From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 509 Genius is just the threshold to see me

"I've noticed that the chaos in the Star Dragon Empire is much more severe than that in the Federation. It's only been a short time since Norton II started the rebellion, and so many nobles have died in the Empire?"

In a temporary lounge in a hangar of the A-Bava-Ku asteroid fortress, Murat was lying relaxed on a massage chair in the lounge, watching the news displayed on the terminal in his hand.

What he was looking at now was the "Recent Situation Express" compiled by the Atlas Group's Propaganda Department, which also meant that the source of these news was not those mixed media, but from the Atlas Group's Intelligence Analysis Center.

Theoretically speaking, what Murat is reading now cannot be considered news, but rather a large number of situation briefings verified by the intelligence departments.

So what is included here is a true overview of the situation, rather than some gossip that is not sure whether it is true or not, such as the daughter of a certain duke and the son of a subject falling in love, which eventually led to the old father learning the territory.

Louis, who was sitting on the other side, spoke after hearing Murat's words:
"There are many nobles in the Star Dragon Empire. According to Boss, if you walk down the streets of several core star systems and throw your shoes into the crowd, you might be able to hit a noble.

Norton II must have been annoyed with his subordinates who were dissenting, so he took this opportunity to kill them all and 'purify' the entire team, so that those who stayed would be the 'crystallization' who were truly loyal to the Regent."

"Wow, Louis, you're talking in a very different way. This is not your usual style. And when did you become so concerned about the world situation?"

Jacob, who was walking back from the lounge, happened to hear Louis's speech and laughed and teased.

Hearing this, Louis scratched his head a little embarrassedly: "Well, actually these are what Boss said a few days ago, I just happened to write them down."

"Hahaha, I knew it~"

Murat laughed out loud when he heard the answer, and then looked at Jacob who had just walked in. The ace driver of the heavy armored combat boat had a smile on his face at the moment, and seemed to be in a good mood.

"Is today's training over? By the way, why do you look so happy?" Murat asked.

"Hmm, the quality of these 'trainees' from the Rubion Galaxy is higher than I thought. Even though there is still a certain gap compared to the trainees we trained ourselves, it is mainly because of the lack of training time."

As Jacob spoke, he found an empty chair and lay down.

"And among these 'trainees', there are actually a few good ones. There is a young man named Manfred who looks like he could be an ace pilot. To be honest, I want to ask the boss to recruit this young man to our squadron."

"Manfred?" Louis on the other side seemed to have an impression of this name. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Is it the young man with a long name who sounds like an imperial noble?"

"It's not that he 'looks like' an imperial noble. His ancestors were real imperial nobles."

Murat seemed to know this young man, and couldn't help but retort:

"This guy seems to have quite a personality. I heard from others that he seems to particularly like to paint his battleship red in simulated battles?"

"Yes, yes, that's him!" Jacob snapped his fingers, and then continued:

"His skills and combat thinking are both strong, but he lacks combat experience. That's why he has never lost a match among trainees. Some people even gave him the nickname 'Red Baron'."

Hearing this, Murat couldn't help but shake his head and sigh:

"Tsk tsk tsk, 'Red Baron', why do the nicknames of the new recruits seem to be getting more and more flamboyant? Our nicknames are all so rustic.

I won't mention Boss's nickname. I don't know who spread the nickname of 'Horror Headhunter', which also led to the rumor that 'the chairman of Atlas Group eats people'.
My nickname is 'Madman', Jacob, your nickname is 'Fast Man', and Louise's nickname is even funnier - 'Miss'. Hahahaha, no matter how many times I hear this weird nickname, I still want to laugh."

Murat laughed so hard that he even cried, and his whole body curled up like a cooked kid.

However, people's joy is not the same, and Louis even thought that Murat's laughter was a bit noisy. Although Jacob was not as miserable as Louis, he obviously didn't want to continue talking about this "dark history" topic, so he changed the subject.

"Speaking of such good seedlings, haven't you found any trainees with ACE potential?"

It has to be said that Jacob is good at finding topics to talk about. As soon as he asked this question, he immediately attracted Murat's attention.

This real ace who is currently inside Atlas and whose HCP driving skills are second only to Amber, jumped up from the massage chair as if he was 'startled to sit up from a dying illness'.

"You know what, Louis and I really found a good seedling, but he's a bit of a thorn, shouting that he's a genius every day~"

Murat's tone contained three parts of admiration, three parts of ridicule, three parts of disdain and one part of 'caring for the silly boy', but Jacob could still hear that he was indeed paying attention to the 'genius' he was talking about.

On the other side, Louis also added:

"He is a bit of a thorn, but his talent, learning ability, and driving skills are beyond reproach. He is invincible among his peers. Even several instructors with actual combat experience have been defeated by him because they underestimated him."

Jacob raised his eyebrows in surprise when he heard the two people's description: "So powerful? What's his name?"

Louis: "Johnny Riding."

"No, no, no, it should be 'Genius' Johnny Riding~" Murat shook his finger to correct him, then stood up and straightened his clothes while continuing:
"In order to teach this 'genius' a lesson and prevent him from losing himself because of the illusion before his eyes, I plan to personally give him an 'enlightenment education' during the actual combat exercise later."

Jacob: "Is it necessary? If you do it yourself, wouldn't it be a bit like bullying a child?"

"I don't want to, but the trainees have spread the news privately." Murat shrugged and said helplessly:

"They all said that this 'genius' will soon become the number one pilot, and they also said something like 'Fortunately, the boss rarely takes action himself now, otherwise there might be a risk of falling into the hands of Johnny Riding.'"

"That's fine. I support you in giving him a good lesson and letting him know what 'malice from the battlefield' means~"

"Of course. I will let him know what 'genius is just the threshold to meet me' means. I will also let him know that only by defeating me will he be qualified to fight with the Boss."
-
Whether it is raising children or conducting HCP pilot training, "enlightenment education" is a very important process. Murat and Louis can be said to be convinced of this.

Especially Murat, he has always felt that for an HCP pilot, especially a rookie pilot, "enlightenment education" will directly affect the pilot's future combat style.

This is why, when planning the "Atlas Group Combat Force-HCP Pilot Training Outline", he strongly requested that the trainees conduct "1V1", "1VN" and team confrontation exercises with pilots with combat experience in the combat force in a "simulated combat environment" as the last and most important part of their training.

The reason for this arrangement is that Murat and Louis feel that their "initial education" as HCP pilots has indeed influenced their future "career development path".

Until now, Murat still remembers that it was a sunny morning on Robert IV.

As two rookie HCP pilots, he and Louis were assigned to Amber's assault team and participated in the battle to raid the space elevator base area.

It was also during this battle that the two "newbies" witnessed the "famous scene" of Amber piloting a mecha, holding a heavy plasma sword, and destroying two machines in a hand-to-hand combat with extremely high efficiency.

The scene where Amber pulled the Heavy Slash Sword out of the Zealot's cockpit shocked the two rookies greatly.

It also changed their understanding of the battles between HCPs, from the stereotype of using directed energy weapons such as heavy particle cannons to bombard each other, and relying on mobility and the limited power of deflection field generators to achieve final victory, to a new methodology of "close combat is to my advantage."

It must be said that the tradition of Atlas pilots "drawing their swords" may have started from this moment.
(End of this chapter)