No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

Finally, with his fingers tented beneath his chin, Grand Marshal Li Qingshan let out a long, gravel-deep exhale that sounded suspiciously like a wheeze of restrained hysteria.

"Where is the investigation report I ordered? I want a name." he said, voice low and cold enough to freeze plasma.

His entourage of hybrid aces flinched.

Which was saying something.

These weren't ordinary officers. They were legends in their own right—soldiers whose names were whispered with awe across every battlefront and training hall. Each of them stood at the pinnacle of the modern military's twin doctrines: mecha warfare and awakened combat. They were the future of war incarnate.

Colonel Yin Lu, the youngest person to ever pilot a Class-9 heavy mech while simultaneously casting Tier-S spell formations with a single hand, had personally ended a Beast tide in the Southern Wastes using a one-woman fusion barrage.

Commander Gao Jian, whose mana-enhanced reflexes were so fast he once caught a hypersonic missile mid-flight with a gravity-tuned magnetic claw, had been offered three different national titles from allied governments. He refused them all, because he preferred the frontlines.

Captain Lian Fang, code-named "Tempest Widow," had once dueled a European Ether Knight and an American Archon-class mech pilot at the same time—and won. She did not blink at orbital strikes, dismembered dragons, or direct combat with time-fractured enemies.

But all of them flinched.

Because Grand Marshal Li Qingshan wasn't just their superior.

He was the war.

The man who once walked across an active battlefield with his hands behind his back and emerged untouched. The man who had killed a World Eater-class Beast using only a tactical knife and thirty seconds of oxygen. The man who stared down entire nations and made them blink first.

When he said, "I want a name," it wasn't a request.

It was a seismic command from the gravitational center of China's military will. A phrase that echoed through the bones of anyone within hearing range.

Even the bravest in his presence adjusted their postures. Sat straighter. Sweated less conspicuously. Because flinching was still safer than saying something dumb.

And definitely safer than being the one who delivered the wrong answer.

One of the less famous aides, a mana-tech specialist with nervous fingers and two cybernetic eyes, immediately began scrolling through the encrypted BGA registry.

"Sir, according to official records, the pilot is one... Fan Jinhai. Registered as Gold Tier from the Southern Coast League."

Grand Marshal Li Qingshan narrowed his eyes.

"Fan Jinhai."

"Yes, sir."

"Pull his military record."

A few keystrokes later, the aide froze. "Uh…"

Grand Marshal Li Qingshan turned his head slowly. "Report."

The aide cleared his throat. "Sir, Fan Jinhai was arrested two nights ago for smuggling mana mushrooms in his fuel canisters. He is currently in military custody."

"Where?"

"Solitary block. Sector Seven. Drug watch."

"So…" Grand Marshal Li Qingshan's voice turned lighter. Much more dangerous. "You're telling me the man who just humiliated one of Africa's top combat mecha pilot is also currently hallucinating in a military jail for trying to smoke magical plants?"

"No sir! It's impossible! Unless he broke the laws of space and time..."

"…It's not him," Grand Marshal Li Qingshan concluded, his voice dry as the Gobi.

A heavy silence settled over the room.

Then, without turning, he pointed to the screen where Damien's matte-black mecha stood still, overlooking the smoldering wreckage of Mbwa Mwitu.

"That's not a Gold Ranked pilot," Grand Marshal Li Qingshan said quietly. "That's not even a Ranked pilot. That is someone who grew up inside a battlefield and never stepped out. That's a reaper wearing training armor."

"A fake account," Commander Gao Jian said with certainty. "It happens all the time."

Colonel Yin Lu frowned. "You mean… a purchased gold slot?"

Captain Lian Fang frowned as well. "Those cost a fortune to buy and sneak past the BGA auditors."

Grand Marshal Li Qingshan turned and gave them all a flat stare.

"Which means someone with too much money and too much faith pulled strings to drop a living weapon into this tournament without telling me. Who would do such a thing? Give me lists and shortlists."

"Understood," she said quickly.

Commander Gao Jian leaned in with curiosity. "Sir… should we send a recruitment offer once we find out who he is?"

Grand Marshal Li Qingshan turned slowly to face him.

Commander Gao Jian paled.

"I will not recruit a man I do not understand," Grand Marshal Li Qingshan said. "That would be like inviting a dragon into your vault and hoping it's only hungry for small change."

He turned back to the screen. Watched Damien ride Mbwa Mwitu into the dirt again.

"That move," he muttered. "That step. That pivot. That control. He fights like he's already seen the battle play out and is simply walking through the motions."

Captain Lian Fang tilted her head. "It looked like instinct, but too clean. Maybe muscle memory?"

Grand Marshal Li Qingshan tapped a finger once, hard, on the armrest.

"No. It looked like control." He paused, eyes narrowing. "But not the ordinary kind."

"…Worse?" the aide asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"It looked like he'd done it a hundred times before," Grand Marshal Li Qingshan said quietly.

That was when the hybrid aces all exchanged glances.

Colonel Yin Lu broke the silence with a single question.

"Sir… are you scared?"

Grand Marshal Li Qingshan smiled slowly, eyes still locked on the screen.

"I'm scared." he said. "Terrified, even. But more excited. Like a man watching a forest fire thinking… 'What if we turned this into a weapon?'"

There was silence.

Then with deliberate calm, he rose to his feet.

"Find me the real identity of the pilot. I want his background, his mana record, his academy logs. I want a full psychic scan, three-generation ancestry tree, and a romantic history."

The aide coughed. "Romantic history, sir?"

"I need to know if he's emotionally stable or if he's the type to fall for the first pretty spy with a foreign passport."

"Right. Absolutely. Understood."

Grand Marshal Li Qingshan paused again, halfway out the door.

"Oh, and check if he's dating anyone."

There was a stunned silence.

"I… thought this was a threat assessment, sir."

"It is," Grand Marshal Li Qingshan said grimly. "My granddaughter is still single."