Though Kong Simon was unwilling, at least no one tried to seize their signal buttons and strip them of their exam qualification.
That counted as a blessing in misfortune.
He believed that given time, the lost nutrient vials could be taken back sooner or later.
No sooner had Kong Simon and Fei Fei left than Lan Grace saw Zhao Qingyan leap down from the tree, pull free the three‑foot sword she had pinned into the trunk, and slide it back into the scabbard at her waist.
Zhao Qingyan's face was cool, brows faintly drawn—she clearly had something to say.
"What's wrong?" Lan Grace was puzzled.
In the day they had spent together, she had not seen Zhao Qingyan so grave.
"The Fei Fei with Kong Simon is a problem. His mental power is absolutely at S‑grade. He can influence others' thoughts without them noticing—that's why he and Kong Simon only lost their nutrient solution and didn't lose their qualification."
Hearing that, the words "as expected" rose calmly in Lan Grace's mind.
Perhaps because she stood outside the fray watching the show, the details she, an onlooker, had caught were no fewer than Zhao Qingyan's.
Only, she had not imagined that Fei Fei was actually an S‑grade master of mental power!
From what Lan Grace knew of the grading of physique and mental power, S‑grade—whichever it was—counted as monstrous talent even in the Alliance's top academies!
After admission, such people would be cultivated as key students.
She had been off the Waste Star little more than a week—and already she had met two S‑grade geniuses.
One was Zhao Qingyan, S‑grade in physique; the other, Fei Fei, S‑grade in mental power.
Then there was herself: physique and mental power, both B.
How shabby…
Still, Lan Grace did not feel discouraged.
Being weak now was not her fault—the original had been too useless!
Once she entered the Alliance Second Military Academy, she would study hard, improve every day, and strive to level up.
Even if her innate aptitude could not match the top talents, she would plant her feet with knowledge and craft.
In short, she had seen it clearly: in this world, if you cannot become a big shot yourself, you will be beneath others in everything.
So even if only for a comfortable life later—and to live without swallowing grievances—she would work to become strong, and formidable!
On the road again with Zhao Qingyan, for several days in a row Lan Grace lived smoothly and at ease.
Along the way, Zhao Qingyan took charge of seizing nutrient solution from others, while Lan Grace switched back into "jungle holiday" mode—gathering this, picking that.
In the humid air of the jungle, fungi were everywhere; Lan Grace found over thirty varieties of mushroom!
There were edible ones and poisonous ones. She even collected a few of the brightly coloured toxic mushrooms, to have on hand against future need.
Left to dry, the poisonous mushrooms would shrivel, and their colours would fade.
Mixed in among safe mushrooms, the average person would not spot them.
These days, besides catching a ride on a powerhouse like Zhao Qingyan, Lan Grace also let Zhao taste food other than nutrient solution during the entrance exam.
Mushroom soup was on the menu almost daily. The "earth ear" was finished; for now Lan Grace had not found a second patch where earth ear grew.
But luck favoured her. Near some rotting wood she found wood‑ear fungus to stand in for earth ear to pair with mushrooms for soup.
Perhaps because the exam strictly controlled food, though the jungle had a profusion of plants, there was not a single fruit tree to be found.
At most there were fungi that grew with the climate and environment—things hard to control, even if one wished.
And most people did not care to eat such things anyway.
Lan Grace had noticed that from the desert area to the jungle area, there were no animals at all.
Zhao Qingyan offered an explanation. This simulated planet, whose surface area was not large, had not formed naturally. It had been funded and built by the Alliance Second Military Academy expressly for assessment.
So everything here was man‑made or transplanted; that there were no animals made perfect sense.
Besides, in the interstellar, there was not a single animal with a gentle temperament. Over centuries of evolution, weaker creatures had long since gone extinct. Any random rat—or even a rabbit—could bite a person to death!
Lan Grace had seen biting rats. The Waste Star teemed with carrion rats.
But rabbits that bite? She found it hard to imagine.
She had heard the saying "a rabbit will bite when cornered"—but had never examined how true it was.
Over these two to three days in the jungle, she and Zhao Qingyan had met almost no other entrants.
After the desert region knocked out a huge number, the nutrient solution those people held likewise left the exam.
Those left had very limited food resources.
So in the first three to four days of this jungle stretch, scramble after scramble further reduced the numbers.
Zhao Qingyan tapped her terminal to check the assessment progress. There were only 159 people remaining.
With half a month to go, numbers had shrunk from over ten thousand at the start to just over a hundred and fifty.
Who knew how many would be left when it ended?
Lan Grace did not know how many the Second Military Academy usually admitted in a year, but this year it would not be many.
Alliance Star, Alliance Second Military Academy, exam monitoring room.
Where there had been three invigilators, there was only Mentor Jin Ling at her post for now.
The exam spanned a full month; the mentors could hardly stay in the monitoring room day and night without relief.
Beyond the first days, the course on the simulated planet for those left would not differ much in shape from the early going—only a steady stream of eliminations.
Only when new questions were announced would the three mentors gather again. The rest of the time they took turns on duty.
After half a month, the 159 who remained had, aside from the initial days of the desert trial, grown used to the jungle region's idle "assessment."
Especially Mentor Jin Ling: every time she watched the Waste Star girl's jungle holiday routine, she could not help doubting just how simple and easy the Second Military Academy's entrance exam really was.
This would not last—the second question was about to arrive.