"Corporal Yuan has finally accepted a mission that isn’t a cleanup mission? The universe must have heard my wishes!" One of Mei Feng’s officers exclaimed, her voice filled with joy.
"Though it’s not much better, being only a mission to gather Unknown Ores in the Orange Zone."
"So what if it’s only slightly better? This proves that he can accept missions besides cleanup missions, which is a big step forward!"
"You’re treating him like a toddler who’d just learned to take his first steps," Mei Feng remarked while shaking her head.
She continued, "I knew he’d eventually start taking other missions, but this is quicker than I anticipated..."
Someone then said, "It may not seem like it, but many people are eager to see what he’ll accomplish, and they’ve been disappointed so far. Compared to the Ironwoman, who took on all kinds of dangerous missions shortly after joining, they find his performance underwhelming. Given his unprecedented talent, they expected him to follow in her footsteps."
"Can you really compare the two, though? I don’t know why Corporal Yuan decided to join the military, but I doubt he has the same goal as the Ironwoman."
"Corporal Yuan has a completely different demeanor, too," Mei Feng said. "Unlike that woman, he’s carefree... almost a little too carefree."
"Enough about Corporal Yuan. Any news from General Gu’s side?" Someone suddenly asked.
Mei Feng replied, "I gave him a pretty stern warning, and he hasn’t tried to do anything so far. However, we can never be too cautious. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t try anything on Corporal Yuan."
"Yes, General!"
Meanwhile, on the other side, General Gu started fuming after learning about Yuan’s sudden change of activities, especially when they were so close to their plan.
"That stinking brat barely managed to dodge a bullet!"
"Please calm yourself, General Gu. There’s a good chance that little bastard is only trying out something new and will return to doing cleanup missions soon." One of the officers tried to reassure him.
Another then spoke, "Even if he doesn’t, there are still plenty of ways to get him to join our squad for their cleanup mission."
"However, we should proceed cautiously and put our plans on hold for now," said Captain Huang, the officer responsible for assigning cleanup missions. "General Mei’s people have been watching us like hawks. If we do anything suspicious, they’ll seize the opportunity to ruin us."
General Gu nodded and said, "I’ll leave everything to you and await good news."
"Yes, General!"
Several days later, Yuan showed up at the mission’s meeting spot, and instead of meeting at the gates, they met in front of the mission hall.
"Wow! It’s really him! The Cleaning Maniac!"
One of the soldiers exclaimed with excitement, almost as if they were meeting their idol.
"There’s... a lot of people..." Yuan muttered, a little taken aback by how many soldiers were present.
"Is everyone here partaking in the mission?" he asked, as there were twenty-three soldiers, excluding him.
"That’s right. This is your first time doing this sort of mission, correct? This number of gatherers is pretty common. In fact, there are usually more."
"What about the reward distribution? Do we all share, or are we only credited for what we find?"
"Of course, we share. This is a team effort and a mission, so we all receive a share of the total Unknown Ores."
"I see..."
"Alright, now that everyone’s here, we’ll split into four squads. Squad 1 will head south, Squad 2 north, Squad 3 west, and Squad 4 east."
After some management, Yuan ended up in Squad 3 with five other soldiers.
"We will meet here in two weeks. Until then, good luck with your gathering, and stay safe."
While the others went in their respective direction, Yuan’s squad made their way to the western gates.
Once outside the city walls, they began rushing to the Orange Zone, ignoring all of the Void Specters they encountered.
"It must feel awkward not to clean the Void Specters, Corporal Yuan," someone in the squad remarked as they flew past the Void Specters.
"Not really," he said with a smile.
"Wait... Corporal Yuan, you just joined the military, right? And you were exempted from boot camp."
"That’s right."
The soldiers in the squad suddenly stopped moving and looked at him with concerned expressions.
"What is the problem?" he asked.
"If you just joined and didn’t go to boot camp... that means you didn’t have the chance to learn Void Control yet, which would make this mission much more difficult and dangerous for you."
"Ah, that? Then you don’t have to worry, because I can use it."
"Huh?"
The soldiers’ eyes widened with surprise.
A new soldier begins training in Void Control during their first week of boot camp, but only the most gifted geniuses can use it by the time they graduate. As for everyone else, it usually takes another three to five years of training before they can wield it proficiently.
So how was Yuan, who had skipped boot camp and thrown himself into nonstop cleanup missions almost immediately after joining the military, already capable of using Void Control?
"There’s no way you could’ve learned Void Control with such limited time..."
In order to get rid of their doubt, Yuan used Void Control directly in front of them, teleporting left and right with ease.
"My word! He can actually use it!"
"When did you learn to use it? Surely, you didn’t learn it before joining the military, right?"
Yuan chuckled. "No, I learned it during the downtime between missions. It only took me a few days to grasp it."
"A few days...?"
The soldiers’ eyes widened at the outrageous claim, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.
Not only were they awestruck by such an achievement, but they also felt insulted, as though their own years of effort meant nothing in the face of such overwhelming talent.
"What are you all waiting for? If we linger any longer, we’ll lose to the others," Yuan said as he started moving again.
"This is not a competition..."
They shook their heads inwardly before following him.
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