Make money by hiding in the interstellar battlefield!

Louise's talent and strength far exceed what a C-level mech can offer. However, due to the gap between A-level and B-level mechs, even with her extraordinary talent, she can only pilot a C-level Steelheart mech. On the other hand, Jian Sheng is able to develop 100% of his potential in a C-level mech. In just over a month of combat training, he has become increasingly adept at dealing with Louise's offensives.

At first, Louise only defended and did not attack. Later, she had to take the initiative to attack in order to restrain him. Then, she had to gradually reveal her true strength and skills. This process was very much like squeezing toothpaste. Under Jian Sheng's relentless pressure, Louise's trump cards were squeezed out little by little. Jian Sheng used the storage and pattern reasoning functions of the mecha to disassemble and learn all her skills. He forced Louise to use her trump cards at a steady pace.

During this time, Louise also imparted a great deal of experience in team command and battlefield combat. The Windsor family's conditioning was extremely professional, and Jian Sheng's physical condition was adjusted to its peak. He even naturally grew two centimeters taller, with his height settling at 179 centimeters, which is quite eye-catching among his peers in Seven Rings City.

Louise's condescending gaze remained unchanged, a sense of superiority ingrained in her aristocratic bones. Jian Sheng chuckled inwardly. By blood, he was also a nobleman in his past life, but his status as an illegitimate child had shattered that sense of superiority. Faced with such a gaze, he felt only displeasure, even a touch of wicked pleasure—he wanted to see this proud noblewoman show her defeated and tearful face.

The Mech Officer Academy's recruitment day arrived as scheduled, with candidates holding their application forms and entering the examination hall in an orderly fashion. The first morning consisted of a written exam, followed by a talent test in the afternoon. Those who failed the written exam were disqualified from the martial arts test the following day, and those whose talent ranking fell out of the top 500 were directly eliminated. To play it safe, Jian Sheng only revealed his double C+ test results, ultimately placing him 67th in talent ranking. This result was quite unexpected; according to Louise, with his true talent, he would have been well-suited to be in the top 20-30 last year.

"It seems that all the major powers are going all out to send in geniuses in order to compete for that massive military procurement order," Jian Sheng thought to himself.

The talent test results were made public that afternoon to ensure fairness. At the top of the list, there was only one person with double A+, from the George family, one of the three upper clans; there were three people with double A, from the Fujiwara family, the Windsor family, and the Church of the Mother Goddess, all from the three upper clans; there were 12 people with combinations of A+B and B+A, mostly from the other nine major families; there were 18 people with double B, mostly from the inner city and branches of the nine major families; there were 32 candidates with B+C and C+B, mainly from the inner city, with very few from the outer city; and double C was the absolute mainstream, with a total of 434 people, mainly from the fourth and fifth rings of the inner city and the sixth and seventh rings of the outer city.

Based on scores from highest to lowest, the top 500 qualified for advancement. Judging solely by talent, the top 66 were practically guaranteed admission—the higher the talent, the greater the potential to adapt to more advanced mechs in the future. Thus, the final competition focused on the 434 double-C candidates, vying for the remaining 34 spots.

That evening, the 500 candidates were all assigned to stay at the Mech Officer School. Accommodation standards were strictly divided according to talent: double A's stayed in suites, single A's in single rooms, double B's in double rooms, single B's in standard four-person rooms, and double C's squeezed into six-person rooms. This is the reality of society, where people are divided into different categories according to their value.

Despite being the top student in Group C, Jian Sheng could only get a room in a six-person room. Inside, his five roommates were huddled together whispering.

"Tomorrow, the four major powers will choose 34 people from our 434. Should we go and submit our pledges tonight?" The speaker was a candidate ranked over 300, his tone full of anxiety, knowing that his chances were slim.

"It's no use. The three upper clans have probably already decided on a candidate. We can only try our luck at the church."

"That's right! The church is the only way out for us non-nine great families. Only they are willing to give ordinary inner-city people a chance. We'll go visit the church's top two candidates later!"

As everyone was chatting animatedly, they noticed Jiansheng standing silently to the side and immediately became interested.

"Young man, where do you rank in terms of talent?"

Jian Sheng just wanted to get through the night quietly, so he casually replied, "167th place."

"That's pretty good! Are you related to any of the nine great families in the inner city? If you don't have any connections, you might still have a chance if you're willing to become a Netherfire Soldier."

Jian Sheng instantly understood what the other party meant. The Netherfire Soldiers were recognized as the type of soldier with the highest casualty rate, and most people avoided them like the plague. Only the lower-class children of the inner and outer cities were willing to risk their lives for a way out. Therefore, the talent requirements for this type of soldier were relatively lenient.

"It doesn't matter. I'm from outside the Sixth Ring Road and don't know any powerful figures in the inner city."

Upon hearing this, the five were initially amazed that such a genius had emerged from the outer city, but then a hint of disdain crept in their eyes—in their view, Jian Sheng was simply lucky. This was the norm in Seven Rings City, where discrimination was ever-present: the upper three clans looked down on the lower six clans, the lower six clans looked down on ordinary inner city people, those in the second and third rings despised those in the fourth and fifth rings, and inner city people looked down on outer city people; those born through genetic selection looked down on those born naturally, and purebred people with blond hair and blue eyes despised those with mixed bloodlines.

Jian Sheng was completely unconcerned about their attitude, but instead became curious about one question: "I know the three upper families you're talking about—the Windsor, George, and Fujiwara families. But what makes them worthy of being called the three upper families?"

Upon hearing this, the five men looked at Jian Sheng as if he were a country bumpkin, and the jealousy they had felt earlier because of his talent vanished instantly.

"You don't know that? Because these three major families each possess two S-class Gold-tier Mech Warriors! The other six families each have at most one!"

As soon as one person finished speaking, another immediately added, "Don't underestimate the difference! In the resource zone 200 kilometers north of Seven Rings City, to develop any kind of mineral, you must have an S-class mecha warrior stationed there to defend it before you can confidently invest huge amounts of resources. But if there's only one S-class warrior, they simply can't handle multiple aspects like development, transportation, and defense."

"Exactly! Having two S-rank warriors makes all the difference! If two resource points are close together, the two can coordinate and manage multiple tasks simultaneously. Over time, the strength gap between the three upper races and the other six races will widen significantly!"

Upon hearing this, Jian Sheng finally understood—no wonder the Windsor family was able to master so many advanced technological products; it turned out they had already established exclusive resource points in the outer city.

Not long after, the five roommates went to the room of the church's double A candidate. To Jian Sheng's surprise, they all returned in high spirits and were even received.

"This Mother Goddess Church is quite good at winning people's hearts. They receive everyone, but what's the difference between that and not receiving anyone?" Jian Sheng thought to himself, while also considering his next options.

The selection process between teams and trainees is a two-way street. Given his talent ranking and future performance, he will definitely be noticed by forces outside the Windsor family. Now, he only has three options left: the Church, the George family, and the Fujiwara family.

The George family has produced a genius with two A+ grades and is currently very successful. If I were to go there, I would probably have no chance of making a name for myself, so I would rule them out. This leaves me with only the Fujiwara family and the church as options.

The day before the individual tests began, the sergeant school suddenly announced that candidates with double A grades would be exempt from further tests. This was expected, but the subsequent rules were unexpected: to encourage competition, in the subsequent team competition, the team that came in first would have three designated reserve captains, the team that came in second would have two, the team that came in third would have one, and the team that came in last would have none.

The introduction of this rule means that when selecting team members, the four team captains can no longer prioritize family interests but must first consider the team's strength. Clearly, the school is trying to squeeze one or two spots out of the four major powers for talented individuals without connections.

"The school is trying to force the four major powers to leave a way out for grassroots students." Jian Sheng knew perfectly well that if that was the case, he absolutely couldn't keep a low profile in today's test—his strength wouldn't allow him to hide his abilities. With a mere ranking of 67th, if he couldn't demonstrate extraordinary combat power, he wouldn't be noticed by any power at all, let alone be able to negotiate terms.

"Today, we must go all out and maintain this 'B' facade!"

Since all candidates can only pilot Type C mechs, talent alone cannot create an absolute advantage, so the testing rules are exceptionally simple. The first round is close combat, with 496 candidates fighting one-on-one until the top 16 are determined; the second round is a shooting test, ranked according to scores. After both rounds of testing, candidates ranked below 200 are directly eliminated, and the remaining 200 are chosen by the four double-A captains, with those who are not selected being eliminated.

"In close combat, I need to win five rounds in a row. Not only do I need to win, but I need to win decisively and spectacularly!" Jian Sheng secretly set his goal.

Before the test officially began, representatives from the nine major families and the church were all present to watch the competition. Although most of the school's senior officials came from the nine major families, they did not exchange many pleasantries with these representatives to avoid suspicion.

Louise appeared today dressed casually, looking every bit the bystander watching the spectacle, completely devoid of her usual arrogance and menacing aura.

Jian Sheng's first opponent was a female mecha pilot with dual C-level skills. He had no intention of showing her any mercy; a simple and sharp combo knocked her off the stage.

The competition was extremely fast-paced, with battles taking place simultaneously on all four arenas without a moment's pause. In the second round, Jian Sheng's opponent was once again a dual-C talent, but he finished the fight effortlessly in just a few moves.

In the third round, he encountered a tough opponent—Birobock, a double-B talent from the Biro family, one of the nine great families. As a large number of candidates were eliminated, the pace of the competition gradually slowed down. The eliminated candidates gathered below the stage, discussing among themselves and praising their defeated opponents to prove that they were not lacking in strength, but simply had bad luck.

"That Bilobok is a noble scion with double B talent! I'm incredibly unlucky. If I could have made it to the third round and lost, my chances of being selected would have been much greater! That kid even shared a room with me last night, what incredible luck!"

"There's nothing we can do, that's just fate! An outsider with dual C talents can still make it to the third round, he should be content."

The person who said this was Jiansheng's roommate from last night, and they were all looking forward to a good show.

On the arena, Bock, wielding twin swords, first performed a dazzling display of swordplay, his face radiating confidence. Jian Sheng, however, stared at him as if he were a fool, inwardly scoffing, "Mech melee combat is a life-or-death struggle, what's the point of all this fancy stuff?"

The match began. Burke charged forward, unleashing a flurry of slashes with his twin blades at astonishing speed. Jian Sheng, however, remained purely defensive, focusing solely on parrying and dodging. Seeing this, Burke became increasingly convinced of Jian Sheng's vulnerability and immediately unleashed his ultimate move—the Whirlwind Slash. The entire mech soared into the air, using the momentum and gravity of its rotation to break through Jian Sheng's defenses in one fell swoop.

But just as he jumped, the back of the mech was completely exposed to Jian Sheng's eyes. Jian Sheng seized the opening, swept his long sword horizontally, and unleashed a "miracle strike" with a clean and decisive horizontal slash.

The match came to an abrupt end, and Bock's mech was badly damaged and completely incapacitated.

Down in the audience, Jian Sheng's two roommates whispered among themselves, "What's with all the jumping! With such a huge opening, I could have done it too! This kid is just lucky."

Louise, watching from below the ring, merely smiled slightly, remaining silent. This level of fighting held absolutely no interest for her.

In the fourth round, as fate would have it, Jian Sheng's opponent turned out to be a direct descendant of the Windsor family with a single A rank.

"I wonder if Louise taught this kid his close combat skills? If so, I'll have to show him my true abilities," Jian Sheng thought to himself.

To his utter surprise, his opponent, after taking the stage, pulled out a short gun and a short stick from behind his mech. The two were then joined together and transformed into a long gun.

"Damn it! This kid is cheating! The mecha short weapon is only for emergency use, but he went and brought out the king of weapons. That's too insidious!" Jian Sheng couldn't help but curse.

"The game is all about winning and losing!" the opponent replied coldly, his tone full of disdain.

Before he finished speaking, the spear thrust straight at him. An inch longer, an inch stronger; moreover, this spear was over a meter longer than Jian Sheng's longsword.

Jian Sheng could only raise his knife to parry and dodge to the side, being firmly kept outside the opponent's attack range. The opponent pressed his advantage, drawing his spear over his shoulder and unleashing a "monster's flip" move, thrusting the spear forward again, always maintaining a safe distance from Jian Sheng, preventing him from getting close at all.

"It seems this kid's teacher isn't Louise. True mecha close combat is only about fighting to the death, a relentless and fearless battle!" Jian Sheng instantly saw through the opponent's tactics.

Just as his opponent unleashed a top-down attack, attempting to overwhelm him with overwhelming force, Jian Sheng instead advanced, pushing the mecha's power to 100% and slashing down at the tip of the gun!

The steel spear slammed heavily onto the mech's head armor, causing Jian Sheng to feel dizzy and disoriented. However, the mech opposite him was completely destroyed by the single blow. If the school hadn't replaced all the blades with ordinary steel to prevent any fatalities, the opponent would likely have been cleaved in two.

Louise, standing below the arena, finally showed a slight change in expression: "This kid is truly a rough gem! It's just a pity he lacks talent; otherwise, if we took him into the core of the family for training, he would surely become a great figure in the future."

After the fourth round, only 31 people remained, with one receiving a bye and advancing directly. Perhaps because Jian Sheng had damaged the mechs in two consecutive rounds—even though they were old models—the school felt sorry for him and directly gave him a bye. The remaining 15 advanceees were all children of the nine major families and the church. They were more lenient towards Jian Sheng, an outsider with no background, and didn't say much.

The afternoon's dynamic shooting test was far more important than close combat—in the eyes of the four captains, shooting ability was the core quality of a mech warrior. After all, once a mech warrior draws its sword, it often means it's only a few seconds away from death, at most taking a few more intelligent beasts down with it.

The targets for dynamic shooting are live, six-legged dogs. This may seem cruel, but it is actually supported by a mature industry chain—Blue Beast Cores are hard currency, and there are companies in the satellite base in the southern valley that specialize in breeding six-legged dogs for various forces to purchase and test.

As long as there's money to be made, what's a few intelligent beasts?

The dynamic shooting exercise had a 30-second time limit, with the entire process, from candidates entering and preparing to leaving the venue, lasting no more than two minutes. The two competition venues operated simultaneously, and four hours later, it was finally Jiansheng's turn. Before that, he had been struggling with one question: should he break the record?

"The best result last year was killing 12 six-legged dogs in 30 seconds, but this year's candidates are even stronger. To secure a top-three finish, the score must exceed that number. But should we surpass Percival's record? I really want to see what Louise's expression will be when she sees the record broken."

After careful consideration, Jian Sheng decided to take a middle ground—the challenge of killing 19 enemies with 20 bullets. This result would be enough to secure him a place in the top three without being too outrageous.

When Jian Sheng announced his challenge to the examiners, the candidates who had already finished their exams erupted in excitement. The scoreboard displayed the latest scores in real time, while also showing the challenge goals of the bottom ten candidates.

"Who is this Jian Sheng? He's so arrogant!"

"Just a top-ranked player with two C+ ratings, and they dare to make such boasts? They're probably going to get bitten to death by a pack of six-legged dogs soon!"

The most enthusiastic discussion came from Jian Sheng's roommates from last night: "This kid was ranked 67th! He was pretending to be low-key in front of us last night, he really hid it well!"

"Exactly! He clearly had the spot in the bag, yet he insisted on challenging himself with something so difficult! An outsider like him probably doesn't even understand the habits of a six-legged dog; he's just overestimating himself!"

Ultimately, their mentality cannot escape the narrow-mindedness of "being afraid of their brothers suffering, and even more afraid of their brothers driving Land Rovers".

Jian Sheng's challenge also caught the attention of the four double-A captains, and everyone's eyes were focused on him.

"I knew this kid was holding back when he was training at the manor. But is challenging six more than the previous record in one go too much?" Louise frowned slightly as she looked at the information on the big screen, pondering to herself.

Behind Jian Sheng, the more than 60 other candidates were also intently watching the competition—most of them had access to professional training and knew that the risk would increase exponentially with each additional six-legged dog. If a candidate with a double C+ rating dared to challenge this goal, and he succeeded, all of them would likely be forced to increase their challenge numbers.

Even the school's proctors couldn't help but whisper among themselves, discussing Jian Sheng's goals.

Finally, it was Jiansheng's turn to take the stage. The test in the other arena was also temporarily suspended, and all eyes were focused on this arena.

Jian Sheng took a deep breath, activated the mech's built-in "patch" system, and precisely adjusted his heart rate to 80 beats per minute. With everything ready, he gestured to the examiner and barked in a deep voice, "Open the door, unleash the 'dogs'!"

drop--!

The moment the timer started, Jian Sheng's gaze sharpened like a hawk's, locking onto eight targets in the first breath. Triggers fired in rapid succession, 100% accuracy!

Immediately afterwards, he swung his gun to the side, turned the muzzle to the side, locked onto 6 targets, and fired a series of shots, still hitting the bullseye every time!

The last five six-legged dogs had pounced on him, but instead of retreating, Jian Sheng advanced, suddenly performing a backflip and leaping. In mid-air, he instantly locked onto four targets, with a 99% hit rate!

The mech landed smoothly, with only one last six-legged dog lunging at it. Jian Sheng seized the opportunity, grabbing it by the neck with one hand, deactivating the probability statistics system, pressing the gun to its head, and firing at point-blank range—Bang! The dog's head exploded instantly!

The whole process was smooth and seamless.

The final results appeared on the big screen at the stadium: 12 seconds, 20 bullets, 19 six-legged dogs killed!

This result far exceeded Jian Sheng's expectations. He originally planned to complete the challenge in about 25 seconds, but the overwhelming pressure from the six-legged pack of dogs was far beyond his imagination.

He gave a helpless, bitter smile.

I wanted to keep a low profile, but my abilities wouldn't allow it!