Chapter 6: 5 Academies (Congratulations to Alliance Hierarch Bai Yiduo for the 2nd update!)

```

The Galaxy Federation spanned sixty-two light-years, with four major administrative districts and a total population in the hundreds of billions.

On the Federation map stood five great A-level colleges—

First Administrative District Capital Star—"Dawn Military Academy"

First Administrative District Capital Star—"Bonar Joint College"

Second Administrative District Xuanming Star—"Pulan Military Academy"

Third Administrative District Forest Light Star—"Taoyun Academy"

Fourth Administrative District Blue Capital Star—"Dingchuan Academy"

These five top colleges were the cradle of the Federation's talent, a golden starting point for soaring high, and the highest institutions in the vast territory of the Federation. Every admission season, tens of millions of eligible candidates from the entire star system applied for the exams.

The Five Great Colleges jointly stipulated that all applicants should be no older than twenty!

Just this alone eliminated many talents! Every year, when the colleges were on break, they rushed to different planets to discover outstanding reserve talents. The Federation stipulated that A-level colleges had priority selection rights, causing numerous other colleges to silently curse when recruitment time came, as the top candidates were always picked first, leaving other institutions struggling to survive.

Anyway, the Five Great Colleges didn't worry at all, as there were always people to take the exams.

Glory! Privilege!

Getting into the Five Great A-level Colleges was the dream of countless young people!

Each administrative district would set up exam locations on several major planets, so every exam season, thousands of young people gathered on these planets.

Federation Calendar June 10, Exam Day!

...

Blue Capital Star air harbor.

Glancing at the antique mechanical watch on his wrist, "Federation Calendar May 10, 10:57."

A bald middle-aged man in a blue uniform looked up and sneered, "Damn upper management is sending me to that godforsaken place. The recruits from there are always at the bottom of the academy! It's the last year of the three-year evaluation, and they've assigned me there, expecting to pick eagles from a group of weaklings as if it's deliberately trying to mess with me! Dammit, if I find out, hmph!"

His thick wrist strained against the cuff of his blue uniform, with four embroidered characters tightly lined up—Dingchuan Academy.

His fist slammed into the air furiously, the blast of air flattening the skirt of the woman in front of him. Fortunately, it wasn't on the interstellar travel ship yet, or he would have been sent off.

Blue Capital Star Dingchuan Academy Fighting Instructor—Ruan Xiongfei! Federal 114th Ace Infantry Regiment Retired Commander, thirty-seven years old, twenty-fifth-grade physique, Spirit Lock Level Two Martial Path Master!

Twenty-fifth-grade physique!

According to the Federation's physique standards, at the sixth grade, instantaneous explosive punching power and physical endurance were 75KG, then successively 150KG, 250KG, 400KG, 600KG, and 850KG corresponding to grades 7 to 11. Afterward, each grade incremented by 50KG, and the base for the twenty-fifth grade was 9600KG, a figure that inspired awe throughout the Federation.

Since strength didn't always correspond to endurance, a fifteenth-grade for strength might only have a tenth-grade endurance, thus just a tenth-grade physique standard.

However, a twenty-fifth-grade physique meant both instantaneous explosive force and physical endurance reached 9600KG! This implied that when he unleashed his full physical strength, a punch struck with over 9 tons of impact!! This also meant he could endure that over 9-ton impact!!

The crowd queued up for inspection only cast respectful glances at the blue uniform, unaware that a prehistoric fierce beast clad in human skin was in line for ticket inspection.

He had been teaching perfectly well before, and hadn't offended anyone in the school. Yet today, he received orders from the academy's higher-ups to go to Purple Jade Star, 8.2 light-years from Blue Capital Star, to be responsible for recruitment. Other academy staff had already departed; he was the overall head for Purple Jade Star and could arrange his travel method himself.

What solo arrangement, notified today to leave today! Darn it! This man, who had been through countless battles, grumbled as he lifted his arms for inspection. People around, seeing the Dingchuan Academy teacher's uniform, quickly turned away again.

Passing security, he stepped into the waiting area, with twenty minutes left before entering the cold sleep pod.

Ruan Xiongfei tossed his bag backwards to lean on it, his broad hands rubbing his shiny bald head with a wicked grin, causing people around to detour around him.

Before coming, he had looked into that so-called Purple Jade Star, located on the edge of the Fourth Administrative District, and the candidates from nearby would likely be converging here.

"What talent could there possibly be! Damn academy higher-ups, places like that have long been proven by history to fail to produce real talent. Every year, in the bottom hundred of each coursework statistic, half come from the marginal zone! Including that Purple Jade Star! This is just bullshit!"

"Anyway, I don't understand much else; the academy makes the arrangements, and I just handle the infantry specialty, just like recruiting cannon fodder."

"Right, that special recruitment for the Army Reserve is definitely interesting; only ten spots given, with seven or eight nearby planets sharing ten spots. Heh heh, interesting, I just love things like this."

A-level colleges cooperated with the Federation military; apart from the annual military assessment day on September 17, they had some special slots. These slots were managed by the A-level colleges of different administrative districts during recruitment, requiring not only an age limit below twenty but also a physique standard above fifteen. Then the qualifying 100 were filtered through a sea selection! Each A-level college had only 100 slots, destined for the military's preliminary elite talent cultivation, eliminating 90 during the period, allowing them to choose to switch departments or leave the school. Eventually, only 10 would graduate. For the four major administrative districts, throughout the entire Federation... fifty people!

This challenge was a thousandfold, even ten thousandfold harder than direct exams! But if one could endure four years without elimination, the reward would be honor! Graduation would mean a major's rank awarded! The identity of the various special combat team officers!

One in a million...

Some geniuses believed themselves extraordinary, while the outstanding sought to prove their excellence by striving for this slot, often ending beaten and battered.

This exam site required no academic scores, no vast knowledge, only proving one thing—that you were stronger than the others, capable of standing last, that was all!

Hopefully, this could yield some talent for me, though the academy split into ten zones, still predicting my zone's recruits would rank the lowest! Damn it, just thinking about it heated him up!

His facial muscles twitched a few times as Ruan Xiongfei realized any calculation led to anger, prompting him to directly board the ship, find a sleep pod, and lay inside to avoid seeing or worrying!!

...

...

The spaceship slowly started, heading to the space jump point, with a pleasant female voice looping inside: "Good afternoon passengers, interstellar travel is about to begin, please enter your sleep pods within five minutes. This voyage's destination: Purple Jade Star, covering 8.2 light-years, taking seven Federation days, wishing everyone a pleasant journey."

This unmanned ship bore the dream of further education for several edge planets' youngsters, gradually speeding up until it vanished into the vast starry sky.

One month later, the Galaxy Federation College entrance exam was about to commence in full swing!

************

(PS: An additional chapter for Alliance Hierarch Bai Yiduo!

Thanks to book friends for the reward of Ten Billion Light-Years and to book friend Dr. Xu, who loves sweets, for their reward.)

```