Dude, why are you getting involved again?
Vivienne: "…"
Someone offered money, and she was very tempted to just say "Yes I do" and hold out her hand.
But!
— I can give you money.
What a thunderous sugar-daddy declaration!
Cold sweat began to bead on Vivienne's forehead. She politely declined, "No need. Thank you for your kindness, Class Rep."
Help, she was a firmly committed heterosexual. She was deathly afraid of this kind of drama!
After rambling a bunch of nonsense, Vivienne fled from Jan Squire in a hurry.
After the chaos of the miraculous Saturday storm smacking her in the face, Vivienne calmed down.
She returned to the dorm in a mess, dazedly took a shower, and while drying her dripping hair, she thought quietly to herself—
Going out aimlessly is apparently a crime too.
Vivienne logged onto the StarNet and dutifully searched for information on Westley. Along the way, she also looked up a series of gossipy figures: the Southern-named Councilor, Gavin Thornton, Liyuan Liang, and more.
Westley Roland—only son of Duke Roland and Princess Eliza. He really had a noble title waiting for him to inherit.
Librena—daughter of the famous musician Rodell Ashley.
Nathan Wendell—the renowned current Speaker of the Imperial Congress. His grandson was the same Nathan Pennington who had competed with Westley for "Eternal Moment." Not much info on Pennington himself, except that he was a current military academy student.
Leonard Liem—his mother was a Member of Congress… Most of the spoiled rich kids Vivienne could still name all had noble family backgrounds.
And finally…
Vivienne read the entire entry on Callum Charlatou.
Born into House Charlatou. Black hair, green eyes. Gender: guide. Very little information. Only a few public photos from family events.
Vivienne wasn't sure if it was a case of kicking someone when they're down and deleting all records of House Charlatou, or if the family had just protected Callum extremely well.
She leaned toward the latter. She knew just how naive that teenager really was.
Still, she nodded to herself at his decisiveness. Naive or not, Callum's methods of handling problems always carried the ruthless efficiency of a true aristocratic heir.
Hope your next lover won't need your gun again.
Thinking about the upcoming campus life gave Vivienne a major headache.
She continued searching.
"How to graduate from the Imperial Military Academy?"
In the first academic year, new students didn't have fixed majors. Only general categories: combat, mechanics, intelligence, and liberal arts.
Not until the second year would students be assigned to specific majors based on performance and preference—combat, for example, would further split into Mecha Division, Command Division, Communications Division, etc.
"So complicated…" Vivienne frowned and bit her lip. "I think I'm currently in…"
She pulled up her student info from the terminal.
Combat Division.
Combat-zero Vivienne: not surprising, yet still surprising.
…
Monday's schedule was inhumane—back-to-back classes from 8:00 AM to 9:30 PM, packed solid with:
Psychic Control, Strategic Planning, Mech Structures, Communications Principles, and Military History.
Vivienne had enrolled late and missed course selection. All her classes were pre-assigned.
The first one was Psychic Control with Galen Keyes.
Walking slowly into the classroom with unfamiliar classmates, Vivienne immediately noticed a shiny new testing machine.
[Vivienne, the newest version of the mental power tester will arrive next Monday. The teacher has invited you to be the first to try it…]
Oh right, that.
Vivienne sighed inwardly.
She had just used her psychic ability again yesterday. Who knew how stable her level was now?
She found a seat, but a shadow quickly fell across her desk.
Sensing something, Vivienne looked up—awkwardly: "…Class Rep?"
"Vivienne, about yesterday—"
"Class Rep, class is about to start. Let's talk when we both have time, okay?"
Jan Squire: "When are you free, then?"
"Mm… I'm going to the library today. Tomorrow's booked too. Maybe the day after tomorrow at the earliest…"
Jan's crimson eyes bored into her, as if trying to drill holes in her soul.
Pinned by his intense stare, Vivienne started sweating.
He asked, confused, "Are you avoiding me?"
Bro, you really don't know why I'd want to avoid you?!
"No. I just actually have things to do," Vivienne muttered to herself. Why are you still chasing me down after figuring it out? Rich boy, I'm not your ideal sentinel, okay? "Just overwhelmed by new student life."
Jan: "…"
"Jan, give it a rest! Class is about to start!" Tony Zane cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted from the back.
Vivienne breathed a sigh of relief.
…
Just before the bell rang, Professor Galen Keyes strode in, head high and chest puffed like a smug rooster. His shirt was, as always, tight as hell.
His gaze swept across the students and quickly locked onto the black-haired, black-eyed girl.
Galen knocked on the desk, full of anticipation. "Vivienne, come on up."
…You make it sound like we're besties.
Vivienne stood up and rolled her eyes inside her head.
Tony instinctively looked at Jan and saw him watching the scene without reaction.
Then Tony realized—even Jan Squire couldn't just throw a tantrum at a teacher in the middle of class.
It was just a mental level test anyway.
"Put on the helmet, and this wristband too. It monitors heart rate and pulse to improve test accuracy…"
Vivienne was slightly worried the machine might suddenly pop out a battle robot to gun her down—just kidding. She didn't think Galen had that much nerve, or that she herself was important enough.
The capital's military academy… to her, was both dangerous and safe.
Beep— The machine didn't look drastically different. The test method should still be mostly the same. Vivienne extended her psychic tendrils.
[Just need to keep it within a reasonable range.]
The screen's numbers flickered, starting from 50 and climbing.
76…
98…
136…
Mental power levels were scored as follows:
F- to F+ (1–89): Weak. Mostly used for sensory perception and mild focus. For sentinels with F-rank psychic power, they're basically half-crippled.
E to D (90–159): Starting to exceed normal levels, capable of basic mental operations.
C to B (160–249): Strong. Can perform meaningful interference and complex mental tasks.
A (250–299): Very strong. Capable of high-level mental control, like creating psychic domains or mass manipulation.
S (300+): Overwhelming. Far above normal people, several times the power of an F-level.
298…
Bailey Tong, sitting in the front row, curiously watched the numbers. Based on her mental feedback during the previous calming session with Vivienne, she knew her classmate's level wasn't low. S- or maybe full S?
Tony craned his neck. "Almost S!"
Vivienne felt that was good enough and was about to retract her tendrils—but something felt off.
Vivienne: "?"
Why can't she pull them back???
The number kept climbing.
A strange glint flashed through Galen's eyes. After the machine arrived in his office, he had already secretly altered the detection parameters.
Don't even think about hiding your level from me!