the reactions of those around him, only to hear someone say:
“Wow, they must have a great relationship. He’s actually willing to pay 1,000 Star Coins for a bottle of water.”
Then someone else added, “A full-marks genius really does drink different water.”
Different, my foot! Was he just a bigger sucker than everyone else?
Seeing Jiang Qi still dazed, Yan Changfeng waved a hand in front of him and held up her datapad with the transfer code, her expression solemn. “You’re not planning to buy on credit, are you?”
Jiang Qi couldn’t afford to lose face like that. He still wasn’t capable of being as utterly shameless as Yan Changfeng. Bracing himself, he scanned the code and paid the Star Coins, then hurriedly ran toward the Shooting zone with his water, his departure looking a mix of dashing and pathetic.
The girl next to her poked her head over. “I’m Ji Nian. You know Jiang Qi?”
“Yan Changfeng.” Yan Changfeng raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t say I know him. Is he famous?”
Ji Nian was silent for a moment before continuing, “His mental power value is 93. But that’s not the important part. What matters is that his surname is Jiang.”
“The big boss of the Interstellar Navigation Company is also named Jiang.”
Yan Changfeng: The same Interstellar Navigation Company that paid her 2 million Star Coins in compensation?
That rich young master was still so stingy!
With a precedent like Jiang Qi, Yan Changfeng and Ji Nian getting full marks on the Mental Power Control assessment didn’t cause much of a stir. After them, dozens of others also achieved full marks.
Almost all freshmen with mental power values over 80 reached a perfect score.
After leaving the assessment area, Yan Changfeng strolled toward the Shooting assessment location.
The Shooting assessment was held at the shooting training ground next to the main field. Thirty people were admitted at a time. Even though Jiang Qi had arrived early to wait in line, he still had to wait until Yan Changfeng filled the final slot before they could enter the training ground.
Once inside the facility, the order of the line was reversed, and Yan Changfeng ended up being the first to be assessed.
Yan Changfeng held a handgun of an unknown model, looking somewhat hesitantly at the supervising instructor.
“I…”
Instructor: “I what? Hurry up and start. There are plenty of people behind you.”
Yan Changfeng: “I just wanted to ask, can I swap this for a bow and arrow?” She had only touched a gun once since transmigrating and had no idea how to use one.
Seeing the instructor’s livid face and “Are you kidding me?” expression, Yan Changfeng knew there was no room for negotiation.
The waiting area erupted in laughter, with Jiang Qi at the front laughing particularly hard. When Yan Changfeng demonstrated an extremely standard example of how *not* to hold a gun, he laughed even harder.
[Incorrect shooting posture, 40 points deducted.]
The Shooting assessment was worth 100 points. Originally, the 40 points for posture were meant to ensure the freshmen’s scores wouldn’t look too terrible. The instructor hadn’t expected that someone would actually fail to get those 40 points.
It wasn’t just the instructor who thought it was a pity; most of the freshmen looked on with pity, and even Jiang Qi showed a sympathetic gaze.
Ji Nian frowned. “If only she wasn’t the first.” It was fine if she didn’t know how; if she had been further back in the line, she could have learned on the spot. But Yan Changfeng happened to be the very first one; she had no one to learn from. She was truly unlucky.
Yan Changfeng, however, just shrugged helplessly. Under the instructor’s pained gaze, she confidently raised the gun. Aiming at the center of the target, she fired.
*Bang!*
[Ten Rings. Shooting assessment score: 60.]
Shooting?
This thing was easier than mounted archery.
With a *whoosh*, Jiang Qi stood up from his seat, staring at the screen above in disbelief. The screen showed the target, and he stared at it again, scanning every detail.
In other words, Yan Changfeng had actually hit the bullseye with that completely wrong posture.
“How is that possible!” Her performance just now was clearly that of a complete novice holding a gun for the first time!
Yan Changfeng put the handgun back in its place. As she walked back to the waiting area, the people who had been whispering fell silent, their gazes complicated.
Ji Nian asked hesitantly, “Have you really never learned how to use a gun?”
Yan Changfeng rubbed her chin. “With my posture, if there were a shooting instructor here, I probably would have angered them to death.”