The rest of the competition was a milk run. Joining hands with Cross Academy, Miles, Matt, Safire, and Madeline swept up the rest of the academies. The committee wasn’t happy with these, as thanks to these two academies, except the trio that joined forces to deal with Beast Breeding Academy —Lares, Ice Realm, and Glorious Dragon Academies— no other academies could show their skills.
These infamous duo, Cross and BBA, would always battle against each other towards the end of the competition. For years, that would be the high point of every tournament held, and the committee was on pins and needles in anticipation. But contrary to their hopes, the two academies joined forces and didn’t battle at all.
After clearing their opponents, Miles and Carl went their separate ways and completed other tasks that didn’t require battles. Although because of the number of academies and task locations being close to neighboring academies, there usually would be fights, now that there were only two remainings, the tasks were easy. Although there were monsters, mutated animals, and walking dead placed in the field, academies could deal with them pretty easily.
————
“That is outrageous!” An elderly shouted as he watched the screen. The screen was broadcasting Miles, who was sitting on a sunbed, drinking juice. There was an unfettered smile on his face. “Is this kind of person going to lead our troops in the future?”
The elderly was a Lieutenant General. There were nine people with this rank in Unity, and all Nine were there. These nine were direct underlings of three generals. Just under them were Major Generals.
The one who spoke was Duncan Burch. He was under General Strankov. When he saw how Miles and Cross academy destroyed Ice Realm Academy, not giving him any chance to show off, he went ballistic, but there was nothing he could do about it. The Academies were free to join forces, and Ice Realm Academy did the same, but now seeing Miles's lazy attitude, he thought he found a venue to unleash his pent-up anger.
“What do you mean, General Burch? What do you want him to do?” A middle-aged lady asked with a smile. She was under General Cross. Her name was Alisha Martin.
“A leader should battle with the soldiers. He shouldn’t laze around. The stages of the competition always have tasks related to leadership, teamwork, integrity, persistence, bravery, curiosity, love of learning, social intelligence, fairness, perspective, creativity, and self-regulation.
This time, due to unexpected circumstances, we had to hold all of the stages at once. And we are testing all of them together. And now look at this person. Can you see the shadow of Leadership? He is just lazing around. Teamwork? He is not doing anything. He is giving orders due to the title he got through backdoors. Integrity is questionable. No bravery. No curiosity. This kind of person cannot love learning. Social intelligence… Huh!” The old man listed all the items one after the other. Although he himself didn’t believe most of the things he said, he couldn't help but badmouth Miles. He couldn't make another Cross rise in the ranks. Two Generals were hellbent on that.
“Seems like you are biased.” Alisha smiled.
“Don’t you dare to insult my integrity, Alisha!” Burch blew off.
“It is General Martin for you.” Alisha didn’t drop her smile but her gaze was cold. “I am summoning the ranking AI.”
“Is this really necessary?” Another General, Sara Hart, spoke slowly. She was under General Tian. “Ranking AI is too bothersome. Can’t we solve this among ourselves?”
“I will not let anyone steal the future of these bright younglings!” Alisha placed her palm on the table as she looked at everyone, one by one. “Today, only the truth will prevail.”
Although the others weren’t willing to have an AI do the ranking, they couldn’t do anything about it. Only 3 votes were needed for Ranking AI to be summoned, and each General had three underlings on the committee. This was to prevent injustice.
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Soon, an AI flew down from the ceiling and landed on the table across the screen. A cable ejected out of its body and connected to the system. This room was isolated from the outside, it has always been. Ever since Unity was formed and Mother AI flew out the portal, humanity had always had their suspicions, thus many military compounds had isolated rooms where they kept confidential information. Since these young people would one day lead the future military, their powers and weaknesses couldn’t be leaked easily, thus the room and the whole competition were isolated from outside interference.
Mercer himself took precautions this time to prevent any mishap from happening, thus every single student had been searched before they were taken into the field. There was even an extra search for those in Lares Academy. Mercer even had Yasmin display her ultimate to the limit to see if she could sneak any recording devices into the field. After making sure she couldn’t, he let them be.
“Greetings, Lieutenant Generals. I will start the ranking now.” The Ranking AI stated as the screen flowed at a speed no human could see. After ten minutes, the screen froze on the annoying smile of a blue-eyed boy. Burch snorted.
“What is the result?” Alisha asked with a smile.
“First Rank: Miles Cross, also known as, Battle Beast!
Leadership: 10
Teamwork: 9
Integrity: 10
Persistence: 9
Bravery: 10
Curiosity: 9
Love of learning: 10
Social intelligence: 10
Fairness: 10
Perspective: 10
Creativity: 10
Self-regulation: 10
Second Rank: Carl Flynn, Mae Shin
Third Rank: Yasmin May, Zall Xander, Xavic Spark
…
“Explain the First Rank, Cross. Tell me how you evaluated this person!” General Burch asked in annoyance.
“Student Cross chose the team among the fifteen students brought from Beast Breeding Academy, just after he learned the rules and details of the competition. After that, he assigned everyone based on their abilities, commanded the team impeccably, and won the competition with Cross Academy. His Leadership is unquestionable.” The Ranking AI stated.
“He is just lazing around! How can he have a full mark in leadership?” Another General under Strankov asked with an angry tone.
“Leading doesn’t always mean giving orders. If all other soldiers needed to be told what they have to do every single minute, there wouldn’t be a need for humans. Robots could achieve just that. You are choosing future leaders because you require a person that can lead troops and take the initiative. The same goes for lower ranks and even regular soldiers.
Student Cross is following every movement of those under his command and is ready to take action. But so long as they are doing okay, he lets them be. This requires trust, and trust in underlings awakens loyalty.” Ranking AI said matter of factly.
“As for the teamwork, he did a great job. Sadly, he sent his team into a trap. Although that was inevitable, it is still something he should have taken into consideration and prepared a backup plan. There was a student that could use Earth Escape in the reserve team but he didn’t choose that student in the team and instead picked the student with offensive power to increase his firepower. Although it is a sensible choice, it still jeopardized his people, thus I deducted one mark.”
“Integrity can be seen from his last battle. He was merciful to his opponents and helpful to his allies. No need to elaborate on this one.”
“Persistence is good quality, but it can lead to traps as well. Just like teamwork, his persistence led his team into a trap, thus I deducted a point.”
“Bravery is also full of marks. He charged at the forefront and blocked the bullets for his team with his bare flesh. He took on the strongest opponent to give his allies breathing room.”
“Curiosity is hard to assess. Although I gave 9 points, it is because of how learned he was. He can use the special form of all three forms of energy, Zone, Virtual Room, and Fullbody. That is not something common, which indicates he has a love of learning, which is why he got full marks, and curiosity about the unknown.
“Social Intelligence can be seen from several points. He is a leader, thus he has to be harsh when needed, and soft when it is required. He has an amicable relationship with everyone in his team, and with those from Cross Academy, indicating his social skills are praiseworthy.”
One after the other, Ranking AI listed Miles’s marks, and the more it spoke, the darker the faces of six Lieutenant Generals. On the other hand, the other three were smiling brightly. No one could refute the ranking the AI concluded. It was unbiased and was always fair. Even if Generals themselves came, they couldn’t change the result, unless all three of them concurred.
But that was impossible. Although Mercer had problems with Miles, he was after all on their side. He wouldn’t let the other two generals undermine the results of his grandson.
After Miles, Ranking AI listed others as well. Its judgment was judicious, and Lieutenant Generals had to abide by it. With it, the competition for the freshmen ended.