Chapter 46: The Gift of Sensing Source Crystals

Chapter 46: The Gift of Sensing Source Crystals

Xu Qingran attempted to rise from his bed.

His attempt was futile.

He flopped back down, resigning himself to his state.

This reaction was harsher than the previous two, nearly matching the intensity of his initial transition from F to B.

His entire body felt like it was on fire, akin to being roasted over a flame, fueling his irritability. Desperate for relief, he longed to clutch something soothing, yet he was at a loss for what that might be.

The system chirped in its endearing tone: "This is typical. As your spiritual pool ascends in level, the physical toll during advancement intensifies."

"Once you advance this time, you'll be among the elite of the elite, a double S!"

This thought provided a sliver of solace, tempering his frustration.

After all, the prospect of reaching double S meant—

He'd have the upper hand in more fights.

Every exhale from Xu Qingran felt like a blast of scorching air.

With his face mostly buried in the pillow, his voice came out muffled as he inquired, "How much further until I reclaim my abilities?"

"Almost there!" The system's voice bubbled with more excitement than his own. "Next up is 3S, and once you hit that, a significant leap forward will unlock your powers!"

Ah! The light at the end of the tunnel!

It envisioned the rewards for task completion and official status beckoning to it!

Though the journey had its quirks, and the host's road to redemption diverged from the planned route, still—

The endgame remains unchanged!!

Unable to rise, Xu Qingran resorted to requesting leave via the academy's specialized wristband.

To prevent the instructors from assuming he'd vanished like Feng Wei and causing a commotion by pounding on his villa's door in search of him.

His absence stretched over several days.

In the interim, he scoured Shen Tingyu's medicine cabinet, fortunate to uncover a trove of effective antipyretics, sparing him a trip to the medical center.

Upon his return to training, his classmates had already logged five days of instruction.

The culminating course, Source Crystal Perception, stands as a cornerstone skill for today's soldiers.

This is due to the fact that, primarily within the Glair Star Cluster and its neighboring clusters of diverse sizes, the anatomy of extraterrestrial beings harbors this element.

While it manifests as a crystalline form outside the body, within, it holds a significance akin to the human heart.

Take, for example, the most troublesome 'Devil' swarms in modern times.

They are one of the species that heavily rely on source crystals. Because they have this substance, they possess extremely powerful regenerative abilities and attack strength. If their source crystals are not destroyed in combat, only parts of their composition are eliminated, and those destroyed parts will quickly regenerate.

Therefore, to completely kill an individual, it is necessary to release a mental wave to 'perceive' the exact location of the target's source crystal and destroy it. Otherwise, the firepower and mental energy consumed on them are just a waste.

The training ground for the new project is in an open area far from the academy base. There are also many high-tech control consoles set up there, and the generated alien creatures are based on data obtained from the battlefield in recent years, almost perfectly simulating their real source energy and neural line distribution through 'random' methods.

When Xu Qingran arrived, he found his classmates listless and lacking energy.

They muttered, "It's so hard, so hard! I only heard my roommates who had taken this course before complain, saying it's even scarier than the obstacle course training. Back then, I was young and naive, brushing off their complaints, but now I realize they weren't just complaining for nothing!"

Even top students like Ni Xiaoyuan and Lin Qianmu looked exhausted.

Xu Qingran was somewhat surprised and casually asked about their training over the past week.

The responses were all the same: "Not great."

Ni Xiaoyuan gave him a meaningful look: "You'll understand once you start the class."

The students didn't know his absence was due to changes in his spiritual pool level; they simply thought he was sick. After expressing their concern, they grumbled and chatted with him about the training over the past few days.

The main instructor for the new project came as a surprise.

It was Wang Jian, the first love of Xu Qingran's mother, Qi Shengxue.

Xu Qingran had heard that he was one of the deputy commanders of the Silver Dragon Battalion, second only to Mu Ziyu. Why would such a high-ranking official lower himself to teach at the academy?

A classmate explained, "Deputy Commander Wang hasn't been in charge of this project in previous years."

"This year, for some reason, the deputy commander has insisted on staying at the academy since the start, saying he wants to supervise the school and the students' learning. The Third Prince couldn't talk him out of it, and since Wang Jian had saved his life, he had no choice but to agree."

After a pause, he lowered his voice and said, "But those in the know understand that Deputy Commander Wang probably just wants an excuse to slack off elsewhere, not wanting to be forced into assignments."

Wang Jian's reputation for slacking off was well-known in the Silver Dragon Battalion.

The classmate said, "To stop him from drinking and sleeping all day, the dean dragged him over to help. After all, Deputy Commander Wang was once a legendary figure, just like Major General Lu and General Shen Tingyu in his youth!"

Wang Jian is a top-tier 3S-level officer.

In his youth, he was a brave and accomplished legend. At around the same age as Shen Tingyu and Lu Cheng, he rose to the rank of general in the main camp and then to deputy commander of the battalion, even being a hot candidate for the vacant position of commander of both battalions.

But during this promising rise, he suddenly started slacking off.

There are many theories about his change in attitude, but few know the real reason. Back then, from online to offline, he was met with curses and scoldings. The people of the Silver Dragon Battalion, in particular, were deeply disappointed and scolded him the most.

But Wang Jian never responded or made a comeback.

Until seven years ago, when the proud Mu Ziyu led his elite troops to bravely enter the most severely affected Tianlong system under the Silver Dragon. That was where the Silver Dragon's main city once stood, and he wanted to prove his strength through success.

However, he almost perished there with his troops.

At that time, it was Wang Jian, despite his slacking, who led the team to break through the devil horde and rescue Mu Ziyu, even losing one of his legs in the process. Only then did everyone suddenly realize that, despite his slacking, his strength remained.

In the following years, whenever the Silver Dragon assigned him to handle more challenging tasks, he never refused and even managed to resolve them beautifully. With these occasional but significant achievements, and the empire's gratitude for saving Mu Ziyu, they kept him as deputy commander.

In recent years, many new talents have emerged in the empire's battalions, so they no longer rely solely on Wang Jian. Gradually, people stopped criticizing his slacking attitude.

"Ah, Deputy Commander Wang is here."

Just as Xu Qingran finished hearing about Wang Jian, he arrived.

During class, he was relatively serious and didn't come to teach drunk.

Xu Qingran, who had taken a few days of sick leave, planned to observe his classmates' practice first, slowly catching up on the missed information.

But as soon as Wang Jian saw him, he coldly barked, "You, step out and stand aside!"

Everyone gave Xu Qingran sympathetic looks.

Wang Jian was the typical old-school instructor—tough and strict.

Every day he showed up to class, he made a point of asking for the names of any absent students. The next day, he’d call them out again to see if they’d shown up. He saw anyone who didn’t show up as slacking off on their training.

Xu Qingran was the only one absent for five straight days, and Wang Jian called him out by name every single day.

His frown got deeper each day, and his face grew stormier.

Xu Qingran, though, didn’t seem to care. When called out, he just went along without a word.

The daily training for the students in his class group started up soon after.

But he was surprised to find out it was only the second day of their low-level target practice.

For the first three days of adjustment, they practiced on ultra-low-level IV-class blue devils.

They didn’t even have source crystals on them, just a small cluster of something called source energy, which was very similar to the energy waves of source crystals, so it was used to familiarize them with the basics.

Xu Qingran was baffled.

Weren’t they supposed to be advanced students? Shouldn’t ultra-low-level targets be a breeze for them?

The system spawned low-level aliens—II-class devils.

They had purple-black bodies and were a combined type, but unlike the legless I-class crawlers, they had a fixed form. Their form had limbs and a tail, about the size of a leopard.

If you didn’t hit the source crystal holding them together, they’d scatter and then reform.

They were flexible and tough to kill, but without the I-class’s nasty binding and energy-draining tricks, they relied on pure physical attacks, making them easier low-level targets.

Xu Qingran watched his classmates, following the instructor’s orders, try to sense the target’s source crystal and strike where they thought it was.

But one after another tried, and the first target just wouldn’t go down.

Xu Qingran was floored.

Was it really that hard to sense source crystals?

As he stood there thinking, Wang Jian, done setting up the tasks, walked over.

Standing beside him, Wang Jian snorted at the struggling students before speaking.

Then he said, "Kid, you’re good, but you’ve got a lot to learn. Don’t get cocky and lazy just because you’ve had some success."

Xu Qingran: "Huh?"

The system chimed in: "Huh? Wang Jian thinks you’ve been slacking off and taking it easy all these days."

I mean, who’d have thought Xu Qingran, with his soul already set, would still get a fever from leveling up?

Xu Qingran was feeling pretty good after leveling up his spiritual pool.

Thinking of poor Qi Shengxue, he decided to let Uncle Wang Jian’s comments slide.

Wang Jian called him out naturally to give him extra project teaching.

In the eyes of this deputy commander, Xu Qingran was already far behind his classmates in the class group.

It really got him all worked up and frustrated, thinking, why did this kid have to get sick right at the start of the most important training program! It was already tough enough, and now he’s five days behind everyone else in training!

The more Wang Jian thought about it, the darker his expression grew, like a storm brewing.

Source crystal perception is all about talent.

But only a handful of people truly have this ability. Those less sensitive can only improve through extra study, practice, and combat experience.

Wang Jian’s sensitivity is just average.

His current skill comes from years of relentless practice and combat experience, so he knows how crucial practice is.

Plus, this program has the highest failure rate in the whole school.

He’d vouched for Xu Qingran before the instructors, saying his impressive control skills might make him a natural at source crystal perception. But he’d been quietly watching this kid grow up and knew his strengths and weaknesses inside out.

Honestly, it’s a miracle he’s made it this far!

Wang Jian never expected Xu Qingran to be so good that even his source crystal perception was top-tier.

...Otherwise, it’d be downright unfair!

Keeping a stern face, he conjured a blue-black IV-class devil and a purple-black II-class devil just for Xu Qingran.

Then he told him to send out a mental wave: "Start with the blue one."

Xu Qingran turned to face the IV devil, which lay still and silent on the ground.

This type of devil, when fully grown, is about the size of an adult’s arm. He followed Wang Jian’s lead, focused his mental energy, and sent out what they called a 'detection wave.'

The wave’s feedback was instant, coming back in less than a second.

He saw delicate, glowing threads like nerves inside the small blue-black body, along with tiny light spots of different sizes.

If he was right, one of those spots was the 'source energy.'

The lines around it were complex, glowing and shifting constantly.

Trying to throw off the detector’s sense of the real 'source energy.'

Seeing his silence, Wang Jian figured he’d finished with the IV class and said, "Now try the purple one."

Xu Qingran did so.

Sending out the mental wave was easy.

But unlike the IV class, this time his mental wave snapped the moment it touched the low-level II class.

Not because the target resisted, but because Xu Qingran, as if shocked, cut the connection himself.

Wang Jian gave a cold snort and said, "Now you get it, don’t you?"

"The training time for this project is only one month, and missing a few days of class means you have less adaptation time than others!"

Seeing Xu Qingran slightly lowering his head, still reflecting on the feeling of being forcibly disconnected from the detection, Wang Jian thought he should understand the seriousness of the matter. So he left those two things for him to practice alone, while he went to other parts of the training ground to inspect, looking for lazy or particularly struggling students.

After all, this learning project also needs to control the intensity of training, otherwise, students will get injured.

After Wang Jian left, only Xu Qingran remained alone in the corner.

Two different types of devils stood before him, one on the left and one on the right, tilting their heads to observe him.

So, that's how it works.

Xu Qingran thought.

In simple terms, whether it's the source crystal or the energy cluster, they are all manifestations of 'energy.'

So, when they use psychic detection waves, it collides with the energy meridians hidden beneath the flesh and blood of the body. The feedback is then transmitted to the optic nerves, creating this 'X-ray vision' effect.

However, the higher the rank of the creature, the more energy clusters and meridians there are in its body.

While this heightens perception difficulty, it also causes discomfort for those who are exposed to it for the first time, as the feedback 'energy' is overwhelming, like being blinded by a flood of light. Xu Qingran had to sever his perception earlier due to this.

But for him, the challenge of this project stops here.

Interestingly, the method to kill those beasts in his past life was quite similar.

Although they didn't have something like a source crystal, they had a mutated energy focal point. Similarly, humans surviving the apocalypse had to pinpoint that fatal weak spot amidst a tangle of blood vessels and meridians, delivering a fatal blow.

Xu Qingran had mentioned that in his past life, aside from killing people, he excelled at slaying beasts.

Skill wasn't just about techniques and combat strikes.

It was his perception of the fatal weaknesses of beasts that never failed. He always locked onto the weak points of powerful beasts quicker than others, taking them down in a shorter time.

Xu Qingran grinned.

This training project was easily the simplest of the year.

·

Xu Qingran spent the day adapting to and mastering the detection feedback. As usual, he stayed late at the training ground for extra practice.

Before he knew it, a new day had dawned.

Wang Jian knew Xu Qingran often trained extra.

He was inwardly pleased with the boy's dedication. But outwardly, he maintained a stern demeanor, calling out Xu Qingran's name in front of everyone before starting the new day's training.

He said coolly, "Newcomer, demonstrate your current progress."

It was the same ultra-low-tier IV devil and low-tier II devil.

Wang Jian watched as Xu Qingran calmly walked in front of the two targets, hands clasped behind his back.

He turned around, acting like a big leader, and said to the other students watching, "This is mainly to show you how big the gap in progress can be when you miss a few days of training—"

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Jian heard the sound of Xu Qingran using the psychic gun to attack from behind.

Then he saw the large group of students in front of him slowly widen their eyes, looking shocked and incredulous.

Someone couldn't help but blurt out, "Holy crap?!"

After shouting, they realized their voice was too loud in the quiet atmosphere and covered their mouth in an attempt to hide it.

Wang Jian turned around in surprise, only to find that the two devils they had just generated for Xu Qingran had disappeared from their original spots.

Clearly, someone had accurately hit the key source crystal/energy cluster, meeting the system's requirements.

Xu Qingran, who had been called out, put down the gun he was holding and turned his head towards him: "Deputy Wang Jian, I've finished my demonstration."

As he spoke, he slightly curved the corner of his mouth and asked, "What now?"

The students in the same group had spent three days adapting to the ultra-low-tier blue demons.

Some were still adapting after two days and hadn’t even started sensing the source crystals of the purple demons.

Xu Qingran took just one day to not only fully adapt but also accurately lock onto the source crystal of the low-tier demon?!

The stunned students thought—Xu Qingran is the real demon!

Why do all the hellish projects suddenly turn into easy mode for him?!

Is this what happens when you slack off and rest? If so, we’re taking leave too!!

Wang Jian: "..."

Speechless.

Not only was he not angry after being proven wrong, but he also felt a little proud.

Of course, Wang Jian couldn’t show his true emotions.

With a serious expression, he called over other assistant instructors to generate two more low-tier II demons for Xu Qingran.

He said seriously, "Try again."

The system database contains hundreds of millions of data points, so each time the same type of demon is generated, the distribution of nerves and source crystals inside is different.

There is no possibility of cheating or taking shortcuts.

Xu Qingran stayed as calm as ever.

Facing the two purple demons, he spent about a minute detecting the source crystals inside them.

Then he raised his gun and fired at the left hind leg of one and the tail of the other.

The spiritual energy attacks accurately hit the locked targets inside them, shattering like crystals and vanishing into the air as data fragments.

No recovery.

Clearly, the shooter had aimed at the correct spots.

Wang Jian stood silently, watching.

The assistant instructors were amazed and thrilled.

The students erupted into cheers, shouting, "Xu Qingran, you’re a legend!!"

"Big Bro, just tell us, is there anything you can’t do?!"

"At the start of school, I was so proud to be in the top class, thinking I was hot stuff. Now, I just feel like a total loser."

"Ugh... Xu Qingran should just have his own class."

"I’m sorry for not seeing how amazing you were when I first got here!"

Xu Qingran honestly said, "It’s fine, really. It’s just practice. You’ll get there if you keep at it."

The classmates felt even more frustrated upon hearing this.

——Even if you're being modest, don't use such a lame excuse! Where did you accumulate experience without ever having been on the battlefield?!

Thus, in the following training sessions.

While most classmates in the same group were still struggling with low-level alien source crystals and trying to improve their perception success rate, Xu Qingran was already moving on to mid-low levels. By the time they barely met Wang Jian's requirement of 70% accuracy and started learning new targets, Xu Qingran's practice targets had already shifted to mid-level.

Every day, the classmates pleaded with him tearfully: "Big Shot! How are you so amazing!"

"Xu, my accuracy is shaky, please teach me!"

Ni Xiaoyuan, who was making decent progress, also joined in the teasing: "Xu Qingran, a good classmate shares their learning tips!"

The learning project of source crystal perception has two extremes.

One is those with really weak perception abilities who need a particularly long training time, and the other is exceptional talents like Xu Qingran, who only need half the time of others to complete their training requirements.

The instructors had set a goal for Xu Qingran that originally only required reaching mid-level.

This was the goal they set, unaware that Xu Qingran had already advanced to double S.

Because source crystal perception is deeply linked to the level of the mental reservoir.

Successful detection requires both parties to have similar levels of strength. For example, high-level is equivalent to 3S or even higher abilities, so those at double S or below cannot detect the source crystals of the other party.

This is the advantage of level dominance.

Xu Qingran was initially skeptical.

Until he tried generating a high-level alien with a source crystal during his own practice, he found that the released mental energy waves received no feedback and he couldn't discern the underlying pulse source at all, which made him understand this suppression relationship.

He didn't force it either.

At whatever level, just focus on what can be achieved at that level.

Xu Qingran honestly told the instructors about his current mental pool level, which blew their minds again.

"Advancement? Your soul has already been set, how can you still advance?!" a young instructor exclaimed in disbelief.

Xu Qingran grinned: "Maybe the advancement during the stabilization wasn't fully set yet."

This was an excuse he made up.

Thus, his final assessment goal was adjusted to mid-high level.

Detecting above the mid-level takes more time.

This is just under static conditions; even for the same one, Xu Qingran needs a few days to pinpoint and sense the exact location of the source crystal.

Therefore, the academy's requirement for them at this stage is to be able to handle sensing above the mid-level.

As for accuracy, if it can be achieved, great; if not, it will be built up through future real combat.

Most of the time, detecting high-level alien source crystals falls to the lead commander. Others just need to meet the basic low-level and mid-low-level requirements, which are the opponents they'll run into more often.

After that day, the instructors realized that Xu Qingran also had a knack for source crystal sensing, and now they are giving him a bit more freedom.

As for Wang Jian, after being proven wrong by his performance that day, he hasn't bothered him since.

Though he tried hard to hold back, Xu Qingran, a keen observer, could occasionally catch a fleeting sense of relief in his eyes.

Wang Jian spent so much time at the military academy this year, likely because of Xu Qingran.

After all, he was Qi Shengxue's only child.

·

Xu Qingran still passed his source crystal perception project assessment with flying colors.

Without troublemakers like Feng Wei interfering, his final days of study were very smooth.

After the assessment, the academy didn’t let them leave right away.

They had to compile everyone's grades, let students who failed retake it, and then weed out those who failed more than half of their academic year projects.

The rest met the military's minimum standards and could graduate.

This wait dragged on for another two weeks.

They were finally allowed to leave after the school issued an official notice and took back their military academy-issued learning wristbands.

Before they left, the academy herded everyone into the main base's largest square, big enough for over a hundred thousand people.

Xu Qingran stood in the crowd, his head slightly raised.

The dean stood on the high platform with Ji Guojun, Azure Star's military commander, who rarely made appearances.

Ji Guojun's commanding gaze swept the crowd before he spoke into the mic: "First off, congrats to all the students still here today."

"You're the group that aced all the military academy's assessments and instructor evaluations this past year."

"This means you'll soon join Silver Dragon or Golden Wing's military branches, officially serving the empire and its people."

Ji Guojun glanced at the crowd before continuing: "As Kayan Empire citizens, you've probably heard that every year, before graduation, the academy runs a secret final project exercise."

"So today, we're here to set up this project for you!"

As Ji Guojun's words fell, a 'huge tank,' as big as a villa, slowly rose in the center of the wide high platform.

Next to it sat several smaller ones.

How small? The biggest was about the size of a water cooler jug.

"These are tools you'll see on the battlefield, and we lovingly call them—bombs."

All the students: "..."

In reality, it was a lecture on common explosives and how to use them.

It required some minor operations, but it wasn't too complicated.

The real challenge was the massive tank behind them.

Ji Guojun said this was the academy's final 'bottom line.' The power of this large tank was enough to cover the entire landmass of the academy's main base. If some infectious and terrifying alien species appeared around the base, to prevent its spread, this big treasure would be activated to perish together with the threat.

Seeing the students' horrified expressions, Ji Guojun cracked a rare smile: "We're just showing it to you now, and also observing how to operate it if it needs to be activated at a critical moment."

The large tank's activation system was linked to a control panel.

Everyone watched as Ji Guojun tinkered with it for a while, the process appearing both complicated and chaotic.

After just one glance, it was impossible to memorize everything.

Finally, after working on it for what felt like half a day, Ji Guojun successfully released all the restraints securing the large tank.

With his hand hovering over the large button, he turned and said, "Now, as long as I press this, it will enter the countdown to detonation."

The students paled and immediately protested, "We understand, General, we understand! Please lock it back up quickly!"

This appeared to be one of Ji Guojun's little jokes.

After thoroughly frightening the students, Ji Guojun let out a hearty laugh, then skillfully and expertly locked the large tank back up and hid it underground.

To provide a hands-on experience, he had several instructors demonstrate the power of the smaller bombs.

The students spent a nerve-wracking afternoon.

Only after completing all the required demonstrations did Ji Guojun solemnly announce—

"Congratulations, you have officially graduated from the Grandis Military Academy."

·

That afternoon marked the last time Xu Qingran and some academy classmates would share a meal in the school cafeteria.

Zhang Zhihe, who normally had the appetite for three portions, found himself without hunger: "Sigh, we've been here for a year."

"The training was grueling, and every day I dreamed of graduating early and leaving. Now that we've finally made it, I somehow feel reluctant to leave."

Ren Ping, less sentimental, shoveled food into his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in days: "I don't feel that way at all!"

"I'm just so happy to finally graduate!"

Liu Wenxing nodded: "Honestly, I'm not sure how we survived this year, but we're finally free."

Xu Qingran remained silent, scrolling through videos on his phone as he ate.

It suddenly dawned on Zhang Zhihe and the others that despite a year together, they still lacked Xu Qingran's contact info, and they hurriedly scrambled to add him.

Before Xu Qingran could reclaim his phone, Ni Xiaoyuan, Ji Huaixiu, and others snatched it to add their own contacts.

After a brief pause, Xu Qingran responded coolly, "Just a heads-up, I'm not one to start conversations."

"And I'm not big on responding to messages either."

Zhang Zhihe and the others chuckled: "No worries, just having 'Young Master Xu' in my contacts is bragging rights enough!"

Ni Xiaoyuan, hand on hip, remarked, "Isn't this just fulfilling my dad's request to keep you on speed dial for meals?"

She added with a smirk, "Besides, who knows? We might be colleagues someday."

"Ni, have you settled on joining the Silver Dragon Battalion?"

"Absolutely. If I joined the Golden Wings, my dad would murder me."

Xu Qingran stayed quiet, offering no response to Ni Xiaoyuan's question.

Their formal graduation and commissioning ceremony, and the final choice of their service battalion, will take place one month later at the main campus of Grandis University.

Xu Qingran was from the Silver Dragon Battalion, and Ni Xiaoyuan naturally assumed he would choose the Silver Dragon Battalion.

"Maybe the eldest son will join the Golden Wing Battalion? After all, he's set to marry into the Shen family!"

Given his ties to the Shen family and recent tensions with the Silver Dragon Battalion, many doubted he'd join Golden Wing.

For the past two months, folks had been subtly fishing for his battalion choice, including Wang Jian, who 'happened' to bring it up during a lesson.

But Xu Qingran never gave a straight answer, as if he hadn't made up his mind.

The group bickered loudly over his decision.

The cafeteria buzzed with chatter and laughter, savoring their last moments together and saying goodbye.

It wasn't until the AC and TV cut out that someone groaned, "Ugh, another blackout!"

"When are they gonna fix Azure Star's power grid already?"

...

With classes over, most of the academy's staff had been reassigned.

The base fell into an eerie quiet.

In the evening, most students gathered at the academy's outer landing pad, waiting for the special starship that would take them away from the base.

Xu Qingran wasn't about to rush and cram onto the same shuttle as everyone else, so he wasn't among those waiting.

He was lounging in Shen Tingyu's villa, watching a movie he'd picked, nibbling on bread.

Lin Qianmu, who lived close by, was also sticking around, waiting for Su Wenming to pick him up.

Earlier, he'd shown up with a bowl of fruit from who-knows-where and handed it to Xu Qingran.

Just as the movie's battle hit its peak, the power cut out with a *zap*.

Xu Qingran sighed and grabbed his phone and, unsurprisingly, found that the signal indicator had gone from very poor to completely disconnected.

Due to the power issues, the academy's internet had been unreliable for some time, even affecting signals, making it impossible to use mobile data. He hadn't been able to contact the outside world for a long time, couldn't even browse forums, and wondered if he had missed any interesting gossip.

The sun slowly sank below the horizon, and the sky darkened.

The students waiting at the port were getting antsy as the starship, two hours late, was still MIA.

Until a sharp-eyed student pointed in a certain direction and shouted, "Ah, it's here, it's here!"

In the distance, a starship's warning lights blinked into view, growing clearer as it neared.

The students, after a long wait, finally relaxed and got ready to board.

But then, out of nowhere, a massive reddish-brown creature burst from the sea and slammed into the starship.

The starship, caught completely off guard, erupted into flames and shattered mid-air.

Everyone watching was stunned, and the cheerful atmosphere instantly froze.

"What... what just happened?"

·

At the same time, a highly discussed post appeared on Star Horizon, the nation's hotspot for major gossip.

"Title: It's here! Grandis Military Academy's ultimate graduation exercise, designed to terrify their precious students without mercy, has finally arrived!"