Ten minutes later, the door of a lounge was yanked open from the inside.
Refreshed and changed into a new set of clothes, Wang Tianwei strode out,
"I'm alive, fam! Dig out all your stashes—it's time to celebrate properly!
Hahahahaha! Top three in the Federation Military Academy! Your girl's made it to the finals! Lemme just strike a pose for a sec—I'm so awesome I can hardly stand it."
Zhang Laila spoke calmly behind her,
"She can't have any hotpot or desserts—not even self-heating pots."
Fu Xingyuan was setting the table and, hearing this, smoothly removed a pudding. "Wow, strict enforcement."
Wang Tianwei protested loudly,
"Bear, being this cold makes you totally not cute!"
Zhang Laila pointed calmly at the door opposite,
"Why don't you go and take that up with Huang Sir?"
"...Fine! No hotpot, no problem! I still have instant noodles from Wu Fangyu! Fu Xingyuan, leave a spot in the middle! I've got fruit and fried chicken in my space buckle!"
...And you thought she'd put up a real fight.
Once everyone had washed up and gathered around, two tables were covered with all kinds of food: instant meals, takeout from the first cafeteria, and snacks ordered online from Tianshu Star before they left.
Barry stared at the fruit Wang Tianwei had brought out, unable to look away.
"This space buckle is insane?! The food's still this fresh after seven days? Huang Sir! Next time, pull some strings for me too!"
"It... fine, just send me your info on your optical brain."
"You got it!"
The rest of the team and the First Military Academy members said nothing, silently sending their own order info to the young heir of Taihe.
After a long moment, Huang Yan stared at the eight perfectly arranged messages on his optical brain in prolonged silence...
"So, Ma Jie, does your psionic power feel like it's about to level up now?"
Wu Fangyu's first question after sending the message was about Wang Tianwei's psionic power.
After all, Ma Jie had passed out twice over it and had paid the price of two weeks without her favorite foods...
Who would've thought Fu Xingyuan, such a stoic guy, would have pudding in his space buckle? And Huang Yan, that bastard, even described the texture and taste of the pudding in detail!
Listening to him, Ma Jie had almost started drooling... absolutely heartless!
"Sigh... don't even bring it up."
Wang Tianwei, smelling the spicy aroma of the self-heating pot, fixated on the pudding on Zhang Laila's plate while stirring noodles in her bowl. At Wu Fangyu's question, she sighed long and flopped onto the table,
"Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not! It's weird—I clearly feel like I'm almost there. Last time I leveled up, it felt just like this."
The trigger last time was dismantling Huang Sir's A-class mecha, but now even super S-class mecha couldn't challenge her anymore. What was she supposed to do?
Hiranuma Yusho elegantly scooped up a piece of pudding,
"The more you rush, the worse it gets. Your emotions mess with your brain's judgment of your psionic power.
Even though I was born at S-level, I know stress stretches out bottleneck periods by a lot."
Fu Xingyuan added,
"Given your ability, it shouldn't be far off. Just relax. Besides, your current psionic power isn't holding you back."
"Ah, you don't get it..."
Leola scanned the people who had spoken,
"Among our military academies, it seems only Qilin has members who've experienced psionic power upgrades... and three of them at that."
Jian Jingyu, hearing this, smacked his chopsticks down as if finding a kindred spirit,
"Finally, someone who gets me! You have no idea how nervous I am every day! Those three are practically inhuman, I swear!
Listen, listen—psionic power upgrade? What a niche phrase! And all three of them have gone through it!
As a soldier, I live in constant fear of falling too far behind my teammates..."
Zhang Laila gave him a "I understand" look and patted his shoulder,
"Don't worry, I also often feel like Huang Sirs going to steal my job. If Ma Jie's strength were a little better, both of us would be in danger."
"...You know I'm not in great shape."
"Don't say things like that. Who could actually steal your jobs? I'm the only A-level on this whole starship! Even star beasts could mess with me..."
Barry's mouth twitched, a slice of potato still dangling from his chopsticks. "Is this really the kind of thing you should be saying? Isn't this just sarcasm?"
It stung to hear it! Like he was being left far behind!
He Siyu, however, was genuinely thinking it over. By Wang Tianwei's level of proficiency with mechas, she really ought to have reached S-level by now.
At below S-level, parts and mechas were trivial; super S-class mechas she could build at will as long as the nutrient fluids held...
Qilin had produced four super S-class mechas, fueled only by a few boxes of nutrient fluids and some food—and yet she was stuck here?
She seemed to recall a neuroscience paper suggesting that when someone uses their psionic power frequently above its limit, their threshold expands.
Did that mean her psionic power could handle larger fluctuations, making similar stimuli no longer enough for an upgrade?
If so, was her psionic power even still ordinary? Wouldn't it far exceed the standard rating?
"I think I just haven't worked hard enough!"
Wang Tianwei stunned everyone again.
She was only down for a moment before bouncing back—when food's involved, nothing beats the importance of eating!
The three Qilin members showed no reaction to her words—after all, they'd all been through the same grind.
Run into a problem, break it down, then work, work, and work even harder!
The two soldiers tried analyzing from their own perspective,
"Maybe your physical training hasn't kept up? Go back and train extra with Huang Sir?"
"??! When did I agree to extra training again?"
"Huang Sirs been pretty tired too... Go get an injection first. After that, you'll need more weight-training."
Jian Jingyu's vague wording made everyone think he meant some nutrient injection, but they didn't buy the conclusion at all!
"I don't think that's the issue..."
Taylor swallowed hard, picturing a future where he'd get beaten down by a mecha designer or commander.
Had things like extra training and weighted exercises ever appeared on a mecha designer's or commander's daily schedule?
Barry sneakily glanced at Hiranuma Yusho and saw the usually reserved captain barely holding onto his composure.
"Heh... why not add me to that training? I'll be idle back anyway."
That said, there was a grinding edge to his voice.
"Count me in too."
He Siyu's expression didn't change as she picked up her second cup of instant noodles and headed to the hot water dispenser.
Wang Tianwei and Huang Yan looked up in confusion. Brave souls! First time seeing people volunteer for extra training!?
One of them had psionic power stagnation, the other physical weakness—they had no choice but to push through like this. Why would those two actually want this?
Leola closed her eyes,
"Add me and Wu Fangyu to the list as well..."
Wu Fangyu, with a chicken leg in his mouth, whipped around in shock. Did he just hear his name? From someone at First Military Academy?
"Nothing wrong with us mecha designers bouncing ideas off each other more often."
"...Exchange martial techniques?"
