Mech: Shattering of the Galaxy

Chapter 6: The Big Five

Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
The United Galaxia Federation stretched sixty-two light-years across the universe and was divided into four administrative subdivisions, with a total population exceeding several hundreds of billions.

Within the federation, there were five major A-ranked academies:

Capital Star within the First Subdivision: UGF Dawn Military Academy

Capital Star within the First Subdivision: Bonnard United Academy

Planet Xuanming within the Second Subdivision: Kaplan Military Academy

Planet Linguang within the Third Subdivision: Taoyun Academy

Planet Blue within the Fourth subdivision: Dingchuan Academy

These were the Big Five! These five top academies within the federation were considered to be one’s golden beginning to a bright future, and countless candidates from all over the galaxy would apply for these academies during every enrollment season.

The Big Five had set out a rule that the applicants must be aged twenty or below!

So many talented candidates were stopped by this one single rule! Every year during study breaks, the academies would send out people to scout for talented individuals on every planet. A-ranked academies would have selection priority according to the UGF’s regulation; this made all the other ranked academies curse them behind their backs during the enrollment season, because how would they get talented individuals if the Big Five got them first?

However, the Big Five never worried about it as there would always be countless applicants aiming to get in.

Honor! Privilege!

It was common for the younger generations to study in one of the Big Five Academies!

Examination centers were set up on major planets within each UGF subdivision, so during every enrollment season, there would be countless applicants joining together on those planets.

The examination day this year was to be held on June 10th of the UGF calendar.

…

– Spaceship Dock, Planet Blue –

“It’s 10:57 AM on May 10th,” a man said as he looked at his vintage mechanical wristwatch.

A bald, middle-aged man wearing a blue uniform looked up and twitched his lips as he said, “Those dumb*ss top executives told me to go to that god-forsaken place this year! The students from that remote area were always ranked last within the academy, I doubt that a hawk would be born from a bunch of weak chickens. It’s the third and last year of the election, I bet those dumb*sses are playing with me by sending me to that place! Don’t fu*king let me find out who’s behind this!”

The cuffs of his blue uniform were tight around his thick wrist, and the name ‘Dingchuan Academy’ was embroidered on it.

He punched his fist hard against the air in anger, creating a gust of wind that even reached the dress of the lady who was standing in front of him. Good thing that he wasn’t on the interstellar spaceship yet, or else he would have been kicked off.

He was Ruan Xiongfeng, formerly a military commander of the UGF-114 Infantry Regiment and currently a close-combat instructor at Dingchuan Academy on Planet Blue. Ruan Xiongfeng was a bushido master at only thirty-seven years of age; he had surpassed his second mentality lock already and was rated level-25 in physique.

Level-25 in physique!

According to the UGF physique’s rating standards, a level-6 would mean one could either throw a punch carrying 75KG of force or withstand a blow of that level. Then it would be 150 kg, 250 kg, 400 kg, 600 kg, and 850 kg respectively from level-7 to level-11; every level gap would then grow by an increment of 50 kg for each level until level-25, which clocked in at a force of 9600 kg.

However, the amount of force one can exert does not necessarily equal to one’s endurance level; someone rated level-15 in force might only have a level-10 endurance level, and as a result, that person would be rated level-10 in physique.

Therefore, a level-25 in physique would mean that both his strength and endurance level had reached 9600 kg! Ruan Hongfeng’s one punch would exert approximately 9 tons of force, and at the same time, his body could also endure 9 tons of force!

Those waiting in line ready for check-in looked at Ruan Xiongfeng with respect solely because of the uniform he was in, but what they didn’t know was that he was like a powerful beast in disguise lining up amongst them.

For years, Ruan Xiongfeng had taught at Dingchuan Academy, he never offended anyone; but this morning, he received orders from the academy’s top executives to travel 8.2 light-years to Planet Zicui and be responsible for the enrollment examination there. The other staff had already departed and as the main supervisor, he was told that he could manage his own traveling schedule.

Bullsh*t self-scheduling, I was only notified today and I had to leave right away! What the hell! Ruan Xiongfeng cursed at this mission as he put up both of his hands for security inspection before boarding, and the people around him turned away their gazes having seen that he was from Dingchuan Academy, judging by his uniform.

In the waiting area after passing through security inspection, there were about twenty minutes resting time before entering the hypothermal hibernation bay.

Ruan Xiongfeng threw his baggage carelessly onto the ground and sat on it, his thick palm rubbed against his bald head as he chuckled and everyone avoided him as they walked past him.

He had searched up that ‘Planet Zicui’ before he arrived here, and it was located on the border of the fourth subdivision, so the applicants around there would all gather on that planet.

“What kind of talented individual could there be! Dumb*ss top executives, history has already proven that impoverished areas don’t have any talented people. The stats every year show that those students at the end of the rankings were all from border areas! Including that whatever Planet Zicui! So unfortunate!”

“Well I don’t know anything other than fighting, so the academy can handle this itself and I’m just responsible for the infantry group, that’s all. I guess I’ll just take this as recruiting some sandbags.”

“Oh right, that special recruitment for the army reserve’s going to be interesting. Only ten people from seven or eight planets, haha, that’s going to be interesting to watch.”

The A-rank academies had been in collaboration with the UGF military, and aside from the official military examination on September 17th, there were also special recruitments every year; and those special vacancies were reserved for the A-rank academies within each subdivision. Other than the requirement for all applicants to be below twenty years of age, their physique would also need to reach above level-15. Every A-rank academy would take in only 100 potential candidates for the future army reserves and 90 of them would be eliminated during the process; those eliminated could still choose to transfer to another faculty within the academy or choose to leave the academy. By the end, there would be 10 graduates selected from each academy, and therefore there would be only 50 candidates in total from the Big Five Academies within the four subdivisions… Which meant 50 candidates within the entire United Galaxia Federation!

This was a thousand times more difficult compared to taking the military exam every year! However, if they managed to survive the four years without being eliminated, great honor would await at their finish line! They would graduate and become a Major-General directly or the commander of a special force!

However, the ratio was choosing one individual out of a million applicants…

Some geniuses believed that they were special, and some people with high scores wanted to prove their intelligence, but it was always a brutal battle to become one of the 50 graduates.

This exam didn’t need the candidates to have cultural scores, nor needed them to have a great depth of knowledge; there was only one thing they had to prove, and that was if they could stay until the end because they were stronger than all the others.

Ruan Xiongfeng was counting on this to get a few talented applicants, but he doubted that the enrollment district he was in charge of would have any, and even thinking about the process irritated him!

His face twitched a bit from the thought of it, and he realized that he was going to get mad no matter how he tried to convince himself, so he went directly into the hibernation bay hoping that he would forget about it in sleep!

…

The spaceship slowly started to accelerate towards the warp points, and a pleasant female-voiced announcement was played on repeat within the spaceship. “Welcome aboard and good afternoon. As the interstellar voyage is about to begin, all passengers, please enter the hibernation bay within five minutes. Our destination is Planet Zicui, located 8.2 light-years away, and it will take seven UGF calendar days to arrive. Bon voyage.”

This spaceship, which carried millions of unspoken dreams from those who lived at the border regions, slowly accelerated and disappeared into the vast universe.

In a month from now, the examinations for the UGF academies would begin on the selected planets!