The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

30 MINUTES ago, at the Imperial Military Academy…

Wulfric dodged to the left and then kicked the person who just attacked him.  But the other also quickly dodged.  He was not surprised by that.  In fact, he was already expecting it.  That's why he didn't put down the leg he used to attack.  He lowered it instead and kicked the side of the person. 

The other didn't have time to dodge and simply lowered his arm to defend his side.  But what he didn't expect was that the force of his kick would be too strong that even though he blocked it, he was still thrown off.  He was about to stand up when a buzzing sound was heard throughout the room.

"It seems that the time is up," Wulfric said. 

Reas gritted his teeth and stood up.  He could feel his arm that had been kicked throbbing.  He lost.  What's even more annoying was that he knew that the other didn't use his full strength and yet, he was still thrown off.

These past two days, they had been doing hand-to-hand combat.  Yesterday, two members of the Fenris Squad came to teach them about it.  From the basics to actual combat, the two taught them a lot of useful things. 

They didn't teach them theories or things like that.  What they thought were things that could help them during real-life combat.  Everyone in class had at least A level mental strength.  So, absorbing such knowledge in a short period of time was not a problem. 

The prince was not present yesterday.  So, everyone felt relieved.  Which made them more relaxed, making the learning atmosphere much better. 

Reas was no different from his fellow students.  He was also glad that the prince was not there.  Not because he was afraid of him or anything.  Simply because he didn't want to see the prince's smug face again.  He thought that the other must have gotten bored after a day of training.  If that was the case, then, that would be for the best.

But who would have thought that the other would be here today? 

Not only that, he told them that they would have a 1v1 fight against him to apply the things that they had learned yesterday.  The rules were simple.  They would be given 10 minutes each to fight against him.  He would give them a handicap by only using his right leg to attack.  And only those who could last 10 minutes would be given points.  Those who could land a solid hit would be given extra points.  Of course, those who could force him to use his hands and other leg would get bigger points.

It sounded easy, right?  But no.  The majority of the students weren't able to last for 10 minutes and were sent to the infirmary.  And to think the prince didn't even use half of his strength. 

Reas was the last one to try.  Although he lasted for 10 minutes, he didn't manage to land a solid hit, much less force the other to use his hands and other leg.  It was infuriating to say the least.  He hated to admit it but, no matter how annoying the prince was, the other was indeed strong. 

It's not just pure strength.  His battle sense was very high.  It's like he could predict whatever move his opponent was trying to make.  The other was just about to attack and he already knew what direction to dodge. 

He raised his head and looked at the prince.  No, it's probably more accurate to call him with his military rank – general.  Reas was not dejected by the result of his fight with the other.  He could only acknowledge the fact that he was still lacking, especially compared to this person. 

If this was a game and the general was at level 100, then, he was probably only at level 20.  He was not discouraged by that though.  It only made him want to work harder even more.

Wulfric, of course, noticed the kid's gaze.  The other's teal-gray eyes were filled with immense determination.  It almost looked like there was fire inside them.  He grinned.  Did this kid finally realize how great he was?  As expected, showing off his prowess was definitely the right decision. 

"Tomorrow, you lot will start your Mecha training.  So, be prepared," he said.  "Dismiss."

The remaining students inside the training hall started to walk towards the exit until only Wulfric remained inside.  He was also about to leave when his Terminal rang.  He opened it and saw that it was a video call request from Hildred.

"What is it?" he asked when he answered the call.

"Wulf, I have news for you," Hildred started.

"This better be not another nonsense or I'll fly to the military base now and kick your ass," Wulf said because the other had a habit of just calling him to tell him nonsensical things.

Hildred exaggeratedly acted like he was hurt by Wulfric's words.  "Of course not.  What do you take me as?"

"Just tell what this is about."

"I swear you'll like this one," Hildred said with a meaningful smile.  "It's about Astrid.  He's trending on [Cyberspace] again."

He was actually contemplating whether to tell Wulf about that.  But then he remembered that he didn't tell the other about the last time Astrid was trending.  He was lucky last time because Wulf didn't say much about that.  But he had a feeling that if he did the same this time, the other would really kick his ass.

"Just search for the hashtag, #polarisbeautifulnewbie, and you will find a lot of interesting comments and posts," he added.

Even though the things Hildred said was still not registering in his mind, he had already hung up his call with the other and opened [Cyberspace] instead.  He didn't have an account on [Cyberspace] but they had a function where one could browse using a 'guest' account. 

Once he typed the hashtag that Hildred said, a lot of results came up.  The one at the very top was a post from someone called 'Polaris'.  He read it and realized that it was actually an entertainment company and not a person.  They were welcoming Aster as a new artist in their company.

When he saw the photos attached to the post, he was stunned and just felt his heart skipping a beat.  He quickly clicked on the link attached to the post and it took him to what seemed like a profile.  And was once again attracted by the six photos there.

It's like he was seeing two versions of Aster.  Both had different kind of charm and appeal.  One would make you want to protect him and give him all the best things in the world.  And the other would make you fantasize things that you shouldn't.

And then he suddenly realized that a lot of people had already seen these photos.  His brows furrowed and quickly went back to [Cyberspace] to read those comments and posts.  But not before memorizing Aster's birthday that was on the said profile.

When he started to read those posts and comments, his furrowed brows became deeper and deeper until they were almost connected.  What were these people saying?  Wanting to be Aster's wife or husband, saying he's delicious, even saying that they wanted to have a baby with him.  How shameless!

With a dark expression, he made a [Cyberspace] account and started replying to those comments and posts.