Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

That night, Ruo Manni soaked in the bath using the medicinal package given by Mina-Olli. Apart from finding the bath’s scent more pleasant than her own, she didn’t feel anything unusual. However, when she got up the next morning, she sensed that Mina-Olli’s medicinal package had a better effect than Teresa Du’s formula.

Ruo Manni wasn’t surprised by this result. After all, Mina-Olli’s powder was expensive. Just the two types of herbs she recognized in it were worth as much as Ruo Manni’s own five packages combined. Not to mention there were over ten other herbs she couldn’t identify, which likely cost a lot more.

From a value perspective, the effectiveness of Mina-Olli’s package was only slightly better than what Ruo Manni could make herself, making Ruo Manni’s more affordable packages a better deal.

For two consecutive days, Mina-Olli had managed to persevere until the end of training thanks to Ruo Manni’s discreet assistance, maintaining her proud image.

Ruo Manni’s intention in doing this was simply to ease the potential conflict between her and the main characters. Although she wasn’t sure if it would work, the shared experience of being pushed to their limits by the instructor could be considered a bond formed through adversity.

Ruo Manni didn’t expect that Mina-Olli was an incredibly proud girl, unwilling to show any weakness in front of her fiancé. Ruo Manni’s discreet help allowed Mina-Olli to maintain her image, earning Mina-Olli’s silent gratitude.

That night, as the two exhausted girls supported each other back to their dormitory, Mina-Olli once again offered Ruo Manni a medicinal package.

At that moment, Ruo Manni realized that Mina-Olli was subtly expressing her thanks. However, this time Ruo Manni refused: “My mother prepared some for me earlier. While it may not be as effective as yours, it’s her goodwill.”

The reason Ruo Manni hadn’t refused the previous day was that she was genuinely impressed by the effectiveness of Mina-Olli’s package. Accepting another would mean owing her a favor, and she didn’t want to be in debt.

Although she knew these packages weren’t a big deal for Mina-Olli, and her refusal might earn her negative points with the main character, she still declined.

Though Ruo Manni was tactful in her refusal, Mina-Olli still felt a bit hurt.

Ruo Manni noticed this but didn’t want to go back on her word, so she simply wished her goodnight and entered her room.

Initially, Ruo Manni thought that after their interaction the night before, Mina-Olli might be a bit cooler toward her the next day. After all, as a wealthy young lady, her pride was undoubtedly very high.

Ruo Manni planned to treat Mina-Olli as before, but if Mina-Olli showed clear signs of coldness, she would maintain her distance.

As previously mentioned, Ruo Manni had a principle regarding her new friends: she would show them kindness but would never act like a sycophant; she only accepted equal friendships.

To her surprise, although Mina-Olli had a sour expression when Ruo Manni refused her, the next day Mina-Olli showed no signs of resentment, as if she had brushed off the previous night’s incident.

Ruo Manni observed this for a while but then set it aside. The grueling training imposed by their strict instructor was intensifying daily, and all the new students felt overwhelmingly exhausted, rendering any small emotions irrelevant.

Instructor Dudley seemed determined to drain every ounce of their energy, leaving these middle schoolers with no strength left for antics.

With training tasks becoming progressively more demanding, they often found themselves completely worn out. Every evening, they emerged from the training room, supporting each other back, completely unaccustomed to the strain.

In such circumstances, whether friendly or hostile, no one had the energy to think about it; unless necessary, everyone was too tired to speak, collapsing into bed as soon as they could.

Amid this high-intensity training, not only were they exhausted, but their spirits were also tightly wound. Over time, they inevitably became a bit listless.

On the ninth day at the training base, still utterly fatigued, the group stumbled out of the training hall when they suddenly heard Instructor Dudley blow the assembly whistle.

“Oh no! What does the instructor want now? More training?” complained Ninja King Ren Wuyue.

“I can’t take it anymore,” Sheila added, her composure slipping as she forgot to act like a lady.

Although the others didn’t say anything, their expressions all reflected a shared sense of misery.

Seeing the exhausted faces of the ten new students, Instructor Dudley felt a sense of pride; look, they were no longer so high and mighty. His devilish training truly was the best way to curb these privileged youths.

Despite his satisfaction, Dudley’s face remained stern as he said, “Tomorrow will be dedicated to basic training. You’ll have a day to adjust.”

At first, the ten companions were incredulous, but once they confirmed it was true, they couldn’t help but cheer with joy.

“I’m going to sleep well tomorrow,” Dean Atchison said.

Ruo Manni glanced at him, hesitating to burst his bubble; she believed that Dudley’s mention of adjustment didn’t really mean rest.

But since Dudley didn’t elaborate, she decided not to pry further and let them enjoy their moment.

So, the next morning, as usual, they were roused by Dudley for their obligatory running laps. Ruo Manni found nothing unusual about this.

However, after finishing their laps, the students thought they could finally enjoy a moment of freedom, only for Dudley to announce, “For this training session, any students who haven’t completed their tasks will make up for it today.”

The joy of freedom vanished from their faces; none of them had consistently completed their tasks. Especially Ninja King Ren Wuyue, and Sheila, who almost always had unfinished assignments.

Ruo Manni wasn’t too surprised; she suspected that Instructor Dudley had some trick up his sleeve. After all, during previous training sessions, he hadn’t punished anyone for incomplete tasks, clearly saving it for a big reveal.

Despite everyone internally screaming, “No, no, no…”
They were still military academy students, and the orders were ingrained in their minds, so they had no choice but to stow away their hopes of freedom and reluctantly tackle their training tasks.

As the hours passed, especially when Sheila finally completed her punishment tasks, the sky began to darken.

“I feel like the instructor is playing with our feelings,” Tamaki Kazia said. “This is not a day off at all.”

“If we could complete our training tasks every day, we’d almost have a full day of free time,” Hua Deli added.

He had only missed one task, resulting in just two hours of punishment training, so he spoke lightly about it. Even his fiancée wore a look that clearly said she didn’t want to talk to him.

Fortunately, Instructor Dudley wasn’t that cruel; there were indeed no training tasks scheduled for the evening, and they finally had their freedom…