Ferro glared at Thora, furious and unwilling to accept it. Why? He had used his abilities, so how did he still get taken down without even the chance to fight back? No wonder when he'd punched her the other day, she hadn't been hurt at all. She'd clearly been pretending to be weak. As if she'd seen right through his thoughts, Thora looked at him and sneered. "Everything starts with the body." She was in a pretty good mood. One punch had settled an old debt, so she felt like giving him a small tip. She'd misjudged him before. Ferro's ability hadn't truly reached A-rank. He'd just combined it with a special combat technique to make it look impressive. But no matter how fancy the tricks were, nothing could beat real, solid strength. Thora didn't look at him again. Her voice turned flat. "Next." Most people in the stands were still stunned. No one could figure out how she'd ended the fight with just one punch. But that single blow had ripped Ferro right out of his second-place spot in the Combat Institute. If he couldn't even take one hit, how could he deserve that rank? It was just embarrassing. Adrian slowly pulled his gaze away, a faint spark flashing in his eyes, clearly impressed. The arena was loud and chaotic, yet it felt cold and distant around him. He stood there quietly, separated from it all. That battle made Thora famous overnight. The entire military academy was buzzing with her name. At the same time, she'd only been enrolled for a month and had already taken first place in every Combat Institute subject, shocking every institute on campus.... Recently, Thora barely attended classes. She spent almost all her time in the library. Even though she was currently in the Combat Institute, she knew her real strength lay in command. And the library was the academy's largest source of knowledge. She practically lived there, reading nonstop about modern warfare, especially command strategies. Interestingly, at the same hour every day, she always saw Adrian sitting in the same old seat. The books she needed happened to be in the same area, so they often crossed paths, usually without speaking. Only when Thora had questions would they actually talk. They were on the same level, so discussions flowed easily, with no awkwardness. Adrian also seemed happy to share and never held anything back."You've been reading a lot of books by the same author lately," Adrian suddenly said. Thora paused, then turned to him and nodded politely. "Hello, Adrian." He nodded back, still seated. "Yes," she replied. "Everything he writes is interesting." Adrian smiled slightly. "You didn't know? Most of his books are banned in many empires. Only Blue Star Military Academy keeps the full set." Thora frowned a little. She truly hadn't known that. After saying that, Adrian went quiet again and returned to his book. Thora turned back to the shelf and reached for another book by Samuel. "The academy assigns one mission every three months," Adrian said calmly. "Or a large-scale military drill. They call it training, but it's basically real combat."He didn't look at her, but there was no one else nearby. The words were clearly meant for her. "Usually, a student from the top institute—the Command Institute—acts as commander. They choose members from all institutes to form a team. Every mission or drill counts toward graduation promotion. It's also part of the world missions Blue Star Military Academy carries out every year." Thora's hand froze mid-reach. She'd heard about that before. Every year, Blue Star Military Academy carried out world-class missions. They were randomly assigned and managed by higher authorities, benefiting the entire Blue Star and serving as a major evaluation standard. She just hadn't known how things worked internally. "If you want to be the commander for those missions, your only chance is to enter the Command Institute," Adrian added flatly, more like a friendly reminder.Thora thought for a moment. Silence settled over the entire floor again. She didn't really care which institute she belonged to, but what Adrian described caught her interest. She was used to leading and hated being just another soldier under someone else's command. But soldiers had to obey orders, even when those orders went against their own judgment. That kind of frustration was hard to endure. So Thora always aimed for the highest command authority. Like back when she joined Wolffang, Hugo had eventually handed command over to her. That was complete trust. Because of Adrian's words, she began seriously thinking about transferring. She'd already gained everything she could from the Combat Institute. There were no real rivals left, and it hadn't been challenging for a while.Adrian slowly turned a page and said casually, "Tomorrow is the academy-wide comprehensive assessment. The Command Institute dean will be there. If you place in the top 20 overall, you'll be free to transfer to any institute." Thora raised an eyebrow slightly and replied with a single word, "Hmm."