Watching the Match
Guan Chuanjun had a great time in the second group.
This map was a naval battle map, his specialty. He commanded his fleet to crush the other three military academies, but at the last moment, he had the door to his command room welded shut.
Although this map had no decapitation mechanic and no Xu Lingqu, Guan Chuanjun still developed the good habit of closing doors properly.
The final results for this group were tallied together with the first match's points:
1. Empire Shaji: 0+4=4 points
2. Empire Xiyue: 0+3=3 points
3. Federation Menze: 0+2=2 points
4. Federation Xili: 0+1=1 point
This group, where all the first-match losers competed, didn't attract much attention. Those who watched complained that Shaji's match was a pure stomp, and no one knew who was enjoying it except Guan Chuanjun.
After the match ended, the livestream's popularity rose instead, and the number of spectators on-site increased, because the third group's match was about to begin.
Moye topped the standings with a high score of 8 points. If any one of Qingjun, Dolanston, or Longyuan could secure first place, they would tie with Moye for the top spot. Almost everyone was raring to watch this battle of the strong.
Xu Lingqu arrived at the VIP seats just in time. Jin, Xu Xiqin, Shen Shouli, and Liu Zheng were already there.
Xu Xiqin curiously asked her, "Sister, how's your starship training going?"
She had originally wanted to learn together with Xu Lingqu, but she really had no talent in that area. After an hour in the simulator, she would emerge dizzy, so she ultimately chose to focus on improving her shooting skills first.
Xu Lingqu, on the other hand, went to the simulator whenever she had free time, but she seemed to hide her progress—no one knew how well she was doing.
"Not bad. I don't crash into asteroid fields anymore," Xu Lingqu summarized her current progress.
She had already passed the proficiency mode for all the starship types available in the simulator and was now in combat training, currently using asteroid fields as targets.
Jin knew Xu Lingqu's tendency to downplay her abilities; the shadow of her "never systematically studied shooting" remark still hadn't dissipated: "So, Commander, you must be proficient in combat starships by now."
Xu Lingqu sat down noncommittally and watched as the commanders of the empire's military academies entered the competition pods and met the Federation commanders in the virtual space to draw the match map.
Today's commentators started with Lieutenant Quan and Teacher Chang, with Senior Colonel Ren and Professor Zhuang taking over in the latter half.
The two immediately began gossiping: "Speaking of which, there's a special relationship between the two chief commanders today. Don't get the wrong idea, chat—it's not romantic, not boy-boy, not girl-girl! Our Dolanston commander and the Federation's Qingjun commander, Jia Xiangying and Jia Xianglan—just from the names, you can tell they're siblings!"
The eldest daughter of Sky Network versus the second young master of Sky Network, respectively at elite academies in the Empire and the Federation, both S-level psychic commanders—even those who usually didn't follow the military academy league came to watch the excitement.
In the footage, the silver-haired, pink-eyed young woman was staring at her brother, who shared her hair and eye color.
After drawing, Jia Xianglan looked at his sister: "Sister, you're going to lose to me again this time. Ready?" He smiled innocently, but his words were sharp.
Jia Xiangying ignored him. When it was her turn to draw, she returned and sneered at Jia Xianglan: "This time, as your older sister, I'll teach you a lesson."
Jia Xianglan's expression remained unchanged, but he gave Jia Xiangying a pitiful look: "Sister, you're talking like that again, not being humble at all. After this match, you'll be lectured by Father again."
Their father, Jia Tu, the current CEO of Sky Network, had never taught Jia Xianglan to remain humble at all times, but he always demanded that of his daughter.
Jia Xiangying had always believed that it was because her father intended to hand Sky Network to her that he was so strict. She had endured this double standard.
But she could endure her father—that didn't mean she could endure Jia Xianglan!
"I'll show you who deserves to be taught a lesson," she said coldly.
Gu Tingzhi and Li Muyi exchanged glances, both looking a bit uncomfortable.
Gu Tingzhi had approached Jia Xiangying about cooperating, and she had flatly refused.
Dolanston wasn't Du'e; it didn't need to rely on a big tree to stay cool. Besides, that academy's rules had always been like this.
"Dolanston: never cooperate," Jin shrugged. "Their minimum psychic power requirement is set at A, and the number of A+ students doubles Longyuan's, but they don't actually have many S-level soldiers. Besides Jia Xiangying, their team this year has only two."
The team's overall combat quality was high, but they lacked someone who could step up and shoulder pressure at critical moments.
They were like an upgraded version of Shaji.
"Maybe Jia Xiangying can become the one to step up for Dolanston?" Xu Xiqin said. Although her first impression of Jia Xiangying wasn't great, the fact that she'd become Dolanston's chief commander meant she definitely had skill.
Jin shook his head: "My definition of someone who can step up and shoulder pressure is someone like our commander."
"Oh," Xu Xiqin shook her head too. "Then there's no one—there's not a second one in the entire universe!"
At that moment, the map draw results came out: a space map, starship combat.
The six academies each occupied a star domain, and the domains weren't connected—far apart. The only way to reach others was through a wormhole in their own domain.
The wormhole was like a door to anywhere, but stretched horizontally; once you entered, there was a passage.
Actually, the inspiration for interstellar jump points came from wormholes, and the operation was nearly identical.
Enter the wormhole in your own star domain, set the coordinate to another academy's wormhole, and you could "teleport" there.
A wormhole didn't look like a small round hole as commonly depicted, but a transparent sphere that could be entered from all directions.
Because it was transparent, it was hard to spot in space. Only by observing its blurred edges could you confirm it was a wormhole.
A wormhole could handle a massive number of fleets teleporting simultaneously, unlike interstellar jump points which had limits. The larger the fleet, the longer it stayed in the wormhole space, but those inside couldn't feel time passing; to their senses, they entered and instantly arrived.
All participating students entered the competition pods. Sky Network indeed gave this group the most interesting map, but the mechanism was quite confusing.
Previous mechanisms practically urged everyone to fight quickly, but this map isolated everyone. To invade another academy's star domain, you'd need to know their wormhole coordinates. Yet by normal logic, who would just reveal their own coordinates and invite attack?
This could easily create a deadlock where no one moved, so the second rule was: if no other academy's fleet arrived in your domain within one day, you'd lose ten points.
Sky Network wanted to see the commanders of the strong academies negotiate and cooperate, resulting in a thrilling showdown.
Just then, the Qingjun commander, Jia Xianglan, sent his own star domain's wormhole coordinates directly to the other five commanders.