The academy grounds transformed overnight.
The sterile training halls and metallic corridors gave way to a massive simulation field, sectioned into ten separate zones—each representing a different trial, each designed to break even the most hardened cadets. Giant projection panels loomed overhead, broadcasting a countdown. The scent of ozone and synthetic earth filled the air, an artificial attempt to mimic battlefield realism. The atmosphere buzzed with tension. Students murmured in hushed tones, their eyes darting toward the center stage, where the first test would begin.
For Jihu Kang, it was just another opportunity.
Not to prove himself—he had nothing to prove.
But to test how far he could push his calculated evolution.
He stood in the shadow of a steel barricade, cloaked in a navy-black cadet uniform tight around his muscle-defined frame, hands in his pockets, shoulders relaxed. His face was unreadable—sharp jaw, high cheekbones, cold eyes the color of tempered steel. His black hair, slightly tousled, cast a faint shadow over his gaze.
The instructors believed the contest would motivate students.
But Jihu knew better.
This wasn't about morale—it was an experiment. A screening.
And he would dismantle it, piece by piece.
---
### Day 1: Tactical Combat Arena
The first trial was combat.
Twenty cadets dropped into a holographic terrain designed like a war-torn village. Crumbling buildings, flickering lights, simulated bodies, and the smell of smoke and scorched plastic clung to the air. Dust clung to their boots. Every corner could hold an enemy, every shadow could be death.
Jihu didn't rush.
While the others charged with blunted swords and energy rifles, he crouched in a collapsed building, letting the chaos unfold. His AI fed him movement trajectories, threat analysis, weapon heat levels.
Then he struck.
Every motion was precise—a sweep, a counter, a throw. His movements flowed like water and struck like steel. He moved through cadets like a whisper of wind through fire.
By the end, he stood alone. Unscratched.
His eyes were cold, unreadable.
---
### Day 2: Hazard Navigation
The second trial tested reflexes and environmental awareness.
The field transformed into a deadly labyrinth. Laser traps, falling debris, simulated earthquakes, and disorienting gravity shifts. Cadets struggled, fell, screamed. The scent of burnt polymer filled the air.
Jihu closed his eyes before stepping in.
"Route analysis: 4.2 seconds ahead of optimal completion time," his AI whispered.
He ran—not like a human—but like an algorithm come to life. His hands grazed heat vents, his boots skimmed molten floors. He ducked a plasma beam with millisecond precision and somersaulted through a collapsing shaft.
He made it to the exit in record time.
The instructors whispered. The other students stared.
Jihu walked out without a word.
---
### Day 3: Interrogation Simulation
Inside a sealed chamber, cadets were questioned by virtual enemies with advanced AI—trained to break minds.
The room was cold. The floor hummed beneath his chair. A soft light buzzed above. The interrogator's voice was metallic, smooth. "Who do you fear losing most?"
Jihu smiled faintly. "No one."
"Your records show your first mission resulted in the death of three cadets. Guilt?"
"No. Calculation error. It was corrected in future deployments."
"You killed."
"To survive."
The AI tried switching tactics. Voice modulation. Distortion. Personal attacks.
Jihu didn't blink.
After 7 hours of psychological probing, he walked out with a calm gaze.
They couldn't crack him.
He'd cracked himself long ago.
---
### Day 4: Cyberwarfare Infiltration
The trial was a digital battlefield. Code storms. Security walls. Virus mines.
Students wore neural bands and plugged into a simulated network. The system pulsed into their minds like electricity.
Jihu's fingers moved like he was painting a symphony of destruction. Lines of code dissolved under his will. He exploited quantum loops, backdoors, and logic traps with surgical precision.
He didn't just breach the firewall—he rewrote its core protocol.
"System hijacked. Operator override initiated."
His score: Unprecedented.
The lead programmer stared at the screen, whispering, "Who the hell is this kid?"
---
### Day 5: Culinary Challenge
Jihu walked into the academy's kitchen lab—a massive hall filled with fresh synthetic ingredients, temperature-controlled stations, and a jury of military chefs.
This wasn't just cooking. It was stress testing under pressure, accuracy under fire. Every cadet had to prepare a four-course dish in ninety minutes while responding to emergencies—a simulated fire, sudden ingredient swap, altered atmospheric conditions.
Jihu didn't panic.
He worked in silence, the scent of seared protein and aromatic herbs weaving through the air. He adjusted seasoning by smell alone, cut vegetables with mechanical rhythm, and flash-seared the main course with practiced grace.
When the judges tasted his food, they paused.
Savory. Complex. Precise.
One muttered, "This isn't cadet-level. This is war-time gourmet."
---
### Day 6: Leadership and Team Morale Simulation
The program dropped Jihu into a fractured squad of demoralized AI soldiers. He had 48 hours to restore morale, coordinate defense, and win an unwinnable battle against a superior force.
Jihu didn't yell. He didn't give orders.
He listened.
He adapted.
He assigned tasks based on AI psychological profiles, adjusted strategies mid-operation, and took calculated risks that inspired even the emotionless simulations.
When enemy forces overwhelmed the base, he detonated the terrain's energy core—killing the enemy and sacrificing 20% of his own AI troops.
It wasn't perfect.
But it was real.
And it won the war.
---
### Day 7: Weapon Forging and Optimization
Cadets were given raw materials, outdated schematics, and outdated forge stations.
They were told to design a functional combat weapon—within 6 hours.
Most barely made shoddy blades or unstable plasma daggers.
Jihu made a weapon that adapted in real-time.
A kinetic pulse spear with a collapsible staff, AI-assisted targeting, and regenerative core. He built it from scratch, melting alloys with precise heat management and coding the micro-circuitry manually.
The instructors were stunned.
"Is this a prototype from Research Division?" one whispered.
"No," said another. "He built it from junk."
---
### Day 8: Language and Diplomacy Trials
Cadets were dropped into a simulation with five alien races—each with unique communication protocols, values, and triggers.
Jihu didn't just memorize dialects.
He studied body language, pulse shifts, scent-based signaling, and cultural hierarchies. He observed before speaking.
When a diplomatic incident broke out between two factions, it was Jihu who stepped forward.
With a calm voice, he defused the conflict, using logic, emotional calibration, and psychological cues to realign the priorities of both parties.
He earned not just a pass.
He earned respect.
---
### Day 9: Survival and Isolation
Cadets were dropped into a cold desert simulation—alone.
No supplies. No shelter. No AI support.
Temperatures dipped below freezing at night and soared to 60°C by day. The sun scorched his skin. The wind sliced at his exposed hands.
Jihu made shelter with fiber leaves and bone-dry cactus. He trapped insects for protein and conserved sweat instead of water. When hallucinations began from the heat, he focused on equations in his head to stay grounded.
He survived the full 48 hours.
When the pickup team arrived, they found him meditating on a rock, completely still.
---
### Day 10: Final Exam – Free Mission
The last challenge gave cadets a single objective:
**"Surprise us."**
Some performed combat acrobatics. Others sang, designed gadgets, or ran strategy drills.
Jihu?
He took a single hour to observe the instructors, the environment, the limitations of the academy's security grid.
Then he simulated a system breach using nothing but chalk, a map, and recorded patterns of the security drones.
In front of the academy's brass, he revealed how to take down their entire surveillance system in 7 minutes using only what he could gather inside the academy.
A hush fell over the arena.
One general muttered, "This kid… he's not a soldier. He's a strategist."
---
### Aftermath
At the closing ceremony, hundreds of cadets stood waiting.
"In first place," the head instructor announced, "with the highest cumulative score ever recorded in academy history…"
Silence.
"Jihu Kang."
The crowd erupted. Some cheered. Some stood still. Many just stared.
Jihu stepped forward, emotionless.
They handed him a silver badge and a sleek black data card. "You are now authorized to operate a mid-class reconnaissance battleship."
He nodded once.
In his mind, plans were already forming.
This wasn't victory.
It was a stepping stone.