"I'm not from the Combat Department," Yuka gently withdrew her hand, giving Vivian an apologetic smile. "My name is Yuka, nice to meet you."
Vivian, flipping her hair, pulled up the list of new students on her opticomputer and showed it to Yuka. "I'm in charge of welcoming new students. Look, your name and ID number are right here on our department's list."
Yuka took the opticomputer, double-checked that it was indeed her information, and then fell silent. She couldn't believe it!
Vivian, unaware of the turmoil she had caused Yuka, enthusiastically began, "Yuka, let me tell you about some things new students should keep in mind..."
"Wait," Yuka covered her forehead, "I remember, I applied for the History Department!"
"Oh, that issue." Morris stepped forward to explain, "This year, the History Department reduced its number of admissions, so you were reassigned."
Yuka was speechless.
The butler exclaimed in shock, "Oh my, Master, a lady shouldn't be in a department focused on combat!"
For the first time, Yuka felt she should agree with the butler. Forcing a sweet smile, she asked, "So, can I still go to the History Department?"
"Of course," Vivian quickly replied, "After your first year, you'll have a chance to change majors. But why would you want to go to the History Department? Our Combat Department is the best in the entire university. Being reassigned here means you must have at least an 'A' level in either physical strength or psychic power."
Vivian pouted, "People as outstanding as us shouldn't be in the same classroom as those... lower-ranked ones."
Dressed in her high-end uniform, her gaze arrogant, her words dripping with disdain for those of lower status, Vivian personified the glorification of hierarchy.
Yuka glanced again at the University's motto, "Justice, fairness, and truth," which still shone brightly. She chuckled softly, then asked, "What are the requirements for changing majors?"
Morris answered, "To move to the History Department? That department has low requirements. Just pass all your courses in your current major during your freshman year without failing any, and you'll be fine."
After saying this, Morris bowed slightly, extending his hand with a gentlemanly gesture, "Pleased to meet you, I'm Morris."
Yuka shook his hand, withdrawing her hand just before he could kiss it, and smiled at him, "I know who you are. You're the one who scored 89."
Morris froze, his blue eyes suddenly brimming with tears. He looked up at Yuka with a saddened expression, "My muse, my flame of life, how could you say that to me?"
Vivian laughed heartily. She didn't take Yuka's desire to transfer departments seriously. In her view, nobody would willingly give up the myriad benefits of the Combat Department to switch to the futureless History Department.
Vivian told Yuka, "Now, open your opticomputer, log onto the campus network. You can find all the features on your personal homepage. You can use your card for transactions on campus. Your class schedule should already be available on your homepage, and classes officially start the day after tomorrow."
"That's all I needed to say," Vivian said, pulling out her own opticomputer. "Let's exchange contact information."
Morris also hurried over.
After exchanging contact details with them, Yuka said goodbye and connected to the campus network using her opticomputer. She opened her homepage, which, apart from her basic personal information, had several colorful sections. Yuka's gaze drifted across "Timetable," "Forum," "School Announcements," "Transcript," "Library," before finally clicking on her personal information.
As she expected, there was no record of her level. The levels of physical strength and psychic power are a person's utmost privacy, only revealed under special circumstances, like when the Alliance Population Department allows certain institutions to view them - such as when UUA is admitting students.
Although level is a private matter, it's like a man's height - those over six feet tall often wish to mention their height in every sentence. On the real-name forum, those with A+ or even S levels proudly display their level next to their campus ID, blatantly showing off.
Those with lower levels try their best to hide it.
Yuka quickly glanced at her timetable. She was assigned to the mecha specialization within the Combat Department. Apart from physical training and theoretical classes, there were mecha operation classes and some unusual ones, like "Self-Rescue in Emergency Situations."
She thought for a moment and then opened the forum section.
Yuka had previously visited UUA's public forum, but this time she headed straight for the internal autonymous forum and immediately saw a trending post: "Shock! Seventy-Year-Old Man Blows Up Space Pirates!"
Confused, Yuka clicked on it.
She numbly exited the post.
Today's chaos at the Capital Octoxis transfer station had attracted a lot of attention, including the poster. Allegedly, the poster had family connections with the Alliance Army. They heard that the person who took down a ship full of space pirates, even blowing up their ship, was a man in his seventies. The poster couldn't resist sharing this on the forum.
The comment section was in an uproar. The first several dozen comments called it a hoax, but as no administrator came forward to delete the post, people gradually began to doubt their initial skepticism.
The poster provocatively added a comment, "People of the Combat Department, aren't you supposed to be really tough? Seems like you're not even a match for a seventy-year-old man!" This statement ignited even fiercer arguments, with students from the Combat Department now challenging the poster to a group fight.
Yuka, pretending to be oblivious to the commotion she had caused, searched the forum for "the Combat Department" to get an idea of their typical classes.
She saw images on the forum of students from the Combat Department lying in muddy fields, drinking nutrition fluids with a plasticky taste, trudging along desolate mountain roads with 50-kilogram packs, and read comments like "Is that all? I didn't even break a sweat." Yuka could feel the department's hostility towards slackers.
She was determined not to get entangled in such intense activities. She wanted five-star meals, to sleep in a three-meter-wide soft bed, to lie around doing nothing, to coast through life with minimal effort!
Angrily closing the forum, Yuka noticed that the usually grey "School Announcements" section had turned red and was blinking insistently, urging her to check it.
Hesitant, Yuka recalled her last experience with such notifications – finding out her home tutor was a wanted man – and wondered what surprise awaited her this time.
As she hesitated, the butler bounced into view on the screen and pressed the "School Announcements" button for her.
"Master, I've opened it for you," the butler said considerately.
Yuka took a deep breath and opened the announcement details.
UUA Important Announcement Channel:
(Principal with a microphone)
Dear students, I regretfully yet excitedly inform you that starting this year, there will be some changes in the Combat Department.
As you know, students with an 'A' level in physical strength join the Combat Department's infantry specialization, while those with an 'A' in psychic power join the mecha specialization. Students with a deep understanding of mecha but lower levels in psychic power and physical strength join the logistics specialization.
Previously, the mecha specialization only required high psychic power levels, without any physical strength requirements. However, starting this semester, students in the Mecha specialization will also begin physical training!
(Principal applauding)
Mecha specialization students must have already noticed a new course titled "Physical Training" on their timetables. In this course, you'll be training alongside the infantry specialization students!
Additionally, Infantry specialization students, have you seen the "Mecha Operations" course on your timetable? In this course, you'll be piloting mechas alongside the Mecha specialization students!
Logistics specialization students, you have both of these courses on your schedule!
Apart from freshmen who can't drop courses in their first year, sophomores and higher can freely choose whether to drop courses not related to their major.
I also want to inform the freshmen that the infantry and mecha specializations may merge in the future, and the requirements for physical strength and psychic power will become more strict.
Thus, students with poor performance this semester may be kicked out of the Combat Department and reassigned to other majors. Considering this change is unexpected, we're lowering the requirements a bit for freshmen: an average score of 60 to avoid expulsion and 80 to remain in the Combat Department.
Best of luck with your studies!
Besides the principal's meme, this announcement was a bombshell of information.
Yuka heard exclamations and growing discussions around her.
Training in physical fitness for the mecha specialization was puzzling enough, but the news about infantry and logistics specializations piloting mechas was even more disturbing.
In the Combat Department, the mecha specialization is more prestigious than infantry and logistics. As the announcement stated, piloting a mecha required an A-tier psychic power level or higher, which was rarer than high physical strength.
Individuals excelling in both physical strength and psychic power were exceedingly rare.
Under these circumstances, if infantry and logistics personnel could also pilot mechas, students wondered, 'Does it mean that the requirements for piloting mechas has been lowered? Can people with lower psychic power now operate mechas?'
Yuka hissed at the thought. If that were the case, many who prided themselves on driving mechas would become the butt of jokes. If the mecha piloting requirements were lowered, that meant almost anyone could pilot them?
Now some people was worried: 'Considering the immense destructive power of mechas, how will the Alliance prevent their misuse for mass killings? What about the raw material for mechas, Oniyon? Will there be a vast black market industry?'
Thinking about the current unstable royal family, the increasingly influential Alliance Science Academy, the fragmented Alliance Army, and the restless space pirates...
"It's going to be chaos," Yuka murmured.
But the looming crisis, perhaps not so distant, was irrelevant to Yuka's current situation. Her only thought was: 'It's going to be a frenzy! Those who want to stay in the Combat Department will have to work harder than ever!'
Despite being in the same department, the infantry and mecha specializations usually didn't see eye to eye. Infantry students thought of mecha students as weaklings, easily crushed with a flick of a finger, while mecha students considered Infantry students as all brawn and no brain. Logistics specialization, on the other hand, always remained inconspicuous, staying out of these conflicts.
But now, in an unprecedented turn of events, all specializations within the Combat Department were united in their displeasure. The forum was nearly overrun with their posts, all vehemently refusing to take courses from the other specialization. If students from other departments dared to take joy in their misfortune, Combat Department students would immediately throw out "group fight warnings."
Freshmen were trembling, watching their senior students go into a frenzy.
Yuka stared at the line "So, students with poor performance this semester may be kicked out of the Combat Department and reassigned to other majors" for a while, then took a deep breath. This was her last chance.
She turned to the butler and said, "Do you still have that ' The Ten-Day Crash Course in Lady Behavior'? Let me see it."
The butler, thrilled, pulled out a compressed file from his overalls. "Master, are you finally deciding to become a proper lady?"
"No." Yuka, rubbing her hungry stomach as she headed to the cafeteria, declared, "Starting now, I'm going to be all pretty but useless."
The butler was left puzzled by her statement.