Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

Under the guidance of Teacher Li Qixing, Ruo Manni discovered that her cultivation, which had been stagnant for several months, had finally made some progress.

Ruo Manni was very excited, eager to see her teacher immediately to learn more about cultivation techniques.

However, she ultimately restrained her impatience. Cultivation could not be rushed, and the training plan she had developed the previous day was well-structured; she couldn’t abandon it halfway. Therefore, Ruo Manni suppressed her eagerness and first headed to the swimming training facility.

She had arranged her training time with Instructor Qing the day before, and as Ruo Manni walked into the swimming training facility, Instructor Qing came out of the monitoring room.

It had only been a day, so her arm strength couldn’t have increased significantly overnight. Instructor Qing suggested that Ruo Manni use the same gravity settings as yesterday while trying to improve her speed.

However, today the gravity was set to three times her weight from the beginning, rather than starting from zero as she had the day before. Ruo Manni swam the same number of laps as yesterday, but once again, she was pulled out of the pool by the instructor.

“Very good. Today’s data shows that your physical fitness has improved, Ruo Manni,” Instructor Qing said with a satisfied smile.

When Ruo Manni entered the mental power training hall, her first instinct was to look for Li Qixing; he had promised to return today to continue teaching her.

However, she did not see Li Qixing, and she wasn’t disappointed. A figure like her teacher would not have such free time.

Not wanting to waste time, Ruo Manni entered the training room and continued practicing the mental power visualization techniques that her teacher had taught her yesterday.

The consumption of mental power was immense, and less than an hour later, Ruo Manni found herself unable to continue and had to stop.

As she stepped outside the training room, she finally saw Li Qixing.

“Teacher, you’re here!” Ruo Manni exclaimed happily.

This call of “teacher” surprised one instructor and two teaching assistants, who turned to look at Li Qixing.

Li Qixing personally taught Ruo Manni for an hour. Seeing that she had fully grasped the key points, he nodded in satisfaction and said, “Ruo Manni, your comprehension is excellent.”

“This afternoon, I will be returning to the military. You should practice the skills I’ve taught you. Given your current situation, you should practice the meditation technique for two hours each day, with the rest of the time dedicated to skill training. We can adjust based on your progress later.”

Li Qixing arranged a month-long training plan for Ruo Manni, then told her, “Under your circumstances, the military academy won’t assign another mental power teacher to instruct you. If you have any cultivation questions while I’m away from Empire Star, you can send me a message. I will reply when I have time. If you encounter any difficulties that you can’t resolve, you can seek help from your senior brother, Rick Amber.”

“Yes, Teacher!” Ruo Manni responded, feeling that Li Qixing was genuinely committed to teaching her.

“Your senior brother is a Level 7 mecha engineer and a Level 5 mental power user. He is the head of the Mecha Engineering Department at your military academy. I suspect you’d really like to meet him,” Li Qixing smiled.

Ruo Manni’s eyes immediately lit up. Yesterday, Li Qixing had asked her about her cultivation plans at the military academy, and she had honestly expressed her desire to learn mecha engineering as well.

Li Qixing hadn’t said much at that time, but today he was introducing her to a connection with a Level 7 mecha engineer.

“Thank you, Teacher!” Ruo Manni said joyfully.

“No need for formality; you are my disciple,” Li Qixing said as he handed Ruo Manni a jade pendant. “Yesterday was too rushed, and I didn’t have a chance to give you your initiation gift.”

“Thank you, Teacher.” Ruo Manni took the jade pendant in a daze and used her mental power to “check” it, discovering that inside was… a mecha—a Level 5 mental power-controlled starry sky mecha.

“Teacher, this gift is too precious,” Ruo Manni’s voice trembled a little.

A Level 5 mental power-controlled starry sky mecha is incredibly expensive; even an ordinary small noble family couldn’t afford it without going bankrupt.

Ruo Manni felt she could no longer doubt her teacher. Someone with ulterior motives wouldn’t send their student such a valuable gift.

“Just accept what the teacher gives you. This mecha is one that I used before. When your senior brother arrives, let him fine-tune it according to your specifications; it will be sufficient for you to use until Level 6,” Li Qixing said with a smile.

Just then, Rick Amber appeared—a young man of about 70 years old, with black hair and deep brown eyes. He respectfully said to Li Qixing, “Teacher, I’m here.”

“This is your junior sister, my disciple whom I accepted yesterday. She is this year’s new student in the Combat Department, Ruo Manni. When I’m unavailable, you will be responsible for her mental power training progress and look after her on my behalf,” Li Qixing explained.

Once Li Qixing finished speaking, Ruo Manni stepped forward and saluted, “Hello, Senior Brother, I’m Ruo Manni.”

Rick Amber smiled and said, “Hello, Junior Sister. I didn’t expect the genius girl among this year’s new students to end up in the teacher’s hands.”

“What are you talking about? Your junior sister’s cultivation potential is much better than yours. While I’m away, you need to teach her mental power techniques well and not keep trying to get her to learn mecha manufacturing,” Li Qixing shot a glare at his senior disciple.

“Junior sister should have originally been in our Mecha Manufacturing Department. With her talent, if she studies mecha-making well, she will definitely become a Level 8 mecha manufacturer in the future. But she was forcibly taken away by those rascals from the Combat Department.” When it came to this, Rick Amber was genuinely pained; their Mecha Manufacturing Department didn’t have enough information and were slow to act, causing the genius to be snatched away.

“However, since junior sister wants to double major in mecha manufacturing, I will teach her well.”

“Just don’t lead your junior sister to focus exclusively on mecha manufacturing,” Li Qixing shot Rick Amber another glare.

Ruo Manni’s smile stiffened a bit as she listened to their conversation; they both seemed to already know her situation. This confirmed Ruo Manni’s suspicion that Li Qixing’s decision to take her as a disciple wasn’t a sudden whim, but something he had already determined beforehand.

“Ruo Manni, remember that your priority is mental power cultivation. Don’t let your senior brother mislead you into focusing on mecha-making. You need to… work hard. The empire currently needs mental power masters who can become star warriors,” Li Qixing said with a somewhat heavy tone.

Rick Amber’s expression also became serious.

Ruo Manni understood that they were both aware of the situation regarding aliens, so they aimed to cultivate her as a valuable talent.

Thus, even before school officially started, Ruo Manni had already secured a connection with the Mecha Manufacturing Department’s director, solidifying her plans to double major while receiving two great gifts.

The gift from Rick Amber, the senior brother, was naturally not as precious as the one from Li Qixing, but it was still not an ordinary gift.

Ruo Manni stared at the paper in her hand; it was actually a property certificate for a property on Emperor Capital Star.

Although it was just a unit in a third-tier city, covering an area of a little over 200 square meters and worth only over nine million credit points, its value was nothing compared to properties in first-tier cities, which could be worth billions of credit points.

However, this was property on Emperor Capital Star, where immigration controls were very strict, and it was not something an ordinary person could purchase. The value of this property was not just in the real estate itself, but also in the two precious residency permits that could be obtained because of it.

With this property, Ruo Manni could enable her mentor, Fang, and Lin Shangke to move their residency to Emperor Capital Star, allowing Shangke to study there. The cultivation environment on Emperor Capital Star was undoubtedly worlds apart from that of Topaz Star.