Briefing the Commander

The moment the list of a hundred names for Moye was posted, the older students were in an uproar, clamoring to know who Xu Lingqu was, while the freshmen remained eerily calm.

Wang Qihu, Lin Xiao, and Guan Zhongli, in particular, looked ready to grab a loudspeaker and announce Xu Lingqu's exploits from the trial period to the whole school.

Kai Ang and Instructor Chen returned to campus that same day. When the students—especially the newcomers—saw them again, they couldn't help but shudder.

The military academy league was two weeks away, and this time Sky Network had chosen Yuheng Star as the Empire's host. Staff were working overtime to construct the venue on Yuheng.

Moye was hosting, so losing was out of the question. The moment the two instructors were back, they intensified the training regimen. Instructor Chen took charge of the others, while Kai Ang focused on Chief Commander Xu Lingqu.

Xu Lingqu was dragged to the office for one-on-one training. Before leaving, she cast one last longing glance at Instructor Chen leading the others on a weighted cross-country run.

Kai Ang was speechless. "Don't tell me you're jealous of them?" Here she had exclusive tutoring in a comfortable office, while anyone else would kill for her spot.

Xu Lingqu gave a soft nod. "Mm."

She had a serious phobia of being out of shape.

"...Whatever." Kai Ang cleared his throat. "Today's special session is command training for you."

Xu Lingqu nodded.

"In terms of strategy and decision-making, you don't need any more coaching." Kai Ang pulled up files on his smart device, projecting them holographically. "So today's training is about people, maps, and rules."

"Vice Principal Su probably covered the basics with you. Let me fill in the gaps. Once all sixteen teams arrive, we go straight into the draw for the three round-of-eight qualification matches. The first match is always a one-on-one team battle... In that one, your command authority should be temporarily handed to Feng Bu, right?" Kai Ang had heard about the Feng Bu situation from Su Li and had been furious enough to confront Feng Hui, but Instructor Chen stopped him.

Feng Hui was currently working on securing Xu Lingqu's arena qualification, so any confrontation could wait until that was settled.

"The format for the second and third qualification matches is more complex. There have been 6-5-5 groupings, 6-6-4 groupings, and even direct 8-8 splits before. It's fairly random. Anyway, since an 8-8 already happened last year, it's unlikely to repeat this time." Kai Ang sighed. "After those three matches, cumulative points from the qualifiers determine the top eight advancing to the quarterfinals. Then it's the semifinal brackets, the final four, and the championship."

Kai Ang had originally thought that with Xu Lingqu on the team, making the top eight was a sure thing. But after Feng Bu's stunt, the three points from the first qualification match were already in the bag—for the opponent.

"Sky Network is pretty strict about command authority. Whichever commander is registered for each match has control of the main comm channel, and the authority to create channels also rests with the chief commander. So there's basically no way for you to seize control on the spot." Kai Ang figured that given Xu Lingqu's personality, she was fully capable of killing Feng Bu herself and taking command. "And in the first one-on-one team match, the win conditions are usually two: total annihilation or decapitation. Decapitation, as the name suggests, means killing the enemy commander. If Feng Bu dies, you lose the first match outright."

Xu Lingqu asked, "There are different win conditions?"

"Yes. One-on-one matches generally have both decapitation and total annihilation as win conditions. For the second and third qualification matches, because of the group format, you'll likely see point-capture, racing, treasure-hunt, and other varied rules. In those complex situations, decapitation isn't a win condition. But in the later quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, it might come back."

"But with mechs now, precision strikes and fire suppression are pretty easy to pull off." Back on Earth before the Mutant Beasts appeared, humanity had already entered an era of unmanned high-precision warfare—drones, missiles, nuclear deterrence. The trend leaned toward decapitation-style modern warfare. For some reason, the interstellar humans' intra-planet weapons were underdeveloped, but interstellar weapons like mechs and starships could certainly achieve direct fire suppression. Decapitation only required a single coordinate.

"True, but nobody wants to watch two sides hammering each other with firepower from start to finish. The academy league isn't a showcase of real warfare." Kai Ang explained patiently. "What people want to see is individual combat skill, command strategy, confrontation, and tactical play. That's why Sky Network's map design trend is to withhold the newest weapons. Some maps only give you guns, and mechs only show up in the group free-for-alls."

The main reason Sky Network could keep running the academy league was that interstellar humans loved watching it.

The academy league was the hottest event in the galaxy every year. Calling it the focus of all interstellar attention was no exaggeration. Honestly, running a competition that pitted the Federation's and Empire's fresh forces against each other was sensitive and risky for a company like Sky Network. But high risk meant high reward—the academy league alone accounted for sixty percent of Sky Network's annual profits. The users it brought in had practically single-handedly kept the company's entire streaming division alive.

"So Cimei Academy, which used to dominate with high-tech equipment, has been declining year after year." Kai Ang shook his head and looked at Xu Lingqu. "You know Cimei, right?"

Xu Lingqu said, "No."

Kai Ang was stunned. "Don't tell me we're the only one of the six major academies you know."

Actually, that was about right. She'd heard the names Longyuan and Dolanston before, but her knowledge of them stopped at the names.

"I'm our school's most loyal fan." Xu Lingqu began spouting nonsense with a straight face. "Once I chose Moye, no other academy existed in my eyes."

So that's why you didn't hesitate to pull strings to get in, huh? Kai Ang grumbled internally. Good thing that back door had stayed open for her.

"Cimei is one of the Empire's six major academies, and the only all-female military academy in the entire interstellar realm." Kai Ang resigned himself to educating Xu Lingqu. "It was founded by Founding General Qin Shu. From the principal to the students, everyone is female. The current principal is Lieutenant General Jia Deli. Their league results used to be on par with Dolanston and Longyuan—they were called the Imperial Big Three. But after Sky Network changed the formats and maps, they fell off hard. Most people think they're now a tier below Longyuan and Dolanston."

"Your Vice Principal Su almost went to Cimei back in the day, but she chose Moye in the end. Every woman there is formidable." Kai Ang looked at Xu Lingqu, who seemed lost in thought. "Don't tell me you're not familiar with Longyuan and Dolanston either."

Xu Lingqu said, "You could start with the Federation academies, and cover them last if there's time."

Kai Ang: ... He felt like he was being used as an analyst.