The temporary military encampment on Planet V-17 had been hastily established several kilometers away from the toxic crash site.
Rows of heavy, reinforced military tents and modular command buildings stretched across the blackened landscape, illuminated by brilliant floodlights.
Medical stations operated continuously without pause, stabilizing injured freshmen while elite imperial soldiers maintained a strict perimeter against surrounding Zergs.
After endless hours of life-or-death struggle, the surviving cadets were finally granted a brief moment to rest.
Rhaevia sat quietly on a metal supply crate near the edge of the medical zone, inspecting the unfamiliar health monitor attached to her wrist. She completely ignored the intense stares and hushed whispers ripple through the crowd around her.
"That’s her," a young noble boy whispered, nudging his friend.
"The E-rank girl who went back into the Zerg canyon to rescue six cadets," the second student replied in disbelief.
A third cadet chimed in, her voice full of awe. "She also organized our entire defensive formation during the night attack, and I heard she killed a mutated Zerg all by herself using scrap metal."
The quiet whispers continued to spread across the military camp.
This time, however, the tone contained genuine admiration and respect rather than the cruel ridicule she had endured at the academy.
During the official recovery briefing broadcast across the camp, the chief academy instructor publicly recognized her actions over the loudspeakers.
"Cadet Rhaevia Rythundeir demonstrated exceptional battlefield judgment and tactical command during the emergency," the voice echoed across the valley.
"She successfully rescued six stranded cadets, organized defensive formations, identified Zerg attack patterns, and contributed significantly to the ultimate survival of our remaining freshmen."
Spontaneous applause erupted among the majority of the rescued survivors.
Rhaevia’s face remained entirely expressionless. Having commanded entire armies during an apocalyptic war, superficial praise from academy instructors meant absolutely nothing to her.
Across the camp, however, several elite students looked increasingly bitter. This was especially true for the arrogant noble freshmen who had previously dismissed her as a useless failure.
One of the S-rank physical combatants tightly clenched his dirty fists.
"She just got extremely lucky," he muttered, glaring across the dirt path.
Another noble student scoffed loudly, crossing his arms. "She certainly didn’t execute that entire operation herself."
A third student stepped forward into the open, raising his voice so the surrounding crowd could hear. "Exactly! She stole everyone else’s combat credit to make herself look like a genius!"
The surrounding cadets slowly fell silent, turning to watch the confrontation unfold.
The ugly accusation spread quickly among the noble faction.
"She used our group’s collective fighting achievements to artificially boost her personal trial score," a girl chimed in.
"She was merely standing on a rock giving basic orders while everyone else bled," another added.
"The official rescue points should belong to the combatants who actually fought the beasts," the lead accuser declared triumphantly.
Rhaevia finally looked up, her dark eyes locking onto the arrogant noble student. Her pale face remained perfectly calm and unbothered. She did not raise her voice, nor did she bother engaging in a meaningless verbal argument.
She simply reached into her military-issued storage device and tapped her wrist communicator. "If you doubt the validity of the rescue, then let us examine the raw tactical logs."
The accusing student froze, caught off guard by her total composure.
Rhaevia projected a crisp, high-definition holographic battlefield log directly into the air between them. Precise GPS coordinates materialized in bright blue letters. Beneath them, microsecond timestamps and biometric signatures flashed in sequence.
"Six cadets were officially pinned in the eastern depression at exactly 21:17," Rhaevia stated calmly, tapping the projection. A audio recording played their frantic distress call over the open channel.
"At 21:18, my personal beacon entered the hazardous canyon alone," she continued as another set of verified telemetry records appeared.
"Twenty-one nineteen: plasma charges deployed," she noted flatly. The visual projection rendered an exact topological map of the explosion and subsequent cliff collapse.
"Twenty-one twenty-two: all six survivor biometrics successfully registered outside the collapse zone," she concluded.
The accusing student’s face gradually turned as pale as a bedsheet as the irrefutable telemetry logic laid out before the entire camp.
Rhaevia shifted the interface to display the underlying data structure. "Every tactical movement is automatically logged by the academy’s orbital monitoring network."
She paused, sweeping her icy gaze across the crowd. "Anyone who genuinely believes they executed that rescue is welcome to submit their personal biometric logs right now for a direct system comparison."
Silence descended upon the medical zone.
Not a single noble student dared to step forward or offer a counterargument.
The boy who had openly accused her stared blankly at the floating data files. His mouth opened slightly to speak, but no sound came out, and he quickly shut it again in total humiliation.
With a light flick of her slender wrist, Rhaevia closed the holographic projection.
"I do not care who receives public credit for surviving a warzone," she stated, her quiet voice cutting sharply through the quiet air. "But do not accuse someone of stealing your achievements when the objective records prove you did nothing."
The surrounding cadets exchanged deeply uncomfortable, awkward glances.
The elite noble students lowered their heads, completely unable to meet her gaze.
It was a face slap. It was not loud, dramatic, or violent, but it was absolute and undeniable.
Before anyone could break the heavy silence, every emergency communicator throughout the temporary military camp suddenly chimed in unison.
[ATTENTION ALL ACADEMY CADETS.]
The official crest of the Imperial Gifted Academy materialized floating high above every glowing screen.
[THE FRONTIER TRIAL RANKINGS HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY RECALIBRATED AND UPDATED.]
The entire camp fell completely dead silent as students scrambled to view their wrist displays.
A massive, transparent ranking leaderboard projected into the sky above the command tent. Names began populating the list one after another as points were finalized.
Then, the top position flashed with a brilliant, blinding golden light.
[RANK #1 - RHAEVIA RYTHUNDEIR]
The entire military camp instantly erupted into chaotic shouts and cheers.