The Most Powerful Brain in the Interstellar Space

Chapter 170 On and Off the Field (Part 2)

"Captain Stark, Jiang from your class has been truly outstanding. If she manages to secure a top-three finish this time, you can't refuse; you'll have to treat everyone to a drink," Instructor Tan said with a cheerful smile.

"Hmm." She actually agreed! The other party then added, "However... you can't take a child's nonsense seriously. She was just lucky. Please excuse her."

The person actually responded… Instructor Tan was somewhat surprised. He had actually prepared for the other person to simply brush it off with a single syllable, as usual. He hadn't expected the person to reply so earnestly with such a long message, and what was with that overtly elder-like tone? Could that child really be a relative of his?

Hearing this, Captain Lynch shook his head: "What? Captain Stark is too modest. Your student is nothing. If my students had that ability, I would have shouted it out to everyone. But none of them are capable. So far, only a few have made it onto the list. Sigh, just wait until I get my hands on them."

Actually, he was being modest. Two students in his class also scored 59 points in individual combat, and they were siblings. One of them is currently only at the B-level of mental power after her second awakening. Her ability to reach such a level is entirely due to her solid shooting skills and adaptability.

However, two of the most outstanding students in the grade are in Stark's Class 2, which the class teachers naturally envy. It's just that Zou Yi isn't here right now, otherwise he would have been the subject of much discussion and commotion.

How could Stark respond? He wasn't one to joke, so he could only reply, "You flatter me."

Fortunately, everyone knew that this was just his personality, and no one thought that his attitude was too arrogant. Instead, they started chatting about it.

Someone started by commenting on the most outstanding individuals on the current list. These included Jiang Hui, Clarence, Hodge from Class 1, the Lava siblings from Class 3, and other freshmen from various departments who had excellent grades.

Some people remarked that the children were full of energy this year, and the competition was more exciting than in previous years.

"...That's right. I heard that the Mays family has invested a lot in the school this time, and even allocated an extra sum specifically for the orienteering competition. Apart from expanding the scale and upgrading the expenses, they've put a lot more money into the prizes. It's quite a generous investment, and even I'm a little envious," Lieutenant Zapp from Class 5 couldn't help but laugh.

His words immediately garnered the approval of many class teachers.

This is the faculty section for military-related majors. Almost all the class advisors present are sergeants from the same system, so they naturally know best what is most attractive to students who are determined to join the military.

The Mays family was very generous, offering three slots for custom-made mechs. The first slot was reserved for a renowned senior mech pilot in the capital.

What does this mean? Mechs are indeed commonplace as an indispensable tool of war in the future world, but the threshold for acquiring one is not low.

As a restricted weapon in daily life, ordinary people are destined to have little access to this item. Even if one wants to purchase a decorative mecha from a luxury goods store as a hobby, a simple application must be submitted, and daily use requires the installation of a control device for testing by relevant departments to prevent misuse and chaos by malicious individuals.

Acquiring military-grade mechs is even more restricted. Unless you have enough family connections and money to access master mech builders who agree to build a non-official mech for you, you have to buy or customize a mech through military-designated vendors and mech engineers.

Standard mechs, which can be purchased directly from manufacturers, are the easiest to obtain, and their price is only about half that of custom mechs. However, even half that price still costs millions or even tens of millions of interstellar coins.

Custom-made mechs are even more expensive, with prices varying entirely depending on the situation, ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of interstellar coins – some prices are simply outrageous.

Given Jiang Hui's current considerable wealth, she can probably only afford a standard mecha. To customize a mecha, she would likely have to empty her pockets. If that's the case for her, then others are even less likely to be able to afford one. No matter how advanced the interstellar world is, it is still ultimately inseparable from the world of human survival. People still have to live on the same basic necessities, earn money, and make a living. Only a minority of people can afford to spend hundreds of millions of interstellar coins.

However, most interstellar units also require personal mechs to perform missions and participate in wars.

Therefore, many military academy students or recruited sergeants from outside the military who cannot afford to purchase mechs through contracts provided by the military or certain third-party social organizations.

Essentially, it's similar to purchasing mechs through a contract loan. The first party provides the money and the purchase channel, while the second party is responsible for fulfilling certain requirements agreed upon by the first party.

The military typically provides this type of assistance in the hopes that the recipient will serve a particular military faction for a period of time, which can be considered a form of recruitment. Third-party organizations, on the other hand, hope that the recipient will become successful and financially independent, and thus repay the organization.

Of course, some genuinely charitable organizations also provide such assistance to support impoverished military academy students and sergeants... So people need to be discerning when making choices, otherwise they might fall victim to scams without even realizing it.

Now you know how rare it is to have a spot for a custom mech, right? Getting this spot is practically equivalent to having a mech built for free, with only a small labor cost, and you won't have any worries about joining the military later.

Those who rank in the top three and below will not receive a mecha, but the rewards are just as generous.

For example, those ranking fourth through tenth receive a complete set of military-grade Beta Ray weaponry. This standard weapon is so high that even online sergeants would have to pay an exorbitant price to acquire it. While they can't receive it immediately—it's only issued after formally joining the military administration—it's still a restricted, high-risk weapon that ordinary people certainly can't carry around. Even if they can't officially enlist and receive it later, they can still resell it at a high price for a large sum of interstellar currency.

Then there are the eleventh to twentieth place winners and the twenty-first to thirtieth place winners, who will each receive a ten-year membership to a military club and eight experience vouchers for a renowned military summer camp, respectively. Of course, these two rewards are also included in the additional rewards for the top three winners, just at a reduced rate, since they can't receive all the benefits.

The top 100 finishers will receive generous rewards, with consolation prizes and participation subsidies also available for those who finish lower. It truly is a grand event.

No wonder so many media outlets are reporting on it today. I imagine most of the planetary newspapers will be covering this event tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)